Transcript of MeidasTouch Full Podcast - 7/17/26

We've got a lot to discuss on this episode of the Midas Touch Podcast. Donald Trump escalating the catastrophic and unlawful war in Iran, now hitting multiple civilian bridges in Iran, railways in Iran. There have been multiple civilian casualties reported out of Iran. Iran is striking back. We're seeing right now fires erupt right by the border of Kuwait and Iraq. We've seen Iran strike hard in Kuwait with Shahed drones in Bahr in a hotel in Oman. Iran is now also threatening to shut down the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea. If the United States were to have escalated and hit Iranian infrastructure, the US has hit Iranian civilian infrastructure. I think we can expect now Iran to escalate shutting down the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea. We already see traffic from the Strait of Hormuz completely shut down. In fact, when CENTCOM was buzzing and telling some of these tankers, you're free to go, use the southern route, use the southern route— well, after 7 tankers in the past several days have been destroyed by Iran for taking the United States' advice to use the southern route, now we're hearing over the tanker radio frequency, shut the F up, we're not effing doing it, get the F away, to CENTCOM.

That's what CENTCOM has become at this point. Donald Trump making a complete mockery of CENTCOM. CENTCOM making a complete mockery of itself. We'll talk about what's going on there because things are really getting very, very bad, and especially as America has depleted its strategic petroleum reserves, which I've been warning about like a broken record now for a very long period of time. Of course, there was the Todd Blanch hearing, uh, Todd Blanch, the acting AG, his confirmation hearing to become Attorney General. Awful to watch someone so lawless, so callous, try to get this job. We covered it yesterday. We'll talk about some of the lowlights today. You have the Defense Department right now under Hegseth and the acting Navy Secretary. You know, uh, they like to call themselves the War Department unlawfully, but they've been encouraging, uh, the military to do these very like low flyovers first at Kid Rock's house a month or two back, which we're like, what the hell are they doing at Kid Rock's house? Then in South Carolina over July 4th weekend. Then most recently there was a flyover, I believe, in Pensacola. Very dangerous, very low, right next to, you know, you could see the— you could like right next to like kids there.

And then you could see the beach. You could see just the way the kids reacted. And then Hegseth says, until morale improves, we're going to keep on doing this. And then you have the US Navy Secretary out there also saying, this is patriotic, this is what we do. And then Hegseth did a whole video that he released about this is now the high tea, War Department high tea. And it's this whole video about we're going to give like testosterone injections and medication to soldiers to make sure they have their testosterone level really high. I mean, this is the most deranged and truly psychotic group of individuals purportedly leading the United States, or I should say leading us into bankruptcy and catastrophe at all levels. I mean, you know, there was the hearing of the new ODNI, the Director of National Intelligence, Jay Clayton, who was asked very, very basic questions by Senator Ossoff, and Clayton wouldn't answer, like, who won the 2020 election? I'm not going to answer. I'm not gonna answer that question. And with all of this taking place, you have ICE out there continuing to kill people, uh, in this country and take no accountability for it.

The most latest, uh, the most recent killing, uh, Juan Sebastian Guerrero. There's a photo of him right there and his wife and their baby who is now 3 years old, wearing a bluey shirt.

It's the—

my, my baby girl's favorite shirt is her bluey shirt. And watching her father bleed out on the street as ICE killed her father in cold blood. Talk about this and more on the Midas Touch Network. I'm Ben Myselis, joined by Brett and Jordy Myselis. How you brothers doing?

It's good to be here, Ben. Good to be here, Jordy. Good to be here, Midas Mighty. And man, we made a big announcement yesterday, and I just got to say, just at the top of the show, I just sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, want to thank the entire Midas Mighty community for the response to the announcement of our new book, WTF America. America comes out October 20th, but it's available for presale now. Jordy and Ben got their copies there. Mine is actually upstairs right now. We poured our heart and souls into this book. I know a lot of you have said, where'd you guys even find the time to do this? Well, every second we weren't on camera here, we were working on that. And so, uh, it's really a work of love. It's really a dedication to you, the Midas Mighty. I hope you find the information in it valuable. Uh, there's a pre-order link in the description. But, uh, really what I just want to say right now is, is thank you, thank you, thank you much for the incredible reaction to this book, and I'm excited to discuss all the news with you today.

Jordy, what's the latest?

Brothers, my mighty, it's wonderful to be here. I echo Brett's sentiments. Thank you all so much for the overwhelming response to the announcement of WTF America. As Ben reads the laundry list of just WTF America moments each episode, I just often reflect and I do like do a collective sigh, I guess, with this audience. But, you know, like there's real action to be taking. Throughout all of this. And well, we're excited to get into it. Benji, where are we starting off today, big bro?

Right, WTF is how I wake up sometimes. You know, I don't get all that much sleep, but when I do wake up, I'm on the West Coast, and so 4:30, 5 AM, I'll look to see what's happening, and it's usually Trump escalating, Trump imposing more unlawful tariffs. Like this morning, more escalation of war. Strategic petroleum reserves hitting tank bottom, which I've been warning about. We're at tank bottom now. So if you look at just a schematic of what that means, it means that we're at such a low level. If you think about, I don't know, taking a— having a drink, if you think about this as a cup for the visual and there's a straw in it, you know, when you get below the suction line and you can't really suction any of the crude anymore, that's kind of where we're at right now. And that's one of the ways the Trump regime's been manipulating the crude market in addition to significantly shorting the crude market at low volume trading times as well. I've been talking about the crack spreads, the 3-2-1 crack spreads. It's called that because for every 3 barrels, 2 go to gas, 1 goes to, you know, diesel usually.

And so the crack spread's now at $70 per barrel. But this, as the price of crude has now passed $80 a barrel, the refinery price is increasing. So the fact that the crack price or the crack spread is at $70 a barrel, which is like record territory, is a very, very bad sign. And it talks about shortages. Like, so what does this mean in practice? That means we're going to hit fuel shortages soon. That means there's going to be lines at the gas station. It will remind you a lot of COVID Remember when there were lines for grocery stores, lines for food? That's going to come back soon. And, you know, I know lots of people like, oh, Ben, you've been saying this for a long time. Well, it's been happening for a long time. And in fact, the Energy Information Agency called the EIA finally released their report today. It was the WTF moment. I woke up, WTF, you're telling us now, July 16th, that back in June technically we hit tank bottom? So, so, so now we are tank bottom, tank bottom, tank bottom. And that's when Donald Trump thought this was, let's escalate.

We should never be in this catastrophic war in the first place. If you're going to escalate, which you never should, Now you think— they think now's the, the time to do that. So I also woke—

it's—

you should never— let's be very clear, this should never be the time to do that. Also, Donald Trump is now attacking civilian infrastructure in Iran. Bridges— the Bandar Abbas to Shiraz Bridge has been hit. You can actually see the bridge that's been destroyed. Other civilian infrastructure as well. Bandar Khamir an important overpass connecting Bandar Abbas to Lar. There were cars on the bridge. At least one civilian was dead, several injured. The Garbara Bridge, at least one dead, several others injured. A railway station west of Bandar Abbas. That's the point where the railway connects to the passenger and freight lines. Also residential buildings near— there have been strikes near residential buildings as well. And Iran has said, if you do that, we're going to strike infrastructure of Arab nations nearby. We're not going to hold back. And as I've been warning about now, and again, I've seen some people say, Ben, no one else is reporting that. Are you sure? They're talking about the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandab and strategic reserves and Cushing, Oklahoma. What are you even saying here with all of these things? Yeah, well, I've been evaluating what's been happening. I actually didn't need super secret sources to tell me.

