Thursday Afternoon Breaking Updates with Ben 8/20/26

Welcome to Ben on Breaking News. I'm Ben Myseles. This is your breaking news. We're going to talk about Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Pessence, market manipulation, failing the Treasury yields, which they tried to manipulate with bond buybacks. Well, that failed yesterday. There was a $4 billion bond buyback scheme announced that temporarily reduced the 10, 20, 30 year yields now that it's been exposed as what we always know. It is an act of desperation. We're seeing the Treasury yields rise even higher gas prices, again, hitting historic highs, regular gas. But also you take a look at diesel approaching $200, a barrel, the average price of diesel over $5.50. And I know lots of people pay attention to gas prices, which are record highs, pay attention to diesel as well. I mean, that's going to impact freight. It's going to impact agriculture. It's going to impact trucking. It's going to impact everything. So we're going to be focused on that as well. But I'll tell you what went up yesterday, the crypto bros were in the White House. You got the Winkle Loves. And you've got all of Donald Trump's crypto bros who Donald Trump says, look how handsome these men are. Well, crypto went up Bitcoin was up about 78%. And the same people who basically left the retail holders of the crypto holding the bag, wait until the prices dropped. And now with all of the uncertainty, that price of Bitcoin is going back up. I wonder what they were talking with Donald behind scenes. I wonder, you know, as Donald Trump is crashing our economy. If they came up with a scheme together, Donald Trump and the crypto bros that is in order to now manipulate that market. What's Donald Trump doing while the American people are suffering? DC grand pre. Oh, yeah, that's what everybody's focused on. DC grand pre indie cars go in hundreds of miles an hour around Washington DC. Here's what you go. Here's what you get American people like, what is this? We don't want any of this. You ripped away our health care. You've made the cost of living way more challenging than it even was before people are barely holding on bankruptcies, personal bankruptcies business bankruptcies farm bankruptcies hitting an all time high, but folks let them watch Donald Trump. Do DC grand pre that the taxpayers have to pay for that nobody actually actually wants. By the way, like it's cool. If you like grand pre, if you like UFC, if you like these things, I'm not like hating on that on grand pre, I just we don't need our taxpayer dollars to fund these cars going around Washington DC in a propaganda fest, especially when our country is suffering. The people here are suffering and Donald Trump's plan with Iran. I'm the first earlier this week was I'm going to just do nothing and that is going to harm Iran and they're going to give up. We've been sanctioning Iran for decades with some of the harshest sanctions. What are you going to do, Donald? Economic D day, he says that's what I'm going to do. Anybody who does business with Iran, we're coming after. Okay, well, what about China? Maybe not them. What about Russia? Maybe not them. So nobody we're going to do. What's the game plan here, Donald? What about Pakistan? Maybe not them. Okay, that's that's where Donald Trump's over there. Meanwhile, Donald Trump continues to praise Kim Jong Un, North Korea. We know that Donald Trump has a love fest with Kim Jong Un. He announced again while he's also making grand pre announcements that we are no longer doing military exercises with South Korea. I did a video earlier today from the president of South Korea. It's like, alright, goodbye. See you later. Sounds good. We found out about this via social media post is what the president of South Korea said understand all good. That's how that's how Donald Trump the peacemaker does it social media post. Okay, we don't really think we need you in South Korea also. So look forward to us just taking care of our own security needs and South Korea's president, president Lee meeting with Wang Yi of China, China's foreign minister. Melania's surface. I'm here. Everybody. She says I'm Melania's here. Melania just held a press conference for the grand pre where she got a helmet. Melania got a helmet everybody from the grand pre racers. That's what Americans are saying on we can't wait to hear Melania's coming out with the lost chapters of her documentary on Amazon that nobody cared about. Well, now there are the lost chapters everybody. Wow, what wonder what's in those chapters that'll be a fascinating fascinating watch Melania. I mean, can you believe this dystopian absolute shit show? I mean, Jesus. Well, and again, it isn't here's here's the thing everyone's like all senator not everybody, but like people trying to make. The idea of Senator Asaf calling out Donald Trump's bizarre whatever you want to call it with Natalie Harp, you know, like that's not nice to Natalie. That's not nice. Okay, okay, first off, just setting the Natalie things like, okay, okay, Donald Trump is a sexual predator. Okay, it's been found civilly liable for sexual assault. The guys on audio bragging about sexually assaulting women because he says he's rich and they let you do it when you are rich. Okay, Donald Trump is on audio bragging about going into the locker rooms and beauty pageants and looking at the girls naked because he says I get to inspect them when I own the pageants. Okay, so spare me, Senator Asaf mentioning Natalie, but he didn't just say, oh, did you see Natalie Natalie and Donald sitting in a tree? That's not what he did. He said Donald Trump's out there with Natalie flying around objectively true, flying around in a Cotari jet that is apparently defenseless as the American, this is the most important part. As the American people are suffering as the American people are having there and have had their health care ripped away as the American people are seeing their jobs be lost. They've tapped out of tapping into their life savings and they don't have any more money, consumer confidence at a historical low. And while all of this is going on, Donald Trump's out there doing grand prix and golden ballrooms and hiding in catering containers with Natalie while the American people suffer, it's one of the things that I think Senator Asaf does such a good job at. That he brings these this is what we try to do at the Midas Touch Network. It's not look if Donald Trump was a shitty billionaire who ran off with people like Natalie and behavior, would we like would I want to be friends with that individual? No. Okay, I wouldn't want to be friends with them. Would I devote my time to calling