Election Night 2025

22:45That's not him. He doesn't give a shit about the Republican Party. He cares about himself. And one of the things that has just stood out, which the Great Gatsby Party, as terrible as that was, it's the perfect visual, is the level of corruption, right? The fact that he can sue the federal government and then find in favor of himself. By the way, everybody should want to become president if you can do that, because you could just write your own ticket. You know, the ballroom, the$400 million Qatar jet, all of this is coming together for people to say. And plus, by the way, all the no king stuff, right?

23:17That's a strong message that we want checks and balances. So it's a great night. And this bodes well for 2026. We can't rest, but it's a good sign for today. It's funny you say that.

23:29MeidasTouch:You know, one of the things that I like Kinzinger, sorry, Brett, I'll go to you before I hog, I got Kinzinger, I'll stop hogging. Oh, I'll give a shout out quickly to MCDC Productions. They were involved with the, they were the ones who produced with you. They're great. That whole team is incredible. I was at a loss of words. MCDC Productions, great work by them who made The Last Republican possible. Brett. And the movie is called The Last Republican. It's available on all streaming platforms in the United States, like Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play, and YouTube. Be sure to check it out. If you've seen the movie, let folks know in the comments.

23:57we've got more than 20 ,000 people watching live and hundreds of thousands more that will be watching this after the fact so make sure that you let people know how much you love the movie and check it out and one of the most powerful parts of the movie and like the saddest parts that really ripped my soul out was first off watching like your relationship uh with McCarthy and how you guys were actually like buddies kind of back in the day and how you watch that evolution how he kind of got entranced by this MAGA thing and got taken over by it. But now I think you've really seen this transformation of your party from Kevin McCarthy that day after January 6th or on January 6th, I forget exactly when it was, but when he actually stood up to Donald Trump and accused him and blamed him rightfully so for instigating the attack on our Capitol.

24:44And then you spoke about how he went down to Mar-a-Lago. There was that infamous photo of McCarthy and Donald Trump in Mar-a-Lago in that really horrific golden room that looked like a Gaddafi palace or something. And you knew at that moment that your party had changed. You knew at that moment that they were going to go full on and begin to lie about literally everything imaginable. But then McCarthy got kicked out of his party. He was a victim of the monster that he created. Mike Johnson comes in and now things to me seem even worse than ever. So I just could you just walk folks through briefly?

25:21I know it's a lot, but you watching that transformation from kind of the old days of the Republican Party to McCarthy being captured by this MAGA movement to now where we're at with Speaker Johnson, where he gets up there every morning in these briefings and just lies to the American people. Yeah, look, it's been a slow progression. I mean, my whole time in Congress leading up to Donald Trump, most of my battles were against the far right in the party. I was fighting to kind of keep them out. And then we do Donald Trump came, basically embraced him and that became the party. So watching that was disheartening.

25:55And then on top of that, Kevin McCarthy, look, no matter what you think of him, you have to admit he is a good politician. And he was only in his third term when he became like the number three guy in the House of Reps, you know, in the Republican Party. That's unthinkable. But you can tell in his eyes and in his soul that, you know, he's a hollow man who needs titles to feel like he's important. So January 6th happens. Actually, really quickly, January 1st, I warn, and this is in the movie, I warn Kevin that, like, there's going to be violence. I'm like, if you convince a third of the country that the election was stolen, there's gonna be violence, right?

26:34That's like what our country was founded on that. And he's just dismissive of it. Anyway, January 6 happens. And there's like a four week silence. There's a really powerful part of the film where I talk about this, like a four week silence where the party is trying to figure out what it is. And I thought there was a good chance we were going to vomit Trump out of our soul. But it's the moment that Kevin McCarthy went to Mar-a-Lago. He made a very public statement with that picture that I am embracing MAGA again because I want to become speaker. And that changed everything. The party pivoted on a dime.

27:11And I think it's less than 50 percent. But I really think without that meeting with Donald Trump, there was a chance that we could have saved the GOP from Donald Trump. But that's just history. We'll never be able to live. Yeah, there was that moment in the film that I thought was just poignant and powerful where you spoke about kind of what could have been and your regrets during that moment when you finally saw these corporations pulling their money away from the MAGA movement, from anybody involved with January 6th. And you feel like if you could go back, maybe you could have done more. But I really think you've done a lot.

27:44I know you say in the movie that I'm not a hero. Everybody else was just weak. But I do think that you're a hero and you're deserving of all the respect that you're getting. I guess my one last question before I turn it back to either Ben or Jordy is just what do you think it is? Like we kind of liken it to here at the Midas Touch Network to like we're in a world of like vampires. Like you just see these people get bit and like fall under the spell. How do you think so many people get captured by this movement? Are they afraid? And I'm sure you got the pressure like crazy at that time. Is it coming from the politicians?

28:17Is it coming from the voters? Is it mob like threats from Donald Trump? Like what transforms these people into these hollow versions of themselves? I mean, it's all of it, but it's Donald Trump's capturing of the Republican base, right? He captured the Republican base and that Republican base, instead of just saying like, hey, we wish you'd support Trump more, they became rabid. It becomes a religion to them. I mean, Donald Trump is a messiah figure. We have to understand that. And he's built a cult and he's done that over 10 years. Like he descended the golden escalator 10 years ago, basically.

28:48And over that time, anybody that stood up to him, you know, either decided not to run again, lost reelection, didn't want to deal with it or completely capitulated. The other superpower Donald Trump has, and I think this is a lesson for us as we build this pro-democracy coalition, is if I would get on TV tomorrow and say, you know, guys, I was wrong. I love Donald Trump. I'm back. I would be at the Oval Office the next day. He's willing to forgive, but you can only forgive you once. Right. As the pro-democracy coalition, that's why I think it's important for us to embrace people that come out of MAGA today.

29:23And there are people doing that. Rich Logis from Leaving MAGA really runs that. And we have to embrace them. Yeah, we have to embrace them if we want to win. And so, yeah, I mean, for me, it's just they're in a cult now. And when your identity is at threat, I'll say this lastly. We belong to tribes. We're tribal creatures. I've come to believe that people are more likely. They're more scared of being kicked out of their tribe or losing their identity than they are even of death. I think nine out of 10 adults would step in front of a train to save a child, but they're unwilling to rip their identity from them because it's just the core of who they are.

29:59And every weak, spineless Republican is that. Yeah, well, I so appreciate your insight. I know you got to run. Ben, do you have anything else to say to Adam while we got him here? I want to remind people quickly to watch the last Republican.

30:11MeidasTouch:Another big call I think we're able to make, as Adam Carlson says, stick a fork in it. It looks like Jay Jones will be defeating the incumbent Jason Myers for Virginia. Attorney General, Democrats sweeping all three races in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This is a tsunami, folks. This is a tsunami, folks. Bring out the votes, folks. Jay Jones is the only one. Jay Jones, what's going to happen there? but it's shaping up to be a great night Kinzinger an honor to spend it with you everybody watch the last Republican check it out in connection with media courthouse MCDC great to be work with you Kinzinger everybody check it out chat with you guys soon take care chat with you tomorrow in the morning talk to Kinzinger all the time my whole day is spent talking to Kinzinger now since we're promoting this film it's great to see Kinzinger there a big call as we just mentioned with Jay Jones going on to defeat the incumbent, Jason Miaris there.

31:12MeidasTouch:I think the voters are sending a freaking message, the type of message that they sent with no Kings. I want to bring in now, it looks like Abigail Spanberger is about to speak, but I want to bring in Senator Tim Kaine, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine. It's shaping up to be a great night, Senator. So it's definitely a great night in Virginia. You've got the governor's race. You've got the AG's race, the lieutenant governor's race, the hat trick, as they called it. We're looking at the House of Delegate results. What do you make of this evening so far, Senator? Well, look, I'm just so proud of our team.

31:48We ran hard. We rejected Trumpism. We stood for affordability, jobs, and education when the Republicans were tilting at offbeat cultural windmills that didn't matter to anyone. And I like to say that just since we finished the World Series, Virginia was the leadoff battle in this battle for democracy. And we just smoked one over the fence.

32:18MeidasTouch:I love it. And as a Dodgers fan, I'm not trying to offend others in other geographic regions, but let's hope that there's a World Series win this evening by the Democrats. It seems, though that the World Series message that Americans want to send right now is enough of this Trumpism crap, enough of the Gatsby parties and golden ballrooms while starving Americans to death and getting rid of Americans' healthcare, enough of the war crimes in the Caribbean, enough of this baffling fool walking around, making us look stupid on the international stage. Enough is enough. That seems to be a message. Do you think that that's what we're seeing with this overperformance?

32:59I think we're seeing that. But, you know, it's funny. Abigail Spanberger, you know, youthful, progressive, super practical, might be different than some of the other Dems running tonight, but focused on affordability, the affordability focus. I mean, Donald Trump said, elect me and I'm going to bring down inflation. Everything's up. Healthcare is up. Energy is up. Building supplies are up. Clothing is up. Back to school is up. Halloween is up. Thanksgiving's going to be up. Christmas and the holidays are going to be up. Trump is focused on everything but what people care about, everything but what he promised.

33:42And Abigail said, listen, I'm running on bread and butter. If you guys like bread and butter, affordability, jobs, education, vote for me. If you want to go on offbeat cultural diatribes, vote for the other guys. And like I've said, since July 5, 1776, the Virginia state motto has been sick semper tyrannis. Tyrants will always lose to virtue. And we are showing that virtue will be tyranny. And that's what it says about who we are in Virginia tonight. And I hope it's going to send the same message in a bunch of other races.

34:24MeidasTouch:You know, Donald Trump had been ranting and raving like a lunatic all day with his usual shtick that this is rigged, that's unfair, kill the filibuster, whatever it was. It just feels very tired. But if you're OK with this, Senator, you want to hear Abigail Spanberger's victory speech with us? I absolutely do. My wife is there in the crowd with her. I'm in D.C. because we're trying to work through government funding and stop a war in Venezuela. But I want to hear this. Well, let's see if we can spot her. Midas, Midas, Midas, Hanging with Senator Cain. Let's go into Abigail Spanberger, the new governor of Virginia.

35:02MeidasTouch:Let's hear it.

35:15Abby! Abby! Abby! Abby!

36:09Thank you.

36:19Thank you.

36:45Happy, happy, happy, happy, happy! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

37:04Thank you all so much.

37:22My fellow Virginians, tonight we sent a message.

37:46We sent a message to every corner of the Commonwealth, a message to our neighbors and our fellow Americans across the country.

38:03We sent a message to the whole world that in 2025, Virginia chose pragmatism over partisanship.

38:20We chose our commonwealth over chaos. us.

38:28You all chose leadership that will focus relentlessly on what matters most, lowering costs, keeping our communities safe and strengthening our economy for every Virginian.

38:49Leadership that will focus on problem solving, not stoking, division. You chose, we chose leadership that will always put Virginia first.

39:05And Virginia, I cannot wait to get to work for you.

39:15Tonight we turned a page. We turned that page by listening to our neighbors, focusing on practical results, laying out a clear agenda and leading with decency and determination.

39:38To everyone who helped us achieve this win, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you.

39:55I thank you for the trust that you have placed in me, and it is the honor of my lifetime to be elected the 75th governor

40:25I would like to thank my opponent for a hard-fought race

40:39The Lieutenant Governor's story, her military service, and her years of service here in Virginia deserve our respect and our gratitude, and I ask that you join me in wishing her and her family well.

41:02I also know that those who were supporting my opponent are disappointed today. And to those Virginians who did not vote for me, I want you to know that my goal and my intent is to serve all Virginians.

41:26And that means that I will listen to you, I will work for you and with you. That is the approach that I've taken throughout my entire career. I have worked with anyone and everyone, regardless of political party, to deliver results for the people that I serve. And that's because I believe in this idea that there is so much more that unites us as Virginians and as Americans than divides us.

42:04And I know, I know in my heart that we can unite for Virginia's future and we can set an example for the rest of the nation.

42:22Our founders understood this from the very beginning. They didn't choose to call Virginia a commonwealth by accident. They chose it to signify that our government would be based on the power of the people united for a common good. not for a political party, not for a president, not for a monarch, but for a common good together. And tonight Virginia proved that that tradition is alive and well. We are still a Commonwealth in every sense of the word.

43:03We are built on the things we share, not the things that pull us apart, and I am proud that our campaign earned votes from Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and everyone in between.

43:21That's the Virginia I know, that's the Virginia I love, and that's the Virginia I will have the honor of serving as your next governor.

43:44I want to thank so many people for the support that they have given to our campaign. Thank Thank you for your work. Thank you for your support. To our tireless volunteers, to those who believed in me, thank you.

44:07Thank you for devoting your time, your energy, and your conviction to this campaign. Thank you for braving the weather, the heat, and then the cold, and then the rain, and And then the sun. It's Virginia after all. Thank you. Thank you for talking to your neighbors about the importance of this race. Thank you for recognizing that when we went person to person, engaging, that we could bring people not just into supporting our campaign, but into engaging in our democracy. Thank you. We won this race because of you.

44:56To our campaign team, you're the best in the country.

45:07Every single member of our team, every single one of you, you work tirelessly for the change, the progress, the policies, the connection, and the respect that you want to see in our communities. Thank you for working so hard. Thank you for giving people hope. Thank you for knocking on doors in the sweltering heat. Thank you for showing kindness. Thank you for showing up in every corner of Virginia. Thank you for diving deep on policy. Thank you for capturing moments and the essence of our campaign, thank you for reaching voters everywhere, and thank you for believing that Virginia could and would send a hopeful and joyful message tonight.

46:05Thank you for giving everything, everything to this campaign and then some and thank you to my family

46:20to my to my husband Adam

46:32my partner in everything I love you with my whole heart I am grateful for you and it is very strange to declare my love for you in front of millions of people.

46:49But every adventure we have ever been on has been worth it because you have been by my side. I love you. I'm grateful for you. And I cannot wait to see what the next couple of years bring.

47:19To my daughters, Claire, Charlotte, and Catherine, you inspire me and motivate me every single day.

47:32Everything I do, I do to build a better future for you and for all of Virginia's children. And I am so proud of you. Every single day, I am lucky to be your mother. And Catherine, you did not clean your room today as you promised me. I'm working on it! She's working on it. If I was working on it, we wouldn't have won this election, okay?

48:10To my sisters, my dearest and earliest friends,

48:18I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you. To my friends who have traveled from around the world to be here with me today,

48:33thank you. Thank you for making me who I am and thank you for always believing in me. And to my parents, I love you. Thank you for leading by example every day. And I know that today is a day that you all could have never imagined. But you taught me the importance of service to others and relentless hard work. And Mama, when I think about your life and the time spent in foster care to putting yourself through nursing school and the challenges along the way, you made clear to us that to whom much is given, much is expected.

49:29And you, you have given me so much, born of your own struggles and your own challenges, and I know much is expected. And Dad, thank you for your example of service and tireless devotion to family and country. Nothing has made me prouder than to follow in your footsteps so many steps along the way. I love you.

50:00I've talked a lot throughout this campaign about the importance of service and how it's shaped my life and my approach to public office, and that all came from my parents. But this commitment to service, it is not unique to my family. It's ingrained in so many of Virginia's families. It is part of Virginia's story. Here in Virginia, this is where American democracy was born and where we are still working to perfect it today, where James Madison built the framework for our Constitution to protect us from tyranny where Washington and Jefferson fought to establish a government of, by, and for the people.

50:44It is also the place where Barbara Johns, a 16-year-old student from Farmville,

50:55led a walkout of students that became part of the Brown v. Board of Education case to integrate public schools.

51:11Barbara Johns never gave up and she showed us that no matter your age, you can be part of the change and the progress that you want to see here in Virginia and across the nation. We are a nation founded on ideas, but we are a country where it is up to us, the citizens, who must put those ideas into action. It is us, the citizens, who work to make the change and progress and build upon the foundations laid out over so many years. And Virginia, now it is our time to lead. Tonight, it's hard not to reflect on the nearly two-year journey that we've taken together on this campaign. And just a few minutes ago, Adam said to our daughters, your mom's going to be the governor of Virginia.

52:14And I can guarantee those words have never been spoken in Virginia ever before.

52:31It's a big deal that the girls and the young women I have met along the campaign trail now know with certainty that they can achieve anything. It's a big deal to the women older than I am who forged the path in dreams, hard work, and in a belief that change and progress would be possible so that so many of us could follow in their footsteps, in any career, in any role, in any challenge. The history Virginia is making tonight, it is yours. And I thank those who have come before me, and Mary Sue Terry in particular.

53:21She was the first woman elected statewide in Virginia. And because of her and the continued work of so many, there will be many more women to come for generations to come.

53:41So now that the campaign is over, the real work begins. Because this was never about just winning an election. It was about what comes next. It's about the governing. Virginia voters made our choice tonight, and that choice was loud and clear. We are going to work to lower costs of renting, buying, or staying in your home. We are going to cut red tape and build homes families can actually afford.

54:14We're going to lower health care costs. We're going to crack down on predatory pharmaceutical practices and surprise billing.

54:31And we're going to produce more energy, and we are going to lower costs, and we're going to do it by producing more energy here in Virginia, and we're going to make sure that large utility users make sure that they pay their fair share.

54:51We're going to grow Virginia's economy by investing in apprenticeships and job training of the future. We're going to leverage AI and cutting-edge manufacturing to bring more capital investment into our commonwealth. We are going to take politics out of our schools. We're going to make sure that teachers are well paid and well respected.

55:42Thank you.

56:26We are going to make sure that our teachers are well paid and well respected.

56:38So that our students can focus on actually learning and so that parents know that their children will succeed. And we are going to make our community safer by providing the training, pay, and support that our law enforcement community needs and deserves.

57:03These aren't slogans on a bumper sticker. They are actionable policies that I am ready to implement starting on day one.

57:14And starting now, that work begins. So as we begin this transition to a new administration, I want to be absolutely clear about a couple things. First, Virginia is the only state in the South that hasn't restricted women's reproductive rights since

57:41the Dobbs decision, and under my watch, it will stay that way.

57:51In Virginia, health care decisions about contraception, fertility treatments, and reproductive care will continue to be made between women and their doctors, not politicians.

58:07That's a promise I've made and a promise I intend to keep. Second, I will always stand up for Virginia workers always.

58:19And right now, our federal workforce is under attack. And the chaos coming out of Washington is killing Virginia jobs and creating economic uncertainty for tens of thousands of families. government employees, government contractors, small business owners who are impacted by the chaos coming out of Washington. Virginia's economy doesn't work when Washington treats our Virginia workers as expendable.

58:58To those who have been impacted by the mass layoffs, by furloughs, by the hardships that you are experiencing, please know that I will direct the full power of the governor's office to support you.

59:18And to those across the Potomac who are attacking our jobs and our economy, I will not stand by silently while you attack Virginia's workers.

59:34I will fight every single day for every single Virginia jobs. the ones we have now and the ones we will bring to our commonwealth into the future. I will stand up to anyone who tries to harm our economy or the livelihoods of our Virginians.

59:58As governor, my job will be to put Virginia first, full stop.

1:00:07And tonight, as the Governor-elect, I call on Congress, Republicans and Democrats and our President to make real progress on bringing this shutdown to an end.

1:00:28The Virginians, the Americans who work tirelessly for their fellow citizens deserve nothing less. I know we're living in a time filled with chaos. We live in a time marked by uncertainty. And along the way, we do our best to try and explain it to our kids. I know the list of challenges that we are facing is long, but I also know that the only way we're going to solve these problems is by tackling them together. Democrats, Republicans, Independents, all of us. Because that embodies the message that we sent tonight. That is what being a Commonwealth is all about. Standing united for our future. That.

1:01:18That is what Virginia is about. So let's show the world what we're made of. Let's get to work. Thank you all so very much.

1:01:37And I'm so excited we got this party started a little earlier than expected.

1:02:06MeidasTouch:A powerful speech there by Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger hitting on all of the major, major subjects. I want to bring in right now Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, if we could bring him in a bit. I'd love to get his reaction to the speech by Governor Elect Abigail Spanberger. Senator Kaine, what did you make of that powerful speech by Governor Elect Spanberger? You know, Midas Touch, guys, she hit the notes. I mean, it was youthful. It It was energetic. It was practical and it was progressive. I mean, Virginia is the single best red to blue turnaround in the last 25 years. And we've done it by being I call us pro growth progressives.

1:02:56We're very practical, but we're also very progressive. And that's how we've turned this thing around. And Abigail ends up with a sweep tonight by all accounts. governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general. It looks like our House of Delegates is coming in strong, which will give our history-making speaker, Don Scott, the ability to really help be a wonderful partner for Spanberger's progress going forward. So I'm really, really excited. You know, her campaign was about three pillars. It was about affordability, jobs, and education, the bread and butter. She put the economy front and center.

1:03:36That's the issue that always matters the most to the most people. So often Democrats don't put that front and center. They talk about other things, but Abigail may help us with her strategy, you know, get to a place where the Democrats win the economic argument. She certainly won it in this campaign.

1:03:56MeidasTouch:You talk about the House of delegates, we obviously know the kind of big races that everybody's talking about. Governor-elect Spanberger, Democrat wins. Lieutenant Governor-elect Ghazala Hashmi, she wins. Attorney General Jay Jones, Democrat wins that. Big races there. But then in the House of Delegates, we've seen some major flips as well. Three major flips so far, and I know more coming in. Virginia House Delegate Seat 57, 22, and 82, all flipping thus far. And we're focused on a lot of these seats as well to see, you mentioned Speaker Scott, who we were fortunate enough to have here on the Midas Touch Network, who was incredible.

1:04:38MeidasTouch:He made me laugh and inspired me. What an incredible person. I want to get your final message to the Midas Mighty. It's incredible having you here as the Senator of the Commonwealth of Virginia to give us your perspective. But before you go, I know you've got a busy night ahead of you as well. What message do you want our audience currently? And then if I could just remind our audience also 70th governor of Virginia from 2006 to 2010, the 38th Lieutenant governor of Virginia from 2002 to 2006. So we are speaking with somebody who knows what it's like to campaign for this position. We are speaking with somebody who knows what it is like to do the job and do it effectively.

1:05:16So now I will give the - Did I tell you, Senator, did I give you?

1:05:20MeidasTouch:You'll understand the Senator. I don't know if you undersold me. I've been mayor, governor, senator, DNC chair, vice presidential candidate. I can't keep a job. But I have been in office when Virginia has gone from deep, deep red to blue. And I played my part in it, along with my wife, Ann, Mark Warner, and Jim Webb, and Terry McAuliffe. I mean, we have been in the vineyards, folks, for the last 25 years. We are the best red to blue turnaround in the United States. And sometimes people want to ask, you know, what are the Democrats doing wrong? Ask what Democrats are doing right and go to some states where we're turning it around and ask how we're doing it.

