The MeidasTouch Podcast - Zoomed In Series Premiere: DeSantis Derangement and Defending Democracy with MeidasTouch

Episode Date: August 11, 2021

Welcome to Zoomed In, a podcast designed to uplift the next generation of voices all around the country hosted by Gen Z activists Jack Cocchiarella and Aaron Parnas. During today’s inaugural episode, Jack and Aaron discuss the big government takeover by Ron DeSantis, Twitter’s ban of Marjorie Taylor Greene, and the Biden Bipartisan Infrastructure bill. Later in the episode, Jack and Aaron sit down with the Brett, Jordy, and Ben from MeidasTouch to talk about how young people can get involved in the Meidas grassroots movement to keep America blue in 2022. Subscribe to the Zoomed In Podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts! New episodes will be released every Wednesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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has concerns about gambling, visit connectsontario.ca. What's better than a well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue? A well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue that was carefully selected by an Instacart shopper and delivered to your door. A well-marbled ribeye you ordered

without even leaving the kiddie pool. Whatever groceries your summer calls for, Instacart has you covered. Download the Instacart app and enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart. Groceries that over-deliver. Hi, I'm Jack Cacciarella. And I'm Aaron Parnas. And this is Zoomed In. On Zoomed In, we will be featuring and uplifting the voices and the stories of the next generation of American leaders.

And folks, we're so excited to be able to speak with elected officials, those who are running for office, activists, organizers, influencers, all of which are young people and are the future of this country. Zoomed In is a podcast by Gen Z, but for everyone, as we take our next steps in protecting our American democracy. Thank you so much for joining us and let's zoom in. Aaron, let's hit the headlines. Let's do it, Jack.

So I think our listeners know, because we say it all the time, we are men from Florida. We are Florida men. We are not like Florida man. So let's get started by hitting these headlines, by talking about a person, sadly, who's been in the news a lot lately, and that is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Ron DeSantis has taken it upon himself to try to be a dictator in the state of Florida, threatening teachers and school board members and school superintendents and generally educators across the state, saying, if you implement mask mandates, which will help our students, which will prevent the spread of COVID,

which will prevent further death, you will be fined. You will lose your pay. You will feel my Ron DeSantis fake dictator wrath. And it's been extremely troubling. So Aaron, let's talk about this. What can Democrats do? What do we need to do to stop DeSantis? Yeah, it's scary. And I think the number one thing Democrats can do is really, A, reelect, elect a new governor in 2022, but also focus on the state legislature. Because right now the state legislature is overwhelmingly Republican. And something that Ron DeSantis and the Florida GOP have used to their advantage is this idea of preemption, and he's doing it with COVID. And for those of you who don't know what preemption is, it's the idea of the state

legislature and the executive branch taking power away from local government and local school boards. So for example, during the COVID pandemic, in the beginning, Ron DeSantis and the Florida legislature took the power of local governments away to impose restrictions and impose fines when it comes to COVID-19 violations. And they've been doing this in a variety of different ways. And here, this is just another example of the government trying to take power from local school boards to impose mask mandates. But this time they're doing it differently. They're now threatening school boards to impose mask mandates. But this time they're doing it differently. They're now threatening school boards. They're threatening teachers and superintendents with their salaries. And I think that's just simply despicable and actually unconstitutional. And it goes against everything that the typical conservative

that Republicans try to brand themselves as would before. This is not small government. This is dictator DeSantis trying to take over and seize power in Tallahassee. That's all this is. This is the Trump Republican that DeSantis preaches, because as long as COVID continues to rampage throughout the state, there will be more restrictions. People will have their freedoms taken away because of health reasons, because of the spread of COVID, and that all falls on Ron DeSantis. And I encourage everyone in whatever capacity you can to continue to call him out. This is not the Delta variant in Florida. This is the DeSantis variant in Florida. This falls on the governor's shoulders. I continue to say that this is the DeSantis variant. I think everyone else should to make sure you're calling out the governor. Well, Jack, I'll tell you this. And to our viewers, it is a very scary time to be a Floridian. But know that there are plenty of Democrats who are working hard in Florida to

