MeidasTouch Full Podcast - 9/15/26

We've got a lot to discuss on this episode of the Midestouch podcast, so let's just get into it right away. Let's talk about what's happening here and abroad as Donald Trump continues to destroy the United States and destroy the previous post-World War II architecture where the United States was the leader in the world. So, the U.S. 10-year Treasury yields, broke 5%, not good, mortgage rates broke through 7%, not good, the East-West pipeline in Saudi Arabia has suffered massive damage. A second pumping station has been hit by the Houthis recently, and about 5 to 7 million barrels of oil is now blocked from getting out in addition to Iran controlling the straight of Hormuz. And the Houthis taking over all of Western Yemen and now controlling the Babel Mandab straight and moving East. Also, the Houthis, also known as Ansar Ala, continues to hit Aramco facilities in Saudi Arabia, in Jazan, in Abba, in upcake. And the Saudi Arabian monarchy right now is really on the ropes. MBS meeting with the head of sent-com Admiral Brad Cooper, also meeting with Masad and Netanyahu people in Saudi Arabia right now, trying to figure out what to do. Here at home, you have Exxon's Joliet facility in Illinois. Very suspiciously, all of a sudden has a massive power outage. We saw black smoke over there that was flaming out. Interesting time for a massive power outage and one of the bigger U.S. refineries over there, and that's further going to cause disruption to the supply chain over here of refined crude. In addition, you have dated oil trading at $122 for Brent, $131 from Raban, Oman at $121. The price of Brent approaching $110, the price of WTI, $105. And all of this seems to be getting worse by the minute, meanwhile, you had Donald Trump in Ireland talking about how the Houthis are calling him begging to do a deal. And the Houthis call him and they call the Trump regime. You've got Treasury Secretary Besant saying that he's now doing a whistleblower line if you or anybody you know is cooperating with Iran. Will you be a whistleblower? Will you help us if you found anybody? We need you to self-report or you need to tell us who's working with Iran right now. That's, I guess, his economic day as we had this major bricks summit take place in New Delhi, India, where you had the president of Iran and the foreign minister of Iran being greeted as basically heroes of the bricks block. You have all of these nations, whether it was China, whether it was India, whether it's Russia, Brazil, whoever, all the countries that were in the bricks South Africa. Like we're cooperating with Iran. We're going to cooperate with them more. In fact, that's what went down over the weekend and Trump making the full of himself in Ireland making up conversations with the Houthis and attacking the UK and encouraging war in the Falkland Islands. There was a massive protest to Donald Trump when he arrived though in Dublin, which he claims he didn't see creative protesters over there in Dublin. So we got a lot to talk about in this episode, Brett and Jordi, how you guys doing? Doing well. Those are very creative protests indeed. I think our flip of the protest last time I checked something like 30 something million views on Instagram and tens of millions more on other platforms. So I would say they certainly made an impact those protesters and good on them for taking to the streets. So I'm doing well, being good to see you, good to see you, Jordi, good to see you, Midas, mighty man. I know there is a whole lot to talk about today. So I'm just going to pass it off to Jordi. Jordi can check in. How's it going? Everything good? How's how's how's it being a dad of two now? That seems like a lot. And it's it scares me. So how's how's it going? How's it going with you? It's a lot. It's it's definitely a lot. Brothers, Midas, mighty. How y'all doing? I am pumped to get into today's show. I'm doing great. Everyone's doing great around me. Let's just dive right into it. Benji, that was quite the list that you read off and I'm excited to dive in. Where do you want to start off today, big bro? I could even start on part of the list that I didn't mention, which is Don Jr's wedding, right? Pro public. I did an expose this morning about how a Russian oligarch basically paid for Don Jr's wedding. There's a photo of the guy, the oligarch Putin's buddy in the background. And you can see a photo of him in a big group photo over here. And this guy paid for the private island. He paid for the fireworks display and lots of other expenses through a shell company that has an IBI LLC linked to an entity in Dubai. By the way, that's where Donald Trump also has accounts for where some of the money goes from the Venezuelan oil. But Don Jr. appeared to have been making a lot of money in all of these quid pro quo deals. That's how I've seen and that's how I'm classifying it in my opinion, of course, since the Trump regime took power. So it's just interesting that he would have, according to pro public, a Russian oligarch Umar Kremlev and other Russians at the event, partying while this one Russian oligarch apparently was like responsible for paying for a lot of the wedding. It's very, the whole thing is just like red. I have so many questions. Like he said, like Don Jr's very, very wealthy individual, especially from all the crypto schemes and all the other things that he's doing right now, these government contracts, because he's just such a brilliant businessman to secure all these government contracts with this regime, right. And then you, I'm obviously being sarcastic before I get a comment from somebody, Donald Trump, of course, you know, the billions and billions he's made profiting off the office in the most corrupt ways that we have ever seen in the history of this country. And they're having a Russian oligarch tied to Vladimir Putin, fund things. And I'm not saying that this is a little amount, but in the scope of the amount of money they have spending 170 something thousand dollars on their wedding to fund the to pay for an island to pay for little things that they're wedding. And having all these other Russian oligarchs there who are very close to Putin, and the whole thing just reeks to me. It's incredibly, but just, it's just weird because they certainly don't need that money. And I think, you know, I think back to, you know, way back in the day before might has touched the 2016 election, which I think we've kind of been stuck in a perpetual 2016 loop. And that whole Russia, Russia, Russia, you know, all of that stuff with Trump to this day, literally he did a post about it today, Russia, Russia, Russia. I mean, it's all true, right? Like, like, look, there are there and have always been very close ties between Donald Trump, his businesses, Russian oligarchs, Vladimir Putin. All documented, they've said it themselves. And now you see even more of these ties and how they exist today. And I think it also puts with the war that we're seeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the so called peace efforts by people like Steve Whitkopf and Jared Kushner. I think it puts that in a much different light also when you understand that the oligarchs who work with Vladimir Putin are partying up with Don and Bettina at their wedding over in the promise. It's just so on brand, though, ultimately, that's what it comes down to, like, it's a, it's a character trait of the Trumps to do this sort of like quid pro quo-y type of stuff, pay for my wedding and the X Y, like, I'm just speculating here. But also what I'm saying is they can't help themselves. It doesn't matter that Don Jr. has the money to pay for this wedding. This is his preferred means of communication and deal making with Russian oligarchs. He gets off on this type of behavior. It is so freaking weird to see a playout bet. And it plays out with the same cycles of Donald Trumps creating a problem, turning the problem into a disaster, disaster into catastrophe, catastrophe into bankruptcy, blame. Because when people experience catastrophes, they're looking for answers and people are suffering. And that's when Donald Trump, who is a predator, he's a sexual predator, he's a predator in all aspects of life, that's when he injects ways to divide people during moments of suffering. That's what he does. So, right, during COVID, Dr. Fauci, right now, as diesel prices surge, what's he doing? It's the Linsky's fault, right? And so the Trump regime pushes out the reason that we see diesel surging Trump says has nothing to do with what's going on in the Middle East. He says it's because the Linsky keeps on striking refineries in Russia, and that's causing the price of diesel to surge. So, Donald, you promised you were going to end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours because you knew Putin and Zelensky so well, it would be easy. You said you weren't going to tell anybody in 2024 what you would say to them, but you guaranteed that you would resolve that war, the Russian invasion. And now Donald Trump says actually in 2026, despite Trump's catastrophic war in Iran and Trump's catastrophic wars in general, being the main impetus for the rising price of diesel and gas. And the cataclysm that we're experiencing in the global economy is Zelensky's fault. And that's what he literally posted this morning, blaming Zelensky. And this is what he's going to do. He's just going to try to what post his way out of this. This is what he wrote. Ukraine has agreed not to hit Russian. energy targets. Russia has agreed to do likewise. What does Russia has agreed to not hit Russian energy targets, but it means likewise. You notice the language that he used to is always so fruity. Russia has agreed to do likewise, really, because every day the war there continues to escalate more and more. Trump goes, "The world's diesel price, the world's diesel price rise, is mostly caused by the Russia Ukraine war, not Iran, DJT." That could slow like a lie. When you're talking about it, then he goes on to say, "By the way, it's a self-own also, because he was the one who promised he was going to end the war in 24 hours in 2024. Not 24 hours from when he took office, 24 hours after the election, but I think that's what he thinks. He's going to post his way through this." He's like, "The failing nation of Iran wants to make a deal quickly