1:06:06In Virginia, we win by always putting the economy first in campaigns and then always delivering economic results when we have the privilege to govern. A lot of Dems in this country, they campaign on other issues and they cede the economic argument to the Republicans. We kick the Republicans' asses on economy in Virginia. And even at the national level, we've got the goods, we've got the evidence, but folks don't focus on the economy. So Abigail Spanberger, again, affordability, jobs, education, which is an economy argument because it's about the workforce, you know, focus on the bread and butter.

1:06:52And we kick tail on the Republicans who focus on the offbeat, stupid cultural issues that very few people care about.

1:07:01MeidasTouch:Do me a favor, Senator, just don't take that LSU coaching job because it seems that Louisiana Governor Landry, he's obsessed with that instead of the people there because you do the contrast to your point, though. Like what are governors focused on? What are these Democratic governors focused on? What were you focused on? It's the people. It's not these culture war issues. It's fighting for the people. And, you know, you see the stark contrast of that speech that Governor-elect Spanberger gave there. And I think about the speech two days ago that Landry gave where he was interfering with the athletic director of LSU.

1:07:35MeidasTouch:It's like, what are you even doing, man? What are you doing? Well, anyway, we appreciate you so much. You know how valuable your time is. And thanks for being here with us on this very historic night, Senator. Yeah, you guys at Midas Touch, you do a great job of spreading the word. So just keep putting it out there and I'll look forward to coming back. Amazing. Senator Tim Kaine, everybody on election night, the clean sweep right there in Virginia, the governorship, the lieutenant governorship. Jordy's got the broom right there. The attorney general seat right there. Three flips, the House of Delegates, many flips there as well.

1:08:11MeidasTouch:And Brett, thank you for stepping in there because I was not doing the senator justice. I should have, I should, I should, you know, I always, I gotta say, I always feel bad to interrupt Ben, especially when he's in the middle of his flow. But we had, you know, perhaps like the most accomplished politician on the planet who has held every job, including the jobs that we were speaking about right now. So I thought it was important to bring up that context that Governor Tim Kaine had held all those positions, Lieutenant Governor, Governor. So like I said, he is somebody who knows what it is like to run for these seats.

1:08:42He is somebody who knows what it is like to win a gubernatorial race, to actually be governor. of the Commonwealth of Virginia. And I think that is so fantastic. I've loved having an insight here. And I got to say, you see right now the discipline of the Democratic messaging. Gone are the days. And I think you could kiss that goodbye of people saying the Democratic messaging sucks, the messaging sucks, the messaging. We are seeing consistent messaging across the country right now and the success of that messaging when Democrats rally around affordability, when they rally around these issues that affect people's everyday lives.

1:09:16And I think we are seeing the results of that right now. We are continuing to see some major calls, Justin. Ben, I don't know if we want to call this one, Justin. Do we want to call this one just yet?

1:09:27MeidasTouch:Of course, I want to call it Decision Desk HQ calling the New York City mayoral race, Zoran Mamdani, to be the next mayor of New York city wow new york there we have it zoran mamdani called right now decision desk hq early in the night folks we'll get you more data there but decision desk hq has been on point they wouldn't be making this call so early on if they didn't think that zoran would go on to win big call for decision desk hq and this this would be a big win for zoran mamdani should he continue to go on this path. He is the projected winner of the New York mayoral race. This would be a massive, massive victory for Zoran Mamdani, somebody who won the Democratic primary after launching this incredible campaign, unlike what we've really seen before, focusing on these very issues that we've been speaking about, focusing on issues of affordability, really meeting people where they are.

1:10:33And when I say meeting people where they are, I mean meeting them where they are. This guy was in the clubs this weekend. He was on the streets with the taxi, with the people driving the taxi cabs. He was everywhere. I don't know where he got the energy. He was at the club till 2 a.m., 3 a.m., and then he was there the next morning at the taxi stand. I'm like, listen, you're only a year younger than me. Huh? Every club. Every club. He was like, a bunch of people club hopping. I'm here. I'm only a year older than Mom Donnie. I'm like, I'm tired just watching the guy. I don't want to go. I can't leave my...

1:11:06That sounds like a lot. He's doing a lot. But it shows you the power of these campaigns when you meet people where they are, when you speak to these issues. This is a big night. And oh my God, Ben, Jordy, we said it when we logged onto this stream when we were just beginning that we are looking out right now. And if those Republicans are looking out, it is not even necessarily a blue wave that is coming towards them, but a gigantic blue tsunami. And this is exactly, exactly what we are seeing right now. Holy cow, folks. I mean, I see everybody in the comments right now, a lot of excitement, a lot of energy.

1:11:46I think it's matching the energy that we saw at the polls. And like Ben has said multiple times during the stream, this, you know, you never want to take anything for granted. You never want to count your chickens before they hatch. But the idea that this is some massive surprise, the idea that this is something unexpected. How could anybody have ever seen this before? That's how the kind of cable networks are framing this. Where did this come from? What do you mean where did this come from? Have you been watching the data? Have you been looking at the polls? Have you been seeing how hated and reviled Donald Trump is?

1:12:17Or have you been buying the Republican Trump propaganda hook, line, and sinker? I think the latter, and I don't know why. Maybe it's time to stop buying that BS to start looking at what the American people are telling you loud and clear. They are sick of this MAGA crap. They want people who are actually going to do stuff for them and stop dangling these BS culture war issues every day. What's going on in these algorithms with Elon Musk boosting all this crap, it's all fake. It's all fake. There's a real world out there. The people are speaking. The people are rising up. We are seeing it with our own eyes right now.

1:12:50We've had such a great slate of guests tonight as well on this stream. It was so great to have the junior senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia, Tim Kaine on. It was so great to have Adam Kinzinger on the show. We're going to have many more guests joining us soon. I want to remind everybody, make sure you go out and watch the new Midas Studios documentary, The Last Republican. It'll actually be a great watch tonight after these election results to show you exactly what we are fighting for here. Adam Kinzinger was on with us before, a former Republican congressman who refused to go along with this MAGA toxicity, refused.

1:13:24He stood the line. He held the line. He said, hell no. And I want you to go check out the movie, Apple TV, Amazon, YouTube, all the various streaming platforms. If you're in the US, if you've seen the movie, let us know in the comments, a big night. I think we're seeing right now, Jordy's got the broom out. We're seeing the Mamadani.

1:13:44MeidasTouch:Immaculate, immaculate, immaculate vibes be. Yeah. What we're seeing right now is the Mamadani. This is the Mamadani. And Jordy, we got Ron Filipkowski, our editor in chief here. So I'd love to bring him in. Sorry to interrupt you. We'll get back to you in just a second. Ron Filippowski, Midas Touch, Editor-in-Chief. Ron, I read one of your tweets earlier on the show. Donald Trump, most popular guy ever, according to him, solved 29 wars. Inflation is where he's actually giving people money, I guess, now. I don't know. How could this have possibly happened, Ron? To me, I was just writing down my takeaways from this.

1:14:21I thought I'd have like two or three and I have like nine, you know, I mean, I think that there's just so many things that you can take from the results. I mean, just the first one is this is not just tonight. I mean, we can go all the way back to January. This is every single special election except for like four. I mean, there's been like 48 special elections and in like 44 of them, Democrats have outperformed what Harris or the Democratic candidates did in 2024. So this has been a longstanding trend line here that's only increasing. I mean, the gaps continue to widen. And I think also, you know, you had Mike Johnson and all the Republicans for the last few weeks about talking about no kings, you know, and saying, these are all paid protesters.

1:15:19These are Marxists. These are, you know, Antifa. And I went out there and it was the biggest crowd of people I've seen since I've lived in Maine. And it was all peaceful, nice people of all ages, of all races. Nobody sounded like a Marxist to me. It sounded like a lot of people that were really, really pissed off and wanted to do something and wanted to take action and weren't going to wait for political leaders. They wanted to do it themselves at the grassroots level. And I think that a lot of them felt like what Republicans were saying about them and about their anger and their frustrations only made them more mad calling them paid protesters and Marxist and Antifa.

1:16:10I mean, that only that only I think that doubled the turnout of no king. So, you know, they just the question now becomes, are Republicans going to what are they going to learn from this, especially the ones in Congress, especially the ones in those swing districts who have been silent, who have refused to stand up to Trump and refuse to say anything about all of his abuses, whether it's his pardons or his tax breaks for the billionaires or you name it, one thing after another, one abuse after another, threatening media companies, threatening universities, threatening Democrats, withholding funding from democratic states, withholding disaster aid.

1:16:52We can go on and on and on. Will they now speak up? Because they have to look at these results and say, I'm thinking about people like Mike Lawler in New York. They have to be, who's in a district that I think Harris won or certainly Biden won it in 2020 and say, I could be next. I have got to separate myself from Mike Johnson, who is in a super safe district in Louisiana who has never even had an opponent run against them. And I got to stop listening to people like Donald Trump and Stephen Miller and Mike Johnson because they're leading me to disaster. You know, hopefully all it would take is six or seven of Republicans in the House to start having that mindset.

1:17:39And a lot of things can turn around.

1:17:42MeidasTouch:Ron, you look at every single county in Virginia, shifted blue, just the way I need to shift to fit straight into the camera and learn how to stand still for a second. You take a look at this post, you don't get this stuff on cable news, everybody. They know how to stand still. Apparently you take a look, right, but we've got the data. You take a look right here, every single county, whether it's 12 points, 16 points, 8 points, 4 points, 6 points, 9.3 points, 4 points, 4 points, 6 points, 3 points, 15 points, et cetera, et cetera. Every single county, massive shifts blue. And it's not just in Virginia.

1:18:20MeidasTouch:Mikey Sherrill, we called winning the governor's race there in New Jersey, in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Democrats holding all three seats there, flipping some of the local races in Georgia as well that we've been covering. The House of Delegates in Virginia, we're seeing Democrats pick up more seats. So it's across the board. And to your point, Ron, what's Donald Trump saying? It's rigged. It's all a lie. It's all fake. I mean, I just think Americans are sick and tired of it. By the way, Zoran Mamdani emoji has dropped. It's there in the chat. When somebody wins, Ron, in case you want to know the organization that you're the editor-in-chief of, our level of maturity, Ron, if this persuades you to be the editor-in-chief, we drop emojis here on the YouTube video.

1:19:14MeidasTouch:When somebody wins, you don't get this on cable. I just have one question. What's an emoji? No, I'm just kidding. I got to say, I got scared for a second there, Ron. as much as Ron in our chats makes fun of our Gen Zers for not knowing a very famous figures from the seventies and eighties. I almost had to pull an Uno reverse on you. Ron knows the motto. Before going back to Ron, I want to hear from the J-Man. Jordy. I'm saying Ron knows the motto here. It's brick by brick, emoji by emoji. It's the foundation of this network. Shout out to all of the 40 ,000 viewers watching this live and growing.

1:19:54MeidasTouch:If you haven't already, subscribe to the Midas Touch YouTube channel. Totally free. Just hit that subscribe button right now. You'll be subscribed to the channel. Oh, 43 ,000 is the latest number I just received. And then you could also become a member of the channel. You could gift memberships to others. Ben and Ron, they're too humble, but I'm going to brag for them. They do an incredible podcast for our members only. It's called Ask the Editor with Ron and Ben. It's a fabulous segment if you're a member of this channel. And you could gift memberships to other folks if you're so inclined and able to.

1:20:23MeidasTouch:You could watch that. And so awesome stuff. I am psyched, psyched, psyched about tonight and what we're seeing. As I started this, the vibes are high. The vibes remain high. What we're seeing is just a clean sweep right now. The chat's feeling great. Everyone's feeling great. Let's keep the momentum up here. Let's not get sidetracked, but I'm feeling really good about the direction that the night's heading. And more good news ahead. So Benji B, where are we going from here? I want to go back to Filipkowski. I wanted to build on your point there, Ben, if I could for a minute. The point you made about the margins, it makes me think of these mid-decade gerrymanders.

1:21:04And let me explain to you why a lot of Republicans have been hesitant to do these in a lot of states, like Indiana, North Carolina, is because there's a risk involved in these for Republicans. What they are doing with these gerrymanders is they are taking safe Republican seats, moving Republican voters out of those seats into Democratic districts and making those districts either toss ups or lean ours. And what that does is it makes, OK, now we have a bunch of toss up seats, maybe where they used to be safe Democratic seats. But now we also have a lot of toss ups and lean R's that used to be safe Republican seats that are now competitive.

1:21:53And if you have an environment like this, where nationwide Republicans are going to out poll or out score where Democrats are going to out out score out vote Republicans by plus five or plus six. You're you're not talking about a blue wave with these redistricting. You'd be talking about a blue tsunami. me. I mean, and I heard a lot of consultants in Texas warn about this when they were doing the they said, look, we have to be careful here what we wish for, because sure, if it's a solid year for Republicans and the economy is great and everything, this will pay off for us and we'll gain seats.

1:22:38But if this is a bad year for Republicans, we could be shooting ourselves in the foot with this redistricting. We can end up losing more seats than we gain. And that's the other problem for them now that they need to start thinking about.

1:22:56It is truly, truly incredible, a seismic shift. And we keep going back to that phrase, Ron, that I know we said at the beginning that this is not only a blue wave, this is a blue tsunami that we are seeing here. I want to give everybody another massive update right here. This is a projection coming in about the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Let's pull that up if we got it. That's right. Pennsylvania voters have approved to retain three of the Democratic State Supreme Court justices. This means, Jordy is sweeping it up again. This means that the Democrats will retain control of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

1:23:34Another very, very, very important race in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Jordy, I know this is a big deal for you, living in Pennsylvania, absolutely massive momentum. I mean, if you just look across the board right now, I'm not so sure there is a single election that we've seen that Democrats have lost at this moment. This is just a total clean sweep at this moment, a total and complete repudiation of the MAGA movement. And Ron, as I was reading your tweets before, I couldn't help but agree with you. like, will the Republicans learn anything from this? I just am not so sure that they will.

1:24:11They've tried all the propaganda. They tried to push everything. And I think ultimately, one of the things that we've seen is they completely misread the 2024 election in so many ways. They viewed it as they had this crushing mandate that they won by incredible margins. And when you looked at the data, even of that election that we saw, there were more people who voted against Trump that voted for Donald Trump in that election, despite the fact that Trump won the election. So they tried to take that, tried to claim this massive mandate, tried to project this idea that they were completely invincible, that nothing could stop them whatsoever, that they had the right to do whatever they want.

1:24:51They became incredibly aggressive with these ice raids and militarizing cities and Donald Trump withholding SNAP and the government shutdown. And just day after day after day. It's just kind of traumatic action after traumatic action inflicted on the American people. And these are things that the people feel at the end of the day. I mean, there are certain things that you could argue, do the American people care about X or Y or this issue or that issue? People care if they're able to afford putting food on the table. People care about these issues that people care when they go outside their door and they see the military on the streets, gassing protesters, gassing people, manhandling people the way that they are.

1:25:31Americans don't like that. Americans like freedom. Americans like not really being told what to do. I used to think that conservatives used to pretend that that was their value of having the government off your back. But Donald Trump has just gone ahead with this authoritarian mindset of he wants to control every level of government. He wants to be so intimately involved in everybody's life at every level. And I think it just really turned the people off. I mean, what do you think, Ron? I mean, you know, we Democrats who pay attention to cable news, social media, et cetera, we knew that Project 2025 was their agenda.

1:26:07But the average American voter had no idea. You know, if they had even heard about Project 2025, and I would say 80 % or more did not know what it was. If they even heard about it, a lot of them listened to Donald Trump who said, that's not me. I have nothing to do with that. That's not my agenda. And they gave him the benefit of the doubt. I'm talking about like your swing, independent, low information voters, people who don't watch the news. They watch sports. They raise their kids. They watch cooking shows. They don't pay attention to politics. That's who I'm talking about. and you know donald trump ran on two issues i mean he spent 90 of his campaign money on on ads for two issues the first one by far was immigrants deportations secure the border by far spent the most money and the second was trans athletes in sports he spent 90 of his campaign money campaigning on those two issues.

1:27:14So even though we knew that he planned on doing all this horrible stuff that's in Project 2025, the general low information voter thought he's going to secure the border. You know, he's going to deport criminals and they believe that's who he was going to deport, you know, rapists and murderers, not, not the guy who owns the restaurant down the street, you know, not the guy working on a farm, not the guy at the construction site. You know, that's not who they thought he was going to deport. They heard criminals and they thought, you know, what Donald Trump says when he means criminal is all of them.

1:27:51They're all criminals, you know, but but that's not what the average voter thought. And so what happened is Trump takes office and, you know, him and the Republicans and all his minions say we have we wanted a huge landslide. We have this huge mandate to radically transform American society and American government. And the voters immediately recoiled. And that's what's happening now. They're saying, what? This isn't what we thought. We didn't think you were going to be trying to get Jimmy Kimmel fired. And we didn't think you were going to set up a crypto company where UAE is funneling $2 billion into your pocket or Qatar is giving you a jet.

1:28:31Like, this isn't what we signed up for, dude. Or the Department of Justice, you know, rampaging, firing everybody, the FBI, cash patel flying around the country seeing his girlfriend i mean this isn't what they voted for and so the question is are republicans going to pull back from some of this stuff and go man let's just focus on you know keeping our tax cuts and rolling back some of these tariffs nobody thought they were voting for all these tariffs he didn't campaign on that so you know are they going to roll back some of this stuff and pull back or are they going to plow ahead. I have no doubt that the people inside the Trump administration are going to plow ahead, full steam ahead.

1:29:12Stephen Miller and Russ Vogt are not going to be slowed down by this. Pete Hegseth isn't. Pam Bondi isn't. But the question is, are the Republicans in Congress going to be willing to take a beating next year and go down with this fool? Or are they finally going to stand up to him and speak up for themselves and say enough is enough?

1:29:33MeidasTouch:And Ron, you do such a great job here as our editor in chief, man. We're so grateful for everything you bring to the network. One of the things that infuriates me with corporate media these days is just the gaslighting on the American people into making it seem like what we're all collectively witnessing is any what normal. And just like the sane washing of this regime drives me absolutely bonkers at times. What's your thoughts on that? And how have you been able to sort of manage that and sort of guide the ship forward with all that nonsense happening on the corporate media side? You know, I try not to be somebody who just like complains about the media all the time, you know, because that's like I really don't want to like.

1:30:18And part of the reason is because like I like a lot of like I like a lot of them and I respect a lot of them. And, you know, I know that they try and do the right thing, you know, for the most part, you know but watching them day in and day out and i probably i probably follow more reporters than anyone in america i mean just like reporters all over the country not just the ones in dc not the ones you see on tv but the ones that are in state houses local communities local governments out there covering courthouses just grinding every day those are the people i follow and they follow me. So I'm very plugged into, you know, really the reporting that's happening out there.

1:31:03And you do get just so furious and so frustrated at some of these people. I mean, the perfect example, I can give you thousands of examples, but the perfect example was today, you know, where Trump gets asked about the crypto guy, pardon, you know, Zao, that he pardons his crypto partner. And Mike Mike Johnson comes out the following morning for his press conference and says, I didn't see that. I didn't know anything about it. And I tweeted out, knowing that so many of these congressional reporters follow me on social media, I tweeted out, you know, the reason why Mike Johnson gets away with this is because nobody ever asks him that the following day, the same question and says, okay, Mr.

1:31:50Speaker, now that you've had 36 hours to think about it, and after we asked you about it yesterday, and you told us you would get back to us, here we are the next day. So let me ask you again, now that you've learned, what do you think about this pardon? But did one reporter Ask Mike Johnson today about the crypto dude, not one. It's absolutely infuriating, but that's why we appreciate you, Ron, because you force their hand. You actually focus on the narratives that people want to be hearing. I want to remind everybody to check out Ron's daily political news bulletin. It is the single best political news bulletin you will read ever in the universe, bar none.

1:32:36And check it out every day at MidasPlus.com. Go to MidasPlus.com, M-E-I-D-A-S-P-L-U-S.com. Make sure you sign up. It's free to sign up. There are extra perks if you do one of the paid tiers and you're also supporting the growth of this network. But you could sign up completely free. You'll get these in your inbox every day. They are so valuable. There's always a bunch of stories too that I think I'm following the news closely. And then I'm like, how does Ron catch all of this stuff? It's wild. I want to bring in another one of our guests, another great individual. Many people call him the Walter Cronkite of our time.

1:33:09Some people call him the breaking news guy. I like to call him Aaron Parnas. Aaron, welcome to this live coverage on Midas Touch of election night 2025. A big night, Aaron. How are you feeling right now? Aaron's been busy, man.

1:33:23MeidasTouch:I've been checking out TikTok and Instagram. He's been going all night. Feeling good. Feeling good. Maybe we'll see the creation of a live TikTok live on the air. Yeah, I mean, maybe the sausage is made, you know, Mom, Donnie just won. So big news, big news. It's a great night. Democrats are winning across the board. I mean, even in races where you didn't think Democrats would overperform, they're overperforming. They won in Georgia statewide. They haven't won in 20 years. J.D. Vance's half brother just lost in Cincinnati. Pennsylvania, they retained a 5-2 majority on the Supreme Court. New Jersey, obviously, Cheryl wins.

1:33:53And then you had a trifecta in Virginia, not just on the statewide races, but the House of delegates and the Virginia Senate all are going to be blue. And the House of delegates, they may even have 60 seats by the end of the night. Michelle Wu just won in Massachusetts. And if I had to guess, you're going to have Prop 50 pass shortly. So huge night tonight, huge night tonight.

1:34:12MeidasTouch:Aaron, you kind of just glanced over that one. Did you say J.D. Vance's brother lost in Cincinnati? Yeah, his half brother lost big time. He was a Republican running against the Democratic incumbent. I think he won't he lost by like 40 or 50 points. Yeah, it's so funny because there was that primary, you know, the way they do it. There was like the primary earlier in the year and he got smoked in that primary. Also, I remember covering that over here. And then he decided to, I guess, that insult injury and then try it again in the general and see what would happen. And he got rejected. I mean, if there's anything I could say about this night, it's been a complete and total rejection and repudiation of Trump and MACA.

1:34:47You see Fox right now, and I know that Ron loves to follow all the networks, see the kind of right-wing reaction to everything. We got Asin, who works for us, who's vigorously clipping everything right now, including the reaction on Fox, which is quite the sight to behold. They are trying to figure out in real time right now, how do we spin this? How do we tell our viewers what's happening here? So right now, their whole thing is they're saying, oh, but these are all blue states. Of course, everyone knew that this was going to happen. They're trying to make this about Trump and the Republicans.

