Tuesday Afternoon Breaking News Updates with Ben - 5/19/26

26:03I will follow the law to the T, to the T. I will do so very calmly to the T, very calmly, very powerfully. You see, very powerfully, very calmly to the T. Then read the damn provision. This isn't a trick question. You can't read what your own military manual actually says. Just read

26:28Ben Meiselas:the damn provision. And then you had Congress Member Moulton cross-examining him. Here, let's watch this clip. Admiral Cooper, you keep using the term significantly degraded. Last summer, we were told that Iran's nuclear weapons program was obliterated. Can you clarify the distinction between obliterated and significantly degraded? Congressman again I think appropriate to talk about anything regarding the Iranian nuclear program no no I'm not asking you to talk about the Iran nuclear program I'm asking you to talk about English language what's the difference between obliterated and significantly degraded are they the same congressman anything regarding the nuclear program I'm not asking you to talk about the nuclear program admiral I'm asking you to answer a question that applies to a lot a lot of things beyond the nuclear program you've also said that their ballistic missile program was significantly degraded.

27:26What does that mean? The specific numbers are best, as you know, from your own military experience. President Trump's own national security strategy, which he signed in December, five months ago, used the exact same phrase, significantly degraded. So if this was true back then, five months ago, then why did we start this war? Was he lying to us then?

27:50Congressman, from a military perspective, anything regarding the military? Admiral, are you familiar with General Westmoreland? I'm very familiar, Congressman. He's well known for talking about body counts. Now, when I think about you in this war, I always think about how you always got up there and would say everything's going according to plan. So let me just ask, Admiral, where was closing the strait in the plan? I'm happy to discuss the specific operational aspects. But did you just not anticipate that? Do you not think that Iran could do that? Or was that part of the plan here? Congressman, as the...

28:26For 250 years, the Navy has kept sea lanes open and free. Under every previous president, the Strait of Hormuz has been open. So why is it closed under your watch? Congressman, I've traveled through the Strait of Hormuz probably 100 times. I'm intimately familiar with it as a combatant commander. So why is it closed? If you're so familiar with it, if you do not anticipate it a wrong way... If I may answer the question, if I may ask, with respect, with all due respect, My responsibility as a combatant commander is to lay out all the options, present those to the Secretary and the President. They make policy-level decisions.

28:59So you presented the option. The operational aspect. Admiral, you presented the reality that Iran might close the strait to the President and the Secretary of Defense. Anything that I discuss with respect to operating. Okay, well, let's go back to the plan. Where was begging China for help opening the strait part of the plan?

29:21So from a military perspective, there are multiple reports now public that Iran has already reconstituted many of its bombed out missile sites. Was that part of the plan to those reports are inaccurate? OK.

29:35Ben Meiselas:By the way, if other Congress members or their staff or their senators and their staff are watching this, and I know a lot of people on the Hill watch this. As a former litigator, let me just say, the way Moulton was questioning is how the questions should be. When you're up there questioning these Trump witnesses, please, we don't need to hear you talk for three or four minutes. We really don't. Just ask the questions, keep them crisp, and when you're not getting the answers that are responsive, take back your time and then cross-examine the person on what the question is and go back to it. But if you waste three minutes on your long-winded question, no offense.

30:22Ben Meiselas:We want to hear what the witness is saying so that we can see what the hell is going on, whether they're being truthful or they're lying or they're obfuscating, which is why Molten did a really good job there. So if you're wondering, well, what else is, what are the MAGA Republicans doing right now? With inflation, CPI, consumer price index, 3.8%, and month over month now, we're seeing 4.4 % to 0.6 % increases month over month. That basically means we're going to be in a situation where we could be at 5 % CPI pretty soon PPI, producer price index, is at 6%. So we could be at a place where wholesale inflation's at around 8 % soon.

31:09Ben Meiselas:That's not good. People can't afford things. Highest credit card delinquency rates, highest student loan delinquency rates. Consumer expectations are the lowest in the history of the University of Michigan survey. So with all of this going on, what are MAGAs doing? they do what they always do, which is try to use religion as a way to be like, but we have to just trust God's plan, everybody. I mean, did you see whatever they called this, like recommit or whatever the hell this thing was over the weekend, recommit where they were just like, and God sent Donald Trump and Trump and we got to listen.

