LIVE: MeidasTouch RESPONDS to MAJOR BREAKING NEWS - 10/5/26

We've got a lot to discuss on this. episode of the Midas Touch podcast. We're seeing massive escalation in the. straight of Hormuz. In the past 24. hours, it appears four tankers were. struck by the IRGC in the straight of. Hormuz. In the past 7 days, it could be. as many as 10 to 15 tankers were struck. in the straight of Hormuz. We've been. following each time there's been an. incident like this. We'll talk about. what's going on there. as the Trump. regime tries to claim more oil is.

getting out of the straight of Hermuz. than before the war began. That's just. completely false. We're seeing. escalation in Yemen. We'll talk about. advances by Ansarala, the Houthis, the. strikes in Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia's. invocation of the so-called Meccaac with. Turkey and Pakistan saying that they are. all going to contribute troops to a. potential offensive against Ansarala. Things are spiraling out of control. there. Indeed, it appears that there is. this massive regional war taking place. and then we'll talk about what's going.

on in Ukraine. Russia strikes there. continued to escalate. Zalinsky said, "Look, if Putin's going to give us a. devastating winter, we're going to give. Moscow a devastating winter. Ukraine's. developed new technology to strike deep. in Russia. Russia's developed new. technology to strike deep in Ukraine.". And Donald Trump continues just to post. memes on social media of him and Xi. Jinping and post saying, "Look how young. I look." Or, "Look at this photo of me. and she or Donald Trump rants and raves.

about why isn't the media covering how. many people are attending these events. that I'm doing across the country." I. mean, you were in Dayton, Ohio in a high. school gym talking about the aspirin. that you take or talking about how you. want data centers everywhere. I mean, it's enough. People in the United States. are suffering. This isn't a talking. point. People can't afford things. Gas. and diesel continues to surge right now. People can't afford homes. The 30-year. fixed mortgage could hit 8% in a month.

or two. The Treasury yields, 30-year, 20-year are approaching 6% right now. Things are tough. And the Trump regime. just continues to lie and continues to. say everything's great. Isn't this the. uh golden age? And so we'll talk about. that and more. We should talk about the. Trump interference of course in South. America in the Brazilian elections where. Flavio Bolsinaro, the son of the prior. insurrectionist President Jaier.

Bolsinaro, won the first round of the uh. Brazil election against President Lula. There's a second round. It's still. possible Lula can pull it off, but it. certainly looks like it's going to be an. uphill climb, but we saw Trump and all. of the right-wing oligarchs manipulating. the algorithms in Brazil doing. everything they can to interfere along. with Israel and the MSAD into this. election. We're seeing this over and. over again in Brazil, in Colombia, in. Ecuador, uh, Venezuela, of course, throughout the Western Hemisphere, and.

the Trump regime trying to do everything. they can to get Alberta to secede from. Canada. Uh, there were reports this. weekend about more efforts by the Trump. regime and MAGA operatives working with. secessionists in Alberta. Basically, the. exact same tactics we see from Putin in. Europe, and Eastern Europe, Trump's. doing here in the Western Hemisphere. And so we've got a lot to discuss. Let's. bring in Brett. Brett, great to see you. as always. >> Great to be with you, Ben. Uh Jordy is.

dealing with some family stuff. Hope to. have him back soon. It's good to be. here, Midas Mighty. Man, I mean, I think. as we just look ahead, you know, it's. crazy. We have what, under 30 days now. until the midterm elections here in the. United States. You're seeing Donald. Trump and the Republicans become. increasingly rattled, increasingly. unhinged. You're seeing the tactics. being used, increasingly desperate. We. have of course seen the taxpayerf funed. advertisements uh airing during national. football games and other shows on TV.

just using taxpayer money to run. political ads. Just completely illegal. stuff. And then you see the various. Trump stunts, right? Whether it's. promising, I'm going to give you, you. know, $5,000, never going to happen. Or. him looting the Treasury in order to. give people $100 checks saying Obama. stole your money and I'm giving it back. I mean, the level of desperation right. now is really palpable. And every time. Donald Trump does one of these moves or. Republicans do any of these things, you. just see the widening. You just see the. gap right now increasing with the.

Democrats really starting to surge in a. big way. Republicans continuing to fall. off. You're seeing a lot of these sort. of late deciders, so to speak, uh, folks. who are making their decisions in the. kind of final moments of this election. cycle breaking for Democrats in a big. way. a lot of these groups who uh maybe. were, you know, could go either way with. the parties, uh, you know, Hispanic. voters, young voters breaking heavily. right now towards the Democrats ahead of. the midterms. And so all the warning.

signs are there right now for Trump and. the Republicans, which is why you're. seeing this increasingly erratic. behavior even for them. We're going to. break it all down, everything that's. going around here and around the world. Ben, where do you want to start? Well, you just look at Gallup polls thirdarter. party ID with leaners. Democrats lead 50. to 39%. This is a Democrat plus 11, which is the. largest quarterly margin recorded for.

Democrats since the first quarter of. 2029. And in 2024, this exact same poll was. plus4 for the Republicans. So you talk. about a 15point or so switch there. towards the Democrats of party ID. And. again, you talk about the desperation. from Donald Trump and you talk about. what's being spewed by this regime. I. mean, here's a post that he made. He's. heading to Nebraska where he'll be. giving a speech now. Um, you know, we've.

seen the speech in Ohio. We've seen the. speech in Texas and Oklahoma. It's. deranged. He, you know, he'll say things. like, you know, James Toller Rico is. vegan and he eats the meat, but he hates. it and he throws up and vomits on. himself. He like vomits all over. himself. You know, she says that I'm so. strong and she she really likes us here. I really love Kim Jong-un. By the way, Kim Jong-un tested a new ballistic. missile over uh this weekend as well,

sensing the Trump regime's weakness. But. it's just the ranting and ravings of a. of a complete lunatic. And like here's. what he posted, you know, on his way to. Nebraska. And also he should note he's. going to Nebraska, right? The fact that. Nebraska is in play tells you a lot. The. fact that Kansas is in play tells you a. lot, right? I mean, this map is. broadening right now. I mean, MAGA. Republicans are pretty much pulling all. of their money out of states like North. Carolina where they're basically. conceding people like former Governor.

Cooper is going to win that Senate race. And just think about it. You had Donald. Trump push out Tom Tillis. Then they ran. Michael Wattley in North Carolina, the. former Magastouge RNC chair. Democrats. ran a really good candidate and former. Governor Cooper over there who's just. wiping the floor with Watley right now. And we're seeing that play over and over. again. And I mean Trump picking, you. know, disastrous candidates who fit the. kind of MAGA profile of corruption and. disgustingness. Ken Paxton in Texas,

right? I mean, he was caught on audio. earlier in the day saying, uh, you know, look, this is what's going on with. Washington DC sending me all of the. messaging and, you know, I get my. marching orders from the Republicans in. DC, so I can't even be myself here. I'm. just a stoogge of DC, basically. Then. you have people like James Talerico in. Texas and Dr. Abdul Elsed who appeared. on Fox today. I mean they're running. strong kind of fearless campaigns. I. mean sending these messages directly to.

the people. But I digress. Trump's post. from a little bit earlier regarding the. pediatrician Dr. Annie Andrews who's. running for that Senate seat in South. Carolina against Darlene Graham, Lindsey. Graham's sister. uh late Lindsey. Graham's sister and she doesn't really. know anything about Taiwan and its. connections to China. I don't really. know that. People don't hear care about. no Taiwan and no Taiwan and China. Well, you probably should care if you're the.