that person out? Probably not. I mean, why, why would I? I mean, you know, and also what you do in your private life, you can do in your private life. That's, you know, my view is government stay out. I'm not you do what you got to do. As long as you're not hurting people, as long as it's consensual, as long as you're behaving, responsive, do what you want. I'm not, I'm not a prior. Okay. I'm not a gym, you know, by the way, all these magas are. And then when you actually put a not even a magnifying glass when you look at what they're doing, it's, you know, absolutely horrific. But, but the issue is that these people have positions of power. Natalie is in some random person. Natalie's holding and using Trump's phone to communicate with world leaders. Okay, this isn't like a random person. She's Donald Trump's gatekeeper apparently. She's with them at all of these meetings where decisions are being made to destroy American alliances, to destroy the American economy for Trump to enrich himself. She's there. She's whatever you want to call her the sidekick, the side, whatever you want, whatever you want to say. She's by his side. While this is going on, she's being paid by us, apparently, by the taxpayers. And these are people who are causing harm to the American people. These are, no, defenseless. No, no, these are people causing harm to Americans who are frankly defenseless against the malicious incompetence of the Trump regime. And we're going to call that out. So, yeah, Melania, surfacing, but I also want to talk about I think some good news this week as well, not just focus on the bad news. Big Democrat win in Pennsylvania's 12th state house representative race in a plus 18 Trump state house district in Pennsylvania. The Democratic candidate had a big win there in a plus 18 district flipping that 19 point swing. It's a really big deal in my opinion and it continues the trend that we've seen of Democrats overperforming the polling by on average 12.5% and overperformance that we've seen frequently and I think you have lots of mega people who are very concerned about that heading into the midterms chief among them you have Kevin McCarthy saying we're in a lot of trouble come the midterms. Let's talk about all this stuff. Let's talk about a previewed it right there. We'll show you what went down moments ago. You have Melania Trump emerging as though we we don't we didn't care that you weren't in public view Melania we were just pointing out how bizarre it is you know so she comes like I am here everybody I heard you missed me here I am no nobody nobody nobody really missed you we frankly don't really care about you we just think this whole cabal that's going on at the White House is freaking an oddity while the American people are suffering so here she is let's play this moment so go good afternoon I am here everybody here I am everybody let's play good afternoon I heard you missed me here I am welcome to the White House a war here I am so funny Melania so she so she's so so inspiring I'm so inspired by Melania and then she's got a lot of inspiring words for everybody like look at these incredible gorgeous powerful race car America America this is what I think about the red wine and blue this this is this is the American dream everybody here play this clip bantant and finally look at this incredible race car gorgeous and powerful I'm sure we cannot wait to see its start its engine good luck to all of the drivers and teams on Sunday's race oh did you see it fostering the future it's on the race car the level of just performative stuff okay just do just help that the while it's on the race car everybody that's what you know it's really going to help the foster children this indie race by putting foster the children on the race car that's and then focusing on not the underlying systemic issues that need actual change in the foster care system which the Trump regime has gutted by the way but to say what the important is investment accounts we need to make sure that the foster children are heavily invested in the S&P 500 as children so that we can keep this Ponzi scheme Trump economy going by having that money get diverted to the companies that Donald Trump has in his portfolio and then you had the kind of grand prix people say we are now have a gift for you Melania it was gifts like why are they getting gifts we are giving you a race car helmet here play this clip and Scott if the first lady come up you have something special for the drivers to present to the first lady what what are we clapping for what what what the hell is this WTF America's my wake up and I say W what the hell what the hell is that okay but then you know earlier this morning the American people are deeply concerned about we're all very concerned about gas prices they say the national average is over four dollars a gallon out here in California it's six bucks I don't know what it is by you diesel out here in California seven bucks which that impacts you to because California is the biggest agriculture state and so when diesel seven dollars what where do you think that's gonna get passed on to and who's gonna get passed on to their consumer of course it is but I'm sure in your states diesels probably similar gas is probably closer to six dollars than four dollars in your state as well like it is here in California mortgage rates I mean are unattainable people don't have the savings to even possibly consider buying a home right now in the United States people are struggling to pay their rent right now but this is the the the Trump messaging and Jeremy I don't need to play this whole clip right here in Monica Crowley because everybody will get the point but with all of this going on the media blitz today by the Trump regime was Indie car racing was Indie car racing and then I did a video on it the other day on state regime media Fox Jesse Waters big segment was talking to college ladies caught young college girls on the beach wearing bikinis and asking them about the first amendment or asking them and and and asking them about it we'll play we'll play both of them Jeremy the first one I want to play is 25 Indie car so let's play this one yes you know the president really promised the American people the greatest and most monumental celebration in our nation's history to mark our 250th birthday and that's exactly what he's delivered including this weekend which will really be our last major 250 celebratory event which is the Indie car Freedom 250 Grand Prix race you know the last time Washington DC saw a race of this kind Thomas Jefferson was president and it was America's 25th birthday back in of course we all remember the Thomas Jefferson Grand Prix