The MeidasTouch Podcast - Trump Flees to Race Event as White House Collapses

Episode Date: August 23, 2026

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Donald Trump fleeing to the bizarre Washington DC Freedom250 IndyCar event on Sunday as the White House is collapsing. Go to https://Ground.News/MTN to cut through misinformation, critically analyze the news shaping our lives and hold the media accountable. Save 40% off unlimited access to Ground News with my link or scan the QR code on screen. Pre-order the new book from MeidasTouch, WTF America?!: The Way Out of This Hell and Back to Democracy, today: https://bit.ly/wtfamericayoutube Visit https://meidasplus.com for more! MeidasTouch relies on SnapStream to record, watch, monitor, and clip the news. Get a FREE TRIAL of SnapStream by clicking here: https://go.snapstream.com/affiliate/meidastouch/meidasnews?utm_campaign=4490308-affiliate2025&utm_content=customerpartner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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A very sickly Donald Trump just arrived at that very bizarre IndyCar racing event that he's throwing in Washington, D.C. for himself to try to distract from the economic catastrophe he has unleashed here in the United States to distract from the never-ending war that the United States is losing each and every day even more against Iran to try to distract that Canada is united in the trade war that Trump initiated. and Canada will be inflicting massive pain on the United States. So here's Donald Trump arriving this morning at the IndyCar event. Let me show you incredible things happening with Trump's Harris. Aaron Rupar says, play this clip. We did have a siding of Natalie Harp with Eric Trump this morning. You can see them together. Play this clip. And then you have Donald Trump's Katari Air Force One doing a flyover

as Donald Trump did a lap around the IndyCar track in Washington, D.C., as this is what they've turned the nation's capital into while the American people are just like, we can't afford our groceries, we can't afford fuel, we can't afford gas, we can't afford diesel. This is what you're doing on Sunday. Here, play this clip. And then as the White House isn't utter chaos, Donald Trump sent out his MAGA Stooges, like Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, to try to attack Canada. Here, play this clip of what Duffy says.

Play this clip. Worse. And the fact that we provide their security for them and they take advantage of us. I think President Trump was the first one to go, you know what, that's not the kind of relationship that friends should have. And so the president's calling them out. I think you're going to see Mark Carney come to the table very, very quickly because it's going to be devastating for his country.

Well, nothing on the table as far as talks are concerned. A lot of finger pointing. So we'll keep tracking that. I want to get to more from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy will at this IndyCar event. So freaking strange here, play this clip. Back and forth. We're great trading partners, right? But Canada gets the benefit of trading with the U.S. way more than the U.S. gets the benefit of trading with Canada. It's a country that doesn't have a military. It has a country that has a single-payer health care system that's failing. They have record high youth in Asia rates. And so to think that they're going to go to war with

Donald Trump and actually win that war with the U.S. I think it's foolish on their part. Then we heard from Maga Mike Johnson this morning, the Maga Republican Speaker of the House, and he was asked by state regime media Fox. So can Republicans hold control of the House if the Iran war still going on? Watch Maga Mike over here,

clearly terrified play this clip. Can Republicans go win and hold control of the House if the Iran war is still going on in November? Absolutely. It would be helpful to get that thing resolved. in the next 73 days, but if it's not, we're still going to win. People know we took the head off the snake. We had to make sure the largest state sponsor of terrorism does not have a nuclear weapon.

That was an objective of every administration for the last 50 years. Donald Trump did it. And now we've got to resolve that. I think we're going to get into a new phase here very soon. But we still have oil being transported through the straighter-home moves. We had 80 billion barrels or something, I think, on Tuesday alone. So this is, we're getting the job done step by step. You can't trust the Iranians on the other side of the negotiations.

table, that's the challenge. But I believe our allied nations are going to assist in the next phase as we'll get this finished. But Maga Mike does have this pitch to the American people. You're ready for this? If you vote Republicans, you'll get more IndyCar racing, everybody, that they can make this an annual event. Don't you want this to become an annual event? I kid you not. That's what Mag and Mike said.