United States senator and all these. geopolitical issues are what's impacting. prices and what's impacting people's. cost of living here. That's kind of what. your job is. In any event, this is the. line of attack by MAGA Republicans and. Donald Trump on pediatrician Democratic. candidate for the Senate seat in South. Carolina, Annie Andrews. Trump says. Annie Andrews is running against. our wonderful Darlene Graham for the.

Senate in South Carolina. For years, my. dear friend Lindseay would say that. Darlene is the finest, most reliable, and one of the smartest people I have. ever known. He would then always add. also the most loyal. And then he says, um, you know, when you talk about Annie. Andrews, she's in favor of. transgender for everyone, open borders, defunding the police. It's the same. script, but I mean to say Annie. Andrews, I mean, what are you just like. a demented fourth grade bully, you know?

And you know, you see Pete Hegsip giving. these speeches that look like Nazi. rallies where he literally uses like the. same backgrounds that Hitler used. He. like looks like he's dressing up. honestly in my opinion looks like he's. dressing up like Hitler in these outfits. that Hexa and he'll be like no more. no more weirdos, no more the and it's like dude what are. you what are you doing right here? I. mean, the Iranian embassy pointing out.

the similarities between Heg's speech. and Hitler's speech and and this is what. they're doing. Just punching down, attacking marginalized communities. That's what they've got. Oh, you're. you know, and just using these. projorative, hateful, just hateful. rhetoric. Brett, >> I think it's absolutely atrocious that. they continue to just, you know, pick on. the most vulnerable communities and try. to use that as campaign fodder. Like, run on your record. Oh, you can't. because you've completely destroyed the. company. The thing is they always go. back the country. The thing is they.

always go back to these cultural war. issues because it's all that they have. I mean, and I think people should just. ask themselves, right? Even the most. Republican, the most maga people in the. world should ask themselves, right? I. mean, they've been attacking trans. people now for what, for the past. decade, much more, but they've really. ramped up this culture war issue over. the past decade. Uh, targeting these. people who have done nothing but try to. live their lives. uh they've been. attacking immigrants relentlessly and uh. saying that there deportations, mass.

deportations, separating families, separating otherwise lawabiding people. in this country is going to make your. life better. And so now we see the. results of all this stuff, right? And so. has your rent dropped? Are groceries any. cheaper for you? Are wages covering the. bill better? Did your weight at the ER. get shorter? Are your hospital bills. less? Are you spending less on health. care? Is are you spending less on. education? Is there less of a gap in. wage inequality? I mean, no. All that. stuff has gotten worse. They promised.

you that these people were the enemy and. that if we continue to attack these. people that your life would get better. But we're seeing the actual results of. that. And it's that this is all a. distraction because the people who are. making your life worse is not the trans. community. It's not the immigrants. It's. people like Donald Trump and his. billionaire ilk, the Epstein class, who. are taking away as much as they can from. this country for themselves, extracting. the resources of this country like they.

do to other countries, by the way, and. they're leaving you with the bill, >> right? I mean, you have Dr. Annie. Andrews running a campaign on things. like this. South Carolina is at the. bottom of every list we should be. leading and at the top of every list we. should be ashamed to appear on. A recent. report ranks our state among the worst. places in America to live and to work. Listen to what she had to say here. Let's play this clip. I. >> mean, you know, I say this a lot, but.

South Carolina continues to be on the. top of every list you want to be on the. bottom of and the bottom of every list. you want to be on the top of. There was. just a story out yesterday or today. about how South Carolina is ranked one. of the worst places to work and one of. the worst places to live and we can do. better. These are policy choices and I. would argue the fact that we continue to. be on the bottom of these lists is a. reason that we start trying something. new. >> And like you were saying, Ben, I think. it's very revealing like you said before. uh that Donald Trump is even focusing on.

this race in general. South Carolina. should be a shoein for the Republican. party. they shouldn't have to worry. about this race at all. But I've been. seeing in the past few weeks that a lot. of Republican operatives are actually. now panicked about this race. They're. panicked about the rise of Annie. Andrews. They feel like Darlene Graham. was just kind of forced upon them by. this MAGA corrupt machine and now people. are looking for other options, especially as all this other stuff in. the country continues to fall apart. Sorry. >> Yeah. know, but we need also people to.

forcefully push back as we try to do. here at the Midas Touch Network from a. leadership position, I think, within a. opposition and a strong opposition party. by the Democrats or whatever you have. I. mean, when Donald Trump's out there. behaving like this, I mean, there should. be, I think, coordinated messaging that. appeals to an audience in 2026, calling. this disgusting and vile behavior out. and not being afraid. Oh, well, if we.

stand up for the transgender community. or if we stand up for LGBTQ or if we. stand up for this or that, you know, how. is that going to impact us? You have to. just speak with moral authority and. strongly support communities, marginalized communities. That's not, you know, don't get lost in the head. fake and the hate of the MAGA. Republicans and call this behavior out. because, as I've always said here, it's. loser behavior where it's like, all. right, we're losing in South Carolina. What are we going to do? Oh, let's call.

the opponent a Let's let's do. that. That's the strategy. It's like. again, it's mean. It's pathetic. It is. bullying. And like we should expect so. much more. We should expect so much more. of leaders, especially people in the. highest positions of power, um, you. know, than than this behavior that we're. seeing. Um, you know, so you had Donald. Trump in the White House lawn or on the. White House lawn erupting on his way to.

Nebraska earlier uh in the day and the. press was asking him all of these. questions about, you know, the various. uh retreats by US military assets in the. Middle East um as well as US military. assets in Europe. So, the US aircraft. carrier, the George HW Bush, left the. so-called blockade in the Arabian Sea. It's now in Phuket, Thailand. There's. only one aircraft carrier right now in. the Arabian Sea. That's the USS George.

Washington, which was brought here from. uh Asia. Was the only aircraft carrier. we had in the Pacific in Asia. And. there's the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which will get to the Arabian Sea, Middle East area by the middle of. November after the midterms. But even. the one carrier that's there, the USS. George Washington, it's over a thousand. kilometers away from like the Gulf of. Oman and the straight of Hormuz and and. that area. And so the Trump regime.

doesn't really have a lot of assets in. the area. And also we learned that 12 B1. bombers that were in the Royal Air Force. Base Fairford, which is in the UK, all. 12 of the B1s were removed. And. apparently Benjamin Netanyahu told UK. intelligence that there was an Iranian. plot that on these B1s and then that's. why Trump said he removed the B1s. because of this intelligence that came. from Netanyahu which there's a lot of.

questions around that especially as. we've seen a lot of these incidents. arising leading up to the elections. taking place in a few weeks over there. uh in Israel where Netanyahu is up for. uh reelection. Um, but you have those. assets being removed. Also, remember. like two weeks ago there were five. people arrested, but they were released. on bail. So, and then there was like, well, these people are linked to the. IRGC. Well, then you released them on. bail. That doesn't really make a lot of. uh sense right there. But Trump was.

asked, "So, what was the threat that. prompted you to move these planes out of. the UK? You very kind of quickly, almost. on an emergencyike basis, remove these. B1s." So, what happened? Play this clip. What was the threat that talking to to. move those planes out of New. >> Well, we had an idea that there might be. a threat. Okay. >> And why would I leave them there? It. cost very little money to move them, you. know, relatively closely. But no, we had. a threat and if we're going to be. threatened, we just move them and that. sort of alleviates that. And we actually.

know the people that made the threat and. they got themselves going to be. linked to Iran. They would be linked to. Iran. >> They would be linked to Iran. He just. said, I mean, he just says words. It was. a threat and we got a threat and it was. very much a threat. And so we dealt with. the threat. The guy says so many words. but so little. You know, it's something. I was thinking the other day about when. you see Trump and you seeth and you see.

