🚨Important MESSAGE…It’s HERE

Hey Midas Mighty, Ben Meiselas here, co-founder of the Midas Touch Network. with an important message. I won't take. too much of your time, but I want to. have a discussion with you about where. we are right now as we approach the. midterms. I mean, it's right around the. corner. What my perspective of everything is and. because corporate news isn't really. allowing us on to talk about our book. that comes out next week, WTF America. I.

thought I would share some insight with. you into why we wrote this book, why. it's coming out now even though it's not. really an election book and I thought we. would just share some time together. And. so I found out through our publisher. Hachette and Grand Central that. corporate news doesn't want to have us. really on to talk about the book in any. meaningful way and I didn't really want. to be on corporate news either. Also,

the book is very critical of corporate. news. I think we may do a hit or two on. MS now and so we'll see what happens. there. But really everyone else was. like, "Pass. We don't want to speak with. them. We don't want to speak with them.". Whatever. But I think it's a perfect. time to reflect on where we are right. now because you see what corporate news. is trying to do with these midterms. They're once again doing their. gamification. They treat these elections like it's a.

horse race. Who's up and who's down? They try to put their finger on the. scale often for the oligarchs' choice of. who they want to, you know, lead and it's often these MAGA. Republican candidates who are getting. the softball interviews and who are. being treated a certain way while you. see what's happening on a lot of these. corporate news networks that have been. subject to all of this consolidation and.

that's most of them. You know, who are really treating some. of the candidates that stand for the. people, you know, on the Democratic side. as, you know, somehow anathema to the. American values and how it's radical and. extreme they buy into all of the kind of. Donald Trump talking points. No, you. want to know who's the most radical, who's the most extreme, who's the. biggest anarchist, who's the biggest.

destroyer? It's Trump and it's MAGA, right? I often get asked, "So, what would your messaging be, Ben, with uh the midterms approaching? What's. your messaging? How do you want to. message this?". You know, what I talk about in WTF. America is. I don't think we should be talking about. it. like, "What's my message to persuade you. to do a certain thing that you wouldn't.

otherwise do?" No, I think it's. incumbent upon us. to build a community that stands for. truth, that stands upon values and. principles that are enduring and that we. share honest and accurate information. so that we can weather all of the. disinformation, all of the poisonous information that is. out there in this toxic information. environment and so that we could.

solidify ourselves and strengthen the. public against all of the oligarchs. disinformation. machine. My view is. lived experience in reality because if. you watch what the Trump regime does and. what corporate is trying to do. They're. trying to create an alternate reality, this other existence, and scare you with.

all of these hypotheticals. Wouldn't it. be so much worse if don't you know that. this is what could happen to you? And. I'm like let's talk about what's. happening now. The Trump regime has been By the way, we've made it a point at the Midas Touch. Network to call the regime a regime. And. now you hear lots of people talking. about it, but from day one we talked. about it as the regime. What were they doing from day one?

Destroying, ripping apart institutions. They are the arsonists who destroyed. programs, government entities, institutions. And then they had no plan. to fix it. It was just to destroy, and. then to blame, and then to destroy. again, and then to blame. So what I say. a lot in WTF America, what I'm talking. to you about now is what's the lived. experience? I'm not trying to persuade. you to vote against your interests, or.

to trick you, or to you know, try to. push you with some neat messaging, and. you know, if I use certain sounds and. syllables, and da da da da da da, you. know, that may make you No, that's not. what people want right now. People don't want to be played. They. know the con artists and the frauds out. there. They see people who emerge right. before elections, and they want to. lecture. Here's who you have to vote.

for. Here's where Where have you been. before you tell me this is who you need. to vote for. Here's how you should. behave. Where were you when people. needed you? All these people come out of. the woodwork, right right before the. election. So I go back to. what's your lived experience? If you've lived these past 2 years and. you think it's great, if this is how you. want to be treated, if you want a regime. that steals your loaf of bread and then.

dangles a bread crumb and doesn't give. it to you and mocks you and laughs at. you while they and their oligarchs are. hoarding the loaves of bread or in this. case the billions and billions of. dollars that they've taken from you. while you can't afford your mortgage, can't afford lucky if you have one, if. you can't afford rent, you can't afford. groceries or gas and diesel while you. see them buying their 10th yacht, their. 12th private jet, their 15th mansion.