That's actually one of the things we talk about in WTF America. A lot of it's happening.

Like, I can see it. I can see what's being said, see what's being done.

I can see the troop movements. I can see where we're striking. I can evaluate if it's true or not true. I show you the true stuff. I don't show you the false stuff. I'm well aware that Iran has its own propaganda arm as well. So it's not like, oh, everything they say has to be true. But I also want to see, okay, this is truly something that happened. Iraq says that there was an Iranian Shahed that struck one of its refineries, but there was no damage done. It was all good. Hmm, that's curious. So is Iran lying or is Iraq lying? And then you find out, oh, Iraq is now actually shutting down the refinery and shutting down, you know, its production from there. Oh, got it. So there was damage that took place.

And we kind of see this theme over and over again.

CENTCOM,, and the Arab nations that Iran is striking back out, they'll say it was just the debris that fell down. There was no real damage. But then you'll see the satellite footage and CENTCOM will say, that's not real, that's fake, that's AI satellite footage from Iran. But usually the satellite footage is accurate, we found. And then a month later or 15 days later or sometimes longer, you'll find, oh, wait a minute, all of those US bases have been hit really hard. Yeah, I mean, we, We see things on fire. Like right now, you could see right by the border of Kuwait and Iraq, something— there's a serious fire right there. We know Iran said they were going to strike the infrastructure. We're waiting to get confirmation on what it actually is. But we know Iran's responded hard. I've seen the Iranian Shahed drone that struck a Kuwaiti American facility. You know, it's interesting, too. I've seen them. I've seen the strikes in Jordan. You know, then you'll hear from like Jordan's foreign minister and they'll be like, we don't know why Iran is striking us. We don't have air bases in Jordan.

We don't—

we just have troops here, part of a previous agreement with the United States. But we don't have, you know, any U.S. bases there. And it's like, what are you talking about?

I mean, that's where there's been a huge amount of U.S.

planes that are right.

We can see them in the satellite footage.

But by the way, that's why CENTCOM has demanded that all of these private companies that provided, like Planet Labs and others that do the satellite footage, shut it down.

Because people were able to see it and see what was happening.

Now, one of the ways we get this footage is that China hasn't shut down there. So oftentimes the China kind of companies that are linked with them, you know, are showing some of this footage. And there's still others that haven't operated, but the U.S. has anyone affiliated with it shut down its production of these satellite images. Um, and, and now we're at a point as well where Iran has said, um, that it will work with the Houthis to shut down the Bab el-Mandeb Strait if the US does what the US is doing now. We know the Houthis in Yemen have been working, uh, with, uh, allied groups in Somalia, on the other area by the Red Sea, to make sure that both sides of the Red Sea, um, can fully be shut down. Um, so we're evaluating, you know, that right there. Saudi Arabia has attacked inside Yemen where the Houthis are. Just Yemen's divided, you know, there's kind of the Saudi-backed government right there, and then the other main area is controlled by the Houthis, and the Sana'a airport that Saudi Arabia, um, attacked. The Houthis said, well, we're going to strike back at Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.

Pakistan, which is the mediator, has a defense agreement with Saudi Arabia, um, kind of like their own alliance, that if Saudi Arabia is attacked, then Pakistan is obligated to fight in defense of Saudi Arabia in response for Saudi Arabia money. So Pakistan's role as the mediator has basically been, has basically been blown up. And Iran, I think, is preparing to strike infrastructure now in these Arab nations. And so this all happens at a time where these strategic reserves are fully, you know, are fully depleted.

And that's like, that's, that's where we, that's where we are right now.

I'll toss it to Brett and Jordy. But like that assessment that I just gave you, it's not a Democratic assessment, an independent assessment, a republic. I mean, in being a political party, that is, it is independent and objective. It's not a Republican assessment. That's where we are. We are in a much worse, higher escalatory position than at any time in the war, at any time, including the beginning. We are in a much more dangerous and precarious situation than even early March when Trump started, you know, doing all— we are in a position where If you just map out the next moves, the next moves are Iran strikes infrastructure. I'm sure that's what I'll be reporting soon. Bab el-Mandeb Strait comes next. So Trump thinks he needs to respond with special forces. Special forces where? Kharg Island, Qeshm. I don't know the coast. Special forces that will inevitably lead to special forces getting killed.

Then where does that lead to?

Draft. We had a— Trump says we have 50,000 troops in the region. Russia is losing about 35,000 to 50,000 troops each month in its invasion of Ukraine. Okay, so a US invasion of Iran, expect to lose 30,000 to 50,000 troops per month. I think that would be, um, a conservative estimate right there. And then while we're at it, if we talk about the geopolitical situation right now, you have war escalating like never before between Russia and Ukraine. And, you know, with Ukraine increasing its abilities to strike the Russian refineries, you know, which it's built up those capabilities, you know, and it's defending itself, right, from a Russian invasion.

Well, What do you think that's doing to, to the oil markets right now?

What do you think that's doing as well? I know that's not how we should always be thinking about it in economic terms, but you have Russia hitting hard in Ukraine. You've got Ukraine hitting hard in Russia now with deeper and deeper strikes. You had Zelensky make one of his first major errors, awful error. He got rid of Fedorov, who's their defense minister, and kind of sided with the old guard of the Ukrainian troops. There's massive protests right now in Ukraine after they fired Fedorov. I don't know what the thinking was, but there was a fight between Fedorov, who was only in that position for about 6 months as like their head of their defense, and he was the guy who modernized the Ukrainian weapons, and, uh, their old guard, the commander-in-chief person who was running kind of the, the day-to-day in Ukraine. And you— and Zelensky sided with the older guard. There are people protesting. Kyiv Independent is out there criticizing.

So you've got just the dynamic in the right now, all of the bullshit fearmongering that they would do about Biden, this Biden, that Biden, this.

And you go back, Brett, you've shown me some of those posts from some of those right-wing MAGA people.

All of those things are actually happening right now as we're recording this on a much bigger scale than the fearmongering with Biden, by the way, where that fearmongering caused the oil prices to go up, not the actuality. The fearmongering of it is what caused it to go up.

It actually made me truly angry. And I was just curious and I don't know why. It's like, I don't know, self-harm in a way. I felt like, like I'm just curious what all these people who are like very much silent right now on the situation in Iran, what did they say during the Biden administration about oil? What did they say during the Biden administration about issues with the markets or the banks? And so I looked up some of these figures and, you know, I don't even feel like giving them individually attention, but I'm sure a lot of you know who they are, some kind of big kind of right-wing tech kind of proligarch, you know, types, investment types. And, you know, I looked up, okay, let's look at their posts about oil prior to Donald Trump's second term, you know, from the Biden presidency. Let's look up their posts about war or about the banks. And sure enough, every post was a 5-alarm fire. It was the run on the banks, run on the banks, take your money out. You got to take your money out. Oil's going to be up. Oil's going to be gone.

Get your oil. Oil's got World War III.

World War III.