Netanyahu and all these leaders. The. issue about when you lie about. everything is that you cannot be trusted. about anything. And so these people have. zero credibility on any matters. whatsoever. So their words simply don't. mean a thing. He could say anything. He. could say anyone's behind this and it. could be true quite frankly, but they. can't be trusted to give you accurate. information. >> Well, and I think we all know that and. it's why we need to build this healthy. independent media environment because we.

recognize that. We build up our. resiliency to that. we show the clip so. we can call it out and bring back the. actual facts of what's happening. But, you know, remember over the past two. weeks, remember what we've been saying. Don't believe the corporate news and. anybody claiming all of this oil is. getting out of the straight of hormones. We we said it's lies. It's not true. It's false. You're going to see all this. madeup data. And you start to feel like.

when you say this like a bit of a, you. know, I don't want to say like. conspiracy there, like you start to say, you know, why aren't a lot of people. else reporting on this? And I'm seeing. on the satellite footage certain things. I'm seeing the US tanker move, the US. aircraft carrier uh move to uh, you. know, in the Indian Ocean and it's. leaving the blockade. I'm seeing tankers. in the straight of Hormuz that are on. fire. I mean, I'm seeing satellite. footage of certain Saudi Arabian. refineries and uh other kind of oil.

storage facilities on fire. I'm seeing. Yanbu. I'm seeing Jedha. I'm seeing uh. areas in Riad in Saudi Arabia that seem. to be hit by Hanssarala, but I'm not. seeing any statements about it coming. out. And so, you start to think like, well, what's what's happening here? And. then you had all of these people pushing. out this Trump propaganda. more oil is. getting out in the straight of Hormuz. than before the war or basically.

>> line huh. >> there's oil glut or 80% or 90% and so. I've been saying it like this I've been. saying look put it this way even if. let's just assume for the sake of. argument something that's not true but. just assume for the sake of argument the. same amount of oil is getting out of the. straight of Hormuz than before the war. started well what's different though. well it now costs one of those very. large uh crude ships, the VLCC's or. these other tankers. It costs about $1.3.

million to $1.5 million a day for those. ships to leave the straight of Hormuz. and to travel. Whereas before the war. started, it was about $30,000 to $50,000. a day. So that adds in and of itself. about $33. per barrel of oil just based on the. transport cost. So even if you assumed. you were getting out the same amount of. oil because of the risk premium that.

Iran keeps striking tankers, the. increased cost per barrel is. astronomical. But not only that, the. same amount of oil isn't getting out. through the straight of Hormuz. And. we've been covering now for the past. seven days when I hadn't seen it. anywhere. I'm like, "Another tanker, another tanker." And maybe you were. watching or listening and you were like, "Am I hearing this?" Like, "Are you just. making the stuff up that these tankers?". And then today the UK MTO group started. like doing it from like past attacks and.

strikes. So you Okay, October 3rd, October 4th. Then there was clearly that. there was 12 tankers as of this morning. that were hit. Then there were like two. more hit today over the past seven days. And so that's actually what's been. happening. And one of the other kind of. basic things that we can ask ourselves. about how much oil is really getting. out. If so much oil was getting out of. the straight of Hormuz, right? Then why.

is it that the US had to draw down. another 40 million barrels from the. strategic petroleum reserve? And why at. the end of last week did Donald Trump. shake down Europe to withdraw a 100. million barrels from their crude and. diesel strategic petroleum reserves? If. all of this is getting out and if Donald. Trump is right, which he isn't, and. claims that we're filling up our. strategic petroleum reserves from all of. this Venezuelan oil, there should 65. billion barrels or whatever number he. makes up, there shouldn't be any issues.

at all. Right? The same way when Donald. Trump claims that he brought in $21. trillion dollar the past year, he said, "Nobody did it. Biden didn't even bring. in one trillion." No, you didn't bring. in one trillion. When Trump says he. brought in 21 trillion, you know how. easy it is to prove it's false. If he. did, then why is our national debt over. $40 trillion? Why did it increase? Why. is our deficit increasing under Donald. Trump? Why is federal spending up? because we're not bringing in $21.

trillion and everything about it, Brett, is just utterly false. That's what's. really going on. >> And none of them get on the same. message, right? The other day, JD Vance. was in an interview and he was like, "I. promise we got 19 trillion in. investment." Then Trump goes, "We got 21. trillion in investment." At least if. you're going to lie, at least try to. like get on the same numbers over here, right? Don't just be throwing things. out. But as you know, Ron Philipowsky, our editor-inchief here at Midas Touch, said earlier today, he said, "The last. time the strategic oil reserve was this. low, Olivia Newton John had the number.

one song in the country." And Trump's. worry right now simply is not to try to. ensure that we have long-term. sustainability uh with our oil and. diesel supply. His concern right now is, are there any shortterm band-aids that I. could put on this issue to try to lower. gas prices just a little bit in the next. 30 days before the midterms happen? It's. the only thing that he cares about. So, he's going to keep trying to pull these. various le. It's the reason why he's. begging uh, you know, Europe to to.

release those reserves. It's not because. he wants to help people long term. It's. because he wants to try to get more. votes in the election. He tries to act. like he doesn't care about the election. in regards to the war, but he he very. much does. So, he's trying to say before. the war happens, look, the gas prices. are starting to come down, even though. he in the next breath he'd say they're. already low, right? But he'd say, look, they're down 20 30%. I I I I be to the. sense I I'd be shocked if he didn't say.

something like that in the coming weeks. he'll find like kind of select gas. stations across the country with his. moves that happen. But what he's. creating also is just a a long-term. disaster. Uh as we've kind of explained. what would have happened if he did that. export ban on diesel here in the United. States. He wants all these short-term. fixes even if it destroys uh the. country's oil and gas supply uh come, you know, December, January. Well, look, let's say he didn't do all of these.

schemes and scams and frauds all along. Maybe he would have tricked the market. now, right? But the market knows what. he's doing. Like, they see it and it's. far more difficult for him to manipulate. it. Even when they actually did release. Brett 100 million barrels in Europe and. they frontloaded it, right? That would. normally you would think, well, that. should make a big difference in the. price of oil. It didn't. It didn't. I. mean, it had a temporary impact, but it.

didn't have actually any sustainable. kind of long-term impact to bring the. prices down. All of this fraudulent. behavior has now put him in a position. where none of these things are. significantly moving the markets and. he's degrading the actual capacity and. capabilities and structural integrity of. things like our salt caverns and the. reserves. >> And and you see it everywhere, right? I. mean, it's it's the same. It's analogous. to what Bess's doing in the bond. markets, right? He thought that he could.

pump some money in and that, you know, that would help things. But the bond. markets were like, "F you. We're not. falling for this crap. That's a drop in. the bucket to what's happening right. now." And so, um, and we'll get to. Bessant, uh, you know, a little later in. the show. But you're seeing right now, they're trying to fool the markets with. their same scams and schemes, and the. markets are saying, "Get the f out of. here. We see what's going on.". >> The markets weren't used to. And look, they're easily manipulated. They're. being controlled by oligarchs. So, let. me not give them too much credit, okay?