31:49God's vision is very, very, very confusing sometimes, but we just got to trust that this is what God wants for us all. He sent us Jesus and he sent us Donald. So stick with the plan, folks, because this was all part of God's plan. And I'm watching that. I'm like, what are we doing here? What are we doing here? All of the stuff where like the U.S. is like Iran is this religious extremist, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, I'm watching how this Trump regime behaves. I'm watching how Hegseth behaves. I'm watching how all of these politicians are all invoking God for their war crimes. It's like, what are we doing here?

32:28And where is the fact that the American people are suffering involved in all of this? They don't give a crap about the American people. And I'm just going to be blunt. These people who are in these leadership positions, these are sick human beings. This is not normal politics. These are truly vile and sick humans. They're psychotic, sick and vile, sociopathic, pathologic sickos. I don't know how else to say it. This is not normal. And I just get pissed off like all of you do when you turn on corporate news and they act like this is, you know, and this is like, oh, you know, here's what the Democrats are saying.

33:11Here's what the Democrats are saying. Just stop with the even framing of politics. we've got a freaking psycho vile thing in the oval office out there holding up photos of a freaking golden ballroom and saying that he's creating a drone empire dude said he's creating a drone empire what does it even mean you're creating a drone your your ballroom is a drone empire and it's a shield what the hell who are these people i really mean it and and it's it's not funny. It's not intriguing. I don't want this entertainment. It's not entertainment. I want freaking normal leaders who behave like grown adults, grown men, grown women, grown people behaving like damn adults.

33:58Look at Congresswoman Salazar today. This is real somehow. This is real. Here, play this clip. So, listen, it's in the hands of two entities, God the Father and Donald Trump. God the Father on earth and Donald Trump on earth. And I know, Pastor, that you have a great relationship with our president. I've told him every time I've seen him that the Lord saved him in Butler, Pennsylvania. tell me if who else could have just made him turn his head right on right in that millisecond and save his life so the lord put him back on at the oval office so like you said the lord is the only one and i keep on saying it and once again i send the message to our president whom we support you are the only person in on earth that could have the political fortitude and have favor and grace in your heart given by the Lord Almighty to sign this bill into law and to transform this country and bring it back because.

35:03Ben Meiselas:Okay, he's a sexual predator. Okay, he's covering up a child sex trafficking ring. What are we, what are we even talking? Dude was found liable in a civil case for sexual assault. He's a felon in a separate criminal case. And the big initiative today was to launch a fund for$1.776 billion to give to violent insurrectionists. And I just watched this and I just have the reaction for real. Like, who are these human beings? How do these human beings come about? How were they raised? How do they exist? What do they go home to? How do they interact with others? How do you truthfully live a life in that world?

36:00I genuinely don't know. I'm sure sometimes some of you feel like, maybe like, you know, like, am I the crazy one? I mean, that seems to be pretty crazy behavior right there for human beings. And then you turn on the news and, you know, they'll be, Sean Hannity will be like, and another big victory for the FBI, Cash Patel, the hits keep, what are we, what, what are we doing here? Or you turn on Jesse Waters. The UFO files that have just been released are so incredibly shocking. Let's focus on the UFO files.

36:37Ben Meiselas:When we come back, I want to talk a little bit about Attorney General Todd Blanche. By the way, today is my birthday. So for my birthday, Jordy wanted me to reiterate, become a member of our YouTube channel and gift memberships to other people. That could be the birthday present. Gift memberships to others if you can afford by clicking join. Make sure you subscribe. Subscribe to the Midas Touch on audio. All right, we'll be right back after our only one break today. We'll be right back. I'm not organized enough to be a meal prep person, but with Home Chef, my meals are on point every time. The meals are wildly impressive and so easy to make.

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41:47Ben Meiselas:Let's check in with the wolf of Wall Street and see what he's doing right now. Donald Trump in front of the construction site for a golden ballroom that the MAGA Republicans want taxpayers to pay$1 billion for. at the same time Donald Trump settled the case with himself for$1.776 billion of taxpayer dollars to give to violent January 6th insurrectionists like the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys. And yes, he executes a new stock trade about every nine minutes or so of companies that he invites to the White House, perfectly normal behavior, whether it's Dell, NVIDIA, whether it's Politeer, or whether it's through exchange traded funds that trade in Intel or other companies that Boeing, you know, that he deals with.

42:35Lots of trades for the first quarter.