World War III is coming. And just an incessant, just nonstop push of that stuff, just constantly pushing that into the ecosystem every single day and getting the boost from the algorithms of the right-wing oligarchs who run the platforms like the Elon Musks of the world, getting millions and millions and millions of Impressions. That was lying to the American people about what was going on and creating this panic, creating this just alternative reality. And that alternative reality is what Donald Trump thrives in. I mean, think about when there were the hurricanes, right, right at the end of the Biden administration. What did they do? These people so discontent, they spread fake information, disinformation about what was happening. Remember, they kept going back to that FEMA $750. I can't believe the Biden administration would only do this. Meanwhile, that was like the amount that was automatically dispersed to people that was congressionally approved. And what did Donald Trump do when he came into office? He made that $0, and he's been rejecting FEMA aid from every single country. There was the fires here in California, which affected us quite intimately, and Donald Trump lying about that, that he needed to turn on a big hose, and then, and there wouldn't have been fires without him.

And if only they raked the Boris. And so I think everything— when you look at Donald Trump across the board, you know, you have to really look at him like, like a deranged maniac, like a psychotic individual. And so one of the frustrating things about when you get into a situation of a war like this is the guy doesn't change, right? A leopard doesn't change its spots. And so Donald Trump in this war scenario now is doing the same thing, the same sort of psychological damage that he did to all Americans over the course of the election and over the course of this term. All of the endless lying, the gaslighting, creating the alternate realities. That's what he's doing in Iran right now. And that makes it a very difficult situation for Americans sitting at home who are trying to get accurate information about the war. This is a matter of life or death. Major information that could affect oil markets, could affect, like I said, lives more importantly. And Donald Trump gets out there every single day and just lies. That's why when I hear the Iranians talk about how the discussions are going and Donald Trump violating the MOU, I'm frankly more inclined to believe them because I actually see what's happening beyond Donald Trump's rhetoric.

And when I see Donald Trump say things like, they don't know what they want and they keep changing their mind and they keep saying different things and these people are psycho, these people are scum, they're deranged, you can never trust a word they say. They say one thing one day, a different thing the next. I'm like, dude, you're talking about yourself, man. You're talking about yourself yet again. And so it's the psychological projection. The same kind of, you know, the same kind of things that he does to Americans here at home with these domestic issues that's so damaging he's doing overseas right now. But this is an issue, of course, that affects the entire world.

He hasn't just lost his marbles.

He has no marbles.

The war with Iran exposed like another truly terrifying vulnerability at the highest level of American government, and that's that the United States its president, Donald Trump, is so obviously and clearly showing signs of his cognitive collapse day in and day out, and yet no one is doing anything about it. And now because of that, we're, we're stuck in a forever war. But I am not an ageist. I think that's like one of the dumbest isms, right, that you could be. Whether you like it or not, hopefully you grow old one day. But the reality is, at a certain point, Father Time comes for us all and impacts our decision-making and our cognitive capabilities. So we have to just understand here, Trump is well past the, hey, give me your keys phase of this. He's in like the, he needs to be institutionalized phase. And now the worst part about this is that Trump has surrounded himself entirely with these submissive loyalists and yes-men, and there's no one there to be like, hey, keys. There's no one there to provide any pushback, correct his cognitive failures and poor decision-making. And instead, you know what they do?

They look at Trump and they say, hey, man, how fast do you want to drive today? How fast do you want to go? When someone who is so cognitively addled like a Donald Trump gets validated in those war room meetings, we as a country, we're just left exposed to an unforced catastrophic escalation. And that's what we're seeing. That's exactly what we're seeing day in and day out. Every single day, this war drags on and on as our troops die and get injured, as families are ripped apart, as we start to see gas lines in this country. This is going to keep keep getting worse, Ben.

And I'll agree with you to an extent, right? And, and I totally— I completely agree. You know, the guy's totally cognitively addled. He's making erratic decisions. He's saying things that are not, uh, at all tethered to reality. He contradicts himself every single day. And I, I agree with you 100% on that. You literally see the rot on his hands and on his neck. At the same time, I think we all have to understand though that a lot this is a deliberate strategy by Donald Trump. And so I don't want to just write it off as cognitive decline. Donald Trump is purposely trying to pump out a firehose of lies. He's trying to confuse the population. He's trying to confuse the United States and our citizens. He's trying to confuse the Iranian regime. He's trying to cause chaos. And he thinks through chaos— that's his kind of strategy in order to succeed in these things. And he hopes that he could just kind of drag this stuff stuff on long enough that somebody else eventually comes along and solves his issue, or that he screws it up so badly that he then goes to blame the deep state, or he goes to blame the Democrats, or the far-left radical communists who wouldn't back him in the war, right?

That's, that's kind of, in my opinion, that's kind of his strategy. And that's what's so kind of cynical about everything that he's doing here. I think a lot of it is actually quite deliberate, and there is a strategy behind it. And the strategy is to cause as much chaos as possible.

But just like with his litigations where he deploys the same strategy, right, continue it, continue it, delay, delay, delay, at some point the rubber hits the road, right? Like the— in addition to it being lies and fascism and hate, you know, and resulting in war crimes and killing, it also doesn't have an end that is anything other than bankruptcy. And that's what we've seen seen in this guy's entire life, right? Like, okay, you're doing all of these things, you're doing all of these things, but like, what's the end outcome? Is it just to literally keep it going for as much— the scam—

until, until what?

Well, you hit a point, which is where we're at now, where you're at tank bottom, where Iran is not destroyed as many times as you want to claim that they're destroyed. They aren't. They're responding back with force. They've prepared prepared for this. You're about to have the Red Sea shut down and the Persian Gulf shut down while we hit tank bottom. And because corporate news is too busy greeting Caroline Levitt returning back— did you see how hard—

welcome back, welcome back. Lie to us, please lie more to us.

Like, they literally—

it was like, welcome back.

I don't think the American people, other than Midas Touch Network viewers and other people who view networks like ours actually know the scale and scope of what's happening.

So then a thing happens and it appears to happen out of nowhere, right? All of a sudden the media cycle will turn to Cushing, Oklahoma and Tank Bottom and crack spreads and the Red Sea and all of these things. And what does Trump do?

Find someone I can blame.

Oh, it was their fault. It was their fault. It was their fault. I was going to do it. But then this person or that person or that. Then you do the scapegoating, then you blame the other. And then Trump actually gets into an area where he feels comfortable because he's not a solution-oriented person. He's not a dealmaker. He's a destroyer. So then when there is the chaos, when there are the line, when there are all of these things that are happening, what does he do? What does he say? The communists are doing it, and mom— the mini mom Donnies are out there doing it, and this is doing it, and that and it's NATO's fault that it's this. And then he injects that in everybody else who now has to solve the problem. They become swept into this—

wah-wah-wah-wah-wah!

—when they're trying to solve the problem. And all he gives a shit about is how much money he's making off of the dips that he's creating. And for Americans, that dip means personal bankruptcy, family catastrophe, health care being ripped away. By the way, that's why I go with WTF. That's why I go WTF. What the F is going on right here with all of this, with what's happening right now? That's how I wake up every day. Anyway, let's take our last—

let's take our first, last quick break of the first quick break of the show. We've got a lot to discuss when we come back.

Hit subscribe, check out up there and there, there, wherever it is. Scan the QR code, preorder WTF America now. We'll be right back.

