MeidasTouch Full Podcast - 10/24/25

21:07Ben Meiselas:Yeah, man, that's what I want. Don't tell me. You don't tell me. I don't want to know. You know who you sound like.

21:16Brett Meiselas:I don't know. For those listeners or viewers who maybe have seen The Righteous Gemstones, you sound a little like Baby Billy. I hear that. I hear Baby Billy. I hear he's a fantastic character. Not Sandler's character in Waterboy, but just Waterboy in general in there. And so, that's good, Ben. A little like Walter Goggins, the actor. That's so funny. Well, I mean, yeah. I mean, think about if you're one of these soybean farmers who's getting completely screwed over. If you're one of these cattle ranchers who's being completely screwed over. If you're somebody who relies on these Affordable Care Act subsidies who's being completely screwed over.

21:53Brett Meiselas:I could go down the list. I could do this all day, right? and you're watching the priority of the administration right now, them spend all of this money and all of this time and focus all of their energy on building a gilded ballroom in Washington, DC. I mean, it's just the epitome. It's just the most corrupt regime we've ever seen. I think this is going to be my pitch. And I don't know if this is smart politically or not. I don't care about politics, but this is going to be my pitch to future, you know, if Democrats are able to retake House, Senate, get foolproof majorities. I think we need a constitutional amendment.

22:28Brett Meiselas:We could call it like the No Kings Act, the No King Amendment. It's got to be a constitutional amendment. And we need to go through it. Use Trump as a test case. Every single thing that Donald Trump has done that we've previously relied upon, flimsy laws or precedent, we go through, and you put it in the Constitution that these things aren't allowed. You ban the president from being able to assume control over the National Guard without it going through an independent body. You ban the ability to just unilaterally set these tariffs. You set parameters around that. Once again, you force it to go through a unilateral, an independent body rather.

23:03Brett Meiselas:You reform the pardon power so people can't be pardoning their corrupt cronies. And we'll get into that a little more later in this episode. You reform the Insurrection Act. Just all these various things, all these weaknesses in our system. I think you patch up with a new constitutional amendment. And we can even put your name on it, Donald, if you really want your name on something, okay? But I think it's very obvious that we've relied far too long in this country on precedent, and we need to actually take action. And it needs to be something that is supreme court proof. It needs to be an actual amendment in the United States Constitution that clearly lays this stuff out because the stakes are just too high.

23:39Brett Meiselas:And we're seeing right now in real time what happens when you let an authoritarian in the White House. Brilliant, brilliant. And let me just say this really quick because i want this on record not that 300 million and 350 million the numbers that the regime's throwing out right now aren't ridiculous my gut and my guess knowing trump and how he likes to just be fraudulent this thing's gonna and how he likes the way numbers sound this thing will get up to 500 million dollars by by the end of maybe like a billion yeah because he likes yeah he he like he'll like that number that would be a good number that he could say and boast around about it's disgusting it's gonna it'll keep going up up up 100 want to take our first quick break

24:14Ben Meiselas:of the show we've got a lot more to discuss as the united states going to war with venezuela donald trump seemed to indicate that we were as the united states going to go to war with colombia the language that donald trump and his regime are using about colombia is very disturbing we'll talk about the war crimes that are being committed by the united states in the caribbean as well as now in the pacific theater we'll talk about melania trump getting sued and so much more when we come back a reminder, become a member of our YouTube channel if you can. If you're already subscribed, that's great.

24:45Ben Meiselas:If you're not subscribed, hit subscribe, help us get to 6 million. But you'll see on YouTube, there's a button that says join. And join is a paid membership. Only do it if you can do it. And if you're able to gift memberships out to people, lots of people can't afford memberships during these difficult times. And if you're able to afford memberships, gift memberships to others, they can access all of the exclusive content that you can access, like an access to the emojis and much more. So just do that if you can and subscribe to the audio podcast as well. If you're just on YouTube, if you're an audio listener, subscribe to YouTube.

25:16Ben Meiselas:So we've got everybody on all platforms and leave a five-star review on the audio podcast platforms. That helps. We're going to take our first quick break of the show. We'll be right back. Much more to discuss when we return.

25:30Brett Meiselas:Fall is here. And for me, it's the season to reset. New routines, a little less chaos, and hopefully a little more balance. That starts with what I drink first thing in the morning. That's why I've been loving mud water. It's a coffee alternative made with cacao, chai, turmeric, and adaptogenic mushrooms. So you get that warm focused boost without the jitters or crash. Just mix it with hot water or milk, froth it up, and it's the perfect fall ritual to stay grounded and clear headed. And now there's nourish the world's first mental wellness shake. It's like a protein shake before your brain and body with 25 grams of clean plant-based protein, nootropics, adaptogenins, and probiotics.

26:03Brett Meiselas:It supports focus, recovery, and digestion without jitters or artificial sugar. Just real cocoa, real vanilla, and ingredients that actually do something. If you want to fuel more than just your muscles, Nourish is a game changer. And if you're out and about, Mudwater is now available at Target and Sprouts nationwide because pumpkin spice is nice, but focus recovery and gut support even better. The best part about Mudwater is it provides sustained energy without the spikes and crash of traditional coffee. Ready to make the switch to cleaner energy? Head to mudwater.com and grab your starter kit today.

26:37Brett Meiselas:Right now, our listeners get an exclusive deal. Up to 43 % off your entire order, plus free shipping and a free rechargeable frother when you use code MIDAS. That's right. Up to 43 % off with code MIDAS at M-U-D-W-T-R.com. After your purchase, they'll ask how you found them. Please support our show and let them know MIDAS Touch sent you. I still love a good night out, but I'm not always in the mood to drink. Luckily, I found a great alternative, Sol's Out of Office Gummies. They give me that same light, happy buzz without the hangover, sugar, or next morning fog. Sol is a wellness brand that believes feeling good should be fun and easy.