race we all remember that just certainly more from Monica Crowley right here talking about you know let's let's pull in the one these people are completely delusional Jeremy let's play I mean there's hard power and as we know America is a champion of hard power we're seeing it exercised by this president all over the world but soft power is just as important and this is the kind of soft diplomacy that we're engaged in every single day it is about showing the world what America is really all about our freedoms are free enterprise system our system of government government and the kind of leadership an American strength that is demonstrated every single day by this president so that kind of soft power exercise is tremendously important in all of the people who came here over the summer for the FIFA World Cup for our 250 and who are now here for the Indie car Freedom 250 Grand Prix they will go back home to their home countries as we have seen and preach the gospel of America I really had tremendously American people are and what an extern seriously you want to talk about soft power and hard power soft power the U.S. dismantled USAID the U.S. has treated every country in the world like absolute crap other than North Korea and Russia and perhaps China as Donald Trump is a bootlicker of Kim Jong-un Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin I'm going to talk about hard power the U.S. got its ass kicked from Iran in a war that Donald Trump pretends that we control the straight of Hormuz you got another Barack repeat article out this week from Axios the U.S. has opened up a stealth route through the straight of Hormuz a stealth route not so stealthy when you publish it we're bringing in half or maybe even 60% as much oil as we did before the war started well that wouldn't be good if true but that's not true it's just an absolute lie if it was true then what are we if we are bringing in all this oil then why isn't it being reflected in the data if why is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve a tank bottom okay let's just accept the mark in what they're trying to do okay so you're saying that all this oil is being brought in but also what's up with the market so you're actually if that's true then y'all are extra dumb no the truth is is that there's no stealthy route we know the route it's bioman Iran knows the route and every other day Iran strikes a tanker there are some ships that get through the southern route bioman and the straight of Hormuz but not 10 million barrels a day thought the lying is just so stupid and it also signals to Iran just how desperate Trump is how A week he is around nose, you don't think they know. in Iran that were at tank bottom, that Iran can wait this out and the treasury yields will continue to rise. Why do you think Becint made the move that he did yesterday, which by the way, we did a detailed analysis with Midas' touch chief economist Justin Wolffers about the bond buyback scheme. I hope it was helpful to hear the way we broke it down because oftentimes you hear about these things and it's inaccessible, it's like what are they talking about, what the hell are they talking about, right? But you had Becint to manipulate the market to bring down the treasury yields by doing a bond buyback scheme of $4 billion but then signaling to the market to manipulate it that the treasury would potentially do yield curve control or potentially take broader steps beyond the $4 billion buyback. So for a short period of time, the market was manipulated. But as I've said before, and you know a constant theme I talk about when it comes to using the reflecting pool as the bigger metaphor of this Trump regime, you could paint a blue for a little bit, but the algae always comes back, right? You could pretend you've solved the issue with a miracle cure. You could call it American flag blue, you could attack Biden and Obama, you could try to scapegoat this person or that person or blame this person. The algae always comes back unless you actually fix the problem and Donald Trump's a guy who's a fraud his whole life. And so what does he do? He defraud's people. These are all these are schemes. These are Bernie made off like schemes done at a much grander scale. So the market today said, bullshit bullshit. That's what they said today. The markets treasury yield surged higher than they were yesterday. I'm sure there were arbitragers who made that money, though, who made the market manipulation money. Not you or me are most Americans, but I'm sure they were the same way. Bessent when he engaged in the bailout of the end. Remember, remember two weeks ago, the end bailout, the Japanese yen bailout. Well, that didn't work. The end continues to decry, it worked for a day, worked for a day. We sold euros and converted them into yen without telling the European Central Bank. First time we did a swap like that and not alert another central bank, especially the European Central Bank, worked for a day. But then guess what happened? The algae always comes back. You've got the end crashing yet again. And the Japanese are going to have to do what we fear they were going to do sell US treasuries are the biggest holder of our treasuries. And what's that going to do to the yields? Up, up, up, up, up. And what does that do to our debt? Up, up, up. What does it do to our deficit increase, increase, increase? Because we now have to pay interest on that debt at these higher rates. And that is deeply problematic. $1.3 trillion a year has to be paid in interest now on this paper that foreign holders don't really want to hold anymore. As Carl King to Nea posts and he's citing an economist here, it's like disconnecting the smoke alarm so they can keep playing with the matches. I mean, the United States is behaving. I think there was someone who says, did you have this meme Jeremy where they were showing peasant like trying to put out all these fires, we may not have it. But it's like the US is behaving like 1980 set. Yeah, here it is right here. How Lars Christianson says, I'm getting a lot of emerging markets vibe with peasant and it's not Poland in 2006. It's Bolivia in 1986. Best in trying to decide whether to intervene in treasury, currency or energy markets today. And this dude is failing and he is flailing. And I don't like being right in these things. I don't like being right. But I hope when you go back and you think about our discussions together and the things I was saying two months ago. That, you know, haters of might as touch would tell you, always being hyperbolic. These things aren't going to happen and they don't know what to do. I don't worry about don't call them fascists. I hope you