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By Ben Meiselas Hi all! I know it’s Saturday, but the news doesn’t take a break, and neither do we. Let me catch you up on the latest. Saturday began with another alarming display from Donald Trump, who continues to behave in ways that no stable democracy should tolerate from the person entrusted with its highest office. As his polling sinks to historic lows and his administration buckles under the weight of chaos of its own making, the president spent the morning issuing deranged social media posts, threatening foreign nations, and lying about basic economic data that millions of Americans know from lived experience to be false. One of his first messages was directed at “all airlines, pilots, drug dealers and human traffickers,” warning them that the airspace above Venezuela was “closed in its entirety.” The White House offered no legal basis for this pronouncement. Trump’s post left the unmistakable impression that he was prepared to shoot down commercial airliners near Venezuela. This is not foreign policy. It is the unstable rhetoric of someone who views war as a personal tool and international order as an annoyance. And it comes as his administration continues to pursue unauthorized military actions off the coast of Venezuela and Colombia, where reports have now confirmed that Navy SEAL Team 6 carried out lethal strikes on suspected narcotics vessels after survivors pleaded for help. These were not lawful acts of war. They were extrajudicial killings. According to recent reporting, the alleged order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was to “kill everybody,” a directive that violates the most basic tenets of the laws of armed conflict. The Senate Armed Services Committee, in a rare bipartisan statement, has vowed “vigorous oversight” into the strikes and the possibility that U.S. forces were directed to deny quarter. If true, that’s a war crime. And murder. The chaos and instability abroad mirrors the instability at home. In another post, Trump claimed that drug prices were dropping “500 percent, 600 percent, 700 percent and more,” a mathematical impossibility that would require pharmaceutical companies to pay customers to take medications. The truth is the opposite: health care costs are rising sharply as families brace for the loss of Affordable Care Act subsidies Trump refused to renew. Under this administration, insurance premiums are climbing, out-of-pocket costs are climbing, and Americans are being priced out of the care they need. His economic claims only grew more fantastical. Trump declared that tariffs had made the United States “rich and safe and powerful” and that “inflation has taken prices down,” even as families across the country struggle to buy groceries, pay rent, and keep up with utilities. The Chicago Sun-Times captured this reality with its stark Friday headline: “Bleak Friday.” Millions feel it. Millions know it. Trump ignores it. Or worse, Trump knows it — and lies about it. He tries to gaslight Americans into believing we are in a “golden age” where everything is cheap and everyone is thriving. But people are confronted by the harsh reality of living under this regime every single day. Perhaps nowhere is his detachment clearer than in housing. The president boasted about promoting 50-year mortgages, a universally denounced idea that would trap families in lifelong debt without addressing affordability. All of this unfolded while Trump’s own preferred propaganda outlets reported on his deteriorating state. Drudge Report’s Saturday headline read, “DON’S MENTAL SPIRAL,” citing his misogynistic attacks on female reporters and his increasingly erratic mood swings. Their coverage mirrors what health experts, including Dr. Vin Gupta of Meidas Health, have been warning: the president’s cognitive and physical condition appears to be rapidly declining. Yet amid this instability, Trump still found time to wield his pardon power in ways that undermine both national security and public safety. On Friday he announced he would pardon former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, sentenced in the United States to 45 years for trafficking hundreds of tons of cocaine into the country while collaborating with the Sinaloa Cartel. Trump’s decision to shield a convicted narco-trafficker stands in direct conflict with his own administration’s claims of waging a war on drugs. Even Republicans at the state level are beginning to revolt. In Indiana, multiple GOP legislators have accused the Trump White House of extortion, Hatch Act violations, and attempts to coerce them into rigging redistricting maps ahead of the midterms. State Senator Greg Walker said the White House staffer who contacted him was “campaigning on company time.” Another Republican state senator, Mike Bohacek, condemned Trump’s repeated use of the R-word to attack political opponents, noting that his own daughter has Down syndrome and that Trump’s slurs “have consequences.” We are also learning that MAGA Congressman Troy Nehls, a representative from Texas, has announced that he will be retiring at the end of his term. Nehls has been one of Trump’s most deranged and loyal soldiers, and recently humiliated himself by declaring he’d support Trump and vote to block the release of the Epstein files, before Trump changed his strategy, which resulted in Nehls then changing his vote last-minute once again to try to please Trump. Embarrassing. Internationally, Trump has boasted for months about securing a peace deal between Congo and Rwanda. No such deal took hold. Violence continued. Thousands died. Now both nations are preparing to return to Washington to attempt another agreement. And as the president fabricates accomplishments, U.S. influence has faded; Kenya just turned to China for $1.5 billion in infrastructure funding after U.S. support collapsed. Yet Trump remains fixated on the one issue he believes truly matters: the size of the golden ballroom he is attempting to build at the White House. He has spent part of his weekend fighting with architect John McCrery II, who refuses to expand the room to Trump’s liking. While the world burns, Trump obsesses over ornamental gold. Even on this Saturday, the collapse continues. This is a regime unravelling in real time, led by a man whose grip on reality completely gone. The American people see it. The world sees it. And democracy depends on confronting it with unflinching clarity. We will continue to do that here at MeidasTouch every single day. Thank you for subscribing to this Substack. Remember to like this post, spread the word, and check our YouTube channel and the MeidasTouch Podcast for more updates throughout the day. |
COMMENTS:
'bout time for the straight-jacket and padded cell dontcha think?
