LIVE: MeidasTouch RESPONDS to MAJOR BREAKING NEWS - 1/19/26

What this episode is about

Donald Trump breaks a 40-year tradition by not issuing an MLK Day message, instead sending a controversial proclamation to Norway expressing his discontent over not receiving a Nobel Peace Prize, which he claims fuels his desire to invade Greenland. He also proposes a "board of peace" that includes authoritarian leaders like Vladimir Putin, rejected by European nations, while engaging in corrupt dealings in Venezuela, highlighting his affinity for authoritarianism and questionable financial schemes.

Key takeaways

• Trump's snub of MLK Day proves that even traditions have a breaking point—like his presidency.
• Inviting dictators to a 'board of peace' is the new 'unite the right'—only this time, it’s global chaos.
• Protests in Greenland show that geopolitics can get a little chilly when Trump tries to throw his weight around.
• Trump’s anti-transparency stance on Epstein? Call it the ultimate dodge: 'We didn’t mean it!'
• Transatlantic tensions rise as Trump courts autocrats—guess he thinks NATO is so last season.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Ben Meiselas (Host) · 33 min speaking
• Brett Meiselas (Host) · 25 min speaking
• Jordy Meiselas (Host) · 25 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 10:00: Donald Trump, YouTube, Al Galani, Al Sharah
2. 10:00 – 20:00: Donald Trump, World Cup, Abigail Spanberger
3. 20:00 – 30:00: Donald Trump, Al Galani, Al Sharah
4. 30:00 – 40:00: Donald Trump, Home Chef, YouTube, Face Act
5. 40:00 – 50:00: Donald Trump, Department of Justice, Lisa Phillips
6. 50:00 – 1:00:00: Donald Trump, Done with Debt, YouTube, Believe Me
7. 1:00:00 – 1:10:00: Donald Trump, YouTube
8. 1:10:00 – 1:20:00: Donald Trump, Face Act, Abigail Spanberger, Department of Justice
9. 1:20:00 – 1:22:42: YouTube

Notable quotes from "LIVE: MeidasTouch RESPONDS to MAJOR BREAKING NEWS - 1/19/26"

• Donald Trump sends no MLK Day message, breaking a 40-year tradition of MLK proclamations on MLK Day. But Donald Trump did send another proclamation, a proclamation letter to the prime.

  about Donald Trump · at 0:00

• Should also talk about nearby in Syria where Donald Trump has, propped up there, the authoritarian former ISIS leader, Al Galani, who now goes by Al Sharah, but he's Al Galani.…

  about Al Galani · at 2:33

• Donald Trump is now threatening to send 1,500 United States Army paratroopers who are based in Alaska to further invade Minneapolis and St. Paul to add to the invasion by the ICE and.

  about ICE · at 3:46

• Not advince any intent for there to be enforcement of transparency in the Transparency Act. For those who are watching this on YouTube, we've literally highlighted that language.

  about YouTube · at 4:56

• Country. it is Donald Trump and it is all of his enablers and all of them are to blame for this. And the fact that when Donald Trump sends a statement and we see statements…

  about PBS NewsHour · at 6:28

• If you need to boycott the World Cup that's going to be here in LA, that would it would be sad. I was I thought it was cool that we're going to have the World Cup here in the United States. You.

  about World Cup · at 16:50

• Night. Perfection. I also have this kacio pepe pasta with broccoli. You got to try it. Home Chef is rated number one by users of other meal kits for quality, convenience, value, taste, and recipe ease. Home Chef makes cooking simple.

  about Home Chef · at 35:54

• So, the statute they're threatening Lemon with is something called the FACE Act, Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994.

  about Face Act · at 1:17:04

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Donald Trump — Person · Primary referenced political figure / subject of critique · 39 mentions · first at 0:00
  Central figure in the episode’s narrative: accused of abandoning MLK Day tradition, threatening Greenland, courting authoritarian leaders, and covering up Epstein-related disclosures.
• Al Galani — Person · Referenced Syrian militant/political leader (as characterized by hosts) · 3 mentions · first at 2:37
  Portrayed as a former ISIS leader now leading Syria (hosts also mention he goes by 'Al Sharah'); used to argue Trump supports authoritarian/violent actors and harms Kurdish allies.
• Al Sharah — Person · Referenced expert · 2 mentions · first at 2:42
  Mentioned as the current leader of Syria, formerly head of ISIS, highlighting Trump's support for authoritarian leaders.
  Mean, he was the ISIS leader. There's a $25 million bounty on this guy's head, but he's the guy who came into the White House, right? Donald Trump loved this guy. He sprayed…
• Abigail Spanberger — Person · 2 mentions · first at 11:31
  Little bit later in the show. I want to just contrast that to Virginia with Governor Spanberger who was just sworn in Virginia. You look at a list of all of her things versus…
• Lisa Phillips — Person · 2 mentions · first at 48:42
  Their plan is. So, I wonder what Judge Angle Meer is going to do. And now today, Lisa Phillips, one of the Epstein survivors, filed that she supports an independent monitor or…
• Harmy Dylan — Person · 1 mention · first at 1:14:30
  Arrest. You have the Department of Justice, the head of the civil rights division, Harmy Dylan, going on TV calling for Don Lemon's arrest.

Companies & orgs

• ICE — Company · Business focus · 1 mention · first at 3:58
  Discussed in the context of its controversial actions in Minneapolis and St. Paul, described as 'Gestapo'.
• Department of Justice — Company · 4 mentions · first at 40:21
  The Gilain Maxwell case that judge you have the authority to compel the department of justice based on the fact that they've requested to modify protective orders under your…

Concepts & topics

• Face Act — Concept · Legal framework · 2 mentions · first at 39:37
  Discussed in the context of threats to arrest Don Lemon for covering protests, highlighting legal and free speech issues.

Places & events

• World Cup — Event · Event · 1 mention · first at 16:50
  Mentioned in the context of potential boycotts due to Trump's policies, highlighting international reactions.

Media & podcasts

• YouTube — Media · Platform · 10 mentions · first at 5:02
  Mentioned as a platform where the podcast is available, highlighting its role in media dissemination.
• PBS NewsHour — Media · News source · 1 mention · first at 6:37
  Mentioned as the source of initial reporting on Trump's statements about Greenland and the Nobel Peace Prize.
• Spotify — Media · Platform · 1 mention · first at 6:05
  Mentioned as a platform where the podcast is available, highlighting its role in media dissemination.
  Here at the Midas Touch Network. It's so great to see everybody. It's so great to see you, brothers. It's so great to see everybody here watching, whether you're watching live…

Sponsors

• Home Chef — Product · Sponsor · 4 mentions · first at 35:24
  Promoted as a meal kit service that simplifies cooking, mentioned in the context of a sponsor segment.
• Done with Debt — Product · Sponsor · 2 mentions · first at 57:17
  Promoted as a debt relief service, mentioned in the context of a sponsor segment offering financial solutions.
  Debt, it's go time. Seriously, this is one of those moments where timing actually matters. Done with Debt is one of the best I've seen at navigating debt relief. 2025 was a…
• Huel — Product · Sponsor · 2 mentions
  Promoted as a high-protein meal replacement, mentioned in the context of a sponsor segment highlighting nutritional benefits.
  That's why I started using Huel's high protein starter kit.
• Tushy — Product · Sponsor · 2 mentions
  Promoted as a bidet product, mentioned in the context of a sponsor segment highlighting modern bathroom upgrades.
  Number two is Tushi's thing. Go take care of number one. For a limited time, our listeners get 10% off their first bet order when you use code Midas10 at checkout. That's 10% off your first bedet order at hellotushy.com.
• Believe Me — Product · Sponsor · 1 mention · first at 58:37
  Promoted as a privacy protection service, mentioned in the context of a sponsor segment highlighting data security.
  Believe Me makes it easy, quick, and safe to remove your personal data online at a time when surveillance and data breaches are common enough to make everyone vulnerable. Data brokers make a.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 Donald Trump sends no MLK Day message, breaking a 40-year tradition of MLK proclamations on MLK Day. But Donald Trump did send another proclamation, a proclamation letter to the prime minister of Norway, saying that because Trump didn't get a Nobel Peace Prize that he is now uh even further uh desiring to invade Greenland and take it over. No more Mr. Nice Guy. He says, "You didn't give me the Nobel Peace Prize, so now I don't care about peace." It's one of the most deranged, even by Trump standards, proclamations that people were like, "Can you validate the source?" And yes, the prime minister of Norway and the prime minister of Sweden indeed confirmed that that was uh sent and received. also sent and received Donald Trump inviting Vladimir Putin uh from Russia, Lucenko from Bellarus and other dictators to join what he's referring to as a board of peace. Now already most of the European nations

