Transcript of MeidasTouch Full Podcast - 5/26/26 New

It's Memorial Day, folks. We'll talk about Donald Trump's disgusting and despicable behavior today. We'll talk about Donald Trump trying to blow up, uh, what appeared to be an Iran peace deal that was taking shape. Donald Trump demanding that Arab nations enter into alliances with Israel if the United States is going to reach a resolution with Iran. And Trump is saying this is going to be a mandatory condition for United States peace with Iran. We'll talk about that. Donald Trump's polling is tanking at record lows. We'll talk about a new generation of Democratic leadership, most recently embodied in some of the speeches we've seen from Georgia Senator Ossoff and Maine Senate candidate Graham Plattner. We'll talk about Republicans revolting against the truly revolting Donald Trump. You have Republican Congressmember Fitzpatrick introducing legislation to block Donald Trump's $1.8 billion slush fund to insurrectionists today. Donald Trump was focused on the pillars of the White House. He wants to tear down those pillars and replace them with Corinthian pillars. Do y'all remember when former President Obama gave that speech at the White House Correspondents' Dinner where he was mocking what Donald Trump was going to turn the White House into?

Uh, well, when you look at what Donald Trump is doing now with the UFC stadium being built in the White House, he wants to rip down the pillars, a golden ballroom. It looks a lot like what Obama was mocking Donald Trump for, uh, wanting to do. And it's really embarrassing. Pressing for our country right now, especially while the American people are suffering more than ever under this regime's horrific, uh, policies, plans, and utter destruction. I also want to talk about the shooting that took place at the White House on Saturday evening, what we've learned about, uh, the shooter who has since been killed. Apparently he was someone who was known to Trump's DOJ, someone who had been arrested before. He had a failure to appear at prior court appearances. And to me, I just find it interesting, would be putting it lightly, that while the Trump regime is focused on kidnapping all of these migrants and finding abuelo and abuela, hardworking people who are paying, you know, their taxes here in the United States, actual people who had previously threatened the White House were permitted just to kind of walk around Washington, D.C. I mean, Jeanine Pirro was the federal prosecutor who would be kind of overseeing the prosecutions of people like this.

And so let's talk about that. And of course, Donald Trump immediately used the shooting to say, look, another assassination attempt. I need my Golden Ballroom. I need my Golden Ballroom. And of course, we need to talk about what's going on in Ukraine right now. Donald Trump promised that on day one he was going to end the war from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Instead, things are getting much worse there. Uh, Russia launching some of its most aggressive and deadly missile strikes on Kyiv as Zelensky's been able to send his drones and Ukrainian drones to attack oil depots in Moscow. And while all of this is taking place, the Trump regime pausing military aid to Taiwan, one of the deliverables, it seems, he promised Xi Jinping. Today we also have the Pakistani Prime Minister meeting with Xi Jinping, and that follows the— follows Putin meeting with Xi Jinping last week. And they all got the same type of welcome that Trump got, except they've actually made joint statements and showed actual alliances while Donald Trump looked like a fool and accepted Xi Jinping saying the United States is in decline. We'll talk about this and more on this episode of the Midas Touch Network.

Brett and Jordy, it's great to see you both. Let's just, you know, just want to start out with our post on the Midas Touch Network on Memorial Day. Memorial Day asks something simple of us: remember. Remember the service members who lost their lives, the families who carry that loss every day, and the responsibility we all share to never treat that sacrifice lightly. This shouldn't be about left versus right or political division. Divisions. Honoring those who gave their lives for this country should be something that brings us together. And you contrast that to Donald Trump's post today. Happy Memorial Day to all, including the Democrats who have disrespected our military and all the tremendous success that it has had over the last year, he says. Brett and Jordy, good to see you both. I mean, this is what we've come to expect from this lunatic.

It's what we've come to expect, but also it's something that I, you know, just don't want anyone to ever get numb to, you know, and I feel like so many people and we've seen reporters literally say this in recent weeks, oh, why would we report on that? Trump always does that. Well, that's a way that you let him get away with this sort of behavior here at the Midas Touch Network. I never want to normalize this sort of behavior. I want to still call it out when we see even people in Donald Trump's administration, like a Steve Chung, Donald Trump's communication guy, like throwing around F-bombs and cursing at other people who are just being lightly critical of their disastrous war effort. It's just like, can you guys grow up? Okay, can you please grow up? We'll get to that more in a second. First, I want to thank everybody for joining us on this Memorial Day. Memorial Day is a lot of things, right? Memorial Day, you know, it's a day for people to get together, a lot of barbecues on Memorial Day, the unofficial start to summer. But I want to make sure that we center this day in what it's really about, and that's honoring our fallen soldiers.

And to the point of the message that we posted on social media. This should never be a partisan issue, right? Whether you're Democrat, Republican, independent, non-party affiliated, we should all be able to come together on this day and acknowledge that sacrifice without throwing all this name-calling and all this other garbage that we keep seeing from Donald Trump and all these folks like that to use it to go Democrats, you know, attack Biden, attack Obama. It's like, can you grow up? For one single day. I know I'm asking far too much from people who are essentially professional trolls at this point, but I just want to make my point here clear. But thanks again for spending this day. I know, you know, a lot of people have off today, and I appreciate you spending this time with us. Jordy, what's the latest?

Brothers, Midas Mighty, honored to be here. Excited to get into tonight's show. Donald Trump is such a piece of shit, man. I mean, yeah, stated the obvious at the outset. Like, that's just such a ridiculous message that will without a doubt, gets sanitized by corporate media. So I just want to call it out here, like at the upfront. It's just so frustrating. But to your point, how so many in the corporate media landscape and so many of these reporters out there that they've just become so numb to this that they won't call that out.

Right.

Donald Trump in his, in his Memorial Day message once again decides to divide the entire country. I mean, you know, talking about the Democrats and like, it's not even funny. Also, it just assumes that no one who's ever fought bravely and died for this country was a Democrat. Like, it is so beneath the level. The behavior is so beneath the level of the office that it's just so frustrating to see play out because it just embarrasses us. Anyway, a lot more to talk about, a lot more things we'll probably be embarrassed about, quite frankly, as we go through this episode. So, Benji, with that, where are we starting off today?

I mean, just think about if anybody else did this. I mean, he basically was mocking our service members who made the ultimate sacrifice during the speech he gave at the White House today. He was saying that there are You know, no, he goes, you know, interestingly, at Arlington Cemetery, I don't see a lot of Donalds there. I don't see a lot of Donalds. I mean, he's making it about himself. It's not funny. I mean, this is a very solemn and serious day, and we expect people to exhibit leadership on this day and not try to like crack weird jokes. Here, play this clip.

This was a Union soldier by the name of Private Christmann. Private William Henry Christman of Pennsylvania, who died as 19 years old. He was a great young man, they say. Beside him are more than 18,000 other young men named William, over 20,000 named John, over 13,000 named James, joined over time by Isaac, Elijah Earls, Hanks, Hellens, Wands, Margarets, Marius, Donalds. Not too many. And others whose names tell the true story of American greatness. And greatness it is.

