Trump Top Aide makes Fatal Prediction on Midterm Wipeout!!

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0:52Ben Meiselas:Rinse knows that greatness takes time, but so does laundry. So Rinse will take your laundry and hand deliver it to your door, expertly cleaned. And you can take the time pursuing your passions. Time once spent sorting and waiting, folding and queuing, now spent challenging and innovating and pushing your way to greatness. So pick up the Irish flute or those calligraphy pens, or that daunting Beef Wellington recipe card, and leave the laundry to us. Rinse. It's time to be great. Ever notice how ads always pop up at the worst moments? When the killer's identity is about to be revealed. During that perfect meditation flow.

1:34Ben Meiselas:On Amazon Music, we believe in keeping you in the moment. That's why we've got millions of ad-free podcast episodes. So you can stay completely immersed in every story, every reveal, every breath. Download the Amazon Music app and start listening to your favorite podcasts ad-free. Included with Prime. My name is Mackenzie and I started a GoFundMe for the adoptive mother of a nonverbal autistic child. The mother had lost her job because she wasn't able to find adequate care for this autistic child. So she really needed some help with living expenses, paying some back bills. So I launched a GoFundMe to help support them during this crisis.

2:20Ben Meiselas:And we raised about$10 ,000 within just a couple of months. I think that the surprising thing was by telling a clear story and just like really being very clear about what we needed. We had some really generous donations from people who were really moved by the situation that this family was struggling with. GoFundMe is the world's number one fundraising platform trusted by over 200 million people. Start your GoFundMe today at GoFundMe.com. That's GoFundMe.com. GoFundMe.com. This podcast is supported by GoFundMe. Even Donald Trump's former chief of staff is saying that Trump and MAGA is about to get wiped out in the midterms.

3:04Ben Meiselas:Former Trump chief of staff during his first administration, Mick Mulvaney, said, kiss the midterms goodbye, Donald, especially after you post that racist meme of former President Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama with their faces photoshopped over apes. Yeah, you're done, Donald. This is from Donald Trump's former chief of staff. Here play this clip. The point is this, is that we won't show it. And I respect that. And I agree with that decision. But people are going to see it. This ad is going to be replayed in every single one of the House and Senate races going into these midterms.

3:42Ben Meiselas:First thing that came to my mind after I got over the shock of this is, oh, my goodness, you can kiss the midterms goodbye. This is going to be something that is going to be seen again and again and again. I know, you know, and Donald Trump is rapidly losing his base as well. This is getting underreported. But like in the middle of the night when nobody was paying attention, Donald Trump signed an executive action on beef. And you know what it said? said the United States is going to now bring in far more beef from outside countries and screw over the cattle ranchers here in the United States.

4:16Ben Meiselas:As president of the United States, I have a responsibility to ensure that hardworking Americans can afford to feed themselves and their families. After considering the information provided to me by the secretary of agriculture, among other relevant information, I'm taking action to temporarily increase the quantity of in quota imports of lean beef trimmings under the United States beef TRQ to increase the supply of ground beef for United States consumers. You know what that means? It means we're bringing in all that beef now from Argentina, which is going to also artificially suppress the price of American cattle ranchers.

4:53Ben Meiselas:And American cattle ranchers are absolutely pissed as Senator Tammy Baldwin says this is a slap in the face to farmers in Wisconsin and across the country. Shouldn't we be putting America farmers first? Also, this latest bulletin from Farm Policy News says without government bailouts, net farm income this year would have fallen nearly 12 percent to one hundred and nine point one billion dollars. Government payments are doing the work to basically keep this industry alive. And farmers are now dependent on federal subsidies for their very existence. But Donald Trump goes out and says in a speech this week, the farmers are doing so well.

5:34Ben Meiselas:They don't even I gave him 12 billion. You screwed him over with your tariffs against the world. And now you're making them dependent on the government for subsidies to exist. You can give him 12 billion. You bankrupted him and you bailed him out. That's what you did here. Play this clip. Last week with the farmers who were doing very well. we just handed them$12 billion out of tariff money because they were taken advantage of by

6:01Adrian Fontes:foreign countries, various foreign countries. And I said, how much was it that they got hurt for $12 billion? I said, good, let's write them a check.

