Thursday Afternoon Breaking Updates with Ben 8/20/26

25:24Oh, it's going to be great. We've never been stronger. Besson figured it out. Don't underestimate Besson. Shut up. We know what's going on. All right. Let's take our first quick break of the day. Quick reminder, make sure you all subscribe to the YouTube channel. Get your copy of WTF America, the book that I wrote with my brothers. It comes out October 20th, 2026. Pre-order it now. Also, I did a long interview this morning. I was up early speaking with Anthony Scaramucci. I joined his podcast this morning. We spoke for about an hour. Check that out. I think that's going to go up. They're going to put that on audio soon as well.

26:06I was interviewed by Scaramucci. I think we told the book. Where's the book? Right there. Right there. All right. Thanks, everybody. We'll take our first quick break of the show. Before continuing, one quick PSA for the Midas Mighty when it comes to Medicare. Most Medicare agents push Medicare Advantage plans even when they're not right for you because they make more money doing it. That's why we strongly recommend you do what thousands in our audience have already done. Speak with Chapter, please. They don't just share the amazing benefits of Medicare Advantage. They explain the pros and cons of all your Medicare options.

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28:40Again, that's ExciteOSA at springsleep.com slash Midas. M-E-I-D-A-S. Thanks to Spring Sleep for sponsoring this episode. ExciteOSA is an FDA-cleared, prescription-only device for primary snoring and mild obstructive sleep apnea. Not for everyone, individual results vary. Risks and benefits at springsleep.com. Welcome back to Ben on Breaking News. I'm Ben Mycelis, and this is your breaking news. show you what Treasury Secretary Besant was saying earlier today, held a press conference outside of the White House. He was asked, why oil's going up so much? Besant, you told us we were going to get this under control, weren't you?

29:30Promise something with the two in front of it by now. So Besant goes, we got a spike in oil prices today that I don't really understand. And he says, I don't really understand it. Here, let's play this clip. We've got a spike in oil prices today that I don't really understand. You know, our announcement is for economic action. And I think that the economic action will mean that oil prices will come down sooner. I don't understand it. I mean, I think actually most Americans do understand it. We are in a catastrophic war that the U.S. lost. We went in there with Netanyahu, a genocidal war criminal.

30:19We started slaughtering little girls in Manab, in Lemaire, and other areas. The Epstein class slaughtered little girls in Iran. The United States blew up 30 ,000 other sites in Iran. Iran maintained its leadership structure, took control over the Strait of Hormuz. Everybody predicted that they would. And the U.S. has since then, under Donald Trump's completely failed and utter deranged and demonic leadership, has fake conversations where he makes fake deals up with himself. And as I said before the break, the algae always comes back. You can't hide it. Because the US led the post-World War II architecture, that's not a minor thing.

31:15It's not like building a shitty Donald Trump building or something with not the best material and then pretending it's great and whatever. That's not what it is. This is post-World War II security architecture.

31:29Ben Meiselas:Remember, we used to watch the History Channel or you'd watch the World War II videos and you would see American generals and you would see American presidents. You'd see FDR. You'd see Truman. Post-World War II, you would see Eisenhower. You would see all of these people speaking in carefully worded statements. And let's be clear, the post-World War II architecture had lots of problems. It was not perfect for the entire world. It wasn't perfect for the United States. I'm not out here saying, look how great everything was. It was so amazing. I'm simply saying that the architecture that was created with America as the leader was intended to benefit America.

32:25Ben Meiselas:and Donald Trump viewed that as not enough, that it had to be more, that we were being exploited by the countries who had to deal with American military bases in their countries and bought our stuff, which would ultimately go to America. So the architecture is hard to unravel, but Trump did it. He managed to do it in two years. I mean, you know, it's, it's, didn't do it the first year, but he definitely eroded the architecture. And right now it's like America in the, it's, it's embarrassing. Like it is truly, if you use a modicom of logic and you have a threshold where you actually feel shame and humiliation, you should genuinely be humiliated at what America is in the world right now.

