The MeidasTouch Podcast - Trump LOSES HIS MIND as Criminal Trial GUTS HIM

Episode Date: May 3, 2024

On today’s episode of the MeidasTouch Podcast: Trump faces more devastating witness testimony and then makes up an excuse (a lie) for why he won’t testify in his criminal trial; Trump’s deranged... rallies in Wisconsin and Michigan; An article in TIME lays out the stakes of the 2024 election; Marjorie Taylor Greene’s anti-Ukraine stunt backfires; President Biden addresses protests on college campuses; and more! Ben, Brett and Jordy break it all down. Support Ukraine and get your official MUGA hat here: https://store.meidastouch.com/products/muga-hat Deals from our sponsors! Nom Nom: Go to TryNom.com/MEIDAS right now for 50% OFF your no-risk two week trial Beam: Get up to 40% off for a limited time when you go to shopbeam.com/MEIDAS and use code MEIDAS Naked Wines: To get Naked Wines’ 6-bottle-for-$39.99 offer, head to NakedWines.com/MEIDAS and use code MEIDAS for both e code AND password Field of Greens: Get 15% off your first order + free rush shipping at FieldofGreens.com and use promo code MEIDAS Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown Lights On with Jessica Denson: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/lights-on-with-jessica-denson On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Coalition of the Sane: https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/coalition-of-the-sane/id1741663279 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:42 A future resources company. We'll be right back. to miss out. Visit BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. 19 plus to wager Ontario only. Please gamble responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Despite multiple reporters saying that Donald Trump continues to fall asleep at the Manhattan criminal trial, Donald Trump posted that he is not sleeping. He says he's just closing his, quote, beautiful blue eyes and listening intensely lies. Donald Trump also, when he left the criminal trial after yet another devastating day, he told the press that he's not allowed to testify at trial because of the gag order in place.
Starting point is 00:02:15 And then Trump looked at his lawyer, Todd Blanche, and said, that's true, right? I'm not allowed to testify. And Trump's lawyer, Todd Blanche, said, yup, shook his head, yes, that is a lie, that is false, that has major implications. And we believe at the Midas Touch Network, Donald Trump did that on purpose, dropping a poison pill to try to blame his lawyer if and when he loses the case for ineffective assistance of counsel. We'll explain what that means in just a little bit. Donald Trump also had one of his other lawyers ask the judge if Donald Trump could post these bizarre right-wing articles on his social media, to which the judge responded like,
Starting point is 00:02:59 what are you talking about? I'm not giving you advice or an advisory opinion. Follow the gag order and do your homework. Be lawyers. Stop asking me for guidance and advice. And then, of course, Donald Trump continued to whine and whine. There was also a contempt hearing held earlier in the day where Justice Bershon asked why Donald Trump felt entitled to make comments about the jury, this specific jury, treating him unfairly. The judge was not satisfied with the response at all by Donald Trump's lawyer. Donald Trump's lawyer was also complaining that Michael Cohen would call him Von Schitzenpanz, and Von Schitzenpanz was entered into the formal court record of this criminal trial. You can't make this stuff up, folks.
Starting point is 00:03:48 Also, Donald Trump gave speeches in Wisconsin and Michigan. It was filled with more cognitive breakdowns. It was filled with more dangerous statements. But there was one moment in particular that I found particularly abhorrent. I mean, they all are. But this one moment, I want to highlight what Donald Trump was doing with the failed Republican gubernatorial candidate from Michigan, Tudor Dixon, and what they were saying about the very popular governor from Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer.
Starting point is 00:04:21 We will break it all down. Also, President Biden spoke earlier in the day on student protests. We'll talk about that. And Florida's abortion ban has now officially taken effect. We'll talk about this and more on this episode of the Midas Touch podcast. We've got a lot to discuss. I'm here, of course, with our co-hosts, Brett and Jordy, my cellist brothers. How are you doing?hosts, Brett and Jordy Mycelis. Brothers, how are you doing? Doing great, Ben. Always good to be here. Busy day of Trump trials. What are we right now? Day 10? I mean, pretty crazy, huh? And it just gets crazier and crazier. I see with
Starting point is 00:04:57 each witness that takes the stand, the testimony becomes more and more devastating for Donald Trump. And I'm just going to take a guess here. I don't think the jury is going to like this Donald Trump falling asleep in court constantly while the witnesses are speaking. I mean, they are seeing everything that is going on. Ben, I want to give you a huge shout out. I know you've been going today from live stream to live stream to live stream beginning at 530 in the morning Pacific time through right now. I mean, that's quite, it's pretty impressive. I gotta say, I know you have to, I know Cohen on Political Beatdown, for those who don't listen to Political Beatdown, what are you doing? You gotta subscribe to the Political Beatdown podcast with Michael Cohen, the co-host, and Ben Wright here. I know
Starting point is 00:05:43 he needs to be a little more, he's chosen rather, to be a little more reserved about what he is going to say, and he's not going to be speaking directly about the trial on his show. But that's why I'm excited to get into it and speak about things like this being entered into the court record, Donald Von Schitzenpanz. I mean, this is a historic day, folks. This is a historic day that this entered the court records. And you'll see, I'm posting this right now that it says it was trending number six in the United States. Since I took this screenshot, it's skyrocketed to the top of the trends in the United States. I can only imagine the kids learning American history in the future. And that was the day that- It's turned to page 196
Starting point is 00:06:25 in your textbook and we'll show you the day that Von Schitzenpanz was entered into the courtroom record. We're going to go after the time the former president was called Von Schitzenpanz in court, that that was a complaint by the attorney to the New York Supreme Court Justice Real quick, Loki, what's so impressive about
Starting point is 00:06:42 that trending, it's like how do you even spell Von Schitzenpanz? The fact that so many people were able to spell it correctly. Everyone needs to agree. They need to coalesce around the proper spelling of Vonsh. And then to make it trend is very impressive. That's a good point, Jordy. Anyway, how are you doing, buddy? I'm doing great. I'm doing great. Donald Trump talking about these beautiful blue eyes. Folks, the only people that I know with beautiful blue eyes are these two guys right here my big bros and ben just because i know we definitely have a concerned parent watching big bro you're wearing your glasses today usually that's a sign of you didn't do the contacts today i think you look great in the glasses i think you look awesome but but i i know our mother out there
Starting point is 00:07:20 would probably like to know why you're wearing the glasses now versus the contacts i've been doing the glasses for like two months now haven't noticed until now but i still but to your point jordy it's not exactly like a fashion choice it's because he forgot to re-up his contact lens prescription there you go i knew there was something cooking too many videos for the when you go to live stream to live stream i I mean, it's hard to really just have any time for yourself. You're just going to make the accusation that I forgot to re-up my contact. You're not even going to ask? You're just going to force me to do this? There wasn't an outright denial?
Starting point is 00:07:54 There wasn't an outright denial. Why don't you ask me? Did you forget to re-up your contact lens prescription? I will not testify to that. I am not testify to that. So speaking about invoking the Fifth Amendment and not- Wow, transition. Wow. Wow.
Starting point is 00:08:13 Gettysburg. Wow. I specifically did not read up my contacts two months ago, waiting precisely for this moment right here on Thursday live at 8.06 Eastern. I knew it was going to happen. Donald Trump, when he left these proceedings today after Keith Davidson testified, there was also a – because there, that's what he looked like today. There was a – Is this a photo of him or is this a sketch?