6:07Ben Meiselas:I gave the farmers$12 billion. And they don't even want it. They just want to be treated fairly. And then on Air Force One, Donald Trump was asked, so what do you say to a lot of people who are just upset about you? What do you say about your base in general? And Donald Trump's like you don't know my base don't talk about my base my base loves me here play this clip right here my base has never been strong my base is me and other very good people people that love our country and if you talk about my base or the mega base you could go on a new american first base they couldn't be more thrilled we have climbed down to the lowest level that has been in 125

6:48Adrian Fontes:years we have a border that's totally closed we have all the things that our base wanted and we have the best economy in history. Prices are down. We inherited very high prices and the highest inflation in the history of our country.

7:02Ben Meiselas:Think of it, the highest or 48 years. Some people say 48 years, but I'll take either one. So my base is very happy. I don't know. I think they're rapidly leaving. Remember I showed this clip yesterday, this three-time Trump voter who I think is, this is a three-time Trump voter who's summing up a lot of, I think the thoughts out there, play this clip. I am a registered Republican. My dad was the president of American Pipeliners Association. So I came back rather naturally voted for the president supported him, but I really want to apologize. I mean, I'm looking at this awful picture of the Obamas.

7:47Ben Meiselas:What an embarrassment to our country. All this man does is tell lies. He is not worthy of the presidency. He takes bribes blatantly, and now he's being a racist blatantly. Blatantly, they were supposed to deport the dangerous criminals. They were not supposed to go after small children, storm schools, bring terror upon the little kids and the women and children, not just the immigrants in the school. All the children are scared. This is not a decent man. This is not an honest man. He openly takes bribes. He's pathetic as a president. And I just want to apologize to everybody in the country for supporting this rotten, rotten man.

8:44Ben Meiselas:John, did you did you vote for him in all three elections? I did. I was sucked into the stupidity of creating jobs. So as Trump is tanking in the polls across the country right now, as he's absolutely flailing, as it appears like it's going to be a blue tsunami wipeout, like a blue tsunami wipeout that we've never seen before. What people are worried about is Donald Trump trying to block the midterms, stop the midterms, threaten people from voting by putting ICE and Border Patrol Gestapo around the polls. And Donald Trump's buddy, good friend, Steve Bannon, who Donald Trump has been praising recently since the release of the Epstein files where Bannon's like all over them, wants to rehabilitate Epstein's image and seems to be back channeling communications potentially with Epstein and others.

9:41Ben Meiselas:Bannon said, and Trump's like, I'm a big fan of Bannon. He posted that photo recently. Bannon's like, we're going to, we, like we, as though him and Trump, we're going to have ice surround the polls. Here, play this clip. You're damn right. We're going to have ICE surround the polls come November. We're not going to sit here and allow you to steal the country again. And you can you can whine and cry and throw your toys out of the pram all you want, but we will never again allow an election to be stolen. And here's what Caroline Levitt said when she was asked. So are you going to have ICE surround the polls and intimidate people?

10:17Ben Meiselas:And she's like, I can't guarantee you that ICE agents won't be around polling locations. You can't how about you do guarantee that? Because this is the United States of America, damn it. How about you do guarantee? How about you stop lying about freaking everything, Caroline Levitt? Here's what she says. Here, play this clip right here. Thank you, Caroline. Steve Bannon recently said, quote, we're going to have ICE around the polls come November. Is that something that the president is considering? That's not something I've ever heard the president consider, no. So you can guarantee to the American public that ICE will not be around polling locations or voting locations in November?

10:55Ben Meiselas:I can't guarantee that an ICE agent won't be around a polling location in November. I mean, that's frankly a very silly hypothetical question. But what I can tell you is I haven't heard the president discuss any formal plans to put ICE outside of polling locations. It's a disingenuous question. So I want to speak with Adrian Fontes, the secretary of state in Arizona. I've known Adrian Fontes for about five years now. He appeared on Midas in our very early days and he had a clip that went viral. He was a marksman instructor in the Marines and he talked about how he trained lots of people in the Marines and how to use weapons and how we need common sense gun reform to have the similar types of training when it comes to civilians having the same weapons?

