MeidasTouch Full Podcast - 10/17/25

This episode is brought to you by LifeLock.

It's Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and Lifelock has tips to protect your identity.

Use strong passwords, set up multi-factor authentication, report phishing, and update the software on your devices.

And for comprehensive identity protection, let Lifelock alert you to suspicious uses of your personal information.

LifeLock also fixes identity theft, guaranteed or your money back.

Stay smart, safe, and protected with a 30-day free trial at lifelock.com/slash podcast.

Terms apply.

This Marshawn Beast Mode Lynch.

Prize Pick is making sports season even more fun.

On Progs, whether you're a football fan, a basketball fan, it always feels good to be right.

And right now, new users get $50 instantly in lineups when you play your first $5.

The app is simple to use.

Pick two or more players.

Pick more or less on their stat projections.

Anything from touchdown to threes.

And if you write, you can win big.

Mix and match players from any sport on Progs Picks, America's number one daily fantasy sports app.

PrizePix is available in 40-plus states, including California, Texas, Florida, and Georgia.

Most importantly, all the transactions on the app are fast, safe, and secure.

Download the PrizePicks app today and use code Spotify to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.

That's code Spotify to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.

PrizePicks is good to be right.

Must be present in a certain six.

Visit PrizePix.com for restrictions and details.

CRM was supposed to improve customer relationships.

Instead, it's shorthand for customer rage machine.

Your CRM can't explain why a customer's package took five detours?

Reboot your inner piece and scream into a pillow.

It's okay.

On the ServiceNow AI platform, CRM stands for something better.

AI agents don't just track issues, they resolve them, transforming the entire customer experience.

So breathe in.

And breathe out.

Bad CRM was then.

This is ServiceNow.

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Commercial Insurance.

Business owners meet Progressive Insurance.

They make it easy to get discounts on commercial auto insurance and find coverages to grow with your business.

Quote in as little as eight minutes at progressivecommercial.com.

Progressive Casualty Insurance Company, coverage provided and serviced by affiliated and third-party insurers.

Discounts and covered selections not available in all states or situations.

We have a lot to discuss on this episode of the Midas Touch podcast.

You have John Bolton being indicted at the behest of the Trump regime in Maryland.

An 18-count felony indictment.

We'll break down what happened there in the federal court in Maryland.

Then we'll talk about what happened in the Illinois Appeals Court, where the Court of Appeals, with a Trump-appointed judge, a George H.W.

Bush judge, and an Obama judge, all agreed that Trump's invasion of Chicago was patently unlawful and that the protests that were taking place in Chicago against the Trump regime did not create a pretext for any type of military invasion.

You had Donald Trump speaking with Vladimir Putin on a day where Trump was supposed to announce, yet again, that there could be sanctions against Russia and perhaps tomahawk missiles being transferred to Ukraine.

Donald Trump said that his call with Putin went great and that now they're going to have more talks.

And of course, yet again, Putin got what he wanted.

No sanctions on Russia, no tomahawk weapons to Ukraine.

Putin knows how to play Donald Trump like a freaking fiddle.

Meanwhile, the deal between Israel and Hamas seems to be falling apart.

It's easy to predict when Israel and Hamas did not actually sign the deal.

They were not signatories.

All these other countries signed it, but not the two parties that were the subject of the deal.

You have Benjamin Netanyahu not agreeing to a two-state solution.

You have his finance minister, a guy named Smutrich, a far-right guy, talks about building more

establishments in Gaza and building more settlements in Gaza.

You have Hamas saying that it's not going to disarm and never intended to disarm under the deal.

They said that was never part of it.

You had Donald Trump saying earlier this week that he spoke with Hamas and he told them, I'm good with you, Hamas.

Patrolling like police.

Go after the bad games, gangs, but you have to behave yourself, Hamas.

Behave yourself.

And now Trump's like, they may not be behaving like they told me, whatever the hell that's supposed to mean.

Donald Trump didn't say that he supports a two-state solution.

So I'm not sure with all of those factors how there was ever going to be a sustainable peace, but corporate news was spiking the football and buying into Trump's narrows.

Look, I'm glad that the hostages were returned.

Of course, I'm glad about the prospect of a ceasefire, but the structural issues surrounding this, I think, phony deal were obvious to us here at the Midas Touch Network.

We'll talk about, and by the way, 24 Palestinians have been killed since the purported ceasefire has been announced.

It's an important point to mention as well.

Midas Touch Network broke the story of the potential for Navy warships over the weekend to launch missiles into Camp Pendleton off the coast in San Diego, launching missiles into the military base there.

Midas Touch broke the story.

Governor Newsom confirmed the story.

The Trump regime seems to be backing off of that, but we will talk about what went down there.

It was good reporting by Aaron Parnas on our team.

Meanwhile, Trump held a weird presser, supposedly about IVF.

His campaign promise was that IVF would be made free.

He would force insurance companies to cover it for free, or the government would pay for all IVF.

That's not what he announced today.

So it was just yet another lie by him, just a weird executive order and a weird press conference.

And then he held that weird presser yesterday where he talked about building a triumphant arch.

kind of the way that Hitler wanted one in Germania in Washington, D.C., a version of that.

He talked about the golden ballroom and started talking to his rich friends saying, you give me 25 million.

You give me 25 million.

We'll talk a little bit more about that.

We'll talk about the typhoon that hit Alaska.

as well

and the deaths and the injuries that occurred there as the Trump regime removed very critical flood protections that were put in place by former President Biden because the EPA said that flood protection grants are too woke, are too woke.

And I think it would have stopped what went down there in Alaska.

Of course, our farmers continue to suffer here while Argentina is now not just getting a $20 billion bailout, but a $40 billion

bailout as well.

So we've got a lot to cover.

In other words, Brett and Jordy, good to see you.

Good to see you too, Ben.

Good to see you, Jordy.

A whole lot of major breaking news, one might say.

And it's like every single day, it feels the same way, right?

Just an overwhelming onslaught of just crazy stuff coming at you.

Like

I feel like each of those stories that you said in the beginning of this episode in that intro right there, Ben, like, each of them could be a months-long, if not a years-long, story in any other particular time.

But we know the Trump administration, now going back to both administrations, has a concerted strategy of just flooding the zone with shit.

And that's what we're seeing here.

That's what we see every day.

And so, the thing, one thing I want to make sure, like, and I want to just say this kind of at the top, we'll get into it a little deeper as we speak about some of our reporting and whatnot.

But I think a real problem that we're seeing is that some of these stories that are coming out of this regime are so insane.

They are so crazy that they sound so unbelievable to the average person when they hear them.

But I think we have to come to terms that we are dealing with crazy.

We are not dealing with normal.

These are not normal times.

And I feel like on some level, people know that.

The people watching the show, the people listening to the show realize that.

But still, because things are just so insane coming at people, Like when we were doing our reporting on this missile story, for example, people go, there's no way you must be making this up.

Absolutely not.

I assure you, yes.

We will never, ever, ever publish anything that isn't 100% verified, sourced incredibly well.

And this is just the nature of the Trump regime.

We have a president who is sending the military into cities.

We have a president who is indicting his political enemies.

We have a president who is making enemies lists of people who are against him or anti-Christian or anti-fascist or anti-whatever it is that they need to do in order to target the average American people.

You have a regime that is out there calling Americans protesting at the No Kings rally this weekend, calling them terrorists, calling them all these names.

We just need to remain on guard is my message at the front and realize that we're not dealing in normal times.

And we're going to get into this in more detail.

First, I got to toss it over to Jordy.

Jordy, what's the latest on your end?

What's going on, everybody?

I'm excited to get into today's show as well, Brett.

I want to build on what you were saying, but I, yeah, first I want to start with here: the firing missiles in Camp Hamilton.

Like, what in the Kim Jong-un, Vladimir Putin, is this stuff?

This is the type of strongman behavior that's quite literally the stuff of dictators and absolutely has no place in America.

And yet, you know, here we are.

A deeply disturbing trend, though, Brett, that I'm seeing as well, building on what you're saying, is that during the second Trump regime, there are some people out there who consider themselves,

who may consider themselves pro-democracy, but yet constantly discount very legitimate stories that are coming out of this White House because

they think with no facts or data or sourcing, this is their gut telling them that this is too crazy.