1:01 have rejected this board of peace scheme by Donald Trump. It's obviously a direct threat to NATO to try to bring NATO down to create his own alliance with Putin and Barus since who's going to want to be on a board of peace with them. And it's part of a scheme where you give Donald Trump a billion dollars. He takes the billion dollars from the countries in order to join this board of peace and he puts it in a Qatari bank account or an account like that and then he takes it for himself. That's part of the plan here. And when we delve deeper into what's going on in Venezuela with Deli Rodriguez, who he's propped up, the authoritarian leader, former VP in the Maduro regime, you know, Trump is selling some Venezuelan oil to his right-wing uh buddies, then taking the proceeds and putting it into a Qatari bank account that he controls. That's the height of corruption as the CIA leaders were there in Venezuela just

1:53 laughing it up with Deli Rodriguez. And Trump has a love for authoritarians because Trump is a want to be authoritarian. With all of this news taking place where you talk about Donald Trump's betrayal as well of the protesters in Iran, Trump said, "I got your back protesters. Go out there. We've got you. If any protester gets killed, the US will go in guns ablazing." Well, now Donald Trump says, "Guess what I did? I stopped 800 additional protesters from getting hung by the Ayatollah. I greatly respect the Ayatollah for doing that. That's what you meant that you would come in guns ablazing. So we talk about Iran, but we should also talk about nearby in Syria where Donald Trump has, you know, propped up there, the authoritarian former ISIS leader, Al Galani, who now goes by Al Sharah, but he's Al Galani. I mean, he was the ISIS leader. There's a $25 million bounty on this guy's head, but he's the guy who came into the White

2:50 House, right? Donald Trump loved this guy. He sprayed cologne on him, started sniffing him, saying how greatl looking he was and how how good-looking he was. It was so utterly bizarre. Well, now what the Syrian forces have done is they've basically slaughtered the Kurdish forces in the north who were fighting alongside the United States against ISIS for all of those years because ISIS is now the leader of Syria and they've destroyed and killed our Kurdish allies there. And now you have people like Lindsey Graham saying, "Oh, you're being naughty there, Al Galani.

3:26 Don't do that. We're gonna have to put back on these Caesar sanctions that Donald Trump removed." I want to break that down because this is not getting enough attention. Also, over the weekend, there were massive protests in Greenland and Denmark. The biggest protest, I think, in recent history in Greenland and Denmark, from Nuke to Copenhagen City. We'll talk about that. Donald Trump is now threatening to send 1,500 United States Army paratroopers who are based in Alaska um to further invade Minneapolis and St. Paul uh to add to the invasion by the ICE and Border Patrol Gestapo there. We'll break that down as well. Um Donald Trump is now launching a campaign to try to have Don Lemon arrested. Don Lemon reporter covering a protest at a church in St.

4:15 Paul in Minnesota where the leader of that church is also an ICE agent and Lemon was covering it and now the Trump regime saying he should get arrested. Um, also we need to talk about Trump's continued cover up of the Epstein files just because Donald Trump's creating all of this chaos. He wants us to be distracted so we're not going to be distracted. There was a court filing late Friday by the Trump DOJ, where they're now arguing to a federal judge in the Southern District of New York, Judge Angel Meer, that no court can ever enforce the Epstein Transparency Act.

4:52 The Trump DOJ argues that Congress did not advince any intent for there to be enforcement of transparency in the Transparency Act. For those who are watching this on YouTube, we've literally highlighted that language. That's the argument by the Trump DOJ in their letter. In their letter, Congress did not advance an intent for courts to enforce transparency. I just want you to think about that. We'll cover that and more here on the Midas Touch podcast. Great to see everybody. And it is a day of reflection, Brett and Jordy, on MLK Day.

5:27 It it is a day of reflection. And you know, I I I hope more than just, you know, I know a lot of people out there are going to be quoting Martin Luther King Jr. and especially get all these like Republicans who go against every thing that every single thing that he stands for quoting him, just totally not self-aware whatsoever. But I think I hope that all of us uh could commit ourselves to action, actionable items, things that we could actually do uh to uphold his values and everything he fought for. And that's what I hope to do here at the Midas Touch Network. It's so great to see everybody. It's so great to see you, brothers. It's so great to see uh everybody here watching, whether you're watching live on YouTube or whether you're listening on a podcast app like an Apple podcast or a Spotify.

6:07 Great to be here with everybody. Uh yeah, I mean, every single day gets crazier and crazier. We're dealing with a complete and total lawless regime right now. And I've said this before and I'll say it again. The United States is the bad guys right now, you know. And I know it's not us. It's not our listeners. It's not uh you know, most of the country who does not support this crap, but it is the leader of this country. it is Donald Trump and it is all of his enablers and all of them are to blame for this. And the fact that when Donald Trump sends a statement and we see uh statements like the one that was first reported out by that PBS NewsHour reporter last night uh where uh Donald Trump was saying that he's done with peace now because Norway didn't give him the Nobel Peace Prize. By the way, countries the country doesn't give a Nobel Peace Prize. It's an independent award by by a board, not the country.

6:54 but saying because he did not win the Nobel Peace Prize, now he's done with peace and he's going to invade Greenland and all this other crazy stuff. The fact that when the president of the United States writes things like that or says things like that, most people are like, "Ah, this is more clickbait. Oh, this is a lie. This is this can't be real. This is a satire post." No, this is real life. This is the moment that we are living in. And we're not going to sugarcoat it here. We got a lot to get into. First, I got to toss it over to Jordy. Jordy, what's the latest?

7:24 Ben, Brett, brothers, what's going on, guys? Mighty, great to see y'all. Great to be with you guys tonight. I'm excited to get into tonight's show. Real quick, top of the show. We are so close to 6 million subscribers. So, please, if you're watching right now, I know we have a lot of folks in the live stream or if you're listening the next day, please subscribe to the YouTube channel. It's totally free. Let's hit 6 million. Let's hit 6 million in 30 days. That That's my new goal, brothers, mightest mighty. 6 million in 30 days. Uh, if you're listening to this podcast, we are only a few thousand reviews away from 50,000 reviews on the Midas Touch audio feed. So, please leave a review. Leave us five stars. Helps us in the algorithm. It it really helps us out wherever you're listening to the Midas Touch podcast on audio. I have a lot to comment on tonight, brothers, but Benji, why don't you kick it off and then you

8:09 could toss it back to us and and we'll get going, too. Donald Trump is obsessed with invading Greenland like a like a predator. I mean, and that's how Trump and MAGA describe themselves. They say, "We're the predators of the Western Hemisphere." And it's non-stop. It's relentless. It's traumatizing to the people of Nuke and in Greenland when you hear from them. It's also created a lot of European solidarity also with Canada, Australia, and elsewhere standing up for the sovereignty of Greenland. But Donald Trump is relentless in saying this, that he wants to invade Greenland. At the same time he's doing that, he creates what he's referring to as a board of peace. And originally he says this is for Gaza, whatever he even means by that. And I think it means basically displace all the Palestinians and create Trump resorts over there and take everybody out. I think that's what Trump's ultimate uh plan is. But it's

9:12 bigger the board of peace and what his mind is as part of destroying NATO and the G7 and instit and the UN and institutions like that. Trump views this board of peace which is not at all board of peace like everything he says it's the opposite as a way to forge a new alliance to also do it in a payforplay scheme where he takes the money moves it to Qatari accounts or other bank accounts. it gets paid to him the money not the United States and it's ultimately I think his way to do a partnership with Putin through a lens of a board of peace because if you just said America is doing an alliance with Russia then that would be viewed as ah you know how could you do that but oh you're joining this board together right so Trump extended this invitation to Vladimir Putin to Lucenko in Bellarus and then to these other countries and most European countries are saying we're not doing that. We're not joining. We're

10:08 not giving you a billion dollars in payforplay. For those who are listening on audio, we're showing the letters that Donald Trump said. We're showing the source document. Sometimes people like, "What's your source?" The the letter the letter. The we I don't like citing secondary or tertiary sources. I like just going to the letter, right? That's why my catchphrases play the clip, right? Here's the clip. Here's what they're saying. Here's what they're saying. Here, let's read the court document. That's the source. I try to get you the underlying documents of what this is. So for anyone who's saying, well, you know, Donald Trump's got the back of Ukraine still, or Donald Trump, this is a good relationship there. And what are you talking about? He's trying to do an alliance with Putin right now under something called the border peace of Lucenko while saying he wants to invade Greenland. And by the way, the

10:55 coincidence is not coincidental that Donald Trump is all of a sudden the Greenland stuff takes off when two things are happening. one, Russia is there meeting in Miami with Witoff and with Kushner. Russia sends its special envoys and then all of a sudden Trump talks about Jeff Landry, the governor of Louisiana, this crazy guy, you know, is going to who like loves talking about like firing all the coaches of LSU. This guy is like the worst and and Louisiana is the worst at like every stat that like benefits human beings lives. a little bit later in the show. I want to just contrast that to Virginia with Governor Spanberger who was just sworn in in Virginia. You look at a list of all of her things versus like what they're doing in Let's just do it right now. Let me let me let me break the mold and then I'll somehow weave it back.