Past time!😡
Time for prison
https://open.substack.com/pub/keithdearone/p/the-octopus-anatomy-of-a-global-compromise?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=5qy9ju
Part I: The Domestic Facade — Law, Politics, and The Banking Bloodline
Part I: The Domestic Facade — Law, Politics, and The Banking Bloodline
THE OCTOPUS: Anatomy of a Global Compromise
Part I: The Domestic Facade — Law, Politics, and The Banking Bloodline
That's right no other president has been able to get away with t h ese lies anout our prices… tearing diwn the East wing , , and 30 other things, without being called out on Fox News and by Congress. No other president has been able to lie like this and not be called out on Fox News
Seriously.
It’s all so horrible, so horrifying, so surreal, so nonsensical, so absurd. When will the republicans step up, do the right thing, honor their oaths to protect the Constitution, rule of law, the future of our nation, and remove this madman lunatic from office? When is it enough? Is there even a shadow of a line?
Do they think Americans, their own constituents, are utterly stupid?
Or are they as hellbent on destroying this country as demented Donny is?
I call my Congressional members and quote them lines from Heather Cox Richardson and Sen. Tester conversing with a journalist on 10/25/25.
"Republicans in Congress have walked away from the power framed by the writers of the Constitution. To be a member of Congress is to check the rise of a tyrant. Congressional republicans have walked away from their oaths, their morals, their duty to the Constitution and to the people.
Protecting the felon (my word) requires you to recognize that you will go down with him."
He knows they're stupid. These jackasses still worship trump and believe everything he says. They don't care if we know that things are not good as long as the base continues to support this shit show
I can't wait to pick up my prescriptions in order to get a paycheck! Lol. Perhaps, I shouldn't joke about that, as we STILL have a mad man in OUR White House. The longer this despicable regime gets away with the horrific damage they're doing (both illegally and unconstitutionally), the more innocent human beings will suffer and/or die (on U.S. soil, in Ukraine, in the pacific, in Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen etc.).
Mary Trump has stated many times that she thinks that her uncle will attempt to take everyone down with him if he feels that he's losing power or cornered. We ALL need to DO everything in our power to get him and the rest of the sadistic lunatics out of office, charged, tried, and sentenced.
https://youtu.be/Up2rKmrBBmE?si=VnwQz2Zk0U1Nhvpc
Stephen Miller writes the trump posts. He needs a straight-jacket too.
He needs MORE than a straight jacket.
Amen. He needs to be tried for murder. He Vought, Musk and the rest all need to be brought up on their horrendous deeds.
This is the bottomline, $20M question! WTF? When will the republicans actually step up, do the right thing, honor their oaths to protect the constitution, the rule of law, this NATION, and remove this demented tyrannical madman from office? ENOUGH ALREADY!
Or are they complicit and as hellbent on destroying our democracy as demented donny is?
This is Project 25 and Agenda 47. This is what they promised to do and are doing. More GOP Reps will retire or decide not to run again rather than take an affirmative step in opposition to 47 by upholding their constitutional oath Just obeying orders and being a good soldier will not excuse them in the future but they may avoid the immediacy of retribution that could cost them more than just a seat in Congress
I agree, but I wonder how and by whom. Patel? Bondi. The 6 on the Court? When the Article I branch of government (Congress) exists in name only and the Article III branch of government (Judiciary) provides 12/18 shoulders upon which the Article II (Executive) branch of government is perched with a Cheshire Cat smile, how is what you propose possible using lawful and peaceful means as the constitution requires?
[1] On the periphery, the military is a possibility (just saying), but real power (if it still exists) as it always resides in our votes, if we get are allowed to cast them and if they are counted fairly. If ICE or CBP or others seize voting equipment, what happens then?
[2] To this end, “Dominion Voting Systems, the company at the center of false fraud claims about the 2020 election, has been acquired by an entity called Liberty Vote. President Trump and his allies, including Rudy Giuliani, have falsely blamed Dominion and its machines for rigging the 2020 election, taking votes from Trump. The baseless claims against Dominion caused one of its executives to go into hiding in 2020, and led to numerous defamation lawsuits. Giuliani recently reached a confidential settlement with Dominion. Most notably, Dominion won a nearly $800 million defamation case against Fox News. The new company is founded by Scott Leiendecker, a onetime St. Louis Republican election director who founded an election technology company that's broadly used by election officials.”