stop Ron DeSantis. And, for example, Representative Michael Grieco out of Miami said that he won't take a dime of salary until the school board teacher, not teacher, sorry, school board members and superintendents have their salary revoked. And Senator Pizzo and Senator Book and other senators have put out a GoFundMe to help compensate these school board members and these superintendents who have their salaries taken away. So there are plenty of great Democrats doing a lot of good work and a lot of necessary work to counterbalance the tyrant in the state capitol. So there is hope. And I say this a lot. He's starting right now with superintendents and school board members. What's next? Is he going to defund their teachers? Is he going to say our teachers who want to wear masks in the classroom, Florida, preventing education from happening, just as the Republicans in Capitol Hill wanted to defund the Capitol Police. It's like, this is what we're seeing into another figure who we hate having in our headlines, week on Twitter without Marjorie Taylor Greene pushing

her disinformation, which is the root of a lot of these COVID deaths lately, raging with the DeSantis variant. Disinformation and the DeSantis variant go hand in hand. So Aaron, what do you think Twitter's role, what do you think Facebook's role, other large media outlets, social media companies, what do you think their role should be in stopping disinformation and how they can help? So I'm going to be honest with you. I think as an attorney, it's a very slippery slope, right? Like what you might think is disinformation, others might not. And there are certain things granted that are disinformation and are true lies and that and that's how this should be regulated i mean the first amendment it speech that is simply not true um and speech yeah speech that is not true is not is not covered by the first amendment so if you're putting out blatant

lies like the pan like the virus puts a microchip inside of you that should be regulated but if what you're putting out is could be, it could be untrue to some people, but could be true to others. It's very gray area that should not be regulated. And I don't think social media companies should play a part in that because people's first amendment rights are important. So I think they're, I think Twitter is good, uh, for, um, banning Marjorie Taylor green for a week. I think that they should ban Marjorie Taylor Greene completely because all she does is spread lies and disinformation, especially about the COVID pandemic.

And I think that Facebook and other large media conglomerates should step up more and should start taking down disinformation when it comes out about vaccines, about the virus. Jack, what do you think about social media regulation in general? And in terms of Marjorie Taylor Greene, do you think they should ban her completely? I agree. These are private companies. And I think if they see that they can take steps to prevent disinformation from spreading, they should do it. I absolutely think Marjorie Taylor Greene should be banned from Twitter. I think that should have happened a long time ago.

But when it comes to battling disinformation, we cannot always expect those who have the power to wield it and wield it correctly. And a lot of that falls on us as the Midas Mighty resistors on Twitter, making sure that we can get out there. And every time you see a bit of disinformation, retweet an article, share an article, share real information about vaccines and encourage people to go get vaccinated, elevate messages of people who are putting out science. So we can push down that misinformation on Twitter. When Tucker Carlson comes out with some absurd nonsense, two-minute clip, and we share it all over the place on Twitter saying, look how ridiculous Tucker Carlson is because he is ridiculous. He is absurd. But it helps him and it helps his message. And it elevates his platform. Absolutely. So it's tempting and we do it and we fall into the trap

sometimes of criticizing these people and in the same time elevating their content. And we can't be doing that. We have to do our part to actually be putting out real information. I fully agree. And I think that what the Biden administration has done with vaccine rollout has been fantastic thus far. I think they've done a great job. And I think I want them to continue going into these Republican neighborhoods, going into these conservative districts and messaging on this vaccine rollout, messaging on the importance of a vaccine and the importance of masking during COVID. This shouldn't be a political issue. No. And it's really sad to see the Republican Party making it one because the Democratic Party did not make COVID a political issue.