This can't be real.

There's no way this is real.

Y'all are making this up.

Look, we have got to come to terms with the fact that there are actually crazy things coming out of this White House.

So please stop giving this guy the benefit of the doubt.

We source meticulously here at the Midas Touch Network.

Facts are our friends here.

We lead with facts and data as our North Star.

That's a good place to play.

So please, if you actually do consider yourself pro-democracy and you are one of those people that I was talking about, wake up and get loud and direct your frustrations at the regime who is constantly setting fires to the very fabric of our democracy, Ben.

Look, I wish it were just rage bait when we warned that the United States military would be sent by Donald Trump to invade states and cities, blue states and blues.

I wish it was rage bait.

I wish it was rage bait only when we said what Trump's mass deportations meant is they were going to have masked

ICE agents go and kidnap people on the street and disappear them and throw them into concentration camps like Alligator Alcatraz.

I wish it were rage bait when we would make videos and say, oh, this right-wing Trump Supreme Court is absolutely going to overturn Roe v.

Wade.

Now they're never going to do it.

It's super precedent.

Now they're going to take away women's reproductive rights.

And then they're coming for the rights of gay people next.

And then they're going to come for the rights of even, you know, you don't even know what they're interracial marriage down the line.

And then they're going to come for the Voting Rights Act over and over.

No, they're not going to do that.

They are.

They are.

I wish it were just rage bait because I don't want these things to absolutely.

I wish it was rage bait when we said Project 2025 is real.

The Trump regime is going to dismantle the government.

They want to destroy things like FEMA and the National Oceanic Administration and the State Department and USAID.

And then they're coming, be like, they're not going to get rid of the weather forecasting services.

They're not going to gut the CDC and the NIH.

They're not going to, that's impossible.

Stop, stop fear-mongering.

They've done all of that.

So I don't get how we're here, October 16th, 2025, as the record date on this episode.

Just say mid to late October in general.

And people are still saying that's just rage bait.

You should be enraged, not at the people writing the stories about what's happening and accurately describing what it is.

You should be enraged at what our country has become.

That's where you should direct your anger.

And you should show up at the No Kings protest and peacefully protest this weekend with us and with millions of others and what will be the biggest mass mobilization in the entire country i mean look let's just pull back take a look at what happened just in the past two hours we'll talk of course about the news that john bolton was indicted on 18 counts of allegedly retaining uh and transmitting national defense information you know there's some reporting that suggests that um the way the prosecutors came into this information was a hack into Bolton's messages that potentially took place from Iran and by

foreign hostile nations.

It'll be interesting to see what happens there in Discovery if the information was turned over by Iranian hackers and other things like that.

But

we will watch as that develops.

But, you know, Trump has ordered.

that his DOJ, we saw the messages, go after this person, this person, that person, this person, that person.

Go after my enemies.

In the past, you would have a president, no matter whether they were Democrat or Republican, and they would say to their DOJ, you don't serve me.

You serve the American people.

You are independent of me.

And there wouldn't be conversations happening.

It would be the biggest scandal, impeachable and convictable, of a former president.

If you even had the head of the DOJ, like in the Oval Office, just talking about the case at all, at any level, that would be unheard of.

Everybody would be outraged.

But now, what, talking about the issue is rage bait?

Or should we focus on the fact that there's an authoritarian takeover of our country and a ripping to shreds of our Constitution?

That's Bolton.

Talk about what happened at the press conference in the Oval Office that just wrapped up, where Trump was talking about his IVF plans.

And then the White House, and I saw all of these reporting, Trump keeps campaign pledge on IVF.

No, he didn't.

What are you talking about?

His campaign pledge on IVF was it would be free, that it would be free

on day one, and that the government would pay for it or that insurance companies would pay for it.

Like, y'all reporters, you realize.

that Trump is kicking people off their insurance right now and that premiums are about to skyrocket because the ACA subsidies are not being extended.

And so like you realize you're being played by this entire press conference where he's saying, I've signed an executive order where I'm directing this one pharmaceutical company, which I'm sure has some relationship also behind the scenes with Trump or whatever.

I'm directing them.

Trump wants to overhaul drug sales.

A company tied to his son stands to benefit.

I'm directing them.

Lower the costs.

You see how I had that You see how I had that ready to go for you too?

Yeah, I didn't even know Ben was going to say that they maybe had a connection to his sons or something.

And boom, I found it right there.

And Ben, let me just call out the con really quickly also because you say, how could people be falling for this stuff?

Have you guys noticed that Trump always brings up this IVF stuff and always starts speaking about health whenever there are clear issues with the Republican Party in regards to this issue and his administration?

Like the clips of him from the campaign trail.

And we could play one.

We could go back and show you what Donald Trump was saying on the campaign trail.

Why was Donald Trump starting to say, I'm the father?

Remember, he was saying those weird crap.

I'm the father of IVF.

Free IVF for everybody.

Like that, all of a sudden

he said a lot of weird shit on the campaign trail.

Yeah, he did.

And like, he had an elector, like the sharks.

And we did our best to let everybody know about this craziness, but you know, it got sain-washed a whole bunch.

But

we continue on.

But, you know, it all happens.

Why would Donald Trump say it then?

Because that was when the Alabama Supreme Court made a ruling that essentially forced the hospitals to stop allowing IVF procedures to happen.

And so it was this big chaos and it really exposed the cruelty of the Republican Party for just how vicious they were being to people who wanted to start a family, for people who were desperate to have IVF.

And so that was Donald Trump's damage control.

Why is Donald Trump all of a sudden rolling out this right now again?

Because once again, Republicans are being exposed for trying to hike up premiums on the American people by insane amounts by refusing to extend these Affordable Care Act tax credits.

So you see the sleight of hand there.

He dangles this fake stuff out at you while the real thing that is staring people in the face that could increase their premiums by 4x, 5x, that is right around the corner.

It's like seeing the light in the tunnel, but the light is a train coming at you.

And you have Donald Trump trying to distract you while it's all happening.

It happens over and over again.

Ben, I'll let you break down what's been going on.

Well, let's just show, you said you're going to show the clip.

So let's show the clip of what Trump's campaign promise was, where he said the government will pay for it or I'll force insurance companies to cover IVF for free, just so we have no doubt what the promise was.

And we know that that's not what's happening today.

Here, play this clip.

I'm announcing today in a major statement that under the Trump administration, your government will pay for or your insurance company will be mandated to pay for

all costs associated with IVF treatment, fertilization for women, IVF treatment.

Because we want more babies, to put it very nicely.

What does that even mean?

I'm announcing in a major statement.

Just say the word, I mean just everything about the guy's a con artist.

So then today in the Oval Office, speaking of which, he goes,

so we are now, I have a great announcement, another major announcement, a major statement announcement.

We're now bringing in $20 trillion from investments.

We've already brought in $17 trillion.

And you may be saying, didn't he say $18 trillion two days ago?

Yeah, he did.

So now he's going 20 trillion.

Yeah, he's just making up more numbers.

Now he says $20 trillion.

Now the entire American GDP is about $30 trillion.

We're not bringing in an additional $20 trillion at all.

And if we were, how cruel, how unusual that you would allow Americans not to be able to afford their health care, not to be able to afford education.

The life of 99% of Americans is much worse right now.

But apparently, you have now $20 trillion that's brought in.

We know he didn't bring in the money.

It's a ridiculous lie.

But this is part of the fascist playbook.

Just make up the most outrageous lies, so untethered from reality, because people's minds sometimes can't comprehend lies of such a magnitude.

It's what we've seen in fascist regimes throughout history.

Here, play this clip.

Maria, can you imagine?

Four years, less than one, we're going to break $20 trillion of investment, and we're already over $17 trillion, and that's in eight months.

Can you believe that?

And he was at less than $1 trillion.

Part of the scam also that he does there is he has a person in the room.

confirm it as part like it's always like could you believe that now and the person goes yeah so then, when you watch it psychologically, you're like, wait a minute, he's making it, but this person seems like a smart person and they're validating it.

And so, it's part of the psychological brainwashing and manipulation that takes place.

I just want to cue you in on the tricks of brainwashers because that's what he's doing right there.

Then he goes on and says, Now I'm getting prescription drug prices down 500, 600, 800%.