42:38Ben Meiselas:The first quarter of 2026, dude executed 3 ,700 to 3 ,800 stock trades in one quarter. And a lot of it happened right during the ebbs and flows, the highs and lows of the war, where the markets were extra turbulent. I mean, they're still extra turbulent right now. And so you look at the past stock trading behavior in 2025, while there was still rampant other corruption taking place, there wasn't stock trading anywhere near the scale. If you looked at that bar graph in 2025, it looked like the bar graph looked like a two-story townhouse compared to an 80-story skyscraper with the bar charts of when the trading started taking place in Q1 of 2026.

43:33Ben Meiselas:But the Trump regime will just say, oh, nothing we did wrong here. Every other president was a stock trader executing a trade every nine minutes. That makes a lot of sense. Every other president was doing social media posts that would list the stock ticker of companies that they also potentially had interest in. Very normal behavior right there. And so then he goes in front of this golden ballroom construction site that MAGAs are trying to figure out how they steal a billion dollars from us to pay for a lot of this. And where Trump goes is he holds up the photo of it, and he said, I look so thin because I'm holding this.

44:26Ben Meiselas:You don't have to look at my waist. You saw enough of my waist all over Xi Jinping in China. What do you mean? We saw your waist all over Xi Jinping in China? What does it even mean? What are you referring to? What does that refer your waist was all over the guy you're grinding on him you you you did you envision a fantasy where you were grinding on xi jinping like uh mtv spring break uh 1998 is that is that is that your vision of you and and xi jinping right now um here play play this clip i guess

45:22Ben Meiselas:You saw enough of my waist all over Xi Jinping? I mean, truthfully, I mean, this is a crazy human. What do you even mean? As I said, do you literally envision that you grind on the guy? I mean, do you put on like a slow jam and imagine Xi Jinping in front of, nevermind. Then Donald Trump on the ballroom, he said, we are creating in this ballroom, the greatest drone empire that's ever existed. What do you mean a drone empire? What is this guy talking about? The greatest drone empire. Here, play this clip. If they had won the election, our country would have been destroyed. Our country was a dead country two years ago.

46:11And now we have really the hottest country in the world. And this is the ballroom, and it's going to be something incredible. You see the quality of it. And they go right, those columns go right into the roof. And on top of the roof, we're going to have the greatest drone empire that you've ever seen. And it's going to protect Washington. Thank you all very much. We have a little breakfast for you. Really? Yeah. Where is your breakfast? Okay. Did you also hear at the end, we've got a little breakfast for you.

46:41Ben Meiselas:And then the reporter goes, really? I mean, to me, the really part would have been at the drone empire. That's where if I was a reporter there, that's the part that I would have been like, really? Are you literally like 5150? But the reporter, I've got a little bit of lunch for you. Really? Who are these reporters? Who are these people? I truly feel like I am in a zombie movie and I'm one of the people who still hasn't become a zombie yet. And I'm watching all these people who ostensibly were once adults become zombies. And I'm like, man, you too, you became a zombie. Like, and that was my Mark Cuban reaction, right?

47:36Ben Meiselas:Like, you know, in the zombie movies where the person gets bit, but they like hide it from you. And so then you'll see like a little bit of like ooze, like if they cough. and then it's like a big moment and you're like, oh man, they got you. They got you. You're a zombie now. That's like what I feel. I think it certainly was all, it was rapidly accelerating at the beginning of the Trump term when he began and you saw everybody going to Mar-a-Lago and it was like, ah, damn, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie. You, you became one of these, Oh, I liked you. Ah, damn it. And then right now, I think that there's been good pushback.

48:22Ben Meiselas:It's why Donald Trump's approval is at record lows, right? The latest New York Times Siena poll has his approval at 38%. Generic ballot, New York Times Siena poll has Democrats up plus 11. You know, I saw some of this other polling of Trump somewhere in the 36, 37%. I mean, historic lows. And that's why, I mean, his support amongst Latino voters at like 27%, same thing of like independence. I mean, so when I see, you know, I see a new zombie and I'm like, Cuban? Really? What are you doing? Why are you doing that, man? Why are you doing that? Seriously? What could possibly be the benefit to doing that?

49:09Ben Meiselas:Is the money that important after you're that wealthy? Really? And if you can't do it without Trump's cosign, that means you really can't do it. Because a Trump cosign means you're doing a deal with a predator. better. You're doing a deal with somebody covering up the Epstein files. Why would you do... You would think about it. You're like, would I want this person on my team? No, of course you wouldn't. You wouldn't want this person in your club, in a social gathering. You wouldn't want this person anywhere near you. So what are we doing here? And then he talks about how the ballroom is a shield.