and badly. I will determine whether or not the USA will choose to engage the concept of which we are open to. Thank you for your attention to this matter." The Iranian officials are like, "Okay, he's a clown, right? All of the Iranian officials are posting. Just ignore him. He's a liar. We're not talking to him." By the way, he did the same thing with the Houthis over the weekend when Trump took this trip to Ireland. Why was he in Ireland? Because the Irish open was that one of his golf courses. It was a great opportunity for him to grift while he was there on his own golf course. Then he turned it into, again, further be clowning of the United States. Let me show you the clip where Donald Trump is next to the Tishok in Ireland, basically the prime minister of Ireland. By the way, hat tip to the president, Catherine Connolly of Ireland, who actually stood up to Donald Trump, unlike what I observed here. She released a statement afterwards that she called Donald Trump out to his face. She told them essentially he's complicit in genocide and she told him that Ireland is always on the side of peace, and we need to stop all of these wars. She posted a photo. This is the official, for those on audio, this is the official photo from her government that was posted. It looked like Donald Trump got into it any event. When Donald Trump was definitely with the prime minister of Ireland, people were saying this as like a joke that what? Donald Trump's going to get out there and say that Houthis called them, right? After the Houthis over the weekend, Mayday, starting Friday and over the weekend, made a massive advance through all of Western Yemen, controlling the nearby islands, controlling the area by the Bobnell Mondob Street, controlling all of those cities from Mocha, even further down south. Now, turning potentially eastward to aided in other areas in Yemen, and the Houthis Ansarallah allied with the Ron excess of resistance, as they're called, really pushed back and forced the Saudi-backed PLC. That's the government that the Saudis back. They're in massive retreat right now. The Houthis Ansarallah were able to capture lots of American-provided weapons to the Saudis that the Saudis provided this PLC government there in retreat right now. As I noted at the outset, that's why you have these meetings in Saudi Arabia right now between the Netanyahu regime, Saudi Arabia, and the head of sent-com trying to figure out what they're going to do. But Trump said that the Houthis spoke to him. And then the Houthi leadership said, "We didn't speak to you, you're a clown." And they came out with statements, you know, right away saying this didn't happen. And we all know it didn't happen. It's just beyond embarrassing that this is what the United States President does. But here, let's play this clip. We've had discussions. The Houthis called us and they don't want to fight with us. They let us know. They don't want to fight with us. They don't want me to go after them. They don't want us to go after them. But they've called and they've talked to us and they don't want us to. They would much prefer not having us involved. And they're letting a lot of ships go through. It's just one country that they're not going to do it. And we'll get that straight up. Also, imagine being MBS. You gave all this money to Trump and Kushner. And then you begged them to help you stop the advance of Ansarala of the Houthis. They turned that down. They are helping MBS gather intelligence right now. But you do have the royal family there, MBS, particularly on the ropes. And you have these royal families throughout the Middle East. Very nervous about what's happening right now. One of the things I note that was a big development during the BRICS meeting. In addition to the prominent role that Iran's president Pzezskiy and Iran's foreign minister, Aragchi, played, there was a meeting on the sidelines between President Pzezskiy and Iran and the leader of Abu Dhabi, one of the Emirates. And they met as the UAE, which was part of the Abraham Accords, is even hedging right now. And you see a lot of these Arab nations showing a lot more respect than a lot of nations in general, Epic, showing more respect to Iran than ever before. Iran really asserted itself at the BRICS meeting as not just a regional power, but a global player. And BRICS asserted itself as a, and this was what it always tried to do. And it was never able to do as actually an alternative to the alliances the US once led. And they're talking about multilateralism and supporting each other and building new currencies together. Everyone used to not take that seriously when they would meet and be like, all right, got it. But, you know, she, one of the main leaders behind BRICS, played the long game, you know, with some of these countries and waited and waited and waited and boom. Now they have the opportunity, Brett and Jordy. Yeah, and what you've seen is just a full retreat of US power, of US soft power, of US hard power, soft power with USAID, hard power with the way it's just all of our munitions are being depleted, the failure of all these wars, these ridiculous invasions, these threats against our allies. It's absolutely grotesque. And you're seeing headlines like this today in the New York Times, Saudi Arabia faces worst case scenario after being rebuffed by Trump. The kingdom is in a state of strategic shock after coming under attack from an, from an emboldened Iran and failing to win more US military support analysts say. And the Saudi kingdom has to be absolutely live it. And they need to be freaking out right now by what just happened. But as we've described this in so many other scenarios on the show, this is what Trump does. He makes a mess and then he runs away because he's a coward. He destroys things and then he flees the scene of the crime and leaves other people to deal with the repercussions. That's what he's done in the entire Middle East region right now with the straight-of-war moose with his unlawful invasion of Iran. That's what he's done off throughout all of Europe. That's what he's done with Canada. He basically he lights the match, he tosses it and then he runs away and he hopes that somebody else is going to pick it up and is going to solve everything for him. But that's just not how things work. And right now everything around him is reaching that breaking point whether you're looking at the treasury yields or gas prices or diesel prices or the bricks block becoming stronger, NATO being essentially non-existent or becoming weaker. Everything right now is actually a catastrophe. It's the worst foreign policy. I have ever seen out of a president bar none does not even come close. And the fact that these people will still be viewed by the media at large as, oh, the Republicans are the party of foreign policy. Just wait. There will still say that. It's absolutely absurd. Everybody is going along with this BS. And it's just lie after lie in the gaslighting has just gotten so extreme. And I find that sometimes even people who you think would be smarter and would be able to say, oh, this guy is lying about this. Oh, he lies about everything. So he's lying about this too. Sometimes they buy his BS. And it's just sometimes I feel like I'm living in a zombie apocalypse where everybody is just trusting the word of this lunatic. It's like almost like we're in like Soviet Russia or something. It's really, really kind of frightening to be honest. One of the things that scares me and I know I've talked about this on the show quite a bit, but it's just the United States placement in the world as we move forward here. I mean, Donald Trump, Dane and Dayout just continues to embarrass us as citizens of this country, but just embarrass America at large by how he deals or doesn't deal with the problems that are facing, well, the United States and the world. We're a laughing stock. We are an absolute laughing stock at this moment. And I worry 5, 10, 15 years just say the pro-democracy community wins out, say, just say it hypothetically here, right? And we get to have a strong democracy better than it was before, a country that actually works for all of its citizens, not just purport, not just claims to, but actually does the work for everyone. Doesn't matter. It is my fear because we'll never get in the good graces of all these other nations anymore. And that deeply hurts me as someone who loves this country. And that's what I know we're all fighting for here to see a better tomorrow, not just for us, but for our children, for the next generations. But Ben, how can we get back into the good graces after just so embarrassing ourselves over the second Trump regime? Not into a bend because, you know, I mean, who knows, right? It's speculation and it's, and we might not ever. And, you know, a president could come in. I think people understand that a lot of this is Donald Trump and these feckless Republicans, but the cycle that we want to break is this cycle of four years of this president, four years of an insane psychopath, four years this president, four years of an insane psychopath. And that all these things are just election to election. Like the one thing that presidents have done actually well over the past, you know, at least in the post-World War II era, probably far, really longer than that, is there is a consistency with American foreign policy. There was a consistency with messaging. And the way we treated our allies and our adversaries. And Trump flipped that on his head in a way that fundamentally changes the world order. And the thing that really frightens me is that Trump is teaching our adversaries right now all the wrong lessons, right? If the goal of this war, Jordy, was we don't want a nuclear run, then he has failed. A failing misery, failing grade does not even begin to cut it. One of the other day, one of his most revealing comments that I think went a little under the radar during his interview with Laura Ingram. He made a comment like he said, "If Iran had a nuclear weapon, we would be calling up and saying, 'Sir, we could get together possibly. We would be dealing with them much differently.'" So Trump admitting, "If Iran had a nuclear weapon, he wouldn't have done any of this. He wouldn't have launched these attacks. He wouldn't have bombed the school. He wouldn't have invaded Iran. There wouldn't