1:35:17It's nothing about Trump and the Republicans. But as Aaron just said, and as we reported earlier, that's not even true. We saw what happened in Georgia, the first win for those seats in 25 years. And the energy and the enthusiasm that we are seeing nationwide right now, I mean, it is legitimate, it is real, and they could try to ignore all the signs all they want, but it's not going to help them in the future at all. You saw it with the No Kings protests. What did they try to say? The crowds were fake. Oh, no, that's not a clip from this No Kings protest. It's a clip from 2019. They tried to throw everything at us, every single lie, all of the gaslighting, and rather than actually reflect internally and realize maybe people actually don't like us.

1:35:59Maybe people actually don't like being tortured by us. Once again, for those just tuning in, we are looking right now at the Zoran Mamdani. It looks like their celebration room right there. We expect New York City Mayor-elect Mamdani to speak shortly. We will see what happens there. But across the board right now, I'm not so sure there is a single election that the Democrats did not win tonight. I mean, this thing was a wipeout, a sweep, whatever you want to call it. This right here is a major moment. Now, my question, and I would love to get both Ron's perspective and Aaron's perspective on this, is does this shift the narrative?

1:36:40We've seen a narrative over the past few months since Donald Trump was elected. The corporate media, at least, has tried to project this air of invincibility over Donald Trump, like I said earlier, like they had this incredible mandate. Is that illusion shattered right now? Do people start to now think the Democrats are actually the ones with the momentum and that this is actually a collapsing regime that we are watching right now? I'll let Ron chime in first. Well, you know, one, a couple of things on that, you know, Republicans have never done well in the Trump era when he's not on the ballot.

1:37:17And the reason for that is because Donald Trump brought in a lot of voters into the Republican Party, people who were never Republicans before 2016. Many of them were not ever registered to vote, had never voted before. He brought them in. And what we have seen, whether it is 2022, 2018 or now, is a lot of them have no loyalty to the Republican Party. They have no loyalty to Ted Cruz or, you know, any of these people, Marco Rubio, you know, whoever, Elise Stefanik. And when Trump when Trump is on the ballot, they show up and they vote for Trump and they also vote for these other Republicans that are on the ballot.

1:38:04And they've done fairly well in presidential election years. But in the off years, when Trump is not on the ballot, MAGA stays home. They don't care. They don't care about these candidates. They don't care about Winsome Earl Sears. They don't care about Jack Cittarelli. I mean, I'm not talking about your loyal Republican diehards. I'm talking about MAGA, the people who don't bleed the Republican Party. and uh so that's another problem for them i mean where was trump trump didn't campaign for any of these people he never went to new jersey he didn't campaign for winsome sears he didn't even endorse her you know he he said vote vote for the republican ticket in virginia that's as far as i mean so i mean trump didn't campaign at all for any of these people so but you know on the other side on the democratic side you know you you you have to say that this is entirely grassroots because every single campaign is totally different you know you have a moderate traditional establishment dem and spanberger and even cheryl but then you have them and dame you have the california referendum you have the candidates in georgia you have progressives you have moderates, you have white, you have ethnic male, female.

1:39:26And this wasn't an effort that was led by the party leaders. I mean, this wasn't Hakeem Jeffries leading the way or Schumer leading the way. They didn't even support Mandami. This was a bottom up campaign driven, grassroots driven movement. No Kings was part of it. And, uh, you know, Donald Trump, after all, all the heartbreak and the disappointment coming out of 2024, we can always count on Donald Trump being a great unifier for the democratic party. He is perhaps, uh, maybe the single best campaigner for the Democrats. Although I have to give credit to all these, uh, campaigns. I mean, Spanberg or Cheryl Mamdani, like all these candidates did incredible jobs.

1:40:13And I think, like you said, you know, diversity, ideological diversity, but all focused on affordability, all focused on meeting people where they are and doing what's best for the people in their cities or their districts or their states. And I think that's something that I think the Democrats can take from it is you don't have to go in any single direction or whatnot. You got to fight for what the people you are representing want to see. And so I think it's an interesting thing that we are seeing this. And also, I just want to note before we go to Aaron here, what you highlighted really represents, I think, one of Donald Trump's ultimate scams, where he likes to tout this massive percentage of, look at my success at endorsing candidates.

1:40:52Wow, I have a 90-whatever percentage rate for winners. It's because he comes in at the very end and only picks the people where he basically knows that they're going to win the elections. I think Donald Trump's kind of silence on these elections, his kind of refusal to really get in, which think about Donald Trump. He's not a guy who really likes shutting up much about anything, right? He really was kind of out of this whole thing. He steps in with his, I'm going to look at criminal charges about Prop 50 and fake votes and all that kind of BS, but never really went out there and stuck his neck out for any of these candidates because I think at the end of the day, he knew these were losers and he didn't want to endorse them.

1:41:29And his endorsement really, I guess at the end of the day, isn't what puts them over the edge. He picks people who are already going to win in these races and then tries to claim the victory. Aaron, he did endorse Cuomo and he did say that he would withhold the

1:41:43MeidasTouch:money from New York City if Cuomo lost. Yeah, good job. Yeah, Cuomo last night. Cuomo pulling many much highly coveted endorsements of Donald Trump and Stephen Miller. Before Aaron goes on that, I predict this. You're going to have Republicans for the midterms beg Trump not to endorse him, not to endorse them. Like Mike Lawler, he is going to say to Trump, I know you might want to endorse me. Please don't. Don't send out any truth social posts. Don't mention my name. Don't come near my district. I predict that. That is a very interesting point. And I could definitely see that bearing out as we see those elections.

1:42:24There's going to be a Donald Trump stench that people don't want to have anywhere near them come the next elections. All right, Aaron, we've kept you waiting. You've been following the news, obviously, for a while. I don't think there's a single update on breaking news that you've ever missed in your entire life. You're on top of everything. So what's your feelings on this? And you've also seen the news coverage. There's a reason why people come to you, Aaron, for the news and why they don't go to the legacy media. And so what do you think about, do you think it's going to shift the narrative here that's been out there, this idea that the Republican Party, that Trump, that they're invincible, that this country has shifted, that Gen Z has shifted and it's never going to come back.

1:43:04There were all these narratives that just seemed like BS when they said it, but they're still running with it. So I'm curious to get your thoughts. I also want to remind everybody, Aaron Parnas is on YouTube and his channel is absolutely crushing it. He's delivering amazing news updates here. You may know him from TikTok. You got to check out his YouTube channel. I believe it's youtube.com slash at Aaron Parnas one, youtube.com slash Aaron Parnas one, or just search Aaron Parnas on YouTube, you'll find it. Make sure you subscribe to Aaron's channel. He's doing news updates right here on YouTube every day, Aaron.

1:43:34Yeah, no, go subscribe right now. But I think that tonight's election should not surprise anyone. I mean, if you looked at all of the special election results over the past nine months, every single time there was a special election, it got increasingly worse for the president and for the White House. And so tonight should come as a surprise to no one. But what surprised me about tonight personally was that Jay Jones is winning and not just winning just by like a point. He's winning pretty convincingly now over three points. That's a race that I thought would be a bit of a toss up. Maybe the Republicans would pull it out.

1:44:07That didn't happen. And all of these elections are being called early in the night. I mean, Zoran winning three minutes after polls closed. That's pretty nuts. Mikey Sherrill winning 17 minutes after polls close. No one thought it would be that much of a blowout. As far as the future goes, though, I agree with Ron. I think that Republicans are going to run from the Trump endorsement because Trump's approval rating right now is just at 37 percent. His disapproval rating is at 63 percent. That's two thirds of the country right there. Practically, most independents disapprove of Trump. The only people that approve of Trump right now are in these deep red states.

1:44:40And even then you have fractures within the Republican Party. And it's not just between Donald Trump and his voters. I mean, you have a major debate about what the future of the Republican Party is going to look like. The Heritage Foundation is falling apart in real time. Republicans can't pass any legislation in Congress, as we see. House of Representatives hasn't been in session since September 19. And right now, I will say this. After tonight's results, Democrats in Congress have no motivation, in my opinion, to reopen the government and cut a deal with Republicans. It's got to be Democrats way or the highway.

1:45:11You got to you got to make sure that you fully extend Affordable Care Act subsidies. That's the kind of the bottom line for Democrats right now. Tonight's results, complete bloodbath for Trump and for Republicans. And it's only going to get worse, I think, with Prop 50. Yeah. One of the things, you know, I know both of you guys, you know, you're obviously you're in tune with the conversations that are happening on the Internet, which have shaped our politics in a way that I think people even a few years like I think all you guys have seen it. But I really caught, I think, the legacy media by surprise in the 2024 election when they're like, holy crap, like people are getting their information from podcasts.

1:45:49They're getting their information from Twitter and Blue Sky and all these various places. Maybe we need to make platforms there. Maybe we need to be talking to people there. But I think there's also an element of some of those platforms, especially the ones that are kind of captured by people like Elon Musk, where people kind of fall into these algorithmic kind of spirals, especially on a platform like X, where they think that the country believes a certain thing, even when all the data tells them otherwise. and especially on Twitter, where you see all of these kind of right-wing MAGA propagandists, many whom Marjorie Taylor Greene, of all people, was going after on The View today, calling them paid propagandists, saying that they're paid a lot of money to make these posts.

1:46:28That's Marjorie Taylor Greene saying that. But I think, what do you guys make of this kind of echo chamber that's developed on the right, especially in regards to platforms like X, where you have the kind of Benny Johnsons, the cat, you have these people kind of pushing assertive narrative. Do you think that it's helping them right now? Or do you think it's actually backfiring them because it's lulling them into this kind of false sense of complacency? Do you think they're living in like a false reality at the moment? They're living in an echo chamber, complete echo chamber, a complete echo chamber.

1:47:00I mean, and Marjorie Taylor Greene put a best on the view today. They're literally being paid to push these narratives, right? They're being paid thousands of dollars a month, pretty much to push narratives. They don't have to ever disclose it because the FEC hasn't cracked down on it. So they're pushing these narratives in an echo chamber designed to only reach the same exact people that they've been reaching now for nine months. They get their hundred thousand likes, but this country is a lot bigger than just a hundred thousand likes and doesn't actually translate to the rest of America. And when you look at a platform like Twitter, most of the people liking these people's posts, they're not even from America.

1:47:34They're being posted by people out in India, in Israel, in Russia. I mean, all over the world. They're not in America. And so, I mean, I just think that they're living in their kind of own delusion. Yeah, I think that's a really good question that you brought up there, Brett, too. And you're right, Aaron, absolutely, about the echo chamber aspect of it. I mean, I've been following the right wing MAGA echo chamber podcast, you know, podcasters, that whole world for so long now. And I can tell you that in 2020 and in 2022, I was extremely frustrated with the Democratic Party because I saw what Republicans did, especially in the wake of their deplatforming after January 6th.

1:48:21I mean, you have to realize a lot of them were comfortable on Twitter like the rest of us, and they were kicked off Twitter. And they had to create their own platforms and they had to create their own podcasts because a lot of them couldn't even get on YouTube. You know, they were all kicked off YouTube, too, and they were kicked off Facebook. And so they had to create these alternate this alternate media ecosystem. And look, let's face it. Charlie Kirk was a big part of building a lot of that. I mean, he was in there with a lot of others. And and my frustration was that Democrats had nothing, you know, I mean, Democrats relied on like mainstream media.

1:48:59They relied on MSNBC to like D and CNN to like debunk or or they were they were looking to the DNC to do it, you know, or the Biden administration. Like what? And, you know, why don't you push back on all these lies and all this disinformation? And I was looking at it like these guys were like, like a running back who breaks into the secondary in football. Like there's nobody there. Like they were just living the dream because they were just running wild, pushing lies. And there was nobody there to push back. And I will say that over the last two years, Democrats, not from the top down, you know, this wasn't Joe Biden didn't didn't give us guidance on this.

1:49:44Chuck Schumer didn't. Jeffries didn't. Pelosi didn't. It was us. We did it ourselves. Not just us, Midas. We were a big part of it. But many other groups said, enough is enough. We need to get in this arena and we need to fight back and push back. And now every time they post something false, I used to get furious because it would go for two, three days and nobody would fight back. Nobody would push back. Now you have groups like us who jump all over the lies and we're pushing back and we're community noting them and we're all over their lies. And now we have groups like us have so many members of Congress that follow us, governors that follow us, senators, and they chime in and they pile in with us.

1:50:35We get it. We get the pushback started. But then they come in behind us. And man, that never happened in 2022. That never happened in 2020. Democrats were completely disarmed in this arena. But now I think not only are we equal to them, we're in many ways better than them at it. And and I think that that's an important shift as well. Yeah, I agree. I think this is a, as I said before, a complete and total repudiation of Trump and MAGA. It's also a complete and total vindication, I think, for the work that we're doing at Midas Touch and the work that all the grassroots organizations are doing, all the people who helped organize the No Kings protests and all the people who are watching these streams right now and who share these videos and share these podcasts.

1:51:21I think it's so important and it's been such a big help in getting out the message. I remember No Kings. We saw so many signs of folks who said, I get my news from Midas Touch. I get my information from Midas Touch. I'm a member of the Midas Mighty. I met so many people at my local No Kings protest here who, when they saw me, said, I get my news from two people, Midas Touch and Arambard. Midas Touch and Arambard. And when you see that, you see the impact of this sort of thing. And it's really validating. And not just because, oh, it's cool. It's us, you know, whatever. I'm happy that the message is ultimately getting out there.

1:51:54That to me is always the most important thing. And I want to deliver also some other breaking news right now coming in from Virginia, a Virginia house of delegates, seat 66, Nicole Cole, Democrat has beaten incumbent Bobby Orrick, the Dean of the house of delegates. That is the 11th flip of the night to the Democrats in the Virginia house. I mean, folks, this is the numbers. The data speaks for itself right now. Now, I'm short. He's bringing out the broom again. That looks like a bigger broom.

1:52:21MeidasTouch:You got to get a bigger broom now. It gets bigger. Ron, actually, it gets bigger each time another Democrat wins. Are you pulling it out? Yeah, no, absolutely. And then, B, I just want to jump in here. So we always talk about the collective we, and I really want to give flowers to the community, the mightest, mighty, all 50 ,000 people watching right now, everyone who goes out to the No Kings protest, everyone who's having your voices heard every single day. This is exactly what you guys see. You guys understand that what we're witnessing, what corporate media is trying to normalize, that none of this is normal.

1:52:52MeidasTouch:So shout out to y 'all. And this gets me super excited, too, here as we head into the midterms, quite frankly. And look, I don't want to get ahead of ourselves here. I used to have a boss. He would say, everybody wants a six pack, but nobody wants to do the crunches. One, I know we all love doing the crunches here at the Midas Touch Network, the collective. We hear the Midas Mighty, everyone. There's still a lot of work to happen between now and the midterms. I am excited. Ron, Aaron, I just want to get your guys' point of view here before we bring Ben back in. How are you guys feeling based off of tonight?

1:53:23MeidasTouch:Is tonight an indicator of things to come? Aaron, I'll start with you. Oh, Lord, I don't know. I mean, I think it's still early. It really is. Midterm elections are unique, and this midterm of a midterm is very unique. I mean, I think tonight was a repudiation of Trump. I agree with Brett. I think that it was a complete rebuke of everything Donald Trump stands for, everything the White House is pushing in terms of policy. But as we know, in this news cycle, it's not even a 24 hour news cycle. It's a minute by minute news cycle. And things change very fast. So if you don't keep your eye on the ball now, who knows what will happen in 2026 with gerrymandering and so much more.

1:53:58So I think that this is major momentum for Democrats. But Democrats need to make sure that they don't they don't lose the momentum heading into the new year. Love it. Ron, how about you? I think Brett made a good point earlier that the Democrats have really been very disciplined about sticking to kitchen table stuff right now. You know, the cost of living increases. I mean, just what Mondami was asked yesterday, you know, Donald Trump tried to play his fool games and bait him. You know, I'm better looking than Mondami. So some reporter comes up, sticks a microphone in Mondami's face, you know, and says, what's your comment on Trump saying he's better looking than you?

1:54:36And he said, I'm focused on the cost of living crisis in New York City. I mean, that that's the Democratic discipline on the messaging, which we're not used to. Let's face it. Democrats aren't always the most disciplined on messaging, but they were this time. And and and so that's really what it's going to come down to. You know, what does the economy look like three months out of the midterms? Because, you know, that's really what that's really the whole ball of wax. You know, if the Republicans and Donald Trump were banking on this economy, kicking, humming on all cylinders, you know, the big tax cuts, all that there, they and the tariffs, they believe that there was going to be this manufacturing boom, no inflation, chicken in every pot.

1:55:19Everybody was going to be happy and making money. Right. And so if that was true and if that is true somehow, then, you know, then this isn't going to be a blue wave. But what we're seeing is the opposite. You know, the economic news continues to get worse and worse and worse. And there's no sign that Trump understands. I mean, the Supreme Court might actually do Trump a favor if they rule against him on tariffs because he's wrecking the economy and he's wrecking Republicans' chances in the midterms with these tariffs. And you have to believe that if the Supreme Court doesn't bail him out and take away this authority, Republicans in Congress will.

1:55:56They might go, hey, man, we're done with all this stuff. You know, we're taking back our tariff authority, which they should have from the beginning because it's in the Constitution. But they're just letting him run wild. And so, you know, that's really what it comes down to. I think it all going to come down to economic issues. You know, the trans in sports stuff doesn't work. when some sears built their whole campaign around, you know, men and women's bathrooms. It doesn't play anymore. The migrant issue doesn't play anymore because Trump has overplayed his hand. It's all going to come down to the economy, I think.

1:56:30Yeah, I could not agree more with you. And I think worse than not delivering on those promises, Ron, that Donald Trump laid out that everything is going to be great. We're going to live in a golden age. There's no inflation. It's the fact that he keeps continues to lie about it. When people know that their grocery bill is higher, when people go outside and they see the military on their streets and it frightens them, and when they see people in their family whisked away by ICE and federal agents, people feel this administration. I don't think it's never, it's never really a good thing when you're feeling the actions of the administration in such a negative way.

1:57:02And so it's not only that things are not good, it's that Donald Trump is trying to gaslight people and tell them everything's amazing when they know damn well that it's not. I think that adds another layer of resentment onto what we are seeing from voters and why voters are so fired up. Ron, Aaron, I want to thank both of you, both for your contributions to the Midas Touch Network at large and for joining us here on the stream. We're all so grateful for you. I want to remind everybody as well, Ron Filipkowski, some incredible work on the Midas Touch Network. Obviously, our editor-in-chief oversees everything.

1:57:35But specifically, you've got to check out the Midas Plus sub-stack. That's where we have Ron's daily news bulletins. They're the best political bulletins in the universe, in the galaxy, you name it. They're the best wherever you can't tell me there's another. There's a better bulletin than Ron's. MidasPlus.com, sign up today. Go check it out. That's our sub stack. Aaron Parnas, incredible YouTube channel. Go check out the YouTube channel, youtube.com slash at Aaron Parnas1. Aaron also has a sub stack. You all know him, TikTok, all that. And also, Ron Filipkowski has an amazing podcast called Uncovered right here on the Midas Touch Network.

1:58:10He does it every Wednesday at 4 p.m. Eastern, 1 p.m. Pacific time with Anthony Davis. It's an incredible show. They break down everything that's going on in the MAGA world. It's so insightful. You watch that show, I think you know what's going on before anybody else knows what's going on. You get the best insight. So check it out. Thank you, Ron. Thank you, Aaron. So grateful for both of you. A big night for democracy tonight. Huge night. Ben come in live from a courtroom. Courtroom, Ben. Yeah, Ben is in the courtroom. A lot of people go, is this a green screen that Ben's in? No, Ben is in an actual courtroom here.

1:58:47This is legit. This is real. Look, he's proven it. Real. Wow. Real. That's real.

1:58:53MeidasTouch:I figured let me find the most random location to deliver election coverage from. Normally from my living room. I'm just going to do it in a courtroom right now. No, I needed to have some additional space because my brothers keep yelling at me for my Wi-Fi situation at home. Spectrum, I can't be having the largest audience right now in digital watching this stream for me to only be like, why is my Spectrum Wi-Fi now? Call the Wi-Fi out by name. They won't be a sponsor on the show. I should have done my talks with them. Okay. Good to know. You could have cued me in on that. I lost a spot. It's all right.

1:59:33MeidasTouch:It's all right. That's what independent media is about. Parnas, it's great to see you, Ron. It's great to see you. This was the night I've been looking for, you know, where a lot of our hard work together, this community pays off. And that we could share this joy together through difficult times, beginning with that horrific inauguration where we focused on our puppy and kitten inauguration. Everybody remember that? to where we are here now. It was not a foregone conclusion we would be here. Donald Trump and Elon Musk wanted to destroy us. They wanted to destroy the resistance. They thought in a matter of weeks that they would have suppressed all opposition the way they had corporate news showing up at Mar-a-Lago and kissing the gangster ring.

2:00:25MeidasTouch:It's what they thought was going to happen. But we rallied together and then leaders emerged. California Governor Gavin Newsom. We've seen the fight the oligarchy rallies with Bernie Sanders and AOC. Mamdani emerged. We saw Democratic leaders who were timid and not meeting the moment at first, finally fighting back. and we're like, okay. And they got their energy from you, from the people, right? The No Kings protest emerged organically. Incredible groups like Indivisible, Move On, 50-51, unions coming together. And when corporate news refused to show the protests, what did we do right here on the Midas Touch Network?

2:01:15MeidasTouch:We showed the protests. We showed the shadow hearings. We knew that's where the people were. We were always talking about the Epstein files and Donald Trump's cover up. And now all of that is front and center because of you. I know we're moments away from Mikey Sherrill's victory speech in New Jersey. Of course, we're going to bring that to you live as soon as she takes the stage any moment now. But I wanted to just take the time to celebrate this joy and this moment with you. Let's bring you live to Mikey Sherrill, the governor-elect of New Jersey.

2:02:04MeidasTouch:And I think there will be sound there shortly. No sound yet, but we will be bringing you the sound there shortly. As soon as that hits, I can't wait to bring everybody. Mikey, Cheryl, the speech really hasn't begun yet. But Brett, I thought that was an important moment while our sound engineers figure out the sound situation right there. But Brett, a big moment, but no sound yet, guys. Let's get that sound in soon. Brett. Yeah, it's possible they don't even have the sound yet on the feed. And so that should be coming in soon. But no, a big night. We are seeing the celebrations across the country.

2:02:36And I want to remind everybody also, just because we said it so quickly before, that J.D. Vance's half-brother, Corey Bowman, got blown out in his election for mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio. He lost by like 64 points and J.D. endorsed him. So if JD Vance thinks he's going to have some sort of massive pull over this party, a massive pull in the future, I think he's got another thing coming for him right there. We're going to check in shortly now with Mikey Sherrill. We hope to get her speech soon. I want to check in with our team. Do we have sound on that yet? Can we pull her up at least on the side?