Starting point is 00:08:39 I can't tell. It's hard to tell. There was also a custodian of records who played the audio recording of Trump and Michael Cohen, where Cohen talked about, I got to open up this bank account, use Donald Trump's pseudonym. Trump talked about, you know, taking care of it press conferences where usually he whines about how cold it is, he says it's an icebox. Well, today when he left, he claimed that the reason that he can't testify, he goes, I'm not allowed to testify because of the gag order that's in place. Then watch when we show you this clip. He looks at his lawyer, Todd Blanche, who always just looks so weird and uncomfortable in these images. He just kind of stands there and kind of grim. It's just a very strange look, the whole thing. But then Trump looks at his lawyer and says, right. Now, Todd Blanche, Donald Trump's lawyer, is actually a good lawyer who's become a very bad lawyer because he has to represent Donald Trump.
Starting point is 00:09:47 And you can see how terrified he is of Donald Trump when Trump looks at him and says, I'm not allowed to testify, right? And then Blanche basically shakes his head like Trump's not allowed to testify because of the gag order. Let's play this. And I want to explain though, yes, it just shows Donald Trump as a liar and the whininess of him, but there's a more important legal point here that I want to discuss that our editor-in-chief, Ron Filipkowski, also pointed out. Let's play this clip. What do you think about the case in testimony? Well, I'm not allowed to testify. I'm under a gag order, I guess. I can't even testify at all.
Starting point is 00:10:24 No, we're going to be appealing the gag order. I'd love to answer that question. It's a very easy question, the easiest question so far. But I'm not allowed to testify because this judge, who's totally conflicted, has me under an unconstitutional gag order. Nobody's ever had that before. And we don't like it, and it's not fair. Other people are allowed to do whatever
Starting point is 00:10:45 they want to us. And I'm not allowed as a presidential candidate, the leading candidate, the Republican Party nominee, and the one who's leading Biden by a lot. I'm not allowed to talk. There's never been any abuse like this before. This conflicted judge ought to get out of this case. He should not be having this case. He gives us nothing. It's such a rigged court. So I'm not allowed to testify because of an unconstitutional gag order. We're appealing the gag order and let's see what happens. 100% false. The gag order simply limits him from threatening and harassing witnesses, the district attorney, or the jury and their family members. Frankly, you shouldn't even have to have a formal document that says that. The conditions of release when somebody's charged
Starting point is 00:11:40 with a crime essentially imply that. And criminal defendants don't go around attacking the family members or daughter of a judge or of the district attorney. They don't post photos of themselves holding baseball bats next to the district attorney. They don't attack witnesses. Even the mob doesn't do that. Donald Trump is simply limited from doing the things that all criminal defendants. He can talk about Biden. Heck, he can even talk about Alvin Bragg. He can talk about the judge. You heard him talking about the judge right there. Donald Trump talks every day. Donald Trump talks more than anybody. Donald Trump talks way more than President Biden. Donald Trump talks some of the craziest, most deranged, unhinged, dangerous stuff, which the media loves to normalize. But Trump speaks more than anybody and has more of a platform than anybody. And this is a lie, but it's more than just a lie. There's a principle in the law called ineffective assistance of counsel in a criminal case. This concept does not exist in civil cases. So if you're wondering,
Starting point is 00:12:51 why can't he make that claim about Alina Haba? Because she's been representing him primarily in civil cases. But in criminal cases, if you can show that your lawyers were ineffective or lied to you or gave you bad information that prevented you from knowing your rights as a criminal defendant, that violates your right to a counsel, an effective counsel. It violates your due process rights. And oftentimes when cases are overturned on appeal, one of the things the criminal defendant argues is ineffective assistance of counsel. So what I observed right there Donald Trump doing was basically getting ready if and when he loses this trial to throw Todd Blanche under himself, whether intentionally, whether unwittingly, whether because he was scared to basically be the ineffective counsel right there, basically saying to Donald Trump that you're being prevented from testifying. Donald Trump has a Fifth Amendment right,
Starting point is 00:13:57 as all criminal defendants do, against self-incrimination from testifying. He's not compelled to testify, nor can the prosecution point out the fact that Trump not testifying is somehow problematic or proves Donald Trump's guilt or can any way be used to infer anything. That's unconstitutional for criminal defendants. In civil cases, you could basically say, hey, you could infer this person didn't testify because they're hiding something. Criminal cases, that's the biggest no-no. Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. And so there, Trump is seemingly saying he wants to testify, but he's being prevented based on his understanding of the gag order as told to him by his lawyer, which is entirely false, 100% false. We also have discussed here, you know, from our reporting, we've given
Starting point is 00:14:54 countless examples where Donald Trump's previously said he was going to testify like the first E. Jean Carroll trial where he fled to Scotland and where he fled to Ireland and pretended he was building something there. He held like a shovel. And then he told the media, I'm going back. I'm going to confront E. Jean Carroll and then didn't do that. And the federal judge, Lewis Kaplan, gave him the opportunity to do it, but he refused to do it even after having the opportunity. Remember Alina Haba said that she believed Donald Trump was going to testify before the January 6th committee. Then Trump had another set of lawyers file a lawsuit to block his testimony
Starting point is 00:15:34 in the New York Attorney General's civil fraud case. Trump claimed he was going to testify on direct examination. He didn't testify on direct examination. Eric Trump didn't testify on direct examination. He didn't testify on direct examination. Eric Trump didn't testify on direct examination. In their own case, you would think they would be their own best witness. They didn't testify in their own case when the defense got to put it on. They didn't do that. So they have a history of claiming to the media that they're going to testify or he's going to testify because he wants his base to hear that,
Starting point is 00:16:05 to make him sound tough. And then he always comes up with something. It's rigged. It's unfair. It's this or that because ultimately at his core, he is a monumental and massive coward. But here it has another significant implication with the ineffective assistance of counsel. It's why at the outset of the show, I said, that's kind of like a poison pill. The prosecution is going to have to address it. The judge is going to have to address it. And he's going to have to inform Donald Trump that he has every right to testify at this trial. The gag order does not prevent him. And I think the judge is going to have to make Donald Trump acknowledge that in court and to make an affirmative statement. I think they're going to have to hold a hearing on it. We'll see if I'm right. But otherwise, Trump will try to argue ineffective assistance of counsel. But it just goes to show you all the sneaky stuff, the gutter stuff. Even in the testimony today with Keith Davidson, the lawyer representing Stormy Daniels and
Starting point is 00:17:11 Karen McDougal, when he would put out these statements that Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels never had an affair and no hush money payments were made, Keith Davidson was then asked by the prosecution. But you are aware, based on everything that was represented to you, that they did have a sexual encounter. And Davidson was like, well, a sexual encounter is not an affair. And we consider the payments to be just simply consideration, not hush money. That's why we came out with that statement together saying no affair, no hush money payments,
Starting point is 00:17:46 when in fact there was a sexual encounter that took place. And Ben, that was related to that kind of piece of evidence that it was a letter that was distributed actually quite widely. First, I mean, we all saw it a few years ago, but kind of right as this trial was beginning, we saw Donald Trump on his social media post this letter that was signed by Stormy Daniels. We saw all the Trump sort of MAGA influencers post this letter that was signed by Stormy Daniels that said no affair, no hush money. And they were like, look what the media has been hiding from you. Look, this has been hidden. Case closed. It's over. It's all a scam, it's all a sham, it's a hoax. And it's like, no, that's actually part of the coverup. You are actually showing everybody
Starting point is 00:18:30 one of the key pieces of evidence in this coverup. And that was what was subject to scrutiny today, to show you how they use words to evade responsibility. Oh, that wasn't an affair, that was just an encounter. They are very kind of sneaky people in all these regards. And also, and Ben, correct me if I'm wrong here, but the gag order specifically is for what is said outside of the court and has nothing to do with Donald Trump taking the stand in his defense. So on its face, Trump's entire argument is completely BS, no matter which way you slice it. Now, I expect Justice Merchant, at least he should, take this moment very seriously. And like you said, it shows you how at every step of the way, Donald Trump tries to sort of slither his way out of responsibility. But that's why I love our researchers here who catch all these moments and are getting all this stuff out there. Ron Filipkowski on MidasTouch.com had previously written an article on the website back in December. You can look it up. It's called Trump's Long History of Not Testifying After Saying He Would. And Ron reposted this before because this continues to be