see that, you know, we were right about these things. And I was warning about these things because they were pretty freaking obvious. And you had all this, you had all of this kind of corporate news day loose, whether it was Axios or Politico or this one or that. Donald Trump said, the straight up hormones is open. We have a super secret route. We're making progress. Things are going amazing. Iran's not going to last another two days. Oh, it's going to be great. We've never been stronger. peasant figured it out. He's you don't underestimate peasant. Shut up. We know what's going on. All right, let's take our first quick break of the day. Quick reminder. Make sure you all subscribe to the YouTube channel. Get your copy of WTF America, the book that I wrote with my brothers, it comes out October 20th, 2026 pre-order it now. Also, I did a long interview this morning. I was up early speaking with Anthony Scaramucci. I joined his podcast this morning. We spoke for about an hour. Check that out. I think that's going to go up. They're going to put that on audio soon as well. I was interviewed by Scaramucci. I think we talk the book where's the book right there, right there. All right. Thanks everybody. We'll take our first quick break of the show. Before continuing one quick PSA for the Midas mighty when it comes to Medicare, most Medicare agents push Medicare advantage plans, even when they're not right for you because they make more money doing it. That's why we strongly recommend you do what thousands in our audience have already done. Speak with chapter, please. They don't just share the amazing benefits of Medicare advantage. They explain the pros and cons of all your Medicare options, original Medicare, Medicare supplement, Medicare advantage and party. 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Excite OSA is an FDA-cleared prescription only device for primary snoring and mild obstructive sleep apnea, not for everyone individual results. Very risks and benefits at spring sleep dot com. Welcome back to Ben on breaking news. I'm Ben Mycelis and this is your breaking news. Show you a treasury secretary, Besant was saying earlier today held a press conference outside of the White House. He was asked why why oils going up so much. Besant, you told us we're going to get this under control or any promise and something with the two in front of it by now. So Besant goes, we got a spike in oil prices today that I don't really understand. He says, I don't really understand it here. Let's play this clip. We got a spike in oil prices today that I don't really understand. You know, our announcement is for economic action. And I think that the economic action will mean that oil prices will come down sooner. Hi, you don't understand it. I mean, I think actually most Americans do understand it. We are in a catastrophic war that the U.S. lost. We went in there with Netanyahu, a genocidal war criminal. We started slaughtering little girls in Minab, in the mayor and other areas. The Epstein class slaughtered little girls in Iran. The United States blew up 30,000 other sites in Iran. Iran maintained its leadership structure, took control over the strait of Hormuz. Everybody predicted that they would. And the U.S. has since then under Donald Trump's completely failed and utter deranged and demonic leadership. It has fake conversations where he makes fake deals up with himself. And as I said before the break, the algae always comes back. You can't hide it. You can, I mean, you know, because the U.S. led the post-World War II architecture, okay, that's not a minor thing. You know, it's not like building a shitty Donald Trump building or something, you know, with, you know, not the best material and then pretending it's great and whatever. That's not what it is. This is post-World War II security architecture, right? Remember we used to like watch the history channel or you watch the World War II videos and you would see American generals and you would see American presidents, right? You'd see FDR, you'd see Truman, post-World War II, you would see eyes and how or you would see all of these people, you know, speaking in carefully worded statements and, you know, let's be clear, the post-World War II architecture had lots of problems. It was not perfect for the entire world. It wasn't perfect for the United States. I'm not out here saying, look how great everything was. It was so amazing. I'm simply saying that the architecture that was created with America as the leader was intended to benefit America. And Donald Trump viewed that as not enough that it had to be more that we were being exploited by the countries who had to deal with American military bases in their countries and bought our stuff, which would ultimately go to America, so the architecture is hard to unravel but Trump did it. He managed to do it in two years. I mean, you know, it's didn't do it the first year, but he definitely eroded the architecture. And right now it's like America, it's embarrassing. It is truly if you use a modicum of logic and you have a threshold where you actually feel shame and humiliation. Like you should genuinely be humiliated at what America is in the world right now. It's a shameful thing. And you can say that as a patriotic American who hopes to one day restore the dignity and restore trust and restore predictability in it. But what Donald Trump has created is the way people would look at the Trump organizations in the 80s and the 90s and before the apprentice, ugh, the f, the f, that guy is a piece of shit. That's what people would say in New York about this guy. That's like the United States of America. That's what we've become. Excuse me. That's what people would say about Trump. You know, this is a guy who was a wrecking ball to so many people's lives. That's what America becomes. So Treasury Secretary Besson, this is a confusion. Why did the oil price spike? I don't know. Maybe because we got less oil. Again, I'm not sure why the Mickey Mouse voice. Maybe because we're not bringing 10 million barrels out there, Treasury Secretary Besson. Maybe that's why. Okay. No, wait, wait, wait, wait. We're really shocked. We're not bringing 10 million barrels a day. We don't control the straight of her moves. And despite Donald Trump posting, that's my new coping mechanism. I do Mickey impressions about how ridiculous our country has become. It just comes out of nowhere too. That can't control it. That's just Mickey. I can't draw. I'll stop doing Mickey impressions. US does not control the straight of her moves. Iran controls the straight of her moves. Bob Bell-Mondob straight Red Sea. The Houthis can effectively run a blockade as it