Brett (Brett Meiselas)

We haven't even been told what's in count one and in count two.

Could you actually give the information, Lindsey Halligan?

And like Ben said, it's very telling that Lindsay Halligan is like the only person willing to actually take these cases.

And I expect these cases to ultimately kind of go away.

The Comey case is ridiculous.

The Tish James case seems ridiculous on first read.

The Tish James case was just assigned to a Biden appointed judge, Jamar Walker in Virginia.

So if you want to kind of have a sense of if that holds where this case may be going, I think that could tell you a little bit.

But at the end of the day, it's not even about what happens to these cases.

Eventually, it's about torturing these people.

And Donald Trump is going to run this playbook.

He's already told you his enemies list.

He's had the enemies list out there.

But you know that, you know, Adam Schiff will probably be next.

He'll probably turn his sights on somebody like a funny Willis.

There's going to be all these people adjacent to Trump's orbit who may have tried to

prosecute him in the past or his political enemies.

Donald Trump is going to try to pursue charges against all of these people.

And as we've seen, he's willing to remove the people who are unwilling to do so and replace them with lackeys like Lindsay Halligan.

And I sure hope and I believe that this will not end well for Lindsay Halligan later on, being the hatchet woman who has decided to take on these ridiculous, vindictive, anti-American cases like she has.

It definitely violates a bunch of laws.

That's the thing with this Trump administration, right, Jordy?

Everything, you're like, could you believe that?

That alone is an impeachable offense.

And you could go down the list of things Donald Trump does every day.

Here's the thing, though.

I don't like the distraction argument, though.

I'm going to have to push back.

I don't like the distraction argument because this is evil.

This is bad.

This is like we it's not like I'm distracted from it.

This right here is a very big deal that Donald Trump is weaponizing the government.

I don't view it as a distraction thing.

It's a very big deal that Donald Trump is sending troops into our streets.

It's a very big deal that all these things are happening.

And so just because he does one horrible thing and then another horrible thing and then another horrible thing, he just does a lot of horrible shit.

And it's unfortunate.

And we need to be able to keep track of all of them.

We need to be speaking about all of them.

And we do here.

And the listeners are constantly in touch.

But I don't view this as just, oh, he's trying to distract from Epstein.

I view this as Donald Trump is now weaponizing the Justice Department the same way Vladimir Putin does.

on that fact as well.

Yeah.

Well, they want to overwhelm, right?

They want, they want to overwhelm you with so much bullshit and so much fake footage and, and these slick Hollywood style videos that they create and all the, all this crap that they're throwing at you.

so that ultimately the kind of lay person who is maybe not super tuned into politics, maybe not watching Midas Touch every day, maybe not super checked in on the news, goes, I don't know, there's a lot coming at me.

I don't know what's true.

I don't know what's true.

I don't know.

I hear there are riots in Portland.

The whole city's on fire.

I guess if they need to send in the military to help, that's not a bad thing, I guess, right?

That's the goal, just totally overwhelm people with the bullshit.

And that's why I think mockery is important when these people get mocked.

And that's why I think constantly exposing and showing what's actually going on, like for example, and we'll probably get to this later in the show, but like Kristi Noem going to Portland, for example, and trying to act all tough and going, oh, look, I'm on the mean streets.

Let me stare down Antifa.

It's all getting crazy.

Then she looks down to like a crowd and there's like eight people and a guy in a chicken costume.

You're like, these people are just fricking liars and they're terrorizing these cities.

I mean, people are walking around these cities right now.

They're trying to go about their day.

There are like Black Hawk helicopters flying in the sky.

There are military walking down the streets.

Like this is not normal stuff that we are witnessing.

And Donald Trump says, I hear it looks like a war zone in this place and that.

Yeah, because you sent the military and you're flying military helicopters above.

Of course, it looks like a war zone.

You're making it look like a war zone.

Everybody else is just dancing, chilling, going to farmer's markets, trying to enjoy their day, trying to enjoy their life.

Americans at large are trying to enjoy their life, trying to make sure that they could continue to afford their health care, trying to do basic things.