27:15Brett Meiselas:They specialize in delicious, hemp-derived THC and CBD products designed to boost your mood and help you unwind. Their best-selling Out of Office Gummies were made to give you a mild, relaxing buzz, boost creativity, and help you chill out. With five different strengths, you can tailor the dose to fit your vibe from a gentle one and a half milligram micro dose to their newest 15 milligram gummy for a more elevated experience. And if you like the gummies, check out the new out of office beverage. It's a refreshing alcohol free drink that is perfect for winding down on the couch and socializing with friends.

27:48Brett Meiselas:I also love their sleepy gummies for deep restorative sleep. All of Sol's products are made from organically farmed USA grown hemp and they're vegan, gluten-free, low in sugar and federally legal. Bring on the good vibes and treat yourself to Sol today. Right now, Sol is offering my audience 30 % off your entire order. Go to GetSol.com and use code MIDAS at checkout. That's GetSol.com, code MIDAS, M-E-I-D-A-S for 30 % off. Let's go. Shout out to our sponsors. Links in description of both the YouTube and the audio. Use the links, use the codes. If there's an exit survey, let them know we sent you.

28:29Brett Meiselas:Benji, where to next?

28:30Ben Meiselas:Someone by the name of Kasim Rashid, right? So just to recap everything, Donald Trump's spending about$100 million on taxpayer money on golf, about$172 million on new Gulfstream private jets for Kristi Noem and her close friend, Corey Lewandowski, to travel the country and on the taxpayer dime. $230 million because Donald Trump claims he suffers pain and suffering as a result of the 2020 election. And he says that the DOJ needs to pay him$230 million. $250 million for a vanity ballroom as the White House grounds are being destroyed, as we showed you in the first segment,$40 billion to Argentina, while our farmers suffer tax cuts to billionaires, at least a$170 billion budget to the ICE Gestapo as they unleash chemical warfare on cities.

29:31Ben Meiselas:They zip tie kids. They kidnap people and disappear them to concentration camps. So no wonder when you actually look at the polling data right now, like if you look at the generics from Quinnipiac for the midterm elections, and this is why Trump and the MAGA Republicans need to rig these midterms. It's why they're frantic right now. The generic Quinnipiac poll shows the Democrats up plus nine in a generic Democrat versus Republican if the elections were to be held tomorrow. row. And we know that Democrats have been overperforming in special elections by 10 to 15 points across the country. And one of the themes I just think that Democrats, frankly, need to hit on for the midterms is no kings.

30:13Ben Meiselas:There needs to be a check. There needs to be a guardrail, right? And I think you almost appeal to everybody who say, no matter where you stand on any issue, this dictator needs to be checked. And I think that's part of the appeal to Republicans too, right? And MAGA is just saying, look, this has gone far, far, far too far for you. Obviously, it's gone far too far. But what are you? You're a soybean farmer. You thought he loved the farmers because he said, I love you. No, he hates you. He's bankrupting you. You're a rancher. You think he likes you because he goes, I love the ranchers. He hates you.

30:46Ben Meiselas:And not only that, but if you're a rancher, he's like lecturing you about how you do business. I mean, like his posts where you're making the prices too high ranchers. You don't know what the hell you're doing ranchers. You got to listen to me. You look at the statement, we'll put it up there one more time by the ranchers. I mean, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. Cattlemen and women cannot stand behind Trump while he undercuts the future of family farmers and ranchers by importing Argentinian beef. Another statement talks about how it's a betrayal and how he's manipulating the markets, the cattle markets.

31:22Ben Meiselas:And not only is Trump giving$40 billion to Argentina, when he was asked, why are you doing that? His response was like, listen, lady, listen, lady, you don't know what you're talking about. And we're going to bring Argentinian beef to the United States to bring down our beef prices here. You may want to look into what's going on with Argentinian beef right now, number one, Donald. And you'll see that there's a massive case of foot and mouth disease there. And then you may also want to understand how that would undercut the American cattle ranchers who are already suffering because of your tariffs against the world.

31:55Ben Meiselas:You may also want to then factor in that Argentina undercut our soybean farmers by selling their soybeans to China, further harming the ability of our soybean farmers here to find export markets. And you may also want to realize that in Argentina, they have universal healthcare, which I guess America is helping to fund their health care while 20 million Americans are about to lose their health care. So you had Caroline Levitt. She was asked a question about about farmers and about American ranchers. And of course, the only way they know how to answer questions is by blaming Biden. So watch what she says when she's asked about ranchers.

32:34Ben Meiselas:It's played. How will Trump administration support those farmers? Look, the president hears those concerns. He addressed them yesterday himself. President loves our ranchers and our ranchers love our president. And in fact, the president did a lot for them in his first term here. They are struggling because of the many horrible policies of the previous administration. President loves our ranchers and he also loves American consumers and he wants to do right by both. So the immediate solution to the problem of the rising cost of beef, president wants to bring that down as we have to increase our supply.

33:06And so that's what he's doing with respect to these imports.

33:08Ben Meiselas:Yeah, he loves you so much. He's going to undercut the market manipulated by bringing in Argentinian diseased beef to screw over our cattle ranch. He loves the farmer so much that he's destroying all your markets to export to. But I do want to cue you in on something there because this is part of a brainwashing strategy. Caroline Levin and Donald Trump use. That's why I highlight those Trump emails sometimes when I do my reporting in the morning. It's a form of love bombing. I love you. You love me. I love you. You love me. and you repeat it over. Trump loves farmers. Trump loves firefighters.

33:44Ben Meiselas:Trump loves this. Trump loves that. You love me. I love you. And you repeat it over and over. Democrats never do that. Democrats never say that. Democrats never utilize those strategies. Democrats never look in the camera and go, I care about you. I'm fighting for you. I hear you. I understand what you're going through. Trump does that because he recognizes that humans want to hear that, but they also want you to deliver when you say that. So I just want to cue you in. Trump says that because he recognizes that with words, he knows how to manipulate people and then screw them. But you can do that in a good way in the sense of letting people know you're fighting for them and then actually fighting for them.