49:59Ben Meiselas:Here, play this clip where it's the ballroom is a shield. I want to do things, but everything that you see and the money that's being put up to build the ballroom, and again, the ballroom, it's necessary to the ballroom to be built with what you see over here. It's all knitted. The air conditioning, the heating, the drone capacity, the shield you know the ballroom becomes a shield for everything that you see right here i mean i don't even know what i'm watching the ballroom becomes a shield for everything the ballroom's a shield it's knitted with the drone capacity

50:42Ben Meiselas:truly like wtf like what what is that like what is this behavior but i got lunch for you really really you got lunch from donald what you got you gotta you got me a turkey sandwich with with some american cheese really oh my god donald got me a turkey sandwich with some cheese i'm just going to ignore that he's talking about drone empires and 1.776 billion dollar settlements with himself to go to insurrectionists. And I ignore the fact that, did you see the latest from the settlement agreement that Trump entered with himself, that he's now fully released any right by the IRS to ever audit him ever again?

51:33Ben Meiselas:Trump entered into a settlement agreement with himself that part of it, we saw the new documents that were released. He enters into a release of all claims and liabilities based on Trump's misconduct that the IRS can never look into it. And it's signed by Todd Blanche, his personal defense attorney, who's now the acting attorney general. And he's one of those human beings that I go, who is this guy? How does this guy exist? He looks like a zombie now, actually. If you look And the guy physically looks like he's got this mega zombification look. And he's asked some pretty basic questions by Senator Van Hollen, who did a great job on this cross-exam.

52:22And then Blanche is like, I'm the acting attorney general. I'm not Trump's personal attorney anymore. I'm the acting attorney general, damn it. Here, play this clip. You're not going to submit this proposal to any federal judge or independent. There is no judge. Any independent authority? An independent? What does that mean, an independent authority? It means not somebody who's getting to pick five of the members who is the president's former personal attorney. That would be somebody who would be independent. I'm the acting attorney general, okay? The fact that I used to be President Trump's lawyer is just a fact, but I'm the acting attorney general.

52:57So don't say the president's former personal lawyer will do something. The acting attorney general will do something. Mr. Attorney General, you are acting today like the president's personal attorney, and that's the whole problem. You've got his whole, you have a whole banner of his face hanging over the Department of Justice and you and everybody else walks under it. And you are acting like you're his current personal attorney. Chairman, I have no further questions.

53:22Ben Meiselas:Or then you had Senator Merkley asking a pretty basic question. Is the Epstein investigation closed or is it open? Can you answer a very basic question? Remember what I showed you earlier in this episode with CENTCOM commander Brad Cooper, A very basic question. Do the words in the military manual saying show no quarter is unlawful? Is that what it says? And you refuse to answer the basic question. Here you have Todd Blanche asked, is the Epstein investigation, We all know what that is. Americans have a lot of questions about it. Is it closed or is it open? Here, play this clip. Well, Ronald, I want to go on to the Epstein investigation.

54:14Is it closed or open? When you say the Epstein investigation, what are you referring to, Senator? Well, the FBI said in last year in July that it had closed the Epstein investigation. So I'm just using their words. Is it open or closed? I don't believe the FBI said that.

54:32well if you're your head of the department of justice is the Epstein investigation open or closed but I guess I don't understand what Epstein investigation means the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein himself yes he's dead oh good one ha ha ha you're dead oh you're so smart

54:52Ben Meiselas:these people believe that we're all stupid And one of the reasons they believe it is that right before elections, they go out and they start saying things. They're eating cats and dogs, bathrooms, penis and vaginas, transgender, transgender. And then they're like, holy shit. We've made the elections close now. we could actually win. Farmers may be losing all of their farmland and they may be going bankrupt at a rate that's far higher than ever before. And people at factories may be losing their jobs and people can't afford homes or in a home, they're in foreclosure. But all we got to do because corporate news is controlled by right-wing authoritarian regime media, is let's just just say stuff.

55:55Ben Meiselas:Eating dogs, fraud, mass deportations, transgender this. Let's go with that. And they see a reward structure built for their behavior. And so they go through these hearings and they treat us all like we're dumb. And they know it. That's why they go up there and they spew things like this. And that's where I say this, not in a political way. And you can rewind this tape sometime in the future. If Democrats ever behave like this, if I see this behavior, I have no allegiance or loyalty simply because they're the Democrats. That's, I really don't care about politicians. I could truly care less. I care about the people.