They're trying to live.

The average American is just trying to survive in this country.

And Donald Trump and these Republicans who have his back are terrorizing and torturing these people.

It's just disgusting to me that we are witnessing this every single day.

I'm not counting on any of these Republicans to stand up to them, unfortunately.

I mean, we should be pushing them to, but they're just freaking cowards.

But this is the country that we have right now.

It's certainly not the country I grew up in.

It's not the country I want to leave to my kids.

But, hey, that's why we're here, you know, putting up the good fight.

It's totally crazy that US troops are going.

I mean, this is, I don't think that was part of the deal.

But I think, you know, what worries me about Donald Trump's comments there mostly is that it shows me they haven't thought about the phase two.

You know, this is being pitched as phase one of this plan.

I wanna remind everybody, we've been to phase one of these plans before in the past.

And I really, you know, there's perhaps nothing more in the world right now that just like,

destroys my soul than what's going on over there from what started over the past two years.

The death, the destruction, the complete devastation, what happened on October 7th, all of it makes me so incredibly sad if I'm being just totally candid with everybody.

Incredibly sad to witness what happened, what continues to happen there.

And I really want all of this to end.

I desperately want all the bloodshed to end.

But as we speak right now, the bloodshed is still ongoing as we approach this apparent ceasefire, which I know is still being worked out.

But they're talking about this phase one plan.

The thing that scares me is they don't have the phase two plan.

They haven't figured that part out.

And I understand they're working through it, they're gonna figure it out.

But that's been the part that's always stopped this from being a lasting and durable piece.

That was the issue when President Biden went forward with the phase one of the plan back in January.

I think it was like right before kind of the inauguration when Biden helped with that ceasefire deal.

But we know there are a lot of parties right now that,

seem to have some sort of handshake agreement here.

I mean, we know Trump's announced this, Israel, Hamas, Egypt, Turkey, Qatar, like they're all saying that this is going to happen.

I think Israel, like they still have to vote on it to ensure it happens.

You have Netanyahu posting these weird AI memes to try to spike the football before it actually happens and to try to hoist Donald Trump as, you know, someone who should win the Nobel Prize, which gets announced shortly.

I don't know what's going to happen with that, but I think it's,

hard to give the Nobel Prize to somebody who's indiscriminately bombing boats in the Caribbean, who's sending military helicopters in American cities, who is shooting priests with pepper bullets in American cities and all the other things that Donald Trump's indicting his political enemies here in the United States of America.

I don't think that's the guy you give the Nobel Peace Prize to, I'm going to say.

But I really, from the bottom of my heart, I do hope they work something out here.

I hope that this is it.

And even if it's

is just a phase one.

I hope that phase one is successful in bringing the hostages back and ending the hostilities.

Like, so, I mean, we'll see what happens.

But, you know, one of the issues with that fire hose of lies, as Ben has described, you know,

throughout this episode is that we don't know the truth with any of these deals ever.

I mean, Donald Trump has touted deal after deal after deal with all of these various countries on trade and all this other stuff.

It's all been bullshit so far.

And so it's just really hard to go into this and to take his word

And I don't take his word on anything like that, as I've said so many times on the show.

But that's why I'm looking to seeing what other countries are doing, how they're reacting.

But, you know, I think we have to see what happens here.

You know, I'm willing to keep an open mind because I, more than anything, desperately want to see an end to this conflict.

I want to see...

The hostages come home.

I want to see the Palestinian people live in peace.

The Israeli people live in peace.

I think there are a lot of just innocent people who have been caught up in this just horrifying bloodshed right now.

And I hope that they are thinking of how do we make this a lasting and durable peace after we get through this phase once.

we're able to execute phase one and that goes well which i really hope it does what's phase two what's the plan as you were saying ben to ensure that these two groups can live side by side in peace and i think the president of the united states should have some sense of that or should be pushing for for that in some way by the way maybe his solution is a one-state solution where the palestinians and israelis live in one state together and they're gonna you know figure out how to structure the government in a way that's fair

Okay, if that's your policy, I just want to hear what the plan is.