This was a political issue the moment President Trump came out, or rather the moment President Trump stopped telling the truth about the pandemic. When he didn't come out wearing a mask. When he didn't come out, exactly. And it's so sad to think back on that moment that has cost so many lives. And really all that it was, was the former president saying, I don't want to put on a mask because it's going to mess up my makeup. That was the reason. That is what's led to this anti-mask movement. People saying, oh, I trust the former, I trust Donald Trump, but it's because he didn't

want to mess up his makeup. It was no more than that. It wasn't about freedom. Just like everything with the former guy, it has nothing to do with ideology, policy, or anything. It all has to do with his whims at that moment. And at that moment, he didn't want to mess up his clumpy, gross, orange makeup all over his face. And so he didn't want to wear a mask. And you brought up the great job that the Biden administration has done rolling out the vaccine. And I think that brings us to another significant accomplishment. It's infrastructure week. It's infrastructure week. Finally, we got here. We did it. We are so excited. Let's get ready for some infrastructure. So yesterday, yeah, go ahead, take it away. I was going to ask Jack, what do you think about this infrastructure bill? I mean,

it passed 69 to 30, I think, way above the filibuster proof majority. What do you think? How do you think it's going to help our communities? Well, I think there were two, maybe even three major takeaways from the passing of President Biden's infrastructure bill, and then we can get to the positive ramifications of this bill and everything that's going to come out of it. But first of all, I'd like to point out how shocked I was by one key Republican voting yes on this bill, and that was Mitch McConnell. Yes. The Senate minority leader loves saying that. know them to be, but it's a party that if given the opportunity and could win the Senate and could win the house would actually govern. And that's just a lie. That's not true. I agree.

They are the GQP exists as an obstructionist party. Mitch McConnell has consistently said that his only job is to block president Biden's agenda. This was a politically motivated move. It had nothing to do with helping people in Mitch McConnell's home state. It had nothing to do with helping people across the country. And I think we need to remember as we approach the midterms that the Republican Party cannot be trusted to govern because they don't know how. Well, here's what I'm concerned about. Listen, I agree with you on the whole McConnell thing. I think his vote is a facade about how he truly wants to work with the Biden administration. But I'm really concerned that in Florida, Marco Rubio and Rick Scott both

voted no and never fail to disappoint. Right. And they didn't even help really craft this package. And because they didn't help, Floridians are hurting. I mean, down in Miami, this package is going to help a lot in some ways. I mean, we're getting $10 million for buses, $4 million for a local pedestrian bridge in South Miami. That is very important stuff. But there could have been more and there should have been more. And if more Republicans like Rubio and Scott stood up and said, we need more money for these infrastructure projects, you would see a revitalization like you've never seen before. But that didn't happen. And you're right. It's sad. First of all, they don't stand up and say what the state of Florida needs because they don't care. So they don't stand up for us. That's first of all. And then second of all, they rarely show up actually to vote or to talk about what we need in Florida. So there's much to be desired, much to be desired out of those two. But as we both agree and we say all the time, Florida's future is bright because we can and we will flip Florida blue in 2022. So although there is much to be desired, we can make something happen. Now, right after that bill

was passed, there was movement by 50 Democrats to make sure that we could get talks in motion for our next round of that infrastructure bill, which is going to most likely pass through reconciliation. It's a $3.8 trillion bill. Aaron, what do you want to see mainly out of that bill? And what do you want the Biden administration to be focusing on there? Well, I mean, I read the bill and I think it is a fantastic bill. I think it is prioritizing the exact needs of the American people from Medicare expansion to climate reform, to, um, further infrastructure in our country. I mean, in Florida, it includes, I think, surfside relief, um, for the families there the families there and to revitalize that community. All of that is so important. And listen, I say this all the time. I'm not a huge fan of just spending money here and there just to spend. But infrastructure and our future is necessary. We haven't spent on infrastructure in decades. So we need to spend now. We need to spend not only to make up for what we haven't

done, but also for the next five decades, because God knows the next time we're going to be able to pass a bill like this. And you're right. It's true. We do not know if we will be able to continue to pass giant pieces of legislation like this. And when we talk about climate change, it's really a climate crisis. It's something that's happening now. We can see it every day. It is not a gradual, slow change. It's something that's already happened. It's something that without immediate action, we will not be able to reverse.