Uh, but I at first it's hard, you know, with something that is like the. architect of the way markets were. structured post World War II is the. United States, right? So when the US is. saying things that you would never. expect to happen, you know, perhaps. there's an explanation there about why. early on you saw the ability to when you. harness the credibility, the full faith. and credit of the United States, right? Why it would move things. But then after. a while where you deplete that full.

faith in credit and it just becomes a. massive scam and grift. Well then it. builds a resiliency and every time you. do one of these moves a bessent $6. billion buyback scheme or a you know. trying to prop up the yen or one of. these schemes with Trump of releasing a. hundred million barrels from Europe. it's then viewed as panic and so it's oh. things must be way worse than you're. saying and so people are positioning.

themselves for very long positions of. the prices rising not the prices falling. folks let me just put it kind of in. another simple way before we go to our. first break let's just assume everything. resolved today let's just assume you. know there was a deal and it was the. perfect deal all right and that'll never. happen the perfect deal between the US. and Iran and let's say Iran gave. everything that we want which is not. happening there just I'm just giving you.

for the sake of argument okay under that. scenario we've already lost three. billion barrels of oil three billion. barrels are gone because of this and so. what that mean three billion barrels. okay so what that means is 2029 9 2030. would be the earliest you would see a. recovery into prices that looked like.

they did really before the war in terms. of what you were paying at the pump if. everything was solved today. Stabilization would take place 2029. 2030. And it's important we note that. because when the Trump regime tries to. give all these scams and then they try. to blame the Democrats or whoever is. going to be the next president, the next. president is still going to be dealing. with being handed a pile of crap. A. dangerous pile of crap from Trump,

frankly, the way former President Biden. was and had to deal with it. But then. >> I was going to say sounds familiar. >> Yeah. But, you know, but then the. arsonists claimed that they were the. ones who were going to fix it and they. would put out the fire that they. created. Let's take our first break of. the show. A quick reminder, WTF America. uh comes out October 20th. Uh pre-order. WTF America. It's the book that I wrote. with Brett and Jordy. We each read from. the book for the audio. We each take. different chapters. There's a photo. right there of us in the studio uh.

reading the book and doing the audio. There's an ebook, there's an audio, and. then there's also the hard coverver. book. And uh the pre-orders are really. important, the publisher says. So, help. us continue the momentum there. All. right, let's take our first break of the. show. We'll be right back. You know those pieces in your closet. that you always find yourself wearing on. repeat, the sweater that goes with. everything, the perfect pair of pants, or that t-shirt that you always reach. for? Those are the pieces that make. getting dressed easy. And that's what.

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month. Visit betterhelp.com/midus. to explore your payment options. That's. better. Helpp.comus. Way to go, Jordy. Great uh ad reads. Thank you to all of our sponsors. They. make the show possible. Support our. sponsors. Um a lot to discuss, Brett. You know, and as I talk about the.

arsonists trying to convince the people. that they're the ones who are going to. put out the fire, you know, we see this. pattern play out in Brazil, right? I. mean, we all saw for ourselves the. insurrection led by Jaier Bolsinaro, the. former Brazilian president. We saw how. terribly he like objectively handled. COVID and other things as well during. his first term. By the way, this was. someone who was actually convicted of. the in connection with the insurrection,

sentenced to like over 30 years in. prison. And Jaier Bolsinaro's son and. family ran in critical election. positions. His son Flavio ran for. president against President Lula. And uh. other family members of Bolsinaro ran. for different seats in their Senate and. their Congress. pretty much all the. Bolsinaros and the Bolsinaro clan, all. the people close pretty much won their. races. Flabio Bolsinaro, his son, won.

the first round of the Brazilian. election. Um, it was close. It was 47%. to 45%. Uh, there's about 9 million. votes or so that I guess can still be. fought for who voted for other. candidates in round two. So, it's going. to be hard for President Lula, you know, to pull it off. But one of the things we. were seeing in Brazil is a lot of. censorship by the algorithms and the. media companies and the corporate news. there of the ads by President Lula.

online. We saw a lot of that there. We. saw massive amounts of interference. within the election by Trump, by Israel. and by that kind of uh you know that. group that have been going South America. to South America country. I I won't do. the whole analysis here as well. Um, but. you know, Trump has various so-called. bagmen or agents who are all throughout. South America. One of the most prominent. ones is a guy named Ferdinand Saramido. who was arrested in Bolivia for engaging.

in attempted femicide or alleged to have. engaged in attempted femicide, killing. his or attempting to kill his pregnant. girlfriend uh because she allegedly knew. too much. She was a lawyer in Bolivia. and there were three hitmen who shot her. in the face and she survived. Sarah Mato. was arrested. There were all these text. messages from him that were uncovered by. this independent prosecutor in Bolivia. But the president of Bolivia, President. P, had the independent prosecutor.

arrested. This was coordinated with. Marco Rubio and Trump. They basically. kidnapped the independent prosecutor and. accused him of working with the narot. traffickers when he was exposing the. narot traffickers. And so they wanted to. kill the investigation into Sarah who's. tied at the highest level to Brad. Parcell and Trump and all of the kind of. MAGA people. But country by country, Donald Trump in the Western Hemisphere.

and also he wants to work with, you. know, with Putin's group to uh undermine. the European Union and underpine leaders. there. Um, but we're seeing this play. out in all these South American. countries from Colombia to Argentina, you know, to Ecuador. And one of the. things that the Trump regime will do is. they will shut down embassies. They will. tariff the hell out of countries and try. to inflict economic pain and create. problems in these countries and then.

say, "Well, these problems go away if. you vote for, you know, if you vote for. our pick, the MAGA pick over there." And. so, this is deeply dangerous. It's. playing out and also it's it's leading. as well to the pain. This isn't abstract. also, right? This is furthering the pain. that the people feel in these South. American countries that you're feeling. as well. This is directly leading to. higher costs and uh leading to cost of.

living issues over here. And it's. causing just such massive amounts of. global instability throughout the world. And we're seeing this like there's no. place you could look to in the world. right now and be like, "All right, that's chill." Like things are all. right. like everywhere you have this. massive turmoil and it's being caused by. in large part Trump, but you also have. of course Putin's invasion of Ukraine, but it's it's Trump destroying the. postworld war II kind of US architecture.

in this new multilateral world forming, bro. Yeah, I think it's, you know, you. see a a deliberate move by Trump to. weaken and destroy any sort of countries. that he doesn't like. And then he tries. to use their failure as countries caused. by Donald Trump's actions to then. justify what? Justify taking them over, justify war, justify getting a new. leadership. You've seen what he's been. trying to do with Mexico, right? uh he. hates the uh Claudia Shinbound so much.

because she is a left-leaning uh you. know pro-democracy leader that he's been. trying to do anything he can to. delegitimize her and try to destroy her. But she's been able to you know remain. strong in that country. But you see that. Donald Trump has had uh he's been very. effective in other places throughout. Latin America uh in doing just this. And. you see the the strategy right now, right? It's happening in Cuba. uh you. know just isolate Cuba and of course. this has been a strategy of the United. States by the way for a a long period of.

time but make the people suffer cause. instability then say it's the government. that's causing the instability and it's. their their issues and they're unable to. provide for their people and then use it. to justify your invasion or your. overthrow of that government. In many. ways, this isn't a a Trump specific. phenomenon, though Trump is much more. obvious about it, and Trump is actively. doing it right now as as we speak, but. it's a strategy that we've seen deployed. by the United States government quite. frankly for many decades. And when I.

look to what's happening in Brazil, I. can't help but see the parallels despite. the fact that Brazil is uh, you know, not incredibly close to the United. States in distance and location. you. can't help but uh see the parallels. between what's happening in these. elections down there and what happened. in our elections here in 2024 because. it's not even just the uh you know. Bolsiniro and Lula but you're seeing all. these kind of local races their sort of. you know Senate races and things like. that you're seeing uh the Bolsson.

aligned politicians gaining seats you're. seeing that far right uh get further. entrenched within the government there. and that's going to have the same. ramifications it had there that it had. here in the United States. It's like. frankly like watching a a fastmoving car. crash happen and we saw what happened. here and we want to be like no don't do. that. This ends in disaster. You're. going to put the guy's son who was the. corrupt guy who was imprisoned for.