I want to know how this is going to last.

And I'm not going to pretend like this is an easy issue, but I also don't need people posting AI memes and constantly trying to brag about, give me the Nobel Prize, give me the Nobel Prize.

There are real people's lives on the line here.

There are people who have been tortured for years in captivity.

And I think it's important that we respect those people, those families, all the people who have actually been impacted here.

and really treat this with the seriousness that this issue requires.

One of the biggest issues I see in this whole scenario also in terms of believing the information we get

And like I said, I'm withholding judgment until we see what happens.

I'm truly praying and hoping for the best here.

But based on the information we get and just the conflict in general, is that there aren't a lot of parties you could really trust in this all.

I mean, who am I supposed to trust here?

Donald Trump?

then yahoo hamas qatar like like who are the voices that i'm supposed to be oh this is an authoritative voice who i'm able to trust here like unfortunately in this kind of situation they don't exist so i think the best we could do is sit back see what happens hope for the best and hope that people are actually working in the interests of peace and security and and safety and and i i personally i do i hope it works i hope it works out but you know what is the it

Special relationship.

Yeah, you do always see that.

I was okay when you were hurting those people, but now it's hurting me.

And I want to be clear, because I think there are probably a lot of people watching this that are going, oh, I need a shower now.

I'm out here agreeing with Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Tucker Carlson said something that was coherent the other day.

Steve Bannon, I agreed with something.

What the heck is going on?

I feel dirty.

This doesn't make any sense.

I want to be clear.

You're not agreeing with them.

Mm-hmm.

they are agreeing with you they've come around because they understand how devastating this is going to be to people they understand how devastating in marjorie taylor greene's case i think she understands how devastating it will be to her party as well um because there's going to be a massive reckoning

a reckoning like we've never seen before and there probably already will be but there will be a mass reckoning like we've never seen before electorally if we see these premiums spike the way that they're set to spike if republicans refuse to extend these tax credits because right now people already cannot afford things as they are now imagine like these health care costs when you see these numbers and we've been compiling the data over here here at midas touch if you check our social media feeds every single republican district we have a graphic for

that says what the average premium is right now for a family and where for a couple and what it will be if the Republicans refuse to extend these tax credits.

And it's like four or five X, like on average, the ones that we put together, I would say, and I'm not this

is just based on what I've been looking at.

They go from around $500 a month to around $2,000 a month.

I don't know, unless you're like Elon Musk, I don't like who could afford that.

Like nobody can afford that.

And think about if people's costs go up like that.

And that's why Marjorie Taylor Greene is like, what the heck are you doing?

Because I think deep down, you know, she views herself as a populist.

She views herself, you know, as someone, you know, however, just to frame it, you know, she goes around going like, you know, I hate that Obamacare, but I

I'm going to have to vote for these subsidies.

That's like, yeah, this is our system as it is now.

And I wish there was another plan out there also, by the way.

Y'all killed the public option back in the day that was supposed to be in Obamacare.

This is the best solution that the country is able to actually had passed.

Donald Trump constantly says, we're going to have a plan.

We're going to have a plan.

Hey, we made a video now.

i don't know six years ago eight years ago i can't remember i guess not that long ago because we didn't exist then but in the very beginning of midas touch we made a video showing donald trump uh from the very beginning of his campaign and before back to 2015 saying i'm gonna have a new healthcare plan and when did he say it you all know because it's become a punchline at this point in two weeks in two weeks it's the best healthcare plan you're ever gonna see two weeks best healthcare plan

Well, it is now many, many years, more than a decade later, and we still have not seen these plans at all materialize because the Republican plan for healthcare is to strip out all these protections to make it so that

The corporations, the insurance companies are the ones who are benefiting to make it so people who have pre-existing conditions are able to get denied coverage.

Because if you want to know their plan, that's their plan.

The reason they don't pen to paper is because they know how horrible that is going to look.

I know there's certainly a lot of criticism you could levy at the Affordable Care Act and obviously our private insurance system, which I think is a complete and total disaster.