Starting point is 00:19:48 proven true every single time. He speaks a big game, then the time comes and he backs out. He makes an excuse. In some cases, he flees the country. And so we've seen this repeated pattern. He is a coward. He is a liar. And we all see right through it. And it's one thing, Ben, too, when we talk about the media covering Trump, it's like, we're okay with that, but you have to do it right. You can't just let him go unchecked, right, Ben? So when he says, I have a gag order, I'm not allowed to testify, and that just goes unchecked. All you're doing now, legacy media, is giving him a megaphone to just spew lies to the nation. What are you doing? And so, Ben, I mean, what do you say to
Starting point is 00:20:30 that? And to Brett's point, the gag order extends outside of court. It has nothing to do with in the court, correct? Well, that's why it's called a limitation on extrajudicial statements, not intrajudicial, not what takes place in the courtroom itself. But even if you think about it, he wants to go in the courtroom and attack the judge's daughter during testimony. What does it have to do with this case at all? You want to attack the family members? You want to talk about the jury in front of the jury? Let me make this point too, then, if it's okay, because I'll let you finish and then I want to say one thing. Go ahead. I just want to say Donald Trump's words when you hear him speak also,
Starting point is 00:21:10 he uses this phrase continuously and he uses it purposely to evade his gag order. If you notice, anytime he speaks about Judge Mershon, Justice Mershon, he calls him the conflicted judge. What's he saying with the conflicted judge? He is making reference to the judge's daughter without referencing the judge's daughter. Speaking about sneaky language, that's another way that Trump is using sneaky language to make an implication that he is conflicted in some way because his daughter works for a political organization. Let's talk about just what went down today in trial. It's day 10. There was the contempt order. There was the contempt hearing for violation of the gag order
Starting point is 00:21:53 that was held in the morning. The judge seemed most concerned about Donald Trump's statement that the jury, this jury that's right there, is unfair and is 95% Democrat, Justice Merchant. It's not even true. And Justice Merchant asked Donald Trump's lawyer, Todd Blanche, how do you justify that? And Todd Blanche said, well, he didn't single out any specific juror to which Justice Merchant reportedly was just like shaking his head. like, how dare you? You realize what a clown, no offense to clowns, look like in this courtroom. Then Keith Davidson continued his testimony and concluded it. He went over the settlement agreements that were entered on Donald Trump's behalf, how the payments were wired to his clients. He talked about the specific language that they used about Donald Trump, about there
Starting point is 00:22:48 being not an affair and not hush money payments, but that there was a sexual encounter. And they thought that's how they were dealing with the press and the PR people and the media by not giving the media accurate information. And Keith Davidson really just kind of laid out that story and timeline. Then I thought what was really interesting is you had this forensic analyst testify, someone named Douglas Douse, who actually works in a department at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office that deals with all of the forensics that was actually created by Karen Friedman Agnifola, one of our hosts here, and of course, who leads our coverage on the Trump criminal trial. She and Cy Vance created
Starting point is 00:23:30 that whole division. And Douglas Douse had to authenticate records that were extracted in connection with this criminal trial because Donald Trump is refusing to stipulate to allow basic business records and audio recordings from coming in that would always just come in on their own. And you would never require someone to authenticate. The parties always stipulate to it. And frankly, it's usually the criminal defendant that wants to stipulate to it and the prosecution that would love to have someone like a Douglas Dowse show up there and in a dramatic fashion play audio recording, right? But Trump is extending the length of this trial by weeks, by making extra witnesses show up. And then Trump whines about the length of the trial.
Starting point is 00:24:19 Douglas Dowse played an audio recording that Michael Cohen took of him and Donald Trump talking about opening up the bank account, creating the shell company, how the money would be passed. We would deal with it. And you have Trump on the audio recording basically saying, keep me updated. This will all go away soon to Michael Cohen. The part the jury hasn't seen yet though, which I think is incredibly important, which will just be like the aha moment, is after all of this, one of the things that the Trump defense is trying to do is act like this was just like Cohen going rogue and National Enquirer going rogue and all of these and Keith Davidson going rogue, but Donald Trump had no clue what was really even happening. Well, that's rebutted by that audio recording one.
Starting point is 00:25:11 It's rebutted by the fact that David Pecker, who ran the National Inquirer, has already testified that he was in the room with Donald Trump when they were talking about these deals and talking about Cohen and that Trump threw a thank you party for David Pecker dealing with the McDougal situation and then dealing with the doorman situation and how Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Hope Hicks, and Hope Hicks we think is going to be testifying, how they dealt with Pecker. So we have Trump being involved through the audio recording, through David Pecker, and then ultimately the checks. Donald Trump then paid Michael Cohen. paying Cohen these checks to reimburse Cohen for the hush money payments that were made to Stormy Daniels. And then Trump grossed it up to the exact amount so that when Cohen paid his taxes, Cohen would basically be reimbursed almost the
Starting point is 00:26:22 exact amount of what it was that he was paying. So we're going to see checks that are signed by Donald Trump to Cohen. This case is about referring to those payments as legal funds. And so if Donald Trump's going to try to argue that Cohen was a bad lawyer or was, why were you paying Cohen this exact amount? That's what the case is going to boil. So just think about after you build all these building blocks, then you see those checks. That's why I think the district attorney's office has been doing, honestly, an incredible job. I think it thing about Donald Trump often that people say about him is he doesn't send emails. He doesn't leave kind of fingerprints on things in that regard. This is a case where he did quite frequently. He of media hype, outrage, I don't know, whatever you want to call it, about like, is Michael Cohen going to be a reliable witness on the stand? Can what Michael Cohen say on the stand, can that be trusted by a jury? They've already put together all those building blocks that build the story where all Cohen has to do is just confirm everything else that has already been corroborated by multiple witnesses. single day in this reporting also, is how they have tied this directly to the election interference scheme by Donald Trump. Witness after witness after witness testifies that this was specifically done to prevent bad stories coming out about Donald Trump that would possibly
Starting point is 00:28:21 impede his chances to be elected president of the United States. And there was one particular striking moment today where Davidson, the Stormy Daniels, Karen McDougal attorney, he was asked about an email that he sent on election night where he said, oh my God, what have we done when Donald Trump won? If that is not as incriminating as possible, if that does not get to the heart of what the issue is here in this case, then I don't know what is. Well, how about this? The fact that then the prosecutor asked, what was that gallows humor? Why were you saying that? To which Davidson said is that because our activities we thought led to Donald Trump being elected. That's why he said
Starting point is 00:29:06 we use that exact language. So that's what went down today. Also, remember, there's a lot of video out there of Donald Trump in real time after all this stuff went down in 2016, publicly praising Cohen. Michael Cohen, he's a great lawyer. He's a great guy, a great lawyer, a super lawyer. He's as good as you get. He's my lawyer. Over and over again, praising Cohen. And it wasn't until Donald Trump had to throw Cohen, didn't have to, threw Cohen under the bus, that then they basically changed that tune as Cohen's having his mea culpa. So I think we're going to see a few more moments of that before Cohen even testifies as well of the prosecution showing other examples of Trump praising Michael Cohen after all the hush money payments, after Donald Trump reimbursed Michael Cohen. So that's what's going on in the trial. I want to talk about what's going on in Michigan and Wisconsin
Starting point is 00:30:03 on Donald Trump's day off. It's a direct rebuttal to his concept that he's gagged. I mean, he's speaking Michigan, Wisconsin, and he's saying disgusting things and the behavior is so abhorrent and corporate media is not reporting. I like to say it like that, Jay. I've been using legacy media, but I think the best way to describe it is you've got Trump propaganda media and then you have corporate media. And they both have agendas and they're not aligned with the truth. I'm going to add that to my lexicon. I like that, too.