33:31Ben Meiselas:It's a shameful thing. And you can say that as a patriotic American who hopes to one day restore the dignity and restore trust and restore predictability in it. But what Donald Trump has created is the way people would look at the Trump organizations in the 80s and the 90s and before the apprentice, ugh, ugh, the F, what the F, ugh, that guy is a piece of shit. That's what people would say in New York about this guy, piece of shit. That's like the United States now, Of America. That's what we've become. Excuse my, that's what people would say about Trump. This is a guy who was a wrecking ball to so many people's lives.

34:17That's what America becomes. So Treasury Secretary Besant, this is a confusable. Why did the oil price spike? I don't know. Maybe because we got less oil. Again, I'm not sure why the Mickey Mouse voice. Maybe because we're not bringing 10 million barrels out there, Treasury Secretary Besant. Maybe that's why. Okay. What do you, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, it's a really shocker. We're not bringing 10 million barrels a day. We don't control the Strait of Ramos. And despite Donald Trump posting, that's my new coping mechanism. I do Mickey impressions about how ridiculous our country has become.

34:51And it just comes out of nowhere too.

34:52Ben Meiselas:I can't control it. That's just Mickey.

34:59Ben Meiselas:I can't control it. I'll stop doing Mickey impressions. U.S. does not control the Strait of Hormuz. Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz. Bab el-Mandab Strait, Red Sea, the Houthis can effectively run a blockade as it relates to Saudi tankers, which is what they are doing right now. Trump said he would solve Russia's war against Ukraine in 24 hours. That didn't happen. And Ukraine is now striking hard deep in Russia. Refineries there, tankers in the water, right? Black Sea, Sea of Azov, Russian tankers getting hit, Russia striking hard in Ukraine. Russia strikes in Kiev last night. Jeremy, do we have the video of the Russia strikes in Kiev last night?

35:45Ukraine doesn't have. There it is. You see what you're watching right there are these strikes. Ukraine doesn't have interceptors. So Russia's ballistic missiles can strike whenever they want at this point. Look at this other one right here. Boom. Nothing Ukraine can do about it because Trump promised Zelensky we're going to get you an interceptor or get you interceptor licenses. Trump ran out of interceptors for the United States of America, regardless. He's not even going to give Zelensky the license. But a ton of people killed in Ukraine yesterday, and we're heading to the winter, and Russia has been building up its ballistics, its cruise missiles, its Shahids.

36:31Who do you think is helping Russia with that? Who do you think's helping? Then North Korea, Iran, China. That is what it is. That's just the reality. A lot of the, as Donald Trump says, North Korea has done nothing harmful. Why would we and South Korea be hostile to North Korea?

36:56Ben Meiselas:Dude, in the past 12 hours since Donald Trump made that statement, Kim Jong-un launched about 10 ballistic missiles. right around Japan and said, we are not changing our position about South Korea, Japan, or the United States because of Donald Trump's post. Kim Jong-un's sister, who has a top military position in North Korea, said, we're not talking to Donald. We don't know what he's even talking about. Kim Yo-jong said she's unaware of any recent communication between and Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump. I mean, it's like a humiliation ritual. Donald Trump just pretending he's like talking with authoritarians who he like dreams about.

37:45It's freaking weird, man. And you know what? If you go and watch the interview I did with Scaramucci, I said, I said, I said, Mooch. I said, this guy's just a, this guy's just a loser. I said, there's so much to criticize, obviously. And I would never want an authoritarian in our country. I want democracy. I want empathy. I want dignity. I want civil rights. I want equality. You know the values and principles we talk about here.

38:16Ben Meiselas:But the part to me that's undeniable is that this regime is a regime of losers. These are loser people. These are lifelong losers who are just bad people and they're horrible at doing that. They're horrible at even being authoritarian. There's bad. And I watch them. I'm like, what the hell are they doing? What the hell are they doing? What the hell is this? You know, you watch Brooke Rollins. She's asked, is affordability becoming a test? This is on Newsmax. On whether the Trump administration can deliver on its economic promise. Why do you think she answered this question? Do you think she said, well, we understand that the American people are deeply concerned, so we're going to be rolling out specific plan X, Y, and Z to make things less expensive?