And so I think taking huge swings at passing these important pieces of domestic legislation are immensely important. And I applaud the Biden administration for doing so. They're doing what the former administration failed to do. The former administration, which is too incompetent to do. Well, I agree. But you know what? The former administration and Republicans passed a tax cut that cost Americans $1.9 trillion. Republicans are going to penny pinch on infrastructure, but are willing to spend $2 trillion on tax cuts, but not spend an extra trillion on our future. That just shows you the state of the Republican Party.

That just shows you who they're trying to pander to. They're not trying to help Americans. They're just trying to help themselves in their own political careers. And they're big money donors, because at the end of the day, that's what their donors want. So it's very sad to see. Yeah, absolutely. And with that, we've hit the headlines. Let's go to our interview with the brothers at Midas Touch. Let's do it.

Wendy's most important deal of the day has a fresh lineup. Pick any two breakfast items for $4. New four-piece French toast sticks, bacon or sausage wrap, biscuit or English muffin sandwiches, small hot coffee, and more. Limited time only at participating wendy's taxes extra what's up midas mighty ben micellus here joined by my younger brothers brett and jordy micellus have you got your midas merch gear if you haven't gotten your midas merch gear, I don't know what's taking you so long. I got my gear. Most of the Midas Mighty got their gear. We have some incredible stuff. Isn't that right, Brett? That's right. And with the new CDC guidelines that say you no longer have to wear masks indoors or outdoors if you've been vaccinated, a lot of people have been asking us,

how do you let people know you've been vaccinated? How do you know if you're around other vaccinated people? A lot of people are concerned., we already thought about this, guys. We got our vaxxed and relaxed merch line. You could get it now if you still want to wear masks, if you still feel comfortable wearing masks around indoors or outdoors. We got the masks. We got the tees. We got the shirts. We got it all, and we got more on the way, so let people know you've been vaccinated. Shop at store.midastouch.com to get yours, and that's not all we we got more on the way so let people know you've been vaccinated shop at store.midastouch.com to get yours and that's not all we have we got the club democracy gear we got the shout out to the mightest mighty gear we got it all go check it out that store.midastouch.com So today on our inaugural episode, we could not be more excited.

We could not be more amped at all. It is our privilege. It is our pleasure. Let's go to have the three brothers from Midas touch on the first episode of Zoomed In. So for the first time in our history, fellas, let's Zoom in. Today we have... Let's go! Let's go, Jordy.

Today we have Ben Perrette and Jordy Mycelis on the pod. We are so excited to have you guys on our first episode. So let's go ahead and get this thing started. What better place to get started than how Midas Touch was founded? Why don't you guys tell our viewers why you founded Midas Touch, especially during COVID? You know, it feels like at this point, it was kind of ages ago after an insurrection, after a fascist, attempted fascist overthrow of our country after all those press conferences that Donald Trump had at the beginning of COVID, giving all this misinformation and disinfo.

But we all have different backgrounds. I'm a lawyer. Jordi's a marketer. Brett's an Emmy Award winning editor. We always wanted to work together and do something together. We didn't know what that was. And we all had our separate career paths. But when COVID hit our shores and Donald Trump was in full fascist mode and it was evident that he was making his move to become the Vladimir Putin of the United States of America, we felt that we had to do something. And so we started off with this concept called Midas Touch. Credit and shout out to Jordi for coming up with the name Midas Touch. But we started off as a blog. Anybody who would want to do an interview with us, we would try to

do an interview about. We would try to write any articles that we thought would interest people. And then Brett started cranking out these videos. The videos took off and we kind of found a brand identity because no one was making these impact, truly impactful political videos that looked like movie trailers that captivated people's attention. And so that's how it started. And then we just expanded from there. But the first video got a million views. Then we did the next video, a million views. And so that's how it started. And then we just expanded from there. But the first video got a million views. Then we did the next video, a million views. And before you know it, we just did about over a thousand videos at this point, over a billion views on our videos. But I think

we're also most proud about, and the brothers will talk about it in a bit, I'm sure, is all the other stuff we've done from in the field work to, you know, whether it's billboards, whether it's developing a media company and canvassing and so on. Yeah. I mean, I think that is so awesome. And Jack and I talk about it all the time about how just how much growth Midas has done in the past year and six months now. So you, Ben, you talked a little bit about your background that you're an attorney, Jordy, Brett, where do you guys come from? I mean, what's your background? Yes.