34:26Ben Meiselas:And I know sometimes Democrats think, oh, well, you're just being performative. Well, perform, perform and then deliver. Trump performs and then commits fraud. So I just want to cue you in why they love them. Love, love, love, love, love. I love you. You love me. I love you. I miss you. I miss you. I love you. That's part of a brainwashing strategy that they use that we see in cults happen all of the time. So next, Caroline Levitt is asked about, well, what are you doing with health care? And so one of the things that I like about Democrats fighting back in the way they are right now, as Trump and the MAGA Republicans have shut down the government is it's exposed what's really here all along, which is ever since John McCain gave that thumbs down and save the Affordable Care Act, Trump has wanted destroyed with no alternatives.

35:12Ben Meiselas:Remember during the first term, two weeks, I'll give you a plan, two weeks, I'll give you a plan. Never gave a plan. And remember right before the 2020 election, he did that interview on 60 Minutes with Leslie Stahl, and he showed a binder that looked really big and detailed. But then Leslie Stahl opened it and it was 600 blank pages with nothing on it. And that's what he said his plan was. That's why he sued 60 Minutes, not because of that, but he held that grudge against 60 Minutes and why he didn't go on and he was too afraid to. And former Vice President Kamala Harris went on. Then Trump ended up suing 60 Minutes because he's a little weasel and a little coward.

35:45Ben Meiselas:He's like, oh, she went on 60 Minutes. You didn't even go on 60 Minutes, by the way. But they want to get rid of Obamacare. They want to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, then they don't have a plan of what they're going to do. So if you have a plan, like my plan would be universal health care, tax the rich more, which Trump's never going to do, and then give everybody health care for free. That's my plan. They don't have one. They wanted to go back to what was before Obamacare when people would die. Let me play this clip and then I'll turn it over to you. This is Caroline Levitt saying it was called Obamacare.

36:14Ben Meiselas:Why? And I'll play the other clip too. Let's play this one first. So it's something the president wants to do. And Brittany, one more point. I'll just point out the irony in Democrats holding the government and the American public hostage over a health care system that they created. The health care system was called Obamacare. Why? Because Democrats and President Obama implemented and Republicans have always said it's a broken system. Yes, but they caused it. And now they want to shut down the government to fix it. We need to open the government and then we can have these very important conversations about health care.

36:44Ben Meiselas:OK, and then one more clip, Brett, let's just show where she says, well, what's your plan? What is your plan? Here, play this clip. First is, we understand that the president, Republicans, will not negotiate on ACA extensions until the government reopens. If and when that happens, what does the president think should be or what are his plans for preventing rising health care costs for Americans? It's a very good question. And I'll leave that to the president to negotiate that when Democrats vote to reopen the government. When it comes to lowering health care costs, the president is deeply committed to this.

37:17It's why he has spent so much time and effort negotiating with Big Pharma to lower the health care costs of prescription drugs.

37:24Ben Meiselas:Because we all know that the prices of prescription drugs have gotten so much lower under Donald Trump. Right. The most favored nation's provision. We all got it right. We're all paying one dollar, the lowest possible price. No, we all know it's bogus. We all see the letters that the Affordable Care Act plans that we're all on in different states. in Colorado,$24 ,000 increases a year in Colorado. Similarly in Pennsylvania, 103 % increases. That was a great question that reporter asked. What's your plan? Because you've made it clear you don't want to negotiate and have a conversation with the other political party.

38:00Ben Meiselas:And then Caroline Levitt says, that's correct. We don't want to, and we're not going to tell you what our plan is. I don't care what political party you're from. That's not the way our system works in the United States. It isn't. So that to me should transcend political party, Brett.

38:16Brett Meiselas:By the way, I do have to give a huge shout out to the press pool today. They brought their A-game today. There were some really good questions out there. One of the questions earlier that was Weijia Zhang from CBS News, she did a terrific job. All these questions were actually very on point and they really expose just how bereft of any ideas this administration truly is. And it's shameful because there are lives on the other line of this. And I've always talked about on this show that a concept of a reality deficit that trump is able to lie lie lie lie lie so long as those lies aren't affecting people sometimes you know they are affecting the people and they still you know somehow get sucked in by his lies but when it's something like you're staring down the barrel of a health care plan that's going up and going to cost you another twenty thousand dollars that year and donald trump is telling you that everything's okay that is what i mean that you know that that's the deficit where all of a sudden that person goes holy i can't afford that I mean, what human being can afford that sort of thing?

39:11Brett Meiselas:And remember, the whole funny, you know, odd thing about this, you know, the Obamacare thing that they do is first off, if you remember where Obamacare originated, and by the way, Republicans named it Obamacare to try to smear Obama, and Obama's like, okay, it's Obamacare. That's what you want to do. But remember, it originated with a Mitt Romney plan. It was originally like something that Mitt Romney had implemented in Massachusetts, which is like Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act was based off. It has been a massive success. Yes. People like it by massive margins. It's like probably one of the most popular policies in American history.

39:42Brett Meiselas:It has like a 70 plus percent approval rating. Is it perfect? No. Is our healthcare system, does it need a ton of work? Yes. Do I think it needs like a page one rewrite? Yes. But this solved a lot of issues that were happening at the time of people being denied healthcare coverage, of kids not being able to get healthcare coverage, of people with pre-existing conditions not able to get healthcare coverage. It saved a whole lot of lives. and has done a whole lot of good. And the Republican plan is, it's basically their same plan that they do overall with the United States government is it's let's destroy this thing.

40:18Brett Meiselas:Let's rip it apart. We may not be able to repeal it, but let's tear it apart. Let's pull it out by the roots and let's make this thing as bare bones as possible. And when shit hits the fan, we will not blame when people start to blame us. We'll say, no, it's not us. It's Obamacare. That's what they're trying to do right here. And Donald Trump in his first term, he took an ax to Obamacare a whole lot, but it remained. Now they are once again, trying to destroy Obamacare. They're trying, taking away these subsidies, all the, all the things that they're doing and refusing to act on it. It really gives away their game.