39:10Or I'll give you B, Joe Biden did it. Joe Biden did it. A or B? Let's find out. Let's play it. With the midterms approaching, how do you see this playing out? Is food affordability really becoming a test of whether the Trump administration can deliver on its economic promises? No, affordability, you know, I think continues to be a key conversation, as it should be. But I think we have to put this all into context. And certainly on the food side, which is what we are looking at at USDA, protecting the food supply, number one. But affordability as well. Under Joe Biden, the cost of food went up almost 25 percent.

39:51I mean, this is what we're battling against right now. Under Trump, we are right at the 20-year average, which is around 2 % to 3%.

39:59Ben Meiselas:Ah, it's Joe Biden's fault. August 20th, 2026. It's Joe Biden's fault. Really? The guy who ran, now I'm referring to Trump, on I will lower the costs on day one. Your electricity bills will be cut in half. Everybody will get$5 ,000 Doge dividend checks. Groceries will all be super cheap. It'll be so easy to afford a home. You're not going to even know what to do with it. You're going to be so rich. It'll be so easy to afford a home. Of course, I'll be able to stop Russia's war in Ukraine in 24 hours. Gas will be$2 a gallon. Yeah, really? Really? So that guy couldn't fix it. But he said, I alone can fix it.

40:51I alone can. All right. Besant, Besant, Besant, Besant. You got better answers than Brooke Rollins, right? Treasury Secretary, right now, our national debt has exceeded$40 trillion. $40 trillion. dollars. We're paying$1.3 trillion a year right now in interest on that debt. What's the deal? How did this happen? Should we be concerned about it? Let's listen to what Treasury Secretary Besant had to say. Play this clip. And remember, we did not get here in a day that we were left with a mess. The Biden administration had the highest deficit to GDP in history when we weren't at war or weren't in a recession.

41:39For 2025, we brought it down by more than a percent.

41:48Okay, really? So that's Biden's fault too. You do realize that 35 % to 40 % of all of that debt comes from your boy. It comes from Donald. Where do you think it was coming from? Where do you think it comes from? His first term? This term? And by the way, should we say that the debt did go up under Biden? Biden ain't the president. Biden dropped out. So under your logic, Trump should drop out. Let's just assume they're right. Biden, Biden, Biden, Biden. Okay, well, Biden dropped out. So Trump should drop out. If you're saying Biden as your shield of Trump, Biden dropped out. So Trump should drop out.

42:38That's, I guess, the logical conclusion, right? That seems logical to me. But let's also be real. Under former President Biden, whose mess did he have to inherit? Trump's first term, he inherited a prosperous economy from Obama and he screwed it up by the time he was done with it. He handed former President Biden piece of crap economy with COVID raging, with shipping destroyed, with the disastrous way PPP was dealt with, where like hundreds of billions of dollars were just like lost. We're just like lost by the Trump regime that didn't actually hit the American people went to lots of rich people.

43:24But I need only show Donald Trump running for office in 2015. And this was Donald Trump. Now that we know the U.S. debt reached$40 trillion, Donald Trump once warned of the dangers of reaching a debt level of$20 trillion or$24 trillion. That's the point of no return, he said, when he ran in 2015. Here's what he said. Here, play this clue. Because we really do have to get going. Because if we have another three or four years, you know, we're at 18 trillion now. We're soon going to be at 20 trillion. According to the economists, who I'm not big believers in, but nevertheless, this is what they're saying, that 24 trillion, we're very close.

44:09That's the point of no return. 24 trillion dollars. we will be there soon that's when we become greece that's when we become a country that's unsalvageable and we're going to be there very soon we're going to be there very soon that's when we become 1987 bolivia or argentina or an emerging market as i discussed earlier And again, I don't know how anybody watches that and sees where we're at now and doesn't go, what a freaking con artist. What a piece of shit. I don't know how you don't. I really don't. I don't know how you don't look at that and go, I just get angry. I also don't know how you look at that and go, man, this guy has cognitively and physically rotted away.