My whole thing. I'm going to go, Brett. All right. I'll let you just this once. I'll let you go first because this is the Zoomer podcast and you are the closest to the demo here, Jordy. This is true. We got to let the young guys speak.

That's what I'm about here. I'll let the young guys start off. There you go. No, my background's marketing. I better mention that. So the past like seven years, eight years, I was in New York City working for this boutique agency called Translation. It was really awesome. I got to work on some really cool accounts spread across AT&T, HBO, the NBA, Brooklyn Nets. It was really cool. It was cool and different. And it really taught me how brands can do really good things and engage with a passionate audience, but also how brands and companies could do really bad things and not understand who they're talking to and not

understand the demographic. So when we first started Midas, it was really important to me to really engage with the community. Shout out to the Midas Mighty. We have literally the best followers out there and brick by brick. I mean, they've helped us build this thing each and every step of the way. I mean, you know, we're nothing without, you know, the brothers, but we're really nothing without the Midas Mighty and, you know, them helping us and firing us up, you know, every step of the way. Yeah, absolutely. And that's something that's so true. We talk about, you know, every step of the way. Yeah, absolutely. And that's something that's so true. We talk about, you know, y'all's ability to put together this incredibly engaged group of people where it doesn't feel like a following, but it feels like a community. And I think that's

something that was so strong about Midas and that y'all were able to capitalize on. And you really brought together in a time where people felt so separated and so lonely during COVID, Midas was able to come in and act as this community. You see people who are so engaged and so connected to others. It's pretty incredible how organizing online happened. I appreciate that, man.

I really think what made it so awesome too is, and it's a marketing word that's overused a lot, is authenticity. But it's really everyone that that's come across and it's been part of this journey. It really, truly has been an authentic connection. Like we don't pretend to be people, you know, that we're not, we all just play in our lane. And I think people find that really relatable at the end of the day. Yeah, absolutely. And Brett, before you, you jump in Jordy, just another quick question. We all would like to hear something that's downplayed a little bit. So your male modeling career, how did that happen? How did this start up? Where are we going with it?

I think that's really what the Midas Mighty want to be hearing about is where are we going from here? We're very, sorry, what were you saying? I said, insider sources tell us that this modeling career is just the start of a potential gubernatorial campaign in California. we're very sorry what were you saying i said insider sources tell us that this modeling career is just the start of a potential gubernatorial campaign in california i like that it's possible no it's uh we're a very competitive family and you know those superlatives that you get in high school i think each and each of us won a different one and you know i was fortunate i won best smile and best looking and i get to rub down the brother's faces like for the rest of my life now um and that's really where where it started well big things are coming that's for

sure big things are coming this this interview has already went off the rails this is this is a mess so what about you Brett um what's your background tell the viewers yeah so I came from the world of film and tv I basically moved out to LA and went to USC to do film and tv and I did the freelance thing for a while so I was hitting the ground getting really any job I could so I was you know whether I could get an editing gig or direct a friend's music video or be a production assistant or an office assistant or really like anything that out there, you know, I would grab. And after a year of that, I was lucky enough to land a job at the Ellen DeGeneres show as like the night editor.