But if you compare what we have now to what we had before the Affordable Care Act, I mean, it's night and day.

I mean, to have a preexisting condition before Obamacare and to not be able to get treatment, I mean, it's like pandemonium.

It's unbelievable.

It's beyond cruel.

And you think, how could this country have even done that?

So hopefully we have this program.

Hopefully we could build on it.

and try to create a system, perhaps a single payer system, some sort of universal healthcare system that ensures that people could get care ideally for free, cut out the middleman and actually have a system that works like basically the rest of the world has.

Republicans certainly don't have that.

have that plan and they just want to destroy everything um but uh you know i think maga mike and i think trump i think all of them are getting really exposed here and i think marjorie taylor greene kind of you know turning against them here and actually telling the truth for once i think that's actually very powerful um and really exposes just how big of a liar mike johnson is donald trump is how they try to distance themselves from what they're actually doing here which is going to be catastrophic for the american people at large and definitely for their own constituents

Authoritarianism is here and for a party that likes to get all upset and angry and when anybody calls them fascist or authoritarian, they sure do a whole lot of fascist and authoritarian things.

And it's undeniable when you look at what Trump is doing that that's exactly what this is.

I mean this is completely un-American.

Nobody who is intellectually honest or trying to be intellectually honest could possibly defend this.

It's a very, very dark day in the United States.

It's been a dark few months here, at least in the United States.

Permanent.

Government shutdown, government employees stop getting paid, Congress people still get paid.

I think that tells you it all about how the system is rigged in favor of particular people, in particular of those in power, the wealthy.

And if there was a just system, at least when the government shut down, perhaps the people who caused the government shutdown, the politicians in Washington, D.C., perhaps they would not get paid.

they would feel some of the pain that the rest of the American people are feeling as a result of their actions.

And I know I already see all the MAGA people.

They have their talking points.

They go crazy.

You said, oh, but the Biden weaponization, shut up.

Biden didn't weaponize crap.

If anything, maybe Biden could have even done more to convince people to pursue these charges to protect the country.

But there was a clear separation.

Those were cases that were filed by special prosecutors, by state prosecutors.

They were filed because Donald Trump actually committed crimes and he did an insurrection against the United States.

The cases that were able to actually go to court

Overall, Donald Trump lost all of them because he actually did those various things, including the case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, that $500 million civil fraud case, which is the reason why Trump is now doing this act of retribution.

I mean, these are clear differences.

And what Donald Trump is doing—

here in our streets, what he's doing internationally.

It's just a total violation of everything the United States is supposed to stand for.

And the fact that you still see people in the Republican Party continuing to defend this crap every single day, shame on you.

Anyway, it's good to be here with Jordy and Ben.

Good to be here with you, Midas Mighty.

Remember, if you're watching this, I know we've got a big audience tonight.

I'd love to see it.

Make sure that you go and add the Midas Touch podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

I'll throw up the QR code for those who know how to use their camera on their phone.

This will bring you straight to the podcast for the Midas Touch podcast.

Go and check it out.

Jordi, what's the latest on your end?

Yeah, and this isn't a new thing, right?

It's new in the United States, but this happens in autocratic countries around the world.

If you were to ask me, you know, a few years ago, what countries is the United States most like?

Like, who are our allies?

Where do we have a similar kind of culture, politics, et cetera?

You know, you'd say, I don't know,

Canada, the UK, European countries.

Now when you look at the United States, we look like a Russian state.

We look like the Soviet Union.

We look like Putin's Russia.

And that is what we're dealing with right now, a true autocratic regime and a Republican Party who's refusing to rein this individual in.

And now these cases are obviously so shoddy.

When you read the indictments, they're full of mistakes.

It's just a total Bush league performance by Lindsey Halligan.

As Ben was saying, when Lindsey Halligan went into the court the other day for the arraignment, it was like her first time in the courtroom for the Comey case.

And Comey's lead attorney, they were like, we don't even know what these charges are.

Can you clarify the charges?

We haven't even been told who person three and person one are in the indictment.