Let's play this clip. I want to bring it back next year. I want to make it an annual event. So let's if we can. Is that a possibility? If we have any say in it, we'll be in the majority. I'll be pushing for that. All right.

House Speaker Mike Johnson. Thank you very much for joining. And then Sean Duffy says, what's really amazing is that what Donald Trump's been able to achieve for the first time in Washington, D.C., is that they're going to let the people, the vendors, sell beer on the Washington Mall, that you could drink beer in the Capitol. How amazing. Donald Trump did it. That's what he promised, right, everybody. That was the big campaign promise beer in Washington, D.C.

I don't know what you're talking about. Just go to a restaurant and drink beer. Just go watch Indy Car somewhere else. What the heck is this here, play? this clip. I think I think this is better. The view of the Capitol behind us, they can sell beer. By the way, this is the first time they're going to sell beer on the mall of the Capitol, food, festive, car race. So I think this venue is probably better than the original thought anyway. Day drinking in D.C., what could go wrong? I know that Bud has said he thought a bit of divine

intervention as he was walking these streets in the cold of January and trying to come up with us. There's a lot of logistical stuff. I mean, they're totally mocking us in Iran, right? now. By the way, they're mocking the United States everywhere. You have Iran's parliament leader, M. B. Galabov posting the following. Importing frozen meat to fix meat prices. Okay, that might work. What's the plan for bonds? Import frozen yields? Frozen homebuyers for housing? Frozen paychecks for wages. A frozen foreign policy delivers a frozen economy. The only thing still moving the Iran boomerang mocking Donald Trump for undercutting ranchers in the United States, bringing in foreign beef, frozen foreign beef and charging 25, I guess, in Donald Trump's own head, he's going to do this

because he's not saying where the beef is coming from or who the deal with, who the deals even with. But we're going to bring in frozen beef and undercut our ranchers here by charging 25% less. What the hell is Donald Trump even talking about folks? And then you have more magistuges this morning being trotted out by the Trump regime. You have Tim Scott. He was asked by Kristen Welker on Meet the Press. So, you know, Susan Collins, Republican Senator for Maine, says that Donald Trump's Canada tariffs, it's going to be crushing on American families.

Is she right? Watch his idiotic response play this clip. But I'm talking about costs. Senator, I'm talking about costs. And American families are also paying more in the wake of President Trump's taxes and tariffs. In fact, Senator Susan Collins of Maine said this. If the administration proceeds with these tariffs, they will increase costs for Maine families as most businesses will have no choice

but to pass on the tariffs to their customers through higher prices. Is she right, particularly given that we have seen that in the past, given the president's tariffs? Well, Kristen, you're talking about a really important issue of cost. Let's look back at the original sin of cost in America in the last eight years. It goes to Joe Biden, who took inflation up 21%.

President Trump has been in office for two years. Hold on, Senator. President Trump's been in office for two years. Let me finish. Let me finish. Let me finish. President Trump has brought inflation from a sky high, 21 percent, over the Biden years, down to under 5 percent.

And right now hovering near 4 percent. Wait, inflation was it 3 percent when President Biden left off? It's at 3.4 percent right now. And the average household has paid a thousand dollars more in 2025 due to the time. due to the tariffs, Senator. Let's not forget. Let's not forget the truth. The truth tells a great story. And then Doug Bergam, the bizarre boot-licking, sycophantic interior secretary who framed a two-time

Olympic canoeist David Hearn and said that he was the one who screwed up the reflecting pool when it was Trump and Bergam and all of them. Doug Bergam claims that the residents of D.C. are begging the Trump regime. Please, please, please. You know what we want? We want more races. one next year, how weird and pathetic are these people here? Let's play this clip right here. Mike Johnson, the speaker was just here and he said that you guys might try to do this again

next year. Do you have anything to announce? Well, nothing to announce yet, but let's just say this is the perfect time of year to do it. Congress is on recess from an economic development for our capital city, hotels, restaurants, the people of Washington, D.C., the greater capital region, all love this idea. This is a really positive thing. And if you look at, Look at the smiles on the faces of the crowd. I haven't met anybody who said, please, everybody I've met is saying, please, please do this again next year. We're also hearing from Iran's foreign minister Araghi this morning,