What? And then he starts again making it about himself. He talks about the United States invasion of Venezuela and Iran. And he seems to be like bragging, look, only 13 people have died in Iran and lots more people have died in other wars. Look how successful we are. He doesn't read the name of the lost service members, you know, who frankly died as a result of the negligence of the Trump regime, not notifying our service members of what was actually going on in the region, leaving them vulnerable to drone strikes and other missile attacks. And then also kind of covering it up. I mean, we know with the KC-135 Stratotanker that crashed over Iraq, remember the Trump regime tried to say, oh, it was just friendly skies and we don't know how that happened. And it seems that what was happening was it was not friendly skies, that there was Iraqi militia groups that were supported by Iran, and that's what led to these evasive maneuvers by the Stratotanker that led to deaths there. And so you just— it's lie after lie from this regime. But here's what he says. Let's play this clip.

It's a war's Recently, we've lost a total of 13 service members in Venezuela, which was a complete and total victory where we're working very closely with the Venezuela government right now. We took that over in one day and we lost no one. In Operation Epic Fury, we lost 13 wonderful souls, wonderful special people. These incredible men and women gave their lives to ensure that the The world's number one state sponsor of terror will never have a nuclear weapon. Oh, and they won't. They will never have a nuclear weapon. I'm sure you know that.

Well, we'll talk about what's going on in a moment there, where under the current framework of negotiations and discussions, the nuclear file discussing the nuclear material will be deferred 30 to 60 days. We'll talk about that in a little bit. But then Donald Trump starts falling asleep when Hegseth was giving his speech. I'll show you this. Let's play it. This day began as Decoration Day when widows and orphans and other mourners placed flowers and ribbons on some 20,000 graves. They were soldiers. Yeah, I mean, he could not— couldn't stay awake. And we know that he has his doctor's visit, uh, in Walter Reed coming up, and the next, you know, 24 hours or so. He says he's also getting another dental check at Walter Reed after getting a dental check in early May and after getting a dental check in early January, and then another dental check before then when there was a dental operatory in the White House. Lots of red flags there. And then Donald Trump struggles to read the word hallowed and just calls it howl. I'll show you this. Let's play it.

Today here at Arlington, a very special place. that howl burial grounds, battlefields across the country.

Because Donald Trump would not acknowledge by name the service members who lost their lives in this catastrophic and unlawful war in Iran, we can just show you who they are right now. I read off their names as well earlier. Major John Kleiner, Captain Ariana Savino, Tech Sergeant Ashley Pruitt, Captain Seth Koval, Captain Curtis Angst, Tech Sergeant Tyler Simmons, Sergeant Benjamin Pennington, Chief Warrant Officer Robert Marzahn, Major Jeffrey O'Brien, Sergeant Declan Cody, Sergeant First Class Nicole Ammer, Sergeant First Class Noah Teichens, Captain Cody Cork right there. Uh, after Donald Trump gave this speech, you could see him examining the pillars at the White House, and he was looking at these pillars. And then we learned that, you know, if you went back, I think Washington Post wrote a story about this 2 months back, he wants to rip these pillars out and replace them with Corinthian pillars, as he says. They're much nicer. So he's going to try to rip these apart soon. We saw today also the Trump regime setting up for this UFC fight. They said there was going to be 20— that would be the hottest ticket in town, 20,000, 30,000 people showing up.

It seems that what they're actually going to be doing is just using our members of the military as props. It's going to be about 4,000 service members who are going to be kind of put there to watch the fight, to make it look like there's a crowd. And it's going to be during a very hot period of time in Washington, DC as well. I think that event's gonna be another disaster. And I, I just wanna remind you as well, as we're talking about Donald Trump's disastrous Memorial Day speeches, this was the speech that Donald Trump gave last year when he was bragging about grocery prices down, gas prices down. This was his speech one year ago to this day. Let's play it.

But think of it, grocery prices are down, uh, gasoline prices are down, and we're down just in time $1. We had numerous states, $1.98 a gallon just in time for Memorial Day weekend. How about that? Good time.

I want to bring in Brett and Jordy after showing those clips right there. And we could show his social media posts too, which are utterly deranged. But I want you to react to what you just saw, Brett.

I mean, it's appalling. But I mean, what else do you, you know, like I said, what else do you expect with this guy, but we can't normalize that sort of behavior. Um, it is honestly just against everything the United States of America stands for. And while he has put, you know, our troops in danger in this war, leading to the deaths of 13 American troops, which honestly, uh, he rarely acknowledges— him and Hegseth and all these folks, uh, right now in leadership kind of try to hide all of this information from the American American people. And I think that's just so disturbing because they don't want the American people to see the realities, uh, of this war. Um, remember how big of a deal they made, and it was the same amount of people killed in action, um, when, uh, the United States left Afghanistan under President Biden. Um, and, you know, they talked about it all the time, right? These 13 Americans, they blamed Biden for it directly. Every single day they would pound that message, right? How dare Joe Biden get our soldiers killed? Every single day. Now, you know, Oddly, the same amount of troops at this moment were killed throughout this war.

And it's just like, oh yeah, that's just— it's just something that happened. And he tries to downplay that number as if it's nothing. Each of those people are, you know, individuals who have families, who had full lives ahead of them, who, you know, were taking the sacrifice for our country. And I just don't think that Donald Trump treats it with the gravity, you know, that that sort of thing deserves. And it's appalling to witness just as an American citizen.

I don't want to play in a conspiratorial place here, but it's like they've been so— they being the Trump regime— has been so tight-lipped about any sort of information coming out, the ramifications of the war that we're in with Iran, that it's just the 13 deaths that we know of, quite frankly, like that's based on CENTCOM and sort of their reporting. So that's, that's what we know here. You know, odds are, and what I'm thinking is if it is more than that number, they would never report that because they wouldn't want their number to be more than, than, you know, the Biden number because, you know, the optics of that look horrible. I mean that. But like, this is where they play and this is where the Trump regime's mindset is. It's so pathetic. And we talk about Donald Trump and he's just so cognitively addled. And I'm like, I'm not saying that for like clicks or to be funny, but like, it's just so apparent as you see him speak, like he can't even pronounce names. He can't pronounce words. It's horrifying because this is supposed to be the leader of this country, and he can't even get through a full sentence without stammering or mammering.

It's, it's beyond anything. So for me, when he's like replacing the pillars, like when he's so fixated on that, or, or a ballroom, or, or the reflecting pool, what comes to mind for me is that this is someone who is so obviously like coming to grips with his own mortality that he's gonna do whatever it takes to make sure that he lives on in some sort of capacity, like almost like the pharaohs in and their pyramids. That's what comes to mind with Donald Trump because he's such an egomaniac that that's all he really cares about. He doesn't care about the American people. He doesn't quite frankly care about the war in Iran like at all, other than the fact that he knows he needs to exit this somehow to look good. But that's not happening. That's not even close to happening. This is why we get all of these, we've reached a deal, we haven't reached a deal. Like he's, he's leading by vibes. Like when those announcements gets made, it just feels like he's also, oh, how do people feel about like this this framework of this deal? Like, are people happy? Oh no, they're not.