WLP-1 from The Absorption Company is designed to support satiety, thermogenesis, and metabolic health while also helping to reduce the absorption of fats and carbs. It's a science-backed approach for people looking to support their goals without going to the extremes. See, a supplement can only work at the level your body absorbs it. We spend so much time talking about ingredients, dosages, and wellness trends, but absorption is the factor that determines whether any supplement can actually deliver results. The Absorption Company is bringing a science-first approach to the supplement industry with advanced delivery technologies designed to increase bioavailability at a pharmaceutical-grade level. The Absorption Company is singularly focused on solving the biggest problem in supplements: low absorption. Most supplements absorb at less than 16%, meaning over 84% of the supplements we take are completely wasted. 77% of Americans take supplements daily, and we spend about $6,000 $60 billion per year on supplements, yet over 95% of us are still nutrient deficient. The supplements we're taking every day do not absorb well enough to work. The Absorption Company uses cutting-edge technologies to make supplements with pharmaceutical-grade absorption, up to 149 times better than standard supplements. Absorption is one of the things that affects all others.

No matter how powerful vitamin D, magnesium, CoQ10, or any other supplement could be, it only works if it absorbs absorbs. Whether you're looking for a WLP-1, magnesium, berberine, COQ10, or dozens of other science-backed supplements, start taking supplements your body can actually absorb. Go to absorbmore.com and enter MIDAS at checkout for up to 35% off your first order. That's absorbmore.com and enter MIDAS at checkout for 35% off your first order.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I was genuinely surprised by these when I first received them. I figured their jeans How different can they really be? But The Perfect Jean completely changed my mind. My biggest frustration has always been that jeans either fit my waist or my legs, but never both. By the end of the day, I'm constantly adjusting them or wishing I could just change to sweatpants. These actually fit right out of the box. No tailoring, no break-in period. They stretch, they are ridiculously comfortable, and honestly, they feel as comfortable as sweatpants while still looking like great denim. Denim. You can sit, bend down, move around, and they still keep their shape. They just fit the body you actually have. Whether you're looking for a pair for yourself or need a great Father's Day gift, I totally get why so many people end up ordering more than one pair, just like I did. Our listeners get 15% off their first order plus free shipping at theperfectjean.nyc, or Google The Perfect Jean and use code MIDAS15 15% off. Again, that's theperfectgene.nyc or Google The Perfect Gene and use code MIDAS15, M-E-I-D-A-S-1-5, for 15% off.

Let's go.

Shout out to our sponsors. Links in description of both the YouTube and the audio. Use the links, use the codes. If there's an exit survey, let them know we sent you. I saw a couple people already doing this in the chat. Hey, Hey, if you've already pre-ordered WTF America, throw the WTF America emoji in the chat right now. Let's swamp the chat with just flood the chat with the WTF America emoji if you pre-ordered it already.

Let everyone know, or if you plan to. And you know what I also want to say about this book briefly before tossing it over to Ben is I'm actually, I'm proud of two things. One, that we don't give an F about access, and so we're able to actually, you know, make our feelings heard in this book, and we're not afraid of what Caroline Levitt is going to say to us when she returns from her vacation, number one. Number two, I'm proud that, like, unlike so many of these other books out there, we didn't, like, withhold the scoop in order to sell a book, right? Like, we need to keep this information secret from the public. Just not how we do things. We got to report things as we actually know about them, or oftentimes, as Ben has been, you know, doing so brilliantly, before they even become the big stories to ensure that everybody is up to date. And those are a couple things I'm proud of. And by the way, for all you, uh, you know, telling me that I look tired, that I have the bags under my eyes, you understand why now.

We've been— we've been writing a book. Anyway, Ben, back to you.

Just want to emphasize this point one more time about how the credibility of CENTCOM is absolutely shot. You know, when it comes to the law of the seas. I know we have a lot of people who watch who are in the shipping industry, who have worked on tankers, who have worked on the docks. It's a crude example I'm going to give, but there's a whole kind of law and animal kingdom around the seas and the law of the seas, right? And at the very top, undisputably, the king of the jungle would be like the United States Navy, right? The United States Navy. You know, then you would have like, you know, the hyenas or like the, you know, would be like the pirates, right? And, you know, you wouldn't want, you know, the pirates was never a good thing until Donald Trump bragged, we're the pirates now. We're the pirates at sea. So we're the ones who, you know, or whatever. But, but at the, at the top, You would have, you know, the, you know, CENTCOM, U.S. Navy.

So if you would be pinged over whichever radio frequency and you heard something from CENTCOM, right, from the George H.W. Bush supercarrier ship, do, do, do, do, do, whatever the order is, you would say, yes, sir. Okay. Now those supercarriers with CENTCOM are pinging these tankers in the Strait of Hormuz saying, you're free to use the southern route. The southern route of the Strait of Hormuz remains open. To which the tankers and people are, you know, recording what's taking place over these frequencies. They're saying, excuse my language, fuck off, get out of here, shut up, you're annoying us.

I, it's, I know it's a small thing when the US is bombing bridges right now and bombing railroads and killing civilians in Iran.

But it is something that is more than just the F off part of it. That's what the tanker captains are telling these supercarrier captains.

I just want to make that emphasis right there.

Your credibility is everything in life, and in life, and the United States has absolutely none right now. And I, I was like, um, you know, I wouldn't say hopeful, but I— when I at least saw the, uh, the CENTCOM Admiral, uh, Cooper for the first time, I was like, okay, this guy at least isn't like pounding his chest and like, you know, trying to do these weird macho videos like Hegseth does or whatever. So I was like, maybe we'll actually get some real information out of him. Unfortunately, uh, you know, I always give the golden rule with the Trump administration, with the Trump regime: never give them the benefit of the doubt because they're never gonna live up to even your lowest of expectations. But it's as if Donald Trump is, you know, out there and they're telling these tankers who need to go through the Strait of Hormuz, you know, it's almost like telling people to like eat the diarrhea lettuce, you know, eat the diarrhea lettuce, eat it, eat it, trust me, it's great, it's great. We're like, I see thousands of people are getting this virus right now from the lettuce. They have explosive diarrhea.

Eat it, trust me, it's great. And they're like, no, I'm not gonna eat it.

I see what's happening.

I see what's happening. I live in the real world, you know. And so you have CENTCOM trying to push these people to live live in this fantasy land right now. The same way during COVID that Donald Trump didn't want people to care about COVID and there was kind of a movement where they're like, maybe it's good to go out there, go get the virus, go, go get infected, go— it's like, no, I'm not doing that, man. I see people dying. I see what's going on. There are tankers on fire. I'm not stupid. I hear what the, uh, SEPA Navy is saying to me in, in the, uh, in, in the communications. I'm, I'm not messing around here. And the fact that the Trump regime is so willing to put these captains, these— the people on these boats who have— it's got to be like the hardest. Can you imagine that being your job, to drive through the Strait of Hormuz? Like, how harrowing in general. And for Trump to just be so willy-nilly with their lives, I mean, just shows you just the total lack of value that they, that they place in lives. And again, it also shows this feedback loop that we've been in since day one.

I mean, don't you remember right when the war began, when the strikes happened and the strait was closed down? What did Donald Trump say? Donald Trump took to his little social media app and he starts going, show some courage, go through the Strait. Trust me, show your courage. Be strong. Be a man. And it's like, no, I'm not going to the Strait to die.

Here's the thing, Brett, I'm going to toss it right back to you.

But here's the thing about him, and it's important. And we talk about this in WDF, but here's the thing, right? He was nonstop with it, right? Nonstop. Like he never gave up on that message.

As crazy as it was.

Was the same way with the reflecting pool painted blue, the same way he lies about $19.1 trillion, the same way he claims that the tariffs are bringing prices down. You know, we just did the 25% tariffs on Brazil last night when there's a $435 million surplus with Brazil. You know, the Supreme Court will strike.