Again, these are fake numbers, like, because it would quite literally mean that the pharmaceutical company is paying you massive amounts of money to use their pharmaceutical drugs.

Here, play this clip.

But I was so one-eighth of 1%.

Now I'm getting them down, Maria, 500, 600, 800%.

In some cases, even more than that.

It's hard to believe.

But I was proud.

I said, oh, wow, I'm the first one.

One eighth of 1%.

And I was proud.

I don't even know what he means, but one eighth of one.

What does it mean?

One eighth of one percent.

What are you talking about?

What Trump promised back in May, again, not too long ago, although perhaps it feels like an eternity ago.

I remember we were in New York, brothers, for the podcast awards for the Webbeast.

That's why I remember getting the notification.

Trump announced there was two announcements.

One, do you remember one announcement was a deal with China.

Everybody's like, oh my God, they did the greatest deal with China.

Okay, well, how's that worked out right now?

Okay, we'll talk about that a little bit later in the show.

Not too good.

Our farmers are going through Pharmageddon right now.

And as Trump even said during the press conference yesterday, you know, we're in a total trade war with them.

And then Trump announced most favored nations that the American pharmaceuticals would be as cheap as the cheapest pharmaceutical that that company charges in another country.

So if Canada was able to get the price down to one buck for drug X, that drug would cost one buck here in the United States.

That hasn't happened.

These are just fake, these are fake Mark Burnett, apprentice-style, fraudy events that aren't real.

And this house of cards is falling apart before our very eyes because it's untethered from the reality.

He didn't solve eight wars.

We're not bringing in 20 trillion.

Prescription drug prices aren't being reduced by 800%.

We're not bringing in all this money from tariffs.

We're not winning the trade war against the world.

Americans are not living in a golden age.

You know,

this is real stuff that we need to be calling out.

And the media just ignores it.

Brett and Jordy.

Yeah.

And as you said, you know, part of the whole scam with this one in particular, I do want to go back to it, but I don't want to just gloss over it.

Is the fact that once again, Donald Trump is finding ways to line his pocket using the government.

Like this whole announcement is also kind of funneling money into the hands of his advisors and into people like Donald Trump Jr.

And I pulled up before, I just want to focus on it one more time.

It is this Wall Street Journal article that Don Jr.

and Howard Luttnick stand to benefit from what Trump is doing here.

You can see it here.

Trump wants to overhaul drug sales.

A company tied to his son stands to benefit.

Family members of Donald Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Luttnick are poised to benefit from efforts to remake the industry.

And so as part of what this whole kind of healthcare scheme that Donald Trump is doing right now that he calls Trump RX is he is basically funneling people to this other private company called Blink RX.

That's like the partner they're using for all of this.

And who is the investment firm that funded Blink RX?

It's Donald Trump's investment firm.

I think it's called like 1789 Capital or something like that.

Trump Jr., Donald Trump Jr.

is a partner on the board of that investment firm.

Who sits as a board member of Trump of Blink RX, which is what Trump RX is using for all this stuff.

If you guess Donald Trump Jr.

sits as the board member on Blink RX, you'd be right.

And you could go now with Howard Luttnick.

After Luttnick became commerce secretary, his children took control of his firm, Cantor Fitzgerald, which is now profiting from a $500 million SPAC, which is tied to Donald Trump's push to bring drug manufacturing to the U.S.

And this whole push that Donald Trump is doing with BlinkRX stands to boost the financial interests of his entire family, directly tied into it.

And so you just see how this works.

In everything Donald Trump is doing, you realize, oh, he's not doing this to benefit people.

He's doing this to benefit his own family or his own cronies.

It's the stuff you see in Soviet dictatorships.

And I think that's something we're probably going to be going back to a lot in this episode and other episodes as we see what the Trump administration is doing.

The Trump, the Trump grift just continues on.

It's grift is almost too nice of a word at this, like it's just, it's thievery.

And his kids are benefiting.

He's benefiting.

If anyone else had ever used the position that was the president of the the united states to to benefit financially in this way the outrage from all media independent media corporate media rightfully so would be holding their feet to the fire so i just i just pose the question corporate media you heard what brett just said he laid that out beautifully great work b

why not why not you why where are you here right now and you know what we don't need you as as the collective we here it's disappointing that you're no longer doing your jobs but hey, that's why we're here.

And that's why we are going to continue to hold Donald Trump's feet to the fire every instance, every step of the way, Ben.

Let's take our first quick break of the show.

We've got a lot to discuss.

When we get back, we'll talk about the ruling from the Federal Appeals Court in Illinois, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

John Bolton has issued a statement in response to being indicted, you know, regardless of what your views are about Bolton.

I think it's a powerful statement and certainly does not deserve what's happening.

We'll talk about No Kings.

We'll talk about what happened in California.

We'll talk about the deal in the Middle East falling apart because it wasn't really a deal to begin with.

That and more.

We'll take our first quick break of the show.

A reminder, become a member of our YouTube channel right now.

If you're already subscribed, you can become a member.

Gift as many memberships as you can to people.

Others may not be able to afford memberships.

Help them unlock memberships if you can, of course.

We'll be right back.

I have to tell you about this game-changing product I use before a night with drinks.

It's called pre-alcohol.

Z-Biotics Pre-Alcohol Probiotic Drink is the world's first genetically engineered probiotic.

It was invented by PhD scientists to tackle rough mornings after drinking.

Now, here's how it works: when you drink, alcohol gets converted into a toxic byproduct in the gut.

It's a buildup of this byproduct, not dehydration, that's to blame for rough days after drinking.

Pre-alcohol produces an enzyme to to break this byproduct down.

Just remember to make pre-alcohol your first drink of the night.

Drink responsibly, and you'll feel your best tomorrow.

Every time I have pre-alcohol before drinks, I notice a difference the next day.

Even after a night out, I can confidently plan on having a great next day without worrying.

So I first gave pre-alcohol a try when I was at a wedding over the summer.

I drank it before my first cocktail, and you wouldn't believe how on top of my game I felt the very next morning.

Now fall is right around the corner, so that means it's time to raise a glass to your favorite team.

Whether you're tailgating, enjoying a college game day, or watching Sunday's action on that fancy new TV, don't forget Z Biotics Pre-Alcohol Probiotic Drink.

Drink a pre-alcohol before drinking and enjoy great days after celebrating all season long.

Go to zbiotics.com slash Midas to learn more and get 15% off your first order when you use Midas at checkout.

Zbiotics is backed with 100% money back guarantee so if you're unsatisfied for any reason they'll refund your money no questions asked remember head to zbiotics.com slash midas and use the code midas at checkout for 15 off ever have one of those moments where your body reminds you it's not 25 anymore maybe it's the slower recovery after a workout or the way your joints creak like an old floorboard and don't get me started on how much worse it is in the winter it's like my energy goes into hibernation aging is a reality for all of us, but our actions determine how we age.

That's why I use qualia synolytic to help keep my cells healthy and my body feeling youthful.

Zombie cells are real and they're aging you.

These senescent cells stop being useful, but stick around, draining your energy, slowing recovery, and making you feel older than you are.

Qualia Synolytic helps your body fight back against aging.

It's a powerful, clinically tested formula with nine vegan, plant-derived compounds that support your body's natural ability to eliminate zombie cells so you can feel sharper, stronger, and more energized.

Take it just two days a month.

That's all it takes.

take qualia synolytic for just two days a month and start aging better at the cellular level after adding qualia synolytic to my routine i noticed a real difference my energy feels steadier recovery is quicker and mentally i'm more dialed in experience the science of feeling younger go to qualialife.com slash midas MIDAS for up to 50% off your purchase and use code MIDAS for an additional 15%.

That's qualialife.com slash MIDAS for up to 50% off your purchase.

Your older self will thank you.

And thanks to Qualia for sponsoring this episode.

Let's go.

Shout out to our sponsors.

Links in the 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.

And just I want to reiterate Ben's point.

Become a member of this YouTube channel.

One subscribe, we're very close to six million subscribers.

Six by 26, y'all know the motto.

So, subscribe now.

Become a member.

And I think our sponsors may have stopped listening.

If you become a member, one of the cool benefits is we do add free episodes of the podcast.

So, definitely check those out as well.

If you don't, but don't, don't, don't tell other people.