relates to Saudi tankers, which is what they're doing right now. Trump said he would solve Russia's war against Ukraine in 24 hours. That didn't happen. And Ukraine is now striking hard, deep in Russia. Refineries there. Tankers in the water, right? Black Sea, Vazov. Russian takers getting hit. Russia striking hard in Ukraine. Russia strikes in key last night. Jeremy, do we have the video of the Russia strikes in key last night? Ukraine doesn't have. And there it is. You see what you're watching right there are these strikes. Ukraine doesn't have interceptors. So Russia's ballistic missiles can strike whenever they want at this point. Nothing Ukraine can do about it. Because Trump promised Zelensky we're going to get you an interceptor or get you interceptor licenses. Trump ran out of interceptors for the United States of America regardless. He's not even going to give Zelensky the license. But a ton of people killed in Ukraine yesterday. And we're heading to the winter. And Russia's been building up its ballistics. It's cruise missiles. It's Shahids. Who do you think is helping Russia with that? Who do you think something? North Korea. Iran. China. I can't say it is what it is. That's just that's just the reality. A lot of the as Donald Trump says North Korea has done nothing harmful. Why would we in South Korea be hostile to North Korea? Dude, in the past 12 hours since Donald Trump made that statement, Kim Jong-un launched about 10 ballistic missiles right around Japan. And said we are not changing our position about South Korea, Japan, or the United States because of Donald Trump's post. Kim Jong-un sister who has a top military position in North Korea said we're not talking to Donald. We don't know what he's even talking about. Kim Yo-jong said she's unaware of any recent communication between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump. It means like a humiliation ritual. Donald Trump just pretending he's like talking with authoritarians who he like dreams about. It's freaking weird, man. And you know what, if you go and watch the interview I did with SCARAMUCH, I said I said MOUCH. I said this guy is just a, this guy is just a loser. I said there's so much to criticize obviously. And I would never want an authoritarian in our country. I want democracy. I want empathy. I want dignity. I want civil rights. I want equality. You know the values and principles we talk about here. But the part to me that's undeniable is that this regime is a regime of loser. These are loser, these are loser people. These are lifelong losers who are just bad people and they're horrible at doing that. They're horrible at even being authoritarian. There's bad. And I watch them. I'm like the hell are they doing? What the hell are they doing? The hell is this? You know, you watch Brooke Rollins, she's asked, is affordability becoming a test? This is on Newsmax. On whether the Trump administration can deliver on its economic promise. I think she answered this question. Do you think she said, well, we understand that the American people are deeply concerned. So we're going to be rolling out specific plan X, Y, and Z to make things less expensive or I'm going to be Joe Biden did it. Joe Biden did it. A or B. Let's find out. Let's play it. With the midterms approaching, how do you see this playing out? Is food affordability really becoming a test of whether the Trump administration can deliver on its economic promises? No affordability, you know, I think continues to be a key conversation as it should be, but I think we have to put this all into context. And certainly on the food side, which is what we look are looking at at USDA, protecting the food supply number one, but affordability as well. Under Joe Biden, the cost of food went up almost 25%. I mean, this is what we're battling against right now. Under Trump, we are right at the 20 year average, which is around 2 to 3%. just Joe Biden's fault. August 20th, 2026. Joe Biden's fault. Really the guy who ran, now I'm referring to Trump, on I will lower the costs on day one, your electricity bills will be cut in half. Everybody will get $5,000 doge dividend checks. Groceries will all be super cheap. It'll be so easy to afford a home. You're not going to even know what to do with it. You're going to be so rich, it'll be so easy to afford a home. Of course, I'll be able to stop Russia's war in Ukraine in 24 hours. Gas will be $2 a gallon. You're really, really? So that guy couldn't fix it. But he said, I alone can fix it. I alone can, all right, best and best and best and best. You got better answers than Brooke Rollins, right? Treasury Secretary, right now our national debt has exceeded $40 trillion. $40 trillion. We're paying $1.3 trillion a year right now in interest on that debt. What's the deal? How did this happen? Is that a can we be concerned about it? Let's listen to what Treasury Secretary Bessent had to say, played his clip. And remember, we did not get here in a day that we were left with a mess. The Biden administration had the highest deficit to GDP in history when we weren't at war or weren't in a recession. For 2025, we brought it down by more than a percent. Okay, really? So that's Biden's fault too. You do realize that 35% to 40% of all of that debt comes from comes from your boy. It comes from Donald. Where do you think it was coming from? Where do you think it comes from his first term? Miss term? And by the way, should we say that the debt did go up under Biden? Biden ate the president. Biden dropped out. So under your logic, Trump should drop out. Let's just assume they're right. Biden, Biden Biden Biden. Okay, well, Biden dropped out. So Trump should drop out. If you're saying Biden as your shield of Trump, Biden dropped out. That's I guess the logical conclusion, right? That's seems logical to me. But let's also be real. Under former president Biden, who's messed that he have to inherit? Trump's first term, he inherited a prosperous economy from Obama and he screwed it up by the time he was done with it. He handed former president Biden piece of crap economy with COVID-Raging, with shipping destroyed, with the disastrous way PPP was dealt with, where like hundreds of billions of dollars were just like lost, we're just like lost by the Trump regime. They didn't actually hit the American people, went to lots of rich people. But I need only show Donald Trump running for office in 2015. And this was Donald Trump. Now that we know the US debt reached 40 trillion, Donald Trump once warned of the dangers of reaching a debt level of 20 trillion or 24 trillion. That's the point of no return. He said, when he ran in 2015, here's what he said here, play this clip. Because we really do have to get going. Because if we have another three or four years, you know, we're 18 trillion now, we're soon going to be at 20 trillion. According to the economist, who I'm not big believers in, but nevertheless, this is what they're saying, that 24 trillion, we're very close. 