Well, then I'm going to say it's not a deal anymore and we need these things built into it. It's just so utterly pathetic what we're seeing. And the real-world consequences and ramifications of this failed leadership have never been more tangible for the American people and for our troops. And that's what it always comes down to, to me, is how is this impacting our families here at home and how is this impacting our soldiers abroad? It's horrifying.

Yeah, I want to get into this purported deal and its contours in a little bit. And I want to talk about how now Donald Trump is conditioning any deal between the United States and Iran on Arab nations entering into direct alliances with Israel. Uh, we'll talk about what Trump posted and what Donald Trump told Arab nations when we come back. But I want to share with you also just more of this deranged behavior today. I mean, Again, on Memorial Day, which is about our service members who made the ultimate sacrifice, Donald Trump is posting photos of himself, photos of himself next to JD Vance, Rubio, and Hegseth with gold text that says, we are in good hands, as though the American people are in good hands with these psycholunatics. He spends the day attacking former presidents. And by the way, even if you're not fans of former President Obama and former President Biden, which I am, I think that they both did very good jobs. But even if you didn't, the behavior of attacking former presidents in such a childish and immature way overall damages the strength and resilience and the way the international community perceives the United States.

But also to spend your entire Memorial Day not focused on troops and service members who made the ultimate sacrifice, but attacking former presidents. Again, it's deranged and psychotic behavior. And as Brett said, lots of corporate news will say, well, we know this is his behavior, so why would we cover it? Well, you never really covered it at all to begin with. And it's important that we point out what this lunatic is doing every single day and why this individual is a vile piece of trash and why his occupancy in the White House has so severely weakened the United States' standing in the world. I mean, he posts this other image that says it's Obama, and then it's a photo of a terrorist, which I guess in a racist way he's trying to say this is Iran. And then Obama says, let's negotiate. And then the terrorist who's supposed to, I guess, be Iran says, I will blow shit up. And then Biden says, let's negotiate. And then the terrorist goes, I will blow shit up. And then Trump goes, I will blow shit up. And then the terrorist goes, let's negotiate. That's not what— first off, I guess, Brett, to your point, just the idea of a president constantly like cursing and using this language shouldn't be normalized to begin with.

Posting these weird memes on Memorial Day or any day shouldn't be normalized. And also, you know, I'm not sure what you're talking about right there, because if you— the way it would go is you blow shit up. Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz. America's security umbrella in the Middle East collapses. You're out there begging Iran for deals right now with Pakistan as the mediator. And then when a deal in principle is reached, you then back out of the deal, showing how utterly unpredictable and weak and pathetic you are, is, is actually, you know, what's, uh, what's going down. I want to remind everybody as well of, uh, what Donald Trump said about 5 days ago. Brett, this is to your point, that Donald Trump constantly tries to downplay the fact that 13 service members died by comparing it to other wars and saying it's only 13. Just think about World War II, think about Vietnam, think about these other wars. I only killed 13, so why are you giving me crap about it? This is what he said 5 days ago leading to Memorial Day.

Let's play this.

We've lost in 2 major wars. We took over Venezuela, we essentially took over Iran, and we've lost so far 13 people. Some other— some— somebody else would have lost 100,000 people. Okay. But I get a kick when I look at somebody on television. He's lost 13 people. I lost 13 people.

He gets a kick.

You see how he says it in a mocking— we've lost 13 people and we did not essentially take over Iran. And by the way, those talking points are then used by all of these MAGA influencers and MAGA sycophants and they're talked about on state regime media Fox and state regime New York Post and state regime media CBS sometimes, you know, where it's like, we've taken over, we've destroyed their navy, we've destroyed— we didn't. We didn't. Let me be very clear and look at the camera. The United States got its ass kicked. The United States lost the war. The objectives, according to Donald Trump, was to obliterate and destroy all of Iran's capabilities to have nuclear weapons. That was not achieved. And to remove all nuclear dust, that was not achieved. For total regime change, get rid of the Islamic Republic and the people will rise up. That was not achieved. Get rid of their conventional shield around their nuclear weapons, like their ballistic missiles and drones. That was not achieved. Iran has taken control of the Strait of Hormuz. They are doing deals now with Oman. Oman was the mediator late February, when there was a deal in principle reached then between the United States and Iran that Trump breached, and he and Netanyahu then invaded Iran.

Oman and Iran have worked to create a port authority system, full control and sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz. The United States did not achieve any of its objectives at all. And to any objective observer, the United States has never looked weaker begging and begging and begging. And then when finally they get the deal, they then break the deal because Netanyahu or the neocons and warmongers within Trump's party give Donald Trump a call. And then he says, actually, there is no deal. There is no deal. And it's a pathetic cycle that we see over and over again. I want to talk about that when we come back from our first quick break of the show. A quick reminder, we'd love for you to subscribe to our YouTube channel, help us get 7 million subscribers. We'd love to hit 7 million in the next 2 months. So help us get 7 million subscribers and share this episode and share this YouTube channel with people, you know, subscribe on audio. If you just watch on YouTube, it really helps us if you subscribe on audio as well. And we're continuing to climb the audio charts. We're number 1 on YouTube by far.

We're number 1 on video by far, and we're number 1 total downloads by far. But I want to make sure we continue to climb the audio charts in general. So please subscribe to Midas Touch on audio. Also become a member of our YouTube channel. If you can afford it, you can gift memberships to other people who can't afford it right now. We know economic times are tough. And so if you are able to gift other people memberships to get the exclusive content on this YouTube channel, it goes a long way. And I know that people would really love memberships. So if you can give the gift, give a gift of a membership right now. Let's take our first quick break of the show. We've got a lot to discuss when we come back.

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Imagine if Biden did it. Imagine if after the withdrawal, Biden said, I get a kick at it when people talk about, you know, the 13 dead service members. I get a kick out of it. Are you kidding me? I mean, that's 13 deaths. 13 deaths. Donald Trump is saying he gets a kick out of it when people make the comparisons. I mean, it— one is too many. One should be too many. And the fact that he can't acknowledge that what has happened thus far, again, in this needless war, is all his fault and honestly horrible, that he can't just admit how horrible it is, it tells you everything you need to know about the guy.

But yeah, look, just take a look at some of the latest polling data. I know we've seen Donald Trump's, uh, personal presidential approvals hitting record lows, but when you look at the generic ballot right now, Democrats versus Republicans in the upcoming congressional race, right now Democrats up 7.4. That's a new cycle high in this latest RCP generic ballot. And you contrast that to 2018, which was a wave-like election there. Democrats were only up 4 points at that time. And I think we're gonna see this number continue, uh, to rise there. And you look where Donald Trump is losing a lot of support, and we know that he's lost a lot of support amongst the Latino community. Uh, he's lost support amongst his core base. Of white voters and non-college-educated white voters he's underwater with, but he's particularly lost the youth. And don't get me wrong, there's a lot of kind of loud and obnoxious young Trump supporters. So it seems that like there's a lot of them out there. And but there really isn't right now. I mean, overwhelmingly, not just the silent majority, but the silent overwhelming majority against Donald Trump in this fascist regime.