and they then tell you, "Oh, don't. worry, hope is all around the corner. $54 billion here, $20 billion $22. trillion there.". If you are into that, if you like to be. played and lied to while the oligarchs. laugh in your face, I'm not going to enjoy it. Like. honestly, when you see the people behind. Donald Trump at these very small events. that he's hosting, these very small.

rallies that he's doing now like. the small airport that he did in. Georgia, the small airport that he did. in Arizona, and the state fair place. that he did in Nebraska, right? I mean, you know, you see the people behind and. they're small crowds, but you know, as. Donald Trump's like, "I can say the. stupidest things and you'll still laugh. at what at me or what he says in. Georgia. Even if I gave you a $5,000. dividend check, good luck even affording. a hamburger and a soda at Mar-a-Lago.

Look, if you I changed the name of the. Gulf of America or the Gulf of Mexico to. the Gulf of America. We own Greenland. You know, I mean, you know, and then he. like does the weird stuff where he tells. the MAGA men politicians how attracted. he is to them. And he says gross weird. stuff. He's like, "You send your son to. school. and they chop off his penis and they he. comes back as a He starts as Tim and he.

comes back as Tammy.". You know, it's not happening. You know, I brought in all this money. Tariffs. have made us rich. Inflation's 1.7%. Like. if you want to live in that weird cult. world, I mean, you know, but do it. You. know, I'm I'm not sure I'm not trying to. convince Go go go live in that world. You know, I'm not trying to convince. you. But we've had we've had the 2. years. And if you genuinely like that, if you like.

the I I would say it's a Kim Jong-un. style dictator, but Trump's crazier than. that. I think Trump's crazier than Kim. Jong-un. If you like that, you like. that. But what I want to talk about is more. than just the who's up and who's down. I. want to talk about leadership. I want to. talk about empathy. I want to talk about. community and being a good person and. democracy and checks and balances. I. want to talk about an international.

coalition of allies and spreading love. throughout the world. I want to talk. about honesty and integrity. I want to. talk about uh love. I mean, I want to. These are things that we need to talk. about because these things are under. assault and under attack by the Trump. regime. And my view is that there is a. better way than what we have here. And. we can't, as we approach the midterms,

we can't go back to the status quo, no. matter what. The The status quo brings. you Trumps. And the seesaw of you get a. Trump and then you get a Biden or you. get an Obama and then you get a. DeSantis and then you'll get a You name. the person. Then you know, the. Democratic candidate. Then you get a you. know, an Ossoff or a Newsom or an AOC or. a Buttigieg or a Shapiro or a who you.

you name the you know, Newsom you name. name whoever the person is, you know, that you think a Kamala, whoever it is. And then you seesaw back to, you know, a. Rubio. You know, that whole thing that's. that's destructive and ultimately it. leads to this corrosive We have to ask. the broader question of why. Why do we. have a body politic? What's the point of. government? Is it to create a dystopian. reality TV show where we're all.

non-consensual. participants and it's just this like uh. you know, look at the outrageous crazy. thing this person's doing. Is it hogging. the attention uh media landscape or is. it delivering for the people? Is it. actually delivering results? And. I I I feel very optimistic in this book. It's It's an actually an optimistic. book, WTF America. And when I say the. way out of this hell and back to. democracy, we trace where a lot of the.

kind of modern fascistic stuff. originates from. We talk about how in. the 1960s Roger Ailes. wrote this propaganda memo. How do we. create a right-wing propaganda network? We trace that in the book to right-wing. radio, the Rush Limbaughs, to the. creation of Fox. with Roger Ailes and Murdoch joining. forces and then creating this corrosive. culture of propaganda network and then a.

whole series of propaganda networks, while you had other corporate news both. sides in the issue. And why I feel so. deeply optimistic, and I talk about it, especially as we, you know, are are we. are where we are right now, is the Midas. Touch Network has been around for. what? Uh 6 years? Really 4 years where we've really leaned. in and kind of created the concept of. digital.

first media network for and a half. years, right? Um you know, of really a. big YouTube presence. And now, getting. more views than state regime media Fox. or any corporate news. That's where we. are in 4 and a half years, 5 years. Where could we be in 40 years? And I say. we, us, you're on this journey with us. Where could we be in 60 years or 80. years? And what do we leave for future. generations? You know, I think one of. the problems with kind of the Democratic.