24 trillion dollars. We will be there soon. That's when we become Greece. That's when we become a country that's unsalvageable. And we're going to be there very soon. We're going to be there very soon. That's when we become 1987 Bolivia or Argentina or an emerging market as I discussed earlier. And again, I don't know how anybody watches that and sees where we're at now and doesn't go, what a freaking con artist. What a piece of, I don't know how you don't really don't. I don't know how you don't look at that and go just get angry. I also don't know how you look at that and go, man, this guy has cognitively and physically rotted away. I mean, what the hell is you compare him now to there. I mean, it's still a bunch of nonsense back then, but looked like a different human being. All right, let's take our last break. WTF. Let's think our last break of the show. Reminder QR code right there pre-order WTF America. I want to keep the presale momentum going. Let's keep it going. Let's take our last quick break of the show. Get your copy. I've been a Magic Spoon fan for a while, and now they've basically figured out how to take that same idea and turn it into a snack that you could bring anywhere. 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Jordy negotiates actual deals, not concept of deals, not frameworks deals with our sponsors. In order to bring them to you, so put the discount code in the description below. By now, I'm sure you've seen the clips of Darlene Graham, Lindsey Graham's sister, who for reasons that are inexplicable to me, and probably more inexplicable to people who don't live in the United States, is now a United States senator, simply because she's Lindsey Graham's sister. She was appointed. What kind of system do we have here? WTF. And at the debate, she was asked a pretty basic question about Taiwan. What do you think about Taiwan? Threats around Taiwan. And her response is, I don't really know anything about Taiwan. I'm going to be honest. I don't really know anything about foreign affairs, she said. And then I think even perhaps worse than her is like, I know she got a lot of crap for saying that. But then you had her opponent, who is Ralph Norman. And like, I get Ralph Norman answered the question confidently. But he's like, and that's why China fears us, peace through strength, and why do you think China is worried about us and scared of us? I don't know whose answer I would, they're both horrible answers. Like they're equally bad. Like her answer got the attention because she's like, I don't know foreign, this is what the Republican Party is. I don't know foreign affairs. And then Ralph Norman, her opponent in South Carolina. And that's why China's terrified. What world is China terrified? Like, you know, these people who call themselves China hawks, we're going to be strong, we're going to decouple. Dude, China, I can't even say, is cleaning our clocks because that's the present. It's been done. They have cleaned our clock. China right now, definitely in Asia, is indisputably the hegemonic power. I would argue in the Middle East right now. And I would argue internationally, I would say the China, the military in China, significantly stronger than the United States right now, and you're like, man, that's crazy. That's crazy. Well, we don't have weapons. Okay. Okay. Okay. One side has weapons. China. One side, the U.S. is out of weapons. The U.S. ran out of weapons in a war with a country around that was not even a regional power at the time. We shouldn't have been involved in this catastrophic war. I'm not endorsing the war by saying, oh, we should have done just letting you know an objective reality. We went into a catastrophic war with Netanyahu, a genocidal maniac. We should not have been involved in this war. But Iran was not even a regional power. They are a regional power right now, Iran won the war. I think as a patriotic America, we have to recognize that America lost, okay? But Donald Trump is a lifelong predator. He's a sex predator. He's been found civilly liable for sexual assault. He is a leaky, he can't accept an L, even when he wins, win, win, win, win, win, win, win. So it's clear we're never going to resolve this catastrophic war in Iran as long as Donald Trump remains the president. Just look what he did with E. Jean Carroll. I mean, obviously sexually assaulted her, he's been found civilly liable for that. I can say that definitively. Sue me, I dare you, I dare you to sue me for that. I would, I would be, by the way, if Trump were to sue me for that or whatever, my strategy, I would go to trial right away. I wouldn't play these games on motions to dismiss. I would take his ass to trial. I would set his deposition right away. I wouldn't even bullshit around. I'd put his set his deposition immediately. And start asking him about all of the allegations that just go through it seven hours. I'd ask the judge for three days worth of depositions, but I digress. But my point is, he gets rejected by the Supreme Court and his petition for certiori to appeal a case that he, and then he petitions again, then he petitions again, you lost, buddy. You're a loser. You're a sexual predator. You've been found civilly liable. Get the hell away, sicko, right? But Iran, who do they go after? Who do they go after on day one? Just think about it. What did Iran strike day one? They struck the American logistical sites, Bahrain, UAE, where else? How you did so that we couldn't bring supplies to our aircraft carriers. That's where Iran struck after we attacked them. Where did the U.S. strike Iran? Little girls slaughtered 168 little girls in Iran. And it sickens me to this day right now that that just isn't talked about more. It sickens me. It saddens me to think that I live in a nation right now. And I think as a patriotic American, I go, no, no, no, no, no, no, we'll get out of here. They don't be here. They go somewhere. No, I love them. I still love this country. But I think that it's sick and demented. And I can't even think of the words that describe it. And it's not just there. It's still a mare. And it's other areas. And then Trump and Hegsiff slaughtered the day before that. A little girl's playing volleyball, 16-year-old, 15-year-old girl's playing volleyball. And they tried out sick, a new weapon that sprays these pellets. It exploded over the girls playing volleyball. And the