He won't stop. He will be relentless. So, Brett, to your point there, though, he's never stopped saying, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it. Do it, right? And, and then they do it because he keeps on saying, do it, do it, do it. And it's a crazy person that just keeps on going, you know. That's his— and I don't mean this in a positive sense— the superpower that he has, that the evil superpower, that, that harm. He doesn't stop. Do it, do it, do it. You know, most humans like, all right, all right. And then they do it finally.

Not right away, Brett. Not April, not May, not June.

July, finally they do it, right? Because he keeps on saying, I got you, I got you, I got you. What What happens? 7 tankers destroyed. Iran, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. There was a death on one of the ships. And what's he still saying now? Do it. And so the tankers now, July, are saying, fuck off, fuck off. But it's an important study, though, into what the problem is. And that's how he's been his whole life.

He doesn't give a shit if he destroys your life.

In fact, he likes that. He doesn't— he doesn't give a shit. He cares.

Am I making money? Am I making money?

Am I accumulating more power?

That's the important point.

And he also wants to use you. He wants to use you and your position as a prop, right? It's why we see the Hegseth, the send me video, right? It's all based on this propaganda that's so bastardized, loving this country in a specific way. And the MAGA way is like this, like overtly machismo. If you're not killing the enemy, You don't love America if you're not wrapping yourself in the American flag. You don't love America. And all that's led to are the senseless deaths of our servicemen over this war. It's ridiculous. Never tell me again that MAGA and the Republican Party champion our servicemen and women. They don't. If they did, we would not be in this war. We would not be putting them in this harm because for them, they can't even name why we're in this war. To open the strait. Now, the strait was open before we got there. What is going on? Not. Completely agree, Jordy.

And you know, the Trump— I, I think at this point everyone should realize that he views every single other person on this planet as pawns of his to use at his will. Like, Donald Trump, it's his world according to him, and everyone else is just living in it. And he'll willingly sacrifice anybody's life. He doesn't give a crap. He really doesn't care about a single soul other than himself. He's the most, uh, vain narcissistic person on the planet with a severe mental disorder. And that is actually quite dangerous when it gets to situations of war. And I can't help but, as we speak about this, think, you know, go back to kind of even January 6th with his own supporters when he told them, you know, we're going to march to the Capitol and I'll be with you. And all the stuff that he said, you know, around January 6th. And of course, he was— he set the, you know, lit the match set the fire, had everybody storm the Capitol, and then he at that point was nowhere to be found. Because it's not about him. It's not about, I'm going to like actually be at the front lines with you, or I am going to, to prove that this is safe.

I am going to go through the Strait of Hormuz. Can you imagine that visual? Donald Trump going through the Strait of Hormuz. I'm going to do this to show you that it's safe. No, that's not what it is. It's you risk your lives. And do it. Aren't you a tough guy? Don't you want to show that you're tough and that you have courage? And everyone's at this point is like, no, actually, I don't want to die for you, Donald Trump, and I don't want to die for the stock market.

But here's the thing. Goebbels said this, Hitler said it in Mein Kampf, and authoritarians in the past have utilized this. You don't tell a small lie, you tell a big lie, and you repeat it over over and over and over again. Think about tonight, Trump's national address. And fortunately, there's a lot of networks that are not going to be streaming it live, which is good, but they're probably going to normalize it after and not show the crazy stuff. So to me, it's good. Don't show it live. You shouldn't. But also educate and inform people about what a lie and how harmful it is. Don't say, oh, well, Donald Trump just gave a speech. In many ways, that becomes worse because you're now filtering it through a normal lens. So what we do at the Midas Touch Network is we don't play it live, and then we comment afterwards with a fact check about what's, um, actually what's, what's actually going down. And so again, tonight, what's he going to be doing? He's going to be talking about the stuff he was talking about in 2020, which we all knew is a lie. But here he is in 2026, on July 16th, with this catastrophic war going on, with our strategic reserves being depleted, with the American people suffering, with gas prices going back up again, with the American people having healthcare ripped away.

What's he doing? He's going to be talking about elections and communism and 2020 was stolen. And while he posts photos of Xi Jinping and himself all night, you know, him and Xi Jinping, these weird photos of him. He's what, he's going to accuse Xi Jinping of stealing the election for him in 2020? That the guy who he like admires and is not even a consistent thing at all, you know, regarding, you know, the way he engages in this behavior.

But the important lesson is he's not going to stop ever, ever.

And so the only way to respond to it and deal with this it is strongly, with moral clarity, unwavering, and just stand on business.

Just stand on it and call out the truth every damn day.

And that's what we try to do here at the Midas Touch Network. Now, I just want to share this video with you because I want to ask you, has anybody, you know, other than on the Midas Touch Network, have you seen any news network, you know, that's not independent news that's not affiliated with Midas, you know, or an independent news source, you know, show the video of the Shahed drone striking into Kuwait, by the way, which is an area that the United States has military infrastructure. And here, let me show this video for you. Now, I can show you lots of other videos like that. But instead, you'll hear the media asking— and I did a whole video on this, so I don't need to play Caroline Levitt for you— but instead, you'll hear the media adopting the fake framework from the United States that Iran was the party that breached the Memorandum of Understanding, and that how could we trust Iran if Iran so quickly breached the Memorandum of Understanding?

And, you know, now that we fully destroyed the Iranian military, uh, how do we even negotiate with them when Iran's unable to even communicate with each—

with itself at the leadership levels?

And then it's like this fictitious conversation between Caroline Levitt and these, uh, so-called reporters who are asking questions.

Well, now that— they always use the term like neutered.

It's part of their whole like weird test. Now that we've neutered them. They're unable to talk, and that's why we should have done this to begin with. But they want to settle, and they want to come back and negotiate with us soon, but they're neutered, so their leadership isn't talking. It's like, their leadership is talking. We know who their leadership is. They haven't been neutered. They have, they have Shahed drones. They have ballistic missiles. They are successfully targeting U.S. bases in the nearby Arab nations.. They're escalating in response to the US escalating. We know where this is headed. And so the whole framework of the discussion is some fake, fraudulent fantasy world as well that, that is not even rooted in the reality and the cause and the consequence is the abyss that we're heading into right now, that frankly, we're in where we are at tank bottom, where now then it gets reported breaking news. How did we get here? Because it was happening every damn day. And you all decided to, you know, I don't know, chase whatever, whatever, you know, Barak Ravid was telling you, Trump stenographer at Axios. Oh, there's productive conversations.

Oh, no, let's assess objectively what's happening. And by the way, that's the point. I'm proud of the stand book. So I'm going to keep on promoting this book because I'm proud of WTF America. And by the way, the book, which you can preorder right now, it comes out in October. It's a book for the community. I mean, we dedicate this book to you. And one of the main theses, the thesis that I put in this book is you, we're the, we with you fighting with you is the way out of this mess. It's one of the key solutions is communities like this getting out the truth. 'Cause you speak to people in your family about, you talk to others about it. All right, let's take our last quick break of the show. It's the QR codes on one of the sides, you know, You know, so put the emoji as well if you've pre-ordered. Click the QR code, pre-order right now. WTF America. All right, let's take our last quick break of the show.

Before we get back to the show, I want to tell you about Cash App.

I use it all the time and it's become much more than just a way to send or receive money.

One thing that I'd love is even more discounts at coffee shops.

