By Ben Meiselas
There’s been a lot of news today. Let me do my best to break it all down.
Up front, I want to remind you that we released a new MeidasTouch Podcast with me and my brothers this morning. I hope you listen to it on your favorite podcast platforms, like Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Industry leader Podscribe just announced that the MeidasTouch Podcast was once again the #1 podcast in the country last month. Thank you for making that happen. Subscribe to keep us going if you haven’t yet.
This week may go down as one of the worst in Donald Trump’s political and economic legacy. The so-called “blue tsunami” that swept the nation on Tuesday left the Republican Party humiliated, and by Friday, the full scale of Trump’s economic wreckage became impossible to ignore. New data shows the economy teetering on collapse, and Trump’s response has only deepened the crisis, both materially and morally.
Consumer confidence has cratered to its lowest level since the 1970s, according to the University of Michigan’s index. The numbers tell a grim story: record-low sentiment, record-high pessimism, and a staggering 62 percent of households now expecting unemployment to rise in the coming year—the highest since 1980. The reason is clear. Under Trump’s leadership, the U.S. economy has entered a recessionary freefall, with 153,000 jobs lost in October alone and nearly a million more since the start of the year.
Yet while Americans lose jobs and savings, Trump and his team remain obsessed with political retribution. Rather than addressing the crisis, they spent the day appealing a federal court order that required them to release emergency Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to 42 million Americans. The administration’s position is shocking. They have the money. After all, they just approved $40 billion for Argentina. But they refuse to help their own people. The official justification? Trump insists the government must “stay liquid.”
That phrase, delivered with the detachment of a corporate raider, captures everything wrong with this administration’s worldview. Trump’s regime will spare no expense for billionaires, defense contractors, or foreign investments, but when it comes to feeding hungry children, liquidity suddenly becomes sacred.
Trump’s lawyers went even further, attacking the Rhode Island federal judge who ordered the SNAP payments. In their appeal, they claimed the ruling “makes a mockery of the separation of powers.” What truly makes a mockery of governance is a president who defies court orders to starve his own citizens while hiding behind fabricated budget excuses.
Meanwhile, Trump’s economic officials are scrambling to rewrite the narrative. His labor secretary and economic adviser have begun spinning the collapse as the fault of the ongoing government shutdown, ignoring the fact that Trump himself engineered it and controls all branches of government. Their talking points are pure propaganda: inflation is “down,” grocery prices are “lower,” and consumer confidence was “soaring” until Democrats supposedly ruined it. The data, and everyone’s lived experiences, expose the lie. Inflation remains stubborn, job creation has evaporated, and every credible indicator shows a nation sliding into crisis.
Trump’s trade war with China has also imploded. Exports of American soybeans have been cut nearly in half, and China has tightened restrictions on rare earth elements, leaving the U.S. more dependent and less secure. Even Trump’s boasts about low gas prices are baseless—prices are almost identical to last year, with no real improvement for working families.
As this administration descends into denial, it has resorted to state-media theatrics. Cabinet officials gush about Trump’s supposed work ethic, Fox News names Melania “Patriot of the Year,” and Trump loyalists flood the airwaves with hollow praise. But none of it can mask the reality Americans are living: empty pantries, shrinking paychecks, and a president asleep, often literally, at the wheel.
This isn’t just an economic failure. It’s a moral one. Trump’s refusal to fund food assistance while funneling billions to the wealthy and foreign interests reveals a deeper rot: an administration that views suffering as leverage and cruelty as strategy. The data shows a collapsing economy. The behavior shows something even worse—a collapsing conscience.
America has weathered recessions before. What we haven’t seen is a leader so willing to let his own people go hungry to maintain the illusion of strength. That’s not liquidity. That’s cowardice dressed up as power.
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