11:42 Just wanted to make this point. Let's weave it back. You're a good waiver. Then we'll take it back and remind me where I went so I could I just want to highlight this. Like in the past 24 hours, the new governor of Virginia, Spanberger, either signed executive orders or has signed her name behind uh referendums about the following. Ending police cooperation with Trump's ICE. passing new maps to combat Trump's gerrymandering and eliminating up to four Republican House seats, enshrining LGBTQ plus rights in the state's constitution, enshrining abortion rights in the state's constitution, protecting and expanding voting rights in the Commonwealth of Virginia, firing Republican appointees to the University of Virginia board so there can be actual education and people can learn what they want to learn and actually learn science. Reestablishing support for diversity and inclusion. accelerating a

12:36 minimum wage increase, building more housing to lower rent prices. And look, she's a very different style politician than Zoron Mandani in New York City, but as we've seen like with Mamani working with Governor Hokll, and I would say Hokll in my mind seems to be more like a Spanberger. But look at the Hok Mani relationship where within eight days, what what are they focused on? How are they focused on like what Trump and the Maggas do, which is like how do they divide people and inflict pain? know they're talking about universal child care, like actually helping people with a major issue because if you look at the fact that the Trump regime failed to extend the Affordable Care Act tax subsidies now for people like health care costs are what 20 $30,000 a year, maybe more. What's child care? 20 $30,000. So if you're getting child care and health care for many people it's like $50,000 $60,000 and that's

13:31 basically everybody's post tax income at this point is is crazy. No one can afford these things. That's what we talk about affordability. Then we have to talk about rent. Can people afford homes? Can people afford all this stuff out there and everything's more expensive. I mean I I saw that you see this Kobasi report letter Brett that talks about like beef prices are up 70% and you know other uh other items are up like 35% in the grocery store and all you know all fruits and vegetables are up not 2.3% or 2.7% like all of that.

14:02 All right so I don't let's just pri priorities by the way. Also hat tip to Luis Stanton the uh the senator proemporary the leader of the Senate in Virginia. She's been pushing a 10 to one map for the redistricting in Virginia. People are like, "Oh, you I think it was even like Democratic senators Kane and Warner like we don't need to go 10-1. Let's go like 74 or maybe 83." And she I forgot what her statement was. She's like, "I ain't going to look at the the cuck chair over there, you know, while this you deal with the you deal with the orange whatever fascist, however you want to deal with it. I'm gonna go do a a 10 to one map. Okay, that's what I'm gonna be doing. So, hat tip to her and also the secretary or the uh the speaker of the House of Delegates, uh Speaker Scott, who we've had on the show before as well. All right, weave it back.

14:52 That's the That's the energy we need right there. Right. That's the energy we need. Just Just fight for the people. Okay, here's the thing. Everything and I'll let you weave back in a second, Ben. But the thing is, think about this Trump regime over the past year and think about all the problems that we have right now in our country. They're all created by Trump. They're all fabricated by Trump. He makes up everything. Did anybody before Donald Trump say, "You know what the biggest thing on my mind is right now? Greenland. It's Greenland. We got to do something about Greenland. We got to do something about Canada, folks. We got to do something about these." Nobody.

15:24 Nobody in their right mind thought any of these things. The biggest thing on people's minds are they want to be able to live. They want to be able to afford things. They want to be able to pay for their health care. They don't want to be harassed by their own government. And this regime right now views it as their job, as Ben said, to be predators and to prey on everybody, whether it's American citizens or whether it is our European allies or anybody in the entire world. These are freaking predators, man. And this is why they act like predators. And they even own up to being predators. And they do it all to distract from all of these things. They do it to distract from the fact that income inequality is at record highs, that people are suffering and they can't afford the basics uh in this country. They do it to distract from the Epstein files. And we'll get more into the Epstein files later in this episode. It's cover up

16:15 after cover up after coverup. And it is just this ridiculous aggression against the American people and against the entire world. And that's why when we started the show, I said we are the bad guys. And I am urging honestly we have a I know we have a lot of uh Canadian viewers, Canadian listeners. I know we have a lot of European viewers and listeners. And first I I apologize like I I I don't know what else I could say. I apologize and I am urging all of these countries to treat us like the threat that we are at this point honestly. And and and do whatever you can pull out all the stops. We won't take it personally.

16:49 I promise we won't take it personally. If you need to boycott the World Cup that's going to be here in LA, that would it would be sad. I was I thought it was cool that we're going to have the World Cup here in the United States. You got to boycott that. Do it. Apply whatever pressure you can right now because now is not the time for appeasement. And we've seen appeasement and what that looks like throughout history. And what's the point of studying history if you are not going to learn from it? What we've seen thus far here in the United States is a bunch of Neville Chamberlains who are letting Donald Trump get away and do with whatever the hell he wants. And I think Europe took a posture early on that was like, "Okay, we'll humor the guy. We'll, you know, we we'll give him, you know, these sort of things that don't really mean anything, but we'll just we'll just appease the guy and he'll go away." But

17:34 as you see, the more you give him, the more he takes. What this this message came right after he stole Maria Machado's Nobel Peace Prize. She thought that would be enough to plate him, right? The world thought, "Oh, just give him the award. Just give him the medal. He'll stop. He'll shut up. He'll go away. No. He goes further. He said, "I got one scalp. Let me get some more. Now I'm going to threaten the entire world with war. Now I'm going to make my own axis of evil and we're going to take Russia, Bellarus, the United States.

18:03 We're going to push out Europe and we're going to create our own thing. And if you want to be part of it, you have to pay me $1 billion a year." I mean, this is psychotic stuff that we're witnessing. And so that's my message. I'll let Ben back.

18:15 It's not pass. It's literally Dr. Evil. one billion dollar. Like it literally is the Dr. Evil quote, Jordy. Sorry.

18:22 No, no, no, no. You're fine. I'm going to toss it right back to you in one second, Brett. But I I wanted to, you know, talk more about that that essence of appeasement. You know, appeasing Trump always produces the opposite result that the appeasers are are hoping to achieve. There are thousands of examples over decades of this. Uh but somehow people are they just still don't get it. Europe found out yesterday, someone else will find out tomorrow and then someone else is going to find out the next day. And look, I don't make this comparison lightly, especially as a Jewish American. But it's important to remember in Mascow when the last time countries took an overall appeasement approach as it related to a madman, and that was preWorld War II with Hitler.

19:06 Much of Europe, especially Britain and France, pursued this appeasement strategy toward Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. Don't get me started on the US neutrality policy back then, but most historians would agree that that appeasement strategy, it was a colossal mistake because it only emboldened Hitler. Now, our European allies have to stand up. Brett, to your point, to to us to Donald Trump and just say enough is enough because if you give this guy an inch, he will take your life. Ben.

19:36 Yeah. So David Pepper who's now the lieutenant governor candidate alongside Amy Actton in Ohio in the Democratic ticket and they're leading right now against Vive Ramaswami. He came up with this this concept called laboratories of autocracy and how red states like Ohio were becoming these laboratories of autocracy to brew up some of the worst of the worst. We always view states as kind of laboratories of democracy. How do you perfect things and make it better? But it's actually the opposite. So going back to Landry, the governor of Louisiana, I mean, it's all of their priorities when you get a Republican governor like that is how do we divide and how do we mock LGBTQ and how do we punch down and what can we do to inflict pain and how do we take away from people and how do we not not opt into certain Medicaid rights that people have like when we can and actually expand health care to people like how do we allow

20:34 corporations to seize like power grids away from actually protecting it. Like so it's all schemes and plots like that that get tested and then they're brought through groups like the Heritage Foundation into project 2025 style documents and then kind of you know imposed. So anyway, the point is that Landry becomes the um special envoy to Greenland, right? When you have Witoff and Kushner meeting with Demetria, Venus Shakov and others from Russia, which I don't think is a coincidence. And also at the same time, the Epstein transparency act is making its way into becoming law at the time. And I think Trump views every time he talks about Greenland or sends one of these letters, we stop talking about the Epstein files and we stop talking about how things aren't affordable and we stop talking about his promise that he would end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours from Russia's invasion. And I mean, you just take a

21:28 look at this thing that this letter that he sent. This was what he wrote. He wrote uh so he sent this to every ambassador in Europe and he said and it was sent from Trump's national security adviserss and it says dear ambassador fill-in- thelank name Trump has asked that the following message shared with prime minister Jonas Garto be forwarded that's the prime minister of Norway be forwarded to your then it's your name head of government state depending on which state or which which country the ambassador is from dear Jonas again the prime minister of Norway this from Trump. Text message that Trump sent.