2:03:16We can watch. Okay, not yet. We don't have sound. We should be getting the sound very soon. But just a massive blowout across the board for Democrats, just a complete repudiation of Trump and MAGA. We're seeing this from Virginia to New Jersey to Georgia to New York City, all over the place. And soon we are going to be seeing the results here in California. I expect that to be called pretty soon as well on Prop 50. And I think one of the things that tells you the direction, I'm not going to make any sort of call or projection or prediction. right now. But I think something that gives you a little bit of insight into what's been going on here in California is originally this Prop 50.

2:03:59I want you to just think back to that when Governor Gavin Newsom announced this, how derided he was by the legacy media, how Republicans thought this would never work, this would never pass. You saw all those kind of pollster types. Ron knows who I'm talking about, the people on the internet who tried to go, oh, this is doomed from the start. Governor Newsom has no chance passing this proposition. These always fail all the time. And then what did you see? Governor Newsom took the lead. He took charge. He got ahead of the messaging, which is something that we really haven't seen a lot of Democrats do in the past.

2:04:33He set the narrative, set the tone. Republicans ended up pouring in so much money, tens of millions and millions and millions of dollars to try to fight this thing and what happened. And they ultimately, a few weeks before, the Republicans, all the people who are putting in money for this thing, decided, actually, we're not going to spend anything anymore. We're done. We're out. We give up. Mercy. We're waving the white flag. I think that tells you where this race stands. Salty, do we have sound yet for Mikey Sherrill, the governor-elect of New Jersey? You let me know. I would like to bring you her speech very shortly.

2:05:14But once again, a very, very, very, very, very big night for the Democrats. We're also hearing a lot of sadness and depression over at Fox News. We're seeing that they are sitting around the table. They don't know what to do. They're doing everything they can right now to try to spin this thing and tell their viewers because they've been telling viewers everything was great. Everything is awesome. People love Trump. People love everything. But clearly, the people thought otherwise, and they made their voices heard tonight on this pivotal election night. We are going to check in shortly with Mikey Sherrill.

2:05:53We're just getting more data. And I think one of the things we're also seeing shift is just a huge momentum shift across various demographics. And these are demographics just months ago that all the pundits were saying it was impossible. Democrats have lost these voters forever. For example, exit polling on young men 18 to 29 in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York City. Spanberger was plus 14, 18 to 29. Cheryl plus 10. Mom Donnie plus 40. I mean, we are seeing just the total impact right now, the big shift that we are seeing right now in the electorate that I think Republicans counted their chickens before they hatched.

2:06:33They completely misread the results of the 2024 elections, and that is coming back to bite them tonight. Ben, you got any other updates?

2:06:42MeidasTouch:Take a look right here. The 12th flip of the night to Democrats in the Virginia House. HD 69, Mark Downey has beaten the incumbent there, Chad Green. So we've seen 12 flips there, a wipeout from MAGA Republicans in the House of Delegates. And as I mentioned, literally every county shifted in major ways towards the Democrats there in Virginia. And we saw the trifecta there with the governor's race, the lieutenant governor's race there, the attorney general's race, the House of Delegates there as well. Then you go to New Jersey, Mikey Sherrill winning the gubernatorial race there. Then you go to New York City with Zoran Mamdani winning the mayoral race there.

2:07:35MeidasTouch:Then you go to Pennsylvania, where the Democrats kept control of the Supreme Court, the three seats that were up for reelection. Democrats kept those. Then we go to California, which is really the last and final thing we're looking at this evening, right? And it's Prop 50, where again, Brett, to your point, it was not a foregone conclusion that Prop 50 was going to pass by huge margins. Also, I saw photos of the lines out in California. I mean, People were so motivated to vote for Prop 50. As a Californian, it's like nothing I'd ever seen before. Now, this photo right here was by a family member.

2:08:21MeidasTouch:My brother-in-law, Chevo, sent this to me, who lives in Huntington Park. And this is a 98 % Latino neighborhood right here. It is one of the locations where we see ICE raids over and over again. And it's where my wife's family lives right there. This is what it looks like in Huntington Park. I think it's an important thing to talk about, right? With all of the harassment and intimidation directed at that community, to see the community show up like we just showed you in that photo. And it's deeply personal to me, because that's where my family lives. And to see the ICE attacks in my family's neighborhood over and over again, the ICE attacks in the elementary schools.

2:09:10MeidasTouch:It's just so horrific what's going on there. In the parking lot, a lot of those videos you see, it's in their neighborhood. And to hear the stories from my mother-in-law, my wife's mom, who is scared to walk. She's a citizen, but she's scared to walk to church in the area, scared to go to the gym in the area. People are terrified in that community, but they showed up to vote. And so I think it's a really big deal to highlight that. And thank you to my brother-in-law, Chevo, for sending us that photo when he showed up to vote. That's Huntington Park, California. And you can see just how motivated people are there.

2:09:52MeidasTouch:But I remember, Brett, to your point, everybody saying in California, everybody saying in California. Prop 50 wasn't going to work. Remember, they tried to set up the dynamic. It's Newsom versus Schwarzenegger. Okay, really? Remember, the corporate media tried to push that narrative right there with all of the money coming in. And I'll tell you what, Newsom fought back with his moral authority, his formal authority, and he showed how you lead the way. And by the way, everybody who's watching this, I hope that you will get to watch the interview that I did with Governor Newsom. He interviewed me.

2:10:35MeidasTouch:You talk about me having imposter syndrome when I showed up. I'm like, you sure you want to interview me, Governor? For real. I showed up at the studios when they were recording. And I was like, OK, you know, I'm very proud of the network. but I'm being interviewed by the governor who many believe could be the next president of the United States. And I'm thinking, what's this guy going to ask me? But we had a great conversation. It's on Governor Newsom's channel. If you want to watch it after the coverage tonight, I encourage everybody watch that interview I did with Governor Newsom. We talked about all of the issues.

2:11:12MeidasTouch:We got very personal about how Midas Touch took off. Yeah. It was really great. You can check that out. This is Gavin Newsom podcast. It's on Governor Newsom's podcast. It's on YouTube here. So make sure to check it out. And we've got some more big news to break for you right here. Oh, my God. Things just continue to get worse for the Republicans in Virginia. I cannot believe what I can believe what I am seeing, but it is stunning to see Americans reject authoritarianism in this way in Virginia. House District 69, Mark Downey, has beaten incumbent Chad Green. It's the 12th flip of the night to Democrats in the Virginia House.

2:11:52We got Mikey Sherrill, the governor-elect of New Jersey, speaking now. Let's pull her in, Mikey Sherrill. Especially after this election, where we chose, we're going to follow Lady Liberty's beacon. We're not going to give in to our darker impulses. Here in New Jersey, we know that this nation has not ever been, nor will it ever be, ruled by kings.

2:12:25We take oaths to a constitution, not a king. We've chosen liberty, the very foundation of democracy, and we've chosen prosperity necessary to create opportunity for all. So New Jersey, to quote the boss, The future is now. Roll up your sleeves, let your passion flow. The country we carry in our hearts is waiting. Thank you, New Jersey.

2:13:00MeidasTouch:You see, we only bring you the best parts of the speech. We give you the Cliff Notes version of the speech. No kings, pro-democracy, great leadership. Oh, that's great. That's your speed drop up in under one minute or less. But a big win by Mikey Sherrill there. Now, all eyes finally turn to California where we expect a huge night for Prop 50. Jordy, how are you feeling there, little brother? Hold on, hold on, hold on, Jordy. We got Donald Trump's first statements of the night. He's been very silent all night, so I do want to pull this up. Oh, this is sad. It should be good. I'm sure it's very classy and very – This is a sad one.

2:13:50MeidasTouch:This is pathetic. Posting AI images of himself pooping on polling places, Brett. Oh, he's not yet posted any AI videos of himself pooping on – Is he posting images of great Gatsby parties with half-naked women in martini glasses, Brett? Not yet. No half-naked, no great Gatsby. But let me tell you what he actually is posting. Honestly, like this is Trump at his most pathetic and weak. Donald Trump writing just moments ago a quote that says Trump wasn't on the Trump. Can you read the post? Can you read the post, man? Of course. Of course. Well, OK, I want to sell out what I was doing. I was waiting for our people to get the graphic made.

2:14:34But go and throw me under the bus as I try to help our editors. OK, the quote right here, Trump wasn't on the ballot and shut down were the two reasons that Republicans lost elections tonight. And that's a quote he put in. And then he wrote, according to pollsters. Now, I see Ron hysterically laughing at this post from Donald Trump. Ron, what are your thoughts? I got to get you. You know, they just spent like three weeks every single day saying like Democrat. Everybody's blaming the Democrats for the shutdown. Like Mike Johnson has had press conferences with House leadership every morning at 10 o 'clock saying that.

2:15:14Trump's been saying that. And now, now Trump is saying, oh, the shutdown is why we lost. We're blaming Republicans for the shutdown. It's like, OK, I'm interested. So now what's going to happen? Mike Johnson is going to come out tomorrow morning, right? He's going to give his press conference and they're going to say, Mike, what did you think about Trump's tweet where he said the shutdown is the reason why we lost. And Mike Johnson's going to say, I didn't see it. I don't know. I don't know what you're talking about. What tweet, right? I mean, that's unbelievable.

2:15:48MeidasTouch:That post is Mike Johnson. You know, well, I haven't seen it yet. I'm going to have to, I'm going to have to process it, but we're certainly, we're surely not covering up the Epstein files. I like, I love when the guy just like brings up the Epstein files on his own now. And it's like, yeah, we didn't ask about Epstein, but it's interesting. I just want to let you all know that we're not covering it up. Okay. You know what I always say as a reminder, the Epstein thing, that's a red herring. One of the funniest things about this post that's underrated is the my pillow ad underneath right there for$17 and 98 cents.

2:16:26MeidasTouch:that you get i mean the whole thing is right keep going down by the way what'd you say ron i said the prices he keeps lowering the prices lindell you know he's like giving these things away now smack you in the face with a pillow that's maggot's gonna hit you with a freaking pillow and uh and give it to you and give it to you for free jordy vibes are high b thanks for tossing it to me vibes remain high the chat is is we're at an all-time high right now this is this is some really incredible stuff. I'm glad that we, this community, we get to watch this together unfold in real time. Really epic.

2:17:02MeidasTouch:As House Republicans have worked, what is it, Ron, 12 days now in the last three and a half months? This is absolutely insane. And for Donald Trump to put out that truth social. I mean, can we just stop and pause and just reflect on how weird it is that he has his own social media platform that he's called the truth social that runs these MyPillow ads that we were just talking about. We live in just absolutely insane times. And I'm so glad though, that we're living it together to keep our heads on straight because it's maddening. I mean, it is absolutely maddening what we're seeing. And that's why I'm so excited about tonight because folks are able to put their votes where their mouth and their frustrations are.

2:17:45MeidasTouch:And like I said, I'm going to keep bringing this out, Ron, because every time Brett gives us an update, I mean, it's another sweep here. This is unbelievable. And for those of you who really enjoy that schadenfreude, as Brett mentioned earlier, the exact opposite of the vibes of what's happening right here on this screen and this chat, that's what's happening on Fox News right now. I mean, they are spiraling. Absolutely. I'm shocked that they're so surprised about what happened. And look, again, I just want to also ground ourselves here because the midterms are a ways away. And I don't want to necessarily be like, oh, we're going to now take this all the way to the mid.

2:18:25MeidasTouch:No, there's still so much work that has to be done. You cannot take your eyes off the ball here as we continue. But you should be able to celebrate tonight that pro-democracy is seemingly winning the night by a landslide. And that is all thanks to all of you here at the Midas Touch Network, the editors behind the scenes here, everyone that's in this chat, the Midas Mighty. And again, once again, all of those who take to the streets, who have your voices heard peacefully. This is all, this is everything that you guys have been talking about now, living out before our eyes. And I know I'm excited and the chat is excited, but again, I don't want to get ahead of ourselves here.

2:19:04MeidasTouch:We could appreciate what's happening right now. Isn't that right, Ben? For sure. It's a big night. It's a big night and it's a good night for democracy. And at the end of the day, for me, it's not about political party. I don't care about political parties. I don't care if you have a D next to your name and our next to your name. I don't care. What I do care right now is that one of our political parties has been co-opted by an authoritarian movement, a movement that threatens the, it's an existential crisis to our very nation and everything that it stands for. And that's what troubles me so much.

2:19:35And that's why it is a great thing to see these results. And it's a great thing to see the American people rising up and standing against this and going back to what this country actually stands for, the freedom and liberty and justice for all. And so it's great to see all of that. And we've seen this transformation of the Republican Party over the past few years that That has just been so grotesque and disheartening how they turned into this cult of Donald Trump, have just put aside all pretense and embraced this kind of weirdo, bizarro identity that just does not resemble anything close to being American at all.

2:20:14And I want to remind everybody we have a new documentary out there that follows Adam Kinzinger, a patriot, a Republican who stood up against this. It's called The Last Republican, the documentary. We did it with MCDC Productions. It's a fantastic movie available in the United States on Apple TV, on Amazon, on YouTube, on Google Play, on any of those kind of big major streamers where you can kind of rent movies. Go check it out. If you've seen the movie already, let us know in the comments. I think it is powerful. I think it is so of this moment. And it's so important as to where our country is, where it was, where it is, where we are heading for people to watch this and for people to share this movie.

2:20:53I'm so proud of it. and the producing team behind it did such an incredible job. Steve Pink, the director, who also directed one of my favorite movies, Hot Tub Time Machine, directed this. It is a fantastic documentary film with a lot of heart. It follows Adam Kinzinger and his family and his personal story, his professional struggles, him basically getting thrown out of Congress the way he was with the redistricting and replaced by MAGA extremists. Such a powerful movie. I hope you all have a chance to watch, Ben.

2:21:26MeidasTouch:Let's take inventory of where we are right now. East Coast, 1020. West Coast, 720. We're waiting for Zoran Mamdani to give his victory speech. We've seen the victory speech of Mikey Sherrill in New Jersey, of Abigail Spamburger in Virginia. Virginia, we saw the trifecta pulled off where Democrats won the governor's race, lieutenant governor's race, even the attorney general's race there, which some didn't expect. We've seen 12 house of delegate seats flip, which is a major, and I think we're going to see more flip. It could be as many as 20, maybe more. And every single county in Virginia shifted by massive amounts from red to blue, whether it was on the low end, 5 % to 16%, but a massive blue wave there.

2:22:17MeidasTouch:As I mentioned, New Jersey, Mikey Sherrill goes on to win the gubernatorial race there. In Pennsylvania, Democrats win all three Supreme Court seats, keep control there. Zoran Mamdani wins in New York City, and he won pretty early on, we were able to call it. So now our attention goes to California, really the last big one, right? Prop 50, which we expected to be called As soon as the polls close in California, we shared with you the massive lines in California of people who are voting yes. I mean, the amount of enthusiasm out here in California is just absolutely incredible. I think the passion that we all have here on this stream, we're seeing not just in digital spaces, but on the streets as embodied by the No Kings protests, but also the enthusiasm to go out to vote, to get involved.

2:23:10MeidasTouch:I think people realize now more than ever, just the importance of civic engagement, that government is kind of like a garden. You can't just ignore it or you can't just destroy it the way Donald Trump destroyed the Rose Garden and built Club Rose Garden or destroyed the East Wing of our house, the people's house, to build a golden ballroom while they throw great Gatsby Roaring 20s themed parties with the slogan, a little party never killed nobody as Americans are starving to death and having their healthcare ripped away. One thing I want to mention that we do hear on this stream is we release emojis the moment a candidate wins.

2:23:49MeidasTouch:So we've got the Spanberger emoji, the Mikey Sherrill emoji, the Zoran Mamdani emoji, and coming soon hopefully is that Newsom emoji as well, but use those emojis right now. Become a member of this YouTube channel. You can gift memberships as well to others by clicking join. Lots of people can't afford memberships to access all the bonus features like the exclusive podcast I do with our editor-in-chief, Ron Filipkowski. By becoming a member of our YouTube channel, you get access to all of that and gift memberships to people as well. Also, don't forget about our sub stack, MidasPlus.com. Check out that sub stack as well.

2:24:32MeidasTouch:And go to store.midastouch.com. Check out the Pro Democracy merch as well right there. I think I covered it all. Jordy, let Ron Philip. Let me do one more just to cover the basis. I don't think he said this. Make sure you check out the Midas Touch podcast anywhere you get podcasts. We're honored to win podcast of the year at the Webby's this year. And I think that was a big turning point to where people started looking and when they saw us compared to some of these other kind of right-wing podcasters in the charts and they said, oh, well, where the hell did this come from? Where is this energy coming from?

2:25:03We thought it was all Joe Rogan and these right-wing podcasters. Where the heck did, how did the heck did this happen? That all happened thanks to you. Let's build off that momentum. Everybody here right now goes to their favorite podcast app on their phone, Apple Podcasts, Amazon, Spotify, you name any of the big podcast apps, wherever you find them. I'll go and look for the Midas Touch podcast, add the show, listen to the latest episodes, check it out, leave a five-star review if you already subscribe. The way we do the podcast is every Tuesday morning and every Friday morning, we release the long form podcast with all three brothers where we go through all the big stories in about an hour, hour and a half.

2:25:40The rest of the week, we're doing updates throughout the day to keep you updated, 10-minute updates, 15-minute updates because the news cycle moves so quickly. I know people want to be able to catch up and be on top of everything without having to spend all of their time listening or watching the news. So go check it out. And also I got to say, a lot of you may be watching us for the first time right now, or a lot of you may be just, you might see our videos in your algorithm on YouTube often. You don't realize, am I subscribed to them? Am I not subscribed to them? Make sure you're subscribed to the Midas.YouTube channel right now.

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2:26:22MeidasTouch:Ron Filippowski, your take right now, 1025 Eastern, 725 Pacific. What do you make of this evening, Ron? I want to go back to what you said about Newsom and build a little on that just in the Democratic Party generally, because I think that we went through a long period of time, several cycles where the party leaders picked our candidates for us and told us what to do. And we largely followed those instructions. You know, Joe Biden told us he was going to run again. And there were many Democrats who did not want him to run again, but they didn't say anything. You know, they kept silent. And then we were told he was going to drop out and a lot of people didn't want him to drop out.

2:27:04But a lot of party elites wanted him to drop out. And then we were told Kamala Harris was that we had to back Kamala Harris. You know, we had no primary. We had no convention, you know, and the same thing happened around the country, you know, where, you know, the party leadership said, you know, this is who we're getting behind. This is our nominee. And I think after November 2024, the grassroots of the Democratic Party said enough of that. You know, we're not listening to you anymore. We're not listening to the consultants, the talking heads, the people who get paid lots of money to tell us what we should do.

2:27:42And we are going to go our own way. We're going to pick our own people this time. We're going to we're going to get behind the candidates that we believe in, that we connect with. And this is going to be a bottom up party now. We're not going to we're not going to vote for who Schumer tells us to vote for or who the DNC tells us to vote for in the primaries. We're picking our own people. And then Gavin Newsom, you know, really, I think, didn't read the room for a few months. You know, he thought after in the wake of the 2024 election that the smart play was to understand MAGA, understand Trump's appeal.

2:28:20Started a podcast and his first two of his first three guests were Steve Bannon and Charlie Kirk. And what happened? He heard from us. He heard from the grassroots. He heard from me. He follows me. He heard from a lot of us who said, no, man, this is not the way, brother. this is not where we're going you better get with the program or forget about 2028 and you know what you know after a little bit of hemming and hawing i think he finally got the message because he went from interviewing charlie kirk to interviewing ben you know so i think that um that sent a powerful message i mean mandami is not the choice of the of the democratic establishment Graham Plattner is not the choice, right?

2:29:04But all over the country, we're hearing like, we don't care who you want us to pick. We're picking who we want. And I think that that is an extremely healthy thing for the Democratic Party. And you're seeing a lot of the old guard retire as they should. And it's like, it's time for them to move on. Because it's not a situation where we hate them or we dislike them or we don't appreciate them. It's that we're looking at so many young stars in the party and we're saying, we want to elevate these people. We think they're great. We want them in leadership. Give them a chance. Get off the stage. And that is happening.

2:29:42That is happening this cycle. And that is an extremely healthy thing for the Democratic Party. We are seeing the grassroots rise up for sure and say, this is what we want to see as the future, not only for the Democratic Party, but for the United States of America. And I love seeing the energy that we're seeing right now in all of these states and all these districts and all these cities. And I got another breaking news update right here for everybody. Like I said, total bloodbath, get the broom because in Virginia right now, the 13th flip of the night, 13th flip of the night for Democrats in the Virginia house of delegates in house district 86, Virgil Thornton, the Democrat has just beaten the incumbent AC Cordoza, uh, the Republican, the 13th flip in the Virginia House of Delegates.

2:30:31And Virginia, of course, a major bellwether state that a lot of people say is indicative of the way the rest of the country is going. This is a major, major, major update. And when you saw, I remember those maps that we all saw after the 2024 election that were gutting when you saw those red arrows, those long red arrows on the map, which showed how all these districts across the country, how they went to the right. Now we're seeing the complete opposite of that. We're seeing a spring back because I think personally, and I feel like maybe a lot of you out there agree with me, that these Republicans overplayed their hand, that Donald Trump overplayed their hand.

2:31:08They viewed they had this seismic mandate to do whatever they want. That was not the case. And they have psychologically tortured Americans. They have made their lives hell. And the people are feeling it. They're feeling it in all the issues that Donald Trump said he was going to solve. They're not solved. They're way worse. And in fact, the only people that are getting rich right now in this Donald Trump economy are Donald Trump and his cronies from these various crypto schemes and shady foreign deals. The American people see exactly what is going on right now, and they are reacting to all of it.

2:31:37MeidasTouch:Think about the closing message. Democrats on message talking about affordability, affordability, affordability. Donald Trump and MAGA partying at Mar-a-Lago in the great Gatsby themed Roaring Twenties party. And what was the slogan? A little partying never killed nobody. And Donald Trump's message today is that he's going to block SNAP from 42 million Americans after the court order saying, no, you have to administer this program. And then Trump's own Department of Agriculture had to go into court and say, yeah, don't listen to that guy. Don't listen to what he's saying. We'll follow the court order.

2:32:17MeidasTouch:But that was their closing message going into the election. I mean, those images, a lot of which were captured by our editorial team here, Ron, of the half-naked women in the martini glasses dancing around while Trump's grotesque, rich male oligarch right-wing guys were out there looking at them. And look, Mar-a-Lago, in my opinion, I think it's an undisputed fact, was used for Epstein sex trafficking. I mean, that's where Virginia Giuffre was found, as Donald Trump said, and taken from him using a direct quote from Donald Trump and where Epstein found her underage, to use Donald Trump's own terminology, and to see that grotesque Mar-a-Lago where Trump hid the nuclear secrets and other classified information all throughout the floor.