45:08I mean, what the hell was, I mean, you compare him now to there. I mean, it's still a bunch of nonsense back then, but looked like a different human being. All right, let's take our last break, WTF. Let's take our last break of the show. Reminder, QR code right there. Pre-order WTF America. I want to keep the pre-sale momentum going. Let's keep it going. Let's take our last quick break of the show. Get your copy. I've been a Magic Spoon fan for a while, and now they've basically figured out how to take that same idea and turn it into a snack that you could bring anywhere. Their Magic Spoon treats genuinely taste like you're having dessert, but you're getting 12 grams of protein, 7 grams of fiber, 0 grams of added sugar, and just 2 to 3 grams of net carbs.

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48:34I'm Ben Mycelis. This is our Breaking News. Shout out to Jordy, my brothers, for those great ad reads. Thank you to our sponsors. They support our show. Jordy negotiates actual deals, not concept of deals, not frameworks, deals. with our sponsors in order to bring them to you. So put the discount code in the description below. By now, I'm sure you've seen the clips of Darlene Graham, Lindsey Graham's sister, who for reasons that are inexplicable to me and probably more inexplicable to people who don't live in the United States is now a United States Senator simply because she's Lindsey Graham's sister.

49:14She was appointed. What kind of system do we have here? WTF. And at the debate, she was asked a pretty basic question about Taiwan. What do you think about Taiwan, threats around Taiwan? And her response is, I don't really know anything about Taiwan. I'm going to be honest. I don't know anything about foreign affairs, she said. And then I think even perhaps worse than her is like, I know she got a lot of crap for saying that, but then you had her opponent who is Ralph Norman. And like, I get Ralph Norman answered the question confidently, But he's like, and that's why China fears us. Peace through strength.

50:05And why do you think China is worried about us and scared about us? I don't know whose answer I would – they're both horrible answers. Like they're equally bad. Like her answer got the attention because she's like, I don't know foreign – this is what the Republican Party is. I don't know foreign affairs. And then Ralph Norman, her opponent in South Carolina, and that's why China's terrified. What world is China terrified? Like, you know, these people who call themselves China hawks, we're going to be strong. We're going to decouple. Dude, China, I can't even say is cleaning our clocks because that's the present.

50:47It's been done. They have cleaned our clock.

50:51Ben Meiselas:China right now, definitely in Asia, is indisputably the hegemonic power. I would argue in the Middle East right now. And I would argue internationally, I would say the military in China, significantly stronger than the United States right now. And And you'd be like, man, that's crazy. That's crazy. Well, we don't have weapons. Okay. One side has weapons. China. One side, the U.S., is out of weapons. The U.S. ran out of weapons in a war with a country, Iran, that was not even a regional power at the time. We shouldn't have been involved in this catastrophic war. I'm not endorsing the war by saying, oh, we should have done.

51:39Ben Meiselas:No, I'm just letting you know an objective reality. We went into a catastrophic war with Netanyahu, a genocidal maniac. We should not have been involved in this war. But Iran was not even a regional power. They are a regional power right now. Iran won the war. I think as a patriotic American, we have to recognize that. America lost. But Donald Trump is a lifelong predator. He's a sex predator. He's been found civilly liable for sexual assault. He can't accept an L even when he loses. He whines. So it's clear we're never going to resolve this catastrophic war in Iran as long as Donald Trump remains the president.

52:19Ben Meiselas:Just look what he did with E. Jean Carroll. I mean, obviously, he sexually assaulted her. He's been found civilly liable for that. I can say that definitively. Sue me. I dare you. I dare you to sue me for that. I would be, by the way, if Trump were to sue me for that or whatever, my strategy, I would go to trial right away. I wouldn't play these games on motions to dismiss. I would take his ass to trial. I would set his deposition right away. I wouldn't even bullshit around. I set his deposition immediately and start asking him about all of the allegations. Just go through it seven hours. I'd asked the judge for three days worth of depositions.

