By Ben Meiselas
Hi everyone, we made it to the weekend. I hope your Saturday is off to a good start. This past week was not easy, but I have a feeling much of the chaos we are seeing is because Donald Trump’s back is against the wall, and consequently, he is lashing out, both at the American people and the world. Those Epstein files must be very, very bad, Donald!
Thanks to all those who have been tuning into our live reporting from on-the-ground in Minneapolis this weekend. The corporate media may not want to give these protests the attention they deserve, but we will here at the MeidasTouch Network. We’ve partnered with Status Coup to bring you live, unfiltered coverage from in the front lines of the protests. Here is the link to our next stream on YouTube. Watch. Share. Spread the word. The revolution may not be televised. But it will be on MeidasTouch.
Back to Trump’s awful Saturday. The rebukes are now coming from every direction. Oil executives are rejecting his Venezuela stunt. Norway and the Nobel Peace Prize board are calling him out. Economists confirm we are in a hiring recession. Protests against his policies and abuses of power are spreading across the country. And as all of this unfolds, Trump has barricaded himself in Mar-a-Lago, glued to social media, rage-posting conspiracy theories as the country he is supposed to lead falls deeper into crisis.
This morning he posted a string of Gregg Jarrett articles trying to revive the debunked “Russia hoax” narrative. He is still ranting about James Comey, all while ignoring that he personally rolled out the red carpet for Vladimir Putin in Alaska. Our troops were forced to kneel. Cameras captured Trump praising Putin repeatedly. There is no hoax. Trump’s alliance with Putin is as clear as day.
Then Trump turned to Minnesota, where he has escalated his ongoing military-style occupation of a blue state that rejected him at the ballot box. He sent his paramilitary ICE forces into Minneapolis and St. Paul with another 1,000 agents, bringing the total to 3,000. He praised Jarrett’s claim that if Governor Tim Walz were ever charged with fraud, “his best defense is incompetence.” It is absurd. Walz has not been charged with anything. The DOJ under President Biden prosecuted the actual criminals in the 2024 Minnesota fraud case. They were convicted in court. Trump, meanwhile, has spent three years pardoning fraudsters and commuted the sentence of a notorious narco-terrorist connected to El Chapo. He pardons criminals. Biden prosecuted them. That is the record.
Trump’s projection is relentless. He has been found civilly liable for fraud. He has been convicted of felonies. He has been found civilly liable for sexual abuse. He has bankrupted company after company. He pardons those who commit the same crimes he has been accused of. Then he goes online to pretend he is the last honest man left in America.
Oil executives aren’t even buying what Trump’s selling. Trump held a White House meeting Friday where he claimed that oil companies had committed $100 billion to his Venezuela plan. According to reporting from people close to the meeting, the companies have “no clue” what he is talking about. They made no such commitment. Trump appears to have invented the number out of thin air, unless what he really meant was that taxpayers would foot the bill. His lies are becoming more frantic as elections approach and his support continues to erode.
Next came his new financial “plan,” which is just another empty declaration. Trump posted that he will “no longer let the American public be ripped off by credit card companies” and declared a one-year 10 percent interest rate cap effective January 20, 2026. He gave no details on how he plans to pass legislation or work with Congress. He simply posted it, as if saying it makes it real. He made similar promises about dividend checks and tariff rebates. None of them materialized. But he did manage to give $40 billion to Argentina and push for $100 billion in subsidies to oil companies. When it comes to actual economic relief for Americans, he never delivers.
Meanwhile, everyday Americans are struggling. Economists agree we are in a hiring recession. Of the 72 categories of manufacturing tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 38 percent are still hiring, compared to 47 percent a year ago. Wages are stagnant. Families are working multiple jobs and still cannot afford housing, healthcare, or childcare. Billionaires, however, have increased their wealth by trillions.
As these crises unfold, Trump is not working to solve them. He is invading states. He is targeting blue communities. He is retaliating against areas that did not vote for him. His USDA has now cut off all federal funding to Minnesota, following earlier efforts to cut childcare funding to multiple blue states before a federal judge blocked him. These are deliberate acts of economic punishment.
The consequences on the ground are devastating. Trump’s ICE forces are emboldened. A woman recording ICE agents in Minnesota was told, “Have you not learned your lesson over the past couple of days?” referring to the killing of Renee Nicole Good, a mother murdered in cold blood by an ICE agent. When she asked what that “lesson” was supposed to be, the agent grabbed her phone and threw it. This is the behavior Trump encourages. Thuggery.
The terror is not limited to the United States. In Greenland, residents are openly describing nightmares about Trump’s threats of invasion. They fear their peaceful country being seized as part of his plan to strip Greenland’s mineral resources to finance U.S. debt. One resident said Trump is so aggressive “he spoils my sleep.” Another described dreaming about Trump arriving on ships. These are ordinary citizens living in fear because the President of the United States is threatening their homeland.
And back in Minnesota, parents are afraid to send their children to school. ICE agents have been patrolling schools. Families remain inside their homes, afraid of crossfire and violence. A local parent described the agents as “out of control” and said children could have been caught in the chaos. These are American families living through state-sponsored terror.
Even Fox Business tried to spin this chaos and failed spectacularly. A reporter attempted to bait a protester into justifying ICE violence, and the protester calmly dismantled every talking point. He called the killing of Renee Good “disgusting,” described ICE’s actions as “kidnapping,” and explained that immigrants have a human right to seek refuge. It was a powerful moment of truth cutting through the propaganda, and Fox’s attempt to control the situation backfiring.
Finally, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was confronted by Minnesota’s Small Business Person of the Year, who explained how Trump’s tariffs are destroying her company. She described years of effort trying to manufacture domestically but being shut out because small businesses cannot operate at the required scale. Bessent smugly told her to “diversify.” It was a stunning display of arrogance and detachment from reality. This administration gives carve-outs to billionaires and giant corporations while small businesses collapse.
This is where we are on a single Saturday under the Trump regime. An economy sliding backward. Foreign allies terrified. Oil companies rejecting Trump’s lies. Americans protesting in the streets. States being punished for their politics. Families living in fear. And a president holed up in Mar-a-Lago posting conspiracy theories as everything burns.
There is no leadership. There is only chaos, cruelty, and corruption.
We will keep covering all of it. Stay informed. Stay vigilant. And check our YouTube channel throughout the day for more on-the-ground coverage.
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