2:33:10MeidasTouch:And then you see what they were doing. It was like they were giving us all in the middle finger. It was like they were mocking us all. They thought we were all stupid and they seemed to relish and enjoy our suffering. And that was screwed up. And the people showed up and the Midas Mighty showed up and people across the country showed up and said, no, no kings, no to this, but not just no to this. Here's what we're for. And you look at, obviously, Spanberger is a very different type of candidate than Mondambi. But to me, Ron, Brett, Jordy, Midas, that's great. I'd like to see that in their own ways.

2:33:51MeidasTouch:Young candidates in Virginia, in Spanberger, doing it her way. Mondani doing it his way in New York City. Mikey Sherrill doing it her way in New Jersey. And how they get there is their own way. But affordability, affordability, affordability, such an important message. And Ben, let me just add to that exactly, Because all the candidates you just mentioned did do it, in fact, their own ways. But one of the things that connected through line through all campaigns is that they were talking to the people, right? These candidates were having conversations, real legitimate conversations, and actually listening.

2:34:26MeidasTouch:And I think that is just so powerful. And it might sound obvious, but sometimes do the obvious. Talk to people. People want to be listened to, okay? And I just want to go back to what we were talking about with Donald Trump and his closing message at Mar-a-Lago, the Gatsby themed Halloween party. That is a choice, ladies and gentlemen. That is a choice. Mag and Mike said it was obligatory. Halloween is already a theme. So now to have a Halloween themed party to be great Gatsby, that is a choice. That is a slap in the face to the American people as federal workers go unpaid. As Snap is running out for 42 million Americans, they had a great Gatsby themed Halloween party.

2:35:12MeidasTouch:And I don't want this one to be overlooked. And I think we should actually have the governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro on the show relatively soon, brothers, that Democrats that we retain control of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court here. That means that they maintained the five to two majority here. I mean, that is absolutely massive. I would love to hear Shapiro's thoughts on that and what that can mean for the Commonwealth going forward. Again, I am stoked, might is mighty. I mean, this again, and it's not because I'm a Democrat or I like politics. I like when people are heard. I like when people's voices are heard.

2:35:49MeidasTouch:And that is what is happening right now. That is what we are seeing across the country play out is that people are being listened to and they're having their votes matter and count. If you haven't already, we got 53 ,000 people watching this live stream. Become a member of the YouTube channel. It's very easy. You could just become a member. You get access to emojis. You get access to special podcasts, add free content. So become a member. You could gift memberships to others if you're so inclined and able to. That'd be very greatly appreciated, I know, for a lot of folks on this stream. So become a member.

2:36:18MeidasTouch:Download the Midas Touch podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. Give it a five-star review. That's hosted by Brett, Ben, and myself, the three brothers. It was just recently the Webby Podcast of the Year. You could download that podcast anywhere you listen to audio podcasts. That's the Midas Touch podcast. Again, just so grateful for everyone on the stream. We're going to keep this party going all night long. I thought the bit with the broom was getting a little tired, but every time I touch this thing, man, I just get more excited. So the bit stays. The broom stays all night so long as the vibes remain high.

2:36:52MeidasTouch:Ron, what do you think about that? You want the broom to stay? I think you got to get a bigger one. I really do. You got to get one of those industrial things. because that doesn't really capture the full magnitude of the night. I mean, that broom right there talks about, you know, a solid sweep. But this is really like you almost need like a street sweeper, you know, like a truck. I mean, you know, I'm going back to the Mar-a-Lago thing, because I want to talk about that for a second. Because think about this. You have the nightly news, right? News broadcast, whatever it is, CBS, ABC. and they got Sean Duffy on there talking about chaos in the airports, you know, flights are being grounded.

2:37:36And then they're talking about snap. People are going without food. People are getting notices from their insurance companies that they're going to lose their health insurance. Oh, let's check in on the president. And he's down there, you know, on a golf course in Palm Beach, or he's, you know, he went, he literally went from China where he's begging Chi to buy soybeans. You know, please, hat in hand. You know, I'm going to lose Nebraska. I'm going to lose Iowa. I'm going to lose Kansas. Please buy my soybeans. Bail out my farmers for me. They love me. He goes straight from there to Palm Beach for two days of golf and then this Gatsby style Halloween party in the middle of a shutdown.

2:38:25I mean, like he's just basically putting his middle finger up, not only to the country, but to his own candidates. As we said, he did not go to California. He did not go to New Jersey. He did not go to Virginia. He didn't campaign for any of these people. He did nothing to help them. Not that they really wanted his help. But the point is, I think this guy is checked out. I think I don't you know, I don't think we're going to see him doing a bunch of rallies in the midterms. Well, Ron, you say checked out. I got some breaking news for you right here. We have a second statement from Donald Trump just released on his social media platform, Truth Social.

2:39:06And I think checked out hits the nail on the head with this one. Donald Trump bragging about his 60 minutes ratings in his latest post. This is Donald. This is real. I'm not making this up, folks. Donald Trump's new post just out. The 60 minutes interview of Donald J. Trump on CBS Sunday night was the highest rated 60 minutes in years. I mean, you cannot make this shit up, folks. I mean, how pathetic. First, his first message, Trump wasn't on the ballot and shut down were the two reasons that Republicans lost the election tonight, quoting unnamed.

2:39:41MeidasTouch:What is the image right under? What is that? Dude, let me just tell you. Are we going to get taken down? What is that? Listen, I advise people not to go to your son. Whatever that looks. Take it down. Take it down. But what even is it? What am I looking at? I don't know, man. I don't know. I don't think I want to know. Salty, please scroll up. Don't get closer. He got closer. That's what I mean. Like they have all these miracle cures and drugs on true social. She could have went in either direction. That could have been anything. I thought it was not a D I will say. But no, when you go, when you, when you go, when you go on truth social as people.

2:40:25MeidasTouch:What's the, what's his ad? Look at this. Let's look at this. Bag of Adderall. Yeah. What the hell are they selling? List the president of the United States, the most pathetic vile human being on the planet. This is his website. You go to it. At first, it spams you with a million pop ups of like all of this bullshit, all this grifty nonsense. And you have to scroll through it all to even get to a single post. Then you finally get to the post. And then underneath that, you have all of these other various scams and the MyPillow ads and the weird. We'll call it a knee. I guess it was a knee. I don't I don't know.

2:40:58And like weird pills and and med beds that are going to cure you and all the bizarre things that they put on this website. I mean, has this individual, Donald Trump, ever looked smaller than he looks right now? I mean, what a weak, infantile individual, what a pathetic human being that we are seeing right now. And when he is on the defense like this, when he is losing, when he is repudiated and rejected in such a way by the American people, he really just looks like a very tiny, small little human. You know, most people, when they lose, they do some soul searching. You know, we did right after the 2024 election.

2:41:37I remember, you know, after like three days of depression, you know, I had to write a column on like what went wrong. And those are like really hard, man. I mean, everybody had their own different take, you know, and and everybody's coming at it from a different direction. But we all did it. You know, we're all like what went wrong and what can we do to fix it? MAGA doesn't do that. You know, when they lose, it's rigged. You know, when they lose, it's some, I got screwed. It was the media. It was somebody else. You know, they never, they never look at themselves and go, what did we do wrong? And what, what can we do better?

2:42:18They, they never perform that exercise. It's not in their DNA. So you have Trump who makes everything about himself, you know, in the wake of this disaster for the Republican Party tonight, is talking about his ratings. This is a guy who goes to funerals and makes funerals about himself. I can remember, just make me think of this one speech where he only went to one Christmas church service during the four years he was out of office. He went one time to church on Christmas. And the pastor was in Dallas, Texas, and the pastor at Mega Church asked him to come up and share some messages of faith with the congregation on Christmas.

2:43:02And he ranted and raved about his poll results and how he won the election. It was stolen from him. I mean, that's who this guy is. Everything is about himself.

2:43:13MeidasTouch:Well, big, big repudiation of MAGA all around this evening. I don't really want to hear Cuomo. Does anybody want to hear from Cuomo? To be honest, I'm actually most looking forward to seeing what that loser says.

2:43:31Salty says they're booing him. Okay, we could hear Cuomo getting booed, but we'll probably cut him off when he's getting booed by his own crowd. That's what I'm saying.

2:43:39MeidasTouch:You don't know what's about to go down on this one. Oh, the Mamdani people are booing Cuomo on the TV. That's less fun. But no, we don't need to hear Cuomo. But what we could do is if we get a clip and there's anything interesting from him, we'll hear it. That's a good one. Shout out Aisin, by the way. Shout out Aisin. Shout out the whole team. We've got the best team. And then we've got 50 ,000 people watching right now. A reminder to go right now, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, iHeart, Spotify, whatever app you use for podcasts. Go and check out the Midas Touch podcast on audio. Be sure to check out Ron's podcast as well, Uncovered, that he does with Anthony Davis.

2:44:19Add those right now, get new episodes. I know if you're loving our coverage tonight that you're going to love it. We are waiting Zoran Mamdani to come out and speak. I'm sure he's waiting for Andrew Cuomo to get his speech before, as is customary, on nights like this. But I think the one thing that sticks out to me about tonight is that this wasn't a late night. We're waiting on the Prop 50 results because it's California and we're here in California. It's still early by us here in California. But the fact is, is that these elections were called very quickly, which is a sign that they are blowout elections, that these things weren't even particularly close at the end of the day.

2:44:58There was a reckoning tonight. There was a seismic shift in our political system as something that I think we've seen brewing now over the past few months. And now the country and the world is seeing it for themselves. And that's why I just think it's so short-sighted and shameful that we've seen so many of these companies capitulate to Donald Trump, that we've seen all these companies right away try to – they pretended to have all these various values over the past few years and that they cared about certain issues. And all of a sudden they either went dead silent or completely cut those issues loose the second they became a little inconvenient for them.

2:45:33And I hope they're seeing tonight that it's a mistake to tie your anchor down to some or to be anchored down by somebody like Donald Trump, a certified loser and somebody who has taken our country in the wrong direction and how hated these people truly are. And I hope now that the Democrats use the power that they're gaining in these various states and cities and they use it for good. They use it to better people's lives, to fight back against the authoritarianism that we're seeing, to truly focus on these issues of affordability and make lives better for the American people. Because I think winning is great, but at the end of the day, governing is the job.

2:46:06The job is about helping the American people. That's what politics is all about. And that is the most interesting thing about politics for me. It's the fact that we actually get an opportunity here to help people, uplift people out of poverty, make sure that food is on the table for them. And so I look forward to that aspect of this as well. I see Ben's got a lot going on in his brain. I'll tell you something.

2:46:24MeidasTouch:Well, I mean, I'm just trying to look at this data, like, and I'm just double clicking to see if it's real. Like, if you go to New Jersey and you go to Gloucester County, okay, which Cittarelli won in 2021 by plus 11, Mikey Sherrill won Gloucester County. I mean, it's wild and won it convincingly. And so you said this, Ron, if you're a MAGA Republican Congress member like Michael Lawler, I think it's what New York's 17th congressional district, and you're sitting there in like Rockland County or whatever it is, ROC, and you're looking at the margins that you've won before with some incredible candidates in that primary on the Democratic side who remind me a lot of the Mikey Sherrill's and the Abigail Spanbergers.

2:47:17MeidasTouch:They're very kind of similar candidates like that. We've interviewed them here. Whoever comes out of that primary is going to be very, very impressive. You got to be thinking, I'm toast. I'm toast. You know, what am I going to do? And if you're any, I mean, just again, go think about Virginia, where there have been, what, 13 House of Delegate seats that have already flipped. And I think that number will probably get to closer to like 20. Does everybody remember where we started this evening when I was showing all of those graphics that, what's his name, that Wasserman or whatever the guy's name is, posted where he talked about, here are eight GOP-held House of Delegates seats, one by Harris in 2024.

2:48:03MeidasTouch:Dems have a great chance of flipping them, right? And I think Dems will flip those. Then you go to the next group and there are some additional ones right there. So Democrats are already reaching into these seats, which Wasserman said would be a wave election if you got there and potentially tsunami territory as well. So how many of these seats right now are Democrats going to flip? And I think as the story is written tonight, it's going to be most of them. Like it's going to be most of them. And And again, Ron, you were saying this, if you're getting bullied by Trump now to redistrict in Texas or redistrict in Indiana, they did Texas right, Indiana, and you now have to make the races a little bit closer to try to open up a seat maybe for a Republican, These close races rely upon Latino voters still voting for you, young voters moving to you the way they did in 2024, white voters moving the way they did, women voters.

2:49:10MeidasTouch:And we're seeing across all demographics on every issue, Trump is underwater. Is this the latest post from Donald Trump? Republicans, terminate the filibuster, get back to passing legislation and voter reform. djt and i think he's just gonna continue to spiral more and more out of control this evening let me make this prediction when prop 50 comes back and it's a massive victory expect his post there saying that it's all fraud and fake and he'll make that a big issue by the way because you know it's kind of like jordy you remember you you remember it you know you as a basketball player when there's a person who really only has one move, you know, they can only dribble right.

2:49:57MeidasTouch:And then you like, oh, they only go one move. They only go in one direction. Trump's got one thing. It's whining. It's saying it's all rigged and voter fraud. You know, the direction that he is going in. That's Cuomo heading off the stage right there. The end of his political career. Getting in the Bronco. Getting in the OJ Bronco. Ron, what's going on? you know i what i think is greg avid might be calling back the uh the uh texas legislature to twitch back those some of those districts and undo some of the redistricting because yeah i mean you think about it you're you're asking you're what are you asking what is trump asking a lot of these republicans to do in safe seats you know if i'm a republican i won my district last time by 10, 12 points.

2:50:45And he's asking me now to take six or 7 % of my Republican voters out of my district and put it into a Democrat's district. So now my margin of victory is projected, hopefully, to be instead of a safe 12, 13 points, now I got to work my butt off to win by five or six. And in a blue wave year, five or six doesn't look so good. So you're asking these Republicans all around the country to give up their cushy, safe seats and to put themselves in jeopardy. Why? So Trump can pick up a few more seats in other places? They don't care about that. they care about themselves. They care about their own seats.

2:51:34So I think that the redistricting thing is going to be a much harder sell. Two things I think are going to be immediate results of this election tonight. One is the shutdown is going to end. Republicans are going to make a deal now. There's no, I wrote that this morning and I stick by that. This election ends the shutdown. there's no way that republicans are going to continue with the playbook of hoping that the american people are just going to blame democrats when they control the house and the senate the presidency and the supreme court so this election is going to help resolve the shutdown i predict very soon and the other thing it's going to do is dump cold water on this redistricting stuff because instead of you know i think trump might want to go the other way and say we need to redistrict harder, a lot of these Republicans in safe seats going, I'm not giving up my Republican voters to, to other districts.

2:52:31And so I think, I think what, what is Trump going to do? Here's what I think he's going to do in reaction to this. He is going to go after mail-in balloting and early voting. That's what he's going to do. He's, he want, he is going to, he's always talked about wanting same day election voting, terminate mail-in ballot. He, and he's talked about doing this by executive order, which would be completely illegal. But he and Mike Johnson and John Thune are going to make a big push, I think, to federalize national elections and to outlaw early voting and mail-in voting, which is the preferred method of voting by Democrats traditionally.

2:53:12And that's going to be, I think, his solution to this. It's going to shift from From gerrymandering to doing away with early voting and absentee ballots. And I think that the Democratic Party has to be ready for that. I think they are. We have better lawyers. We typically do better in court. So, but that's what I expect the next push to be.

2:53:39MeidasTouch:That's why I've been to, you know, it was so frustrating for me in general just to see all, again, like the corporate medias of the world. but also these billionaires out there. And I'm not one to give favor to these billionaires, but to just capitulate to Donald Trump in this regime as quickly as they did this time around, it's just a really bizarre thing because it's so short-sighted, right? Because when the American people are listened to, the American people, they don't like what's happening, okay? Just to put it plainly, what this regime is doing, disappearing people off of the street, this government shutdown, that continues.

2:54:16MeidasTouch:Remember, the Republicans control all three branches of government right now, as Ron literally just stated too. They could end this shutdown with the snap of a finger should they choose to, and they've just been holding out. It's a really strange thing. And that's why it was so frustrating to me early on. Even those that maybe share similar spaces, consider themselves pro-democracy. They're out there getting dinner with the guy and just really just bending the knee. Why? So y 'all don't get called bad names? You're really that concerned about these truth social posts. And Salty, can you very quickly bring up that last truth social post that we just played before?

2:54:52MeidasTouch:Because when you look at this post, again, it's totally unhinged. And we got another weird ad here for the Patriot phone. What are we doing? And just like, I just want to live in a reality where our leaders are leaders and people can just depend on the president to actually be a human being, someone who has strong convictions and morals and really upholds what that office is supposed to uphold. And again, I think tonight is just a complete rejection of what the Donald Trump regime is bringing this time around, Ben. The California polls close in 10 minutes or 10 minutes. Yeah, about 10 minutes from now.

2:55:33MeidasTouch:So five minutes from now, I should look what 10 minutes ago means when I get the message. And then rather than just assume everything means 10 minutes, it will be closing in five minutes. We're going to hear soon from California Assemblyman Isaac Bryan, who will be joining as well when those polls close. He represents the South Central area, who I think is a real rising star in the Democratic Party. And I want to highlight him as well when he comes in. I want him to be here when the news breaks. Zoran Mamdani expected to speak soon. So we're going to have a lot coming our way. I expect Zoran to be speaking right around the same time that we get the results of Prop 50.

2:56:14MeidasTouch:Why don't I bring in Isaac Bryan right now, a California assemblyman representing California's 55th district, which includes much of the south central area of Los Angeles. Oh, it says he's not ready. I thought he was in. When he comes in, let me know. Bryan is ready. Just give us the word, which I assume means he's ready. He's in the green room. Let's let him in. Let's let him in before Zoran gets in. I'd love to speak with him right now. Let's shift him from that room into this room. And then I think we're going to have a resounding victory for Prop 50. I'm getting roasted, by the way, from our producers right now in the chat room.

2:56:57MeidasTouch:And they don't realize I'm not Gen Z, guys. Okay. I was originally Gen X. They called me a millennial. I'm not really a millennial even. I'm like mid-80s. Just to let the chat understand. So we have two different streams happening right now. We have a green room stream, and then we move the people into this room. That's a lot for me to handle. And Ben, I'm sticking up for you because I saw the directions that you received as well. I would have thought that Brian was in the chat and ready to go too. So I got your back, big bro. Even though you're not Gen Z, I got your back. But let me say this, that this is not possible without our incredible staff, right?

2:57:33MeidasTouch:From Salty to Jeremy to Sydney to Ben P to Hayden to everybody behind the scenes to Joe. Shout out, Joe. Shout out to the entire crew. I mean, they're working around the clock dealing with Terps. Shout out, Terps. Shout out to the crew. By the way, I got Salty a shout out from Governor Newsom during the interview that Newsom did of me. Salty's like, yo, just say my name. And Governor Newsom gave a special shout out to Salty. And Salty's too cool, apparently, to even play it on his stream. The audience is like, Ben, we don't care about that. Bring in Assemblyman Isaac Bryan. Ben, let's bring him in.

2:58:16MeidasTouch:Assemblyman Isaac Bryan, rising star in the Democratic Party. I'm excited to see what the future holds for you, but I won't glaze all that much on this episode. I want to hear from you right now about Prop 50. We're expected to get the results soon. It was not a foregone conclusion that Prop 50 was going to be popular in this way or that today was going to happen. But you and others, the community came together. What do you make of this evening so far, Assemblyman? I think the early results are looking good. The polling is looking strong. But remember, they told us at the beginning by a two-thirds majority we were going to lose, that this was not possible.

2:58:51And we hit the ground because we knew that everyday Californians and everyday people across this country were looking for their voice. And out here in California, that voice is Prop 50 tonight.

2:59:01MeidasTouch:I remember you were standing shoulder to shoulder with the governor at some of the initial announcements when the Trump regime sent their ICE Gestapo to arrest and intimidate people, you know, right there. Bavino showed up with the military there. And y 'all rallied. You stick with the people and they're still trying to knock us down here in California, like we see in Chicago and so many scenes across the across the country. But it seems that there is real perseverance on the part of the people, real people power tonight. Yeah, you can't silence the people. You're not going to bully the people of California or Chicago or New Jersey or Virginia.

2:59:42People are getting organized. We are tired of them taking food out of the mouths of children. We're tired of them taking health care away from our seniors. We're tired of them stripping vulnerable families from our communities without due process, without legal representation. We are tired of this authoritarian power grab, and we're going to stand up and we're going to fight back. That's what you are seeing in Democratic cities across California and across this country. And when Prop 50 passes in about an hour, I think the first results, when they drop, we're going to see a dramatic landslide victory for Prop 50.

3:00:11And it's because every Californian knows this is our moment to send a message to the entire country.

3:00:16MeidasTouch:Right. And that'll really connect it coast to coast. We saw the results in Virginia. We saw the results in New York city. We saw the results in New Jersey. And I think we'll see the results soon in California. We saw it in the Supreme court in Pennsylvania. What I like, and I'd love to hear your view about this is that these candidates are very different people. Spanberger's different from a mom, Donnie, who's different from a Newsom, even though he's not on the ballot prop 50 is, who's different than a Mikey Sherrill. But everybody was talking about affordability and they all had their own way of doing it.

3:00:48MeidasTouch:And I like Big Tent. I like uplifting. As long as the messaging is there about fighting for the people, that's kind of my view about this network. What do you think about that? It kind of feels like we've spent so much time putting each other through litmus tests, trying to find the differences among us that we forgot what real harm looks like. And the return of the Trump administration has shown us just how fragile our democracy is, just how many people can get hurt by failed policies, just what's at stake. And we've got to be a big tent. We've got to look for commonality. We have so much more in common than we have differences.

3:01:24But even in those differences, if we're truly listening with love and compassion and solidarity, we can rise above those two and they make us stronger. That's what we're seeing tonight. Different candidates across the spectrum, across the party, across the country, making the entire party stronger.

3:01:38MeidasTouch:How about our governor here in California stepping up in such a big way? You know, and we saw that early on and we saw him, you know, I remember that first handshake with Donald Trump on the tarmac, kind of looking at him, you know, and it seemed also that Newsom was looking at just how the right wing flooded the zone with lies and disinformation about the wildfires here in Southern California. And then it seemed like it hit him and it's like, shit, excuse my language. I got to figure out, I got to be not just the governor operationally, but from a comms perspective, I have to flood the zone with the truth because they're flooding the zone with lies to bend reality.

3:02:22MeidasTouch:I got to re-bend it into the truth. And then it seemed he's like, got it. And he was saying, where do I, you know, what's that voice look like? But he's found it And he's led the way. And it's I'm so proud to see the governor of California exercising his moral authority and formal authority. And I think leading the way, it's a great thing to see in the fourth largest economy of the world, California, showing what an America could look like. What do you make of our governor? I think the governor has been incredibly courageous and brave. I mean, for me, this clear moment started when he came to Los Angeles during the peak of the ice raids and said, look, if you want to arrest me, arrest me.