be this cluster, you know what, in the Middle East right now, if Iran had a nuclear weapon." And so Iran is hearing that message. There was a member of parliament in Iran who said, "You know what, the one thing we've learned from this war? We need to fast track a nuclear program. We need to get a nuclear weapon today because they're not going to mess with us if we have it." The same way Donald Trump is buddy-buddy with Vladimir Putin, the same way he's buddy-buddy with North Korea, Kim Jong-un. That could be us. We could be friends too. But we have to take that step that way where speaking Donald Trump's language. And I think that is very dangerous, and it takes us from a period where we had this agreement amongst world powers to have a non-proliferation of nuclear weapons to now creating this arms race of nuclear weapons in order to try to keep out these bullying nations who include, most prominently, the United States. Well, this doesn't get talked about enough, but North Korea, Kim Jong-un, learned the lesson back in Trump's first term when Trump ripped apart the JCPOA that even if you did a deal with the United States, the United States would rip that deal apart. So one of the reasons Obama did the JCPOA was actually thinking multiple steps ahead about denuclearization throughout all of Asia and focusing as well on North Korea. So the JCPOA was not just effective in Iran. It was a template for international coordination in North Korea. And when Kim Jong-un said got it, I guess I need a nuclear weapon, they accelerated the program. And Donald Trump started talking about love letters and how incredible things are. But I'll tell you, you know, and I think Iran's calculus is that they've got something frankly more potent and powerful than even a nuclear weapon with the control over the Strait of Hormuz right now, and with their allies part of the access of resistance controlling the Red Sea, Iran effectively with its allies controls 40% of the world oil supply right now. And for them, that weapon is perhaps even more powerful than a nuclear weapon. And in terms of the nuclear capabilities, the bottom line is is that if they have relations which they do at a very strong level with China, with Iran, with North Korea and nuclear powers, their calculus is what is our role in a newly forming multi-polar world order? Do we even need if we have sufficient backup over here from other bricks nations and other military alliances? What does that look like here relative to our control over the Strait of Hormuz? And now effective control, even though the Ansarallah who these have its own structure, they're obviously allied with Iran at a very close level, you know, they flexed in a way that doesn't have the, you know, kind of scarlet letter of the word nuclear attached to it, and they're showing every day though how they can wield that power. Now, you know, the ridiculous thing is, you know, the Trump regime, the ridiculous propaganda we get fed here in the United States, that the Net Yahoo regime propaganda machine spreads and lots of others is that Iran's about to collapse, it's about to happen, they're about to collapse. I'll tell you where things actually look worse than Iran by far in addition to the United States though right now. I mean, if you look at Syria and you look at some of the protests that are taking place there right now over some of the issues of the supply shocks that exist, there's a lot of problems there, you know, that people should be paying attention to that aren't. And then here at home, I mean, we're in a very, very catastrophic situation. I don't, I'm not trying to be hyperbolic and pick these words. The reality is is that, you know, there were lots of people who were warning about a great fuel crisis if the memorandum of understanding wasn't signed when it was signed. And you'll recall Donald Trump when he was at the NATO summit, the same one where he left hidden with Natalie Harp on the catering container. And Turkey, remember what Donald Trump was saying there? He was saying that if we didn't sign this MOU, we're going to be in a lot of trouble. We could have global economic catastrophes. So it's one of the reasons we had to sign it. We were running so low, well, that's happened now. Right now, the salt caverns in Texas and Louisiana, mainly the Texas is the big one, is at lows, at alt is at tank bottom, where it could even break like the way it's a, it's a cavern. And if it's not dealt with the right way and treated the right way, it could implode on itself. Almost a way the Trump regime was saying let back in April was going to happen with the Iranian pipes, but that's something we need to actually pay attention to. But more broadly, it's the oil shortage that exists right now. And you know, while Donald Trump is doing this blockade in Iran and bragging how commercial ships are not getting into the Gulf of Oman and then through the Strait of Hormuz, then into the Persian Gulf, the boast, the brag by Senkham about blocking commercial ships is that you're really admitting to war crimes. I mean, those are commercial ships. That's medicine, that's food, that's supplies, that's not military targets. Your blockade is starvation of the people and eventually Iran's going to respond, either directly or through groups that it's allied with. And so you saw what happened in Saudi Arabia and Iran made this warning, whether Iran was directly responsible for it, whether it was the Houthis who are taking responsibility for it. Notably, MBS blames the Iraqi resistance, also part of the access of resistance with Iran, but the Iraqi resistance is like, we wish it was us. We would love to take credit, it was the Houthis. The Houthis are like, it's us. And then Saudi Arabia is like, no, no, but it was the Iraqi resistance. Why? Because MBS is worried about his own standing that he can't stop the Houthis. So he's blaming the Iraqi resistance to blame, basically the Iraqi prime minister, because that's still under the control of the United States is how they perceive it. So that's why they're doing that. But think about that image from the other day, okay? It was the Houthi soldier, or I guess he was a soldier, in flip flops, look like he was in like Birkenstocks or something, taking control over a U.S. made tank that was owned by Saudi Arabia and driving off on it, going on a joyride while in Birkenstocks. Now if that image happened during the Biden administration, it would have been the image of the defining the entire administration, a Houthi rebel soldier seizing an American tank because the United States and Saudi Arabia were defeated on the coastline at the Red Sea. I mean, that right there, the fact that people aren't talking about this every single day and saying what a failure this has been by Saudi Arabia, by the United States, mainly by the United States, who now there's blowback on Saudi Arabia for their alliance with the United States. It's crazy to me. It's absolutely crazy. Saudi Arabia is just learning though what happens when you buddy up with Donald Trump. They're learning the notion of everything Trump touches dies. Everything Trump touches turn to you know what? And now they're feeling the repercussions of that and they now have to figure out how they are going to kind of save themselves as Donald Trump has really wrecked their standing in the region. But they still have live golf. Oh, wait. They don't. They don't. And by the way, go back to videos of Donald Trump hosting live golf at his tournaments when he wasn't in office. And he would say no one's really gotten to the bottom of whether Saudi Arabia was really involved in 9/11 or not, but they're great golfing partners and they're about to make the players so rich, he said they're so good for the game of golf is ultimately, and he gets a total pass on saying things like that too. Trump buddies up with the people who actually did 9/11 buddies up with them. There is best friends buddies up with the people who killed Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post journalists, buddies up with them. But that's okay. Apparently that's all right. He could be a business with them. Whatever. Remember the a few months back when all those comedians got in a lot of heat because they were doing that festival in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and their comedians. And I do think they deserved condemnation for doing this event. But the fact that they get all this coverage of how horrifying it is that they are performing for this regime, but Donald Trump is in business deals with them, having them at their golf course. Nothing. Just another day. To me, just shows you the double standard of what's going on. and that Trump is just totally, totally, totally held up. - And then the both sides of media will be like, you, my cellist brothers, you might as touch brothers. You guys would, wouldn't credit Trump if he stopped 9/11. He's partnering with the people who did it y'all. Like, what are we talking about here? Like, it's right in front of your faces. Someone with a backbone, speak out. It's unbelievable they let him slide on this. - You know, the one you always get is, if Donald Trump stopped cancer, you wouldn't give him credit for stopping cancer, right? You always get, everyone uses that one. And it's like, no, if he stopped cancer, he would get credit for stopping cancer. The issue is he's taken away cancer research for kids. Like, the issue is that he and RFK have actually spread disease and spread issues and cut back on research. If he did the thing, he would get credit for it. If he actually did the, he lies. I mean, if he brought in $20 trillion in a year, he would get praise. I would praise him for it if he brought in $20 trillion. That's a massive accomplishment. But then I use some common sense and I go, hmm, looks like our deficit is increasing at a record rate. Hmm, looks like our debt has increased to over $40 trillion and Trump's responsible for 30% of that. No, you don't get praised for lying and saying you're bringing in money that you did it. And you certainly then don't get the benefit of the doubt when you say you're going to give $5,000 to people to vote Republican again, we know that this is a fraud. And what will take our first quick break of the show, 'cause we got a lot to discuss on this. But then the way it was framed on the