Uh, the latest New York Times, Siena generic ballot, ages 18 to 29, has, uh, Democrats right now +33. Trump's net approval amongst 18 to 29-year-olds, -57 right now. Net -57 amongst the 18 to 29-year-old, uh, cohort right there, which is a new low for Donald Trump. And I think whether you're talking about young people, Latino people, all people. Let's just face it, we are seeing the futures of the American people destroyed. We're seeing Donald Trump again, uh, increase the deficit, uh, bring on trillions and trillions of dollars in debt. Things are not affordable right here. Trump is stealing the future away from young people, all people in, in general. Um, He's transferred all of this wealth to his right-wing MAGA oligarchy. Trump's been stock trading, building UFC stadiums, talking about, uh, removing pillars from the White House and golden ballrooms and triumphal arches and reflecting pools and, and all these things. And by the way, I'll show you in a little bit more video of what this UFC stadium looks like that's being built in front of the White House. I mean, it's the biggest embarrassing eyesore. But you take that, and that alone— yes, it's a controversy, yes, it's a scandal, yes, it's horrible, as is all of his, I think, you know, unlawful and despicable behavior.

But then you take a look at how is— how are the rest of Americans doing right now? And there's— in the rest of America right now, consumer sentiment is at all-time historic lows since the Michigan— University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey was created. It's never been this low since 1952 when the survey began. And through all the economic turmoil, inflation, Great Recessions, and crises from 1952 to the present, Americans have never felt worse than they do at this moment. And it's the— and it's a direct result of Donald Trump's behavior. And so when Donald Trump very cavalierly, you know, talks about this You know, this catastrophic and unlawful war in Iran, which is increasing inflation, making things less affordable here, uh, further harming, uh, American people. Then he posts this. It just enrages people. And this was his post, uh, earlier. He goes, if I make a deal with Iran, it will be a good and proper one, not like the one made by Obama, which gave Iran massive amounts of cash and a clear and open path to a nuclear weapon. Our deal is the exact opposite, but nobody has seen it or knows what it is.

It isn't even fully negotiated yet. So don't listen to the losers who are critical about something they know nothing about. Unlike those before me who should have solved this problem many years ago, I don't make bad deals. Now, obviously, you have to fact-check false statements like this. Obama didn't give Iran billions of dollars. He unfroze funds that were already Iranian funds to begin with. The JCPOA was a very comprehensive multilateral agreement with allies and adversaries alike and the International Atomic Energy Agency all working together to ensure that Iran diluted all of its nuclear material well below weapons grade, well below 4% enrichment. Um, it was effective, it was working, it was being monitored. Monitored by a global group. And if there were violations, then the world could have worked together in order to take common action. Trump pulled everybody out of the JCPOA, which then Iran said, okay, we see what you did with North Korea and Kim Jong-un.

You let—

you let Kim Jong-un get nuclear weapons. Now you withdrew from the deal that we did with Obama where we were not making nuclear weapons. So why don't we enrich and try to get to that 90% enrichment? But let's just increase our enrichment capacity and facilities. And then the Trump regime said they obliterated the nuclear capabilities last June in Operation Midnight Hammer. It's totally obliterated. If you said no, it doesn't seem like it's obliterated, you know, they would say, oh, you're a liar, you're, you're supporting, you're supporting the enemy, you know, all these things. And we knew it wasn't. Obliterated at this point. And then in February, when a deal was worked out, an actual deal, a strong deal I might add, with the Oman foreign minister as the mediator— the way Pakistan is playing mediator right now, and Pakistan is being played by the Trump regime the same way the Oman foreign minister got played by the Trump regime— there's actually a lot of close parallels to what's going on. The Oman foreign minister acted as the mediator, created a deal in principle between Trump and Iran. What happened the night where the Omani foreign minister announced deal?

That's when Trump and Netanyahu invade Iran. The day the deal in principle was reached, all they had to do was come up with some, uh, technical specifications that Monday, and then they invaded on Friday. What's What is the parallels here are that the Pakistani mediator 2 days ago, deal in principle, started to lay out what those terms were. And right after those terms were laid out, what happens? The neocon warmongers reach out to Trump and start attacking the deal. Netanyahu calls Donald Trump, and then Trump starts posting all of these things that like there's no deal, there's no No one even knows what the deal is. Then the terms start to change from what they were before. And then, which I'll talk about in a little bit before I'm going to pass it over to Brett and Jordy, then I'll talk about it a little bit. Then Donald Trump makes a point when Trump's like, nobody knows what the terms are. I mean, we did. Trump did a conference call with Arab nations, not with our Congress, who's supposed to represent the American people, with the sheikhs and with the royalty and with the leaders of Arab nations.

And we know what the terms were because Pakistan was the mediator and there was like at least 8 to 10 other Arab nations who were on this call. So we know what the terms were. The terms were 60-day ceasefire extension while a final peace deal is negotiated. Iran reopens the Strait of Hormuz within 30 days and starts clearing mines. The US lifts its naval blockade of Iranian ports. The US releases at least $12 billion in frozen Iranian assets. Assets held in Qatar, although I heard that number looks more like $25 billion, but it's between $12 billion and $25 billion for Iran. This is, of course, a strict precondition because Iran doesn't trust the United States. In order to build initial trust, release the $12 to $25 billion. Also, Iran wants to make sure there's permanent security guarantees, and that was promised as well as it relates to Lebanon Iraqi militias, um, uh, as a, as it relates to the Houthis in Yemen, and that the permanent security guarantees don't just bind the U.S. but bind Israel as well. And then the nuclear file, the discussions around nuclear weapons, that gets deferred for about 30 to 60 days after it's demonstrated that good faith amongst both parties is taking place.

Then Iran says that it will negotiate its nuclear file And it has no intention of doing weapons-grade, but it will discuss what that looks like. Does the material go to China? Does the material go to Russia? Does it stay in Iran? What type of dilution does that look like? What are the protocols? So that's basically the contours of the deal. And what Donald Trump posts today though is he injects a new term. And Donald Trump's term is that all of these Arab nations that are on the call Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. They must, as a precondition to Trump entering into a deal with Iran on behalf of the US, they must all enter into the Abraham Accords and normalize relations with Israel. Trump says, therefore, I am mandatorily requesting that all countries immediately sign the Abraham Accords as a precondition of the peace deal. Between the US and Iran. It should be noted the UAE and Bahrain are already members of the Abraham Accords, but the other Arab nations are not. And the other Arab nations, whether it's Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, or others, made it very clear they're not joining the Abraham Accords until the genocide ends in Gaza and until Palestine is recognized with a two-state solution formalized by Israel.