So working like the worst shifts on the planet, I'd get in at like a little afternoon. I would be there till like two in the morning. I'd be the guy who would get the clips from the Ellen DeGeneres show from the show that they recorded that day to the internet so that at 6 AM the next morning, when everybody went to YouTube and Twitter and Instagram and stuff, they had new Ellen clips there. And so that was my job, basically cutting stuff down. But I always nudge people like, hey, I know how to do this editing thing. Give me a shot at stuff that maybe isn't as high profile. I'll prove it to you that I could do that because I had been editing stuff for a long time. And so gradually they did and they liked my work and they kept giving me more

projects and bigger projects. And then ultimately I was moved up to the day shift to be an actual editor cutting stuff that would be for the digital side of things for the show. And then, you know, kind of long story short, I ended up becoming the head of post-production for digital at Ellen. Um, it was great experience, won a couple Emmy awards working for the Ellen DeGeneres show. Um, and it was just really fulfilling and a really hard show to work for, but in a good way, because you have to turn stuff around super quickly. Like they'd be shooting that show some days at like two in the afternoon and you get in in the morning and you might get hit with something that something happened in the news at 12. And they'd say, we need a, we need a cut of this by, you know, by Showtime that has to be approved by all the executive producers and

approved by Ellen and everything before it gets on the air. And you had to get to work and cut something that looked great. That was funny, depending on what it was, or heartwarming, depending on what it was, and get it out there. But that experience of really taking footage and just being able to churn it and turn it around quickly in a way that was professional and that could be accessible and easily digestible to a large audience, that's really what was just hammered into me. So oddly enough, doing idea for a video and bam, a few hours later, we got a serious, well-produced advertisement that we released and then get millions of views on. And then we move on to the next one, you know, never kind of putting too much stock in one video. And as far as that concern too, and we can dig more into this in a little

bit, what Jordy was saying about the community and the mightiest mighty is it's never really for us, it's never about one video. It's about how do we take these videos and build this community around them of these, what we call them accidental activists who could go out there and get the job done on the ground. And the videos are just one part of activating Americans across the country to protect democracy in whatever way they can. And I think, no, go ahead, Aaron. I was just gonna say, I think that is so awesome. And I think for me personally, being a part of a local Democratic Party here in Miami, I think the support that Midas and other groups like yours bring to the table is invaluable. I mean, for Democratic Party, Democratic candidates. I mean,

I think it's so important. So big props to all of you. And what about you, Ben? I know you're an attorney, but for all the legal, those who aren't legal nerds out there like me, tell them about how big of an attorney you actually are. Well, I've been lucky to fight with passion in everything that I do. And so my career took me as a civil rights lawyer in Bakersfield, California, literally marching with the dozens of families I represented who lost loved ones to police brutality when Bakersfield and Fresno had the highest per

capita police shooting deaths or deaths caused from police shootings in all of America in that 2015, 2016 period. There's an incredible article out there in The Guardian magazine that talks about it's the most deadliest county in America. And that's where I really built my background. I was fortunate enough to meet Colin Kaepernick at that time. When he was taking a knee, it was fighting back against systemic oppression for the people and for all these families across the country who had lost loved ones or had family members

who were victims of police brutality. And so Colin had reached out to me and saw my work. I represented Colin in his case against the NFL. And I've been Colin's business partner since then on the legal side and have worked with him, which has been an incredible inspiration. And so I've just brought that same passion to what I do in Midas. And it was vital and critical that we build a very serious infrastructure. You know, all groups have to start somewhere. You know, you got to start with your first video. You got to start with your first social media tweet and your first post, and then you can grow and really build out this infrastructure, which is what we're doing now. You know, we have this podcast that we're working with you on.

We have a podcast, which was a top 10 in all of the nation called Kremlin File. You know, one of the definitive Trump Russia exposes that was well researched. We have a legal podcast. We have a number of other media projects that are going. But it's all got to start somewhere. And I think one of the things we need to, I think, change as a Democratic Party is we have to support other Democrats and progressives. Absolutely. And when they do their first tweet and their first post, there's some real cynical people out there, oftentimes progressives who are like, why are you doing a tweet? What is your organization trying to be? And it's like, well, you have to, everything has to start somewhere. So let's let ourselves grow so we can build the types of infrastructures that frankly do exist on the other side to spread