trying to throw an insurrection which. was actually the right decision, the. right thing to do. you're going to put. his son in so that he could free the. guy, so that this family can be even. stronger, so that they could then seek. revenge on all the people who tried to. actually get justice for these crimes. I. I wish there was something that we could. do to stop it. But that's why these. international movements, these. international communities, it's why our. coverage needs to be speaking about. these issues. And it's why Americans. have to be informed about what's going. on around the world because what's.

happening in our democracy here is. what's happening around the world with. this network of oligarchs. internationally, >> right? And it's very rare to have a. leader who kind of has the charisma, the. intelligence, the diplomatic skills of. someone like a prime minister Carney, right? It's just a very rare thing. And. I mean even if you go back in time. historically and you look at you know. some leaders of kind of western.

democracies occasionally you know you'll. have of course some incredibly inspiring. figures but I mean if you just look at. some leaders you know just the kind of. technocratic boring getting things done. bring people together you know the the. the type of stuff that former President. Biden was you know attacked for being. you know when you know if you look at. actual deals, you want to talk about. deals and you take a look at the pieces.

of legislation that were actually passed. and the compromises that were forged was. actually a bunch of hard work and took. skill to actually develop these things. But in 2026, you know, it doesn't have that, you. know, inflammatory edge, you know, that. is, you know, that transcends the kind. of, you know, just just the right way. to, you know, to hit voters. And so I I. think that, you know, again, as you.

increasingly look the rise of these. demagogues and authoritarians, you have. to study the patterns that are. developing right here because you have. to build the machinery to stop it. And. as I've always been saying, authoritarians are linked. internationally. And what they're doing. is combining forces. And this is an. entire wave that's going on across the. world. And too frequently fighting back,

people think just in terms of an. election. And that's important. Elections are key. But if you're just. thinking, how am I going to win this. election? And it's about an election. when these authoritarians are saying, "How do we control all levers of the. algorithms? How do we control all levers. of the media, the information that. people are getting? How do we structure. that? How do we control the legal. systems? They're trying to rig the game. before it even starts." And so, we have. to recognize that. And that's why we.

always emphasize, Brett, as you say, the. international aspect of all of this. And. I think Prime Minister Carney gets that. more than anybody and it's why he's. forging these alliances internationally. So I pay close attention to that. Now as. gas and diesel prices continue to surge. as well, hitting record highs, Donald. Trump now says in this way keeps on. saying this is the MAGA line. You know, we're getting more oil out of the. straight for moves than ever before. The. real issue is the refineries being hit.

in Russia by Ukraine and it's Gavin. Newsome's fault, right? Is they say it's. California's fault, it's Newsome did it. and Zalinsky did it and that's who we. need to blame here. Let me just show you. here. Let's let's play this clip. >> They are causing a lot of problem. The. the lack of refineries in the problem. We have tremendous amounts of oil coming. out of the Harmon straight. We have that. so good. But we have a lack of. refineries because of the war having to. do mostly with diesel.

>> See, this is actually where he's most. comfortable blaming. The catastrophe. happens. People are scared. rather than offer solutions where his. zone is blame. It's loser behavior. But. that's his whole life. Bankrupts the. casino, blame. bankrupts this company. Blame this conspiracy that blame blame. blame blame blame and never. accountability. Never actually building. or forging solutions. And so let's be.

very clear. He promised he would end the. war in Ukraine in 24 hours in 2024. Obviously, he failed to do that. He said. he had magic words. Probably a red flag. when someone says they have magic words. I have magic words. I'll tell Putin. these magic words. I'll tell Zalinsky. He said, "In 2024, I can't tell you the. magic words, but I'm going to use them, and it would be so easy to resolve.". Well, one of the things that Trump has. also done by threatening to destroy the.

civilization of Iran, by blowing up. Iran's main bridge, by blowing up. bridges and infrastructure all. throughout Iran, with the war crimes. there, with the um invasion of. Venezuela, Trump has also normalized the. idea that civilian infrastructure is. fair game. And to me it's not. coincidental that as Donald Trump. escalates civilian strikes as Trump t. started blowing up bridges we see that.

kind of permeate as well and whereas the. US would once be able to call out the. destruction of bridges or have moral. authority or clarity over there you know. the US what what's the US going to say. right as Russia threatens this that and. the other as we're seeing inst was. visibility across the world. What what. can the US actually speak from any type. of clarity or even pretend clarity when. the Trump regime has engaged in all this. behavior? It's gone. It's gone. And so.

Trump is blaming the rise in crude and. diesel which in large part is being. caused by the catastrophic war in Iran. Iran controlling the straight of Hormuz, what we're seeing in Bob Elandab, uh. Ansarala, the Houthi striking in Yemen. again today we saw them strike uh area. in Jedha. We saw Riad on fire again and. you know and we've been seeing uh. Ansarala be able to strike uh Yamu and. other areas in in Saudi Arabia. We're.

seeing right over here you know Donald. Trump blame the war that he promised to. resolve in 24 hours instead of the war. he said he was going to resolve in four. to six weeks which he still hasn't. resolved and we're in October right now. And so it's just blaming this. It's a. Ponzi scheme of blame taking place. And. guess what? You're paying more for it. You're paying more for it. Dude, you. promised you would resolve the war in. Ukraine in 24 hours. You promised the. war in Iran would be four to six weeks. max. And now when he gives speeches,

Brett, what does he say? He goes, "We. won it. We won it in one day." He says, "Regarding Iran, I've just decided to. stay there longer. I had to do it. But. we've already won that. There is no. issue. More oil's getting out. It's not. it's not true. And this is what we're. going to see over and over and over. again. And meanwhile, the underlying. condition, the patient, keeps getting. sicker and sicker and sicker. It's the. doctor lying to the patient. It'd be. great for the patient to hear, "You're. better. You're not sick. You're super.

healthy. You're doing amazing. But if. they're sick, they're sick." And if you. tell a sick patient they're healthy, you're just going to get worse and worse. and worse. That's what's happening to. the country. That's what's happening in. the world. And Brett, when I was citing. that number three billion barrels of oil. lost, you know who I was citing? Not a. Democrat, not a political person, the. CEO of Aramco. I was citing Saudi. Arabia's Aramco CEO. That was that stat. So that's why I'm giving you that data.

over there. >> That radical lib. Yeah, >> radical lib. Saudi Aramco CEO. >> Okay, Ben. All right, Ben. Whatever you. say. Uh, yeah. The issue is the the. problem is about 25% or so of this. country likes being lied to. They like. being uh the patient uh on on their uh. in theos on the hospital bed and the. doctor giving them false hope and false. information while they get sicker and. sicker and sicker. The good news is that.

an increasing number of people are. realizing that their doctor, in this. case Donald Trump, is completely full of. And so that's a good thing. And so. we have these, you know, moments in our. system here in the United States where. people actually get to rise up and they. get to rebuke the people in charge and. they get to take the very small steps of. taking back their country. And there's. one such opportunity right now with. these midterm elections coming up uh. within the next 30 days. And so I think. that's why you're seeing the tide. turning um in such a big way because.

people are looking and they're saying, "Hey, you know, even a lot of the most. ardented supporters, hey, I was supposed. to be feeling better by now. I was. supposed to be getting I was promised. checks. I was promised cheap gas. I was. promised no wars. I was promised all. this stuff. My life has only gotten. worse." They told me that if we got rid. of the immigrants that my life would be. better, but my life is actually worse. right now. How the heck is this. happening? And then sure enough, they. look to the people in power. And this is.

why we're seeing Trump right now start. his next blame, right? His next line of. blame, which is if the Democrats going. to get into power because he knows that. it's more likely than not that the. Democrats will take at least the House. of Representatives and potentially the. House and the Senate, which would be a. complete rebuke of Donald Trump and the. Republicans. But that's why you already. see Trump planting these neck seeds for. who to blame. If they win, we're going. to have a great depression like 1929.