40:54Brett Meiselas:Their idea is basically, we're not able to repeal this thing. So let's kind of try to destroy it from within and we don't give a damn who suffers and who kind of lives. Like it's, it's, it's a really kind of evil thing. And as you look just throughout everything that they're doing, I just like, you think of like Marie Antoinette here, like, it's like, this is what like the administration, their entire thing is, right? It's like, some of you may die, but that's a risk. You know, it's a risk I'm willing to take people, you know, I'm going to take on that burden. Like that's Lord Farquaad, I think from, from Shrek.

41:24Brett Meiselas:Um, but, but that's, that's really like the ethos of the entire administration. No, it is. And that leads me to this larger point, just a macro point here. It's like you see Caroline Levitt up there and just the condescending nature, the unserious nature of her answering these questions. And frankly, the entire Trump regime, obviously, like I really do struggle with the damage that they've done. It's hard to imagine that it could almost ever be undone. How am I supposed to take them seriously ever when you know that you can elect someone like a Trump, when you know like you could get someone like a Caroline Leavitt up there just spewing these weirdo propagandist talking points.

42:03Brett Meiselas:And like we always say, we have kids. Like we fucking love this country and we want this country to be kick-ass as best as it can operate for not just our kids, but for everybody's kids and for future generations to come. And when you look at Caroline Leavitt up there, like it actually, it hurts me to see someone up there and just acting like - Not to get sappy about it, but like, it's a good point, right? think about all the kids right and you used to be able to be like when you grow up you could be the president right when you grow up you could work in the white house and that used to be like a a positive thing right and now you have your kids you go into okay let's want to watch the press briefing with me from the white house want to see what's happening today let's learn about some world affairs and you see the way these people are behaving they're just like the most despicable reprehensible human beings who you do not want anybody's behavior modeled after i mean the other day.

42:49Brett Meiselas:I don't have her right now, but do you guys see that the text chain that Caroline Levitt had with that HuffPost reporter? And he asked like a very good question about Russia and she responds, your mom? Like that was her response was your mom. And then like he asked again and he said, your mama or something like that was her response to everything. And then, you know, he came out with the story, posted it, and then she published the text chain as if it vindicated her and was like, look how brutal, look how mean this reporter was. And she looked like a toddler like that. I don't care who you are, left, right, center, independent, moderate.

43:24Brett Meiselas:I don't care what the hell you consider yourselves, but we should all be able to look at that as a country and say, we don't want this shit in our government. Like where is normalcy? Where is decency? Where is just honesty? Where are the good human beings? They're certainly not in the white house. And the one thing I got to commend Donald Trump for is that he did manage to find the largest group group of grifters and scum that he could possibly assemble. And he somehow put them all in one place. Like I've never seen people this horrific all in the same place, equally just offensive and horrible.

43:58Brett Meiselas:It's really something.

43:59Ben Meiselas:Let's take our last quick break of the show. Remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel, join and become a member if you can subscribe on audio. if you're on our YouTube, if you're audio, subscribe on YouTube, vice versa, leave a five-star review on the audio podcast. That helps us out a ton. When we come back, we'll talk about potential war breaking out in Venezuela. We'll talk about the ceasefire deal in the Middle East becoming undone. Recently, Israel and the Knesset said that they were going to annex the West Bank, which Donald Trump said nobody should care about at all. Don't worry about it.

44:36Ben Meiselas:Just pretend it didn't happen. Talk about a lot more when we come back. Last quick break of the show. See you shortly.

44:46Brett Meiselas:Long work weeks and busy weekends can leave you feeling and looking depleted. Prolon's five-day fasting mimicking diet works at the cellular level to rejuvenate you from the inside out, providing real results that include fat-focused, sustainable weight loss with no injection needed. And now they're upping their game with the new next-gen five-day program, delivering the same science-backed benefits in a cleaner, more convenient, and more flavorful format. Prolon is a plant-based nutrition program featuring soups, snacks, and beverages designed to nourish the body while keeping it in a fasting state, triggering cellular rejuvenation and renewal.

45:23Brett Meiselas:Developed over decades at USC's Longevity Institute and backed by top U.S. medical centers, Prolon has been shown to support biological age reduction, metabolic health, skin appearance, fat loss, and energy. NextGen builds on the original Prolon with 100 % organic soups and teas, a richer taste, and ready-to-eat meals. No matter the season when I'm craving a real reset, Prolon is the only nutrition program that works for me. It's convenient, backed by Nobel-winning science, and it works. For a limited time, Prolon is offering listeners 15 % off site-wide plus a$40 bonus gift when you subscribe to their five-day program.

46:02Brett Meiselas:Just visit prolonlife.com slash Midas. That's P-R-O-L-O-N-L-I-F-E dot com slash Midas to claim your 15 % discount and your bonus gift. Prolonlife.com slash Midas. This episode of the Midas Touch podcast is brought to you by Graza. Everyone knows I love to cook for my friends and what's taken my food to that next level is Graza. Graza is my olive oil of choice. It's delicious, easy to use extra virgin olive oil at an affordable everyday price. And by the way, it's been my olive oil of choice before they even came on as a sponsor, which is why I'm extra excited to share it with you. Graza is always super fresh.

46:44Brett Meiselas:They pick, press, and bottle all their olives in the same season. You can even see the harvest date on every bottle. Graza has not one, but two extra virgin olive oils to stock your kitchen, both available in squeeze or glass bottles. There's sizzle, their everyday cooking oil that's perfect for roasting, sautéing, and, well, anything you cook. And then there's drizzle, a bright, punchy, aromatic finishing oil that's great for dipping bread, whipping up salad dressings, or even drizzling over ice cream. You heard me right. I'm always cooking, so quality olive oil is essential in my kitchen, and you can taste the difference with Graza.