Starting point is 00:30:34 Corporate media. There we go. Corporate media and Trump propaganda media versus independent media like this program that's community-based. I want to remind everybody, patreon.com slash MidasTouch. We're breaking major stories here, including at the gag order hearing today, their contempt order hearing about the violation of the gag order. What Justice Mershon was most concerned about was the story we broke here on the MidasTouch network about Trump's statements about the jurors.
Starting point is 00:31:02 None of that's possible without you and your support on patreon.com slash MidasTouch. That helps us build up our editorial team here. That allows us not to be corporate media, although I can never be corporate media no matter what, but that allows us not to be. It allows us to be independent. Let's go to our first quick break of the day, but we've got so much more to discuss. Nom Nom is the world's most exciting dog food. Consider it your dog's membership to the Clean Bowl Club. I love my dog Mochi. She's a member of my family. She's my little baby girl. That's why I serve her Nom Nom, the top quality food that she deserves. Nom Nom delivers freshly made dog food personalized to your dog's taste
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Starting point is 00:34:37 Midas and use code Midas at checkout. That's shopbeam.com slash M-E-I-D-A-S and use code Midas for up to 40% off. Welcome back. We are live. Great ad reads right there. If you want to support our pro-democracy sponsors, they play a major part in the growth of this platform. The discount codes are in the descriptions below. Brett, I want to talk about Donald Trump's speech. I think we got to acknowledge Jordy is gone. People are saying free Jordy. And I don't want to be blamed for Jordy's absence. Jordy, as a dad, has to get on dad duty occasionally.
Starting point is 00:35:16 So we allow him to be a good dad. No, no. This is the first time I've worn my glasses, apparently, according to Jordy. So I wasn't able to see if he was here or not. How did Jordy not, does Jordy watch our videos? I mean, does Jordy look at me? I don't know. Maybe he was just too be cocked.
Starting point is 00:35:34 Maybe he was too be cocked. So Donald Trump's speech in Wisconsin and Michigan, they're so unhinged. And look, I know that still there is a huge portion of our population, too much, people who are not focused on this right now. It's frankly why it's so important that you watching this need to start getting this in front of people. They just need to start seeing what it is that he's saying and what he is doing. Because if you think about it, going back to my example before, you have the pro-Trump propaganda media, which is like Fox and Newsmax and OAN and Right Side Broadcast, which is frankly like no different than like Russian propaganda or like the propaganda in North Korea. Like in many ways, it's even more extreme than that.
Starting point is 00:36:20 So they'll never say anything nice about President Biden ever. And it's just pure Trump propaganda. And then all these lies about President Biden over and over again. Then the corporate media, all the others that are still funded with big corporate money and stock shareholders and all of that, and decamillionaires, billionaires who fund these things, they never say anything nice about President Biden either. And then they'll have some critical coverage of Trump, some positive. They'll both sides it. They'll usually go through a rally and then find the 2% from the 98% of Trump saying semi-normal things. And they'll use that. Look, Trump says, you're going to be fired.
Starting point is 00:37:03 They'll do that and then just do like 30 seconds. And that's all they'll show. Not like the crazy stuff and the dangerous stuff. And then we just show it to you because I just think it's important that we know like, hey, this is happening. You need the data. What you do with the data, that's on you. But we should be showing you the data. This is not Obama, Romney, Obama, McCain, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, Clinton, Bob Dole, Al Gore, George W. Bush, George W. Bush, Kerry. This is not that. This is not that. You have President Biden, yes, so stipulated. He's older. He's old. I get it. If you go back and look at President Biden's speeches when he's in his 60s or even his 70s, yes, he looks much younger. I understand
Starting point is 00:37:53 that exists. But he is experienced. He is articulate. He picks his words carefully. He speaks about democracy. He speaks about law and order. He speaks about wages. He speaks about veterans. He speaks about seniors. He speaks about social security. He speaks about healthcare. He speaks about lowering prescription drug prices. He speaks about infrastructure. He speaks about issues and not just saying, drill, baby, drill, baby, drill, baby, drill, drill, drill. He talks about policies. You can look at the policy and then connect it to the outcome, 40,000 infrastructure projects that are now in full swing across the country. You can talk about lower prescription drug prices.
Starting point is 00:38:38 You can talk about unions whose pensions have quite literally been saved or revived because of President Biden. There is a body of work that he talks about. Now, if you're looking for some sort of political theater and you want to see, I don't know, some cosplay weirdo stuff that you want to see on a sci-fi thriller, you're not going to get that from President Biden. If you want to cosplay WWE fascist bad guy, you'll get that from Donald Trump, but that's not what we should want as the United States of America. And when President Biden speaks and he does that thing sometimes where he's like,
Starting point is 00:39:16 this is the United States of America. That's what he's channeling. I yearn for normalcy. And when you watch Trump, it just isn't there. Take a look at his speech in Wisconsin. We'll go through some of these quickly. Here he comes up with the word and says that things are now even getting more becocked. Here, play this clip. A smaller version, but it's even more becocked. Okay. It's even worse. So it's really, it's a terrible thing, but he's going to be rejected. Okay. That's not a word. And then he struggles to say the word infrastructure. Let's show you this. Worked out too well. $1.2 trillion for their fake infrastructure.
Starting point is 00:39:55 And it's not a fake infrastructure package. It's real. There are 40,000 projects. Donald Trump said two more weeks, I'll introduce my infrastructure plan. Two more weeks, two more weeks, two more weeks. He would have had bipartisan support, but he'd rather play golf for a full year of his term and divide us than actually do infrastructure. President Biden did infrastructure, and there are 40,000 projects across the country. Also, Donald Trump lost 3 million jobs other than Herbert Hoover. I know Donald Trump is pervert Hoover. Other than that, Donald Trump's the only president to lose this many jobs. President Biden's created 15 million jobs, but for Donald Trump, he says that's all fake. Don't believe the numbers. Don't believe the data. Don't believe anything. Just believe me.