disinfo. We need to do it to spread the truth. Well, oddly enough, Ben, just piggybacking off that, when you attack a group that is just starting out and you say, what are they, just a Twitter group? Like what's going on out there? Oh, they just have a post. What could they accomplish? What you're really saying is I only want groups out there that are funded by multi-billionaires that could start with a major platform. And that's not the key to winning elections. That's not the key to making change. We can't have this top-down approach of billionaires decide what we're doing and billionaires, people with money are the ones who are getting messaging out there. We need to encourage the grassroots and support the grassroots and make it so that

individual who sent one tweet could build their own gigantic organization that has a real impact and influence. And to their credit, conservatives on their side allow that aspect to thrive. Yes, of course, they have dark money and big money and all these billionaires and stuff. But when somebody comes up on their end from the ground up, they do support them and pump them up. But on our side, there's too much kind of attacking and bringing people down. And we need to raise voices and especially voices like you guys, which is why I am so excited to be doing this show with you and why I think you guys are so incredible.

And I mean, Gen Z is going to be the most important voting block moving forward. And you guys are, I would say the future leaders, but you're like the future current leaders. You guys already are like the leaders who are taking the mantle. So we need your voice out there. So it's such an honor to have you two on our network and to be able to let voices like yours and all the people who you're going to bring on the show thrive. And it's really our privilege. You talk about the Midas Mighty and you talk about the grassroots organizing and how that's so important, but it's true. That's why you are the Midas Mighty,

because it's this huge collective of people who are engaged. It is not top down. It is people, your organization is constantly interacting with itself. And that's why y'all are so powerful. And here at Zoomed In, it is our priority to make sure that we are elevating young voices who are trying to come into their own and potentially build out their own giant organizations and be a part of this movement that y'all are forming and spearheading and have given us the opportunity to lead. And we are so honored to be a part of this movement that y'all are forming and spearheading and have given us the opportunity to lead. And we are so honored to be a part of it. Yeah, 100%. I mean, thank you guys so much. And for all of the young people out there, and Jack and I get these

questions all the time in our DMs and just talking to young people, they want to know how to get involved in Midas Touch, whether it's Midas Touch, Midas University, Midas Varsity Blue with the high school students. So if you had a piece of advice, each of you to young people, what would it be? Email me. Yeah. Well, I want to say first before Jordy, before you answer Aaron, how did you get involved with Midas Touch? Ben messaged me. Yeah. And we just kind of talked and then I started making videos and it just kind of blew up. And there you go. You just kind of got to work on doing stuff. I'd say, and I'm not an expert, but the best thing that you can do is ask, is reach out, is try to get involved. Because Brent, like you said, there are people out there who want to

elevate young voices just like we do. We want to see more activists. We want to see more people engaged in politics and build up these greater democratic coalitions. So if you're interested, just reach out, just send someone a text, just send someone a DM. We are looking for more people to get involved. That is the best thing that you can do. We were joking around with your dad about this, but the story was true. When you reached out to us, like we didn't know that your dad was left. Like we had, we had no clue, zero idea, zero idea whatsoever. We just knew that you were a law student with a passion who wanted to make a difference. And that went a long way with us. And Ben immediately sent me your videos and they're like, Hey, check out what this guy's doing. And we started posting them. And that was that. And I encourage everybody. And we say this a lot and we mean it. You don't have to create a gigantic organization to make a

difference. It's every kind of little thing you could do. And everybody has a skill of some sort. Some are creative. Maybe you're good with numbers. Maybe you're a singer. Maybe you're a painter. Maybe you're a poet, whatever it is. Maybe you can make memes, but whatever it is, you could do something to advance the cause. And so I think you should kind of look into yourself and be like, okay, what am I good at? And then do it. And don't be afraid to reach out to somebody and say, hey, look, I've made these three videos. Maybe I can make some for you guys, or do you think you could share them? Or, hey, I'm really good with numbers. If you guys ever need help with your book so that your organization could focus on X, Y, and Z, let me know.