pellets killed the little girls playing volleyball in a gym. Undisputed fact that that happened. Undisputed fact that it happened. And so the Trump regime engaged in this catastrophic war, lost to a regional power, well, not a region, now a regional power in Iran. And right now you have China in its ascendancy. And going back to where we started this and it went all over the place, I know. I weaved and then wove and then kind of forgot where I was. But in all seriousness, you have Ralph Norman saying that we're somehow stronger than China right now or like China or China is afraid of us. China is not afraid of us. South Korea's foreign minister just met with, or South Korea's president just met with Wang Yi, China's foreign minister. And talked about a new security umbrella in Asia. We've had to move our last aircraft carrier from the Pacific. Donald Trump is now getting rid of the Army drone program, that former Army chief of staff. Randy George was pioneering because Hegsith and this sycophantic new Army chief of staff that Hegsith put in, this guy Christopher Leneb, who replaced Randy George wants to get quote, back to the basics. We got to be like what we were in World War II. Okay, we're in 2026 now though, drone warfare. We don't need battleships, need drones, anti-drones, unmanned submersives, the hell are you talking about? Get back to the basics. Like idiotic. Donald Trump's like, we don't need electromag, we shouldn't have electromagnetic launchers on our aircraft carriers. We need steam catapults. The app you're talking about, we need steam cat, what are you talking about? We're just just engineered the way our experts tell us to engineer it. We've steamed catapults, what are you talking about? I want to redesign the Ford class aircraft carriers so they look like battleships from the not, from 1925. Why would we do that? Why are you so freaking stupid? Again, this isn't like damage like you're dumb, like a dummy idiot malignant narcissistic idiot loser. Like what the hell is this? So these are important questions. We were certainly, you know, so when Ralph Norman was like, and this is America's strain, this is America's strain, when they tell people, this is the golden age, this is the really, this is the golden age, this is a man, this is what y'all wanted, this is what you saw. This was your vision or maybe for them because they're doing all the inside trading or they're making all the money or they're getting all the deals and they're doing it for themselves. Personally, well, maybe it is for them, this is what they wanted. The ultimate grift where losers are able to loot and pillage from the American people who are hard working and just want to earn an honest day's living while you've got a Treasury Secretary best in doing bond buyback schemes while American workers just saying, I worked my ass off today, why am I not getting paid with dignity so I can support my family and buy a home when I did everything that was asked of me, and I can't even buy a home right now. I can't even afford my rent right now. I can't get health care right now and you idiots want to talk about, I don't know, the WNBA player getting fouled hard because she's white and you want to make this into a white versus black WNBA player. Do you know what the hell you're even talking about on a box? Just focus on what we're talking about here, we have people working who are getting health care ripped away. We got people here who are struggling to live in the United States and we're in these never ending wars. You got idiot White House posting these weird photos of Mario Kart, Donald Trump, like as a freaking Mario, but it looks like he's riding with freaking Jeffrey Epstein in the back. Did you see this photo? It looks like he's riding around with Carolyn with either Carolyn Levit or Natalie and looks like Jeffrey Epstein is literally pick Jeffrey, who's that in the background? Mario Kart with the worst type of Mario Kart. Sexual predator Mario Kart, Donald Trump and Epstein the hell, the hell is even going on there. Crazy stuff. Darling Graham. So then she, Darling Graham, that was the point focus, Darling Graham. So she is on Hannity and I just want you to watch the double standard right here. I'm going to play for you this portion. This is a person who is a United States Senator, Senator. This is a United States Senator, it's like a transformer, she's a senator. Here, let's play this clip because there are votes that go toward funding wars or declaring wars. And if you're deciding vote in that factor, how can we trust as constituents that you'll make the right decision? If you're not informed on national security issues at this moment of time, that's a fair question, right? But you know I answered it honestly because I'm not a national security expert Lindsey Woods, right? Because he talked a lot about national security. You know why he spent 33 years in the Air Force. He had a military background. So he had a lot of foreign relations and that was his focus. To me, as I walked around this room and I've asked people, are y'all concerned about Taiwan? You know what they said? No. They're concerned about the price of groceries, the price of gas, rising health care costs. As national security important, absolutely. Can I learn? I'm smart. Yes, I'll learn. I'll become informed. Everybody has a first day on the job. President Trump was he a politician? Has he done a good job? Yes, he has. That's my answer. So that I'll always be honest. I'm always going to be honest with all of you. I don't know a thing about national security, ain't my thing. When I speak to people in this state, they don't care about Taiwan. They just care about groceries. Okay. They care about the groceries. Y'all are in power. It's people saying who is that? That's darling Graham. That's Lindsey Graham sister. She's currently a United States senator because she got appointed in that position by the governor because Trump wanted her to be in that position. Okay. So during her debate, she said she doesn't know about anything about Taiwan. And then she's now been going, oh, shucks. I'm just an honest person. And I don't know. I'll learn. Donald didn't know. Yeah, that problem is that Donald didn't know. And he still doesn't know. And he's winging it. And worse, he's enriching himself. And that's all he cares about. And he is a malignant narcissist and a psychopath and a sociopath and a demented individual who has caused all of these issues. And also it is related. It is related. We don't just care about national security because it's like a topic. It's like jeopardy. I'll learn that category a little bit better on the job. It's because it's national security. We