You know, just this is for members, and you guys, Benji, where are to next?

So, America currently has troops in Israel right now.

Hamas, meanwhile, is refusing to disarm.

Actually, says we're never going to disarm from the outset.

Then you have Israel saying, well, we're going to make sure we blow up all the Hamas tunnels.

And Netanyahu and Smutric don't support a two-state solution.

Smutric says we're going to make more Jewish settlements in Gaza.

24 Palestinians have been killed during this purported ceasefire.

I guess, let me just repeat that again.

Like 24 Palestinians have been killed during this purported.

What kind of ceasefire is that?

Where 24 people,

you know, we know of,

you know, have been killed.

And to me, it's just one of these other Trump Fugazis, right?

It's just, you know, like it's a good thing that the hostages were returned.

The idea of a ceasefire is

good in concept, but it'd be very easy for Biden or Obama or anybody

to make deals that aren't real.

Okay, we got a deal.

You want a deal?

Deal?

Deal?

You got a deal?

I got a deal.

You want a deal?

Deal, deal, deal.

I mean, you know, Hamas and Israel didn't sign the document.

Like,

isn't that the most basic way a deal is supposed to work?

Like, to me, what I like to do in our coverage of everything is I just like to pull back because I like things discussed very simply, right?

Like when we talk about Trump's trade war against the world and the fact that Trump and his, remember when him and his regime said they would do 90 deals in 90 days?

Well, if you listen to the coverage, people will be like, well, you did eight deals, but you didn't do 90 deals.

I'm like, he didn't do eight deals.

Like, yes, he did.

No, he didn't.

He didn't do eight deals.

He sent out social media posts.

There's no binding deal.

There's no document between country A and the United States with signatures that are binding, that forces Japan to give $550 billion,

or South Korea to give $350 billion, or the EU to give, you know, $700 billion.

There's no binding aspect.

It's not a real deal.

These are fake deals.

So to me, I like to ask the basic question, did the parties sign it?

Right?

I mean, how's that question not asked?

So that's how, you know, in the trade deals, Israel and Hamas didn't sign the document.

It's a pretty big freaking situation when they don't, I was going to say a big deal, but it's not a deal when they don't sign the thing to begin with.

And then Donald Trump was out there saying.

I used to have said earlier this week, I'm good with Hamas patrolling.

They just got to behave.

I'm good.

What does that even mean?

They've got to behave.

You're speaking to a mosque you want them to patrol like what are we even talking about here so then when we'll talk about the shutdown in a little bit i like to be very basic with that assessment too i like to keep it simple are the parties speaking to each other democrats republicans no why because magna mike says he doesn't want to talk to them like what do you mean he doesn't want to talk to him he doesn't want to talk to them He thinks that he has no obligation in the American form of government of speaking to the other political parties.

AOC had a great line.

She's like, did they watch Schoolhouse Rocks?

Like, party is supposed to.

That's the way our system works.

So when one party's like, we're not talking to you, nana, nana, nana, we're not talking.

Donald Trump said, don't talk to you.

It's like, okay, well, you can't do deals with these people.

Like, what do you do?

What are you doing?

Like, how are you supposed to get things done in America?

I guess that's how it works in North Korea, but in America, the parties are supposed to speak.

So to me, I like to break it down simple.

So Trump's asked by a reporter: so, did you mean that U.S.

forces would go in and take out Hamas?

Because you have these troops here.

And you made a social media post today where you said, Hamas,

if Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

I mean, what a ridiculous thing to post on social media, too.

But here he was asked this question.

Let's play it.

Mr.

President, previously you did not seem to be bothered regarding Hamas

cracking down on what you called

gangs, actually, a couple of gangs.

And today you issued a threat against Hamas on True Social.

What has changed?

Go ahead.

You said if they continue killing, keep killing innocents in Gaza, that if that continues, the United States will go out.

That's actually a strong statement.

That's true.

But they used to be gangs, and now you're saying innocence.

What made you think they're innocence now?

Well I'm looking at what's happening and that wasn't the deal that was made and we'll see what happens.

It's calmed down.

It's a tough neighborhood, we know that.

We have a commitment from them and I assume they're going to honor that commitment.

I hope they do.

And

I understand they brought back some additional bodies today.

It's a rough deal when you think of it, right?

Very rough.

We have our hostages back completely.

We were very lucky with that.

But

it's a tough situation.

They brought back bodies today, as you probably know.

But they also

said they're going to behave.

We're going to find out if

they behave good.

If they don't behave, we'll take care of it.

Yeah, please.

Following up on that, brother.

I already say you.

You see an end, fake news.

Go ahead.

I mean, it's so ridiculous.

Steve,

if they behave.

That's how he's taught Hamas.

If you behave, you must behave

I mean, what are we even watching here?

I don't even understand what he was saying the other day, you know, which you brought up earlier, but when he was like, oh, yeah, no, Hamas,

they do what they want.

I trust them.

They're going to do great.

They patrol the areas.

They're going to get rid of all those bad gangs.

Like, what do you, like, why are you hyping Hamas?

Like, he does this oftentimes for these groups.

And it's just like a totally bizarre thing to see a president of the United States do.

And it's like, of course, they're not.

And some of the things that we've seen Hamas doing in recent days, like they've immediately filled the power vacuum and they are doing all of these executions of people like in the street.

Some of the most horrific footage I have ever seen.

And Trump's response is just to say, Well, I hope they behave.

Like it's just absurd, but that's what happens when you're more concerned about trying to win a Nobel Peace Prize than actually trying to bring peace to the region.

You do a whole kind of rush job.

You force people to just move ahead when you actually don't have any plan.

I, like Ben said, I'm thrilled, and I've said how, you know, how ecstatic I am to see the hostages back and all that.

But to see still people dying, fighting happening, Hamas killing innocent people, like it's, it's just absolutely just grotesque to be watching.

Well, that's why I urged on the show on Monday when I said this deal is fragile, fragile.

And our biggest concern, our collective, the brothers' biggest concern, was what does the phase two of this look like?

Because it doesn't seem like there's been any thought put into it.

And that's just, just once again being verified the longer now.

And when these days pass.

Can we also just quickly talk about how weird it is?

Just that last little section of that clip when Donald Trump goes, oh, no, not you, CNN.

Fake news.

Not that I'm trying to defend CNN here, but I'm just making a larger point.

Could you imagine if everybody's favorite game?

Imagine if Biden did it.

But in this context, imagine if Obama did it.

Imagine if Obama was fielding a question from Fox News or a whole gaggle of reporters and he looked over and he, you know, saw Peter Doocy there raise his hand and he said, ah, not you, Fox News, fake news.

Could you imagine the outrage?

Could you imagine the outrage?

And yet, once again, let it slide.

It's just Donnie being Donnie, y'all.

I mean, ah, it just, it grinds my gears there, Benji.

I couldn't agree more with you, Jordi.

This is what Trump said about Senator Thune.

Senator Thune says that we need to put sanctions on Russia.

Today was supposed to be one of those other two weeks where Donald Trump says sanctions on Russia and potentially the U.S.

giving long-range weapons to Ukraine.

But Trump spoke with Putin, and then Trump's like, this was the greatest conversation.

It's so productive.

Putin made me all of these promises.

It's just Trump is so thirsty for the theater of a deal that he just wants to announce deal.

No matter what the outcome actually is, he just wants to say deal.

Look, I did a deal.

Deal.

It's weird behavior.

so the reporter says look the Senate Republican leader Thune said he would like to proceed with the bill to put sanctions on Russia wasn't that what this week is supposed to be about let's watch Trump's response let's play it not surprise yeah please

thank you Chris

so Senate majority leader John Thune today said he'd like to proceed with the bill which would put sanctions on Russia what's your thought on that well we're going to see he doesn't know about the call yet I'm going to speak to him later and it was subject to what I wanted to do.

And so we'll see what happens.

We may have, this may be such a productive call that we're going to end up.

We want to get peace.

We want to stop the killing.

7,000 people a week.

Can you believe it?

We want to stop the killing.

So I'm going to speak to him and the speaker, Mike Johnson.

I'll speak.

Well, good to know that Mike, MAGA, Mike, and Thun are doing something.

Apparently, they're not refusing to speak to Democrats.

I'm being facetious, of course.

What about the Tomahawks?

