By Ben Meiselas
Remember when Fridays used to be quiet? When we could just relax, unwind, and get ready for the weekend? Well, those times are long gone. I’ve been following today’s news and wanted to make sure you have all the updates.
We are now learning that hundreds Russian Wagner mercenaries have arrived in Venezuela as the U.S. prepares for war in the region. Sources tell the Miami Herald that the Trump regime’s planned military strikes on Venezuelan installations could come “within hours.” Publicly, the White House denies the decision has been made. Privately, everyone knows the pattern: they lie about everything.
They lied about their so-called “anti-narcotics operations” in the Caribbean, where boats were destroyed and lives lost, yet they refuse to identify who was killed. They lied about targeting fentanyl traffickers, then quietly admitted their operations have actually focused on cocaine. The Colombian president has confirmed that innocent civilians have been killed, people whose only crime was being in the wrong place when the Trump regime decided to flex its power.
Even Republicans are sounding alarms. Representative Mike Turner, a conservative from Ohio, said after a classified briefing that lawmakers were “very concerned” about the deaths and the total lack of legal justification for the strikes. Turner revealed that lawyers who were supposed to explain the administration’s authority “were not in the room.” Democrats echoed that outrage. Congressman Seth Moulton said the justifications were “so flimsy that it makes the case for the Iraq war look like a slam dunk.” He warned military leaders of the “constitutional peril” they’re placing themselves, and American troops, in.
At home, the picture is equally dire. The government shutdown is past its 30th day with no end in sight. Forty-two million Americans are about to lose their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits — $188 a month that keeps food on their tables — while $6 billion sits untouched in a contingency account meant for emergencies just like this.
But rather than act, Speaker “MAGA Mike” Johnson told House Republicans to stay home. “Go on vacation,” he said. Then, from the podium, he accused Democrats of “skipping town.” The Orwellian absurdity would be laughable if the stakes weren’t so high.
The Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, admitted, “Your government is failing you.” She’s right — they are the government. Yet her “silver lining” was grotesque: at least Americans are “having a national conversation” about SNAP. So basically she’s saying, if you’re starving, at least you’ve learned something. Meanwhile, MAGA pundits and senators recycle Reagan-era talking points, smearing struggling families as “welfare queens” who spend benefits on “nails” and “weaves.” Their racism has never been more apparent.
Meanwhile, judges have begun to drop the hammer on Trump’s cruel plans. A federal judge in Rhode Island just ordered the Trump administration to continue funding SNAP benefits, saying “The court is orally at this time, ordering that USDA must distribute the contingency money timely, or as soon as possible, for the November 1 payments to be made.”
In a separate case in Boston, a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration’s plan to suspend SNAP food aid benefits during the shutdown is likely unlawful. She has ordered the Trump administration to respond by Monday with a plan to at least partially fund SNAP.
As Americans go hungry, Trump’s economy falters. Inflation is surging. Jobless claims and credit delinquencies are climbing. We’re in stagflation — rising prices, slowing growth, and a government too dysfunctional to help. Yet Trump’s aides call it a “golden age.”
Abroad, allies like Canada are forging trade deals with China while Trump’s team insults them as “rude” and “liberal.” At home, Trump’s FBI director Kash Patel jets around on taxpayer-funded planes with his 26-year-old girlfriend, and when caught, distracts the nation with premature “terror arrest” announcements that blow ongoing investigations.
This is what authoritarian decay looks like. We’re witnessing power wielded without accountability, cruelty repackaged as policy, chaos disguised as strength. It’s the same story abroad and at home. It’s the same rot that fuels endless war, hunger, and corruption.
America deserves better than this. And the first step toward repair is simple: refuse to look away.
Thanks for your kind words about these mid-day recaps. Watch my report above, like and share this post, and keep spreading the word. And thanks again for subscribing to the MeidasTouch Podcast on your favorite audio platforms, like Apple Podcasts and Spotify. We have a new episode out this morning. I also want to thank you again for the incredible feedback on our new documentary The Last Republican. Thanks to you, it’s now the #1 documentary in the U.S. on Apple TV.
Ok, onto my next report. See you soon.