22:03 Dear Jonas, considering your country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having eight wars plus, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America. Your pause there. First off, also Norway doesn't give the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Peace Prize Committee does. So, you know, and then it's like, I will no longer support peace. Like, just what a weird thing to say. Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China. And why do they have a right of ownership anyway? There are no written documents. It's only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago. But we had boats land there also. I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding. And now NATO should do something for the United States. The world is not secure unless we have a complete and total control of

22:52 Greenland. Thank you, DJT. Then at the same time, he invites Putin to join a quote peace board. Lucas Shenko to join a quote peace board. And you know what Donald Trump was responding to? This was the message from the prime minister of Norway. Um and Alexander Stub, the prime minister of Finland. This is what they had. This is what they wrote there. Dear Mr. President, dear Donald, regarding transatlantic relations regarding Greenland, Gaza, Ukraine, and your tariff announcement yesterday. You know our position on these issues. However, we believe that we should all work to calm the situation and deescalate. So much is happening around us and we need to stand together. We propose a call with you later today with both of us or individually. Please give us a hint as to what you prefer. Best regards, Alex and Jonas. That's Alexander Stub and then that's Jonas store Finland and Norway respectively. That's what Donald

23:46 Trump responded to that message with. I mean that's utterly I mean it's deranged. It's predatorial. It's, you know, at this point NATO itself is just a fiction that exists in the that exists purely because the NATO members think hopefully we can just try to get past this. There'll be another American president. What are what are we going to do? Or it exists to protect the other NATO members from Donald Trump. This is what they're talking about on Russian TV. Hat tip to Julia Davis. She monitors all this Russian TV uh stuff. And this is the through line on Russian TV from from like their Sean Hannities and Jesse Waters. America is delivering a catastrophic blow to NATO. It absolutely benefits us. Russian TV praises Trump's attacks on Greenland. Putin loves this right now that that the US has given Russia more than it ever wanted or could ever dream about in such a short period of time. Let's pause there for a moment

24:50 because I think it is important that we also talk about not just what's going on in Iran, not just what's going on in Venezuela, what also is going on in Syria, but the through line of this all is that Trump loves the authoritarians in Venezuela. Deli Rodriguez is his preference way more than Machado, the opposition pro-democracy leader. He hates the democracy leader. He's embarrassed, humiliated her, made her gravel. That's what he wanted Zalinski to do. Well, he made the Venezuela's opposition leader do that. But Zalinsky realized if I do that, I lose. I lose all power. I show weakness. I'm done.

25:33 Machado's done. Don't you for a second think that Machado is going to get the respect now of the Venezuelan people after doing this. No way. No how. He's destroyed everything she built to get the Nobel Peace Prize. And she destroyed it by thinking that's the right strategy. And he likes Deli. Deli helps him transfer oil money as tribute to a Qatari bank account to a Qatari. And that's where Trump wants the board of peace money to go to to Qatari bank accounts for Donald Trump. And how do we not talk about this being the height of an impeachable offense? What are we what are we doing? He's making the money for himself. It's not even corruption. It's straight out the highest form of criminality and betrayal that could exist from the president of the United States. And then you have people like Lindsey Graham who foam at the mouth.

26:27 And Lindsey Graham, you know, when it comes to, you know, his threats about the Ayatollah or when it comes to, you know, his own view that Donald Trump is somehow getting rid of Maduro, not just extending the regime. Who even knows what Lindsey Graham thinks? He's like, "We're coming for you, Isa. We're coming for you." Donald Trump didn't come from the ayatollah. Trump the ultimate betrayal to these protesters. Trump said, "Go out there. I got your back." There were mass casualties anywhere on the low end from 3 to 4,000. It may be as high as 20,000 of these protesters were killed by the Ayatollah. And then Trump said, "I have a great deal of respect that the Ayatollah is not going to hang 800 people." So Trump went from we're going in guns ablazing to I have a great deal of respect for the Ayatollah and not hanging 800 people. Trump likes the authoritarians and he got calls from MBS. He got calls from the leader of

27:21 Turkey. He got calls from the leader of Qatar where he keeps his bank accounts now where Trump does saying you will destabilize the region if you go after the Ayatollah chill. And Trump was like okay. Which finally brings me to Syria. And this is an important point I want to talk about that al-Sharah or Al Galani as he was known when he was the head of ISIS is now the leader of Syria. And don't think for a moment that this guy some reform change guy. Trump removed the sanctions called the Caesar sanctions that were against Syria and the Assad regime immediately because Trump thought Trump was physically attracted to the leader of Syria.

28:03 started sniffing him and spraying cologne on him and remember at the White House he started sniffing the guy. Trump said how handsome he was because you know he because the guy looks the part and now what's actually going down is that the Kurdish population is getting slaughtered by who? By the head of ISIS who is the head of Syria. And so all of those people who were ISIS are now running Syria and the Kurds who were allied with the United States to defeat ISIS are getting destroyed. So the Kurdish women's force, remember that in Remember those incredible images of the Kurdish women who were out there standing up against ISIS? Yeah. Mass slaughter right now at the hands of Syria. What about the kind of Syrian democratic forces that are out there?

28:55 the SDF and others getting slaughtered by the ISIS regime that's running Syria that Trump supports because Trump supports the authoritarians. And now you have Lindsey Graham saying, "If the Syrian government forces continue to advance north toward Raqqa, I will push for reimposing the Caesar Act sanctions on steroids." Remember Raqqa in northern Syria? Why it's also such a big deal? Remember all those disgusting images of ISIS when they took over Raqqa and claimed that that was their caliphate? That's what this regime is doing and Trump's allowing it to happen. Trump removed the sanctions. The Syrian leader from ISIS viewed that as weakness. Let's go. We've got Trump's support to do this. And yeah, you know, he tries to claim, "Oh, we're integrating the the Kurdish forces." No, you're not. You're exterminating the Kurdish forces is is what you're doing. And then so Lindsey Graham goes, apparently no one in Syria

29:48 is listening to me or other US government officials. I could go on on Lindsey Graham. They're listening to Trump who's sniffing their leader and saying, "Oh, you smell good. You're so handsome." And they're saying, "Got it. We can do whatever we want. We're killing the Kurds."

30:03 And just think of all these people, the Lindsey Grahams, the Ted Cruz's, the Marco Rubios, the JD Vances, all these people who sold their souls uh to get behind Donald Trump and sell out the United States of America. And when this story is written in the history books, they are going to go down as collaborators. The same way that collaborators of Nazi Germany are going down in history. These people are the worst of the worst. They are the scum of the earth and they are the reason that this is all possible. Donald Trump cannot do any of this on his own. And the calculation is simple for Donald Trump. Why does he like the authoritarians? I think it's obvious, but you, you know, I think I should just break it down quickly because the authoritarians have no guardrails and he's able to get the authoritarians to cut these very uh shady, corrupt, and criminal deals with him so that he could be so that he could enrich himself

30:51 personally. Democratic governments don't do that, okay? It doesn't happen. And I'm not saying there's no corruption in democratic governments. God knows we got a lot of corruption in our government. We got a lot of corruption in plenty of democratic governments out there. But it's a totally different ballgame when there's just an authoritarian at the top who gets to decide, gets to be judge, jury, and executioner. Donald Trump envys that. Donald Trump wants to be that. And Donald Trump knows that those are the people that he could enter in these corrupt deals. And he could say, "Hey, if you give me a billion dollars, I'll give you this. If you give me a billion dollars, I'll give you a piece of Ukraine." That's what we're dealing with right now. an unhinged madman who is being enabled by some of the most cowardly people in this country who happen to be United States senators, United States members of Congress, vice

31:37 president of the United States, Secretary of State, people like Scott Bessend. All of these people are total total disgraces and they are all part of it. They are all collaborators. They should never be forgiven. They should never be forgotten.