Wasn't this week going to be the big announcement that America was going to provide tomahawks and other support to Ukraine?

So Trump was asked about the tomahawks.

And Trump's like, yeah, but we need those here.

So I'm not really sure what I can do with those.

And that's because he had the call with Putin.

And then this is what always happens.

And then he adopts Putin's framing of the issue.

And then.

We're in this constant spiral.

Peer play this clip.

Tell them about the tomahawks.

Did you tell us the tomahawk missiles?

Did you just discuss them?

Well, we talked about it a little bit, didn't say much, but I do say to you, you know, we need tomahawks for the United States of America, too.

We have

a lot of them, but we need them.

I mean,

we can't deplete for our country.

So, you know, they're very vital.

They're very powerful.

They're very accurate.

They're very good.

But we need them, too.

So I don't know what we can do about that.

We need them poo.

We need them poo.

We need that.

Like, dude, he's not even saying actual intelligence.

There's nothing that's coherent about what this guy is even saying.

Just admit it.

You're never going to give Ukraine what's needed.

This is all one, again, it's just one big Ponzi scheme.

Over and over again, two weeks, two weeks, two weeks, two weeks.

And then he leaves, destroys everything.

Somebody's got to fix it.

And then they do what they do best, blame the person who has to actually clean up the mess that was created by all of these frauds that were injected into the United States of America.

It's just absolutely, absolutely ridiculous.

Same pattern we always see, right, Tubin.

The last person he speaks to determines like all of his beliefs.

And so he had like, I think Caroline Levitt today said that he spoke with Vladimir Putin for over two hours today.

And then he got off that call and all of a sudden he was back to being like Mr.

Pro-Russia, not doing sanctions, not giving tomahawks to Ukraine, because Putin knew that Trump was starting to shift his stance a little bit, and he was starting to speak about giving tomahawks to Ukraine.

He was starting to speak about sanctioning Russia.

So Putin just calls up, flatters him a little bit, says, Hey, we could probably meet me and you, you know, part two, go on another date, Donald.

And he like falls for it, hook line and sinker every time.

It's the, it's the same pattern we see.

And I bet like if he spoke to Zelensky tomorrow, actually, it's too fresh to the Putin conversation, you might have another like, you know, Oval Office kind of confrontation.

But there's a world where, you know, know he speaks to him and then he changes his mind once again because that's kind of how he that's how he views the world he's like he's like a dog who has like you know memory that only lasts for like 30 seconds

i think the important point is what you just said though he's meeting with zelinsky tomorrow in many ways though i actually think it's not great timing because it's right after the putin talk and trump's still going to be feasting off the putin talking points so i'll focus on what's going to happen there But if I, if I was betting knowing Trump's psychology, I think that in pathology, I think it's not going to be a good meeting.

And I say that because Trump seems to be emboldened by believing that he actually just brought peace to the Middle East, which he did not do.

And I think he's going to go there and try to

intimidate Zelensky in a way that I don't think people are.

I'll see if I'm right or wrong, but I think I'm right about that one.

I think I have a good sense of his pathology.

When we get back, I want to talk about John Bolton's response to being indicted by the Trump regime.

Judge Theodore Chang and Obama appointees, the judge who's been assigned to the case.

That was the judge that was selected at random in the district court in Maryland.

We'll talk about what happened in Illinois, where the appeals court there blocked the troops, affirm the lower court's ruling, affirm Judge Perry's ruling.

So if you're keeping track, you had the Trump-appointed judge in Portland ruling against Trump.

And now a Trump-appointed appeals court judge ruled against Trump as well, after affirming what Judge Perry, the lower court judge, did.

We'll take our last quick break of the show.

We'll talk more about the government shutdown.

We'll talk about

lots more to discuss.

Hit subscribe.

Let's get to 6 million.

And also, if you can, become a member of our YouTube channel and gift memberships to

others who may not be able to afford memberships during these difficult times.

It's a great way to help others in the community by gifting them memberships so they can access the bonus features like the exclusive podcast I do with Ron Filipkowski for members.

Anyway, take our last quick break of the show.

Here's the thing.

Traditional phone systems weren't built for how businesses work today.

And when you miss a call, you're not just missing a conversation, you're losing business.

Quo, formerly open phone, is the modern alternative designed to help you work smarter, build stronger relationships, and never miss an opportunity.

Quo is the number one business phone system that streamlines customer communications.

No more juggling two phones or being tied to a landline.

Quo works through an app on your phone or computer so you can run your business from anywhere.

Your team can share one number and collaborate on calls and text like a shared inbox, keeping response times fast and customers happy.

Quo makes your phone system smarter with built-in AI, logging calls, creating summaries, and automating next steps.

Its AI agent can even answer calls, qualify leads, and route customers to the right teammate so no customer is ever left hanging, even after hours.

Whether you're a solo operator or leading a growing team, Quo keeps you connected and helps you deliver standout customer experiences.

Join over 90,000 businesses using Quo, formerly Open Phone.

Get started free, plus get 20% off your first six months at quo.com slash midas that's q u o.com slash midas and if you have existing numbers with another service quo will port them over at no extra charge quo no missed calls no missed customers you know how many couples tend to drift apart over time it's rarely just one big fight it's life getting busy distractions piling up and slowly losing that close connection you cherished in the honeymoon phase That's why nearly 50% of marriages end in divorce, not from lack of love, but from lack of intentional connection.

That's where Paired comes in, the number one couples app that helps to improve your relationship, taking just minutes each day.

Curated by real relationship therapists, Paired uses expert-backed research to support making a lasting impact for couples during any phase.

Here's how it works.

You and your partner download the app and pair together.

Every day, Paired sends you a five-minute game, quiz, or question designed to deepen your relationship.

Answer on your own time.

Once you're done, Paired will reveal your partner's response so you can have an open, stress-free, honest conversation.

I love how Paired allows us to make time each day to connect, even when life gets busy.

My wife and I have been able to communicate better to open up ease and conflict.

Paired has these incredible prompts that we action in real life.

One example, what's one new activity you could try together this month?

We decided hiking.

We took the time, set our phones down, and spent three hours in the mountains.

It was incredible.

Practice making your relationship a priority every day with Paired.

Head to paired.com slash Midas to get a seven-day free trial and 25% off if you sign up for a subscription.

That's P-A-I-R-E-D.com slash MIDAS to sign up today.

As the weather cools, I'm swapping in the pieces that actually get the job done.

Warm, durable, and built to last.

And Quince delivers every time with wardrobe staples that'll carry you through the season.

Quince has the kind of fall staples you'll actually want to wear on repeat, like 100% Mongolian cashmere from just $60, classic fit denim, and real leather and wool outwear that looks sharp and holds up.

I've got my eye on their suede trucker jacket.

It's perfect for layering and just looks really casual, but put together.

By partnering directly with ethical factories and top artisans, Quince cuts out the middleman and delivers premium quality at half the cost of similar brands.

Now, I love everything Quince has to offer, and Quince has really become my go-to across the board.

From bedding to bath to cookware and travel accessories, it seems like Quince has it all.

Layer up this fall with pieces that feel as good as they look.

Go to quince.com/slash Midas for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

Now available in Canada, too.

That's q-u-in-ce-e.com/slash MIDAS.

Free shipping and 365-day returns.

Quince.com/slash MIDAS.

Let's go.

Shout out to our sponsors.

Links in the 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.

Benji, where to next?

Let's read the statement of former Ambassador John Bolton after being indicted in the district court in Maryland.

He goes, For four decades, I've devoted my life to America's foreign policy and national security.

I would never compromise those goals.

I tried to do that during my tenure in the first Trump administration, but resigned when it became impossible to do so.

Donald Trump's retribution against me began then, continued when he tried unsuccessfully to block the publication of my book, The Room Where It Happened, before the 2020 election, and became one of his rallying cries in his re-election campaign.

Now I have become the latest target in weaponizing the Justice Department to charge those he deems to be enemies with charges that were declined before or distort the facts.

My book was reviewed and approved by the appropriate experienced career clearance officials.

When my email was hacked in 2021, the FBI was made fully aware.

In four years of the prior administration after these reviews, no charges were ever filed.

Then came Trump II, who embodies what Joseph Stalin's head of secret police once said.