And the popularity for them joining the Abraham Accords in their country countries, it's like 1%. Those regimes will be toppled if they enter into the Abraham Accords with Israel. And it's not even under consideration. It's not happening. It's never happening unless and until there's a full two-state solution that's reached. They've made that clear. But Trump has now injected this term. And Brett, I'm going to pass it over to you. But you think about the optics right here, not just the optics, what's actually happening, that the Trump regime goes to war with Iran. With Netanyahu. And Rubio says, because Netanyahu was going to do it, we decided we had to do it. That was Rubio's direct quote. Now they're telling the Arab nations who are then thrust into this war and not consulted, and the rest of the world, the U.N., and to the American people are being told that we're not going to enter into a peace deal with Iran unless Arab nations forge a direct alliance with Israel. And everyone's like, what, what are you doing? So when Trump says nobody knows the terms, well, we know that That term right there. And again, you are selling out the interest of the American people and you are selling out the American interest for, for, for the Abraham Accords.

Like, what's going on here?

Yeah. And what does it mean to mandatorily request something? I mean, the things he said just make no sense. But, you know, throughout this entire process, I think what we've seen is Iran has continuously accused the United States of being difficult to negotiate with. With, and, and we've seen this so many times, right? But the thing they keep saying is that the US keeps moving the goalposts. And Ben, we saw that, um, you know, back before the war even began when we were dealing with the Omani mediator, uh, who said that we were incredibly close to reaching a deal back then, a deal that was what we had heard was actually a pretty strong deal. Um, but the reality is, in covering this whole war, one of the most difficult parts is that there's really not a whole lot of people you could trust when it comes to things about these conversations, like you can't really trust Trump at all. It's hard to trust the Iranian regime. However, as we kind of reflect back on the past few months of this thing, what we've seen is unfortunately the Iranian regime has proven to be a lot more accurate than, than the information coming out of our own White House.

That's not a props to them. That's a sad state of affairs as to what's going on here, uh, in the United States. United States of America. But now we are seeing what that looks like in real time by seeing Donald Trump's posts. There was a report from over the weekend, I think it happened on Saturday, where Donald Trump was actually on the phone with these people, where he pitched all of these countries joining the, uh, the Abraham Accords, what he demanded that they do. And it went to dead silence on the other end of the line. This is not the first time I've heard this happen with Donald Trump and foreign leaders, but Trump says, you all have to join the Abraham accords. It's now, you know, a requirement in order to end this war. This is what you have to do. And so Donald Trump says that and they go silent to the point where Donald Trump then goes, anybody there? Hello?

Hello?

Hello? Like, how embarrassing is that to see from a United States president? And it's not the first time that we have seen that, you know, as I said. And I think just the concept right now that Donald Trump is now injecting new demands from the few allies that we have in the Middle East is just kind of disgraceful. I mean, throwing a wrench into this process by making these new demands for— from these allies who are already furious at Trump, who are already furious at the United States because we left them high and dry, right? We went into this war really without telling anybody. We put them at risk. Iran attacked them. The United States did nothing to protect them. They're already looking looking for other ways, uh, that they can move on, just like all these other countries in the EU and Canada. How could we move on without the United States, right? Because, um, Ben, you did an interview with Ben Rhodes, uh, which, uh, released, uh, today or yesterday. You should listen to it on the Midas Touch podcast audio feed. It's a really incredible interview. Um, but the thing, uh, that Rhodes said that I think really, uh, sat with me was that there was this kind of pact that has been made between the United States and the Middle East, and that's that the United States would be there to help provide defense, and the Middle East would provide energy, uh, to the United States.

And this was sort of the unwritten agreement, uh, that kind of let the entire global economy work as is. But when these countries in the Middle East got attacked by Iran, the United States was nowhere to be found. Now Donald Trump has the nerve to make demands of, of, of these Middle Eastern allies, and I, I assure you they are not happy about it. They're not going to go into something like that that will enrage the people, enrage their followers. It would be political suicide for them to even consider that. It's a nonstarter. So we're going to see where these things go. I got to say, like, at this point, I would prefer Trump to make a bad deal than no deal at all. I hate to say that. That. But I actually saw Senator Chris Murphy, uh, talk about this over the weekend, and Chris Murphy said something that I basically agreed with. He said, and I, I took the quote right here, if this deal with Iran is real, I will welcome it because every day this war goes on, America gets weaker. The priority is to end the war now, but make no mistake, these are Iran's terms.

Our nation emerges humiliated. The deal is basically this: we give Iran billions to get back to where we were before the war, And reports suggest the deal might codify Iran's right to control the strait. What a disaster this whole thing was. I mean, I, I essentially agree with the point that he is making there. And Donald Trump has really backed himself into a corner in this whole situation because at this point you could do one of two things. And Ben, I feel like you've said this numerous times, but you could either be serious about negotiations and get in the room and actually be, uh, be willing to engage in diplomacy and give up concessions, which in this case, given everything that's happened, given the devastating losses taken by the United States, the U.S. would have to be giving up stuff. We'd have to be making concessions to Iran. Whatever those concessions would be would be up for negotiation, but there has to be some give and take. That's just what negotiations are in general. And if you don't want to do that, then I guess your strategy has to be to just bomb them into oblivion the way that Donald Trump keeps saying that he wants to destroy them and hope that they surrender.

But we've learned from all the analysts that they have no desire to surrender. That's not the way Iran works. And so now he's stuck basically in between these two parts. And, uh, and I think this also like kind of negates the whole fact of like going back to the objectives in the beginning of the war, what Donald Trump pitched this war as and what Donald Trump pitched the Iranians Iranian people going back to February when they were taken to the streets in protest of the Iranian regime, and Donald Trump said, take to the streets, we would have your back. Right now, these negotiations and this whole war has nothing to do with overthrowing the Islamic Republic of Iran and replacing them with some sort of regime change like they said they would. It was this whole position as this whole, we're going to, you know, save the Iranian people from this regime. All they've done was bringing them close— it brought them closer together. I mean, by all metrics, no matter kind of where this lands at this point, it's a failure from that initial objective that they set out for. Meanwhile, those Iranians back then got killed by the regime, and then Trump managed to bring the Iranian regime and the people closer by making these threats that we're going to destroy your entire civilization.

This thing has been completely mismanaged from the start. It's been a an utter disaster, and we'll see where it lands. But I think any way you even look at it right now, it's already a complete failure. You know what I was thinking about then, Jordy? Remember the first day of the war when we bombed and they beamed into the homes of the Iranian people, of all things that they could possibly beam into the homes when they took over their communications, Bibi Netanyahu and Donald Trump saying now's your chance. Take to the streets.

We got you.

They thought that was going to work. Like, that's, that's got to be like the last thing that the Iranian people want to see is Bibi Netanyahu and Donald Trump telling them, we're going to save you, or saying, we're going to pick your next leader. It's going to be someone who we think will be a puppet of us. Go accept this person as your leader. Alec, this plan was so ill-advised from the start. It's insane.