That would probably save me a fortune. If you weren't up to speed already, Cash App is way more than just a safe way to send and receive money. Money. With the Cash App Card, you unlock a ton of perks without all the hidden fees. Enjoy benefits like exclusive early access to nationwide concert presales like Kendrick Lamar and Sabrina Carpenter, to name a couple recent examples, plus discounts on everyday purchases and popular brands you're probably already spending money on. Add your card to your digital wallet to make your money moves easier. Cash App also adds security to your money by declining suspicious card transactions and sending you a notification to make sure the payment is really for you. If your card is ever lost or stolen, you could lock it with just one tap right in the app. Spend with confidence with the Cash App Card today. New Cash App customers can earn $10 if they use code CashApp10 in their profile at signup and send $5 to a friend within 14 days. Terms apply. Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App's bank partners. Prepaid debit card issued by Sutton Bank, member FDIC.

Cash App Visa Debit Flex cards issued by Sutton Bank, FDIC, and the Bancorp Bank, N.A., pursuant to a license from Visa USA, Inc. See terms and conditions for the Sudden Prepaid Card, Sudden Debit Flex Card, and Bancorp Debit Flex Card. Cash App Green features savings, direct deposit, roundups, overdraft coverage, and discounts provided by Cash App, a Block, Inc. brand. Visit cash.app/legal/podcast for full disclosures.

If you're looking for a way to unwind or be social without dealing with a hangover the next day, you've got to check out Willy's. It's a low-calorie, low-sugar alcohol alternative that actually works, giving you that relaxed, uplifting social buzz without the regrets that come with drinking. I like that it actually fits into a normal routine, whether you're winding down after work, hanging out with friends, or just looking to take the edge off. Willy's Social Tonics come in 5mg and 10mg doses with a best-in-class flavor experience, so smooth and balanced, you barely realize you're drinking a THC product at all. Plus, every bottle is third-party lab tested, so you know exactly what you're getting every time. One shot of Willy's helps you relax, unwind, and destress. Willy's ships directly to your doorstep in 40+ states and has sold out 3 times in the first 6 months with over 300,000+ happy customers. So order now at drinkwillys.com. Drinkwillies.com and use code MIDAS. That's M-E-I-D-A-S for 20% off your first order, plus free shipping on orders over $95. And live like a legend. That's drinkwillies.com and use code MIDAS.

Let's go. Shout out to our sponsors, links in description of the YouTube and the audio. Use the links, use the codes. If there's an exit survey, let them know we sent you. Benji, I want to talk about what you're talking about before break, this crazy speech that's about to be played tonight. I didn't want to cut you off. So sorry for now restarting here in this segment because I think I have an alternate take here. It might be slightly controversial, but I actually think it's at least worth discussing. And Brett, I'm curious your perspective here as well. I think they should air Trump tonight. Legacy media, at least. Reason being, I don't trust them, Ben, to exactly what you landed on there, to report what's about to happen as honest brokers of information. I think they are going to cherry-pick the most sane parts of whatever happens tonight. And while doing that, they then play into exactly what Trump complains about. Oh, you've censored me. You censored me. You see, they would— they wouldn't let me speak. Then corporate media is going to bend over backwards to show the sane moments of what's happening. To me, in many ways, I get PTSD at moments like this to the the 2024 debate with Trump and Biden when they muted the mics.

I was screaming from the rooftops back then, like, why are you going to mute the mics? Why are you self-censoring Trump on his behalf? Right. He's a crazy person. And the world needs to see that he's a crazy person. Now, Benji, with respect to the Midas Touch Network and independent media covering it, I fully, totally trust how you're going to cover it, that you will show every single clip throughout this crazy speech and that people will get the accurate information. So I agree in our instance why we shouldn't show it. But that being the case, I think it's necessary that corporate media shows it. And here's the other thing, Brett, before I toss it over to you. Look, the biggest problems facing this country right now are the affordability crisis, the housing crisis, a healthcare crisis. I could go on and on. And tonight Trump's going to go up there and talk about what, the 2020 election being stolen? That's insane, right? I'm not like— like, that's insane. No, it's truly insane where it's 2026. He's going to go up there and talk about how state and Senate-level seats were stolen. That's what everyone assumes he's about to go up there and talk about.

This is a madman. This is someone who genuinely is deeply ill, a deeply irresponsible person, let alone president, who just hates this country. There is no other conclusion I can draw other than his divisiveness here, that he hates this country and he wants to put his hatred so tangibly on its people.

I can't say I agree. I, I, I, I want to say, yeah, I don't think, I don't think they should show it. I, I don't, I don't think they should show it. I don't think they should show the election lies. I think if they have advance notice that they're going to be election lies, they, they shouldn't show it. And not only that, but I also think they have a fiduciary probably obligation.

That aside, right, if they're trying to avoid it, yeah, but I already said both ways, right?

I'm giving both options. So I don't think they should show it because I don't think they should put that onto the airwaves. Um, you know, they're showing it on their digital platforms already. People are going to see it. It's, you know, it is what it is, right? But, and, and also at the same time, you have seen all the lawsuits from the, you know, 2020 election and the airing of those lies. And the courts hold the parties responsible who are amplifying those lies, especially if they have knowledge in advance that that's what's going to happen. And I, I kind of bet also that even like a Fox, when they air this, I bet they probably do so with some sort of disclaimer. You know, I'm all for people seeing how crazy the guy is, um, but I think that's why they need to see the crazy in context. And I get it, you think they're going to stain wash him after the fact, and they probably will, and, and they probably will, and you're not gonna— and you're not gonna solve that. Is the solution, in my opinion, to play him completely unfiltered? No, I, I, I don't— in my opinion, um, You know, I don't think that networks have an obligation, um, nor do I think it's in the public interest, uh, for people to be fed lies in prime time, you know, especially on these, you know, network channels where there are other shows and things that people want to be watching and stuff.

Like, to interrupt people's lives to put— to pump this toxicity into their living room, I don't think they have an obligation to do it. Um, I actually think it's negative, a net negative, and, and it's also a fiduciary issue for these companies. You know, we've talked, we've talked about it.

I don't want to even give it more time because I want to spend the time getting out just the truthful information. As, as we talk about also in WTF America, we can control what we can control, right? And what we can control is using every millisecond and second to do our best. Does that mean we're always going to be right about everything? You know, no, but to do our best getting out the truth, not as aligned with this political party or that political party, but being aligned with reality. When Donald Trump says $19.1 trillion was brought in, then you need to fact-check that immediately and say, okay, well, if you did that, that, then why are you doing Reconciliation 3.0 where you want to do more cuts to critical programs that the American people rely on when you already said you got all your money from the so-called Big Beautiful Bill, which has been an absolute disaster? But if you brought in $19.1 trillion, what do you need more money from taxpayers? You need to get rid of more programs. Like, let's just view it in the most common sense lens. And also, you're bragging about the last inflation report, which may have been fine if you stuck to the memorandum of understanding, but just by claiming some random 12 gas stations in Pennsylvania called Freedom Stations are selling gas at $3.47 because we don't even know this opaque system that you're using to basically, you know, fund this thing and lose money so you can say 12 gas stations are doing this, the 150,000 other gas stations, the prices are going up.

We're heading back to $4 a gallon.

And now we've hit strategic tank bottom or we've hit the tank bottom of these strategic petroleum reserves and people are paying more money. I mean, I see in the comments what people are saying. I'm paying over $6 per gallon right now of gas. That's the condition in a lot of states.