You show me the man, I'll show you the crime.

These charges are not just about his focus on me or my diaries, but his intensive effort to intimidate his opponents, to ensure that he alone determines what is said about his conduct.

Dissent and disagreement are foundational to America's constitutional system and vitally important to our freedom.

I look forward to the fight to defend my lawful conduct and to expose.

his abuse of power.

And then, as I noted, the judge who was assigned the case is Judge Theodore Chang, an Obama appointee who earlier this year issued one of the most sweeping rulings against Doge.

I think that's an important fact to point out there.

We'll keep you posted with more.

Also important to note that the military commander overseeing the Pentagon's escalating attacks against the boats in the Caribbean Sea, Donald Trump shooting these fishing boats, tiny fishing boats,

war crimes, let's call them what it is.

that the Trump regime is saying smuggling drugs.

That commander's stepping down,

three U.S.

officials said on Thursday.

The officer, Admiral Alman Halsey, is leaving his job as head of the U.S.

Southern Command, which oversees all operations in Central and South America.

The reporting goes on to say that it's unclear why Admiral Halsey is leaving now, less than a year into his tenure and in the midst of the biggest operation in his 37-year career.

May I

offer a guess?

that he likely believes that they're committing war crimes and he doesn't want in the future to be charged with war crimes.

I'm just going to

go out on a stretch and make that guess right there.

Hold on.

A leap.

Hold.

A wild leap, if you will.

But perhaps you can say that I'm rage baiting by suggesting that blowing up tiny fishing boats

of Colombian and Venezuelan origin without any evidence is

a war crime.

U.S.

B-52s and helicopters fly near Venezuela also in show of threats.

The Trump administration is increasing U.S.

military pressure on the Maduro regime as well.

Another potential war can break out there as well.

One of the things that we just learned today,

moments before we went live, Phil Stewart, national security correspondent, one of the many who were

not signing the pact.

that was required by the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegset, that he would have to approve all of these reports.

Phil Stewart's a longtime national security correspondent, but he got a scoop.

I think we'll see more leaks than ever as a result of the behavior.

And I'm not sure there's a coincidence between this and other resignations, but who knows?

Another U.S.

military strike in the Caribbean just took place.

And this time there are survivors.

The strike happened today.

Phil Stewart says he is getting details.

This is one of those stories that's so obviously a war crime.

The people who are involved in these war crimes, I think one day will be tried for murder.

I think we will look back at this and it will be obvious that Trump's been just killing innocent people.

Like, I don't think that's,

I don't think it's a far stretch to come to that conclusion.

Fentanyl is not getting into the United States via these means in any grand scale.

It's coming in basically through Mexico and then Mexico at certain ports of entry

through tunnels and other means.

You know, Trump's worldview is like 1980s on things.

And so like, I guess in his mind, he's got like the Tony Montana like fishing boats like coming in.

Like

they don't even have the fuel capacity to get to the United States, these things.

How do you know there aren't innocent people aboard?

Why wouldn't you just, if you're able to shoot it down, you can interdict.

But, you know, I think we'll find out soon that these are innocent people just being slaughtered every day by the, the Trump regime.

Just horrible stuff.

Yeah, and it's crazy when you look at just the state of the Pentagon, as you noted.

And I do got to actually, I got to give a huge shout out and actually send a lot of respect to all the corporate media channels who banded together and decided, no, we're not going to play this game.

And kind of the last one that I was really curious about, and the two, I would say the two that really surprised me in a good way was Newsmax and Fox News.

I was stunned.

I was stunned at Newsmax because I don't view Newsmax as like a real channel.

I view it as like a MAGA propaganda channel, just like OAN.

But Newsmax and Fox, they joined all the other mainstream networks, you know, PBS, CNN, NBC, you know, Reuters, you name it, go down the whole list, of saying we're not signing this kind of loyalty pledge that Pete Hegseth wants us to sign.

Pete Hegseth essentially was saying that you're not allowed to report on unauthorized things that we don't want you to report on, and you have to run all of that by the Pentagon first, essentially criminalizing reporting of anything, of any leaks or anything like that.

I mean, it's just so against the First Amendment, so against what the Fourth Estate is about.

So, thankfully, all of those corporations came together and they said, absolutely not.

We're not signing that.

The only people who ended up signing this and now have Pentagon access, when you look through this list, it's kind of horrifying.

The Federalist,

the Epic Epoch Times, however you say it, OAN, a Turkish newspaper, another Turkish state-run news agency, two Turkish freelancers, a reporter for the Australian and Afghan freelancer, and then three lesser-known operations, including India Globe, USA Journal, Korea, AWPS News.

So now like only these foreign entities, including for whatever reason, like a ton of Turkish stations, have access to the Pentagon to report on the Pentagon, on Pentagon-approved stories.

Like the whole thing is just so bizarre.

And when we see, you know, we can look at what the Trump regime is doing all over the world, and it's clear that they are very interventionalist, even though they try to act like they are isolationalist and that they are America first.

That's the whole thing they do.

We learned in a story that they are, that Trump has given the green light for covert CIA operations in Venezuela, including the authorization for lethal force against the Maduro regime.

So we're trying to do regime change now.

And I want to be clear, I ain't no Maduro fan.

I don't view him as a legitimate guy, but I don't think Trump sold regime change as part of this America First agenda that he was putting on the American people.

As Ben mentioned, we're flying military helicopters and planes over Venezuela in a show of force.

That's a, that's a, by the way, a phrase that you're going to hear a lot with Donald Trump.

I mean, hey, Donald Trump did a show of force on top of the Epstein survivors, if you remember.

When the Epstein survivors were doing a rally in Washington, D.C., he flew jets right over them, and then he used the excuse that he was doing that because they were foreign dignitaries in the White House.

This is Donald Trump's M.O.

He does the same moves every single time we see him.

Like, I don't know why this is a shock.

And I do want to talk about our exclusive reporting as well about California,

but we should get a little more into this, I think, because Donald Trump was asked, in fact, about

all his plans for the CIA and whatnot.

I just want to hear...

I want you to hear how Donald Trump answered this question about covert CIA.

These are supposed to be secret covert CIA operations that were reported that no one's supposed supposed to know about, but drip, drip, drip.

The New York Times certainly found out about them.

I believe they were the ones who would report on this.

And Trump was asked about it and he said this.

Mr.

President, thank you.

Curious, why did you authorize the CIA to go into Venezuela?

And is there more information you can share about these strikes on the alleged state?

Well, I can't do that.

I authorized for two reasons, really.

Number one, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America.

They came in through the

in through the border.

They came in.

By the way, did you see when the reporter knew what he was doing with that question, right?

The way he asked the question

was

already accepting that Donald Trump did it to get Trump to embrace it versus saying, did you?

So why did you do it?

As though it was a foregone conclusion.

And then if you go back and you can rewind it for those watching on video, the reporter

recognized that Trump acknowledged and he did a little like nod with his head like, yeah, like you thank you, like, you just confirmed.

Like, that's why I set up the question that way.

You know, and it was the right question.

But, you know,

the right answer is supposed to be, look, we don't comment on any covert operations.

Like, that means that

we can't comment on that at this time.

Next question.

Like,

how difficult is that to do that?

So,

and think about, though, now, if that's taking place,

is he now putting our CIA agents at risk?

Is it now an open invitation for Venezuela to then say, all right, well, let's have KGB agents in and let's, you know, like, like, who knows the ramifications of how reckless he is,

as recklessly.

And that's the issue, though, right?

When you're not cognitively all there, like, I'm not saying that to be hyperbolic here.

Like, we're all witnessing this in real time.

What's going on?

Like, you know, that stupid trick when you ask someone, hey, you got some sup dog on your shirt and you go, what's up, dog?

Like, I feel like he would parrot that.

Like, he would fall for that and have no idea what's going on.

Like, it's scary, Ben, because you're right.

Who knows what he's saying to Vladimir Putin when he's having these two-hour-long conversations?

That's a long time to be on the phone.

I don't think I've ever been on the phone for two hours with anybody.

I can only imagine what's being said on that, or what, or what Putin's trying to bait and get out of Donald Trump on that.

And who's in the room there to kind of help keep him, Trump, from spilling all the secrets?

It's a scary thing when you do look at it from that perspective, Ben.