First off, that's it's not like a I. don't know how that is a knock even on. Democrats here. You'd still be the. president of the of the United States. It would be the Donald Trump great. depression. And so I think everybody. should actually listen to what Trump. says there that he is predicting a great. depression in the second half of his. term. And you could say, "Oh, yeah, but. he's saying that if the Democrats take. control." Well, they're more likely than. not to take going to take control. Donald Trump knows that. So, you just. need to remove that fact and say, "Donald Trump is predicting a depression.

in his term." Donald Trump thinks that. his policies, he's acknowledging it out. loud, will cause a great depression, the. likes of which we have not seen since. 1929. I think that's an incredibly. damning admission and also just the most. horrible messaging imaginable going into. the midterm elections. It's also why I. say he hates the United States of. America. Even though he's in office. right now, I'm not rooting for a great. depression just so I could be like, "Damn, we got to you know this." You.

want the economy to do great. You want. people to do well. But guess what? The. numbers are in. Trump did his tariffs. against the world. We called it out. because we knew what the outcome was. going to be. We studied tariffs. We. studied the history of tariffs. We saw. how tariffs accelerated the Great. Depression. We saw the outcome and we. knew that a tariff is a tax on American. importers and American consumers, not. the foreign country. So we don't.

regurgitate the BS. We knew what was. going to happen. So we call it out. And. I I always thought the irony is is that. Donald Trump's biggest revenge on. Democrats, his biggest FU to Democrats. And the way he really could have. entrenched power inside his regime is if. he was just a good president, right? Imagine if he actually just went in. there and he didn't take a bulldozer to. everything and he didn't screw. everything up and he let the economy. recover and he actually let the economy. grow and he let prices come down and he.

let mortgage rates come down. He let. there be rate cuts. all this stuff, no. wars, right? Imagine if he actually did. those things. Democrats would be in. really bad shape right now. He would be. able to say, "Look, I told you that. things were bad before." And yes, he'd. be taking credit for the things that Joe. Biden had done, right? And the Democrats. had done. But he'd be able to say, "Look. what happened under my presidency. I. took over the country. It was this. Now. we see prices down. And now we see. interest rates down. Now we see mortgage. rates down. And now we see our we have. fewer troops overseas." If Donald Trump.

wanted to actually be a good president, it would have been lethal for the. Democrats. But instead, he managed to do. everything imaginable to destroy as much. as possible. And you can only break. things for so long before people start. to catch on. >> You know why though? Because it is a. failure by design. That's the outcome. actually that people like Trump that. Flavio Bolsinaro that Javier Malay uh. that you know you name the dictator.

puppet that Trump put in you know the. Victor Orbons of the world it's a. failure by design because what you are. doing is you are taking people's loaves. of bread away. you're taking from the. people and then you dangle in front of. them crumbs and then you don't give them. the crumbs and you take and you take and. you take. So Trump and those right-wing. oligarch, the AI tech bros who are at. the White House, they've made a killing.

They've made a lot of money, way more. money, and they've rigged the tax code. so they can avoid paying taxes. They've. screwed everybody over. They've made. more money. They've insulated themselves. from having to pay future taxes. Heck, Donald Trump even went so far as to file. a lawsuit in his personal capacity. against the federal government to give. himself immunity from any investigations. into tax crimes. That's what he. literally sued him sued the government. while he was in office. And so people,

it's designed to screw over the people, but then to inflame the divisions. And. we see that in the US, we see that in. Brazil, we see that throughout South. America, we see that throughout Europe, we see that and you know and you have to. have it's a rare type of leader, you. know, in a prime minister Carney, but. you see like Chancellor Mayors of. Germany, you know, he he doesn't have. that it anymore, you know, someone like.

French President Emanuel Mcronone at. this point in time, you know, maybe. earlier on, you know, but right now he. looks tired and he's trying to hold. things together. But like you know you. know you you have to find it's a rare. leadership dynamic. And also though when. you're trying to forge consensus and. compromise and you know avoid bringing. in corporate money and avoid corruption, you know, all these kind of right-wing. corrupt people, all they're looking for.

when you try to profess that I'm. different is anything to show that. you're a fraction of what they are. And. they'll pounce on that. They'll be like, "Look how bad you are. Look how bad you. are." And while they're as corrupt as. can be. So, it's also a different set of. rules, but we have to fundamentally get. that dynamic. We have to understand that. that's what's at play. All right, let's. take our last quick break of the show. A. reminder, WTF America is the book that. Brett Jord and I wrote together. And by.

the way, some of the things I'm most. proud of in this book is our analysis of. the international landscape and all the. research that we did uh in dissecting. what's going on across the globe here. and connecting it to this moment. You. know, it's it's frankly one of the. things I am most proud of uh in this. book because I think it explains so much. of what's happening beneath the surface. Not even beneath the surface, what's. happening right before our eyes, but. that so many folks aren't paying. attention to. By the way, we did the.

audio book of uh WTF America as well. Uh. me, uh Ben, and Jordy all read different. chapters and had a blast doing it. It. was hard work. We were in the studio for. days and days and days, but it was a lot. of fun. Um, I know there are a lot of. people who prefer listening to the books. and you could pre-order that now. There's a QR code right above my head. for those watching and a link in the. description. And it's also available for. pre-order on uh ebook. You know, if you. do a Kindle or Nook or any of those sort. of things and of course it's available.

in the hard cover, which is always super. cool to have. Uh, pre-order super. important. Our publisher says they're. the most important. So, make sure you go. and check it out now. Pre-order today if. you haven't yet. And if you have. pre-ordered, let folks know in the. comments. We are so grateful for. everybody who is supporting us and and I. think we're really going to make a. statement uh with this thing. We got. more to talk about. We'll be right back. after this quick break. Don't you go. anywhere. Are you tired of having a drink after a. long day only to wake up hung over and.

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to him being back later this week. Brett, I I woke up this morning to see. two different headlines of the same. event. This was the headline from CBS. State regime media. Former Speaker of. the House Dennis Hastard, who. represented Illinois for two decades in. Congress and was later jailed for. violating banking laws, has died. Missed something there. >> Miss something. >> Miss something there. This was the state. regime media Fox headline breaking.

Dennis Hastur, longest serving. Republican House Speaker, died at 84. Definitely missed something there. The. mightest touch headline, Dennis Hastard, the longest serving Republican speaker. in history, has died at 84. Hastur. admitted in federal court to sexually. abusing boys he coached as a high school. wrestling coach. A federal judge called. him a serial child molester. He was a. registered sex offender. I mean, Brett,

this guy is a pedto. This guy is a. >> I'm going to say our headline was the. most accurate out of the out of out of. those headlines. I I want to remind. folks, too, this guy was in power. He. was the Republican speaker of the House. and he was a serial child molester. admitted to sex abuse crimes against. children. And by the way, he only ended. up serving something like I got to look. it up. I think it was like 15 months or. or something for uh you know, crimes. related to it. Not even necessarily for.

those crimes he was in. And this isn't. like ancient history. Not that would. make it any better. He was in office. until 2007. And I feel like the Republicans have. just kind of brushed this all under the. rug. And they don't want anybody to talk. about that. recently in recent modern. history had a speaker of the house who. is a serial child molester. And so how. is Fox covering it? We saw Ben Fox uh. running that headline where they. certainly didn't say any details in that.

headline simply saying that he was dead. at 84. But on Fox's coverage this. evening, they did a whole inmemoriam. segment uh about how great he was. Dennis Hastard in memoriam. And you. could see uh Asen, our editor here, uh. posted it online and he wrote, "Fox runs. an immemoriam segment for former. Republican speaker and admitted child. sex abuser Dennis Hastard." Well, I. think that's Epstein class uh solidarity. there, Ben. >> Yeah. And look, you see all these Trump.