Sunday shows, and I have to watch these from my reporting, you know, is that it was like a real thing. You know, and they asked people to respond to it as though this was actually, so is it like bribing people? It's like, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. It's not a real thing, it's a fraud. You know, if you had to respond to it, I'm not even responding to it. The guy's a liar, he's a criminal, he's a sexual predator, he's a lunatic, I'm not even addressing the issue. If you believe that he's gonna give you a $5,000 check, then I have something else to sell you. I have a Trump token I'm gonna give you right now or as Trump puts it on his social media platform. He's got free Trump $1,000 bills, he's gonna give you, but he's only got 74 of them left, everybody. I'm gonna give you one of those, okay? Let's take our first quick break of the show, we've got a lot to discuss, we already have discussed a lot. Let's take a quick break, a reminder, our book is called WTF America. It comes out October 20th, pre-order now, we have good pre-order momentum. Let's keep up that momentum. If you're planning on getting it, October 20th, pre-order it now though, that helps a lot more. Can I tell people something really cool, actually, about the book, and this is a limited time thing, so it honestly take advantage of this now, 'cause I don't know how long it's gonna go on for. Bookshop.org, which is supports independent bookstores. I love bookshop.org. If you go to bookshop.org, put WTF America in your cart and use the code WTF15, WTF15, one five, they give you 15% off the book, which I think is incredible, and you also get a free WTF America sticker, as long as they have supplies of those stickers. So go check it out, and then, everywhere else, you know, it's available, an audiobook, ebook, all the books. Jordi, Ben and I spent a lot of time in the studio doing that audiobook. We had a lot of fun. We learned a lot about ourselves doing it, and our ability to speak, but we're very proud of the end product. But it was no easy feat. I gotta say, it was tough, it was hard work. But it was really good. - The story for another time, I was paying that report. - Maybe for a patriotic exclusive or something. All right, we will be right back after this. Don't go anywhere. We got so much talk about. We'll see you soon. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Let me ask you a question. If you could wake up tomorrow and be better at one thing, what would that be? For me, I'd love to be able to put my phone down and just be more present for my family. We get so consumed with the world around us, rightfully so. But every now and again, I realize that time is just, it's so important. It's one of those things that's just finite and quality time, even more important. Better is a feeling defined by you. And for BetterHelp, it's a BetterHelp therapist who really gets you. It's a focus on global emotional well-being with thousands of therapists and millions of members in over 100 countries. It's progress. I really am a huge fan of BetterHelp service and I know you will be too. Since starting therapy, I've been just more present. I've had a better work-life balance and been able to focus on things that really matter. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com/midus. That's better-h-e-l-p.com/midus. You know those pieces in your closet that you find yourself wearing on repeat? 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And I'm sorry, but I'm also not sorry. We've worked tirelessly on this book and we were so excited. - I think it's a valuable resource, and honestly, I think it helps set the stage for how we got here and how we get out of this mess, which I think is super important. And I think, to be clear, it's not an election book either. It's not like the cell you win the midterms. It's not that. It's really a book that we hope stands the test of time. Not, you know, any sort of one period. Brothers, we got a wild Mitch McConnell siding today. - Mitch McConnell in the wild. - No, no, no, no. A wild Mitch McConnell was spotted today at Washington Day C. And the reporter swam to him. Should we see a clip? - Let's see a clip of Mitch McConnell. - Journey urged me not to do the Adam Barrett voice, but it's okay. There he is, being wheeled out of his home. A wild Mitch McConnell in the DC area. Mitch being wheeled. You can't really see him just see at this posted by Hannah Greyer of CNN. His Mitch made his way, Mitch, can we get a thumbs up Mitch? Mitch, Mitch, Mitch, Mitch, Mitch, Mitch. Mitch, Mitch, and he's in the car. Off to the hotel with any toe wiggle. This whole thing so weird. Can we just say, I don't even know if there's much more to add other than, this whole Mitch McConnell saga has been very strange. They have not been forthright with the American public. It's a very strange thing for a US senator and someone of his stature to be so hidden like this for these months and for the public to be lied to and for him to just be wheeled. It was very weak in a Bernie's. - I just want honesty and transparency and that what we just watched there was for the audio listeners, the strangest clip of Mitch McConnell being wheeled out of his home. And I'm not saying this to be funny. He doesn't move in the clip. He's physically there. Again, not saying this to be funny. Like saying this because I deeply want transparency around this issue, he does not move, does not acknowledge any of the cameraman. Just in like, as Brett put it perfect, like a weird weekend at Bernie's MAGA-esque moment right there that we just saw. - Well, we're recording this live on September 19th. 2026, I have not much else to say about it. We're approaching the midterms, right? Donald Trump has had basically two awful years in office right now where he has a, I was going to say a body of work, but I would say, it would say an awful, whatever you want to call it of just destruction and devastation. And so for me, I've often been asked like, what's your messaging? Are you going to message this or message that? I go and say, you know, it's not about messaging anymore. I mean, it really isn't because it's about living, right? And wanting to live more. And I guess that's the segue there from Mitch McConnell, I guess, and our lived experience. And if you've endured this past not 20 months or so and you've looked at it as this is great and that things are really good and you like, in Border Patrol, Gestapo in the streets. And you like the story today that they've been throwing immigrants in little dog cages and alligator alcatraz where they would call them common cages at concentration camps. If you like that, every day you seem to wake up. There's another recall of some product based on the lack of safety that's going on. If you like-- - Have you heard about this? Have you heard about this Russian saying the TV and the fridge? Somebody just told me about this day. I've actually never heard it, but it really sums up what Ben's saying here. - Is real. - Is real. - No one's like, like pranking you? - No, no, no, it's real. I looked it up and I actually thought the phrase was actually very telling. And it's something that was said about Russian and the Russians would say about their own government that I think, unfortunately, really very much applies here. But basically, you have the TV, which is the State Propaganda Regime Media and the State Propaganda is telling you how great everything is that we're in a golden age, that everything's perfect. And so, as they say, it's great. Everything looks like they're saying it's great. Everyone on TV is telling me everything's awesome and we're winning them more and everything's good. And then you go to your fridge and you open up your fridge and you get a reality check. Oh, I can't afford anything. I don't have anything in here. And that dichotomy between the TV and the fridge, which was something that was used often to describe Russia under Vladimir Putin and other authoritarian regimes, I think now very much sums up what we're going through right here in the United States. - Yeah, I don't think I've talked about public. People who are watching the show, I mean, yes, I show clips of the debate, like the Adam Hamilton, Roger Marshall debate, but I'm just showing you clips of what they're saying. But there's very little, I think I've done this network. I don't even know the last time I did it where I was like, and this is a great political maneuver. I never say these things because to me, part of getting out of this cycle is actually rejecting the gamification of politics and just looking at this lived experience, this is really what you want a government to do, to hurt you and inflict pain and to mock you and inflict psychological torture on you. Like you think that it's the role of the government to steal your bread, steal your loaves of bread, then dangle bread crumbs, and then not even give you the bread crumbs. That's what you want in a government. Okay, I mean, if that's what you want, I'm not, there's nothing I'm gonna do to persuade you if you think that this was a great period right now in American history, what's unfolded. But I hope you reflect on this and go, you know what, I deserve better. My family deserves better. Future generations deserve better than this. We deserve a government made up of public service, public servants who actually do things to help me versus do things to hurt me. And if ultimately that's not what you see, I'm not gonna be able to message you. I'm not gonna be able to push you two points this way, you're two points out. I just wanna arm you with all the data of what's happening and what's going on around the corner and what's going on so that you could make informed decisions yourself, how that impacts your voting. You're gonna have to make those calls yourself, but I don't know. This is not what I think government should be all about. I think that this is the opposite of what government should be doing. And like again, we're two years in or so and you got the guy posting, I hope everyone realizes that price increases throughout America were caused by sleepy Joe Biden and the Biden administration, not by Trump, even oil was higher under Biden than right now. And we prevented Iran from having a nuclear weapon with the temporary exception of oil. Prices are coming down sharply and oil