47:19Brett Meiselas:The flavor is clean, pure, vibrant, and grassy. I always keep both sizzle and drizzle on hand because they're absolutely delicious and they even look great on the countertop. And you will get 10 % off your first order of any olive oil on their site, but I wholeheartedly recommend the Graza Duo. You'll receive two bottles of extra virgin olive oil, sizzle for cooking, and drizzle for finishing with that extra kick of bold flavor. So head to graza.co and use code MIDAS to get 10 % off and get to cooking your next chef quality meal. That's graza.co, code MIDAS, M-E-I-D-A-S.

47:59Ben Meiselas:Welcome back. Welcome back. It surprised you did break. What surprised me was Jordy missing. What surprised me was, I know Jordy had to go, but I didn't realize that Jordy was just gonna leave like that. So that's what surprised me anyway. Let's get to that.

48:17Brett Meiselas:We're all new to dads now, guys. You could begin any moment at any moment and happen.

48:23Ben Meiselas:It's me.

48:25Brett Meiselas:It's live TV, folks. Live streaming. What are you going to say? All right.

48:30Ben Meiselas:From hamburger helper to heat rationing. We're going to be hearing more about words like that under this Trump regime. And by the way, you don't have to just be like, well, Ben, you're just Midas. You don't like Trump. So you must be fear mongering hamburger helpers back. People are unable to, they're going to need the hamburger helper. I go, just, you know, without a sense of, without a shred of irony. Here's how it was delivered by Fox yesterday. Here, play this clip. Last but not least, one trend in True Brand is making a big comeback as consumers tighten their wallets. And here it is, hamburger helper.

49:08The mix of mac and cheese and ground beef is seeing a surge. So good.

49:13Brett Meiselas:All right, all right, all right. By the way, you know that she had not read that before she read it live on TV. Because you could tell there was a moment when she said, like, tightening their belts or whatever, that she was like, oh, shouldn't have said that. Can we play it one more time? I want you to, like, watch her face and listen carefully at that one moment.

49:30Ben Meiselas:Also in the background, I think it's Harris Faulkner, the other host, who tries to cover it up and act like it's so tasty and yummy to try to distract people. Mmm, this is what we want. Mmm, yummy, yummy, yummy.

49:42Brett Meiselas:Yeah, she's trying to like cough to cover up her fart, basically. It's a metaphor. Okay, ready? Watch this. Last but not least, one trend in True Brand is making a big comeback as consumers tighten their wallets. And here it is, Hamburger Helper, a mix of mac and cheese and ground beef is seeing a surge.

50:03Ben Meiselas:Yeah, she did hesitate. I mean, just take a look at these other stats, though, right here. A significant group of Americans are falling behind on their car payments, an economic warning sign. We're seeing credit card delinquencies at records high, student loan defaults at record highs. That means six, seven million student loan borrowers likely are going to be unable to really participate in the economy because their credit is going to be shot. The national debt rose$1 trillion since August alone,$1 trillion since August. Federal spending is super. I'll get to that a second. Total US debt officially crossed the$38 trillion mark for the first time in history,$23 billion per day or so.

50:56Ben Meiselas:And if you look for those audio listeners, you can see it all of us it's all going up but in 2025 it goes up like a skyscraper okay all of a sudden the debt goes from you know like uh like where like probably like a 45 degree to like 180 going up north right it's like you know i'm not a math guy but it goes up it goes it goes up 45 points i'm thinking of my what were these all those accomplices or whatever you he's called protractor what do they call it the protractor right protractor yeah compasses i think because it's a podcast right you know words um so you you have that you also have federal spending is up about what is a seven percent year over year right now so despite all the things that doge is doing in all of this.

51:45Ben Meiselas:Federal spending up significantly, 7 % in 2025 over 2024 year to date. So any claim by the Trump regime that the federal government is tightening its belt, that's contradicted by its own real-time expenditure data, Aaron Sojourner writes. The administration is spectacularly hammering some things, but raising spending elsewhere. I don't know, spectacularly, what are they hammering? They're hammering down the White House, I guess, is what they're hammering down while they're spending all that money on Trump's golf trips, on ice, and all of these things. What did I predict? I predicted that the last time under Donald Trump, what did he add?

52:27Ben Meiselas:He added like, it was$8 trillion to our debt or$9 trillion. I said, this time it's going to be like$30 or$40 trillion to our debt. And I think we're going to be seeing that. And then Brett, We now are talking about heat rationing coming very soon as we're in the winter because of this government shutdown. Heat rationing.

52:48Brett Meiselas:I think that's something that people would call a recession indicator, perhaps a depression indicator.

52:54Ben Meiselas:Heat rationing in Russia, though, Brett. And Trump is modeling the ballroom off of the Romanov Winter Palace. So I guess we're modeling heat rationing also off of Russia as well.

53:06Brett Meiselas:Yeah, I mean, we've seen this playbook in other countries and developing countries, not in the United States of America anytime recently, at least. I mean, this is this is crazy stuff. But this is what happens when you have the corrupt Trump regime that thinks that it has unlimited funds to carry out all the things that you were saying before, whether it's ice raids or demolitions of the White House or, you know, you name all the things that they're doing. And they're telling the American people that they got to start reining in their spending and they're screwing them over and they're taking away in many instances their source of income, their ability to live, which I think is so horrific.

53:41Brett Meiselas:And so I wanted to highlight this specifically because I think it actually blends all the various things that we're talking about here from the shutdown to Donald Trump's spending and bailouts to the actual effects that people are having on the ground. And so, as you know, like if you've been watching or listening to the Midas Touch podcast recently, you know, we've been putting in these these climate segments so that we could speak about these issues, because I think with all the chaos that's going on right now, the climate issues aren't getting enough attention at all. And by the way, thanks for all the kind words about those.

54:09Brett Meiselas:So let me fuse all these topics together for you for a second and show you how this shutdown and Trump's actions right now are screwing over Americans in the midst of this climate crisis that we're seeing. So millions of Americans right now, we could be going into a brutal winter as they've been over the past few years. And it's not just cost of the weather, but it's thanks to Donald Trump's cuts and the Republican-led government shutdown, people are now being forced to ration heat just to survive. In the United States of America, people are being forced to ration heat just to survive. And this goes even before the shutdown.