Starting point is 00:40:40 Here, play this clip. The Biden job numbers are fake. He's counting people coming back from work. Not even true. Not even true. Even if you factor in people coming back, President Biden's created way more. Even if you factor in people who came back, and then you take out COVID, but it's like, why would you take out COVID when Donald Trump miserably handled it and other people would have handled it far better? But take out COVID when Donald Trump miserably handled it and other people would have handled it far better? But take out COVID. But even the fact that you have to say that it's like, why are we helping them? Take out COVID and then take out the jobs that came back. President Biden still far exceeds jobs created by Donald Trump by millions and millions and
Starting point is 00:41:20 millions. Donald Trump still obsessed with Nikki Haley and attacking her at his Wisconsin speech. Here, play this clip. Even in South Carolina, I visited where, by the way, we beat the governor by a record number, the governor, the former governor. They have a great governor there now. And like, he even talks so weird. We beat the governor. Like, the whole thing is weird. We beat them. We beat them. The whole thing is weird. Why are you attacking Nikki Haley? Very, very strange stuff. And then here he attacks Cassidy Hutchinson, a witness in the Washington DC federal criminal case against Donald Trump, not the Manhattan, the other criminal case, which I believe is a violation of the gag order there. Let's play this clip where he attacks Cassidy Hutchinson,
Starting point is 00:42:11 a witness in that case. Instead, they'd be, I want to go down. These people are crazy. And then I think she changed her testimony. You heard that because the people testified that none of this stuff happened. But a friend of mine said, you shouldn't fight that because I gained such respect. I didn't know that you were that strong and that tough, that you would take on a black belt in karate or whatever the hell he was. A very tough guy, I can tell you that. There were muscles all over the place, on his ears, on his neck. If I grabbed him around the neck, I'm not even sure he'd feel it. He might not feel it. Now, these people are crazy.
Starting point is 00:42:41 Calling a witness crazy. I mean, again, like that's what he's, that's what, and by the way, you remember earlier, he's saying, I'm gagged. I can't say anything. Well, you're attacking a witness right there in another case. You're saying all this crazy stuff and dangerous stuff. And I think unlawful stuff. By the way, Donald Trump welcomed a Milwaukee business owner, Shanna or Shana Gray. Did you see that? This was a crazy thing. So he welcomed this Milwaukee business owner, Shana Gray, on stage to talk about how her business did so much better when Donald Trump was president. And here's the
Starting point is 00:43:18 catch, folks. Like with everything, this is just another scam. Her business did not exist until 2023. Her business has only existed under President Biden. He always tries to claim the success of President Biden, and he makes up these stories. It's another long line of scams like he did with the union workers, like he does at Chick-fil-A. Everything with him is a lie. Everything is a lie. Everything is a lie, and that's where, I mean, you have Trump propaganda media, they launder it intentionally. Corporate media, they don't call it out. They just think their job is to just put it out there. Here's what he said. Here you go. No, you can't do that. If you're the fourth estate, you have to exercise a modicum of responsibility here. It's not taking a specific political side to just call out these lies.
Starting point is 00:44:13 Stop being a vessel for Trump's propaganda. Then that brings us to Michigan. So Trump went to Wisconsin and Michigan and whines that he's being gagged, but he spoke in two separate states. And here, this is how it began. It began with Tudor Dixon, the failed gubernatorial candidate, MAGA Republican in Michigan. She lost to Gretchen Whitmer, now Governor Gretchen Whitmer, by 10 points. Tudor Dixon was like the warm-up act to Donald Trump. And here's what she said about Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who she lost to by 10 points in 2022. Let's play it. I don't know if you saw the latest video where she talks about nicknames. She has a bunch of different nicknames. She left one out. Did you notice that? You know the nickname I'm talking about? Stretching Gretchen? Just between us
Starting point is 00:45:10 girls, when you're campaigning, you hear a lot of stuff you normally wouldn't hear. And one of our legislators told me that Lee Chatfield was actually pretty familiar with that name. i guess i can't accuse her of being non-partisan or not bipartisan anymore huh she is bipartisan apparently that is just disgusting trash that is gutter that is despicable that is trash that should not be in our politics that should be disqualifying. If anybody gave a speech like that as a warm-up act to President Biden and President Biden didn't call that person out, I wouldn't even have to think about that because I know President Biden would have called him out. I know that the late, great John McCain would call somebody out like that. How do I know? When there was just somebody in the audience who was saying defamatory and false stuff about then candidate Obama, then former President Obama,
Starting point is 00:46:12 McCain took the mic away. Now, with the Republican Party's becoming MAGA, they give them the mic. They give these people the mic and put them in leadership positions. And here's what Donald Trump did when he spoke. Here's how he thanked Tudor Dixon for saying that and for saying that she likes him. Play this clip. We have a lot of others. And we have a woman who I think is a fantastic woman. And she's become like a television star. She's on a lot. And she only says great things about me. So I like her. If she didn't say great things, I wouldn't. But I do. I like her a lot and she only says great things about me. So I like her. If she didn't say great things, I wouldn't. But I do. I like her a lot. Tudor Dixon. Tudor. Thank you. Great job. So she lost to Governor Gretchen Whitmer by 10 points. You saw her on stage before in that vile,
Starting point is 00:47:06 gutter statement about Governor Gretchen Whitmer sexually harassing, just a despicable thing to say. Then Donald Trump's compliment is, the only reason I like you is because you say nice things about me. Otherwise, I won't like you. And then you have her, Tudor Dixon, there going, that's like the greatest. Yeah, he likes me because I say nice things. My dogs are barking in the background. Yeah, that's why she likes me. I mean, how ridiculous, how offensive, how, again, and just how odd. Now, here's what the Attorney General Dana Nessel had to say about this in response. I pity Tudor Dixon. Must be awfully hard to find ways to impress Trump when shooting a puppy in the face. Was already taken. So grateful to have the wisdom, maturity, and basic decency of Governor Whitmer.
Starting point is 00:48:04 I think those words are so important in our politics right now. Wisdom, maturity, and basic decency, right? You would think it would be a foregone conclusion that those things exist, but it doesn't. Governor Whitmer embodies that. I think President Biden embodies that. I think it's important. Wisdom, mature. By the way, I think that should probably be the slogan for the Biden campaign.
Starting point is 00:48:30 Wisdom, maturity, and basic decency. That's what he should run on. Wisdom, maturity, and basic decency. Mallory McMorrow says, if you're wondering why women are fleeing Trump's GOP, their 2022 governor nominee reduced herself to the most vile basis locker room talk to denigrate the sitting woman governor, all to impress a convicted sexual serial predator who owes E. Jean Carroll nearly $100 million. How embarrassing. Dixon lost to Whitmer by over 10 points. And I want to share this with you right now. For those who know Michigan politics, know how Governor Whitmer has always been fighting for women's reproductive rights. And I'm sure if you're watching this from Michigan or if you
Starting point is 00:49:16 know about Michigan politics, you know when Governor Whitmer was a state senator, the important work she did fighting for women's reproductive rights there. And that's how one of the ways she kind of built her reputation there was being a relentless fighter for women, for all people in Michigan, but fearlessly advocating for people's freedoms and for democracy. Her entire career, she's been putting in hard work. There's a moment in 2013 that people in Michigan know. Tudor Dixon knows. People in Michigan know this moment where now Governor Gretchen Whitmer, then State
Starting point is 00:49:52 Senator Whitmer back in 2013, gave a speech on the Senate floor, the State Senate floor, where she talked about how she was a victim of rape and experiencing that and how she didn't want to have to come forward and tell the story publicly, but how she felt she had to in making sure that the extremists, she's talking in 2013, that the right-wing extremists there are not passing laws that will take away fundamental freedoms of women. Watch this. Think about that. And I thought, I can't push one of my colleagues to share a tough story if I'm not brave enough to share one of my own. And so I'm about to tell you something that I've not shared with many people in my life.