31:51 Absolutely, Brad. 2026 is going to be a very dark year for US foreign policy where everything that was built over many decades by leaders for collective security is just torn apart by one madman Donald Trump the president of the United States and mainly Brett to your point exactly because people in his own party are not only remaining silent but are actively enabling him this long-term term generational damage that's being done. It terrifies me for for the future of not just my kids but but generations to follow. The rest of the world, man, they are already looking at us like, "Oh, the US, man, they're on the outs." Uh-uh. I I can't partner with them. We have to figure out ways to cut ties with them and build other alliances because the US can't trust them anymore. And quite frankly, it I I get where they're coming from bet

32:49 right? You get the strategic1 trillion dollar trade deal with Canada and China. Chinese EVs are going to be heading into Canada. More canola from Canada going into China. More importantly, more not more important, equally importantly, liqufied natural gas from Canada going to China.

33:05 Can I can I say something about Canada right now? So jealous. I'm so jealous of you guys. Y'all are brilliant. And you have Carney seems like the he seems like the most brilliant leader. I love the guy. Like I honestly watching the guy, he is just the complete opposite of Donald Trump in every single way. He's an actual statesman. He's intellectual. He's a guy who obviously understands the economy given his background. The guy knows what the hell he's doing. He's a serious person. And so when you see those polls that say like 80% plus of Canadians like, you know, have a high approval of Carney, I'm like, I don't know how it's not 100% first of all. And I'm so jealous of all you guys. And and and I'm just jealous. I don't know.

33:46 Well, well, but and then also you look at Europe and the Mercuser countries with Brazil and Argentine and others entering into a massive free trade deal there. 700 million consumers under this Muser trade agreement. Like Jordy, to your point, there are trade deals happening everywhere but with the United States right now and more people

34:05 and these aren't things that just could be unw unwound in a day, right? These are generational things. This is generational damage to the United States. And on the flip side, it's generational moves that are being made right now by leaders like Mark Carney because they understand what the hell is going on. And I have a lot of respect for that. All right, we This was a long segment, but we had to I had to cover it all. I couldn't not cover it all when we come back. We still have a lot to discuss on this. We didn't do it all on that segment. Okay, just as a reminder, if you can not only subscribe to this YouTube channel, but become a member, join if you can, and gift memberships to others. I think you've seen the expansion of the Midas touch network.

34:46 You've seen our DC bureau. You see the partnerships and work we're doing with Status Coup in Minneapolis. You're seeing I think rapid expansion in Canada and elsewhere. We need your help. It's the bottom line. That's how we grow. So, if you can join, click the join and you can gift memberships to others. Also, subscribe to midasplus.com. That's our Substack that helps us grow. and subscribe to our audio podcast if you're just getting this on YouTube. And audio listeners, subscribe to our YouTube. All right, first break of the show. Let's do it.

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38:20 Number two is Tushi's thing. Go take care of number one. For a limited time, our listeners get 10% off their first bet order when you use code Midas10 at checkout. That's 10% off your first bedet order at hellotushy.com with promo code midas 10. Mi D-10. Let's go. Shout out to our sponsors. Links in description to both the YouTube and the audio. Use the links. Use the codes. If there's an exit survey, let them know we send you. We sent you. And just a reminder, if you're watching this right now, have a lot of folks in the live stream. Uh, please hit that subscribe button. You may think you're subscribed, but you might not be. So, just double check. Hit the subscribe button and let's get to 6 million subscribers, y'all. Benji, where to next? Two really big topics that I want to hit. First, I want to talk about the Epstein file cover up by the Trump regime, their latest court filing, which

39:17 is absolutely horrific. And then I want to talk about the ICE and Border Patrol Gustapo invasion in Minneapolis in St. Paul, what they're doing there, and the latest threats to arrest Don Lemon, which may actually be uh an an imminent arrest. and I'll go over the law with you which is called uh the the the face act and we I'll I'll explain to you everything that's going on there. We'll we'll we'll we'll discuss that but first I want to talk about Epstein file Trump regime cover up hattip to Congress members Massie and Conan not just for pushing forward the discharge petition and being the leads on the Epstein transparency act but the work they've been doing afterwards. So they filed what's called an amicus curi brief and they they they want status of what's called a mechi where they're friends of the court in order to make a recommendation to the federal judge in the Gilain Maxwell uh case um that judge

40:18 you have the authority to compel the department of justice um based on the fact that they've requested to modify protective orders under your jurisdiction. judge, you have the authority to order that they produce the documents pursuant to the Epstein Transparency Act. So these Congress members filed to become Amichi, which means they're just making recommendations. They're not parties to the case. The case is USA versus Gileain Maxwell. But because the USA and Guilain Maxwell are sadly more aligned with each other than adversarial, there needs to be something that happens in this case where you know and someone calling out the DOJ for their violations of the Epstein Transparency Act. What? It's been 31 days now since the documents were due. This is a criminal law and the DOJ has produced what? Only 1% of documents. And here's the thing. They claim they have 200 lawyers from SDNY, that's the Southern District of New York

41:20 Federal Prosecutor Prosecutorial Office, and hundreds of others working on the Epstein document issues. Well, then why aren't you producing the documents on what's called a rolling basis, right? Like meaning if you do 10,000 documents reviewed, publish the 10,000 documents. I've never heard in my legal career so many people working on a document production involving just a few million documents. And it may even be more than that. But like just letting you know when I was a litigator, I would do four or five terabyte document production reviews with five associates and we'd get through it in 60 to 75 days. We'd work 15 hour days. But you can do what's called a rolling document production.

42:06 Every time you go through 15,000 records, produce it, then produce the next 15,000, then produce the next 15,000, then produce the next 15,000 records as well. What are they what are they doing? And then, well, I think we know they're covering it up. And then what were the 973 FBI agents who were tasked with reviewing the files from March to May or June? What were they doing for all that period of time? Huh? So, the taxpayers were what? Paying. We want to talk about waste, fraud, and abuse. Then they weren't doing any work.

42:38 Or were they just looking for Donald Trump references to delete and destroy that? You've had over,00 people working on this and you only produced 12,500 documents. Come on. Come on. Makes no sense at all. We all know that. But this was the filing by from the Department of Justice. Um uh this is what they filed at the end of uh the end of last week on Friday. And here you'll see what they say. They say uh over here respectfully the government submits that the court lacks the authority to enter the requested relief. Then it says when the uh constitution or laws of the United States do not support a cause of action, a federal court cannot reach out to award and remedies. The Epstein Transparency Act, the DOJ argues, does not provide a cause of action because the statute does not evce Congress's intent to create the private cause of action asserted. the court may not create that action through judicial

43:47 mandate. So they're not just saying that Massie and Kana lack standing. That's one of the arguments they make. They're saying the court can't do anything. And not just this court, Judge Angle Meer, no court can actually address the Epstein transparency. That's what they wrote in the brief. And again, for those listening on audio, we posted the brief. I read word for word that they say Congress against no intent to allow a court to enforce transparency under the Epstein transparency act. You know, a lot of reporters focused on, oh, the DOJ just argued that Massie and Kana don't have standing, but they missed the broader point, which is what we've been focusing on, which is that they're saying no court ever can enforce the Epstein Transparency Act because Congress did not put in a private cause of action into the statute. So what they're saying is Congress should have added a line in the Epstein Transparency

44:54 Act that said in the event of non- enforcement, in the event that the DOJ does not comply, any person can bring a private cause of action or the Congress members can bring a cause of action or the survivors have the right to bring a cause of action and sue. So the DO so what really happened and why the Republicans ended up supporting this is that the DOJ Bondi when they all met in private probably said we're going to take the position that this act is uninforceable so just sign it Donald because ultimately we think that it doesn't have teeth. I think they're wrong about that. And there's a lot of law that says you can't construe a statute in a way that would render the statute meaningless. So clearly there's an implied cause of action or an enforcement mechanism because what would be the point of something to force the DOJ to produce records if a court can enforce the DOJ to pro produce records? But then on top

45:53 of that, in my view, the DOJ went to Judge Angle Meyer and another federal judge, Judge Burman, and they said, "Judge, do you all remember this? Back on November 26th, they said, "Judge, because they wanted to blame the courts for why they were not producing the Epstein files." Their plan was defame and blame the federal judges. And that's what they tried to carry out. You remember they did this fact sheet also and said on December 21st they're like the reason we're taking our time the reason it's going slow is because the courts it's the court's fault while now arguing that the courts can't do anything at all. So, at the DOJ in a very sneaky way, and I wonder if Kana and Massie are going to bring this up in their uh reply um papers um to what the DOJ filed back on November 26, the DOJ said, "Judge, we need you to modify your protective orders in this case so we can release the grand jury transcript and