54:40Brett Meiselas:Trump had already gutted the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. They call it LIHEAP. That's like the acronym for it. That's the program that helps families pay their heating and cooling bills. He laid off the entire staff and even tried to eliminate the program altogether. But because of the shutdown right now, those funds that Congress already approved, by the way,$4 billion, are now frozen. And so here we are. We're heading into winter. And millions of working families have no idea whatsoever if they're going to be able to keep the heat on in their homes in the United States of America.

55:09Brett Meiselas:Energy costs are through the roof right now, as I'm sure you guys have all noticed. The Guardian is reporting that utilities are already shutting off power for families who can't keep up with their bills. The total number of shutoffs could hit 4 million households this year. Mark Wolf, he's the guy who heads the group that runs Lie Heap nationally. He said the following, quote, no family should be forced to choose between heat and food because of a federal funding delay. But that is exactly what is happening right now. And this isn't a new thing. Like, get this, the Trump administration doge, which Ben was just talking about during Elon Musk's reign, they fired the entire team responsible for distributing these funds.

55:45Brett Meiselas:So even if Congress somehow passes a short-term deal, that money probably won't even reach the states at this point or any of the tribes throughout the country until December at the earliest. Meanwhile, Trump just is lying to everybody. Like we've been playing these clips, right? We have all the receipts where Trump says, your costs are going way down, your electricity, your energy, it's going way down, way down. Energy prices are soaring right now. If you look at Illinois, they're up 28%. If you look to Indiana, it's up 25%, up 23 % in Ohio. So as I've been trying to paint the picture with you, you have Trump building his$300 million ballroom at the White House, throwing these parties for billionaires in the new Rose Garden Club, Club Rose Garden, whatever the hell he's calling it, bailing out Argentina with like$40 billion.

56:26Brett Meiselas:Millions of Americans here at home are wondering if they could simply afford to keep their homes warm during the winter. And let's face it, this is by design. In my opinion, it's working exactly as intended. It's working for him and his donors, maybe not for the American people. He's screwing them over. But I wanted to make sure that you were updated with that. Oh, you know, let me do one more climate update today because this is important. And all this stuff just goes under the radar because of what's going on here. Trump administration announced that they plan on allowing oil and gas drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

56:57Brett Meiselas:You may know that as ANWR, one of the largest remaining tracks of pristine wilderness in the United States, a critical habitat for polar bears, caribou, migratory birds, other wildlife. Trump wants to use that land now, and he's giving the approvals to use that land to drill for oil. So we got to stay on top of all that stuff. And I know a lot of you always say, cover the climate. We try to do it as much as we can here. If you like these segments, by the way, if you like hearing climate news, if you have any thoughts on any of those things, tell us in the comments. You know, I always want to hear them.

57:25Brett Meiselas:And I want to make sure that folks know out there that the American people still care about these issues. They're important issues. People try to act like they don't. So if you care about this, just let us know in the comments.

57:34Ben Meiselas:You know, I was thinking, I always get asked questions about like the manosphere because people are like, are you the left Joe Rogan? I'm like, no, I'm not the left Joe. I don't want to be the left Joe Rogan. But I'm just thinking about the manosphere, right? These podcast bros out there, like as they're talking about like, what's Trump doing? He's building a ballroom. Yeah, you're going to be some beautiful gowns. You're going to be some beautiful. I'm going to do a tea party over there in that ballroom. Elegant ballroom is what I signed up for. There's a reason why Donald Trump's approval with 18 to 29-year-olds right now is negative 39.

58:12Ben Meiselas:It fell from, it was once plus five heading out of the 2024 election because he promised all these young people everything. I'm going to make your life so much better. You're going to be rich. all the wealth that we've got. You're going to get it to, you're going to join the club. And very quickly, 18 to 29 year olds who realize what a lot of us know as well, that this guy is a fraudster, a lifelong bankruptor, negative 39. His highest disapprovals are in the young people. So don't let people say, oh, young people like Donald Trump. There was always young Republicans like that existed before. But like George W.

58:47Ben Meiselas:Bush, Ronald Reagan, even George H.W. Bush at some points in time had higher approval ratings with young Republicans than Donald Trump has right now. And part of what MAGA wants you to do while they're so unpopular is to act like they're very popular. And I know our kind of corporate structure wants to perpetuate that narrative. He's the most unpopular president like in the history of the country. And it's getting worse and worse as the government shutdown that he's causing continues to go on. So that's one One of the things right here is that you would think what Time Magazine gave him another like front page again, like another front cover acting like this guy is like people hate this guy, like despise this guy.

59:31Ben Meiselas:And Brett, you made a great point on social media about the tearing down of the White House. You said, weren't these like MAGA snowflakes, the same people who lost their minds over renovations to Cracker Barrel's logo, but they're fine with the physical White House getting bulldozed. And I think you make such a great point right there.

59:51Brett Meiselas:Imagine if they brought one-tenth of the energy they brought to Cracker Barrel or any time a Confederate statue is altered or changed or taken down. They go, oh, my heritage, you're attacking my heritage. You're bulldozing the freaking White House and you're not even batting an eye. It's crazy. Let's talk about some international affairs quickly.

1:00:12Ben Meiselas:Donald Trump was asked by a French reporter. And I think it was pretty clear what she was saying. Trump can't understand accents. But she asked him, what do you make of the fact that the Knesset, Israel's parliament, is pushing forward their legislation to annex the West Bank? What do you make of that? That happened right after the ceasefire. And she didn't ask this in the question, but also Hamas is retaking control of Gaza with no sense of ever disarming. Also, we've seen about 50 plus Palestinians have been killed by Israel since the so-called ceasefire. There's been a lot of military activity, a lot of military activity taking place in the region, which what a ceasefire is.

1:00:57Ben Meiselas:When ceasefire, the military activity stops, okay? But here's what Donald Trump said when he was asked. Let's play it.