It's going back up significantly.. And we're in a period where we're not able to do— we're not going to be able to do an MOU again. You think we're going to be able to do an MOU, go back to it nicely and neatly? No. Trump has escalated any chance of de-escalation into what can only be existential because Donald Trump is now showing there is no MOU that exists, that Trump will not stop until there's global economic catastrophe. And maybe won't stop even when that takes place. So Iran's got the message. They knew that this would likely happen.

They prepared for it strategically. That's why they got out 60 or 70 million barrels of oil, although not all of the oil.

It's not like it's going to be easy for Iran. They don't want war. They don't love war. It's not like they're excited about this. They're going to— they're suffering casualties. This is harming them. It's not like this is a great situation.. But they are built on resistance. They're not going to tap out anytime soon. They saw what happened with the funeral processions for Ayatollah Khomeini. And all this does is further escalate and make things worse. And Trump can do the gimmick and say, look, Walmart is doing a sale. Beef is down 12%, according to the Walmart sale. You can't take Walmart coupons and extrapolate the economic condition of the American people.. But for this Trump regime and for corporate news, that just creates a framing of the other side when they both sides a thing. And then it just becomes, oh, there's these numbers, there's these numbers. There's a lot of noise out there. So whatever, we'll just, you know, whatever, whatever we can do about it, you know, let's just report that. We'll report this. And no, what we can control is telling the truth. So why we're recording now while Donald Trump's giving the speech and we're telling the truth.

Truth. There ain't no $19.1 trillion, and that should be the biggest freaking story right now, because how's someone claiming they brought in $19.1 trillion but then is begging for money from the taxpayers? That's a quintessential Ponzi scheme. The big beautiful bill, the destructive bill, was the first Ponzi scheme vehicle. Then they did it twice. Now they did it 3 times while he holds up $19.1 trillion and says how rich everybody everybody's getting when that's not taking place. I saw a poll, Harvard Harris poll showing amongst independents by a wide margin, what was it like 59 to 41? Independents say economy better under former President Biden than Donald Trump. And look, those first 2 years of Biden were rough. We shouldn't pretend, oh, it was amazing. Those were years where you had to fix the mess that was created in Trump regime won. You know, people forget how bad it was during that period of time, how catastrophic it was when every day you would learn about thousands of people dying each day because of COVID while Trump was saying inject bleach. And while Trump was again manipulating the market and doing a lot of the same things back then that he's doing right now.

And we're seeing it at play again because he is a bankruptor. A perennial destroyer. He doesn't do deals. He tore up the JCPOA, the Obama non-nuclear deal with Iran. Then he and Netanyahu invaded, just like Donald Trump said with COVID in a few days it would all go away. The curve would be bent before Easter. It would all be great. 1 to 2 cases max, no worries. He's doing the same thing here. He said it would take 3 or 4 days, we'd be done, max a week or 2. 'Ah, we're still doing it.' 'Ah, they want to make a deal.' 'They don't want to make a deal.' 'They may make a deal.' 'They don't want to do a deal.' 'I'm gonna blow up their bridges.' 'They're smart.' 'I hate them.' 'They're cuckoo.' I mean, they're cuckoo. He said they're cuckoo. The President of the United States referring to— using the word cuckoo. What are you talking about? They're cuckoo? That's where we went from presidents who, whether you agreed or disagreed, spoke with clarity and authority and used their words carefully. And now he's out there saying, the cuckoo, the crazy, we can't deal with them.

Like, we need to take a step back. And the problem is we're now at this place where everybody's been warning against. How do you pull out of this right now? How do you get out of this with these deranged individuals who right now their new culture war issue is high T, high testosterone within the, you know, You know, supporting gender-affirming care of high T in the military while constantly doing flyovers. That's their new distraction. Their new distraction is doing flyovers, whether it's a Pensacola, whether it's South Carolina, wherever, that are dangerously low. And then when people are like, dude, you're going to kill the kids, you're going to blow out their eardrums. Like, what are you doing? They go, the flyovers will continue until morale improves. Dude, flyovers are cool, okay? This is what Pete Hegseth said. The flyovers— well, and then the Navy Secretary was out there saying, "Carry on, patriots. Carry on, everybody," you know? And it's like, you know, nothing wrong here. And it's like, okay, we can— like, the bottom line is you can like UFC. No, that's fine. You want to like UFC. Personally, I don't like UFC. I like boxing.

I like soccer and football. I like— I don't— UFC doesn't do it for me. But you don't have to be weird about it and do it in front of the White House. You could like Grand Prix, but like, we shouldn't be emphasizing turning Washington, D.C. into a racetrack, you know, when there are so many issues, you know, that are, that are taking— but you could still like it. But why, but why do you have to do it there? You can like flyovers, you could like air shows. I like flyovers, I like air shows.. But that doesn't mean we have to like that. It's like some woke thing to be like, oh my God, that seems pretty dangerous when you see the kids covering their ears. And when you see that in the past, those types of flyovers have resulted before in very serious injuries. And so it's like, oh, you woke, you care about them injuries, you're not patriotic, you don't like— I like to see it. Just stop doing stupid shit. Just seriously grow up. We don't need to see Apaches that low. The Apaches can fly. It's cool. We got it. We can be patriotic.

We could support our troops. We could support the military.

There's a photo right there of what it looked like, you know, with the—

and this is the White House is going all in on this. And they want us— this is one of their things. They want us to be distracted. But here's the thing, and we talk about this in WTF America, we can walk and we can chew gum at the very same time. And we You can say, you know what, that's your priority, but you gotta just— you can't do the story just on that, you know what I mean? You gotta be like, this is what they're doing, and let me explain to you why they're doing it. They're doing this because they want some new culture story to divide the American people while inflation is going to be rising again, while the markets are going to be crashing that Donald Trump talks about all of the time. More significantly while Americans are psychologically tortured. And you see these videos, you know, I saw Fight for Progress do a video. I showed it before, hat tip, hat tip to them as well, where they were showing somebody in Pennsylvania, in Bresnahan's district, MAGA Republican, you know, and their fridge probably looks like a lot of the fridges that I see with, you know, with our supporters and people who are here where there's like 2 items because people can't afford food right now here in the United States.

And now the Trump regime is going back back for Reconciliation 3.0 to get hundreds of billions of dollars for the military-industrial complex that then work with all of these companies that Donald Trump does his 21,000 trades in. And then he pulls this shit right here, you know, these air show, you know, whatever, these low flyovers. So then we're angry, and then, hahaha, that's a new way to divide us. And that's the whole shtick. The whole shtick is to find ways to divide us. And then, you know, they bring in—

we talked about Todd Blanchett at length.

I showed the hearing. But then you've got Todd Blanchett out there who becomes an arm of Donald Trump, not an arm of justice, an arm of the criminal racketeering enterprise that is the Trump regime. And they just go out there and loot and pillage from you over and over again while doing Trump coins and Trump dollars and Trump this and Trump that and Trump airports and all this stupid shit. And the American people are like, man, WTF, stop this, stop this freaking madness, you know. And then this is, you know, then, you know, then when you people in the Democratic Party, you know, are like, well, you know, I think that, uh, the way we— it's like, this shit's existential. You know what I mean? I get, you know, when you're not empowered, but if you are not channeling the existential nature of this moment, you've completely missed this moment right now in history in this time.