11:47Ben Meiselas:Why is there a manual in the military, but no manual for civilians? And why is the training different when it comes to physically using the weapon of war? I want to bring in Adrian Fonte, though, to really talk about these elections, what he's doing to safeguard in Arizona, what he's seeing in Arizona shifts in this red state, in this purple state. Once a red state, now bluish, well, purple. It's a purple state. Let's bring in Adrian Fontes. Adrian, this is an interview I did with Adrian Fontes yesterday. Now I want to bring in Arizona's Secretary of State, Adrian Fontes, my good friend. Secretary of State Fontes, good to see you.

12:25Ben Meiselas:You know, a lot of people are fearful right now, seeing what Donald Trump and his regime is doing in Georgia and Fulton County, the director of national intelligence, taking the ballots from the 2020 election. We also learned from other reporting that Gabbard was in Puerto Rico to try to, I don't know, push Trump's conspiracies, that Venezuela tried to overthrow the 2020 election. Donald Trump was asked by NBC about what Trump would post about, like, secret satellites in China and Italy and Hugo Chavez. I don't even fully understand the conspiracy. I don't know. I can understand the conspiracy.

13:06Ben Meiselas:Anyway, people are getting worried as we approach the midterms that this is a plan in order to thwart the midterms, cancel the midterms, whatever. You're the secretary of state of Arizona in charge of the elections in a very important state. All states are important, but a critical state as well. So what do you tell people, though, who are afraid of Trump trying to cancel it or block it or send ICE around to intimidate people? What do we do?

13:36Adrian Fontes:Well, first, thanks for having me back. And second, thanks for opening with that question. Here's what we do. We America our way through this as Americans, and we always have. We've never canceled an election in this country. So let's kind of get that one off the table. whether it was the Spanish flu outbreak, COVID-19, so sort of these medical emergencies, natural disasters, Hurricane Helene, the fires in Lahaina. In fact, in Hawaii, the officials actually actively went out to find voters to get them to cast their ballots or even civil war. In fact, I don't know if you know this, but the first mail-in ballots were issued to soldiers in the field during the civil war.

14:13Adrian Fontes:We don't cancel our elections. It is the grit. It is the responsible predictability of our elections that are the golden thread that run through the entire fabric of our society. It's what business cycles are based on. It's what academic cycles, medical cycles, technology, all of the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit of America understands the predictable pace of our elections. That's at the foundation of everything. So first and foremost, A, we don't cancel our elections. B, we have never seen the chief executive of this nation so wrapped up in personal grievance that they would abuse power this extensively.

14:58Adrian Fontes:Now, we have seen chief executives do some abusive power over time, but not in a way that is so egregious, so obvious and so out in the open. At least we can see it coming. And what's happening in Georgia, folks should be very, very concerned, but not scared. Take that concern and turn it into action is what I would say. Go out to your local elections officials. Volunteer to be a poll worker, to work in the warehouse, to help them out. There are all kinds of opportunities for regular American citizens who are concerned to get engaged and get involved. Turn that angst, that sort of pearl clutching that we have into action, either on the official side by participating in the system itself to preserve that system, or by exercising your rights.

15:47Adrian Fontes:Look, the public protests that are happening out there in the world aren't just happening because of ICE. They're happening because people are worried, they're frustrated, and they want to get back to some regular order. And that is your power. And oh, by the way, if the folks in charge were not afraid of your power, they would welcome free and fair elections the way we have always had them. They would understand that they're at the top if they're so popular of the possible outcomes here, but they are afraid of you. They are afraid of your electoral power. And so to the American people, I say, exercise that electoral power, regardless of your politics, let the winners win and the losers try harder next time.

16:29Adrian Fontes:That is the American way.

16:31Ben Meiselas:regular order normalcy rules decency what you're talking about what i just said there is actually not political at all and when we see a lot of these results in these special elections that have been taking place and there's been a massive over performance by democrats you're a democrat yes should democrats be saying you know it's good but to me there's a broader story that on the other side this trump and mago world has broken down those things that i just discussed. Values, principles, rules, order, normalcy, decency, empathy, love. And especially now, too, with the constant barrage of lies and what Trump and MAGA are doing just benefiting these billionaires, to me, that also ties in to the release of the Epstein files or the partial release because when you look at them, you just see these oligarchs out there using sex trafficking as their currency to basically also torture these underage girls and traffic them and then also torture the world and think that they're above it all.