Yeah,

let's talk though about the government shutdown right now.

I think it's important that we hit on it.

MAGA Mike Johnson was asked,

where's this heading?

You know, you're not speaking to Democrats.

You're not having conversations with the Democrats.

Government shutdown.

There's no end in sight.

How does this end, MAGA Mike?

And watch what his response is.

Let's play this clip.

And so many of you have asked all of us, how will it end?

We have no idea.

It's up to the Democrats, and they have to decide it.

And judging by their outrageous behavior, the Democrats appear perfectly happy to keep the political theater going while real people suffer.

I mean, what a horrible thing to say.

And how do you not, in the American form of government, speak to the other side when you need their votes and you need their support?

Your Democrats are fighting for people's health care because people's ACA premiums are about to skyrocket.

People are about to get kicked off Medicaid, about to get kicked off healthcare.

The Republicans, they've been directed by Donald Trump in the House.

Do not have any conversations with Democrats, you get alone negotiate.

You're not allowed to speak to them.

So if that's your behavior, then fundamentally the American experiment is over, right?

The game is over of how we interact in a democracy because it requires compromise.

You know, how did Biden keep the government open?

He brought in McCarthy to his office and he said, what do you need?

Okay, let me help this state.

Let me help that state.

You know, that's how the sausage is made.

You want this, we want this.

Everybody happy.

Everybody a little disappointed.

That's an actual deal.

Great.

But this behavior by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans just saying, we're not talking to the other side.

I mean, that's just, that behavior is not American.

It's not what we're used to having.

Normally in a shutdown, the parties would be rolling up their sleeves, talking to each other.

Do we have the clip, Brett, where MAGA Mike was asked on Fox, will you agree to debate?

I think we have this clip.

Will you agree to debate Hakeem Jefferies?

Because you had indicated and C-SPAN published that you were willing to go on C-SPAN and MAGA Mike and Hakeem Jefferies were going to talk to each other in public.

This was big because Hakeem threw down the gauntlet on the Midas Touch podcast saying,

come on, MAGA Mike.

You want to do this thing?

Let's open the government.

Let's debate this.

Let's hash it out.

Hakeem made the challenge.

And so when when I woke up and I saw the news that MAGA Mike had agreed to the debate, I was like, really?

I'm stunned.

Okay,

let's see this happen.

I want to see this.

Get the cameras in there.

And then Mike Johnson was asked about it just a few hours later after the headlines ran.

And he said this.

Your reaction to that is I also note that just came across our desk, Mr.

Speaker, that you have agreed to a debate with Jeffries on C-SPAN at an unknown date and time.

Is that true?

I'll debate Hakeem Jeffries anywhere, anytime, as soon as we get the government open.

He's engaging in political theater and stating absurd things.

What he just said is absurd.

It is the Democrats who voted to shut the government down.

Look at the record list.

The debate is to keep the government open.

You're going to keep the government open and then debate?

How does that make it?

The debate's about the shutdown.

What the hell are you talking about?

And I just like how Johnson keeps going, talking about this political theater when he is quite literally Johnson engaging in political theater.

Look, we're we're on day 16 of the government shutdown.

When audio listeners get this, we'll be on day 17.

That's how counting works.

There's no end in sight.

And Ben, to your point, it's because Donald Trump doesn't want it to end.

And I saw the stat from Ron Philip Kowski, our editor-in-chief here at the Mayas Touch Network, that Mike Johnson has now also had the House adjourned for 73 out of the last 85 days.

Yeah, that's a crazy stat.

That's a crazy friggin stat.

When you look at these numbers next to each other, there is no other conclusion I could draw, anybody can draw, other than the fact that these Republican politicians do not actually want to work, especially for you, the American people, period.

The Republican Party has proven once again that if you give them power, if you give them control, they don't work for you or answer to you.

They only answer to one person, and that is their dear leader, Donald Trump.

Trump says jump, they say how high.

You say you need health care?

They say no.

You say you want the Epstein files released?

They cover their ears and eyes, and they don't show up to work.

So this whole thing to me is just so frustrating on every single level because their hypocrisy just knows no bounds.

In the past 85 days, another way to frame it, the Republicans have only worked 12 days out of 85 days.

Just think about in your life, just working 12 days of 85 during the most crucial moments, like as well.

Like imagine that's that's when like, like I need my vacation, like an accountant during tax season, right?

Like that's when they're like, you know what?

I'm going to take my vacation right now, the three months leading up to tax season to tax season.

That's when I'm taking my break.

It's like that's when you're taking your break.

I mean, how irresponsible, what malpractice is that?

Like,

what, what disdain for this country does it show?

And I think that the way AOC is talking about this is how every Democrat should be talking about this, how we're talking, we've been talking about it as well, like, which is they're not even, these Republicans aren't even showing up to work.

Like,

how are you supposed to talk to people who refuse to talk to you in a system that's based on talking with each other and coming up with deals?

Watch as AOC says it.

They need to pick up a phone.

They're saying that they're doing all this work.

They are twiddling their thumbs and talking to each other.

It is actually an unconscionable abdication and refusal to work.

They refuse.

I've never seen people who hate working so much in my life.

I mean, genuinely, they won't even pick up the phone.

They won't.

If I were Mike Johnson, you should be in that office negotiating with Hakeem Jeffries every damn day until we reopen this government.

And any day that you don't do that is a failure.

It is a failure.

And until there is accountability for people who refuse to work, to work,

then we're going to continue to be in this cycle.

So,

you know, in the Senate,

the Senate majority leader is John Thune.

He should be negotiating with Chuck Schumer.

President Trump should be having congressional leaders in the White House.

Do you see that every day?

No, you don't, because they're playing golf and they're going to Mar-a-Lago and the House

and Republicans in the House have been on vacation for weeks now.

We are here in Washington, D.C.

We are ready to work.

We are ready to strike a deal.

We're not here to just be my way in the highway about everything, but what we're also not going to accept is the complete collapse of the American health care system so that just because the Republican Party has decided to take a million federal workers hostage.

Pick up the damn phone.

Exactly.

To me, that's speak to each other.

When I was speaking to Leader Jeffries, to me, that was the biggest point that I wanted to get out of this interview, which is because our whole system is based on, that's the way democracy works, you know, in parliamentary systems.

I like to cover what goes on in Canada a lot, right?

Like, you'll have the prime minister debate the main opposition leader.

Like, they go back and forth.

It's not like, oh, theatrics.

Then they'll have like the foreign minister speak to the

it gets heated too in those parliament in parliament.

Like it gets, it gets pretty nuts.

I'd like to honestly like to see more of that sort of debate here, if I'm being honest.

Why would that be theatrics to get the facts out and to talk about it?

It like it literally makes no sense.

And I just hope the American people see what's happening just in terms of the most basic level.

Like, who's the one who shut down Congress?

The Republicans.

They control it.

They're not working.

They're not even there to discuss.

And then ultimately, why?

Because Trump wants it shut down.

Trump's been bragging, oh, I got rid of the Schumer programs, the Democrat programs.

Which ones?

$20 billion that was needed to help Manhattan.

You really own the Dems on that one by hurting America's wealthiest city.

Great.

The World Trade Center of the World in Manhattan.

You've showed the Dems.

Oh, you're going to cut healthcare, measles, mumps, rubella investigation.

Way to show the Dems, you've got rid of energy.

They act like energy is the Democrat issue.

Yes, you've got rid of solar projects.

We saw Governor Shapiro file the lawsuit on behalf of Pennsylvania because Trump thinks it's a Democrat issue to want energy that helps grids where we see all of these AI data centers and crypto data centers that are causing everybody's energy costs to skyrocket.

And Trump's like, we got to go back to coal.

Like we had a solution.

We had a bridge to deal with it.

But Idiot doesn't like windmills and doesn't like solar.

So now we can't have the right energy.

So everybody's...

energy prices are spiking.

Before we go, though, let's just talk very briefly about the Midas Touch exclusive.

We reported here before any other news network did that the Trump regime was planning this military event, this vanity parade, where they would be potentially shooting missiles off the coast of San Diego, Pacific Ocean, into the Camp Pendleton region.

that it would possibly then lead to the shutdown of the I-5 on Saturday, which is also the same time as the No Kings protest taking place.

Since we reported it, numerous other networks reported it as well.