46:56 also so we can release all the other files under the Epstein transparency. act. So modify not just one protective order, modify all your protective orders. Then Judge Angle Meyer said, "Well, tell me what are all the documents you're going to produce if I modify the protective orders." Then the DOJ listed all the documents. So when they when they claim also we just found these documents in the SDNY, millions of new documents. No, you listed it in your November 26th filing. I read it. I read the filing. You listed all those documents. So, you knew that the SDNY had it. Not like in December when you go, "Oopsies, we just discovered millions of more documents." Nah, you knew about it in your November 26 filing. You list those documents. Then on December 9th, the federal judge, Angel Meyer, says, "Great. I will amend the protective orders because you're promising to produce these records, the

47:51 Epstein Transparency Act records." Then the DOJ doesn't comply. So, I think that Massie and Kana can argue, well, you've already invoked the court's jurisdiction because you asked the court to modify protective orders. The court asked you why. You said because you're going to produce the documents. Now, you're not. Now, you're blaming the court for your own delay while also filing that the court doesn't have authority. So, you're setting up the court. So, this was all one gigantic ruse where you asked the court to amend the protective orders so you can blame the court for your delay. You see what they did? And I wanted to break it down because it's sneaky. It's pernicious. It's evil. And that's what they're doing. That's what their plan is. So, I wonder what Judge Angle Meer is going to do. And now today, Lisa Phillips, one of the Epstein survivors, filed that she supports an independent monitor or special master or

48:52 some independent process for these documents to be produced in violation of the Epstein transparency act or because the DOJ is violating the Epstein transparency act. By the way, hat tip to Michael Popach was actually representing Lisa Phillips in the case from Legal AF. He I'm not a practicing lawyer anymore. Popac is a practicing lawyer now and he represents Lisa Phillips and he's helped file that declaration on our behalf. So had Michael Popach doesn't just talk the talk, he walks the walk. So that's my analysis there. Um the Trump regime, it's what day 31 and 1% of the documents have been produced. Brett and Jordy.

49:32 Brett, before before I give it back to you, I just have really quickly, Ben, if I could just summarize everything that you just laid out so beautifully in just a few sentences is that what I'm hearing is Donald Trump and the Trump regime would just rather protect Pedos than get to the bottom of the Epstein saga. Is is that is that right?

49:51 That's right, Jordy Brett. And on that point, Jordy, I think that's why you could draw an adverse inference, and I think juries could draw adverse inferences. I think the public could draw adverse inferences based on exactly what is going on. And by that I mean is you could basically judge Donald Trump's guilt by the fact that his department of justice uh Donald Trump himself and all these people are withholding so much from the American people and are doing so much to withhold these documents from the American people. What other con conclusion could you possibly come to other than that whatever is in these files about Donald Trump must be in my opinion devastating, horrific, some of the worst things that you ever read or heard or seen. It's the only kind of thing that you could even possibly. It's the only conclusion you could possibly come to uh given all of this. U I'm I'm super proud of Michael Popac

50:45 representing a survivor here and and taking this uh to the court, this declaration. I think this is such an important issue and I just always try to ground myself because this is something that, you know, I I get certainly stressed about the fact that they've released less than 1% of the files and and it's it's painful and I think it's just awful. And then I think about these survivors who have been calling for the release of these files, who have been looking for some some sort of justice for all the people involved in this scheme now for decades and decades and decades. And I can't imagine the pain that continues and that uh these wounds that open back up every time this is brought back into the news.

51:29 Um but I I applaud their strength. I applaud Michael Popac for representing them and uh you know representatives Kana and and Massie and it's you know one of those examples where you know this isn't about political party you know I'm happy we have a Republican and a Democrat there coming together and it's a shame that the others uh in Massiey's party all these other Republicans are doing everything that they can to cover up for these this scheme including all of the people out there who previously made this like their number one issue. I mean, the freaking FBI director and the former FB deputy FBI director who left were like the biggest proponents of like release the Epstein files. What are you hiding?

52:07 FBI coming up with all these conspiracy theories about Donald Trump's enemy and enemies and they are the ones blocking the release of the files. I mean, Benjino left. The guy left. He bounced. He couldn't handle it. Too tough for him.

52:19 God, see you later. Bye. Now you have Cash Patel. You got Bondi. just all of these people are complicit in this and it's just I think it's very obvious what it all tells you.

52:30 Absolutely. On the Bonino note, the folks who were sort of put in positions to to to get the truth, he left. He left because why? Because his boss told him not to get to the truth.

52:41 Jordy, I'm going to let me say though, I I know he couldn't get the truth as the deputy FBI director, but I think now that he's back as a podcaster, I think he's going to get to the bottom of this.

52:50 I I think I think you're on to something with that one. But look, it if the files exonerated Trump, they would all be released. Don't make any other thoughts about that. Like it if they truly exonerated Trump like he likes to put out on True Social or or whatever, they would all be released. You would have seen them a thousand times over at this point because he wouldn't let you forget that you've seen them. It It is so utterly disgusting. Th This is not a political issue. it to me it's simply it it's not this is a a humanity issue like if you care about your fellow American if you care about your fellow person you care about this because you should want justice for the survivors period end of story the game like the political gamesmanship that the Trump regime is doing to block the release of of these files to delay the release of the files to to go over deadlines and say oh well we did the

53:47 first bet we met the first deadline making things up. It every red flag that could go up is up. It It's so utterly obvious that the Trump regime is trying to hide the files and there's no other conclusion that could be drawn at this point that Donald Trump must be literally all over them and they can't they can't avoid it at this point. So, what are they going to do? They're just not going to release him or they're going to try and and confuse things in the courts or or or what. But but I know one thing that you the listener here the the mightest might this prodemocracy community and and many Americans quite frankly that don't even identify with the mightest touch network or or prodemocra they still want the release of the files because again this isn't political. This is just like humanto human you should want justice for the women now who were children at that time. It's unbelievable to me Ben and

54:40 this is just how they handle everything. You know, I saw I saw an article before of Donald Trump saying, "Well, it must have been a perhaps I got bad information that special forces were being sent into Greenland by these European countries and uh you know, and then people and I've seen like reporters go, "Oh, this is a way that Donald Trump can maybe try to deescalate with dignity." Just like enough of this crap,

55:05 dude. I hate that. enough of the you know oh now know now he's going to be like oh well now I didn't really mean that because now I learned this and then you know you know because he sees the market start doing bad you know it's it's the same shick with him too you know and it's just like enough you have to society has appeased him and his ilk where you know and just have a you know they're the snake that was allowed in and it's like as as adults a as people who have morals and ethics and who who care about normaly.

55:39 You just have to assert yourself, you know, and and and stop babying this B, you know, stop babying this guy, you know, be tough. Put it on the line and it's just enough is enough. Enough is enough of this crap, this whole thing. just this this whole just crap regime of of of every day the onslaught of pathetic trolling and utilizing all that America meant historically for this. No wonder what was his support among independents right now 20 27% or 29% among independents. I think it was 26% among independents like the lowest ever of any president ever amongst uh amongst independents right now. um depending on which poll 29 29 26 20 29 29 31 um just absolutely absolutely pathetic. Anyway, uh 20 it's it's ridiculous. We'll take our last quick break of the show.

56:34 Reminder, if you can uh join the YouTube by becoming a member, click join and then gift memberships to other people. That helps our expansion. And you know, we're competing right now against Fox's, the CBS's, NBC's, ABC's thanks to you. You keep us in the game and in the lead right now, and we're expanding in the DC bureau on the ground coverage, what we're doing in Canada. That's all thanks to you. So, join if you can. Also, check out our Substackusplus.com. Last quick break of the show. We'll be right back for the home stretch.

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1:01:57 You know what's interesting? Because you know, wait, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Brett's laughing over there in the third panel. Do you know you know like my coming back from break phrase? You know,

1:02:06 of course I know the script. Of course I know what you say at this point. I I could I was mouthing every sing like like a music video. I could do Jordy.

1:02:15 What do you do next? You know, now you have like Trump advisers leaking out to CNN. Is an offramp possible? Can we give him an offramp now that all the other but you had Europe threatening a a trade bazooka like just going to shut off trade with the US and then the markets are reeling and then then Donald Trump moves on to the next one then the next one then the next one while he covers up the Epstein files and while he does you know longstanding damage to what the US has built over centuries across the world and especially since uh the postworld war II world, right? Where Trump views what does he always say? We were our richest in 1871. What do you mean? We were our richest in 1871. What does that what does that even mean? But like, you know, you have someone like Treasury Secretary Bessant goes on the morning shows on Sunday and you know, here's what he said about Greenland. Let's play

1:03:11 Greenland one. Let's play it. Have we got that one? Let me just put this to you bluntly. Is Greenland or NATO more essential to the United States national security?