regime officials also and Donald Trump. made a post like this also saying, you. know, this person was the most corrupt. as hell president imaginable. And it was. like a photo of Obama and this was. President Richard Nixon. And the Trump. regime is what launching an. investigation into whether the DOJ was. weaponized against Nixon. Like this is. where they're putting their resources as. well. And you know, you talk about the. MAGA Republicans and the glorification.

of the word corruption doesn't do it. justice, right? I mean, we're used to. corruption, which is horrific and should. be called out and prosecuted, but this. Trump regime war criminal Epstein class. cartel racketeering enterprise, it's. unlike anything, you know, ever ever. fathomable. And when they're like, "Oh, well, uh, I mean, I think we have this. clip of JD Vance where, you know, he was.

on the tarmac today. He was in joint. base Andrews and he's heading to Alaska. and he was asked, "So, what do you think. about Donald Trump using taxpayer. dollars?" I think we have this one, bro. Taxpayer dollars to put all of these. ads, I got it, all of these ads on TV. like during football games. These like. weird fascist ads. And he's like, "We. shouldn't forget that Obama did it.". Like, no, he didn't. What? Obama didn't. do it and stop with everything. Obama. and Biden. Here, watch what JD Vance. says here. Play this clip.

>> Well, look, if if you look historically, um, you know, go back to the Obama. administration with the Affordable Care. Act, you have the people's government. using tax dollars to advertise about. what the government is doing. It's part. of actually, I think, living in a. constitutional republic, you have to be. honest with the American people about. what you're doing, about what's going. on. And part of that is getting out. there and telling the message. So, I. don't think there's anything unusual or. unorthodox about it. I'm sure that some. people probably don't like it. But if. you look at the message of those. advertisements, they're not partisan.

They're not, you know, it's not like. we're advocating for a particular. candidate. We're trying to tell a story, I think, about how great the United. States of America is. >> Even though one of the ads, sir, sir, after that, >> Yeah. I mean, these are sick people. And. then they just move on to the next. question. It's like one one of the ads. literally and and you saw a reporter. actually try to start asking it and then. she stopped. was that one one of the. things about the ads is that it was. literally a Trump campaign ad. He could. say that all he wants. It was literally. a Trump campaign ad that they switched. the disclaimer on the bottom to be paid.

for by Donald J. Trump 2024 to paid for. by the US government, meaning paid for. by the US taxpayers. And so now you have. Trump going out there and he was like, "Well, there was nothing wrong about me. running these ads in the first place. using US taxpayer dollars and that. everybody loved it and thought it was. amazing. Now I've decided that I'm going. to start funding these ads via my PAC. MAGA Inc." By the way, I don't even. think he's supposed to really be. coordinating with the packs in that sort.

of way, but he just we have no laws. anymore and he just admits that he. coordinates with all these. organizations. Um, but now he's saying. that going forward he's going to start. using the pack money. By the way, he. guy's hundreds of millions of dollars in. this. There was no reason for him to. even be using taxpayer dollars in the. first place for this kind of propaganda, which is highly illegal. If he wants to. use his pack money, so be it. If people. want to donate to to Donald Trump and. give their hard-earned money to Donald. Trump, okay, that's your prerogative.

But don't use my tax dollars for your. fascist propaganda, >> right? And as I mentioned earlier in the. show, you have the maliciousness, you. have the evil intent, but then you also. have the sloppy and incompetent. execution. So it just makes it extra. worse. I mean, we can reflect on what. would happen right now if we really did. bring in 21 trillion. like if he really. did it and all of a sudden the debt was.

not over $40 trillion and Trump's. responsible for 30% but it decreased 30%. and the ideas worked and then rather. than 40 trillion all of a sudden we were. like$22 trillion in debt he took it down. and then there wasn't a deficit there. was a surplus like under former. President Clinton where the debate. between George W Bush and Al Gore was. the lockbox. And what do they do with the extra. money? Because there was actually a.

surplus. What would happen if rather. than what last month 29,000 jobs. created, but we know that'll probably. even be revised down to probably. negative jobs for that month. You know, as former President Clinton said in a. recent speech at the Clinton uh global. initiative speech that he gave, he was. like, "We had a lot less people living. in the country alive when I was in the. office in the 1990s just based on. population growth." He's like, "Every. month I did 250 300,000 jobs." So like.

what what what are we bragging? What are. we what are we even talking about here? But imagine if every month we were. seeing numbers. Heck, that looked like. Biden's job numbers where it was like. 250 or 300,000 jobs being created, right? When you did a comparison of. these September job numbers this year to. Biden's September 2024, Biden did like. 250,000 jobs in September 2024 and Trump. did 29,000 jobs in September 2026. But.

imagine if you had 300,000 400,000 jobs. created. Then imagine if we had $2 a. gallon of gasoline right now and that. people were able to afford homes and. that the uh fixed mortgage 30-year fix. was three and a half% 4% max, right? and. all of these things were happening and. and then Trump's cruel stuff, he was. like, "Well, it's cruel, but look at all.

the things that have happened." And. you'd be like, "Yeah, but do the ends. justify the means?" D, you know, and I. would still argue that the ends don't. justify the means. But here, what's very. clear is that the ends and the means are. awful, evil, and not working. It's just. the reality. So stop selling me that. this is a golden age when it's not. And. I mean like and all of these Trump. regime people are like that. I mean look. at this. This is Treasury Secretary.

Bessant early September. He's cocky. He's confident. He go, you know, he's. not he's a loser, but he's projecting. it. He goes, I am the house and I. control the bond market. So, you think. the bond market will be able to rise and. hit these all-time high Treasury yields? I've got my plan. Bet against me if you. want to. Here's what he said here. Play. this clip. >> And whenever people say, "Oh, well,

Treasury Secretary is taking a risk.". Well, it's my dream. I have asymmetric. information. Like, I am the House now. So, right. So, so when we intervene with. the Japanese yen, I have pretty good insight into what the. Japanese what the Bank of Japan's going. to do, what Japanese policy makers are. going to do. Um, and um, but if you can.

bet against me if you want. >> So, he bet against me if you want. And. the market did. The market saw him. trying to do a six billion dollar bond. buyback scheme and trillions of dollars. in the bond market. And the market said, "This guy doesn't know what he's doing. This is like a poker player or something. who's holding the cards the wrong way. and showing everybody his cards and. trying to bluff. It's like, dude, we. know your hand sucks. We could see it.

We know your hand is is a piece of crap. right now. So, you can't actually lie to. us. You can't bluff. You're not the. house. And if you are the house, you're. the house of a Trump casino. So, congrats. You're you're at the place, the only casino in the world where the. house loses. >> And then it's like, what's that uh meme. from Spongebob? Five minutes later, it's. like three weeks later, Treasury yields. went on a vertical lineup, right? There. were the 20 year and the 30 years are. freaking approaching 6% right now.

Interest rates were um raised as well. and watch what he said in his interview. with Axios this weekend. Let's play it. >> And like I said that I can't control the. bond market. What I can do is try to get. people to slow down and think because. you know my job in the financial markets. for 30 years was to be outside the door. ear to the door when policy was being. made sometimes for with myself over the. transom and think like what policy. makers going to do, should do, can do.