Donald Trump has no idea what he's doing. Trump is the single worst person to be leading us out of this war, a needless war that we didn't even need to be in in the first place that he brought us into. Donald Trump doesn't know how to negotiate. He's never known how to negotiate. He's not a great businessman. And now we're not even talking about business. Now we're talking about life or death. You want to know why it feels like we're moving the goalposts? It's because we're moving the goalposts. You know, it's become apparent, at least to me, that Trump has been leading by vibes, like literally just by vibes in terms of like when the deal terms leak out. I think he's just got rabbit ears and he's trying to see or, you know, get a sense from his inner circle of like what social media is saying. Like, do people— do people I respect, Donald Trump respects, do they think it's a good deal? Are they— are they heaping praise on me? Does this look— does this look like we won? And once he figures out, oh no, everyone's actually really angry with this, this is— this is way worse than where we were in the first place.

He moves the goalposts once again and again. And I agree with Senator Murphy, you know, at this point, well, you know, should have been a little bit ago, but we just need to get out because every day we're in this war is another day of embarrassment for this country and another day that our troops are put at risk of dying every single day. And so you just have to ask yourself, like, what is the point of anything that's happening right now? And is Donald Trump actually Is he really looking out for the country or is he trying to look out for himself? To me, it also sort of goes back to the reflecting pool again and then the pillars. And it's like, it's all like this ego. It's like this ego-driven thing around legacy. But like, legacy be damned, our soldiers are dying. What are you doing, Donald Trump? Get in this thing like this right now. It's pathetic.

Right. And then there is the short term and then there is the long term. And both the short-term and the long-term are both disastrous. But the long-term, we've already seen a tectonic shift in the balance of global power, how we are in this multipolar world away from American leadership, uh, in the world, away from America championing liberal democracies. And not to say, oh, America's always been on the right side, far from it, but at least the arc moving, you know, in a direction of America championing values and principles that at least on the surface were things that we wanted the world to rally around. And we've already seen right now China assert itself as probably the main global hegemon. I would say even a more significant role than even what the United States has, you know, right now. Look where Pakistan is. Pakistan's Prime Minister Sharif Khrushchev is in China right now as well. Um, and that follows Putin going to China, that follows Foreign Minister, uh, uh, going to China. And, you know, ultimately, um, the dollar weakening long-term, the American bond market weakening long-term is something that will have catastrophic consequences for our grandchildren and their grandchildren.

And that was put in motion by Donald Trump, frankly, during his first regime in 2016, and now accelerating at this rapid pace right now. And it's important that we observe— it's why I do, and why the Midas Touch Network focuses so much on international affairs, to make the connections of, of what's happening right now. America first is America alone. Right now. All right, let's take our last quick break of the show. When we return, I want to talk about some of the red flags surfacing regarding this White House, uh, shooting that took place, and specifically how this shooter was someone who was known to Trump's DOJ before. I want to talk about what they knew about the shooter, how Trump is using it now, uh, to say, look, I need a golden ballroom. It seems like Donald Trump himself drafted another motion to the federal judge in DC saying, stop blocking my construction of the Golden Ballroom. Look at what happened, another assassination attempt. We'll talk about that. I want to show you, uh, Graham Plattner's recent speech, portions of it, Senator Ossoff's recent speech, some portions of it, and then I want to conclude by showing you what Obama and Biden have said on Memorial Day.

Let's take our last quick break of the show. A reminder, subscribe to our YouTube channel, help us get 7 million subscribers. And once again, let me just make the pitch that if you can afford to get memberships here, gift memberships to others. I know there are lots of people who are struggling financially. You can give the gift of memberships to other people so they get exclusive access to the stuff that we have here that the members get. So if you can give some memberships to people, no pressure, but only if you can. All right. Last quick break of the show.

We'll be right back.

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Look, I just want to stick to the facts when we talk about this shooting that took place near the White House grounds. It was on the outer perimeter by 17th Street. This shooter who was killed during the incident never really got close to the White House. We heard about 30 rounds Saturday evening in connection with this shooting. Most of those rounds were coming from the Secret Service shooting down and the White House security shooting down. If anything, it shows that the White House security is effective. It doesn't to me say, you know what, as a result of this, we need a golden ballroom. Why would this have anything to do with a golden ballroom? But in discussing the facts, we need to talk about a lot of things that raise a lot of red flags here.

Here.

Um, let's talk about who this shooter was, who's since been killed. 21-year-old, his name is Nasir Best, worked in an Amazon factory previously, had schizophrenia. Uh, people who knew him at the factory said, you know, he started having these delusions that spiraled. He no longer worked at the factory, and he was living in DC for around 2 years, uh, at least in terms of being known to live in that area for 2 years. And he was known because he made numerous threats against the White House before. In 2025, multiple times, this guy would show up to the White House and he would make threats and he would try to get access to it. And he would say that he's Jesus Christ or God and that God and Jesus— he's Jesus Christ and God's telling him he needs to get in there. And he— and he would make these threats. He was someone who was known, so much so that he was prosecuted. By Judge Pirro's office. So Judge Pirro— I should call it Judge Pirro— the United States Attorney Pirro. Now, you know, Fox host Pirro, let's call her that, who became the top federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C. So when you're the top federal prosecutor, when you're the United States Attorney, you also supervise the prosecutors at the superior court level.

So D.C.'s a district. It's not a state, right? But like the state government is the District of Columbia government, the feds oversee still the, the, the, the state, or in this case, the district government. So the United States Attorney of D.C. at the federal level oversees and supervises the state-level prosecutors. So back in June and July of 2025, this guy was prosecuted multiple times. Your best. And he had a court date, uh, and he did not show up to his court date on August, uh, in August 2025. There was a stay-away order for him to stay away from the White House, which he would violate. And then he had to show back up to court as he was being prosecuted for another incident where he was threatening the White House, and he didn't show up. And so the Trump regime knew knew that there was a guy in D.C. named Nasir Best who would threaten the White House, who failed to appear at his August 2025 hearing, who was known to be in this area. And at best, this is a pretty major security breach, right? And no one's really talking about it that way.

But think about the Trump regime and the resources that they have made to go after the abuelo and abuela and the hardworking immigrants who are here, who have been here for 30 years, 40, right? They would track these people down. They'd pay taxes. They've been here with their grandkids. These are the people who were being sent to like El Salvador and thrown in these camps and wherever they would hunt them and ICE and Border Patrol, right? We remember, and it's still going on to this day. So a guy known to be threatening the White House, who would be in the vicinity quite frequently, who had schizophrenia, who was threatening the White House, who failed to appear at a, at a court appearance. There was no effort by Pirro and the Trump regime to try to find this guy. Think about— so while they're talking about Golden Ballroom and shields, they just let this guy roam around D.C. And then when we talk about the incident that, that, that took place, Again, the schizophrenic guy, he's on the outer perimeter right here. We hear all of these gunshots. And then what was it, within hours, less than hours, Donald Trump uses it to start making social media posts.