53:00But I digress. But my point is,

53:03Ben Meiselas:he gets rejected by the Supreme Court in his petition for certiorari to appeal, a case that he, and then he petitions again. Then he petitions again. You lost, buddy. You're a loser. You're a sexual predator. You've been found civilly liable. Get the hell away, sicko, right? But Iran, who do they go after? Who do they go after on day one? Just think about it. What did Iran strike day one? They struck the American logistical sites, Bahrain, UAE, where else? Al-Udid, so that we couldn't bring supplies to our aircraft carriers. That's where Iran struck after we attacked them. Where did the U.S. strike Iran?

53:52Little girls. Slaughtered 168 little girls in Iran.

53:57Ben Meiselas:And it sickens me to this day, right now, that that just isn't talked about more. It sickens me. It saddens me to think that I live in a nation right now. And I think as a patriotic American, I go, well, Ben, get out of here. Don't be here. to go somewhere else. No, I still love this country. But I think that it's sick and demented and I can't even think of the words that describe it. And it's not just there. It's Le Maire. It's other areas. Then Trump and Hegseth slaughtered the day before that. A little girl's playing volleyball. 16-year-old, 15-year-old girls playing volleyball. And they tried out, sick, a new weapon that sprays these pellets.

54:49It exploded over the girls playing volleyball and the pellets killed the little girls playing volleyball in a gym. Undisputed fact that that happened. Undisputed fact that it happened. And so the Trump regime engaged in this catastrophic war, lost to a regional power,

55:14Ben Meiselas:well, now a regional power in Iran. And right now you have China in its ascendancy. And going back to where we started this, and it went all over the place, I know. I weaved and then wove and then kind of forgot where I was. But in all seriousness, you have Ralph Norman saying that we're somehow stronger than China right now, or China's afraid of us. China's not afraid of us. South Korea's foreign minister just met with, or South Korea's president just met with Wang Yi, China's foreign minister, and talked about a new security umbrella in Asia. We've had to move our last aircraft carrier from the Pacific.

56:03Donald Trump is now getting rid of the army drone program that former army chief of staff, Randy George, was pioneering because Hegseth and this sycophantic new army chief of staff that Hegseth put in, this guy Christopher Lenev, who replaced Randy George wants to get, quote, back to the basics. Back to the basics. We got to be like

56:30Ben Meiselas:what we were in World War II. Okay, we're in 2026 now, though. Drone warfare. We don't need battleships. We need drones, anti-drones, unmanned submersives. The hell are you talking about? Get back to the basics. It's like idiotic. Donald Trump's like, we don't need electromagn. We shouldn't have electromagnetic launchers on our aircraft carriers. We need steam catapults. What the hell are you talking about? We need steam catapults. What are you talking about? We just engineer it the way our experts tell us to engineer it. Steam catapults? What are you talking about? I want to redesign the Ford-class aircraft carriers so they look like battleships from 1925.

57:09Ben Meiselas:Why would we do that? Why are you so freaking stupid? Again, this isn't like, it's like you're dumb. Like a dummy, idiot, malignant, narcissistic, idiot, loser. Like, these are important. They're important questions. We were certainly, you know, so when Ralph Norm was like, this is America straight, this is America straight. When they tell people, this is the golden age. This is the, really, this is the golden age. This is America. This is what y 'all wanted. This is what you, this is why you sold us. This was your vision or maybe for them because they're doing all the inside trading or they're making all the money or they're getting all the deals and they're doing it for themselves personally.

57:45Well, maybe it is for them. This is what they wanted. The ultimate grift where losers are able to loot and pillage from the American people who are hardworking and just want to earn an honest day's living while you've got the Treasury Secretary Besant doing bond buyback schemes while American workers just saying, I worked my ass off today. Why am I not getting paid with dignity so I can support my family and buy a home when I did everything that was asked of me? And I can't even buy a home right now. I I can't even afford my rent right now. I can't get healthcare right now. And you idiots want to talk about, I don't know, the WNBA player getting fouled hard

58:23Ben Meiselas:because she's white and you want to make this into a white versus black WNBA player. We don't know what the hell you're even talking about on Fox. Just focus on what we're talking about here. We have people working who are getting healthcare ripped away. We got people here who are struggling to live in the United States. And we're in these never-ending wars. You've got idiot White House posting these weird photos of Mario Kart, Donald Trump like as freaking Mario. But it looks like he's riding with freaking Jeffrey Epstein in the back. Did you see this photo? It looks like he's riding around with either Carolyn Levitt or Natalie.