Starting point is 00:50:38 But over 20 years ago, I was a victim of rape. And thank God it didn't result in a pregnancy. Because I can't imagine going through what I went through and then having to consider what to do about an unwanted pregnancy from an
Starting point is 00:50:58 attacker. And as a mother with two girls, the thought that they would ever go through something like I did keeps me up at night. I thought this was all behind me. You know how tough I can be. The thought and the memory of that still haunts me. If this were law then, and I had become pregnant, I would not be able to have coverage because of this.
Starting point is 00:51:30 How extreme, how extreme does this measure need to be? I'm not the only woman in our state that has faced that horrible circumstance. I am not enjoying talking about it. It's something I've hidden for a long time but i think you need to see the face of the women that you are impacting by this vote today and do you see the difference there between a serious politician a serious advocate for people, all people, women's reproductive rights, Americans, people in Michigan, right there in Gretchen Whitmer. And then that WWE cosplay fascism, vile behavior right there back in yesterday in Michigan, and before that in Wisconsin with Trump and Tudor Dixon. How dare Tudor Dixon?
Starting point is 00:52:27 How dare Donald Trump? Frankly, how dare corporate media for not explaining this, for not showing this, for not contextualizing it, for not providing you with the data? Again, when you have the data, make the decision, but be empowered with that data. I want you to be deprived of the data. That's how you'll be able to make decisions. Share this data. Still have a lot of show to discuss. We'll be back after our last quick break of the show.
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Starting point is 00:56:29 We're funded by these emojis, the patreon.com slash MidasTouch, plugging the other one here, patreon.com slash MidasTouch, and those pro-democracy sponsors right there. So real big shout out right there. I would be remiss if I didn't point out some of the things that went down in that Michigan, whatever you want to call it, rally, traveling, fascist circus thing. A plane went overhead and it was like the first time that Donald Trump had ever seen an airplane before. And then he called the airplane China. Here, play this clip. And that's what you need, especially with the car industry and all of the other things.
Starting point is 00:57:18 I thought that was China. That was a loud plane. That was an old old one those old ones are a little loud you know the crowd's laughing but like i i just i truly don't understand like i don't i really don't get the humor in any of that i thought it was china like why why is that why is that funny like at all why would the airplane be china why is that even a joke like what even a joke? I don't even find what the humor is in it. I guess they just like laughing at him. This whole thing is just like a loser fest of laughing at things. This person's leading the Republican Party. He looks at an airplane and goes, I thought it was China. And he was like, he'd never seen an airplane before. Here, he's talking about when he actually talks about things other than weird stuff like that.
Starting point is 00:58:07 Like here he talks about how they, whoever they are, want you not to have large windows, but small windows. He says they're coming for your large windows. Play this clip. They want your apartments and homes with small windows and every other crazy thing they can think of. They don't want you to have large windows because they're not as good with the sun. Actually, in many cases, they're better. What are you talking about? And then Trump says that they want to take away
Starting point is 00:58:31 your water from your dishwashers. Like, who are they? Are they coming in with buckets to take your dishwasher water from you? Here, play this clip. And remember this. They also want to take your gas stoves. They want to give you very little water
Starting point is 00:58:44 in your dishwashers and your washing machines. Youves. They want to give you very little water in your dishwashers and your washing machines. You know, they want washing machines with very little water. And I'm talking about in states like your state, you don't have a water problem. You do have a water problem. You have too much water. They want to take your water out of your washing machines, your dishwashers. They want to put water restrictors on your sinks and showers. You know, I ended all of that. People would buy a new home and they were so proud. And they'd say, darling, it's so good. There's only one problem, darling, the sink. No water comes out like drip, drip, drip. And darling, I have beautiful hair, but I can't do anything because in the shower, the water doesn't come out. Darling, I want to get out of this house. I hate it. And I say to him, take off the restrictor. But now they made the restrictor
Starting point is 00:59:30 where you can't take it off unless you have a blowtorch. Okay. No, I don't know what you're talking about. None of that's true. You didn't do anything like that at all. I mean, you know, and look, I'll just show you this. I don't want to spend much more time on him, but I'll show you this other one just so you see it of him saying that every legal scholar wanted Roe v. Wade to be overturned. And then he did like a whole five minutes congratulating all the justices for overturning Roe v. Wade, the right wing justices who he appointed. And he does like a whole long segment on this, but just so you see, he said it, I owe you that data point to play this clip. Everybody wanted this to be done. Every legal scholar wanted this to be done.
Starting point is 01:00:14 Most Democrats wanted it. Liberals wanted it. This was a while ago. Then they changed their mind. They viewed it as a political, a political deal. Okay. Nothing that he says is true. And my broader thing about MAGA and why to me it is such a threat is the levels and relentlessness of the lies and the gaslighting. It's truly overwhelming in the literal sense of the word overwhelming and relentless. It's constant. It's simply trying to wear you down. It's trying to make you submit. There was once a time where leaders in both parties would not stand for that. You would say, no, we're not dealing with this crazy. No, no, no, no. Just stop it, especially at the leadership level. As I said, you had John McCain take away the mic. You've now had the Republican Party. Give that mic. Give that megaphone. As much as it is overwhelming, fascism relies on us to become complacent. Fascism relies on us to submit.
Starting point is 01:01:30 They use those terms. Remember in the last episode, we talked about how Donald Trump and the right wing would post that video where it was like a QAnon video, literally. It said, where we go when we go all the QAnon slogan. And it showed these images of Donald Trump and world leaders. And it would say like, the Queen submitted, the King submitted, the EU submitted, Canada submitted, the UK submitted, India submitted. They use these words. It's a word of authoritarianism, submission.
Starting point is 01:01:59 And they see things through this view of making people submit. That's what gets them off, submission and making people and dominating people. One of their tools for it that, again, corporate media is both complicit and ill-equipped, it's a combo of both, is to stand up to it and to call it out and not simply amplify it. And there's nothing you can do because these forces, these right-wing authoritarian forces, they will continue to do it because their goal as authoritarian inherent in the word is for you to submit to their authority and their deluge of lies, the fictional world they create that they want to force themselves upon you and force you to live in is a fiction.