Party or liberal part however you want. to describe it. You come up with the. name. Is that it's kind of been focused on. election cycles and winning elections. and believing that if, you know, the. uh values and ideas align, then people. will automatically vote for you because, of course, we're fighting for you. I. mean, I think that's been a lot of the. um thinking. And on the other hand, the right-wing. authoritarianism, they've been planning and plotting.

Authoritarianism has been around. historically. really since the beginning of humankind. I mean, a lot of human history is that. of the authoritarian, the strongman, you know, oppressing. others. You know, it's this idea of. liberal democracy, you know, I did this. idea, this enlightened thinking, this. checks and balances, this empowering the. people, this idea that a government can. be based on a constitution with good.

faith and fair dealing and you could. have a president or a prime minister. take care of that laws are faithfully. executed in the interest of a democratic. system. That's new. That's new and. information. has been a major part that fueled the. rise of liberal democracy. Access to. education and paradoxically, we talk. about this in WTF America, with all the. information out there, it's actually. created the same feudal lord serf.

dynamic where you have toxic. information. The same way if you go back. to the Middle Ages or another errors, you had, you know, the feudal lords with. all the information, the serfs with no. information. What the oligarchs, the. controllers of the kind of algorithms. right now, you know, want to create is. they want to create this poison toxic. environment for everybody else while the.

oligarchs in the Mar-a-Lago ballroom and. the golden ballrooms and that whole. crew, while they are feasting. by literally pickpocketing people while. injecting this toxic environment with. the algorithms, injecting the poison. into people. We talk about in WTF. America, this is an international issue. and authoritarianism. and the forces of authoritarianism are. international in scope. And so when I. reflect on the election in Brazil right.

now, for example, what we see with. Flavio Bolsonaro and Trump, how they and. Meta working to manipulate the. algorithms against Bolsonaro. When I. look at what's happening with Le Pen in. France, the Reform Party in the UK, the. AFD in Germany, when I look at um what. you have, you know, all throughout South. America with these Trump regime puppets. When you look at um, oh, you know, more. broadly what you're seeing.

internationally with these forces of. authoritarianism, the Putin-Trump. uh, dynamic over there. You you. there's organization, there's. there's. uh, coordination, there's structure. And. I think what we need to build in a. pro-democracy way is structure, organization, the way the right-wing has. Federalist Society, and they have, um, you know, their, you know,

to to create kind of the cradle-to-grave. judge system, if you will, where they've. manipulated the courts. It's been. generational. The Federals The. Federalist Society finding the law. students. I remember when I went to. Georgetown, they tried to recruit me at. the Federalist Society. I went to one. meeting, it was the last meeting I went. to. I said, Um, don't want to be a part of that. Um, but they recruit you, and they tell you. there's be all this money, and they try. to bring you up to become a judge, or. work at the top firms. And so, they. built those structures, they built media.

structures. They controlled the. algorithms, they did all of that. And on. the other hand, you know, the forces of. liberal democracy and the forces of um, you know, in in this more, you know, power-to-the-people type of thinking was. kind of outflanked by what was happening. with authoritarianism. So, what we talk. about in WTF America is building these. uh, international. um, uh, structures. Building domestic.

structures. And one of the things I. think that we can control is independent. news, is independent media. And I think. it's really important. And what Midas. Touch Network sought to do, and what I. think we've been able to achieve in four. years, but we have a lot more growing to. do, is to create this independent media. decentralized mosaic type system, if you. will, where. we are comprised of the kind of sum.

total of our parts. as. inspired as I am by the incredible work. this network has done with you and this. community and what we've been able to. build together and all of our great. hosts, I want to build up other. independent news. I want to focus on. other channels. I want us to develop. talent. at a young age and I think you see us. developing some of the best and. brightest young talent. I want us to. also be a place where you have the top.

former corporate news hosts who don't. want to be in a corporate news system, who want to do independent journalism, that they can be affiliated with the. Midas Touch Network and you see examples. of that, Katie Phang, Scott McFarland, on a growing kind of the young creators. I mean, you see that with the Aaron. Parnases, the Jack Cutcherellas, the Adam Mocklers, you know, and people. like that, you know, who we've worked. with. Building out Legal AF as a place. where NAACP, ACLU, Democracy Forward. I can go on.