This is why we need a ballroom. This event is one month removed from the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting. Goes to show how important it is for all future presidents to get what will be the most safe and secure space of its kind ever built in Washington, D.C. And then Trump's DOJ, which did not prosecute this guy, which let this guy stay out on a failure to appear, an FTA. They then, after letting the guy out, letting him roam D.C. and then killing him, they then say this was the fourth assassin. They call it a fourth assassin in the filing. They call it another assassination attempt. They So this was the second assassination attempt on the president within a single month, referring to the White House correspondence as, as an assassination attempt and this as an assassination attempt. And to this federal judge, the Trump DOJ says this is why Trump needs his ballroom and you need to revoke your injunction. By the way, if you're wondering, well, the judge issued an injunction, how are they still building the ballroom? The injunction is stayed. Or paused pending a ruling by the Court of Appeals. So Trump is able to build even though there is an injunction against it until the Court of Appeals rules.

The Court of Appeals panel has been this right-wing D.C. Circuit panel, so they are holding off on ruling and then, which they should be ruling soon, but they delay, delay, delay. And so Trump's rushing the construction of this ballroom while there's no ruling taking place. Here they're arguing to the district court judge while the ballroom is being built. You see, Judge, the ballroom's being built. And it's like the judge stayed the order. So it hasn't even been blocked yet officially, even though the judge issued an injunction. So look, as I've said, there's nothing conspiratorial about what I just said. I just laid out the facts for you that the Trump regime allowed a schizophrenic guy who threatened to do lots of bad things to the White House, roamed the perimeter, killed the guy, and then used it to justify the Golden Ballroom. I, in, in, uh, back in my litigation career, what I would say if I was doing a summary judgment motion, those are undisputed facts, Bretton Jordy. And I just leave it at that. I don't have to veer into anything else. If you want, you could draw whatever conclusions you have. But with the Trump regime's behavior, And then this happens, and then immediately after it, you use it to talk about Golden Ballroom after the GOP agreed with Democrats not to do $1 billion in funding for it.

People are going to feel a certain way, and it's because the Trump regime's conspiratorial about everything.

100%. And, you know, they're— this is a regime, the Trump regime, that is just focused on ever anything but the things that actually matter, right? They put a guy in charge of, uh, looking after domestic terrorism threats who's like in his early 20s, who has no experience in this. Uh, every day they're out there talking about a ballroom or an arch or a UFC stadium on the White House lawn. As Ben said, they're, uh, you know, taking innocent immigrants and their, uh, taking them and they're sending them off to El Salvador to these prison camps, doing all the various things while they're not actually looking for the people who are actually dangerous out there, people who they actually have records of. And so they're turning a blind eye to those issues. And simultaneously, they're also turning a blind eye to the issues that the American people actually care about. Nobody has been asking for any of this shit, right? Nobody is asking for a ballroom. I mean, maybe, you know, when the MAGA people get their new chips, you know, they get their little update from the, from the Trump talking points. They go, we need a ballroom.

Now we need the ballroom. You're suddenly this passionate about a ballroom out of nowhere. Okay. But the reality is the average American person does not care about a ballroom. They don't care about an arch. They don't want to see UFC on the lawn of the White House. They don't want their prices to be what they are. They don't want to see gas the way they are. But Donald Trump knows that he's not going to be able to win on those issues. He's not going to be able to win people over. So he constantly is throwing out these distractions. Every single day. Don't look at the fact that you're paying, you know, $6, $7 a gallon gas. I saw the other day by me at one of the gas stations, like $7.50 for premium. I, I, I— it blew my freaking mind when I saw that. I had to do a double take. Um, but he's not— he doesn't want the conversation to be about that. So instead it's ballroom, it's arch, it's UFC fights. It's just chaos, constant chaos. But But the chaos cannot outrun the actual feelings that the American people are feeling. They're feeling chaos in their everyday lives, not this external chaos.

So they're going in the store, they can't afford things, they can't afford gas. I don't frankly don't know how a lot of people are even surviving right now, given that costs are so high everywhere you go. And then you have an administration out there that just doesn't seem to give a damn at all. And they kind of rub it in your face every day. That they don't care about any of this stuff that actually matters to people.

They absolutely rub it in your face. Oh, you can't afford gas? Oh, you can't afford groceries? We're gonna build a golden ballroom. Isn't that so great for us? It's really so despicable. And what it comes down to for me is truly like, we just need to get back to a point in this country when we have leaders who are serious people, who actually wanna work on behalf of the American people. And look, maybe you could tell me that's never been the case here and I'm, you know, fantasizing about this America that I want this utopia, but I know we could get there. I genuinely, like, in my bones know that when this country could operate on all cylinders, like, it could be great. I'm not saying it ever was great, but I'm just saying that there are real leaders out there that want to do good work. But there are so many Donald Trumps out there and so many of the MAGAs out there that are just there to like to beat you down, to make you as an American citizen, like, feel so tired and so distracted by all of the chaos and it is exhausting.

And so I'm grateful for this community here that I know it's exhausting, but we're in this together and that's what they want. They want you to be exhausted so much so where you just totally tune out.

But so it's like, stop bullshitting us, right? Like, stop with the non sequiturs. Okay, there was a shooting on 17th and Pennsylvania Avenue, so you need a ballroom. What does A have to do with B? They don't have to do anything with each other at all. What are you What are you saying?

It's insane.

Yeah.

And then while what's on the American people's mind this Memorial Day, it's gas prices, it's grocery prices, it's rent, it's their house going to be in foreclosure, it's student loan delinquency, credit card delinquency. I mean, it's, it's job recession. It's psychological torture by this Trump regime. People living paycheck to paycheck. What the Trump regime just wants to talk about is ballrooms, this you have C fights that. I mean, they had their national economic advisor Kevin Hassett make his rounds on the weekend shows, and I'll just give you a taste of what he was saying. This is Hassett, Trump's national economic advisor.

Let's play it. The Wall Street Journal editorial board really took a swipe at the president over that fund, over the ballroom on Saturday. They said, quote, Republicans don't want to say this publicly, but privately they do. President President Trump's personal political obsessions are hurting his presidency, hurting the chances for further foreign policy gains, and putting control of the House and Senate in jeopardy. Does the president realize that he is putting Republicans in a tough spot by forcing them to take votes on things that are unpopular, like the fund, like the ballroom, like the war, in a midterm election year?

Look, look, I respect the Wall Street Journal very much.

I saw Paul Gugot at the Kevin Walsh signing in just on Friday. But the bottom line is the president believes that the ballroom is something that should have been there for a long time.

And he's using his own money and the money of donors to make it so that the taxpayers don't have to pay for that ballroom.

And as far as weaponization, I don't think that—

well, they would have to pay $1 billion, correct?

No, it's not for the ballroom. That's for securing the entire White House.

And my goodness.

To argue about that after we were all here yesterday.

I actually wasn't here.

I was at my home a couple of blocks away when the shooting happened.