will drop like a rock as soon as the military conflict with Iran is over. And Donald Trump was promising it would be over six months ago, but okay, or Donald Trump then posting that the war is a scam conflagration. You'll remember when, who was a Dan Quayle spelled potato wrong and that was done, your career was over. Imagine if he referred to a very catastrophic war as a scam conflagration and then spelled conflagration C-O-N-F-L-I-G-R-A-T-I-O-N. And again, look, the spellings, the least of it, I'm just trying to shake us out of the fact that we're not in normal times where a post like this should be utterly disqualifying. Could you imagine if former president Obama or Biden made posts referring to very serious things as scam conflagrations with the typo? I guarantee you, it would be front page every newspaper, it would be the front, that post alone would be the front page story every damn day of the week for weeks. And that post alone may lead to impeachment. Oil is. - No, why didn't Biden even pull the trips around Afghanistan? He could have just called it a scam in a hoax and he could have just, that could have been it. What a strategy. - Beyond the words. - Beyond the words, beyond the words. It's also equally, if not more weird, that his profile picture is like a brave heart type, like American flag over his face with the red, white and blue. He's like snarling at the camera, utterly bizarre. On top of that, he's posting from his own social media platform because he had previously got and kicked off of the world social media platform where most people talk and do that. It is unbelievable times that we are living through. And what the media allows to slide as just normal because they've gotten so exhausted. - Did he say that I'm playing the other major? They're like, "Mr. President, what's this music playlist "you got going on? "You got some good music over here. "Can you share the playlist? "Will you share your Spotify playlist with me, buddy?" And like, this is an actual interaction at the press ad with Donald Trump. And I want to be clear, there are a lot of journalists who do amazing work and a lot of publications, who do amazing work, but there are some like that that make me want to scream. - Well, let me tie this all together. Let me tie in Braveheart. Let me tie in Jordy. Trump not being on Twitter, now X. And let me tie in Biden, Afghanistan, withdrawal, and I'll tie it all together. Braveheart, wait for it. No, wait, hold, hold. Now, that was the plan that basically China had for the international architecture. And at now, moment happened at the Brick Summit in New Delhi, which was a real kind of statement that was being made about a rapidly changing global architecture and the split screen between what we were seeing at Bricks. Well, Donald Trump was an Ireland attacking NATO, attacking Canada, attacking the UK, whiny. I mean, it couldn't have been more clear. And also what China was not doing earlier in this catastrophic war, as Trump calls it, a scam conflagration, they stopped importing oil at the rate they were in 2025 and before the war. They're the world's biggest, world's biggest importer of oil. And the moment they start importing, guess what's gonna happen? The supply is gonna decrease and the cost is gonna go up. So China was actually keeping the oil, the reason that they weren't going up higher and they should have was because China was not importing. They were using their reserves that has 1.5 billion barrels, a huge, like 1.35, and they bought, they strategized. They bought all this oil in 2025 when it was cheap, they stored it, they were using that now, in addition to all of the conflagrations that I've been talking about, China's also importing. So if China were to import a lot, do you know what happens? Here you could see the price per barrel of oil, easily hit $150, $175 a barrel. So China not only has replaced the U.S. in terms of kind of soft power, in terms of international alliance building, which they've been doing, they've essentially replaced OPEC as well, based on their ability to control the international price of oil by their importing and they showed that they can do that. So they had this wade for it. They're playing chess on a whole different playing field while Donald Trump is playing pick-up sticks, but sticking himself with the sticks in the eye, basically. So that's why I pay very close attention to these international developments right there. January 6th, one of the reasons that Donald Trump was kicked off of various social media, well, Donald Trump oddly this weekend was posting videos of himself from January 6th, after he, in my opinion, encouraged all of the insurrectionists to go and he said he was gonna join them or words to that effect. Remember, he then posted the video saying, "All right, I definitely won, I won. I know you're sad 'cause I'm the winner, but it's time to go home." Remember during the J6 committee, we saw how many takes it took him to do that. They gave him the script to read. He oddly posted that video over the weekend. So when he was aboard Cattari Air Force One, which is a ridiculous thing that I even say, Cattari Air Force One, here's, let me show you what he said. He didn't even remember posts, he's like, "I don't know, what are you talking about? Why are you talking about? I want you to watch this for yourself here, play this clip." - We need the full playlist. Can we keep playing it? - He's keep writing the so-and-sale eventually. - On Friday, you've posted a video you took on January 6th. What was the message for posting that on Friday? I posted about 30, which one of you took it? - You posted a video, you took it. post it on January 6th asking the rioters to go back home. The rioters of January 6th and 2021. You also reposted Maduro again. The capture of Maduro. Well, they never talking about Maduro. That was a great capture. You have Mitch McConnell. Then that was a great capture. Great capture like you saw for the audio listeners. Just worth saying really quickly. You see the the lean in Trump's stance as he's taking these questions. All of it all the all of it is so weird and every single one of us but every single one of the person is going to have to explain to their grandchildren to their great grandchildren. What you did in these moments like in all it's like what you did to speak out use your voice use whatever you can to just like try and reclaim some sort of normalcy because what we're witnessing in these clips is not normal. Yes, I mean and that's why when people want to have a normal political debate as we're approaching you know the midterm elections. It's like I mean this guy's like he's like a lunatic. I mean what is it that you want me to say to you? If truly if you want that good luck I know I know there's there's I'm what I do here at the Midas Touch Network is I'm going to show you what's happening. That's it. That's my job. My job is to show you do I get angry at what I'm watching and do I share that anger with you. Yeah, I try to keep it as even killed as I can despite all these conflagrations. I try to share it with you and do it in a in a sober assessment to be analytical but sometimes I will be very angry but you know if you liked whatever that was and you know talking about the playlist if you like that he's posting about hella pads and blaming Biden and you love paying more for gas and you love never ending wars and you like that Donald Trump does when Netanyahu tells him to do like if you know if you're into that and Trump getting rich while you're not and you're getting screwed while Trump's blaming Biden like if that's something that you're into at this point we've experienced it you know there's you know because Donald Trump was able to ride the co-tails a lot of Obama during the first term and because Trump had not really that normal but semi-normal people at least in at first you know you really saw how bad he was when COVID hit it was bad the whole time but but you know I think some of the stuff that he's doing now he was shielded he was not doing then now you see it like you see every aspect of this he didn't go after what he heard was the bad omray immigrants he didn't he went after people who were paying taxes and you were hardworking and he put him in dog cages which also further hurt the economy was also inhumane and disgusting like they you know so if you're Venezuelan or Cuban if you are Haitian if you are Mexican and you support I genuinely don't you know I genuinely don't know you know at this point really you think you know if you thought he was gonna bring democracy to Venezuela I got to know he brags I took all of their oil it's all mine it's all mine now and I may take all the oil of Iran too it's all mine you sound like you sound like a lunatic I mean even authoritarians who are lunatics don't say that you don't behave that way you know and often I'm like you know it's like North Korea style you know I'll say that or it's like I frankly Trump is way crazier than Kim Jong Un North Korea like right now there is no comp about this level of lunacy this level of what we're showing you over here you know and and so if you like this I wish you the best but if you don't like this which I think the data is reflecting most Americans don't like this then frankly you can't normalize this and you can't be like oh well I think there's a stop stop it's a crazy it's a lunatic it's a predator it's a sicko just shut it down to shut it down and say this isn't it's why we don't need the Sunday shows acting like this $5,000 bribe thing is real it's why we don't need the debate shows having somebody debate is it a good idea is a bad idea it's a fake idea it's stupid we shouldn't even be talking about it don't even give it light why even engage with that bullshit I'm mad that I'm talking about it right now and you know there's something that Trump is very good at weaponizing that honestly you know in light of this you know 25th anniversary of 9/11 it reminds me a lot of what happened in the wake of 9/11 and that's that kind of idea that you cannot have any dissent from the federal government and I think one of the great things about the United States is always that dissent is patriotic that we should be able to speak out that it's actually our patriotic duty to speak out when we see ills and when we see wrongs in the country and