By the way, the Trump regime says, yes, they are using live munitions, but they claim this was regularly scheduled and that they're going to do the live munitions in contained zones, whatever the hell that contain zones, regularly scheduled.

And it's...

By the way, Governor Newsom confirmed our reporting, you know, and I just find it wild.

You know, and Brett, I'll pass it to you to chime in.

You know, we reported the data.

The data was accurate.

Live munitions are being fired.

Now, Trump says it's going to be in contained zones and that is regularly scheduled.

It's not regularly scheduled.

They're claiming it's the 250th anniversary of the Marines.

It's not.

The 250th anniversary is November 10th.

It's not in October 18th.

The first reference to this event taking place was last Friday, where they mentioned it very briefly, but actual information started to trickle out, potentially like leaking yesterday for the very first time.

And Midas Touch Network broke the story.

Then Trump and the Marines said, oh, no, this is regularly scheduled.

And then like the fact checkers come in and they go, the Marines said it was regularly scheduled.

The Trump said it was regularly scheduled.

Whoa,

it's like, why do you keep buying with Trump and his and the Marines?

You know that he lies about everything.

So why are you saying, oh,

Trump says this, the Marines say this.

Why didn't they put out that?

Why wouldn't they put out that press release months ago if it was regularly scheduled?

Why did it come out after we broke the story?

Why didn't they do events like this before?

Why didn't the governor of California know about this if this was some regularly scheduled event?

I mean, just ask yourself the most basic freaking question.

And you think it's a coincidence?

that they all of a sudden decided to do this on Friday as they're rolling out their talking points, that no kings means no paychecks and no kings is pro-Hamas and pro-terrorists and all the other stupid defamatory lies they keep.

Like you think that they did not do it the same day as a show of force because Trump said, you know, and it's like, oh, Amidas touch you doing the rage bait, which is reporting what the hell it was.

And there actually isn't all that much that the Marines, when you break it down, said that's much different than our reporting, other than them saying, no, this is a regularly scheduled thing.

It's in contained zones, whatever the hell that means.

And the governor doesn't know.

What the governor's worried about, too, is if this is by roads and there are weapons being shot by roads, even I should know as the governor so that we can keep people safe also, because we don't know what this is.

So, Brett, I'll let you take it from there.

But, you know, that's that's a report.

Yeah, no, we did it.

We did this exclusive report yesterday, and the reaction was certainly interesting because people saw that the Trump administration was planning on firing live munitions into Camp Pendleton, yes, from warships into Camp Pendleton, that that's what they are considering doing this weekend and are shutting down the I-5 freeway, which is one of the biggest transportation pathways through the state of California in order to do so because they are shooting the missiles over the highway into Camp Pendleton.

And to Ben's point, people were like, oh, this is rage bait.

This is hyperbolic.

How dare you say that?

And then the LA Times confirms it.

The San Francisco Chronicle confirms it.

The Washington Post confirms it.

ABC, CBS, everybody under the sun confirms it.

The governor confirms that he is working on, Governor Newsom working on trying to mitigate these issues and trying to understand exactly what is going on because he's received reports about this, although the federal government is not,

they have no like line of communication with the state anymore.

They're like refusing to talk to them because they just want to dominate because they view blue states and they view their political opposition as the enemy.

So as I said in the beginning, to bring this all full circle right now,

you got to understand that anything is possible in this era of the Trump regime.

And nothing is beyond the bounds of reality.

So when you see a story and it does, you know, seem outrageous, I like that your first instinct is to be like, is to second guess it, because we should all be trying to look for the facts.

But when it's confirmed and double confirmed and triple confirmed, and you have the governor talking about it, at a certain point, you got to realize this stuff is real.

And we're trying to warn you about issues the same way we tried to warn you about military on the streets, the same way years ago we made a video that they were trying to overturn Roe v.

Wade and people wrote all these nasty things about us and asked the articles saying that we were fear-mongering and all this stuff.

Sometimes we're simply trying to sound the alarm and we're never going to go to print with a story, metaphorically print with a story, unless it is extremely, extremely well-vetted, well-sourced, and it has the accurate information because we are dealing with a regime that views you like this.

Here's Caroline Levitt, the White House press secretary.

That the Democrat Party's main constituency are made up of Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens, and violent criminals.

That is who the Democrat Party is catering to, not the Trump administration and not the White House and not the Republican Party who is standing up for law-abiding Americans, not just across the country, but around the world.

Listen, what a horrible human being Caroline Levitt is.

What a despicable human being.

And I think any government official who speaks like that should be as far away from government as possible.

In any normal time period, that comment alone would get you fired.

It would get you blacklisted from the entire world of politics.

You would be persona non grata.

But today, that is just another day in this regime.

That's what they think of you.

That's how they treat you.

That's how they talk about you.

It is absolutely grotesque.

And so it's no surprise that they are targeting these no-kings protests and that they were trying to shut down the freeways in order to create these traffic jams and make it more difficult.

for people in the nation's like largest state here in California.

And it's like I said, going back to what Trump did when the Epstein survivors were rallying in Washington, D.C.

He flew a plane over them.

He does these stunts in order to try to intimidate people.

But guess what?

This weekend, Saturday, October 18th, there are massive protests across the country.

Go online, look it up.

You will find a no-kings protest near you.

If you can participate, go ahead and participate.

We are going to be streaming some of these protests live on the Midas Touch YouTube channel.

I'm so excited to see all of your signs.

Remember to protest peacefully, protest patriotically.

Do not give them any reason at all to try to start trouble.

And you know that they want to try to start trouble.

They will probably try to have agitators.

They'll probably try to do everything they can.

But

this weekend, we are going to see one of the biggest, if not the biggest, mass mobilizations of Americans who love this country and hate what Donald Trump is doing to it.

And they are going to be in the streets fighting for their freedoms, fighting for the actual core values of this country of which donald trump does not represent so you should go into this weekend energized you should go into it fired up i'm so psyched to see all you out here i'm so psyched to see all the photos remember to tag us in those photos by the way uh one of one of my favorite things that we do when all the protests is ron filipkowski on midasplus.com he likes to compile his favorite sign signs the funniest signs the most powerful signs on our sub stack so maybe your sign will be featured on Midasplus.com.

So make sure you tag us.

Midas sent me signs are always welcome.

Midas sent me.

Yeah, Midas sent me signs, always welcome.

And I hear they are a big conversation starter, too, when you have Midas on the sign or MTN on the sign.

A lot of people go, it's like a club, like an inside club.

Oh, you listen to them, me too, me too.

And so, so check it out.

This has been a great episode.

We covered a whole lot.

I feel like there's a whole lot we want to get to.

Also still,

we could do this for another couple hours, but at some point, we got to call it.

But don't you worry, because right here on this YouTube channel and on the Midas Touch podcast feed, you'll have updates coming at you every single day from Ben, and it will keep you up to date on all the other news that happens.

So make sure you're subscribed on the podcast feed, Apple Podcast, Spotify.

Go, go, go.

It's free.

Add the show on those platforms right now.

Make sure you subscribe to this YouTube channel.

You might think you're subscribed, but you're not subscribed.

Check it right now.

Help us get to six million subscribers.

You heard that right.

Join us on Substack for daily political bulletins and news recaps.

This has been such a fantastic show.

And I know Jordy is itching, itching to do his sign-off.

So, Jordy, I'll let you have it.

Jordy, what do you got to say for yourself?

Shout out to the Midas Mighty.

The Midas Mighty standing strong

against

the fascists, we say our song.

We will get it right

Want to stay plugged in?

Become a subscriber to our sub stack at midasplus.com.

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

You know the words that dominate our news cycle.

Private equity keeps investing in the market.

America's tip fuel by marketing volatility.

That's all that rate customers stop.

But do you truly understand how they impact your world and your wallet?

In a world that skims the what, understand the why because context changes everything.

Subscribe to learn more at bloomberg.com, the global benchmark for business news.

Get closer to the music you love with MasterCard.

MasterCard cardholders have special access to pre-sale and preferred tickets at August Hall in San Francisco.

Get tickets early to see some of your favorite artists, like Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Abitt Brothers, and Shibuzi.

See all of what's coming now at priceless.com/slash music.

Singing along with the ones that you love, Priceless.