17:57Ben Meiselas:So you have all of that kind of permeating and, you know, I wasn't going to get into it in this interview, but what you said triggered that in my mind because it's just order. It's like, what is this? What's happening? And you winning that race back in 2022 in the state that you did, in a purple state, firmly red-ish state, talk to us about that.

18:24Adrian Fontes:Well, here's the deal. And again, like I said, I use this golden thread analogy because it's incredibly important for folks to realize, As you mentioned, all of these different pieces, you know, the use of sex trafficking, notwithstanding the horrific impact on the victims. All right. Let's never, never, never forget that. But the way that it has potentially, you know, maybe captured some of these folks in power that along with the misinformation and disinformation about our electoral systems, that with the basically federal elect federalization, if you will, of some of our private industry. Did you know that U.S.

18:58Adrian Fontes:Steel now has a controlling interest that's owned by the U.S. government? and some major corporations like Intel and one of the biggest lithium companies in the world, the U.S. has been purchasing ownership interest in very much not a free market thing that's happening. So you go to a bunch of these different buckets. And the only way that we exercise our power over those who are in charge is through elections, whether it's criminal justice for victims, whether it's electoral processes, whether it is business. And again, arts and sciences, law, medicine, the whole of our society is built around and woven through this one golden thread.

19:38Adrian Fontes:And they're trying to pull it out because that disintegration allows for the rise of authoritarianism. Now, all of that having been said, these things will work themselves out, in my view, because the American people are resilient. And we understand that this is a whole bunch of noise to distract us from this real notion of our power, our power, not only out in the streets but our power at the ballot box and this is why it is all so important it is why we had a revolution because consent of the governed is a critical piece of why 250 years ago we got a declaration of independence from an oligarch uh in the form of king george it is why in arizona we are choosing to again move forward beyond what we believe is going to be a good outcome because i believe in the american people and so in that end to that end we're we've introduced a voters first act here in arizona you can do azvotersfirst.com to find out what we're doing to try to reinstill a voter-centric sort of election protocol here in arizona instead of just limiting and restricting the access that voters have because access and security are not mutually exclusive.

20:54Adrian Fontes:And again, this is just the way that we want to establish a framework so that the power of the American people through our election systems is manifest. But we can't just totally lose our minds because of all of the stuff that you mentioned and so many other things. We have to stay focused on the prize. And the prize is maintenance of the power of the people. All of these other things can and will, in my view, work themselves out. I'm a man of faith, And I believe in the American people. That's part of where my faith is anchored. But I also understand that the process by which that power becomes is through elections.

21:31Adrian Fontes:And so that's why we're doing what we're doing in Arizona. And then that's why I think folks across the country ought to get much more involved in the day to day operation of how the elections work to help their fellow citizens make sure their voices are heard.

21:45Ben Meiselas:You know, for those who subscribe to Midas Touch in the past, you know, two, three years, they may not remember, but Adrian Fontes was one of our first guests. And one of the moments that went mega viral is when you talked about how you were a marksmanship instructor in the Marines and you pulled out the manual to show our audience the types of training that individuals in our military have to go through in order to hold these weapons of war. And then there are the civilian versions of those weapons, which are basically the same exact weapon. The AR-15 has its military corollary, but it's essentially in many ways very similar.

22:32Ben Meiselas:And so the point that you were making is if you have to train people in the military with this manual and they have to pass tests, why wouldn't we have responsible gun ownership and allow and encourage responsible gun ownership for those similar types of weapons? Obviously, the importance of the Second Amendment, but let's just encourage respect. And, you know, you and people who own guns are generally OK with that. What I found interesting, though, is the way that these Republicans have talked about the Second Amendment after the murder of Alex Preti. I've never heard any group of people talk more negatively about the Second Amendment where you had someone with a concealed carry permit of a handgun than I've heard these Republicans coming out of the Trump administration since then.

23:22Ben Meiselas:And so I know that's not the point of this interview. We weren't going to talk, but it reminded me when you brought out that manual and talking about responsible gun ownership and then contrasting it to concealed carry, following all the rules, permitted weapon, all the right things. And then MAGA saying, nope, you get killed for that. It's just a full circle moment.