in the world and what Donald Trump wants to do the same way so many Republicans did in the post 9/11 era is he wants to turn everything into a you're either with us or you're with them sort of thing and it's that kind of binary framing that I think is so incredibly dangerous and I see so many people falling for this trap I even see it with our coverage because I think Ben I think from the beginning you know especially your coverage on the network of the Iran war has been spot on you said immediately that Trump was lying about all this stuff you called out as propaganda you called out his lies that this was going to be a short excursion or whatever that the hell term he used at the time you called it out on the day and there are so many people every time that we call out the failures of Trump and his regime in this war that people say oh yeah you guys hate America you guys hate you guys must hate me are you supporting the no I think it's because we love America and we want to call out when we're being lied to before we get more troops killed in this war before there's more global instability before more Americans are impacted at the pump or at the grocery store this is actually our patriotic duty to call out this regime as long as we're allowed to do it and so we will do it and I will not be deterred by these threats from people who try to make it this you're either with us or against us sort of game I'm done with that crap I'm done I'm not going to allow bad behavior to go unfettered with my tax dollars I'm not going to allow this bad behavior to take place in our government and just watch it happen and not say anything I think that is cowardly and I think that is an American let's take our last quick break of the show we've got a lot more we can discuss I want to talk for a moment about what's going on in Canada as Prime Minister Karni is also hosting an event that will have 120 trillion dollars of assets represented in terms of sovereign wealth funds and all these different groups that are potentially going to be investing in Canada as Prime Minister Karni has become basically the leader of the free world uniting the mid powers together he's also going to be speaking at the European Union state of the Union so we'll talk about that we'll talk about other global developments I do want to show some clips of these debates that have happened everywhere from Alaska to the Kansas state fair so we've got a lot more show let's come back after this quick message this episode of the Midestouch podcast is brought to you by our friends at Wildgrain I love Wildgrain they deliver sourdough breads seasonal pastries and French butter from small independent 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Use the links. Use the codes. There's an exit survey. Let them know. We sent you Benji. Very serious look on your face coming back from break. What's going on over there? No, I was just reading some other news to see if it was coverage or, or yet, that's what I was doing. I was going to finally connect the Biden piece, remember I said, Braveheart, J6, then Biden. Come here. I don't know if I've got to conflagrate it all, conglomerate it all. Look, Biden came in and had to make hard decisions. Trying to be the firefighter to put out the arson isn't easy, and it can often demonstrate a lot of the problems that existed that were being covered up, right? It's easy for a doctor to tell the patient you're great, you're amazing, right? It's more difficult for the doctor to say, "You know what? It doesn't look good, and I need to help you." Here's the prognosis. I'm telling you bad things, and your life is going to be difficult. But would you rather be told these things and try to get out of it, and we can work on it together and come up with a pathway, or would you rather be tell you you're great, and then there'd be a sudden event that all of a sudden- Oh my God. Remember when Biden released the statement, this winter, if you're unvaccinated, it could be bad for you, and you could get really, really sick and potentially die, and all those Republicans were like, "Dairy, how could you say such a thing?" They just want Donald Trump to say, "Everything's great. It doesn't exist. There's no COVID. Everything's fine." Sorry. The reality is that there are very difficult decisions that need to be made in the hands of very skilled operators to try to get us out of this. The concern, I'm putting that very lightly, is that even with an election, the executive branch is still the branch responsible under our Constitution for taking care that laws are executed, and the executive branch is still the commander in chief. The core functions of execution is still in the hands of someone who's elunatic, a sexual predator, a deviant, a criminal, a felon, an incompetent, a bankruptor. That doesn't get changed now, what the elections will do is bring necessary oversight. It will create certain checks and balances that are desperately needed, right? And to me, if you were an opposition party running against Donald Trump, you should basically be saying, "Look, there's no way to do deals with this guy. You can't do deals with bad people." But we will do ruthless and relentless oversight, and every day we will report back to you what we are doing in that capacity, and we will lay out a sprawling oversight agenda, whether that's with judiciary, oversight, all across the board, peck, agriculture, heck, you know, you named the committee, we need people to deal with these situations. But it takes someone who's going to say, "You know what? Right now, our strategic reserves are very bad in a bad situation. Right now, the supply shock is devastating. We have to come up with difficult solutions, and it's going to be hard." We don't need somebody right now saying, "We won. They're begging me for a call." Where the grade is? We brought a $20 trillion. Like, that's the equivalent of a doctor telling the very sick person, "You're great. You're going to be amazing. Don't worry." And then the person comes back, and they go, "I feel way worse. Look at that. Don't worry." You're living in a house. That's probably just the house's fault. I don't know. It's the community. And then the person, "I'm really feeling really, don't worry. You're fine. That's on the road to recovery. Those feelings are normal." You know, and so that is what's being done writ large at our country, and you have all these other actors across the world, both former allies and adversaries, direct adversaries or competitive adversaries, they figured it out. Year one. They didn't know what to do. They knew he was a lunatic. They knew he was crazy. Nonetheless, the U.S. created this post-World War II architecture undeniably. The U.S. military power was real, even in the hands of a lunatic. The U.S. economy was still even with Trump behaving as a lunatic. The safest place to put money in globally, there weren't all these structures that could take it out. What do you do? So year one was kind of to give you another example. The kind of the boxing match where there's a jab here, jab there, China threatens to withhold rare earth, Donald Trump tacos, got it, okay, Trump backs down there, Trump says, "I'm gonna go after whoever over here." There's another taco over there, so year one, it's kind of like got it, like very frothy. It's looking very weak. Year two, it started to be pronounced, and then with the catastrophic handling of the war, when people saw how the U.S. ignored the, not only ignored, but just outright lied about the framework, a deal that was done, that Oman negotiated, and Trump rushed in this with Netanyahu, and then by April, May, I think the world really saw, "Oh my gosh, like this guy is so, and people should have seen it before, but this guy is all a bluff. The whole and the guy is a con artist is all life, but it really set in in a different way that even with the United States post-World War II architecture behind him, even with him taking the wheel of this vehicle, if you will, that was drove itself and could do great. He was still determined to crash it, and that's what he's been doing, and so the world said, "Got it. Here's how we're going to build, and we've seen this in all different ways, while Donald Trump's out there posting the memes of drone ports and helipads and columns of the White House and behaving with this buffoonery, the world and very sophisticated operators have made sophisticated decisions about creating new world architecture that they could have only dreamed about that's going to make them wealthier, and we're seeing why it's one of the reasons that the Treasury yields are so high, it's because people don't want to buy our bonds anymore, so if they don't want to buy our bonds, the yields are higher because the US has to pay higher returns on those notes to induce people to buy them, and then when Bessent does, "Oh, the bond, buybacks, and I'm going to do this, and I'm going to do that economic D-Day." When you have the Treasury Secretary talking that way, and then behaving so pathetically, the world looks at it and goes, "God it, you're a loser, too." "Oh, my God, it's all filled with losers." I mean, what was the thing that Bessent posted today? After threatening economic D-Day against any country that does business with Iran, any country that does business with Iran, we will make sure that we go after you, so China, Russia. At the bricks, you had this group photo where they were all basically taunting Bessent, and they were all there together, the president of Iran, and all these other world leaders, saying, "We're doing more economic cooperation with Iran." In response to what we saw at bricks, this was Treasury Secretary Bessent's message. Here, pull that up one more time. Treasury Secretary Bessent talks about a whistleblower hotline that you can call, but pull that up if we have the whistleblower hotline one. Anyway, Treasury Secretary Bessent is in the mess area. Treasury launched Operation Economic Outcast to cut off all financial lifelines to the Iranian regime and its enablers. That's why I issued a new call for whistleblowers to come forward with tips about those who facilitate Iran's territory. What the hell are you talking about? You did a tip line. Your economic D-Day is a tip line, and Jordan, even worse than maybe the Trump Braveheart photo, is that you've got Bessent