Starting point is 01:02:57 It is their sick and sadistic fiction that anoints their oligarchy. It's so important that we call it out. And as we start talking about even some other issues, one of the most fundamental things on this show, Brett, that we talk about over and over again that you simply don't hear in corporate media and you don't hear it in any other media are basic principles. You'll always hear me talk about principles and values. At the highest level, you've got democracy, you've got compassion, you've got empathy, you've got love, you've got bringing people together. You need to talk about those things. We need to remind Americans and the world that we need to be together in this basic
Starting point is 01:03:42 humanity and support our fellow humans and treat people with respect. No one talks about that. The media wants to just put us in teams and then amplify them and perpetuate the divisions. What I want to make this network always about is how do we bring people together? Foundationally, it's empowering you with the data to see this and then pushing back against this MAGA madness. Brett, tell us a little bit about more about other things that are going on across the country. Well, I'd be remiss if I didn't just at least bring up quickly this Time magazine article
Starting point is 01:04:18 that a lot of folks were talking about. And I think if you watch this network and we play these clips constantly of all of Donald Trump's rallies, I don't think there were too many revelations in this timepiece, to be honest, that we have not heard Donald Trump say himself. But when you see it all written together like this, I think it has a lot of power. And I think this article did a really, really good job. And you can check this out, of course, at Time's website and in the magazine. And so I wanted to read, it's a long piece. It probably would take you about 30 minutes to get through the whole piece. But I want to read you the first paragraph and I want to read you the last paragraph because I think it's good at summing up everything that's
Starting point is 01:04:59 in there. And it lays out the stakes, which I think is always important for media to do, right? It lays out the stakes of what a Donald Trump presidency, a second presidency, would mean. willing to build migrant detention camps and deploy the U.S. military both at the border and inland. He would let red states monitor women's pregnancies and prosecute those who violate abortion bans. He would, at his personal discretion, withhold funds appropriated by Congress, according to top advisors. He would be willing to fire a U.S. attorney who doesn't carry out his order to prosecute someone, breaking with a tradition of independent law enforcement that dates from America's founding. He is weighing pardons for every one of his supporters accused of attacking the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021, more than 800 of whom have pleaded guilty or have been convicted by a jury. He might not come to the aid of an
Starting point is 01:06:06 attacked ally in Europe or Asia if he felt that country wasn't paying enough for its own defense. He would gut the US civil service, deploy the National Guard to American cities as he sees fit, close the White House pandemic preparedness office, and staff his administration with acolytes who back his false assertion that the 2020 election was stolen. In short, it is defining a fascist rule over the United States of America, and that should shock everybody. I know we're numb to it all, but it should absolutely horrify you when you see it laid out that way. I think the ending too is important, so I'm going to read the end, and then I'll let you read the rest of the article. We don't have that much time to do the whole piece,
Starting point is 01:06:47 but this sentence is important. Whether or not he was kidding about bringing a tyrannical end to our 248 year experiment in democracy, I ask him, don't you see why many Americans see such talk of dictatorship as contrary to our most cherished principles. Trump says no, quite the opposite, he insists. I think a lot of people like it. Now, we can only hope he's wrong here, right? We got the Midas Mighty. I think people want better than that. I think people want their rights. I don't think people want Donald Trump monitoring their pregnancies or sending them off for prosecution or building migrant detention camps in this country, sending the military into cities. I don't think that's what people want. And I believe in the American people. And when Donald Trump is out there and he's speaking about things like the
Starting point is 01:07:38 washing machines and the dryers and, oh, I can't shower because I can't get the shampoo out of my hair because of what they are doing and they're coming for you. And there's going to be chaos if I lose. And all lie that Ben was speaking about in order to wear you down, in order to get his people and enough Americans to think that they are coming for them to panic and to put the control of their lives in the hands of somebody who considers themselves to be a strong man to deal with their problem. It's a formula that's been used time and time again. It's exactly the formula that Donald Trump is trying to implement right now. So we need to be wary about that. And as part of this kind of fascist takeover attempt that we are dealing with here. Part of that is also, of course, putting the most incompetent people in positions of power. And we've seen this with the Republican
Starting point is 01:08:51 Party. We've seen this with the clown show that we've witnessed in Congress. And so this MAGA Congress has been in utter disarray. They're all fighting with each other. They're at each other's throats nonstop. Now we see Marjorie Taylor Greene is out there. She wants to call another motion to vacate the chair. She went out there with another MAGA guy, Thomas Massey. They said, next week, we're going to bring it to the floor. She had already filed it a couple of weeks ago. We're going to bring it to the floor because Mike Johnson had the nerve to work with Democrats to pass legislation that most of the country wanted. And part of that was helping to fund Ukraine. And Marjorie Taylor Greene was enraged. She says
Starting point is 01:09:31 she's going to bring this to the floor to try to boot Speaker Mike Johnson. Now, we know that Speaker Johnson's job is safe. It's safe because this time the Democrats are going to bail him out. They're probably going to bail him out because he did cross party lines and work with the Democrats in order to pass this Ukraine aid package. And so Marjorie Taylor Greene is just whining, whining, whining. As part of her whining, there was this moment where she created this hat. She called it a MUGA hat, a Make Ukraine Great Again hat. And she put it on a cardboard cutout of Mike Johnson. And here was this moment from this very clownish press conference. Apologies to the clown. Yeah, that's what this is. The Uniparty is Make Ukraine Great Again. The Uniparty is all about funding
Starting point is 01:10:18 every single foreign war. They think this is the business model that needs to be done. Anyway, Marjorie's antics gave us an idea here at the Midas Touch Network on how could we make her eat her words here? How could we make them backfire? So what we did is we put our heads together kind of right away after we saw that press conference, and we created these mooga hats in real life. We have these make Ukraine Great Again hats, and 100% of the profits from these hats go to United Help Ukraine and World Central Kitchen, which is Jose Andres' humanitarian organization. So what we want to do here is raise as much money as possible in Marjorie Taylor Greene's name to support Ukraine using her Make Ukraine Great Again hats that you see right here. The response so far has been absolutely off the charts.
Starting point is 01:11:12 So many people have ordered them. And I love that we could use Marjorie Taylor Greene here in order to actually help causes that we care about. Speaking of other things going on in the world, President Biden today spoke about these campus protests that are going on. Speaking of other things going on in the world, President Biden today spoke about these campus protests that are going on, and he laid out in no uncertain terms basically two main points. One, that of course students in this country, anybody in this country has a right to free speech, to protest peacefully around the country. But he also wanted to make clear that things like anti-Semitism, things like Islamophobia, violence, buildings being raided and destroyed, that that kind of behavior would not be tolerated. Biden made clear with this point, he said,
Starting point is 01:11:58 we are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people. Peaceful protests are important, but we can also not be a lawless country. Here's part of Biden's statements. The first is the right to free speech and for people to peacefully assemble and make their voices heard. The second is the rule of law. Both must be upheld.
Starting point is 01:12:20 We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people or squash dissent. The American people are heard. In fact, peaceful protest is in the best tradition of how Americans respond to consequential issues. But, but, neither are we a lawless country. We are a civil society. An order must prevail. President Biden also spoke about seeing people around destroying property on these college campuses and making sure that people know his position,
Starting point is 01:12:53 that that is not a peaceful protest when there is this destruction. Throughout our history, we've often faced moments like this because we are a big, diverse, free-thinking and freedom-loving nation. And moments like this are always those who rush in to score political points. But this isn't a moment for politics. It's a moment for clarity. So let me be clear. Peaceful protest in America. Violent protest is not protected. Peaceful protest is.