3:02:57but I'm going to stand with the people. And you got to give yourselves a lot of credit here at Midas Touch and all of the viewers who are turning in. When Elon Musk bought Twitter and then utilized it to push for this authoritarian in the White House, we all had to go back to the drawing board. We had to find new means of communicating, new means of organizing, new means of getting the truth out, getting a message out. And that is what's happening now. We're building that infrastructure and the governor is the tip of that spear. But don't get it twisted. Midas Touch is right up there with him.

3:03:24So thank you guys for all that you do and all the folks who are tuning in tonight.

3:03:28MeidasTouch:We appreciate you, Assemblyman. Before you go, any final words that you want to bring to the 50 ,000 plus people who are watching this, the largest digital stream right now across all networks, more than ABC and NBC and blah, blah, blah, BC. We're beating them right now. And, you know, I've told everybody, I think you're the future of our Democratic Party here in California. But I'd love to hear from you about what message do you want to leave our viewers with here at the Midas Mighty? Man, this isn't a beautiful day for politics. It's not even a beautiful day for the Democratic Party. It's a beautiful day for the people, for everyday people across California who believe in one another, who love one another, who support one another, who see a country that includes all of us, one where every community can thrive, be invested in, be whole, be kept safe.

3:04:20That is an America that I believe in. I think the Democratic Party holds the principles and holds the keys to unlocking that future. But that power and potential is in you. It is in the viewers of this stream. It is in the people across the country who are exercising their right to vote tonight. It is in the grassroots organizers who stand on the front lines every time there is a crisis. And it's the people who know that tonight is a day for celebration. But tomorrow, we've got to get back to the work. So I'll see you on those front lines. We're just getting started. separatist cutالم indenko

3:04:51MeidasTouch:You're on mute there, Benji. We will make that call right now with you here, Assemblyman. California's Proposition 50, redrawing the congressional map to make five districts more Democratic-leaning, will pass. We can call on the MeidasTouch network one minute after the polls closed. We can make that official call right here, right now. Prop 50 will pass. Assemblyman, let me get your reaction to it right now that it's official. Prop 50 has passed. The people of California are very clear about who we are and what we stand for. And we are tired of seeing this power grab coming out of D.C. We've turned the other cheek for far too long.

3:05:36We're we're ready to squabble up. We're ready to fight fire with fire. We're ready to get down in the trenches. If that's what it takes to save democracy and to protect vulnerable communities, there's nothing we won't do. And Prop 50 is an example of that. I'm proud of California. I'm proud of Democrats across this country. But again, we're just getting started. We've got so much more work to do together.

3:05:57MeidasTouch:Assemblyman Isaac Bryan from the 55th District. Great to see you. Good to see you, Ben. Later, fellas. right there. One of the things I love highlighting on this network, I think are the future leaders of this party as well. You saw one right there in Isaac Bryan, who's going to go on. I mean, he's doing great things as an assemblyman. It's a very important job. He's a very humble guy, but what's going to happen in the future with him is meteoric rise I see happening. You know, one of the things for us too, is we had Zoran Mamdanian before the primary. We had him on five months ago. We had Graham Plattner on many, many months ago.

3:06:38MeidasTouch:You know, we want to connect with the base and where people are, you know, and following the fight, the oligarchy rallies. We streamed every one. I know very soon we're about to see the Zoran Mamdani speech. Why don't we bring you live right now, New York City, Zoran Mamdani's victory speech.

3:07:00Thank you so much for joining us this evening and for making this event possible. Before I begin, let's give a big thank you to the venue staff who have made this night such a celebration.

3:07:16Now, Zoran is about to join us on stage, but before he does, I want to say a few quick words of reflection and thanks and introduce a very special member of our team. So first, let's hear a round of applause for our day one endorsers, those who helped build this movement into what it's become. New York City DSA!

3:07:46Hear a cheers for the veux journalism The Cav voice, Drown Beats New York communities for change And Jewish Voice for Peace action

3:08:08And every birthday, hereいただiort to your role Give it up for our friends at the New York Working Families Party who have been such a leader in our long fight for an affordable, livable city. Now, do we have labor in the House?

3:08:26Throughout this campaign, we have stood shoulder to shoulder with our brothers and sisters in organized labor at 1 a.m. in Queens, at 4 p.m. in Queens.

3:08:39MeidasTouch:We will be bringing you that shortly. Seem to be some technical difficulties right there, which boom, we intercepted it very quickly. Let's figure out what happened with that stream. We'll bring you back when Zoran Mamdani speaks. One of the things we're seeing as well is that the Democrats have seized the majority in the Minnesota Senate as well. So as we wait for Zora and Mamdani to take the stage, figure out whatever the technical things are there, Democrats have seized the majority in the Minnesota Senate. So we just take a step back and let's reflect on what's happened coast to Post. Prop 50, yes, passes in California.

3:09:24MeidasTouch:Let's just go a little east. Minnesota, Democrats seize the majority in the Minnesota Senate right there. Pennsylvania, Democrats take control or keep control of the Supreme Court there. In Virginia, the trifecta, the governor's race, the lieutenant governor's race, the AG race, Democrats win there. In New Jersey, Democrats win the governor's race there as well. So big wins all around. I think we hear the audio. It's a little low, but we can hear it. Let me zoom in on that. And care for our people has infused every part of this campaign from top to bottom, and without whom we would not be here tonight, El Biscard Church.

3:10:18We have all been inspired by Zoran as a candidate, but I also want to speak to his strength as a person. He has led our team and this movement with grace, curiosity, good humor and thoughtfulness. And this race has been difficult. He has been the subject of attacks and threats, but he has truly risen above it all to give us hope. So please join me in giving Zoran, our friend, a round of applause.

3:10:50And there are too many supporters to name, so I want to speak to everyone directly. Please raise your hand if you have given to this campaign, whether that is time, labour, knocking a door, hosting an event, creating art, and if you are one of the tens of thousands of people who contributed but cannot be with us tonight, this is for you as well.

3:11:21You have made history. You set unreachable goals and then exceeded them. You believed in this city and believed in each other and you achieved something that people will speak of for decades to come. You led with kindness and compassion and most importantly during a time of despair and rising fascism you decided to fight for someone that you don't know so thank you friends the scope of this campaign was truly unprecedented we had hundreds of thousands of conversations with our neighbors and trained leaders who will help us deliver our agenda for the next four years or but this record-breaking program did not come out of nowhere it was the product of years of organizing and leadership development by new york city dsa and so many of our movement partners

3:12:20and we and we were so fortunate to be led on this campaign by someone who has been a part of this

3:12:26MeidasTouch:work from the beginning and uh we're gonna wait until zoran mandani goes on the stage this is a great speech, but I want to just continue to give people more data as it continues to come in here. Jordy, Ron, we haven't heard from you in a while, Ron. I gave the lay of the land, California, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Supreme Court, New Jersey, Minnesota, Senate, big. I mean, we're still seeing these Virginia House of Delegates seats flip. I mean, you couldn't have had a bigger wipeout against them if you're Trump and MAGA Republican than this big night for Democrats. I think is Zoran coming out now?

3:13:15I don't want to. Oh, no, somebody else. Yeah. You know, I want to talk about the assemblyman there that you had on. I mean, you know, that guy is that guy's a talent. And I think that that's something that we really have tried to do, you know, for the last over the last year is identify future stars of the party. And, you know, I follow almost every member of Congress for both parties on social media. But, you know, we've had so many people on this network that I've never seen before on TV. I follow them on social, but I don't know what they sound like. I never hear them speak up in committee hearings or on the floor.

3:13:56They're not on MSNBC or on CNN. They're on this network. And that's something that the Republicans did for a long time that Democrats really didn't do. They put their young future stars on alternate media platforms and promoted them and built them up and built up their social media following. And that's what we're trying to do for Democrats. And all of us all the time. I mean, I'm constantly saying, hey, we should get this guy or we should get her or we should get this person on. And because this person's interesting, this person has some some fresh things to say that I haven't heard before. So we're not just putting on, you know, the old guard, the same old tired people that you see on CNN and MSNBC, the same seven people over and over again, speaking for the Democratic Party.

3:14:45We're bringing out the stars of tomorrow, the people that we think should be elevated, that we like, some of them we're not even necessarily voting for, but we just think that they offer a fresh perspective. So that is the role that we try to play. And that's why I also tell so many of these members of Congress, I heard for so long, we need the next Joe Rogan. We need to build the next, you know, democratic platform. And I say, when was, I say them, when was the last time you went on a podcast as a guest. When was the last time you helped promote one of these platforms? Oh, well, I never. Yeah.

3:15:25It's up to you too. You've got to help build these platforms, not just ours that has a big audience, but I tell them go on a small podcast that only has a thousand viewers because that that's how you build a grassroots following. And that's how you help out the alternate media ecosystem. We help you, you help us. And the audience is a big part of it too, you know, because without the numbers, you know, if you build it, they'll come. They see the number of viewers that we have, the number of subscribers, and that's why they want to be on our network. And so, you know, that's why we're all in this together, the audience and us and the politicians themselves and the candidates.

3:16:06We all have to help each other out to be able to do this. and i think we've really tried to lead the way on that over the last couple years and i think other organizations are kind of following our lead on that and doing a lot of the same things that we do and that's a good thing you know the more the merrier remember

3:16:25MeidasTouch:when everyone wanted me to be like joe rogan that was the dumbest thing ever a stretch where democrats were always trying to like create this artificial thing you know there was a stretch where we would do a lot of uh hits coming out of the election and ben would get asked for for anyone new to the stream so do you consider yourself the the left are you going to be the left's joe rogan ben mycelis and we i would just say like look if you think i'm

3:16:57MeidasTouch:the corporate media framing is so out of touch and again ron to your point exactly to it. It's everybody here right now in the chat, the Midas Mighty, this pro-democracy coalition that we've all been able to foster here, the collective we, that is paving the way forward, that is going to decide the future elections in this country, that are going to have the candidates that they want and truly have their voices heard. And not just someone who's, you know, shoveled down their throats, for lack of a better term there. Like these are folks now that truly get to have their voices heard because there is a media entity or entities now that exist to uplift their voices.

3:17:39MeidasTouch:That's why one of the most proud, the thing I'm most proud of, of the network is when we get to highlight the protests, Ben and Ron, that go down when we got to live stream the No Kings program. I mean, I just love the power to the people mentality all the way. And that's why we always say, this isn't a me movement. This isn't a me, Brett, Jordy, Ron movement, right? This is a Midas Touch network, the community movement. This is everything that y 'all have built. And if we could be the megaphones to get the voices of the people heard, then so be it. Let us be exactly that. And that's all we want to be, is we just want to make sure that the people are being heard.

3:18:15MeidasTouch:So thank y 'all again, who are in the chat right now. If you haven't already, there's 50 ,000 people watching this, please hit subscribe to the YouTube channel if you're not subscribed. Some people told me that they were subscribed, but then all of a sudden it said they weren't subscribed. So just double check that. Just hit that subscribe button, totally free to subscribe. Become a member of the YouTube channel. You get access to all the emojis. You get access to extra special bonus content and podcasts, one hosted by Ben and Ron themselves, the Ask the Editor segment that we do every Wednesday on the network.

3:18:44MeidasTouch:So if you become a member, you can also gift memberships to others as well. Super helpful. And a lot of folks enjoy it. And then again, please download the Midas Touch podcast on audio, wherever you listen to podcasts, Spotify, Apple, Google, wherever you listen to it, just go ahead and do that. Super helpful. Leave a five-star review. And again, the vibes keep going, Ben. I am so happy to be here. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else right now other than right here with the Midas Touch community, with the Midas Mighty, with y 'all. And I'm just excited to keep the party going, be. Two big speeches we're waiting for this evening, and then I'll be able to cook the videos for the morning, so it could be a late night for me as well.

3:19:23MeidasTouch:So we're waiting to hear from Zoran Mamdani, his victory speech in the New York City mayoral race, then California Governor Newsom's victory speech on Prop 52. Two big speeches before we close down this stream. So So we're waiting for Zoran Mondani to take the stage. He's taking the stage right now. The new mayor of New York City, Zoran Mondani, everybody.

3:20:26Thank you, my friends.

3:20:35The sun may have set over our city this evening, but as Eugene Debs once said, I can see the the dawn of a better day for humanity.

3:20:54For as long as we can remember, the working people of New York have been told by the wealthy and the well-connected that power does not belong in their hands. Fingers bruised from lifting boxes on the warehouse floor, palms calloused from delivery bike handlebars, knuckles scarred with kitchen burns. These are not hands that have been allowed to hold power. And yet over the last 12 months, you have dared to reach for something greater.

3:21:33Tonight, against all odds, we have grasped it.

3:21:42The future is in our hands. My friends, we have toppled a political dynasty.

3:22:05I wish Andrew Cuomo only the best in private life.

3:22:13But let tonight be the final time I utter his name as we turn the page on a politics that abandons the many and answers only to the few.

3:22:31New York, tonight you have delivered a mandate for change, a mandate for a new kind of politics, a mandate for a city we can afford, and a mandate for a government that delivers exactly that. On January 1st, I will be sworn in as the mayor of New York City.

3:23:13And that is because of you. So before I say anything else, I must say this. Thank you. Thank you to the next generation of New Yorkers who refuse to accept that the promise of a better future was a relic of the past. You showed that when politics speaks to you without condescension, we can usher in a new era of leadership. We will fight for you because we are you. Or as we say on Steinway, Anaminkum Wa 'ileikum.

3:24:05Thank you to those so often forgotten by the politics of our city who made this movement their own. I speak of Yemeni bodega owners and Mexican abuelas. Senegalese taxi drivers and Uzbek nurses

3:24:27Trinidadian line cooks and Ethiopian aunties Yes, aunties

3:24:38To every New Yorker in Kensington and Midwood and Hunts Point Know this This city is your city and this democracy is yours too.

3:24:57This campaign is about people like Wesley, an 1199 organizer I met outside of Elmhurst Hospital on Thursday night. A New Yorker who lives elsewhere, who commutes two hours each way from Pennsylvania because rent is too expensive in this city. It's about people like the woman I met on the BX 33 years ago, who said to me, I used to love New York, but now it's just where I live. And it's about people like Richard, the taxi driver I went on a 15-day hunger strike with outside of City Hall.

3:25:43Who still has to drive his cab seven days a week. My brother, we are in City Hall now.

3:25:58This victory is for all of them. And it's for all of you. the more than 100 ,000 volunteers who built this campaign into an unstoppable force. Because of you, we will make this city one that working people can love and live in again.

3:26:24With every door knocked, every petition signature earned, and every hard-earned conversation, you eroded the cynicism that has come to define our politics.

3:26:40Now I know that I have asked for much from you over this last year. Time and again you have answered my calls. But I have one final request. New York City, breathe this moment in. We have held our breath for longer than we know. We have held it in anticipation of defeat. Held it because the air has been knocked out of our lungs too many times to count. Held it because we cannot afford to exhale. Thanks to all of those who sacrificed so much, we are breathing in the air of a city that has been reborn.

3:27:32to my campaign team who believed when no one else did

3:27:39and who took an electoral project and turned it into so much more I will never be able to express the depth of my gratitude you can sleep now to my parents Mama and Baba, you have made me into the man I am today. I am so proud to be your son. And to my incredible wife, Rama, Hayati, there is no one I would rather have by my my side in this moment and in every moment.

3:28:32To every New Yorker, whether you wrote it for me, for one of my opponents, or felt too disappointed by politics to vote at all, thank you for the opportunity to prove myself worthy of your trust.

3:28:48I will wake each morning with a singular purpose, to make this city better for you than it was the day before. There are many who thought this day would never come, who feared that we would be condemned only to a future of less, with every election consigning us simply to more of the same. And there are others who see politics today as too cruel for the flame of hope to still burn. New York, we have answered those fears.

3:29:26Tonight we have spoken in a clear voice. Hope is alive.

3:29:35Hope is a decision that tens of thousands of New New Yorkers made day after day, volunteer shift after volunteer shift, despite attack ad after attack ad. More than a million of us stood in our churches, in gymnasiums, in community centers, as we filled in the ledger of democracy. And while we cast our ballots alone, we chose hope together. Hope over tyranny. Hope over big money and small ideas. Hope over despair. We won because New Yorkers allowed themselves to hope that the impossible could be made possible. And we won because we insisted that no longer would politics be something that is done to us.

3:30:34Now it is something that we do.

3:30:45Standing before you, I think of the words of Jawaharlal Nehru. A moment comes but rarely in history when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends and when the soul of a nation long suppressed finds utterance. Tonight we have stepped out from the old into the new.

3:31:11So let us speak now with clarity and conviction that cannot be misunderstood about what this new age will deliver and for whom. This will be an age where New Yorkers expect from their leaders a bold vision of what we will achieve, rather than a list of excuses for what we are too timid to attempt.

3:31:37Central to that vision will be the most ambitious agenda to tackle the cost of living crisis that this city has seen since the days of Fiora Oluwania.

3:31:51An agenda that will freeze the rents for more than 2 million rent-stabilized tenants.

3:32:00Make buses fast and free. And deliver universal childcare across our city.

3:32:12Years from now, may our only regret be that this day took so long to come. This new age will be one of relentless improvement. We will hire thousands more teachers. We will cut waste from a bloated bureaucracy. We will work tirelessly to make lights shine again in the hallways of NYCHA developments where they have long flickered.

3:32:48Safety and justice will go hand in hand as we work with police officers to reduce crime and create a department of community safety that tackles the mental health crisis and homelessness crises head on. excellence will become the expectation across government not the exception in this new age we make for ourselves we will refuse to allow those who traffic in division and hate to pit us against one another in this moment of political darkness new york will be the light

3:33:34Here, we believe in standing up for those we love. Whether you are an immigrant, a member of the trans community, one of the many black women that Donald Trump has fired from a federal job, a single mom still waiting for the cost of groceries to go down, or anyone else with their back against the wall. your struggle is ours too.

3:34:07And we will build a city hall that stands steadfast alongside Jewish New Yorkers and does not waver in the fight against the scourge of anti-Semitism. Where the more than one million Muslims know that they belong.

3:34:28Not just in the five boroughs of this city but in the halls of power.

3:34:36No more will New York be a city where you can traffic in Islamophobia and win an election.

3:34:53This new age will be defined by a competence and a compassion that have too long been placed at odds with one another. We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve and no concern too small for it to care about. For years, those in City Hall have only helped those who can help them. But on January 1st, we will usher in a city government that helps everyone.

3:35:29Now I know that many have heard our message only through the prism of misinformation. Tens of millions of dollars have been spent to redefine reality and to convince our neighbors that this new age is something that should frighten them. As has so often occurred, the billionaire class has sought to convince those making $30 an hour that their enemies are those earning$20 an hour. They want the people to fight amongst ourselves so that we remain distracted from the work of remaking a long broken system. We refuse to let them dictate the rules of the game anymore. They can play by the same rules as the rest of us.

3:36:25Together, we will usher in a generation of change. And if we embrace this brave new course, rather than fleeing from it, we can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves.

3:36:47After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.

3:37:01And if there is any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power.

3:37:13This is not only how we stop Trump, it's how we stop the next one.

3:37:22So Donald Trump, since I know you're watching, I have four words for you. Turn the volume up!

3:37:56We will hold bad landlords to account because the Donald Trumps of our city have grown far too comfortable taking advantage of their tenants. We will put an end to the culture of corruption that has allowed billionaires like Trump to evade taxation and exploit tax breaks. We will stand alongside unions and expand labor protections because we know, just as Donald Trump does, that when working people have ironclad rights, the bosses who seek to extort them become very small indeed.

3:38:41New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and as of tonight, led by an immigrant.

3:39:11So hear me, President Trump, when I say this, to get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us.

3:39:28When we enter City Hall in 58 days, expectations will be high. We will meet them. A great New Yorker once said that while you campaign in poetry, you govern in prose. If that must be true, let the prose we write still rhyme and let us build a shining city for all.

3:39:58And we must chart a new path, as bold as the one we have already traveled. After all, the conventional wisdom would tell you that I am far from the perfect candidate. I am young despite my best efforts to grow older. I am Muslim.

3:40:20I am a democratic socialist.

3:40:27And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this.

3:40:37And yet, if tonight teaches us anything, it is that convention has held us back. We have bowed at the altar of caution and we have paid a mighty price. Too many working people cannot recognize themselves in our party. And too many among us have turned to the right for answers to why they've been left behind. We will leave mediocrity in our past. No longer will we have to open a history book for proof that Democrats can dare to be great. Our greatness will be anything but abstract. It will be felt by every rent stabilized tenant who wakes up on the first of every month. knowing the amount they're going to pay hasn't soared since the month before.

3:41:35It will be felt by each grandparent who can afford to stay in the home they have worked for and whose grandchildren live nearby because the cost of childcare didn't send them to Long Island. It will be felt by the single mother who is safe on her commute and whose bus runs fast enough that she doesn't have to rush school drop-off to make it to work on time. And it will be felt when New Yorkers open their newspapers in the morning and read headlines of success, not scandal.

3:42:17Most of all, it will be felt by each New Yorker when the city they love finally loves them back.

3:42:29Together, New York, we're going to freeze the... Together, New York, we're going to make buses fast and... Together, New York, we're going to deliver universal... Let the words we've spoken together, the dreams we've dreamt together, become the agenda we deliver together.

3:43:00New York, this power, it's yours. this city belongs to you thank you

3:43:20MeidasTouch:powerful powerful speech there by soran mamdani i was just uh i had to take a you know i had to take a step back right there i mean when he looked at the camera and said so donald trump since i I know you're watching. I have four words for you. Turn the volume up. And then when he said, so hear me, Donald Trump, when I say this, to get to any of us, you will have to go through all of us. I mean, he was not shying away there on that speech at all. Jordy, let me get your reaction, then Ron, your reaction. And then soon we should be hearing from California Governor Gavin Newsom, the big victory on Prop 50.

3:44:05MeidasTouch:Let me just throw up these graphics though, Jay, before going to you right here. Just look at the New Jersey governor, VA governor in California Prop 50, where it stands right now. New Jersey governor Mikey Sherrill right now leading 56.2%. The election, of course, is called, but beating Cittarelli 56.2 % to 43.2 % right there. Spanberger won 57.4%, 42.4%. And then right now, Prop 50, 64.4 % to 35.6%. It's not even close right there. I mean, you look at the exit polling of young men. Also right now, Virginia Spanberger plus 14 amongst young men. Mikey Sherrill plus 10 against young men. And they had a MAGA male candidate there in New Jersey who tried to do the MAGA male stick there in Cittarelli.

3:45:08Mom Donnie, young men, plus 40, plus 40.