who is, again, calling out the Trump regime for their tactics. This is what Iran's foreign minister Aragi says, crushing sanctions are all proposed under different titles. It's the same bullying that we've always seen in American policies. To use a term, it's like repeating a movie that they keep broadcasting. We know it by heart. know how to deal and counter it, the fact that they went from military operations and say, we will strike, we will do this and that, back to bringing back the same old plans,

shows that they are truly desperate. And in front of the great nation of Iran, no solution comes to their mind. So they keep bringing back repetitive plans to the scene. They should know that there is no way but to talk with respect to the people of Iran and a solution based on justice and dignity. They must put all of these paths aside and return to the path that has been. been tested before, the Iranian nation responds to the language of dignity with respect. Well, how do the White House staffers respond to the language of Donald Trump? Well, as we've been reporting,

it seems like every day now, another top White House official has announced their resignation before the midterms. Politico reports the writing is on the wall. Trump's staff departs ahead of possible turmoil. One top White House advisor says, people are seeing the writing on the wall and thinking Republicans probably aren't going to have the House, might not have the Senate. Is it worth taking these hits? And how does that hurt my prospects when I go into the private sector? How does it hurt your private sector prospects? Y'all are a bunch of war criminals who also covered up child sex trafficking rings.

Accountability is coming for you. Just think about what they're saying. How are we going to do in the private sector? I don't know. I'm hopeful that you will be subpoenaed and you will be brought to justice for your horrific atrocities and crimes against humanity. and I will do whatever is in my power at this network to make sure that transparency and accountability is broad. And we've got a lot of reporters here who are making that their top mission right now as well.

With all of this, I think it's just so important that we have a healthy and accurate media diet. There's so much disinformation, so much propaganda out there. I mean, you have a trillion-dollar media network of right-wing oligarchs who are out there trying to poison the minds of the American people. So I was just looking. I wanted to see the coverage. Like how is how is it being covered that Canada is united that the premiers of the different provinces are working with Prime Minister Carney as one Canadian force to push back hard against the United States? Prime Minister Carney says we are at war against the United States and we are going to win this war. So how is this being reported? Would it shock you that very little right wing media in the United States is covering how Canada is fighting?

back and Canada's response. So you have the Premier of Ontario, right-wing premier from the Conservative Party. Doug Ford says Trump can't be trusted whatsoever with anything. He's a bully who will take and take and take. You got to punch the bully. Did any right-wing media cover that in the United States? No, quite literally zero right-wing media covered that in the United States. It was covered entirely by left-wing in the media by the United States. And I can get that readout from the Blind Spot, from the Blind Spot Ground News feature. Also, what about the left-wing NDP leader, David Eby, who is the premier of British Columbia? Let's take a look at how that was being reported, where he says, Americans revealed their true nature during the negotiations by Trump or the

so-called negotiations. David E.B. says, left-wing covered it, right, the center covered it, very little right-wing coverage. Like, of all of the coverage, only 9% of this came from right-wing sources. By the way, it's why I get a lot of this information from Ground News. I partner with Ground News to just be able to see, do I have any blind spots?

They are the best tool for me to stay objective with my reporting. Ground News is an app and a website that pulls in thousands of articles from around the world and organizes them by story to show you, how's the left covering this? How's the center?

How's the right framing issues? differently. It also tells you how is independent media covering this? Is it being reported by a corporate media conglomerate? And so I was able to do the analysis that I just shared with you using Ground News to see that very little right-wing sources we're actually talking about Canada fighting back. I believe so much in Ground News. We're offering you 40% off the same vantage plan that I use for my research. So just go click the link in the description or go to ground. News slash mtn or scan the QR code up here. It's one of the biggest discounts they've ever offered.

If you want to support this channel and get a clearer understanding of the world, try out ground news. Let me just show you just so you can see for yourself what Premier Doug Ford of Ontario said. Play this clip. President Trump, he can't be trusted. Simple as that.

He changes the deal. He keeps moving the goalpost. You know, let me tell you about President Trump. President Trump is a type of person that would steal your lunch money the first day. He'd steal the took off your head the second day, and the third day he'd steal your running shoes. He is not to be trusted whatsoever.