58:58It looks like Jeffrey Epstein is in the back. They literally picked Jeffrey. Who is that in the background? Mario Kart, the worst type of Mario Kart. Sexual predator Mario Kart. Donald Trump and Epstein. The hell? The hell is even going on there? Crazy stuff. Anyway, Darlene Graham. So then she, Darlene Graham, that was the point. Focus. Darlene Graham. So she is on Hannity. And I just want you to watch the double standard right here. I'm going to play for you this portion. This is a person who is a United States senator. Senator. This is a United States senator. It's like a transformer. She's a senator.

59:47Here, let's play this clip. Because there are votes that go toward funding wars or declaring wars. And if you're a deciding vote of that factor, how can we trust as constituents that you'll make the right decision if you're not informed on national security issues at this moment in time? That's a fair question, right? But, you know, I answered it honestly, because I'm not a national security expert. Lindsey was, right? Because he talked a lot about national security. You know why? He spent 33 years in the Air Force. He had a military background, so he had a lot of foreign relations and that was his focus.

1:00:24To me, as I walked around this room and I've asked people, are y 'all concerned about Taiwan? You know what they said? No, they're concerned about the price of groceries, the price of gas, rising health care costs. Is national security important? Absolutely. Can I learn? I'm smart. Yes, I'll learn. I'll become informed. Everybody has a first day on the job. President Trump, was he a politician? Has he done a good job? Yes, he has.

1:01:01So that's my answer. But I will always be honest. I'm always going to be honest with all of you. I don't know a thing about national security. Ain't my thing. When I speak to people in this state, they don't care about Taiwan. They just care about groceries. Okay. They care about the groceries. Y 'all are in power. People are saying, who is that? That's Darlene Graham. That's Lindsey Graham's sister. She's currently a United States Senator because she got appointed in that position by the governor because Trump wanted her to be in that position. So during her debate, she said she doesn't know about anything about Taiwan.

1:01:47Ben Meiselas:And then she's now been going, oh, shucks. I'm just an honest person. And I don't know. I'll learn. Donald didn't know. Yeah, the problem is that Donald didn't know. And he still doesn't know. And he's winging it. And worse, he's enriching himself. And that's all he cares about. and he is a malignant narcissist and a psychopath and a sociopath and a demented individual who has caused all of these issues. And also it is related. It is related. We don't just care about national security because it's like a topic. It's like Jeopardy. I'll learn that category a little bit better on the job? It's because it's national security.

1:02:42We are a nation and perhaps the security is important to the nation and perhaps all of these things are related. As we've seen in the war, why do you think the price of gas is going up? Do you think maybe it's because we have idiots who don't know about national security or just think that Trump and Netanyahu would be greeted like heroes after bombing little girls in Iran? Do you think that maybe if we listened to national security experts, Maybe, just maybe, we would not have gotten involved in a catastrophic and unlawful war that anybody could have told you the outcome. And then maybe, just maybe, Darlene, Darlene, just maybe, Darlene, that's connected to the affordability issue.

1:03:41Because when you tariff the world and you start wars around the world, things blow up. And you know, when things blow up, you know what happens? I'll give you a basic economics lecture. There's less of it. And when there's less of it, Darlene, you know what happens? Costs more money. And so perhaps national security is also related. Oh, shucks. Poor affordability, Darlene. Just maybe that was an issue. And maybe we need people who understand these things as United States senators. And when you go touring around South Carolina and there are people who may not know what I just described about Taiwan, by the way, very important for a lot of things.