56:53Ben Meiselas:I want politicians to align with our values and our principles and what we are all fighting for together, which is to live lives without them destroying our lives, number one. And number two, to have people be able to go about their lives with health and happiness, without government interference, being able to afford things. to have families if they want that, to love who they want to love. That's what we want. I don't care about a specific politician, this person, that doesn't intrigue me. I just want honesty and integrity, and I want people who are behaving like normal human beings. This is not normal behavior, and so I'll leave you with this.

57:40Ben Meiselas:Senator Van Hollen cross-examining Blanche. So will individuals who assaulted Capitol Police officers, tried to kill him, will the people who engaged in terroristic acts, assaulted law enforcement, engaged in the insurrection, will they be eligible for$1.776 billion? Will they now be eligible for your plan? Okay. Simple question. Will individuals who assaulted Capitol Hill police officers be eligible for this fund? Well, as it makes plain, anybody is... Just let me know if they're eligible for the fund. As was made plain yesterday, anybody in this country is eligible to apply if they believe they're a victim of a position.

58:30Mr. Attorney General, let me ask you this. Are there going to be rules that say that if you've assaulted a Capitol Hill police officer or committed a violent crime, you will not be eligible? Why not make that a rule? I expect that. Well, because I'm not one of the commissioners setting up the rules. I expect that there will be rules set up. You're appointing four of the five members, aren't you, Mr. Attorney General? Pardon me? You're appointing four of the five members. I am appointing all five members. You can certainly set up the rules. I would hope you make a rule that anyone convicted of assaulting a police officer of a violent crime is simply not eligible.

58:59They should not apply. Why is this a hard concept? Right.

59:04Ben Meiselas:Why can't you just answer the basic question? Why couldn't Admiral Brad Cooper say it is a war crime to show no quarters because he's going to get fired? Then get fired. that is wearing all of the stuff on your chest, wearing all of the different medals and commendations, that's that important to you? That you are going to go up there and show a complete lack of leadership? It's a very basic question. Is the Epstein investigation open or is it closed? because there was something put out last summer that it was closed. So what is the Epstein investigation? Are you going to allow people who attacked police officers to be eligible?

59:53The answer should just be no. First off, we shouldn't even be doing this fund. But if we do it, of course you should not be eligible. If you attacked a police officer for a financial settlement, What world are we living in where that's even a thing, where there's$1.77 billion that you stole from the taxpayers? Damn it, you know what you paid in taxes. We know what the billionaires aren't paying in their taxes. I'm like, that's where my money is going to pay insurrectionists who attack cops? Seriously? And then you have cop union leaders often who are like, well, that's law and order. That's what law and order is, Donald Trump.

1:00:34That's law and order? What world? I truly mean it. What world are we living in? And finally, they always go back,

1:00:46Ben Meiselas:these sociopaths, to blame Obama, Biden. We're doing this 1776 fund,$1.776 billion, because Obama did it. Obama did it. And then you have Senator Van Hollen say, Obama didn't do that. That's not what happened. Stop saying Obama, Biden. There was a settlement that happened in a federal court where a federal judge oversaw the settlement between the Department of Justice and plaintiffs. It wasn't Obama suing his own Treasury Department, and then not telling the judge that there was a settlement agreement and then doing a separate settlement agreement that creates a fund to do an end run around Congress's appropriations.

1:01:47Ben Meiselas:You know, and then the thing is, there's such liars that when they say it sometimes, well, Obama did this, a lot of humans go like, am I really going to have to do the research to like find out that Obama didn't do this? And sometimes you're like, and who would lie about that? Like what human being just like Trump and all these liars, they're liars. They lie about everything, every word, every sound word, syllable, all lie, everything. Everything is a lie. And so you had Van Hollen saying these are completely different situations. So, okay, if you want to compare it to Obama, then why don't you take your settlement and present it to the federal judge and see if a federal judge approves your settlement?

1:02:30Ben Meiselas:That's what happened in the Obama case, where Obama wasn't personally a party to it the way Trump was a party to this case. Let's play this clip. You keep putting words in my mouth. I'm going to ask you one last time. You keep comparing this case to the Keep Eagle case. In that case, as you've admitted, a judge ultimately signed off. I'm asking you before you proceed with this fund, will you have a federal judge sign off on it? I didn't compare the cases. What I said is the commission that we set up yesterday is nearly identical to the commission that was set up during Keeps Eagle. So please, you repeatedly put words in my mouth.