We need to stay United. But folks, more from Premier Doug Ford right here. Let's play it. And manufacturing sector, and we never started this fight, but I can assure you, we're going to win this fight. We're going to be United Team Canada. We're going to use every single tool we have here in Ontario, and hopefully the rest of the premiers feel.

the same way. We have to use every tool in our toolbox to make sure as Donald Trump is trying to inflict pain on every Canadian that we inflict pain right back until he realizes that we're his number one customer in the world. And yes, they're our number one customer. But we have to make sure that we look at every single asset that we have, no matter if it's the critical minerals or if it's a steel or if it's a nickel, anything that we have here in Ontario, everything's on the table. And here is what David E.B., the premier of British Columbia had to say. Let's play this clip right here. Feedback to them. And we will support that effort. There will be pain involved, and we will work with the federal government in mitigating that as best we can. But it is nothing compared to what

we would face in the long term becoming a colony of the U.S. Now, going back to the to what's the United States response? How are Trump cabinet members behaving right now with all of this going down? Well, you have, you know, again, Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy. And Sean Duffy is like, I just want to be really clear.

What we're seeing today in Washington, D.C., with this great Indy car race, it would not be possible if it wasn't for our dear leader, if it wasn't for Donald Trump and the right-wing oligarchs here play this clip. None of this would happen without Donald Trump. You need a president who's going to say, You know, Shannon, I want to celebrate this country's birthday.

I trust the Penskees. I trust my cabinet. We're actually going to do it. And because the president leaned in, did the executive order and help clear the decks for everyone to get the job done, the permits filed. That's why it's happening because we have a president who loves sporting events like this. Well, and interesting. I mean, meanwhile, in the real world, I mean, you can see that in the straight of Hormuz, only two oil tankers are confirmed to have transited. the Strait of Hormuz via the Southern Corridor, the Oman Corridor on Friday night.

They did it with their AIS switched off. And so you can track these tankers, and we know that there's not a lot of movement through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran controls the Strait of Ramos. The Houthis have, by and large, control of the Red Sea, at least as it relates to the Saudi tankers. I mean, we're seeing oil prices hitting all-time high, diesel prices, reaching all-time highs right now in the United States precisely because oil's not getting out of these Strait of Hormuz,

and that is impacting the price of oil right now, and that's impacting the price we pay at the pump. The price of crude is heading towards $100 a barrel. It's in the 90s right now. The price of diesel heading to $200 a barrel. The crack spread for diesel is about $102 a barrel at this point. Record highs there. And we're seeing, you know, the price that you're paying at, the pump nationwide average here in the United States. $4.11. But it's probably more where you are. And that keeps going higher the price of diesel. $5.57 nationwide. And that continues to go up here. Again, Americans are struggling. Can't afford things right now. Can't afford rent. Can't afford groceries. Can't afford basic necessities. Having their health care ripped away. And the Trump regime is like,

you know, we're doing beer at the IndyCar race. And the American people are like, look, we can like IndyCar. That's fine. We could like you. that's fine. We like sports. Stop make, stop making these things into weird propaganda rituals and trying to distract the American people. The American people know what's taking place. And I'll direct your attention to this as well. This is from New York Times this morning. Angry Ohio voters could turn their state purple again. A governor's race, we've been covering a lot, a Senate contest and enough congressional seats can swing control of the House are all in play in Ohio, where voters of all stripes express a deep sense of powerlessness. Across Ohio, a state that

previously was a battleground state, but receded from that status, now you'll see public forums packed. Residents raging about data center projects. In grocery store aisle, shoppers lament to cashiers, how little they can get for $50. In the soybean and cornfields, farmers express anxiety and pessimism. The basics of life and business have gotten punishingly expensive, and many have come to doubt that relief is coming anytime soon. Yeah, Donald Trump and his regime said we were going to fix these things, but they were the ones who created the problems to begin with, and they're making the problems worse, and people are waking up and seeing that right now. Anyway, thanks for watching, everybody. We appreciate you for watching. Hit subscribe.

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