And now that I'm in the room and what I. meant by I in the house is that I have. superior information. Like people could. ask you know obviously the Japanese. would have liked for us to intervene the. in the yen at some point any time since. January. Why did we do it then? People. should sit back and ask themselves that. rather than oh we intervene in it. Yeah, we are sitting back and asking ourselves. and we're also judging it as being.

utterly stupid and for a short period of. time, yes, you did move the yen and then. it became clear that you couldn't stop. what was happening and the yen continued. to collapse and it was a waste of money. and then you also did some bizarre. market, some bizarre currency swap with. the Europe central bank and didn't alert. them and so you piss them off as well. which just leads them to want to sell. more Treasury bonds in retaliation when. you try to do that. And people are like, "Dude, what are you doing?" And dude, I.

could show you anybody in this regime. I. mean, I showed you the Besson clip. I I. showed you the JD Vance clip. This is. Trump's top national economic adviser, Kevin Hassid, over here, and he was on. CNN with Jake Tapper. And Tapper's like, "But it is true. I mean, prices are up. now from where they were when Biden. handed over the economy to Donald Trump. Like, they were at this level under. Biden. Now, they're higher under Trump.

Inflation is objectively higher. The. prices of everything is higher. That's. just that's just a fact from where they. were at the end of the Biden term to. where they are now. And you look at some. things, they're very high. They're very. much high. Like, it's not even close. Um, and Trump said, "I will reduce. electricity prices in half. I will make. sure gas is $2 a gallon. I'll make sure. you are able to afford homes. I'll end. the war in Ukraine in 24 hours." Here, watch what Hasset says. Let's play it. >> Oh, prices are high uh in the sense that.

uh inflation went up about 20% under Joe. Biden, and the inflation rate has gone. way, way down. If we look at the. three-month moving average of the PCE. data that came this week, then core uh. inflation is running now at 2%, which is. the Fed's target, and topline inflation. is at 1% because food prices and. gasoline prices are dropping faster than. everything else. And so, we're making. progress, but the in the end, the way. that we make up the Biden inflation for. folks is we give them income growth. And. the income growth is coming. You. mentioned the hourly wage. uh you know,

we just got great census data on big. reductions in poverty, but also if you. look at the weekly wage, those numbers. are are really promising because we gave. no tax on overtime, no tax on tips, and. so a lot of middle- class workers are. working longer weeks and making more. money and not being taxed while they do. that. >> It is true that inflation was very high. under President Biden, but when. President Biden handed over the. presidency to President Trump in January. uh 2025, it was 3% and it's currently 3.4. 4%.

I'm no economist, but it does seem like. that's going up. >> Well, well, you know, your economics. pretty good, but that means you also. know that when we handed the economy off. to President Biden, that inflation was 1. and a.5% and right now we've got top. inflation at 1%. Inflation has come back. down. It Well, it was actually the end. of CO that was the problem because co CO. was right at the end and then they did. this massive stimulus and that's where. the inflation came from. >> It was at the end of CO. They lie about. everything out of their mouth as a lie,

you know. And here's the thing, too, you. know, to the people in Brazil, to the. people who are looking at this model and. they're like, "The system is broken. We. need to just destroy it with an. authoritarian.". I actually do think in many cases the. system is broken, but it needs to be. fixed with smart intelligent people who. actually can deliver for Americans and. not deliver for people throughout the. world also in the various countries and.

actually show that you care and not just. be some milktoast person who just. perpetuates a status quo that obviously. leads to not just like a Trump but leads. to an Orban. or leads to a bolinaro or. leads to you know you name the. authoritarian magalike figure abroad. that's one of the things that you know. we see but like in Brazil what do you. think is going to happen the situation. that's there now it's just going to get.

worse you can follow this template it's. going to get worse and then in four. years there's going to be an election. and then whether it's Alula or a person. like Alula and I don't want to ru you. know I don't want to underestimate Lula. going into round two. So, I'll be clear. about that. You know, he's pulled out. lots of victories and there's a lot of. investigation into the interference. So, we'll see what happens. But, you know, are they just going to seessaw back and. then they're going to seesaw back to the. authoritarian then back and forth and. back and forth. And meanwhile in China,

you've got people like she who are just. sitting back and they're just like, "Okay, we're gonna think through the 50-year. plan and the 100year plan and the. civilization plan and we're building and. building and building and building while. you see this kind of constant tumult.". And as I said, this constant tumult is. what we talk about in the book, Brett. It's it's an unsustainable model. And. so, you know, you need somebody with the. charisma of an Obama. You need somebody.

who's able to really inspire and rally. And then when they're in power though, they also have to just, you know, I. think wield the power, wield the. authority for good and not just have the. stalemate and not just go through, you. know, the motions, you know, really. wield it as strong as can be because, you know, if we have, you know, where do. you end up? You end up four more years. of, you know, the Trump term's over. You.

get someone who's expiring and exciting. and the first 18 months are amazing. Then all of a sudden, you know, the. problems start to all be blamed on that. person. Or maybe they're not amazing. already. The machine starts to blame. that person. Then you have the swing. back in the midterms. Then you have the. swing back to somebody else the next. year. Like that seessaw has to end. And. what we talk a lot about in the book is. like you have to step back and you have. to look at the system and you have to. say, "Well, what are your values and. principles? Why are we even doing this?

What's the goal of us all as Americans. here? What are we trying to achieve? And. I often point to what Mayor Mom Donnie. is doing in New York City as an example. of actually rolling up your sleeves and. getting things done, you know, for the. people and on a day-to-day basis. It's. just Brett, I think we made the point. before, you know, like he's delivering. on the things he said he was going to be. delivering for and, you know, and just. documenting it, taking advantage of all.

modern social media and just getting the. message out. Brett, >> yeah, you got you got to do the work. You got to do the work for the people, right? Because people will realize. you're scamming them at a certain point. And I think that's why you're seeing a. lot of the Trump people uh start to. defect, you know? I think certainly not. as many as uh you know people would. probably hope for, but we're seeing a. lot of these folks who are the more. swingy type voters who voted for Trump. uh say this guy promised me all this. stuff and he has not delivered for me.

In fact, he's done the exact opposite. He's made my life worse and he continues. to make promises which don't come to. fruition. And by the way, Donald, you. owe me, you know, over $10,000 in in. money that you've been promising me. These these elections have consequences. And it's also important, you know, not. only on the citizens to go out there and. vote, but on the politicians to deliver. for the people. You have to make it. clear to the people why you deserve. their vote. And I think that is, you. know, one of the most essential things. that any politician could do uh which.

leads to long-term trust between voters. and politicians. Make sure that they are. aware that you are actually fighting for. them. It's why I think so many of these. attacks that we're seeing from Trump and. his acolytes right now when their. closing message, you know, 30 days out. from the election as Taller Rico throws. up meat and Andrews and all the. other disgraceful attacks they're doing. Uh like people are suffering right now. People are paying really high gas. prices, really high energy prices, really high grocery prices. That.

language doesn't do anything to help any. of those things. And when people are in. dire straits, I think that uh you know. kind of that line of attack uh is. increasingly um ineffective. And I guess. we'll see uh in a few weeks how this. works out for uh Trump and the. Republicans. >> Well, it's been a great episode. We. missed Jordy. We'll keep putting up new. videos of breaking news throughout the. day, including what happened in Nebraska.

and Trump's deranged rally over there. You can watch that after this live ends. WTF America is the book I wrote with. Brett and Jordy. We wrote it together. We each read different chapters for the. audio book. And so download the audio. book uh once it is available, but. pre-order it now. Pre-order the audio. book, the ebook, and pre-order the hard. cover or all of them or. >> all the above. Get all. >> the above. You know what I actually like. doing for the ebook? And even when I.

listen to an audio book or get an ebook, my new thing has been that I also get. the hard cover so that I could have it. I like having like it's like a like a. trophy, right? Like I read this, right? And it helps sear it into my brain. So. if that's something you're you're into, then then do it. Check it out. >> Thanks everybody so much for watching. We'll see you next time on the Midas. Touch podcast. Shout out to the Midas. Mighty. >> Might standing strong. Against.

the fascist, we sing our song. 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.