up, you know, Bessent, "Oh, I am the house now." Well, yeah, if you're the house now, Donald Trump's bankrupted casino, so I guess you are the house now. And it just be clown, be clown, be clown. So then compare that to Prime Minister Karni. Let me just show you what Prime Minister Karni was doing and saying earlier. Prime Minister Karni said, "Something's changed over the past year in our country." Canadians, we all know what I'm talking about here, play this clip. Once again, Canadians are coming together. Once again, our ambition is catching up with our potential. Something's changed over the past year in our country. Canadians, we all know what I'm talking about, we feel it everywhere. Canadians are standing united, by and Canadian, confidently choosing a Canadian future. Yeah, we Canada's got that guy and we got Jared Kushner. at some security conference, talking about how. - Errol, as the meme is the meme, as the meaning. Like, I mean, he likes the best impression on the show. - As the mean-a-inner here. - It's a great impression. - As the mean-a-inner here with Russia. (laughing) - I mean, me and Mr. went cough. - Here, just played Kushner, it's crazy biz. Here, play this. - Look, I think right now, from the Ukraine perspective, I mean, President Putin slayed out his line of what he wants to achieve. If Ukraine wanted to withdraw to that line, then obviously, we have the rest of the deal set up and put together a Ukraine. Right now, does not want to do that. And obviously, our job is the mediators to figure out how can we come up with a creative solution that doesn't violate their desires and that helps them achieve their objective and doesn't in a way that we can get Russia to end the conflict in a way that hopefully allows both parties to move forward in their framework that where this doesn't happen again. So, I just, in a bunch of words, and I use the word framework. And so, the set, we've identified the core issue, okay? Russia has told us the case is perfect. - Russia has told us what they want, which is all of Eastern Ukraine, okay? And that Ukraine has told us they don't want to get it. - That was a quick side by side. Who's doing the graphics? - They don't. Ukraine, so, you know, we're gonna come up with a framework to figure this one out, everybody. That's what we figured out with the real central problem is. Russia wants it. Ukraine doesn't want to give up their country. So, we're gonna mediate this. I'm gonna mediate this disc. I'm guys, me and Whitcoff, we're mediators. We're the mediator team. What do you mean you're the mediators? You're the United States. You know what they told you growing up? Don't make funny faces, because your face is gonna end up looking like that room. - Brad, bring up the graphic again. I'm just gonna make for the sake of this. I'm just gonna ignore everything that Kushner said. Every time he speaks, Brad, if you could pull up that graph, it looks like he's got like a sour stomach, is like the nicest way I could put it. Like it always looks like he's gotta go to the bathroom. I've noticed every time he's speaking. And it's kind of what we always say here too. It's like these people, like the Kushners of the world, like the folks in the Trump regime, when they speak, they speak in these weird like intonations and things like that because it's they're so leaving their body as they're speaking. Like you actively see it because they're such sell-outs. I just think about Donald Trump saying in 2024, "I got the best words." - Push it, I gotta know my directions. - Other way, other way. Other way, to your right. - Do you want him behind Kushner? - No, no, no, no, no, it's just so you know, on my screen. And my screen, this puts me-- - We're trying to get bent on a side-by for the audio, or we're trying to get bent on a side-by-side. - We've been over this with the screen flipping though. - I can, well, you know what, the other direction. - You know what, Jordy? - The same way Kushner shouldn't be a mediator. I shouldn't be stage production of the-- - You're perfect. - It took him two years to realize, after Donald Trump, I'm gonna resolve this, I'm gonna resolve it. The central problem seems to be, Linsky doesn't want to surrender. - And Putin wants him to surrender. I just, guys, I just figured this one out, okay? I'm the mediator. Oh, Ivanka, did we take over Albanian Island and turn it into Trump and Steen Island? I mean, first off, this guy, why this guy, again, I go back to, I'm not political messaging, right? If you want the sun and law of a freaking sexual predator loser and a loser's sun and law, you know, to be doing our foreign flag. Why is this guy even like, we shouldn't even accept that this guy is a legitimate human, right? Like, who are you? Like, why are you even here? I'm not, I'm not even just like, it was somewhere and be like, well, what do you think about? I'm not even talking about Kushner. This guy is illegitimate. Who is this guy? This why is this sun and law doing the merit? Where's Marco Rubio, who by the way, while I despise him? At least that's the role of a secretary of state. Why is it that there's a normal protocol at bricks where you have foreign ministers meeting, but we have the sun and law, right? Even in countries that will be like, oh my God, this is a authoritarian country. I don't know, whatever we say about them. They've got their position, their foreign minister are meeting with foreign minister. We've got Trump's scumbag real estate guy from Manhattan, Steve Whitkopf, right, who's part of a world-liberty financial with Donald Trump making hundreds of millions of dollars or millions of dollars. And we've got Donald Trump's sun and law. Again, this is ridiculous. This is not a Democrat talking point. This isn't me political messaging with you. This is freaking ridiculous. But I will show you. I promise I would show you the debate stuff. So I end scene on my cushioner. I mean, just utterly pathetic stuff. - Wait, quick question on the cushion before we go on. Brett, bring up the photo just one more time. Ben, 22-year-old you in mom's basement stuttering for the LSAT, just working away at night, night after night, studying. Do you think, no, no, no. Can you bring up the one of Ben and cushioner? - No, I did delete it that one. - Why are you deleting graphics? We're actively having conversations about their hilarious that you're making. - I'm studying for LSATs, yes. - Do you just like, was this where you thought you'd be? - No, that's why I did it. By the way, this guy is my age. You know, this guy, if you told me right now, Ben, we want you to mediate between these two, I'd be like, what are you talking about? I'm talking about the media. Like, you know what? I'm doing YouTube video, you know? I'm a professor. I like to believe I'm giving educated info. I think I'm well researched and I'm giving the right facts. I'm running a media. Why is this guy anywhere near anything like this? This is, and it's just making, by the way, this is precisely why Putin wanted with Coffin Kushner, Putin picked his mediators because you've got literally Jim Carrey's Dumb and Dumber movie of these two people out there and their very presence, even at these conferences, is a massive damage to the United States, even more than missiles, you know, hitting the East West pipeline. These people are weapons of mass destruction to the reputation and credibility because it's like, oh really, we got to deal with a weak Coffin Kushner. I think they said weak Coffin Kushner. What are you talking about? You know, when I used to mediate high profile cases, you would know the seriousness of which the mediation was being taken by who was sent to the mediation, right? Like, it would tell you before you went, oh God it. They don't have like the right level insurance carrier and their board represented. It's not gonna be a well worth it mediation. They're just here to tap me along. That would happen. You send Kushner and Whitcoff. I mean, imagine what Zelinsky has to deal with, oh really? And then from Putin's perspective, it's like, (laughs) God, Whitcoff's gonna come in and glaze me and tell me how great I am. And what a memorable day this is gonna be just because he was invited to the Kremlin. And this is what Putin wanted. What Putin's dream was was to establish Russia in the position before the Cold War ended and to establish Russia as a world player. And I saw Poland's foreign minister today basically say, and that dream will never be a reality. And that is, NATO will always be united. You know what I'm thinking to myself? Okay, I mean, I don't know, is it nice to say those things like we should be objective about it? NATO is not united. NATO has never been less united. The main member of NATO is attacking NATO. So don't act like NATO is united. I mean, there are some NATO supreme commanders and people in the military leadership level at NATO that still do their best to pretend that NATO's around and they'll do the exercises and the drills. But let's be real. You think anybody is gonna actually invoke article four and five and that Donald Trump's gonna agree, come on. That's just the reality. What are we talking about here? It's sad to see that happen, but that's the reality. Right, let me do less Kushner impressions and let me land this plane, if you will. Not a Atari plane, let me land the Midas plane. Let me show you what happened during the debate between the Maggi Republican incumbent from Alaska, Dan Sullivan, when he's debating against the democratic candidate for that Senate seat, Mary Peltola and Mary is someone who knows a lot. Like you know the people who know the issues of the community. You're like, she is Alaska, you're Alaska. And so what would happen was that the debate moderator would ask pretty basic questions but sound complex if you're not from Alaska about, you know, what do you think about the migratory fishery? What do you think about that? Whatever the issues were, right? And then dude, Republican would look at her like the guy who would be cheating off the person on an examination elementary school. He'd look to see what she said. And he would steal her answers during the debate. Let me show you what went down here, play. - Do the North Pacific Fishery Management Council and no fisheries adequately consider impacts on subsistence users, salmon migration, habitat, and