1:03:06And then you say, oh, I'm playing words. Words matter. Mr. General, they do matter. You said there were. Look, the transcript will speak first. It will. But you but you compare it in your own release in the Department of Justice on release. You compared it to this case. And in this case, a judge signed my final question. Will you agree, as they did in that case, that before you proceed with this fund, a federal judge will sign off and approve it? There's no federal judge. So there's no mechanism. Actually, there is a federal judge presiding over this case. That was the case was dismissed by the judge last night.

1:03:40Yeah, because you moved to create this fund. I didn't move. I did not move. The settlement result. Mr. Attorney General, come on. So let me let me so you're not going to you're not going to submit this proposal to any federal judge or independent. There is no judge. Any independent authority that an independent. What does that mean? An independent authority. What does that mean?

1:04:00Ben Meiselas:An independent authority. There is no judge. Yes, there was a judge. The judge's name is Kathleen Williams. She is the judge where the case was filed in. You in the settlement agreement reference the case. Trump v. IRS, it has a case number. There is a judge attached to that case number. Okay? This is the judge, Judge Kathleen Williams. It's like when the Trump regime says the reason that we're not able to negotiate with Iran, they don't have leaders anymore. Yes, I know who their leaders are. You don't know who their leaders are? I know at a very granular level their leadership structure. I know their parliamentary leadership.

1:04:44Ben Meiselas:I know their foreign ministry leadership. I know their foreign ministry spokespeople. I know their regional and provincial leadership. I know their IRGC leadership. I know the special advisors to Ayatollah Mojabah Khomeini. I know the inner circle of Ayatollah Mojabah Khomeini. Anybody, you know, I know that their foreign minister was out there meeting with the BRICS nations and had a leadership role at the meeting that just took place in New Delhi in India, I know very clearly that there is a leadership structure, and it is a younger, more entrenched leadership structure than the prior leadership structure, but they are all part of the same leadership structure of IRGC control with the Ayatollah at the head.

1:05:29Ben Meiselas:It's an Islamic Republic leadership structure. So when you say, oh, we don't know who the leadership is. Yes, we do know who the leadership is. When you claim that the KC-135 strato tankers were shot down over a rock in friendly skies, we know that's a lie. We know that the likely scenario was that militias aligned with Iran in Iraq were shooting at those strato tankers. And that's why they made evasive maneuvers. And that's why one of them crashed. They didn't just fall. A KC-135 strato tanker doesn't just fall out of the sky. Stop lying. Just stop lying about every damn thing. And the Atlantic confirmed what we've always been saying, which is, of course, of course, what happened was there was hostile fire and they had to make an evasive maneuver and they crashed into each other.

1:06:19That's what happened.

1:06:20Ben Meiselas:What about the F-15E fighter pilots? We don't get to know who those are. Never get to find out who they are, huh? We're never going to know. State secret who the F-15E, it's all bullshit. It's just all of this. And meanwhile, mile. You've got Donald Trump over there being the wolf of Wall Street. Buy, buy, buy, sell, sell, sell, tweet, tweet, tweet, sell, sell, sell, buy, buy, buy. While the Americans are suffering, while the American people are suffering, American consumers are now facing 7 % mortgage rates, but most Americans don't even think that they have the ability to get a mortgage at all.

1:06:56They don't think they have the ability to get a home. We were talking about a 30 % loss in purchasing power of the US dollar since 2020. Donald Trump promised he was going to bring down inflation. And if you look at the chart right here that the Kobayashi report put up here, I mean, you're looking at the pattern of inflation looking a lot like 1967. It's looking a lot like a straight line up. And if we continue down this path, I don't see how we

1:07:30Ben Meiselas:don't continue down this path, a 0.4 % to 0.6 % month-over-month inflation increases. Yeah, we're going to be at 5 % CPI by the end of this year. 5%, that's where we're going to be. And by the end of next year, we could be at 6%, 6.5%. That's where we're going to be. there you have it folks we covered it all we appreciate you as always thank you all for watching this got a little animated on the show um if you want uh jordy wants me to remind everybody for the birthday for my birthday the best gift for the birthday is gift memberships to people if you can gift as many memberships as you can to other people who can't afford memberships today So click join, gift the memberships, and that will go a long way to help people access some of the special features that we have here, the emojis and everything like that.

1:08:32Ben Meiselas:All right. Thanks, everybody, for watching. We appreciate you. This has been Ben on Breaking News, birthday edition. Shout out Midas Mighty. Thanks, everybody. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our sub stack at MidasPlus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski, ad-free episodes of our podcast, and more exclusive content only available at MidasPlus.com.