Brett, I could not agree more. And, you know, something I want to add also, just about the whole kind of charade of all of this, right? Everything is a performance and in some respect, and it's designed to elicit some sort of reaction. And so when you look at the military stuff, as Ben said, what do they want? They want this culture war battle. They want, uh, you know, the libs to get upset, and then they want to say, oh, they don't want the military to have fun, oh look, they hate the military, blah blah, right? And you know, I actually think these— the comments from people like Hegseth and the folks who are in charge of the Pentagon right now, I think they're actually like horrible and appalling, and they're everything against what our military actually stands stands for. Like, we've all, you know, whether you're in the military or if you've just seen movies about the military, you know, like, one of the top things about the military is discipline, and it's actually following instructions and following rules. And now what we're seeing is the military being encouraged basically to just be kind of like unhinged frat boys.

And instead of getting reprimanded, and instead of getting the discipline that the military is supposed to instill in our soldiers so that they actually perform at maximum capacity in battle, they're getting, oh, great job, you did it, oh, you did it. And like, I can't help but think like, you know, that the worst one day is going to happen, uh, with one of these stupid stunts. Something is going to go wrong and people are going to die. And we've seen all these close calls already. It almost feels like one of those Final Destination movies in some weird dystopian way. But we saw the Trump, uh, the Freedom 250 whatever fair uh, that nobody showed up to when they were doing that rehearsal with those young girls and the, the giant thing fell down from the top of the stage and almost killed the girls, right? That's because of the incompetence of the Trump regime and everything they've done with it. You know, you see, and it's easy to laugh at stuff like the reflecting pool, right? But that also shows a greater, uh, kind of wider, broader incompetence. And you put that incompetence in a wartime scenario, you put that incompetence in, uh, structural things that you are are building, you know, then when they collapse, you know, the only thing I guess they could do is ultimately blame, you know, blame the other, right?

It's the vandals, it's the Democrats, it's the far left communists, whatever they want to do. But the fact is they are causing a lot of trouble for people and they are risking people's lives. And I also want to read, you know, there were the hearings today. I want to read a statement from one of the Epstein survivors because Todd Blanchard, this this afternoon did meet with the Epstein survivors. He basically— and this is part of the kind of act, the theater, the performance that I was speaking to. This is the perfect, uh, representation of that. It's the epitome of that. In fact, Tom Tillis, Republican senator, um, you know, somebody who kind of, uh, fancies himself as, as more moderate, he was trying to, you know, act like he was taking a principled stand, right? I'm, I'm not going— I cannot vote for Todd Blanch unless he agrees to meet with the Epstein survivors. And all the— for the last few days, he's been just saying like, you know, I'm not going to— I'm not, I'm not sure, but I'm gonna vote. I'm not sure what I'm gonna do. I'm not sure if I'm gonna vote to confirm him.

And so Todd Blanch basically kind of backed into a little kind of fake corner here, does meet with the Epstein survivors. I heard the meeting was a complete utter disaster, like, like a train wreck from the survivors. I heard it was appalling. And I, I have a statement actually right here from one of the survivors that I'll, that I'll read you right now. This is from, uh, Epstein survivor Lara Bloom McGee, and she said, quote, today Epstein survivors confronted Todd Blanch, and he treated it like a perfunctory audition for votes, not accountability. Blanch was condescending, repeatedly interrupted, and tried to gaslight survivors instead of explaining why DOJ released materials that revealed survivors' identities. He offered no real plan to investigate anyone beyond Epstein and Maxwell and gave no reason to believe the remaining files aren't vital exposing other perpetrators and enablers. Todd Blanch is unfit to be Attorney General. Senator Tom Tillis and the Senate must vote no. And the survivors indicated as well that they reached out to Tom Tillis after the meeting and told them what a disaster this was and that he should not vote, uh, for Todd Blanch. And I'll give credit to Eric Michael Garcia, uh, for getting that comment on the record, uh, from these survivors.

And now, so what does, uh, Tom Tillis do, right? Tillis essentially awards Todd Blanch with a participation trophy. Oh, he finally did what no one before him would do. He met with the Epstein survivors, and because of that, I'm inclined to vote yes on this nomination. It's all theater. It's all BS. I'll read you the statement from Tillis right here. Uh, let me just make sure I have the most up-to-date statement from Tillis. Uh, I have a— this is from earlier. This is from before the meeting. I have a positive disposition to Mr. Blanch. I've not made final decision, but he said yesterday he would meet with the Epstein victims today if it could be arranged. I expect that meeting to occur before I am willing to vote. I'm trying to get to yes, but this is a very important part of getting to yes. And then Tillis's comment after the meeting was, quote, I commend Todd Blanch for doing what all his predecessors over the last two decades never did— meet with the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's horrific crimes. I appreciate his willingness to directly engage and listen to them. Never mind what the survivors actually said happened once they got there, but Tillis wants to give Todd Blanch all the credit in the world for simply showing up, even though he just— even though Blanch ended up just essentially torturing the survivors even more.

This is the kind of phoniness, the theater, the rot that so pervades, uh, the Republican Party, the Epstein class, the Trump regime, all of it.

Absolutely.

And it goes back to something I said earlier this week, humane versus inhumane, right? It's kind of how I view the lens of which I walk through life. So often you get the Tillises of the world, the Blanches of the world, just inhumane, right? And it's seemingly that it's always attributed to one party, and that being the Republican Party. Now, by no stretch are the Democrats perfect in any which way, but I just get the feeling that time and time again, the Republican Party so often, like, lets you down and just you being like America. These people don't want to work like the Blanchards of the world, the Taylorises. They don't want real answers because they're scared of what they're going to find and how their party is going to be implicated. That's what it feels like. The entire Republican Party, the Congress, members, the senators, it just feels like so truly authentic that they are so willing to put party over the people. And to me, that's not how politics should be. That's, that's not how this country gets better. That's not how the affordability crisis in this country gets solved. It's not how the health care crisis in this country gets solved, the housing crisis in this country gets solved.

It's just simply not until we actually elect leaders leaders in these positions, no matter the party, that want to work for the people, the system doesn't work. And so often and so many times I just continue to be so frustrated by it. And last, at the end of last episode, I gave the flowers to Ben. I want to give the flowers to this community here because it's exhausting. I know it's exhausting because we're living through it together every single day. And it's meant to be exhausting that they're not helping out the people, that they're not trying to figure out better ways to make this country better for everyone, not just the top 0.01% who get to fuck around in Mar-a-Lago. It is insanity to me. But with us all, I think we could pull each other out of this madness and continue to expose the Blanches, the Tillises, the Trumps, the Hegstas of the world one by one. We just— we have to do it. There is no other way.

Jordy, well said. Brett, well said. Midas Mighty, thank you. We dedicate WTF America to you. We say it throughout the book and we talk about you throughout the book. And so I view this as a book written by all of us, written, written by the community, for the community, with the community, really kind of channeling, I think, this moment as, as best we could. So check it out, preorder right now, scan the QR code right now to do the preorder. If you have done a pre-order, uh, use the WTF America emoji to let us know that you did do the pre-order. Um, we, yeah, we, we poured our hearts into this, and so we hope that you will enjoy it. Remember, it'll arrive in October, but you should order it now, and that, that goes a long way to help. All right, thanks everybody for watching. We appreciate you. A lot more coverage throughout the day. Obviously things are going to be escalating with this war. Um, we'll be on top of it every step of the way. We're grateful. We're really grateful for your support. Jordy, take it away.

Shout out to the Midas Mighty.

The Midas Mighty standing strong against the fascists. We sing our song. We will get it right.

Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our Substack at MidasPlus.com. Com.

You'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski, ad-free episodes of our podcast, and more exclusive content only available at MidasPlus.com.