All these great groups are able to get. their message out and help build their. structures and Midas Canada. We want to. have Midas. the next major part focusing on growth. in other countries. We're going to focus. on that, but it's this generational. thinking. It's where we going to be in 5 years, 10. years, 20 years, 30 years. And as we approach the midterm. elections, right? They're right around.

the corner, these midterm elections. Um. I think sincerely believe Democrats are. going to win big in the house. Democrats. are going to win big in the Senate. The thing that And And by the way, I. think elections are very important. Make. sure you're registered to vote. Make. sure you are voting, okay? Like let me. emphasize again the importance of. elections, the existential nature of. this election. I don't want to downplay. it. But I also want to think deeper than. just an election cycle. This that as.

though it's a race and who's going to. win and oh, you win and then it win and. this side wins. That I want to think. deeper. I want to think deeper about the. composition of the Supreme Court. I want. to think deeper about why we're talking. about governance this way. I want to. think deeper about how it was that this. con artist, this grifter, this. bankruptor, this failure, this sex. predator, this Trump cancer. how how was it able to surface and.

percolate in this way? And then you see. that Trump's the vessel in the United. States, but you have vessels in other. countries as well. It is a It is a way. of thinking. It is a view of malignant. narcissistic domination of populists. It. is a ver It is a manipulation. It is a. perversion and it is a destructive force. of the very existence of of all of us.

And I think there's a way out of I'm. very confident there's a way out of it. But we must think bigger and we must. think obviously about the election. But. we have to think bigger and we can't. just go back to well, this is just the. way it is. This is what the way it is. No, no, no. We have to think bigger. We. have to be organized. We have to be. generational. And you know, look, that's what WTF America's about and. because. you know, I don't think we're going to. be doing a lot of corporate news hits.

Although we may do a few. But I really. don't. We've basically told no. And And who knows? Maybe there'll be one. or two, but I don't know. But I wanted. to get those thoughts out right now. So, if you're like, "Well, why'd you write a. book?". And I want to make a confession to you. also. Um you know, and be real with you. It's. the first book I've wrote. So, I'm a. little I'm just going to be honest. I'm a little nervous going into the week. that we have we have pub- publication. date is Tuesday. Um here's the first page. It says, "For.

the Midas Mighty and everyone else who. wakes up, checks the news, and can't. help thinking WTF." Here's the table of. contents. Yeah, I mean, I want I I. poured my heart and soul into this book. There's an There's the hard cover book. There's the ebook. Put in the comments. if you've got a copy. Let me just read. for you the table of contents. Introduction, what the into the hell, WTF got us here, going viral, what the F. can we do, regime reality, what the F.

qualifies any of them, mass distraction, what the F are you looking at, fire hose. of truth, what the F are we doing about. the lies, hear me, what the F are they. supposed to believe, making the case, what the F happened to justice, manning. up is chapter eight, what the F is so. great about Rogan, nine, Epstein class, what the F are you doing with Epstein, 10, big world, what the F do they know. that we don't, painted blue, what the F.

is floating in the nasty water, 12, no. deal Donald, what the F has he ever. negotiated, 13, out of this hell, what. the F is on the other side, conclusion, in the trenches, what the F happens. next, and acknowledgements, and um. yeah, I mean, I I talk about how Midas. Touch began as a DIY website just as. COVID was taking hold, and we talk about. the story of how Midas Touch grew,

um. how we did this with you, um. and so anyway, I thought I would just spend some time. chatting about it with pub date coming. up and. seeing everything that's happening. So, the book's out Tuesday, so order it now. so it arrives on Tuesday. Um let me know if you've got a copy. I just wanted to share these thoughts. with you today. So, that's how I'm thinking right now. And.

as I said, I'm a little nervous heading. into it, um. because I want to I hope you like it. It's inspired by you. I try to pour our. life's work into it. Um anyway, let me know what you think. Um and put. in the comments if you're going to get. it. So, get it now so it arrives by next. Now is the time to get it. Appreciate. you. Thanks so much. >> Hey, before you go, our book WTF America. is available for pre-order now. It's the. story of how we got here and how we. fight our way back. To pre-order, scan.

the QR code or click the link in the. description. Let's do this.