>>> [1] “In the worst-case scenarios, armed troops could be ordered to close polling areas, commandeer voting machines, or crack down on protesters. These orders would be illegal, and units might refuse to follow them, potentially producing a standoff between the president and his military brass. But it wouldn’t take more than a few officers complying to corrupt the election.” Source: “Donald Trump’s Plan to Subvert the Midterms Is Already Under Way” by David A. Graham, The Atlantic, 28-Oct-25 https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/12/2026-midterms-trump-threat/684615/?gift=8h-ND1FuiIZ4VZp5QuIbsK0b0FkWK_wM6d1uyGLsnkg&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
>>> [2] NPR, 9-Oct-25 “Dominion, the voting tech company at the center of false 2020 claims, is sold” https://www.npr.org/2025/10/09/nx-s1-5569817/dominion-voting-liberty-vote-false-claims
Let's remember that the RIGHT WING VIEWERS are so poorly informed clinging to propaganda outlets, some of which are RUSSIAN FUNDED, they are unaware of the DOMINION & SMARTMATIC lawsuits - EDUCATION begins with challenging pre-digested disinformation.
Many of those lawsuits are still pending & include those that TRUMP recently pardoned even though no federal charges were ever brought against them.
FOX NEWS VIEWERS single source their disinformation & never viewed the ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF LIES & CONSPIRACY THEORIES....the publicly released emails & depositions were damning!
Consider how many ELECTION DENIERS still spew the same LIES & PROPAGANDA - all devoted TRUMP CULT followers.
FOX NEWS = FAKE NEWS LIARS knew the ELECTION LIES & DOMINION attacks were FALSE, but knew their viewers were DUMB enough to believe their LIES & CONSPIRACY THEORIES: Fox Viewers Are A Bunch Of 'Cousin F*ckers'....
$787.5 MILLION SETTLEMENT IS TAX-DEDUCTIBLE:
excerpt:
Settlement
With the jury seated and attorneys about to make their opening statements, Davis announced Dominion and Fox News had reached a settlement. Fox agreed to pay Dominion $787.5 million. At the time of the settlement, Fox Corporation had $4.1 billion cash on hand.[59] Deadline Hollywood reported that the payment would be tax-deductible for Fox.[60] The settlement was one of the largest defamation settlements in U.S. history,[59] and is believed to be the largest defamation settlement in U.S. history by a media organization.[61]
FROM WIKIPEDIA:
Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox News Network
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion_Voting_Systems_v._Fox_News_Network
Tucker's Ex-Producer: Fox Viewers Are A Bunch Of 'Cousin F*ckers'
He knew those idiots would believe the lies.
By Conover Kennard — March 13, 2023
excerpts:
Tucker Carlson and other Fox News personalities knew that Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 election. They all knew, but they continued to spoon-feed their viewers dangerous lies about the election and hosted conspiracy theorists like the Kraken lady Sidney Powell, who one Fox star noted in a text that her evidence of voter fraud was "kooky."
Dominion Voting Systems is suing the network for a whopping $1.6 billion for defamation. So, why would the network continue to air such flagrant lies? Money. Ratings. And they did not respect their viewers.
Raj Shah, who had served as a senior aide in Trump's White House for two years before his hiring at Fox, said in a text about Rudy Giuliani's speech that featured the former New York City mayor with hair dye running down his face: "This sounds SO F------ CRAZY btw."
Via The Washington Post:
So when a Fox News reporter went live on air just after Giuliani's news conference concluded and declared that some of what the president's lawyer had said was "simply not true," Shah reacted with alarm.
"This is the kinda s--- that will kill us," he texted the deputy. "we cover it wall to wall and then we burn that down with all the skepticism."
But he knew that the election was fair. And Tucker Carlson's producer at the time, Alex Pfeiffer, thought Carlson's viewers were a bunch of dumb cousin fuckers.
Despite his behind-the-scenes lobbying, Shah counseled a middle course in dealing with her claims on air. On the day after Carlson publicly challenged Powell, Shah and a Carlson producer weighed whether Carlson should devote time in his next show to Powell's claim that she had an affidavit that would link Dominion to Venezuela.
"Might wanna address this, but this stuff is so f------ insane. Vote rigging to the tune of millions? C'mon," Shah wrote.
Carlson's producer, Alex Pfeiffer, responded: "It is so insane but our viewers believe it, so addressing against how her stupid Venezuela affidavit isn't proof might insult them."
Shah advised that Carlson should mention the affidavit noting it was "not new info, not proof" but then quickly "pivot to being deferential."
Pfeiffer, who has since left the network, answered that the delicate dance was "surreal."
"Like negotiating with terrorists," he added, "but especially dumb ones. Cousin f----- types not Saudi royalty."
He's not wrong, but he kept propagating the Big Lie because he knew Fox News' viewers were a bunch of dumb "cousin-fucking types" that would eat it up. And that's disgusting for a so-called news network.
https://crooksandliars.com/2023/03/tuckers-ex-producer-fox-viewers-are-bunch