Of course, we've got to make the White House more secure. You see how they use the incident there? He goes, it's not for the ballroom. It literally is for the ballroom. It says the billion dollars is for East Wing modernization. That's quite literally what the legislation that was killed actually says. You know, and even though, you know, I guess that reporter pressed him a little bit. Do you notice that it was through the prism first of a Murdoch property? The Wall Street Journal said. And so you have CBS, which has become regime media, using Wall Street Journal, which is a Murdoch property, but it's also framing things in terms of an election as a gamification. Isn't this hurting the Republicans' chances in the midterm? And to me, the very framing of that. And by the way, that's not just a CBS thing. That's how most corporate news will cover this, whether they're regime media or regime-adjacent media. How is this going to impact the midterms? How is this going to affect this race or this person or that person? And when the discussions are that, and that's all you hear, you miss the very essence of the American experience right now, regardless of the outcome of the midterms or this or that or this personality or that person.

What we need to be doing is saying, Trump is doing this. Why isn't he focused on the American people? Hey, Kevin Hassett, you've been out here saying that we would be in a golden age and by this time gas prices would be $1.98. You've been on the show repeatedly and have made these promises. And not only have you failed to deliver those promises, but things are so much worse. So what do you say to the American people who are suffering? Is it going to be next quarter, the quarter after that? To me, it should be framed around what the American people are experiencing, not the gamification of, well, isn't this bad for Republicans? And it's bad for the American people that this is what Donald Trump is focused on. Contrast that to, I said, Graham Plattner, who, you know, and what Graham Plattner, what he's messaging. Listen to the message right here, because there's a reason why this message is the type of message that resonates here's a speech that he recently gave.

Let's play.

I believe that in our country, the voices of working people are far more important than the voices of those who simply have money. I believe that we should not be settling for scraps that they throw to us from the table where they dine with the Epstein class. I don't think that a CEO should have more power than a union member. I don't think that private equity deserves more time with a senator than someone who works two jobs just to get by. We are in the straits we are today because that is exactly what has happened. But the world that we live in is not how it has to be. We can have a healthcare system that is not just another mechanism of extracting wealth out of working Americans, but a guarantee of safety and health for all.

Ball.

I'll share with you Senator Ossoff from Georgia. Here's what he just said. Let's play it. You also probably saw that as he continues his project of turning the White House into his royal palace, he's demanding vast sums of money, your money, the people's money for his ballroom. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Ferguson in a pattern of corruption and abuse unprecedented in the history of the presidency. But you can rest assured that both of my opponents would be voting for this insurrectionist slush fund and would be voting for this crooked ballroom. And they're going to come down here to Georgia and spend hundreds of millions of dollars to try to elect one of these two Trump puppets to the United States Senate. Again, powerful words right there. And those are winning messages, not because they're winning elections. They're winning messages because you're fighting for the American people. This is what the American people are talking about right now, and that's what's paramount. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention on this episode right now, um, what's going on, uh, in Ukraine and Russia right now, um, because yet again you see Donald Trump's cycle of fraud.

The same way Donald Trump promised that on day one prices would go down and gas would go down and everything would be more affordable, he promised that before he even took office there would be a peace deal, uh, and that the war, the invasion of, of by Russia of Ukraine would end and everything would be great. He's got good relationships, he said, with Putin and Ukraine, and it would be great. And you know what Donald Trump tried to do there is what he's doing with Taiwan. He picks out who he thinks is the weaker party, and then he goes and he attacks, you know, Ukraine and does everything he can to force Ukraine to surrender. It's exactly what he's now going to be doing with Taiwan. He's going to deprive Taiwan of military assistance, and he's going to take the side of his authoritarian, you know, Xi Jinping, and take the side of Putin over Zelensky. That, that's, that's Trump's MO right there. We've seen Zelensky and Ukraine develop perhaps the most innovative, technologically capable, uh, army military, uh, in the world at this point, with its drones, its drone interceptors, the submersive drones, its, uh, technology, radar detection, uh, how modern warfare is being fought.

Ukraine is pioneering it right now, so much so that European leaders talk about how they're gaining info from Ukraine. In many ways, Ukraine is helping them now more than they are helping Ukraine. Of course, Ukraine needs financial assistance, and there's a certain equipment Ukraine can't afford, but What, what Ukraine has developed militarily is first rate. And now as Ukraine is striking inside Moscow, you now have Russia also using some of its Arishniks and some of its missiles to strike in Kyiv, which it's always been doing. Um, and we've seen an escalation by Russia of killing civilians in Ukraine and striking civilian targets in Kyiv. And so the war actually rages Russia's more out of control right now. Russia's gotten more aggressive, not less. And the prospect of there being a resolution of this invasion by Russia of Ukraine, of Ukraine, and a resolution resulting in peace there is far less attainable than when Donald Trump first got to office. He's made things much, much worse. And his instincts, his vibes, Jordy, which he runs on that are devoid of experts, are also the worst vibes imaginable. His— and, and if you look historically, it's why he's bankrupted so many things over and over and over again.

He, he goes by vibes, he defrauds with his vibes, and he just makes things worse and worse and worse. And so we continue to cover what's going on in Ukraine, we continue to cover what's going on in that region as we focus on these international developments. And we also showed also these protests against the Trump regime in Venezuela. Venezuela, where they were burning Trump and Rubio in effigy there also. And then you have there, uh, Maria Machado, who won the Nobel Prize, and Trump basically shook her down in order to get the— for her to give him the prize that she won. She says she's going back in order to run for office there, as Donald Trump's not— doesn't want democratic elections in Venezuela. He's got Delcy, his authoritarian puppet, in Venezuela. And so while Trump was there on Memorial Day bragging about Venezuela, you know, it's like the hostage negotiator bragging with the hostage taker that they formed it, that they formed a joint venture agreement. How did you negotiate with the hostage taker? Oh, we did an alliance. And now we're both the hostage takers. Yeah, but that's not— doesn't seem to be a deal.

You just join the bad guys. Well, we did. And that's what Trump wants to do around the world. Trump just wants to be one of the bad guys. Bad guys and to dilute America's power to play second fiddle to the bad guys he admires. That's the status right now. That's what the world sees. And I'll leave you at that, Brett. I'll pass it to you if there's anything you want to mention as well.

No, I think that's a good place to end it. I want to thank everybody for joining us on Memorial Day. I know you could be doing a lot of other things, so I appreciate you spending our time with us here. I want to also remind everybody to check us out on Substack, MidasPlus.com. A lot of great articles. Uh, Ron's daily bulletins are incredible. We've been doing these midday recaps also because I know some people are like, hey, I can't wait till the end of the day for the news, I got to know what's happening earlier. So we got that. We had a lot of great interviews. Check out Ben's interview with Ben Rhodes, a former Obama national, uh, Deputy National Security Advisor. Uh, really good, really insightful, speaks to the exact things that Ben was just speaking about in terms of, uh, the shifting global landscape, uh, the shift of the United States' place in the world, Donald Trump's kind of view of the United States in the world, the new world order that is forming. I found it incredibly insightful. What a great conversation between the two Bens. That's available also on the Midas Touch podcast feed.

Uh, go and check it out. And, uh, thanks again for joining us. I, I, I really appreciate it. And on that Note, Jordy, I will leave it to you.

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