3:45:15MeidasTouch:Casual. Casual plus 40 right there. And you saw in that speech. So Jordy, let me hear from you first and let's go to Ron. Absolute banger of a speech. Heater. I mean, honestly, truly, I'm not just saying, I would never just say it. That was an all-time speech right there. I can't wait for after the stream to re-watch that speech. And Ben, I know you're going to do a recap. I can't wait to watch your videos on this as well. That's what the people want right there. That is someone who is talking to the soul of New York right there and talking to the people, having a conversation alongside with them, not talking at them.

3:45:53MeidasTouch:You see the distinction there? That's the distinction. That was an all-time historic speech. I had the goosebumps as that was going down. A couple lines here and there, two nice mic drops. But again, from start to finish, really, truly, honestly, incredible. Ron, What's your take? And yet so many Democratic politicians, establishment politicians didn't want to go anywhere near this guy. You know, despite his obvious talent, despite his obvious skills as a retail campaigner, the best since Obama, you know, clearly that's hands down. Now, despite the fact that he has brought in so many new voters to the party, which there isn't anybody else out there really doing that so much, you know, bringing in new people, young people.

3:46:50The establishment wanted nothing to do with Mondami. Schumer never endorsed him. Schumer today would not even say who he voted for. Jeffries halfway endorsed him at the last minute. You know, you had Hochul endorsed him late, you know, but across the country. And I think that that was for two reasons. Number one, the donor class, the big donors, the PAC people don't like Mnami. You know, they don't like his message. They don't like his anti-billionaire stuff and all of that. And they also are worried that he's going to fail. not as a politician, but as a governor of a big city. And they're worried that if he isn't successful, that that's going to hurt the Democrats nationally because they are going to use, they're going to make him the poster child for the Democratic Party, right?

3:47:49And Republicans have already said that, that they want to make him the face of the Democratic Party because they think he's going to fail. But if this guy can marry success as a mayor with economic success, people happy, crime not being out of control, all of the things that a mayor has to do, if he can put that together with his political skills, you're now going to have a guy that none None of the establishment Democrats wanted to go anywhere near. So they're going to be begging him to come to their districts and campaign for them. This guy could become the most popular politician out there, you know, besides Obama, that other Democrats want to get to help them out, fundraise for them, campaign for them, all of that.

3:48:47But it's really all going to come down to how successful he is as a mayor. if he's successful as a mayor, he's going to be a superstar. You know, there's no question about that. And we know that Donald Trump is going to go after him. And when he gave that line, by the way, when he said, you know, to get to you, I really believe that he was going to say what every other, what we expect every other politician to say, what Donald Trump would say, which is to get to you, they got to come through me. That's what politicians typically say. But the magic of Mandami is he said, they got to come through all of us.

3:49:26His campaign was so inclusive. He made people feel like it wasn't about him. It was about all of them because he was consistent about that message. And you can tell it comes from the heart. He's not just reading some crap speech that somebody wrote for him. He's speaking from the heart there. And that really connects with people. So, I mean, he can't run for president because he's not from the United States, but he could be a force in American politics outside of New York City.

3:49:59MeidasTouch:You know, I've said this before, and let me reiterate it again, especially as we see these victories in Virginia, New Jersey, New York City, California. I want to see the Democratic Party be a big tent. I think it's a good thing that you can have an Abigail Spanberger, you can have a Mikey Sherrill, you could have a Governor Newsom, and you can have a Zoran Mamdani. And I think that they're all speaking about affordability. And I think that the MAGA Republicans and the establishment would love to see the Democratic Party pointing fingers at each other, divide and conquer, trying to take each other down.

3:50:44MeidasTouch:But what I always wanted to use this network for is uplift us with your ideas. I don't want to try to platform people who rip each other down, who are trying to find solutions, who are solution-oriented. That's why I never liked the idea, even on this network, of the way corporate and cable news does it with the split screens and the yelling, yelling, and no one even knows the issues. You want to do a fight show, Bay? I don't want to do a fight show because I want to empower people with the data and the information to make informed decisions. And of course, I'm a human being, so I'm going to have an opinion on certain things, but I'm not viewing my opinion from the perspective of I'm rooting for the Democrats, So let me figure out what the democratic position is.

3:51:34MeidasTouch:Not at all. It's what's the human being position. How do we help human beings live in this complex world, better lives. And then from there, where political parties meet the moment, we can make informed decisions. That's why I don't like the term, you know, when people always ask me, you know, when they use the term, you know, influencer, I go, I'm not like, I don't like, I'm not saying it's like a bad thing if somebody calls themselves an influencer. I just go, I don't use that term to describe myself because the only thing I'm trying to influence is the truth and democracy and not to persuade you like in anything other than I think here's the facts, the logic.

3:52:14I don't like seeing whether it was Donald Trump

3:52:17MeidasTouch:or a Cuomo or a whoever, like no matter who you would be, I don't want to see you doing great Gatsby roaring twenties parties while you rip away healthcare from 20 million Americans and deprive 42 million Americans on SNAP. I don't think that should be a political, like why should that even be a thing about political parties? Shouldn't we all agree regardless as human beings that that is bad and that we should be uplifting human beings? I loved when Zora Mandami says, I don't want government to be a thing that like inflicts pain on people. I want government to be used as a tool to uplift and to help people.

3:52:59MeidasTouch:And to me, it's always, it should be that simple. So a long-winded way of saying tonight where we see a Mikey Sherrill win, an Abigail Spanberger win, a Zoran Mamdani win, and a big Prop 50 win, and the Minnesota State Senate flipping Democrat and a big win there, and the Democrats winning in the Supreme Court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania there. Also, J.D. Vance's brother got absolutely smoked in Cincinnati. And I just love that J.D. Vance's brother's name is not Vance, and it reminds people that J.D. Vance has changed his identity like three different – like imagine just being three different human beings in the course of 40 years of life.

3:53:42MeidasTouch:Everyone knows like the J.D. Vance story that he grew up and he said he was gay, and then he was anti-gay, then he was Appalachia, J.D. Vance. And like his names have changed multiple, multiple times. It looks like we're going to have – Well, good evening, everybody. and let me underscore it's been a good evening for everybody not just the Democratic Party but what a night for the Democratic Party a party that is in its ascendancy a party that's on its toes no longer on its heels from coast to coast sea to shining sea but it was not just a victory tonight for the Democratic Party it was a victory for the United States of America for the people of this country and the principles that our founding fathers lived and died for.

3:54:30And so we're proud. We're proud here in California to be part of this narrative this evening. We're proud of the work that the people of the state of California did tonight to send a powerful message to an historic president. Donald Trump is an historic president. He is the most historically unpopular president in modern history. In every critical category, Donald Trump is underwater. He promised to make us healthier. He promised to make us wealthier. We're sicker and poorer. And he fundamentally understands that. Why else, why else would he call Greg Abbott saying he's entitled to five seats.

3:55:17Why else is he trying to rig the midterm elections before one single vote is even cast? He understands his position at this moment in the United States of America. One thing he never counted on, though, was the state of California. Instead of agonizing over the state of our nation, we organized in an unprecedented way in a 90-day sprint. People from all over the United States of America contributed their voices and their support for this initiative. We stood tall and we stood firm in response to Donald Trump's recklessness. And tonight, after poking the bear, this bear roared with an unprecedented turnout in a special election with an extraordinary result.

3:56:16None of us, however, are naive. This is a pattern. This is a practice. Donald Trump's efforts to rig the midterm election continue to this day. And I'll reinforce that in just a moment. You're seeing him take action all across this country, not just in Texas. You saw what they were successful, able to do in Missouri, what they did in North Carolina, what they're trying to do in Indiana, and inevitably in Florida. They are not screwing around. In June of this year, we saw 4 ,000 National Guard federalized in the state of California. We saw 700 active-duty Marines, not sent overseas, but sent to the second largest city in the United States of America to militarize our streets.

3:57:09We said in June this was a preview of things to come. What more evidence do you need than what happened in Washington, D.C., what's happening up in Portland, cities like Chicago? When we kicked off this campaign just 90 or so days ago in Little Tokyo, in Southern California and LA at the Democracy Center. Donald Trump sent Greg Bovino. He sent his private police force that increasingly appears to have taken an oath of office to Donald Trump, not to the Constitution of the United States. He sent them to our kickoff rally to chill free expression, to chill free speech, to intimidate people from participating.

3:57:59Just today, in Los Angeles, Donald Trump called up the Border Patrol, sent them to Dodger Stadium, and threw a fastball at free speech, right at the head, free expression, to suppress the vote in America's second largest city. Just did that today. People in tactical gears sent out to intimidate a community that is already on edge. But you see, as we speak, people are still in line. People waiting up three hours to cast their vote, to send a message to Donald Trump. No crowns, no thrones, no kings. That's what this victory represents. It's a victory for the people of the state of California and the United States of America.

3:58:55And this is a victory that's punctuated with a sober reminder that it's not just the actions that Donald Trump has taken to federalize our guard, to begin the process of militarizing American cities, to intimidate free expression and speech by utilizing ICE and Border Patrol in America's cities. But he also announced today, right when polls were opening, that this election was rigged. That this election was rigged. Of course, those are familiar words. It's exactly what Donald Trump said after January 6th, that day of love, where he tried to light democracy on fire, he tried to wreck this country, and he called in to the Secretary of State in Georgia, calling up for 11 ,000, 12 ,000 votes, just like he called Greg Abbott, saying he's entitled to those five seats.

3:59:53He said this election was rigged and he's moving to look for criminal prosecution and investigations at the Department of Justice. He is not screwing around. So tonight, I'm proud, but I'm very mindful and sober of the moment we are living in. Donald Trump does not believe in fair and free elections, period and full stop. This is not complicated. and it's self-evident to anyone paying attention. You start to stack up all of these actions that continue to this moment and will continue in moments to come. If you think I'm exaggerating, consider his announcement just a few weeks ago to send rapid response teams all across the United States, in all 50 states, tens of thousands of members of the military prepared for urban deployment, a preview of things to come.

4:01:00But back to this state, our state of mind was resolute. Our state of mind was resolved to stand firm and to stand tall, to not be intimidated, it, to not be humiliated, to not fall prey to cynicism, to not fall prey to fear and the anxiety of someone that believes in only one thing, shock and awe, to intimidate and exhaust us. But we're seeing all across this country, 7 million people strong, standing up, not just for themselves, but for each other and for these enduring and historic principles of our founding fathers. And I'll end on that. Next year is the 250th anniversary of the best of Roman Republic, the best of Greek democracy.

4:01:48This fundamental notion of a system of checks and balances, of popular sovereignty, the rule of law. Mr. President, the rule of law, not the rule of dawn. And I hope it's dawning on people. The sobriety of this moment, what's at stake? Tonight, as I said, is an extraordinary moment for our party. But again, it's an extraordinary moment affirming those principles. Yeah, baby. This republic and our democracy that Donald Trump is trying to perpetuate. And so my call tonight in the spirit of Whitman, we talked about the powerful play goes on. we all must contribute a verse. And so we need the state of Virginia.

4:02:46We need the state of Maryland. We need our friends in New York, in Illinois, in Colorado. We need to see other states, the remarkable leaders that have been doing remarkable things, meet this moment head on as well to recognize what we're up against in 2026. And let me make this crystal clear. We can de facto end Donald Trump's presidency as we know it. The minute Speaker Jeffries gets sworn in as Speaker of the House of Representatives, it is all on the line, a bright line in 2026. And so I want to thank everybody that stood up, not just for our democracy, but stood up for those that have feel bullied and intimidated, stood up for this notion of co-equal branches of government and a system of checks and balances.

4:03:50And I want to thank my wife who reminds me every single day that this is about those that feel alone, those that feel isolated, those that feel an anxiety and a stress that they never could have imagined in their lives. This was about saying to them, we have your back, we see you, you matter, we care. And I'll just say this, I'm confident as we move forward into 2026 in this country, the best is yet to come. Thank you very much.

4:04:29MeidasTouch:It's California Governor Gavin Newsom with a powerful speech right there. You've got Ron Filipkowski, you've got Jordy right there. We're going to bring in, in a bit, Anthony Davis as well. Anthony Davis is our closer. You're like the guy we bring in in the ninth inning when the bags under my eyes start to form. When I'm live streaming for four hours, you bring in Davis. He throws back. He brings the heat. You bring in Davis, the closer. I want to hear from everybody in a second, but I want to just do a few things. Number one, when I have heard all of the speeches, Zoran Mamdani, New York City's new mayor, Abigail Spanberger, Virginia's new governor, Mikey Sherrill, New Jersey's new governor, California Governor Gavin Newsom, California's governor, who pushed Prop 50, not just over the finish line, but so far ahead of what everybody thought months ago.

4:05:28MeidasTouch:Just to hear intelligent, thoughtful, empathetic adults speak in full sentences, let's start with that premise, but talk to the greater good of what our constitution is about. Talk about helping people. And they all have their different styles. I mean, that's for sure. But I hope also with the world watching this, that they know that America is not just Donald Trump and this corrosive, destructive, vile, despicable, trash MAGA movement, that there is a brighter day for America that's out there. And there are leaders like this from coast to coast that truly represent the good in our country. And America is a country of all of these contradictions.

4:06:26MeidasTouch:And that's been embedded in us from our founding and no more pronounced is a contradiction of seeing an Obama to Trump, to Biden, to Trump phase. And I hope tonight with these massive victories, this tidal wave today, I think we can call it what it is right now. So hopefully what we'll see in the midterms portends to the greater good of what our country can be aspirationally in the future. And that while America seems like it's been lost, we haven't fully lost it. And there is hope around the corner. And it's not just around the corner, it's here. And so today, to me, as I reflect on it before turning it over to our closer, Anthony, it is a night that I've been waiting for this, to have this joyous moment with our audience, with our community.

4:07:35MeidasTouch:It's been exhausting, but worth it. And it's going to be more exhausting and more worth it in the future. This isn't just a spike the football moment. It is a celebratory moment for sure. We all have a lot of work to do. Trump and these MAGAs are going to get crazier and nastier and much worse. But we the people are going to show them what we're made of as well, peacefully, with hope, with love, with empathy. And that's what I want this network to stand for as well. I want to remind everybody, if you have the opportunity, whether it's later tonight or tomorrow, check out the interview that I did with California Governor Gavin Newsom on his show, where he interviewed me.

4:08:21MeidasTouch:I was like the biggest case of the imposter syndrome for me when I was sitting there and I was getting questioned by the governor, you know, and future presidential candidate. But it was such an honor and an honor on behalf of this whole community and all of our hosts. He interviewed me for about 80 minutes and we spoke about the origin of Midas, the values of this network. And so it's on his YouTube channel and it's his interview with me. It's out now. So take a watch of that. And so on behalf of me, my brothers, thank you to everybody. And let me pass over the baton right now to the great hosts of this network like Anthony.

4:09:00MeidasTouch:And I know our future is bright here at the network because of our great hosts like Anthony, Ron, Jordy. It's a given, Jordy. But let me pass it over to you. Anthony Davis. Thank you, Ben. And thank you and well done for the coverage tonight. Quite amazing. I mean, I'm feeling because I mean, I've been very clear with people that I've been a bit depressed for the last few months, and I'm sure you have too. And yet here we are seeing a glimmer of hope, but it's no in no small amount. This is a significant win with more than 50 % of the vote in New York. Zoran Mamdani has been elected as the 111th mayor of New York City, defeating former disgraced governor Andrew Cuomo.

4:09:4834 years old, Mamdani becomes both the youngest person to lead the city in more than a century and the first Muslim to hold the office, an historic moment in New York's political landscape. I should say, just as an Englishman, that we elected in London, the first Muslim mayor nearly 10 years ago, and he's still holding that position right now, that's Sadiq Khan. So I'm very interested to know kind of how everybody is feeling tonight, and please continue to put your messages on the live chat and continue these conversations amongst the Midas Touch community in the various locations that you do.

4:10:29But this is, I mentioned hope. This is a feeling that I think is buoying everybody, giving us a great sense that actually what is to come is hopefully the snowball effect. And, you know, Donald Trump posted. Hi, Ron, by the way. Donald Trump posted just a few minutes ago on Truth Social. And so it begins. Ron, what do we think about this? Because, you know, you can translate it in so many ways. I translate this stuff as just racism, right? Pure racism and bigotry and prejudice because they've made Zoran Mamdani out to be a communist, to be a terrorist. All the ists, the fascist in this cast of characters is Trump himself.

4:11:24So my fear is that they will try to demonize him to such an extent. I mean, Trump even said today that he can't imagine funding New York City, something that he illegally can't pick and choose what funding goes to New York. But he's basically saying, you know, if Mamdani wins, then I can't see myself giving any money to that state. I mean, this kind of talk is just pure fear, fear mongering and racism. So what do you think? And so it begins means, Ron. Yeah, I actually thought he meant something else, but I think you're right, actually, now that you say it. I think he was probably responding to Mandami.

4:12:06But I think in the broader context, I think he means other things, too. I think it means that he's going to shift gears from spending all of his time on this gerrymandering stuff to really going after the mail-in balloting, the early voting, all the things that Democrats like. That's what he's going to go after, either through executive order, lawsuits, at the state level. He's going to do everything he can to try and change voting. But, you know, I also want to talk about the line that Newsom, you know, has been using lately, which is this line where he says the Trump presidency, like for all intents and purposes, ends when Speaker Johnson is sworn in.

4:12:57You know, I mean, I think that probably goes a little too far. I know what he's trying to say there, but I would say a couple of things. First of all, one, think about this. If Democrats had control of the House so much. I mean, Trump is still going to be able to do a lot of terrible stuff, especially DOJ stuff. I mean, Democrats aren't going to be able to stop him from everything. But there is so much that they could do. I mean, think about it this week. We could be having hearings if Democrats controlled the House on Trump's crypto scam, on his pardon of the guy. We could be bringing in witnesses to testify about how that all went down from the administration.

4:13:33we could be having a hearing this week on cash patel's jet you know flying to see his girlfriend and spending millions of dollars to do that the only thing i would change so i understand what he's saying the only thing i would say i would change about that line is when he says speaker jeffries because i think that people hear that and they kind of go okay well we want a democratic majority but we're not necessarily committing right now right to jeffries being speaker so I might want to tweak that line to say a Democratic speaker. Right. Because Hakeem Jeffries is hugely unpopular with a lot of people, partly because of his very gentle style.

4:14:17And the weird thing is, you know, he has moments of there was that moment where he had that altercation in the hallway outside of his office with the Republican congressman recently. And I was like, yeah, you know, he kind of went up to him and they were they were really kind of facing off. And I was like, where's where's that Hakeem Jeffries at a press conference when you need him? So I often think that there is this desire by a lot of politicians to kind of play by the protocols of of Congress. But the gloves are off, babykins, you know, and that's why Mamdani has done so well, because he's effectively stepped outside of the four walls that is this production.

4:14:58And he's gone, look, there's that stuff over there, but there's also us. And Jeffries hasn't got that quite yet. So I'm looking forward to maybe a new kind of communication going forward, the communication that Zoran Mamdani has instigated, this more authentic, genuine truth that comes from the heart. And, I mean, Bernie's been doing it for years. AOC obviously does it. We need more. You know, where are the other governors right now? I understand that we've got Gavin Newsom in California and, you know, Prop 50 has been very successful tonight. But where's the other governors doing the same thing in their states?

4:15:42You make a good point because I saw I saw Westmore today. You know, Westmore gave a little press conference in Maryland, you know, and what did he had this big announcement about redistricting? And I'm like, oh, great. Now you could say, well, Maryland only has one Republican seat. But who is that Republican? It's Andy Harris, the Freedom Caucus chair, the guy who's the head guy for the wing nuts, the far right in Congress. That's the Maryland Republican seat that could be drawn out. I mean, how great would it be to wipe, to respond to redistricting in Texas by wiping out the seat of the Freedom Caucus chair?

4:16:21and so he has this big announcement and i'm like oh i like west more you know this sounds good i don't like harris this is gonna be good and he says big enough we we are gonna form a commission a bipartisan commission bringing in republicans to uh formulate a plan to make recommendations on redistricting i'm like yeah come on man yeah wake up because it's already happening contrast that with what gavin newsom 100 with the program 100 and and i mean this even goes to kamala harris with her interview we discussed it on uncovered the other day she did an interview with the bbc last week and she's just talking in a very kind of gentle but suggestive fashion and i'm like i just don't know that that style is gonna wash right now and going forward so So there needs to be a shift of energy and also authenticity in any candidates or certainly Democratic leaders that step up in this moment.

4:17:24Because I think that Mamdani has set a standard now. And you've either got to meet it or beat it in order to get this kind of ground swell to propel this movement forward. And the movement is huge. I mean, let's not forget Donald Trump tells us how popular he is, but he really isn't that popular. He does not represent the majority of Americans. His views and also the kind of far-right nationalists that he associates with are very much the minority in the U.S. But because he is a propagandist and a marketeer, he will tell you that everything he's doing is hugely popular and everybody's thrilled about it.

4:18:09and the price of gas is$2 and none of it is true. And you and I have exposed when he was doing those kind of random stops at Chick-fil-A and, of course, the whole thing was fake. No different to his rallies where they have to move everybody in front of the camera just to fill out the space. He is not popular and he also hasn't brought in$22 trillion worth of investment. I remember even when he worked at the McDonald's, we found out that he closed the McDonald's. They closed it down for the day. I mean, it wasn't even, he was acting like he was like working a shift at the Fry. It was a closed restaurant.

4:18:50Yeah, he was there for one minute. Contrived, you know? A hundred percent. And then as another example, when he went to Washington DC to the restaurant, that chain restaurant to supposedly have dinner and the protesters are there, the guy is a coward. He basically sees some real people. some actual members of the general public, not terrorists, not activists, just people who were demonstrating peacefully in front of him. How they got that close to him is further proof that he's, that he's, you know, it's amateur hour with the Secret Service right now. But he freaked out, literally saying that they should be prosecuted.

4:19:28And so whenever he's pushed... And the Secret Service supervisor got in a lot of trouble, by the way, for that night. I'm not surprised, but it's just so nice that people recognize that this free speech and this free protest is an essential foundation of the democracy. And democracy will hold, provided people exercise that right. And that right has been seen tonight in this massive vote, 50.4 % of the vote to Zoran Mamdani. And the victory caps a remarkable rise for the Queen's Assemblyman, who just months ago was a relatively obscure state legislator. And he first shocked the political establishment in June when he won the Democratic primary against Cuomo.

4:20:16Took quite a while for senior leadership in the Democratic Party to actually endorse him. Hakeem Jeffries only woke up to that last week. Chuck Schumer hasn't bothered at all. But his campaign has grown, has drawn national attention for the grassroots energy, this unapologetically progressive message. Ron, I wanted to ask you, because I was thinking about Cuomo, and this is a very, this is another example of where the Democratic Party is failing. How on earth does a disgraced former mayor kind of get to have another go? this is what I don't understand. You know, 11 women had allegations of harassment against him and he resigned a week before the report came out.