indigenous ways of life. - She holds up no, he looks over, notices her answer, gives the same one. - We have two nows, thank you. - And that's, you know, that's ridiculous. That's disqualifying. You know, I know people laugh, but like, that's your economy. Dude, how could you even, not because Republican Democrat, how could you fathom electing dude who doesn't know basic issues about your economy and he had to look and cheat to get the answer. It's like the same thing, like with the Trump stuff, I don't even approach it as a Republican Democrat. He's not even a Republican. I don't even know why he's a Trump. He's a Trump party Trump Trump. That's all it is is Trump. And you know, you like that, that's not something that he doesn't know America. He doesn't know what's happening. You know, what did he say about interest rates, which are likely going to be hiked in the next 48 hours, by the way, when we were expecting three interest rate cuts, the markets priced in multiple interest rate hikes now, which is going to make it much more difficult for people to afford homes and things are going to get much more difficult for people. But what do you say? I know the formulas, I'm the best with formulas, Donald Trump said it, I'm the best with, what do you mean you're the best with formulas? Will you say that? You're dumb. What do you mean you're the best with formulas? Stupidest shit in the world. Like, that's it. You say you're the best with full. I know oil better than everybody. I know interest rates better than anybody. I know it's better than everybody. It's better than everybody. I know this better than everybody. You don't, you don't, you know, worse than anybody. You don't know what you're talking about. You really don't. You're an idiot and you're a malicious idiot, which makes it equally worse. And you see why he's bankrupted casinos. You see why? I mean, Treasury Secretary best. I'm the house now, bet against me, if you will. Yeah, people bet against Donald Trump when he ran casinos. The house always lost with Donald Trump. But I digress, but let me take you out of this episode with Maga Republican Senator from Kansas, Roger Marshall at the Kansas State Fair. And he's debating against this guy, Adam Hamilton. Guy, I never even heard of Frank. I should have known more about this guy. But he's a pastor over there. He's a great, I mean, he knows the state very, very well. I hadn't even seen that many, I'm just going to be honest when I know stuff and I don't. I watched this state fair and I was like, woof. I was mad at myself for not paying more attention to this. I was focused on a lot. I'm focused on Iowa and Ohio and Michigan and Florida and Texas and Maine. And you know, in all these South Carolina, I think could be a sleeper Democratic Senate pickup. But I wasn't paying attention to Kansas. And I should have because Roger Marshall, the Maga Senator right now, New York Times in an expose. This guy, when he was an OB-GYN, an obstetrician, gynecologist, he would like sue his patients, and not like one, 700 patients. Dude, dude, how do you even sue 700 patients? It's a crazy number. And he would wage-garnish them. He would bring him to court. He would screw their credit if they didn't pay 100 bucks or 150 bucks. And so that's who we're dealing with. And this guy's like, we love the tariffs here in Kansas. We love them. What do you mean you love them? It's screwing people in Kansas. When Donald Trump even says, you know, we're going to, we're going to bankrupt Bumbardi A. You may want to check there's a massive Bumbardi A plant in Kansas. And they use more American parts than Gulfstream does. You know, so this guy's like, the tariffs are working. They're not working objectively. They're not working, stop it. They're not working at all. They're failing as everybody said they were going to fail. Just because the one month after Donald Trump announced Liberation Day, it didn't totally get destroyed. Things take time. It wasn't, now we're seeing the inflation. So we're seeing all the things that experts warned about. They're happening. They're not hoaxes, right? The whole thing Donald Trump said, I'm the hoax buster. That was Trump's voice. I'm the hoax buster. AI is a hoax, he posted. Data center is a hoax. You know, that's just the golden goose. I love flock cameras, not flock camera hoax, data center hoax, AI hoax. Just so you all know, I'm not being hyperbolic. Donald Trump said, people who are worried that AI could be harmful, that's a hoax. People who are worried that data centers are harmful, that's a hoax. People who are worried that flock cameras will intrude on your privacy. That's a hoax. He said that. He wrote that. He said these comments. If you want that, I'm not going to political message you. If you want to be treaded on, and to be treated this way, then I wish you. I wish you the best. I don't always say, as I read it in chief, Ron Philip Kowski says, Trump likes flock cameras, data centers, deregulated AI, new far and wars, no carbon standards for call and gas power plants, crypto scams, selling pardons and covering up the Epstein files to protect himself and his wealthy cronies. But maga cultists think he cares about them. If you like this shit, I'm not going to convince you at this point. Yeah, I'm not going to show you an ad and move you two points to the right. If you really like this world, good luck, I truly don't know how you brush your teeth in the morning. I don't know how you get it. I don't know how you do your day. If you look at it, I truly wonder how you go about your day. But I actually don't want to get into the depths of that depravity. So I wish you the best at this point. Good luck. I'm not trying to convince you about enjoy, enjoy whatever this is in any event. Let me play you out with what happened at this debate. It's the Republican incumbent, Dr. Roger Marshall. Yeah, I guess I just asked the audience, who do you want solving this problem? The tariffs are a disaster for everyone across the state of Kansas, whether you realize it or not. Look, these tariffs are working. We are expanding our export markets because of them. We love Kansas. People live here. After I'm elected Senate, I'm not going to sell my house and move to Florida as you do. Oh, a social media myth made by the social media Nazis as well. The average cost of gasoline has been less than a President Trump than it was under Joe Biden. You can look it up. You can fact check me as well. If you love $6 a gallon diesel fuel, you can thank Roger Marshall. He's supported this. He told us to tighten our belts because this was the cost of being safe in America. We were supposed to be out of this war after four weeks, maybe six weeks, where six months in. With all the people in the room that I ran, one I ran to have a nuclear weapon raise your hand for me. Does anybody in this room want to have a nuclear weapon? Well, last year, when you voted for the one big beautiful bill, you gave $30 billion in tax cuts to data centers. You may not agree with me on everything, but you're going to know exactly where I stand. Because snap benefits are being taken away by you. And you're saying they all have fraud. We're talking about 18,000 children in Kansas who lost their snap benefits under his leadership. And I work hand in hand with Bobby Kennedy to help bring these make America healthy again. Topics back. And courage is when you stand up to your President and your party and you say, this is hurting people back home and you say it, even if your President is going to bully you, pick on you, primary you and call your names. And still say, this is not okay. Thank you. And then of course, I mean, it speaks for itself as we would say in the law. I'm going to do a longer video on this so I didn't cover it in extensive detail on this episode. So watch the longer detail. But the Supreme Court officially denied Donald Trump's emergency request to restrict mail and ballots for midterm elections, Alito and Thomas, dissented. And this was what we predicted was going to happen this morning. Do you remember the video? I made this morning and I was saying, this is the reason why you had judge Carl Nichols, the Trump appointed judge, issued that 1230 AM ruling in the DC district court blocking Donald Trump's mail ballot scheme where Trump was going to change the barcodes and have a Trump voter list. I said, he wanted to send, you know, this is Trump appointed judge wanted to send a signal that this was a bipartisan blocking of Trump's unlawful conduct, right? And so you had judge Tellwani, the Massachusetts district court judge and Obama appointed blocked it. Now we have the Trump appointee district court judge block it. So an Obama judge and a Trump judge blocked it, right? And so then it also, I think, gave a little bit more cover to this right wing Supreme Court to be like, here's our ruling. And then Trump can't really look, it was a right wing, it was a left wing Obama thing. So that's why I said, I believe that judge was doing this at 1230 AM. So we'll leave with that. We'll leave with that positive news. Brett and Jordan, you agree? I agree. I always get to end on a positive note. Donald Trump being smacked down by the Supreme Court, a very, very, very important ruling. And it's good to see that and excited to see your longer take on that then. All right. Sounds good. Appreciate you. Oh, John Kushner. The Kushner, the Kushner face, I was skeptical at first, because I don't know if I saw the video. I think that could be fine. I think we could better. And I saw you, you conflagrated it. Yeah, you're perfect. You're perfect. You're perfect. Conflagration. Oh, boy. All right. Everybody appreciate you. Get WTWT have America pre-utters now. Reuse pre-order it. For just for an honor of the various faces, I put it all on the line right there. So it's a permanent damage to his face. For permanent damages. As my parents would tell me growing up, my face may stay like, push your face. You may get stuck like that. I may get stuck like, push to his face. So if I get stuck, this is all I got. This is all I get. Thanks, everybody. Shout out to the Midas Mighty. [Music] Before you go, our book WTF America is available for pre-order now. It's the story of how we got here and how we fight our way back. To pre-order, scan the QR code or click the link in the description. Let's do this!