1:03:23 Well, Chris, that's obviously a false choice that you know that that's that's a

1:03:28 from the perspective of European leaders. Uh the European leaders will come around and they will understand that they need to be under the US security umbrella. What what would happen in Ukraine that if the US pulled its support out the whole thing would collapse? They are under the security umbrella of NATO. Of NATO. That's the whole thing. America used to have 17 military bases in Greenland. America pulled out of 15 of them and now we have two. If we wanted 17, we could have it. It would be ridiculous, but we could have 17. It's part of NATO.

1:04:09 What Donald Trump's more focused on his counter NATO which he calls the board of peace which is a board of authoritarians right it is the access of evil that he's creating so then Treasury Secretary Bessant is then asked so what's the justification what's the emergency that you want to tariff all these European countries because they're not allowing Trump to invade Greenland because the hook that Trump tries to use on his unlawful tariffs against the world, which the Supreme Court has never ruled on. There's never going to rule on it.

1:04:48 What's What's their game plan there, by the way? I mean, doesn't it show you how pathetic the Supreme Court is that they just let Donald Trump's unlawful tariffs just stay in? It's why our whole legal system say this as someone who's a law professor. It's just like completely broken. No ruling. We don't get rulings on the tariffs. It takes a year while the unlawful tariffs are in place for you to get any remedy and the status quo is preserved. is utterly ridiculous. But any event, Trump's hook is that there's an emergency, a threat facing the country, right? And Trump's threats are Canada's bringing fentinol and Mexico is bringing this and this country is threatening us with all these, you know, I mean, Mexico is bringing the precursor to fentinol, not Canada. Um, but but that that's Trump's hook for all of the um for all of the tariffs. But so what's the emergency? Bessent play this clip.

1:05:35 awaiting the high court's decision. What is the national emergency that justifies these new slate of tariffs?

1:05:43 The national emergency is avoiding a national emergency that it it is a strategic decision by the president. This is a geopolitical decision and he is able to use the economic might of the US to avoid a hot war. So why wouldn't why wouldn't we do that? You know, same same thing. He just saying the law and there's no laws. That's what he's saying right there.

1:06:07 What are you talking about, dude? And he does it in this like arrogant way. Let me Why wouldn't he do that? Because there's laws, man. Because there's laws, you know,

1:06:17 there's laws. We have NATO. We have a structure to protect all this stuff. All the things that you're saying are complete and total lies. You have China coming out and making statements. Beijing's like, "Don't invoke our name for your justification to try to seize this." Meanwhile, you have the United States uh in effect justifying China to take Taiwan, Russia to take Ukraine. This goes far beyond even just Greenland. This is a an issue of global importance obviously, but there's ramifications that extend even far beyond this moment. And one of the things that I hate what these people say, it wasn't in that clip, but I think it was in that interview with with Bessant is they'll go like, you know, this is just what happens when you're the hottest country ever. When you're so we're so hot right now. We're hot. We're so hot. It's like, "Shut up. Shut the hell up. Shut the hell up. The United

1:07:02 States right now is hated. Hated by the world. Hated by the world. And it's your fault. And you know better, Scott Besson? These people all know better. And they are all collaborators."

1:07:14 Didn't I can't I'm not I don't want to give Bessant any sort of street credit here. Doesn't he like constantly get into fights with members of Trump's cabinet to like Didn't he punch Elon or get punched by

1:07:25 You know, these are these are all They're all weirdos, dude. They all weirdos. They all are narcissists. They all hate each other. They all hate themselves. They hate their lives. They're miserable people.

1:07:33 A larger point. I think Bill Py too, he he threatened to punch at a country club. Like this guy is like some sort of like hotad that they can't even get along with each other. That's how smug each one of these people are.

1:07:43 You've seen someone wants Lori Chavez Dreamer out. I mean, I want her out, but there's someone in the Trump regime who's leaking to the New York Post because they're getting really good scoops on Lorie Chavez Darr. She's the secretary of labor. And so the New York Post broke the story first that she was under uh inspector general's investigation. Although the inspector general was that Congress member uh who was pushed out, I think he was from a New York congress member. Yeah, I think it was New York um for like uh being involved in an affair and like bringing underlings to like getting underlings job that he was having an affair with, which is one of the things that like Lorie Chavez is being investigated for and they made that guy the IG. But in any event, that's why I think the New York Post is also leaking extra hard right now in order to um you know expose what Lorie Chavez dreamer is being

1:08:33 investigated for. Um but there was the report last week that she took all these trips, these like lavish trips like Vegas and across the country on the taxpayer dime. And then it said that she was potentially having an an affair with an insubordinate. Not insubordinate, a subordinate. They were being insubordinate. Um and then and and um and and now the reporting was that there was like a booze stash in her office. Um and that uh she would bring this this staff to strip clubs like by the way like and the taxpayers would be paying for these trips where they would go to strip clubs and they got a photo of Angel's PDX club in Portland. She used to be a Congress member from Portland.

1:09:14 She used to pretend Chavez dreamer that she cared about unions and then as soon as she had her hearing uh to be confirmed, she was asked whether she supports the proact and she goes, "No, no, I don't support the PRO Act." Okay, your whole thing was you supported the PRO act. Then she said she doesn't support the PRO act. I don't know how you could be a labor secretary if you literally despise and you support the Pole Act

1:09:38 at Angel Strip Club in Phoenix. And this is this is what they're doing. this with the taxpayers, you know, I mean, look, you have Christy Gnome buying private jets, gallivanting around, you know, on these horse videos.

1:09:50 Spot looks real high-end really highend strip club right there. But I was just Well, this is what the Trump regime like these are a group of like like degenerate. I mean, look, I'm not going to judge people. If you want to go to strip club, you go to strip club. But but like don't do it on the taxpayer dime.

1:10:06 Yeah, that's the point. If you want to go to strip club, but but don't do it on the taxpayer dime. You want to go, you can go. But like you're supposed to be the labor secretary and you know I'm not sure this is necessarily the support of labor that we expect. We expect you to support the unions. Not you know. Anyway, I won't get into the debate there. But

1:10:22 there's one way to support labor. There's one way to that was that's where I was going. But um but don't uh but don't use taxpayer money for it. And then then there's more information about the person who worked for her. the whole but there there's so much that then like last week they started doing this weird ad campaign for whole milk and they did these like weird sexualized fetish whole milk videos that went beyond like the mustache like what do you do okay whole milk's good sure but like then people thought well maybe they were trying to push RFK Junior's raw milk because he likes raw milk and someone's like you can't do the raw milk stuff so we're all in on whole milk and it's like I want to know what are you even talking about like what what what is this

1:11:02 it's the dumbest administr ation. I'm all for whole milk. I like whole milk. I like whole milk of my coffee. It's great. Sure. But their messaging is too like they wanted to take this away. It was gone. We brought it back. We're like, what are you talking? Nobody was taking away your milk.

1:11:16 Who was trying to take your whole milk? Show me in the room. What are you talking about?

1:11:19 And they do these weird AI videos of RFK with milk mustaches dancing. And it's like weird. It's like it's honestly the most like this this combination of like these AI weird videos that they put out with the fascism with the uh weird pol like just it's all so dystopian. It's all so bizarre. It's all so weird. It's like the worst slop that we see coming from the White House. And it's just atrocious. It's just atrocious. And I totally totally totally support the hypothesis that they had built an entire campaign around we're going to announce that everyone should be drinking raw milk and that the government lawyers went y'all are going to kill a lot of people because this is not recommended for everybody and you should not do this. And I guarantee you they were about to go live with that and then were told please don't do it please. And for some reason they listen to those lawyers and they switch to whole milk and now

1:12:14 the entire campaign makes zero sense. It's just another ridiculous thing. Meanwhile, measles cases are skyrocketing across the country. We have like a measles you know outbreak in the country. Like you RFK Jr. yelling at Germany as to what they should do for their health policy and Germany's like shut the shut up dude. Like what are you talking about? Deal are our life expectancy is higher than yours. Our the health of our people is higher than is better than yours. Like deal with your own crap. like stop trying to boss the world around. And you see how these America first quote unquote America first people now are just trying to inflatory nature to inflict pain on countries around the world and bully them into doing what they want in every aspect.