4:21:09And yet he still manages to get 40 odd percent of the vote. Like, I just don't understand. There is no shame in this country. The idea that, you know, in any other civilized nation, that behavior would just count you out of ever getting elected to office again. And he was allowed to be on the ballot. I mean, let's not forget, a few short months ago, he was the choice of the Democratic Party establishment. Right. This was the guy that they basically recruited to run for mayor of New York City. And all the big donors were backing him. And, you know, it's a situation where, yet again, the party leadership, the big donor class, the consultant class is not connected right now to the base of the party, to the grassroots.

4:22:02And the grassroots have had enough. They played ball in the past few election cycles. They did what they were told. they voted for who the party leaders told them to vote for in the primaries who they they say that this is the person that's going to give us the best chance to beat the republican so okay i'll i'll trust that they know what they're talking about that's all out the window i mean and you're seeing this with the platner guy you know in maine you saw it with mandami you know it's it's now the grassroots are saying, we are not listening to you people anymore. We are picking the person who connects with us, who speaks to us, who speaks to the things that we care about.

4:22:48We are not listening to the donor class anymore. And I'm rooting for this Mondami guy because I think that of all the elections tonight, that his election is the one that could help the Democratic Party nationally more than anybody else because it sets a trend successful every demo because of the new voters that he brings in and the young voters that he brings in yeah every democrat in the country is going to be begging this guy to campaign for them if he is successful as a mayor i'd like to coin a phrase i don't know if you would be prepared to join me in this we had it In England in 1997, the Labour Party was rebranded New Labour with Tony Blair.

4:23:35But the new left, to me, rings really quite well with this, because it's not communism and it's not socialism. You know, to be a kind of, he calls himself a democratic socialist, but, you know, a social democracy is basically where we're at here. And there's nothing extreme about it. It's completely normal in most civilised countries in the world. and giving free childcare and just giving people who need a little bit of support is hardly radical in any shape or form. But rather than call it the far left, which is something that it's a phrase that I hate because I don't believe the far left really exists.

4:24:17But to call this the new left kind of speaks to what you're saying, that it is time to recognize that the left has been reborn in the election of somebody who is young and energized and is unapologetic about a using the word socialist because it's totally misunderstood. I mean, Trump couldn't define socialist or Marxist or communist if you asked him the question. But then again, unfortunately, a lot of Americans in the country can't either. And that's simply because the language has been misused over and over again. And it's confusing. I mean, China uses the Chinese Communist Party. And again, it's kind of confusing, but they do that on purpose.

4:25:02So I think owning the new left would be a great way to drive support for what is happening, what is clearly happening tonight. And that's what the establishment is afraid of. You know, they're afraid of the new left. They're afraid of grassroots, you know, radicals, as they would probably term them, because they can't control them. They can't control the grassroots and they can't control people like Mandami. and he's not the only, I mean, I think Plattner and Mindami are saying very similar things. They're very different people with very different backgrounds, you know, but their messages are very similar if you compare the two of them.

4:25:44And so, and I don't think that they're going to be the only ones. I think that we're going to see across the country, because I think Pelosi probably announced, I think tonight, or she was gonna, that she's not running again. I think across the country, you're seeing a generational change. The baby boomer generation is moving out. Jerry Nadler, others, Durbin, they've all announced they're leaving. And I think that that's going to be a really, really healthy thing because look, the Democratic Party is way older than the Republican Party as far as representation in Congress. The average age is much higher.

4:26:19The average tenure is much higher than the Republicans among the Democrats. And it's time for the old guard to move out. I mean, a lot of them are still sharp. A lot of them are still useful. But the thing is, you can pick up the phone and call Nancy Pelosi. She'll take your call. I mean, she'll give you some good advice. She doesn't need to be in D.C. I think that she doesn't want to be the next Dianne Feinstein. And I think that she's making the right move. And she's leaving at the top of her game. Yes. Well, even Dianne Feinstein didn't want to be the next Dianne Feinstein, but she didn't know what day it was, unfortunately, towards the end and kept showing up for work when she really shouldn't have been there.

4:27:01But the fact that nobody stepped up to kind of draw a line under that, there was almost too much respect for the fact that she'd been doing the job for hundreds of years. That's been the problem. I think Democrats have been too respectful. you know i was talking about this with the guys i mean it's like you know joe a lot of them didn't want joe to run you know but joe said he wanted to run and nobody said anything even the people who didn't want to run didn't say anything you know they just quietly kind of see and then and then we're told okay well now we're going to push joe out and then there was a lot of people who didn't want joe to drop out but they didn't say anything they were just like oh you know and then they were all told you now we have to all support harris and all the democrats said okay all right we'll support her like there was literally like everybody just did what they were told and it didn't work out so well so i think people are like we're not doing that anymore we're not gonna we're not looking to the rnc chair we're not looking to schumer you know we're gonna make these decisions now you know and and i think that that's a good thing um let's just talk about the Muslim aspect of this, because this is another thing that frustrates me enormously, partly because I'm from a city that is as mixed as New York, and New Yorkers don't really care who's Muslim and who's not.

4:28:22I mean, it's kind of irrelevant, but the national press find this whole kind of Muslim thing to be a real issue. Now, of course, in terms of breaking the glass ceiling, it is kind of brilliant, but I personally think it's more brilliant that he's only 34 years old rather than the fact that he's a Muslim. That's kind of amazing to me. And it's just so interesting that the media can't really drop this. They seem to think that in some way it's like a, not that it's just a great achievement that a Muslim gets this position, but that in some way it's a step change. And it isn't. If you look at the makeup of New York, and if you look at how people live in New York, and how people are so integrated in New York, and obviously there's always religious and cultural tensions, but that's any metropolis.

4:29:19It's not specific to New York. And that's why Mamdani represents them so well, by nature of the fact that he has an interesting background, and that he sounds like a New Yorker and speaks like a New Yorker. It's only really Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans that are so desperate to kind of to them, anyone who's Muslim is a terrorist. Well, if that's not the most racist thing you've ever heard, I mean, the fact that there's a Muslim ban that is expanded from Trump's original Muslim ban last time around, and no one seems to really talk about it, apart from all the Muslims that can't get into America.

4:29:55It's just so profoundly racist. And yet here we are. This is what we're going to be hearing from Trump for the next for the coming weeks and months and years is this whole thing about all Muslims are terrorists and they're not to be trusted. And how can it be safe in New York if you've got a terrorist running the city? I mean, it just it makes my brain hurt, Ron. Well, I think this is you're right that, you know, I've paid a lot of attention to what Republicans have said about this issue and, you know, and playing on the fears. And I think back to Obama, you know, in 2018, who, you know, had a Muslim sounding name and, you know, Republicans were trying to suggest he was a Sikh, you know, a closet Muslim who just pretended to be a Christian and, you know, Barack Hussein Obama and, and, and even Donald Trump, who wasn't even a presidential candidate back then was out there running around calling him a Muslim.

4:30:55We had the guy at the McCain town hall who stood up and said he was a Muslim. Right. And so, you know, Barack Obama felt like he needed to take great pains to go out of his way to prove he was a Christian. And I remember that very well from 2008 about, you know, him insisting over and over again. No, no, no. I'm a I'm a Christian. I go to this church. This is my pastor. And he would quote Bible verses. He really felt like he had to disprove that it was important to him, you know, for people to believe that he was a Christian, you know, and so here we are, you know, this many years later and, and the issue that here we have a guy who's unapologetically Muslim.

4:31:38And, and the thing is, it's not just an issue with Christian Republicans. It's also an issue with Jewish Democrats. And let's face it, you know, Those have been the Democrats who have not supported, a lot of them who have not supported Mandami have been Jewish Democrats. And that is a Muslim Jewish thing that is a religious division. And as far as the Christian right goes, look, they don't view the Muslim religion as a legitimate religion. They don't view it as a peaceful religion. They don't view it as a religion of love. they view it as a as a dark uh terrible thing as a bad thing as something that in other words they don't just look at it as like it's another religion no they don't look at it that way they look at it as as an as a source of evil in the world so when he says i'm a muslim they they view it you know a lot of republican you know rural voters white voters they view that as he's a bad guy.

4:32:42You know, he's against God. He's against Jesus, you know, and so it goes that much to the core of this. But I think that obviously, you know, there is no place in the Republican party for Muslims. There's not. They don't hide that fact. And so I think that this is a great opportunity for somebody who's young, well-spoken, good-looking, scandal-free, largely, except for some things he said in the past that he's disavowed uh you know and and i think this is a great opportunity to expand the tent here and embrace it and we know what fox news is going to do this guy's going to be on fox news more than trump yep you know they're going to make him the poster child of fox news yeah so that's why i'm rooting for him i want him to be successful i want him to prove the racists and and the the bigots wrong and he can do that i mean he went on Fox recently and he absolutely nailed it.

4:33:40And this is what's important is not being frightened to step outside of those compartments that the media like to put you in. And he's much smarter than any host at Fox. He really is. And he can, so he can outsmart people. He can, he can bring the cut, cut through the noise with the truth. And that's what I'm looking forward to because you have to remember that the viewers of Fox, including Donald Trump, who's one of them, they have been listening to lies for 20 or, you know, since Roger Ailes, right? So it's 25 years. So they've just been brainwashed with these lies about who Democrats are. And I think that Mamdani might be the first Democrat that has the confidence to step up and actually deconstruct those lies one at a time on a far-right network such as Fox.

4:34:35And you simply have to do it because they can't cut you off. It's not like when they're showing a Trump speech and Trump's being crazy and they end up just like cutting away from it and going, okay, well, yeah, we'll come back to that later. And they never do. If they've got Mamdani there in the studio, they're going to engage with him. And this is the new left, the idea that we're done with the lies now. It's enough already. And I really feel like he's the man to move this movement, as you say, nationally forward. That's why this mayoral election was so important. It's not just about New York.

4:35:13It is giving the movement the confidence to change their ways. Well, think about it. What demographic shifted the most for Trump between 20 and 2024 was Latino voters. Right. So and and and people, a lot of Democrats thought, well, how is that? How's that possible when Trump's central message of his campaign was deportations? Because what they heard was when Trump said, I'm going to deport the criminals, you know, I'm going to deport the the rapists and the murderers and the drug dealers. I mean, I think a lot of the Latinos were were were good with that. You know, they said, well, these are people who make our community look bad.

4:35:56And so if that's who he's going to go after, you know, these handful of bad apples, then we support that, you know, we're good with that. And so then when he gets in office and then, oh no, no. When he was saying criminals, he means all of them. He means everyone who crossed the border after they were born is a criminal. And so I think that reality is setting in with these Latino voters. He's talking about us and our neighbors. He's not talking about somebody in prison. Yeah. I think that if anyone's having buyer's remorse, it's the kind of Latinx community because, and through no fault of their own, they were lied to.

4:36:40And, you know, Trump was buying ads on Latino radio networks and really kind of infiltrating the community in kind of with with spanish-speaking coverage and so and also i mean we don't have time to get into this but there is a lot of racism even amongst latinos where once they're across the border they don't want anybody else coming and and so there's a whole that's a whole other conversation but i think the like i say there is a line in the sand now almost and it's like you're either with the mamdani movement or you're going to get left behind. And I think this result tonight is testament to all of the No Kings protesters, to everybody who knocked on doors, to people that did flyers and leaflets and posters and got on the phones and did all of that grassroots work.

4:37:32Because big money in politics has always been the problem. This movement came from individual donations, from people that couldn't even afford it, but felt that a few bucks was going to make a difference. Well, tonight, it really did make a difference. And with the latest count, 97 % of the vote is in. Zoran Mamdani, his victory is decisive. He's received 1 ,030 ,000 votes, more than all the other candidates combined. And people will argue for weeks and maybe for years to come about whether Curtis Sleewa dropping out would have helped Andrew Cuomo win, but the votes show that that's a moot argument, you know?

4:38:15I saw that, and I saw Sleewa's speech tonight. Yeah. You know, I think this guy's hilarious. I don't know if I've told you that, but the guy's in the chat room, you know, the mic. I think the guy is comedy. It's a comedy show, you know? And his speech tonight, he says, you know, what does he say? he doesn't congratulate um and not no no no no he gets he starts screaming and somebody somebody behind him is trying to pull him off the stage because there's like hands on the back of his shoulder and he's like got the mic and he won't he won't leave and he's ran and raving he says we're gonna organize we're gonna mobilize yeah and we are gonna be mandami's worst nightmare okay that's what he said fine i'm just like this guy man i thought the guardian angels were on the side of goodness but uh apparently not um so i i just want to kind of extend some heartfelt gratitude to everybody who has played a little part in this campaign tonight not just in new york but right across the u.s where special elections have been taking place there has been a resounding movement heard and and donald trump is pissed i mean he is not happy about this stuff because remember he he operates in a bubble he's surrounded by people that tell him that he's the best the the most handsome i mean you heard that when he was asked in 60 minutes about mamdani and he goes but i'm better looking never been better i think he's like thinks that that's true right i think they're giving him like fake polls a hundred percent ron i've been saying this but i i had it confirmed in that 60 minutes interview which is incidentally the most edited episode of 60 minutes in history must be a lawsuit waiting to be had there but yeah trump genuinely thinks whether it be dementia or just narcissistic personality disorder or just ego that he thinks that he is on a winning streak.

4:40:19And that's why he maybe I mean, in hindsight, maybe that's why he's always like the election was rigged, the election was rigged, because he cannot imagine that people don't think that he is God's gift when he is anything but. And that's why this is even better that this is happening in New York, a city that Donald Trump thinks he owns, that this is really putting the boot in to his idea of how the city should be run and who should be running it. And it's not the disgraced Giuliani or the disgraced Andrew Cuomo. No, let it be a 34-year-old Muslim called Zoran Mamdani. Well, you know, when he was on trial, he said that if he was convicted, everybody, all the rich people were going to leave New York, right?

4:41:07That's what he predicted. that everybody was going to leave and New York was going to go bankrupt. And, you know, of course that didn't happen, but he, he, he predicted it again. You know, if, if Mandami wins, he says, they're all going to leave again. You know, there's going to be Ron DeSantis was saying that on Fox today, you know, we're going to get all these rich New Yorkers. They're all going to flee the city. Well, you know, I guess, I guess we'll, we'll just see about that. Um, it didn't happen the last time he predicted it. I tend to think that there's so much money to be made, so much culture, so much food.

4:41:40You know, I don't think that we're going to see this mass exodus that's been predicted. But, you know, I guess I guess we'll see. More predicted by who, though? It's just a confidence trick. Are they going to lose like eight billionaires? They're going to go to Florida. No one's going to leave, you know, because they're going to see this as an opportunity to. Yeah, there's going to be new ones. There's any new billionaires being made that are 25 years old right now. Huge growth. And Mamdani's speech was, I mean, he didn't pull any punches tonight, no subtleties. He referenced a great New Yorker and that great New Yorker's son.

4:42:19Do you hear him say that? And so I think this is the skill of Mamdani. You know, he can speak at a level that is speaking to multiple people at once. You know, let me tell you what impressed me. Halloween night. So while Trump is down there having his gilded, you know, Great Gatsby gala with dancers and all that. What was Mondami doing Halloween night? He went to six nightclubs. He was out. He went to like three gay bars. He was out till two in the morning at clubs, went home, went to bed. Then at 6 a.m. he was out meeting the sanitation guys, the garbage men, 6 a.m. at their trucks after partying.

4:43:07I mean, partying, you know, he's had the mic. He's up there in the DJ booths at clubs all night. I mean, who else can do that? Name me a name me any any Democrat. I mean, who can do six clubs, hit gay bars, have everybody cheering him on, then go meet the garbage guys down at the sanitation department at 6 a.m.? Can Schumer do that? Can Jeffries? No. Can Holcomb? Mamdani was saying that, you know, the thing about New York is that the night shift workers are responsible for waking the city up. And if you didn't have the night shift workers, then you wouldn't have the city as it is in the morning.

4:43:49And it was just beautiful. I mean, you know, there is a whole community at night that exists while most people sleep. And tapping into that, especially the cab drivers, you know, looking through the yellow cab windows and shaking people's hands everybody knew who he was he's a natural he's better than obama i mean you know as far as that goes retail the the pot you know the hand-to-hand stuff yeah he's better than obama you know maybe obama is the master of the speech you know he gives the great speech but and mandami gives a damn good speech too but as far as just the man on the street stuff I don't know that I've seen anybody better than Mandami.

4:44:31Interestingly, Obama's speech that he gave the other night was great, but it was quite staccato. And this is the way Obama operates. He is kind of slow and he does these kind of moments and you can really kind of look at the pentameter of his delivery and you can predict it. I can't predict Mamdani's speech patterns. And, you know, the perfect example of that was tonight. I mean, he fooled the hell out of me with that one line where he said, you know, to get, he said, if they want to get to you, if Donald Trump wants to get to you, he's going to have to. And I thought for sure what any politician would have said right there is they're going to have to come through me.

4:45:18that's that's what donald trump that was any almost any politician in america would would close that line any speech writer would close that line with if they want to get to you they're going to have to come through me i'm your champion right but what does he say i mean he says they're gonna have to come through all of us right very very clever it's not about me yeah and i thought And that's where Cuomo got it right. That surprised me. I mean, I never expected him to say that, but I thought, wow, what a great line. Yeah, but it's more than a line. It's an authentic feeling about how his movement is all of us.

4:46:01It really isn't just him. And maybe that's been the problem in U.S. politics is that we put too many eggs in the basket of leadership. and really the definition of representative is somebody who just leads us all. And, you know, I thought it was fortuitous that this happened on the same day that Dick Cheney passed away. I don't know if you thought that too. I was like, I saw a few viral tweets about that. Like Dick didn't want to be alive to see a Muslim. and then i heard i saw some muslims tweeting like this is the greatest day in the history of like muslim america dick cheney died and montavi's elected mayor of new york city it's like a quinella it's like a you know bookend yeah it's quite meta in many ways and i'm you know and i was you know all respect to the cheney family of course but i recognized that that somebody was telling us something.

4:46:58And because, you know, obviously, 9-11 has a huge significance for New York. And Trump basically, or not even Trump, I mean, going back to Bush and basically, you know, blaming 9-11 on all Muslims and then going to war with Iraq and Afghanistan and the rest is history. But it's just very interesting that in this moment, that it's Zoran Mamdani who is the one who has stepped up. And I'm really grateful that it is him because I really didn't want to see another old white guy. What would the vibe be like tonight if that was Cuomo who just won? So depressing. This would be a whole different vibe, wouldn't it?

4:47:42But also for women as well. Yeah. It'd be like the Democratic Party sold out, you know, again. They sold out to the establishment and you know they just wanted to win and you know and this is who we ended up with this very flawed person uh who really you know you think about his life i was thinking about this last night very similar to donald trump i mean mario his dad wasn't as wealthy as fred trump yeah certainly not but you think about it i mean famous name privilege you know the prep schools i mean cuomo had uh you know everything uh laid out for him his political career was set when he was in high school right you know it was almost like a like trump with business a faux mafia for him yeah so there's a sense of entitlement a privilege that you know everyone is here to serve me i i got that vibe from cuomo always even years ago yes and you know i it's the same vibe you get from trump It is interesting.

4:48:49I've always seen those two as cut from the same cloth. And when Trump was asked whether he, you know, about who he was supporting, he said, well, you know, I don't want to support a Democrat. But if Cuomo is like the best of the two, then I will reluctantly support Cuomo. And I just thought, well, yeah, because you basically are both terrible to women. So you have that in common. and you know they're jerks they're megalomaniacs yeah there's a lot of sim i mean they're not exactly the same of course but there's a lot of similarities between the two i think it's also generational and i think that you know that that age group especially people that grew up in new york and kind of went through that that period i think you know they're like men from the 80s and you could argue they both screwed up the pandemic in different ways a hundred percent you So, I mean, there's a lot of parallels right there.

4:49:44Famous fathers or pretty well-known fathers. They're part of dynasties. And I think that this is, it's just really unhealthy. And so America and New York especially has rejected those dynasties tonight. And I think the celebrations, I can certainly feel it, that there is a great sense, just from reading people's messages and getting a sense of how the reactions are being felt, that this is an opportunity to fight fascism head on. And I love that Mamdani doesn't hold back in describing Trump as an authoritarian and as a dictator and as a despot, because that's the type of explicit language that is A, accurate, but B, is essential in this moment.

4:50:35You can't go dancing around it. The other line that surprised me is goes to that, which is when he said he said Donald Trump. Turn the volume. I thought he's going to say turn the volume down. I thought that it was that's what he was going to say. I thought he was going to be like, it's time to tone down the rhetoric. And, you know, it's time to, you know, bring think turn down the temperature. I thought that that was that's what he was going to say. We need to have a truce. We need to get along, blah, blah, blah. He said the opposite. He said, turn the volume up. He's saying, bring it, man. You want to come after New York City?

4:51:12You want to come after me? I'm ready for it. Throw your best at me. Throw your best at us. We'll give it to you right back. Again, that was a line that really surprised me. I didn't think that's what he was going to say. He zigged when I thought he was going to zag. I also love that he met his partner on Hinge, And I saw on Instagram last night, there was like pictures of them hanging out in New York and having a kiss and a cuddle. And it was like so real and so cute. Just like Trump and Melania. Oh, yeah, that's right. Just the same. No Einstein visas necessary. The irony of the Einstein visa in that particular scenario is not to be underestimated.

4:51:57Okay, we have to finish. Yeah, it's one o 'clock in the morning here in Maine. Right. Like 30 degrees out. You and I are going to come back later on and do an Uncovered, a special Zoran Mamdani edition of Uncovered. That's four o 'clock Eastern later on today or tomorrow for those on the West Coast. I'm so grateful to everybody for joining us tonight. We've literally had tens and tens of thousands of people watching the Midas Touch coverage tonight, which is extended throughout the night. Of course, the coverage doesn't stop on the Midas Touch network. And we're very grateful to you for your support, as well as your comments and your interactions as part of this Midas Mighty community.

4:52:44The line I kind of want to finish with is when Mamdani said, in this moment of political darkness, New York will be the light. And it's that light that I think is going to guide this pro-democracy movement, both here at Midas Touch, but also right across the country in facing off fascism head on. And tonight is a kind of springboard moment for that. So well done is all I can say. Congratulations to Zoran Mamdani, to all of those candidates that have been involved in special elections across the U.S. and the amount of success and wins, I think, a kind of a full score for Democratic candidates across the board tonight.

4:53:26And that really speaks volumes. Thanks to everybody who voted today. Yeah. Very, very important. The whole country thanks you. Yeah, yeah. Voting is almost the last bastion that Americans have left. So don't waste it. Okay, thanks again. We'll see you on the other side and enjoy the rest of your night, wherever you are. Bye for now.

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