1:01:06Not that guy.

1:01:07Ben Meiselas:He's so hopeless. Go ahead. Go ahead. Yesterday, there was a vote at the Gnyset on annexing the West Bank. Do you see it as a challenge to your peace efforts? Could you say that louder, please? Yes. Yesterday, there was a vote at the Gnyset in Israel on annexing the West Bank. Do you see it as a challenge to your peace efforts? Will you answer that, please? Because I cannot understand the words you say. Where are you? Where are you from? Where are you from? You're from France. Beautiful accent. But we can't understand what you're saying.

1:01:47the west bank yes is don't worry about the west bank israel is not going to do anything with the west bank okay don't worry about it is that your question they're not going to do

1:01:57Ben Meiselas:anything with the west bank don't worry about it israel is doing very well they're not going to do anything with it don't worry about it i'm never going to touch the white house i'm never going to destroy it. Don't worry about it. $20 trillion is coming in. Just trust me. I'm not going to show you where it is. I'm just going to say 20 trillion. I'm going to give you a Doge dividend check. Oh, wait a minute. I'm not going to do that. I'm going to give you a tariff rebate check. Oh, wait a minute. I'm not going to do that. I'm going to come up with a great healthcare plan. Wait a minute. I'm not going to do that.

1:02:27Ben Meiselas:So he lies about everything. It's just blatant fraud. Every single word is fraud that this regime puts out there. Every single word is fraud that this regime puts out. Then we know that they're out there engaged in war crimes in the Caribbean and now in the Pacific blowing up these ships. I just want to be clear. I do not support the regime in Venezuela. There's a dictator in Venezuela, Maduro. He's illegitimate. They don't make fentanyl in Venezuela. That's just a fact. They don't make fentanyl in Venezuela or in Colombia. And if you look at where these fishing boats are positioned that Trump is blowing up, the size of these boats would require them to be refueled nine separate times if they were to enter the United States from where they are positioned based on the size of these boats.

1:03:24Ben Meiselas:nine times to refuel. This is not where the fentanyl's actually coming from, but he's using that as the pretext to engage in these war crimes right now that are taking place. We've heard from the president of Columbia, you're killing innocent Colombians. So what does Donald Trump do? Well, Columbia is the enemy right now because you've called out the fact that the United States is killing innocent Colombians. That's where we're at with that right now. And here, and Trump is now talking about a land invasion on Venezuela or striking on Venezuelan land. And so a reporter asks, like, so doesn't that require you to go to Congress?

1:04:08Ben Meiselas:Or like, don't you need to declare a war if you're going to start invading Venezuela? And here's what Trump says. Let's play it.

1:04:15Brett Meiselas:If you are declaring war against these cartels and Congress is likely to approve of that process, why not just ask for a declaration of war? Well, I don't think we're going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war. I think we're just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. OK, we're going to kill them. You know, they're going to be like dead.

1:04:38Ben Meiselas:OK, they're going to be like dead. We're going to kill him. Everybody remember Abu Ghraib and the scandal, CIA black sites in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. It was a big deal 20 years ago when it was discovered that the CIA was covertly waterboarding people, a form of torture. People said, we don't do that in the United States. We don't torture people. Even the bad guys, that's not how you get good information. that's not how you're able to eventually stop terrorism from spreading by engaging in torture. Remember some of the photos that were taken of soldiers who were laughing at people who were naked and being, remember, that was a big deal.

1:05:21Ben Meiselas:And rightfully so, right? Everybody remembers that? I mean, if you were around that time. So now we're just killing people. They're going to be like dead, he says. And he's killing fishermen. Likely some are innocent people. And even the drug dealers should be a process before they die. In the United States, drug dealers don't get the immediate death penalty without a jury trial. This isn't even how you would collect good information and data if your goal is actually to stop drug cartels. Colombia was working with the United States on an international basis to try to stop drug trafficking internationally.

1:06:01Ben Meiselas:Gustav Petro was actually an ally. Colombia has a dark past, obviously, of being a cocaine capital in Mecca. And Gustav Petro had been working in collaboration with the United States military to show how the cocaine distribution had been shut down there. The big issues is the fentanyl that's coming in from other areas right now and not from those areas. right now. And not on those little ships. It's common sense that a ship that needs to refuel nine separate times, there's no logic to it. So Trump says he's thinking about invading Venezuela. There have been reports of war planes over and over again near Venezuela.

1:06:44Ben Meiselas:We'll keep you posted every step of the way there. Two other things I want to just discuss briefly. Number one, Michael Wolf, the author, you've seen him on the Midas Touch Network. He sued Melania in New York's trial court. Melania threatened to sue him the same way she threatened to sue Hunter Biden for defamation because they've said, oh, she's got connections with Epstein, this, that, and the other. And we've seen photos with her at Epstein. And so remember, Hunter Biden's like, sue me, sue me. I want that discovery. She never sued Hunter Biden after threatening to sue Hunter Biden, which was interesting.

1:07:19Ben Meiselas:Then she threatened to sue Michael Wolfe and gave a deadline of October 21st for Michael Wolfe to respond to, she said, or I'm going to sue you, although she didn't sue Hunter. So who knows if she would follow through with the threat. But Michael Wolfe sues her and says that violates New York's protections on First Amendment. Your threat caused me to incur legal fees. Now I want discovery. I'm suing you. I'm going to subpoena you. I'm going to subpoena Donald. Now you're in the New York courthouse. Let's go. Let's fight it out. Now, it will be interesting now if Melania countersues him for defamation, even though she didn't do that with Hunter, because I think she's terrified of the discovery.

1:08:05Ben Meiselas:And Michael Wolff made it clear on the Midas Touch Network, I want to know her background. Obviously, she rolled in the same circles as Epstein because we see the photos. And Michael Wolff's like, what's defamatory about what I said, that you had an association with somebody who you're photographed with? What are you saying the issue is? You met Trump at the Kit Kat club, which was part of a shady circle of modeling people with questionable things happening. I'm questioning it. I want to know what that's about. And so Wolff says, I've sued her. And you got to give Wolff credit for just doing it, going for it and saying, I'm suing you.