There are ways to get involved at every level and no matter how big or how small. And so with everything, just take it like, it's like, if you're going to write a movie script, don't view it as like the entire project of, oh my God, I need to write 120 pages. View it as, okay, what's my first line? What's my first word? And then go from there. And then you build line by line. And then after a while of doing that, all of a sudden you're like, holy crap, I got a full script here. I wrote a movie, you know, and you should be doing that with your life. Think about it in little frequently the youth are passionate and at their age tend to be, and I say tend to be, uncorrupted by the politics that enraptures adults. And so there is kind of this clean slate that when you look at the youth movement, you go, OK, these are passionate and pure people

who are truly fighting for the soul of our country. That's why these movements are often high school, college based when you look across the country. And we need that here. The right is very smart and sophisticated in co-opting that as part of their psychological operations. These Charlie Kirks and people like that, they're not truly speaking from themselves. They're getting the talking points, literally and figuratively. That's like what they call their organizations. They get their talking points from the Trumps and the GQP who elevate them to corrupt the youth. And so what you're doing here on Zoom In is nothing short of what's necessary to save our country. And to those young

individuals who are listening to this, like we really need you. Like it really is life or death, you know, on this fight. And we think back to wars and we think back to other times when generations had to step up. We need to step up against the psychological warfare of the right and the GQP and the fascism, which, frankly, I think is a bit easier than jumping out of airplanes. But it still requires a lot of courage and we're going to need people to step up. And then lastly, just to add, email me. University at Midas touch. We'll set up time to meet 20 minutes, hop on a zoom,

see what you want to do. If you're a high school student, I'll link you up with our team running Midas varsity blue, which I help oversee. Obviously we have 22 university chapters right now. We're trying to get to 50 by January. And it's really special. So just email me and we'll make something happen. I promise. Yeah, absolutely.

We're just trying to create more infrastructure for young people to be successful. And y'all are playing a huge part in that. And we could not be more grateful for the opportunity that you give. You talked about larger organizations saying like, what do you think you can accomplish? This is your saying like, what do you think you can accomplish? This is your first tweet.

What do you think you can accomplish? This is your first rally. This is your first organizing effort. It's like, we can't be doing that. We have to be uplifting people. And that's what Midas Touch is doing. And we could not be more grateful. Yeah.

Thank you guys so much. Thank you for zooming in with us. We thank you for having us zoom in and we look forward to great success from uh this podcast and everything you both are doing we love it let's go let's go this is gonna be super special you guys are rock stars i'm really excited for this i'm excited this is gonna be so fun thank you guys much. Thank you all for being here. Thank you. Thank you to all of you who tuned in for the first, the inaugural episode of the Zoomed In podcast.

We are so excited to take this journey with y'all. We have so many more amazing episodes in store and we are so excited that you have joined us. Yeah, it was truly awesome. And a special shout out and thank you to the brothers at Midas Touch, Brett, Jordy, Ben, for not only giving us this platform to allow us to share our experiences with you, but also for coming on as our first ever guests on the Zoomed In podcast. It was a fantastic night. Shout out to the Midas Mighty, baby. And Aaron, where can the people find you? It's easy.

They can find me at Aaron Parnas, A-A-R-O-N-P-A-R-N-A-S. And that's on Twitter. That's on Instagram. That's on everywhere. Find me wherever you want. That's on TikTok. We'll get you some of those dances going. And you can find me at J.D. Cacciarella.

That's J-D-C C H I A R E L L A on Twitter and on Instagram. And now I guess I got to get on Tik TOK so I can dance with Aaron. And also follow us at our zoomed in podcast, Twitter, absolutely. At zoomed in podcast. And that is on Twitter and that will be on instagram and on tiktok so please follow us um we'll have great clips we'll have aaron dancing we promise you we will have aaron dancing we're gonna make that happen listen if you get 5 000 retweets i will i will dance i will do it um so make it happen that's a that's a that's pretty much set in stone that's gonna it won't be coordinated but it'll happen it. It'll be great. I believe in you.

Again, thank you to the brothers at Midas Touch. And thank you all for Zooming in with us.