are a nation. And perhaps the security is important to the nation. And perhaps all of these things are related. As we've seen in the war, why do you think the price of gas is going up? Do you think maybe it's because we have idiots who don't know about national security or just think that Trump and Netanyahu would be greeted like heroes after bombing little girls in Iran. Do you think that maybe if we listen to national security experts, maybe just maybe we would not have gotten involved in a catastrophic and a lawful war that anybody could have told you the outcome. And then maybe just maybe darling, just maybe darling that's connected to the affordability issue because when you tariff the world and you start wars around the world, things blow up. And you know when things blow up, you know what happens, there's give you a basic economics lecture. There's less of it. And when there's less of it, darling, you know what happens, cost more money. And so perhaps national security is also related all shocks to affordability, darling, just maybe that was an issue. And maybe we need people who understand these things as United States senators. And when you go touring around South Carolina. And there are people who may not know when I just described about Taiwan, by the way, very important for a lot of things tech semiconductors broader national security implications regarding the US trade relationship with China. Rare earths, a lot of issues, but guess what, darling, you're running for the United States Senate, you are a senator, or as I said before, a senator. And your job is to be a leader and to know these things, because that's what your job is not to be, I'm just going to try my darn just, I'm going to do my best for the people. But again, when you listen to what Ralph Norman says, and he's like, that's why China fears us. If you truly believe that China fears us right now, I'm not sure who I want better in that, darling, or I want none of them who's better. The guy who is so delusional or is so freaking co-opted that he's got to say that or darlings like, how does no no, I don't know. But to me, I don't approach that criticism that I just gave you as well, this is my democratic talking point, or we've got an election in 75 days. So that's why you've got to vote Democrat, no, I don't know, I'm calling this out from the perspective of leadership. I'm calling this out from the perspective of competence, from the perspective of strategy, from the perspective of being an adult, being a grownup. I approach this from the perspective of being a public servant means serving the public, not talking about grand prix racing, not talking about golden ballrooms, not traveling, incatering containers with Natalie. None of this weird shit, it's about serving the people. And so that, to me, is I think our challenge together as we think about this. And so I leave you with this also, which is, I mentioned WTF America, but I know some people, stop plugging the book all the time, plug the book too much, but I'll tell you why I do. Because what I try to set out in it is the generational challenge that we have, because if we continue down a path of Obama, Trump, Biden, Trump, fill in the blank. Ossov, Newsom, AOC, Buttigieg, whoever you have. And then DeSantis, or Rubio, and then name the person, Ossov, AOC, if that's the path, and politics becomes this like gamified thing, we have zero credibility as a nation. And what we have to do is ask more fundamental questions, which is what's the point of governance? What are we looking for in leaders? Where do we see ourself as a nation, not just over the course of the next six months to a year, but where do we see ourselves in the next five years, 10 years, 20 years, 50 years? And what does it mean? And I know this feels existential and perhaps sometimes philosophical and preachy, but it isn't intended to do that. I mean, it's the broader why, which I know in the day to day hustle, we ignore, but it's also like, why are we here? You know, life is short, you hear the expression. Why, why, what are we doing here? It isn't it to find meaning in all of this, to bring joy to ourselves and to others, to leave this place that is a miracle, whether you're religious or not, that we're here. To leave this place better and isn't it to aspire for better and to leave other generations, ideally with a better place and to navigate the challenges that we have here. But to try to do it with a smile and with joy and to help others, like at a religious, not religious, this isn't a religious network, this is, but at a core level, I mean, you know, you look at Lindsey Graham's life and it's like, you know, he's a feeder fish who would try to find whoever he thought was his shark. And he devoted his life to genocide and killing in death. And then he died with his stupid mega hat and he then, you know, and he's dead. That's why you live to be, you know, you live to be, you know, Donald Trump's so many things I could say, but I'll keep it appropriate. Guy, you live to be that, like that was your, like that's what you did. and to root on the deaths of the little girls. And I'm like, that's why you lived. Like, what are we doing here? Like, yeah, I mean, it's sincerely. And what I hope this network does, what I hope these episodes, I have to react to breaking news. Of course, that's what I do. It's a breaking day. But I hope the ecosystem that we create, and inspire, whether it's with, and work with, and help promote, whether it's the Katie Fangs, and the Aaron Parnises, the Scott McFarlane, and the legal AFs, the Karen Friedman Egnifalos, the Tennessee Brandos, the working with the Alice in Gills. There's so many, you know, the five minute news and working with the Dean of Dolls. There's so many, you know, trying to uplift and use this platform to create an ecosystem. The way I saw Fox and right wing ecosystems built for the last 70 years for such bad, for such toxicity, if we can build one for good and ecosystem for good, that spreads better positive, then we can tackle the generational issues. And so that's what I leave you with right now. All right, thanks everybody for watching. Appreciate you, get a copy of WTF America. Watch the brother show tonight, will you? 80s, turn five Pacific. We'll keep on loading content throughout the day, do videos throughout the day. But thanks everybody for watching. We appreciate you. Shout out, Midas mighty. Have a good one, everybody. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber for our substack at MidasPlus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Phil Kowski, add three episodes of our podcast and more exclusive content, only available at MidasPlus.com.