1:08:43Ben Meiselas:I want discovery. Let's go. Let's duke it out. We'll see if she countersues him or what she's going to do now. But she's been going and threatening reporters all across the country, threatening, threatening, threatening, threatening. And she hasn't actually acted on any of those cases by filing a suit as it relates to Epstein. So we'll follow that.

1:09:05Brett Meiselas:And then finally - It's a real like Streisand effect sort of thing, right? Because now the more she protests the story, the more she threatens to sue, especially when it's not followed up with action, the more I'm like, okay, well, what's there then? What are you trying to hide? And I think we actually do need to know more information now. So let's get you under oath. Let's do the deposition. Let's hear the truth, okay? Let's get everybody who may know something about this, right? The truth should be exposed. Let's get some sunlight on it.

1:09:33Ben Meiselas:Absolutely. Last story I want to talk about. It's important in shedding light and bringing sunlight to the Trump corruption. So Donald Trump pardons someone by the name of, who goes by the name of CZ, a billionaire Bitcoin exchange or crypto exchange person. He runs something called Binance. His net worth has increased from like a billion dollars in 2019 to like$80 billion now. He's one of the main funders and one of the initial funders of Trump's family business with the Whitcoffs, World Liberty Financial. That's where Trump's doubled his wealth or tripled his wealth into the billions. One of the things, his family has a massive stake in World Liberty Financial and these stable coins and these meme coins that Trump has in his Bitcoin business and meme coin business and stable coin stuff is where Trump's deriving a lot of wealth from.

1:10:33Ben Meiselas:So this world liberty financial thing is an area where the Trump family got a lot of funds and a lot of money from this guy, CZ. So Trump pardoned this guy. This guy pled guilty to money laundering back in 2023, was going to pay$4 billion in restitution, was owed to the government. When you pardon someone, the restitution goes away as well. So would not owe that money. I'm not sure if any was paid to date. I doubt it, but we'll see. but$4 billion was going to be owed. So where do you think that$4 billion probably is going to end up or portions of that are going to potentially end up where you'd say a good return on investment for this guy, CZ Zhao.

1:11:16Ben Meiselas:And Trump just pardoned the guy. The guy pled guilty to money laundering. His platform was alleged to be knowingly allowing Hamas and Al-Qaeda and terrorist groups to use it. Yeah.

1:11:30Brett Meiselas:And they weren't reporting any of that stuff like willfully. They were choosing not to report any of that stuff. To add another layer to this, one of the lobbyists that was hired to help facilitate the pardon was this guy, Shane McDowell, who just so happens to be a hunting buddy of none other than Donald Trump Jr. And he and Donald Trump Jr. were spotted at the White House last week talking to Donald Trump. So Trump could try to play dumb. He could try to say, oh, you just, you know, he yelled at a reporter today who asked about this. I think he did the same thing where he's like, what'd you say?

1:12:00Brett Meiselas:Huh? What'd you say? And then he's like, oh, shut up. You don't know nothing. You know nothing about crypto. You're fake news. You're fake news as he does. But this is just the latest example of Donald Trump's corrupt pay for pardon schemes. We've seen this before. We will see it again. It's corruption of the highest order. It's very direct A to B corruption. We've never seen anything like this in our history, which goes back to my idea for the constitutional amendment that I think at some point people should be fighting for because it's insane what we're seeing. It certainly does not feel like the United States of America.

1:12:33Brett Meiselas:It feels much more like Russia, to be honest.

1:12:36Ben Meiselas:We covered a lot on this episode, but I think we've touched upon everything you need to know heading into the weekend as of this recording, though, as well. Well, please make sure that you subscribe to our YouTube channel, subscribe on audio, leave a five-star review on audio, become a member of our YouTube channel, and gift memberships to others who may not be able to afford it if you can. I know that would be very helpful to a lot of people. And we're grateful for you. Stay in the fight, for real. Stay in this fight. We together, you, this whole community, we're holding the line. Trump's getting more and more desperate, more and more brazen, but more and more desperate.

1:13:15Ben Meiselas:And we have to hold the line. They want to destroy our spirit, destroy our hope. And we have to be there for each other. We have to fight with each other always, shoulder to shoulder. That's what we are going to do together. Thank you all so much. We'll see you next time on the Midas Dutch podcast. Shout out to the Midas Mike.

1:13:43Brett Meiselas:Against the fascists we sing our song We will get it right whenever Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our sub stack at MidasPlus.com You'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski add free episodes of our podcast and more exclusive content only available at MidasPlus.com summer is here which means we all want to look and feel our best a glp1 may be right for you visit orderlymeds.com to learn more about which glp1 you could be eligible for getting started is fast easy and happens virtually through telemedicine from licensed professionals check it out for yourself go to orderlymeds.com slash podcast that's orderlymeds.com slash podcast Taking care of yourself feels great.

1:14:33Compounded medications are not FDA-approved. Eligibility required and determined by a licensed provider. Individual results may vary. See website for details. Summer is here. At Orderly Meds, we know this time is a reminder that life is full of new beginnings. Whether you're celebrating the nice weather, starting a new chapter, planning a vacation, or simply looking ahead to what's next, this season can be the perfect time to invest in yourself and your health. If you've struggled with weight loss and are curious about GLP-1 medications, Orderly Meds can help you learn about your options. Through a simple virtual process, you can connect with licensed medical professionals who can determine whether treatment may be appropriate for you.

1:15:11Getting started is fast, convenient, and happens online from the comfort of home. This summer, consider a new approach to feeling your best. Visit orderlymeds.com slash podcast to learn more. That's orderlymeds.com slash podcast. Orderlymeds.com slash podcast. because every new season is an opportunity to take the next step forward. Compounded medications are not FDA approved. Eligibility required and determined by a licensed provider. Individual results may vary. See website for details.