1:12:54 These are dangerous people. They are predators. They got to go. The American people need to do something. Congress needs to do something. Step up, people. Step up. And I'm calling on other countries, as I said in the beginning of this episode, do something. We won't be offended. I promise you.

1:13:09 And this is why I I I just can't stand when corporate media bends over backwards to like talk like make it seem like what Trump is doing is so genius, right? Like they like work themsel like they work it all backwards. Like Trump announces the crazy [ __ ] thing that he's going to do and they're going to be like this is why this is why it's so smart what Donald Trump is doing. I I I saw a couple headlines over the weekend about the whole Greenland thing. Um, and they're just trying to make like Donald Trump is some sort of genius because he wants to take over Greenland and it's just infuriating for me. So, I just want to use the I I know we're running out of time on the show today, but like thank you guys for always listening and supporting us here at the Midas Touch Network and quite independent media quite frankly in general. Uh, it's more important than ever that we amplify our voices to just get out the truth. Thank

1:13:52 you for trusting us to get out the facts, the data, the information, the receipts. And Jordy, on that note, that's why I got to give a shout out to other people in independent media who are crushing it, like Don Lemon, who right now is is being uh, you know, basically threatened with arrest by the Trump regime for uh covering these protests in this church in in Minneapolis. There were protesters at a church. I think the pastor was thought to be uh in ICE or ICE patrol, something working with ICE, and they were protesting inside this church. Now you have the Department of Justice, all these Twitter influencers, all these people now calling for Don Lemon's arrest. You have uh the Department of Justice, the head of the civil rights division, Harmy Dylan, going on TV calling for Don Lemon's arrest.

1:14:34 Essentially, you have Donald Trump on his social media calling for his arrest. And this obviously doesn't come in a vacuum. I mean, last week we saw uh the Trump regime raid the uh home of a Washington Post journalist who had a lot of sources inside the administration just, you know, workers, people who were doing their their duty. She would be on uh Reddit threads um you know, asking if anyone had information about what was going on in the government, especially during Doge and while all this chaos was was happening. Well, they went to her house, they took her phones, they took her laptops, they took all of her communications, and this is what we're living under under Donald Trump. I mean, we've been threatened by these people, the the Trump administration people, their followers calling for our arrest for for various things, for just covering these topics, for having on the ground reporting. This is the nature

1:15:19 that we find ourselves in. And so, is it a a position I ever thought I'd be in? No. Is it a position that I think Don Lemon ever thought he'd be in? I think not. Um, but, you know, there's there's a danger to reporting on authoritarian regimes, and that's shown throughout history. And so, yeah, I'm I'm not asking for for any sympathy here, but I will say, you know, support Don Lemon, you know, go go check out his channel. He's doing a great job. Um, I'm proud of him for standing up to all this, for for covering it the way that he's doing. And we're just dealing with right now just fundamentally evil people who are really trying to erase everything in my opinion that's that's great for the country.

1:15:55 Show that clip of uh Harme Dylan who runs the civil rights division uh of the DOJ and what she said about Don Lemon. I think we've got this. Let's let's play it.

1:16:06 Imagine you have a bank robbery that's being planned by a number of criminals. They're crossing state lines. They're using the wires and then a a podcaster says, "Well, let me embed myself in here and come along for the ride and live stream the crime." That would not be protected by the First Amendment. Um, and so it is a crime to disrupt and harass and make people in a church or any house of worship feel unsafe in this country. And when you're part of that planning and show up and ride along and and laugh outside about and make commentary outside about how disrupting and putting people in fear is literally part of protest and part of the plan.

1:16:48 Um, you know, we are not reaching conclusions. Now, of course, everybody is entitled to the presumption of innocence, but if I were giving advice to a journalist about this, which I have done in the past, I would say do not participate in a crime actively. So, the the statute they're threatening Lemon with is something called the FACE Act, Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994. And it says it's a federal crime to intentionally injure, intimidate, or interfere with, or attempt to injure, intimidate, or interfere any person by force, threat, or physical obstruction um at a reproductive health service uh clinic or intentionally injuring, intimidating, or interfering with or attempting to injure, intimidate, or interfere any person by force, threat, or physical obstruction, exercising, or seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom. freedoms at a place of worship. So, originally what

1:17:46 this law was intended to cover was reproductive health care visits where there were people standing outside of abortion clinics and would physically push people away and threaten you. Like, if you do this, you'll get killed or you'll get hurt, right? Physical threat or physical use of body to block a woman who needed to access Planned Parenthood or something like that. to make it a bipartisan bill. Right-wing people wanted there to be uh churches that were, you know, that were covered. And so what they're arguing is that that's what applies here because Don Lemon was covering protesters inside this church.

1:18:24 I watched the video and for you to prosecute somebody, you have to show that Don Lemon used force, physical obstruction, or the threat of force. I I just I I mean, we all watch the video. I He didn't threaten anybody. It seemed like there was somebody at the church who touched him, actually. And then Lemon was like, "Don't touch me. Don't touch me." And then Lemon was asking why are you know why are you you know he would ask the people like what are you doing like what there's a reason that this DOJ loses a lot of cases right now and they've been losing case after case after like like you know you can indict a ham sandwich this Dough this DOJ struggles to do that like they're going to still have to empanel a grand jury in Minnesota that they've attacked that community and ask for a Minnesota grand jury to indict Lemon for covering the ICE invasion, which I think is going to be hard, but you could. And and we've seen

1:19:32 this DOJ fail to secure indictments before, but that even if they do, they have to prove that he engaged in these threats and and intimidation, physical threats, physical he didn't. I mean, I've seen the video. So, I you know, I I I doesn't mean they won't dry, but anyway, that's that's where uh that's where that's where we're at. Uh we're there. I'll leave everybody with this. Let's show that clip of uh Governor Spanberger's inauguration. I know I showed I I discussed what she did in the first 24 hours, but let's just watch this clip so we can have a YouTube cleanser and see what politics is supposed to be about.

1:20:12 Let's play this clip. this next chapter. We will work relentlessly to make life more affordable for our fellow Virginiaians. We will tackle the high cost of housing. Whether you're renting, buying, or trying to stay in your home, we will cut red tape, increase housing supply, and help communities keep housing affordable. We will work to lower energy costs by producing more energy and by ensuring that high energy users pay their fair share. And we will contend with an impending health care crisis by protecting health care access, cracking down on the middlemen who are driving up drug prices, and making sure Virginiaians aren't going into spiraling medical debt because of a single emergency.

1:21:13 Powerful, powerful, powerful. So, we'll leave you with that. We covered a lot of topics here. A reminder, you want to support the growth of this independent media network, join, subscribe. Tell others to subscribe, but click join. Then gift memberships to others. That's a great way you can help us. So, consider doing that. Um, also, uh, go to our Substack atlus.com, subscribe there, and thank you so much. I know we covered a lot of topics on this episode, a lot of topics, but it was all very important stuff. And um subscribe. If you watch on YouTube, subscribe to our audio. Just search on audio podcast. Might asouch. Same thing.

1:21:51 If you listen on audio, subscribe to our YouTube. That helps us out a ton. Thanks everybody. We appreciate you. We'll see you next time on the Midas Touch podcast and keep checking back the Midas Touch YouTube channel and our podcast audio feed for updates throughout the day. Jordy, take it away. Shout out to the Midas Mighty. The mightest mighty standing strong against the fascist. We sing our song. We will get it right. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our Substack at midasplus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Philipski, ad free episodes of our podcast, and more exclusive content only available at midasplus.com.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "LIVE: MeidasTouch RESPONDS to MAJOR BREAKING NEWS - 1/19/26"?

Ben Meiselas (Host), Brett Meiselas (Host), Jordy Meiselas (Host).

What is "LIVE: MeidasTouch RESPONDS to MAJOR BREAKING NEWS - 1/19/26" about?

Donald Trump breaks a 40-year tradition by not issuing an MLK Day message, instead sending a controversial proclamation to Norway expressing his discontent over not receiving a Nobel Peace Prize, which he claims fuels his desire to invade Greenland. He also proposes a "board of peace" that includes authoritarian leaders like Vladimir Putin, rejected by European nations, while engaging in corrupt…

What is mentioned in this MeidasTouch episode?

18 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Donald Trump, Face Act, Al Galani, Al Sharah, ICE, YouTube. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "LIVE: MeidasTouch RESPONDS to MAJOR BREAKING NEWS - 1/19/26"?

The episode runs 1 h 23 min; the transcript is about 15,136 words in 129 timestamped sections.

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