1:04:34Tech, semiconductors, broader national security implications regarding the U.S. trade relationship with China. Rare earths, a lot of issues. But guess what, Darlene? You're running for the United States Senate. You are a senator, or as I said before, a senator. And your job is to be a leader and to know these things. Because that's what your job is. Not to be, I'm just going to try my darndest. I'm going to do my best for the people. But again, when you listen to what Ralph Norman says, and he's like, that's why China fears us. If you truly believe that China fears us right now, I'm not sure who I'd want better than that, Darlene, or I want none of them.

1:05:24Who's better? The guy who is so delusional or is so freaking co-opted that he's got to say that. Or Darlene's like, I just don't know. I don't know. But to me, I don't approach that criticism that I just gave you as, well, this is my democratic talking point. Or we've got an election in 75 days, so that's why you've got to vote Democrat. No, I'm calling this out from the perspective of leadership. I'm calling this out from the perspective of competence, from the perspective of strategy, from the perspective of being an adult, being a grownup. I approach this from the perspective of being a public servant means serving the public, not talking about Grand Prix racing, not talking about golden ballrooms, not traveling in catering containers with Natalie.

1:06:27None of this weird shit. It's about serving the people. And so that to me is, I think, our challenge together as we think about this. And so I leave you with this also, which is, and I'll mention WTF America, but I know some people like, stop plugging the book all the time. Plug the book too much. But I'll tell you why I do. because what I try to set out in it is the generational challenge that we have. Because if we continue down a path of Obama, Trump, Biden, Trump, fill in the blank, Like Ossoff, Newsom, AOC, Buttigieg, whoever you have. And then DeSantis or Rubio. And then name the person, Ossoff, AOC.

1:07:31If that's the path and politics becomes this like gamified thing and it's, we have zero credibility as a nation. what we have to do is ask more fundamental questions which is what's the point of governance what are we looking for in leaders where do we see ourself as a nation not just over the course of the next six months to a year but where do we see ourselves in the next five years 10 years 20 years 50 years and what is what does it mean and i know this feels existential and perhaps sometimes times, ah, philosophical and preachy, but it isn't intended to do that. I mean, it's the broader why, which I know in the day-to-day hustle, we ignore, but it's also like, why are we here?

1:08:28You know, life is short. You hear the expression. What are we doing here? Isn't it to find meaning in all of this, to bring joy to ourselves and to others, to leave this place that is a miracle, whether you're religious or not, that we're here? Or isn't it to leave this place better? And isn't it to aspire for better and to leave other generations ideally with a better place and to navigate the challenges that we have here, but to try to do it with a smile and with joy and to help others? Like whether you're religious, not religious, this isn't a religious network. But at a core level, I mean, you look at Lindsey Graham's life and it's like he's a feeder fish who would try to find whoever he thought was his shark.

1:09:26And he devoted his life to genocide and killing and death. And then he died with his stupid MAGA hat and his – and he's dead. that's why you live to be you know you live to be you know donald trump's so many things i could say but i'll keep it appropriate um guy you live to be that like that was your like that's what you did and and and to root on the deaths of the little girls and like that's why you lived like what are we doing here like yeah i mean it sincerely and what i hope this network does what i hope these episodes i have to react to breaking news of course that's what i do it's a breaking but i hope the ecosystem that we create and inspire whether it's with and and and work with and help promote whether it's the katie fangs and the aaron parnases the scott mcfarlands the Legal AFs, the Karen Friedman Agnifolos, the Tennessee Brandos, the working with the Alison Gills.

1:10:42And there's so many, you know, the five-minute news and working with the Dina Dahls. There's so many, you know, trying to uplift and use this platform to create an ecosystem. the way I saw Fox and right-wing ecosystems built for the last 70 years for such bad, for such toxicity, if we can build one for good, an ecosystem for good, that spreads better positive, then we can tackle the generational issues. And so that's what I leave you with right now. All right. Thanks everybody for watching. Appreciate you. Get a copy of WTF America. Watch the brother show tonight, will you? 8 Eastern, 5 Pacific.

1:11:32We'll keep on loading content throughout the day. Do videos throughout the day. But thanks everybody for watching. We appreciate you. Shout out Midas Mighty. Have a good one, everybody.

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