Starting point is 01:13:23 It's against the law when violence occurs. Destroying property is not a peaceful protest. It's against the law when violence occurs. Destroying property is not a peaceful protest. It's against the law. Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations, none of this is a peaceful protest. Threatening people, intimidating people, instilling fear in people is not peaceful protest. It's against the law. Dissent is essential to democracy, but dissent must never lead to disorder or to denying the rights of others so students can finish the semester and their college education. Look, it's basically a matter of fairness. It's a matter of what's right. There's the right to protest, but not the right to cause chaos. People have the right to get an education, the right to get a
Starting point is 01:14:11 degree, the right to walk across the campus safely without fear of being attacked. And I think President Biden is taking the right tone here. And I think there's a consistency in the way that he has handled situations like this going back for a very long time. I remember President Biden coming out very forcefully also. Of course, there's a lot of support for the Black Lives Matter protests back during the Trump administration. And when those protests got out of hand and became wild and turned into riots, President Biden condemned them. He spoke out against them. Same here. You have people who have very legitimate gripes with things that are happening between Israel and Gaza and the Palestinians. And President Biden is speaking out against the violence that he is seeing on the ground in these college campuses. It's important to take that stand. There's a difference
Starting point is 01:14:59 between peacefully protesting and causing violence and threatening people and being anti-Semitic or Islamophobic or whatever you want. And I would just say this, in this time, and especially with these issues that are so divisive, I think we need to understand what are American values here. We have to understand that peaceful demonstrations are very important to getting a message across. And we have to understand that there are forces out there that want to divide us at every turn. There are forces out there that want to exploit events like this in order to bring us further apart. And we saw that during the Black Lives Matter protests. We saw outside instigators come in, set things on fire, try to blame things on
Starting point is 01:15:46 the protesters. We see that kind of division happen. You see right-wing forces trying to take these fractures and make them bigger in order to bring people apart. But you have to- And I'll say this, Fred, too. Then you have the media putting people into camps the same way they try to do when it comes to like political parties. And then they want to further fuel the division rather than talking about solutions and how to work together. Obviously, there are historical complexities that merit deep analysis and not a few minutes at the end of a show about current affairs, current politics, current court developments. Suffice to say, it is always my design and goal and aim in building this network as a safe place to bring people together and talk about what unites us and talk about our shared humanity. I fundamentally believe that when you talk about Jewish heritage,
Starting point is 01:16:56 Israeli heritage and culture, Palestinian heritage and culture are very similar, deeply rooted historical traditions that are very similar. And I always think about it when I'm always asked about it, is to say that an Israeli and a Palestinian would share the same food, would share love, would go to movies together, would hang out, would play football, soccer, would share love. And oftentimes, it is leaders. It is those who seize power, take power in positions who want to divide us. That's why leadership is such an important thing. And to me, it's important to always reflect on our fundamental shared humanity and find ways, bridge gaps, bridge divisions, bring people together, and ultimately share that love and not let leaders or the media or people try to divide us. And now that we have a media platform, I should mention too, Brett, right, we're
Starting point is 01:17:58 number one of all YouTube media. Once again, more people watch this than watch Fox, the NBA, MSNBC, CNN on digital. It's just so important that I think we use our platform as a safe place to bring people together right now. And that's what I want to continue to do. Anything else to discuss? Yeah. I would just say to that point, I think also look for – be wary of kind of the loudest voices in the room that want to burn it all down. There are voices and this isn't married to any particular political party. It could be kind of protesters. It could be the media. It could be political leaders, candidates. This could be anybody. But be wary of people out there who just want to get you angry, people who want to burn the whole system down. That, to me, is what has so repulsed me by what MAGA is. MAGA is about destroying our institutions. And when I see that on any side, whether I see that coming from MAGA, whether I see people coming from on the so
Starting point is 01:19:11 called left, it bothers me. I think our institutions are important. I think our values are important. And I think anybody trying to throw those aside, I think you should look at them with a little hesitation and also understand that the loudest voices in the room are often not representative of the rest of the room. And there are a lot of people out there, a lot of bad actors who want to exploit everything out there to further divide us. And I think it's upon all of us to try to figure out ways that we could all come together. Oh, I should mention also, we talked a lot about extremism on this show. And it reminds me of our movie Against All Enemies, our documentary, which speaks about
Starting point is 01:19:58 these extremist movements. And I want to thank everybody for the incredible response from Against All Enemies, a movie created by veterans, produced by veterans, that exposes how people even in the U.S. military who have pledged an oath to defend – to protect and defend the United States of America can be brought into these extremist movements where they want to tear down the United States of America, where they want to destroy this country. So I'll just remind everybody that you can watch Against All Enemies anywhere. It's available for rent or purchase on Apple or Amazon or YouTube or Google Play, really any of those on-demand, whatever kind of services you want. But I think that provides a lot of insight between how certain moments and stuff could breed this extremism in the country. And I think it's just very kind of indicative of all kind of extremist movements that we are seeing. And I want to thank everybody for the incredible reviews and all that. Well said, Brett. Make sure y'all download it. Let us know your thoughts. And just appreciate all of your
Starting point is 01:21:06 support as always. We've got a lot of work to do. And one of the most important ways you can help out, the most important ways, in addition to making sure you're registered to vote, family members are registered to vote, friends, colleagues, anybody who you know who's pro-democracy is registered to vote. Just think if you do a little each day and make sure people close to you, you can make a monumental difference. And just think about it. As I said, with this channel on YouTube being the most watched YouTube channel of all news channels in the United States of America, more than Fox, MSNBC, CNN, NBA, not just news, just anything in general. Just think about the impact
Starting point is 01:21:47 you can have. You created this. I mean, we're so grateful to be messengers here and to help out, but y'all created this. So just think about the power that you have. It's more than a network. It's a movement. And let's use that to make sure we get out the truth. You can share these videos, share this channel, make sure you're subscribed. It's the other most important way that you can help. Just make sure you're subscribed. You may think you're subscribed to this channel, but you may not have actually hit the subscribe button. So hit subscribe. And then when you speak to people, let them know about this channel. Bring it up in one or two or five or 10 or 15 or 20 conversations. There you see it right there. Every single day, bring it up in as many conversations as you can have
Starting point is 01:22:32 and let people know, just so you know that I'm not just puffery and saying number one, like it really is. It really is number one of all channels across all genres. During NBA playoffs too. During NBA playoffs. And that's thanks to you. So now we have to use that power that you created to get the truth out for good, to spread love, positivity, pro-democracy. So do that. Let people know about this channel, communicate with others about it. Send emails, text messages, let people know about this channel. If you want to go a step
Starting point is 01:23:05 further and watch some of our after show content, we're going to do an after show right now. Go to patreon.com slash MidasTouch, P-A-T-R-E-O-N.com slash MidasTouch. Join one of the membership tiers. There's even a tier where you could become an honorary producer and your name shows up on the MidasTouch ending credits. So your name will always be affixed to the Midas Touch episode. You can do that at patreon.com slash Midas Touch. And then from time to time, we do special Zoom meetings as well, Brett and I and Jordi, where we just meet with our patrons as we try to find fun ways to build this platform. So thank you, everybody. We're grateful for you. We love you. We appreciate you. We got a lot of work to do. We'll keep at it
Starting point is 01:23:49 together. Brett, take it away. Shout out to the Midas Mighty. Against the fascists we sing our song We will get it right whenever... It's Ken Harbaugh with the Midas Touch Network. The film Against All Enemies, which I co-produced with Ben Maisalis and this network, has won awards around the world for its up-close portrayal of America's insurrectionist movement. It premieres in the U.S. on March 29th on Amazon and Apple TV. Go to againstallenemiesfilm.com or click the link below. But don't just watch Against All Enemies. Tell your friends about it.
Starting point is 01:24:37 It's one more way to hold accountable those who threaten our democracy. Thanks, Midas Mighty. let's use our power well.

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