They Want Us to Lose Hope. We Won’t.

By Ben Meiselas

Hey Meidas Mighty,

It’s Ben Meiselas, co-founder of the MeidasTouch Network.

First and foremost, I want to tell you how proud I am of this community for staying strong and for continuing to fight back against the Trump regime.

Independent journalism is under attack.

Our democracy is under attack.

Our freedoms are under attack.

Donald Trump and his regime want us to lose hope. They want us to stop fighting.

We are not losing hope.

And we are going to keep winning this fight.

I want to thank all of our subscribers. And if you’re not yet a paid subscriber, I hope you’ll consider becoming one today. Our growth, here in the United States and internationally, has been fueled directly by you. That support is what’s allowed us not just to compete with Fox and corporate cable news, but to beat them in views and engagement.

If you’re able, please consider becoming a paid subscriber now.

As we head into this week, I also want to share some news that genuinely gives me hope.

Donald Trump’s approval rating is tanking. The latest polling puts him at around 37%—and it shows.

Over the weekend, we saw a huge special election in Texas State Senate District 9. This was a Trump +17 district in 2024. It flipped. A Democratic candidate won by +14, a 31-point swing.

That’s not just a fluke. It suggests that all the gerrymandering MAGA pushed in Texas may backfire spectacularly. Districts that were once considered “safe” for Trump, anything even around +15, now look vulnerable heading into the midterms. That has the potential to signal a massive blue tsunami, not just in Texas, but nationwide.

We’ve been seeing this kind of Democratic overperformance across special elections, and we’ve been covering it closely here at the MeidasTouch Network.

Trump is clearly panicking. He’s already claiming he doesn’t even know the Republican candidate who lost, despite endorsing her multiple times, including three times on Election Day itself. Classic Trump: endorse, lose, then throw people under the bus.

Then there’s the Kennedy Center.

Trump announced he’s effectively shutting it down for at least two years after his attempt to co-opt it completely failed. Performers canceled. Staff quit. Audiences stopped showing up. Authoritarianism doesn’t mix well with culture, and that failure matters.

I also found hope at the Grammys, where cultural icons finally began speaking out, against ICE, against the Trump regime, and against what’s happening in this country. We need more cultural leaders to use their voices, and I believe we’re starting to see that shift.

And of course, there’s the release of the Epstein files.

Even though only a partial release of roughly 3 million documents has occurred, the impact has been devastating for Donald Trump. Based on my experience as a litigator, I firmly believe there are millions more documents being withheld, possibly tens of millions of pages, and that what hasn’t been released yet is likely even more damaging.

The files already released show more than 38,000 references to Donald Trump, with Trump appearing in over 5,000 documents so far. It’s becoming clear that the cabal at the center of the Epstein sex-trafficking ring is tied directly to the Trump regime.

Around the world, we’re starting to see consequences. Political leaders resigning. Business leaders stepping down. Powerful figures losing their positions as the truth comes out. As it should.

Trump, of course, claims he’s been “vindicated,” with Mike Johnson and others parroting that line. But the American people see what’s actually happening. Even prominent MAGA figures are now publicly renouncing their support for Trump after reviewing what’s in these files.

All of this, the election results, the Epstein disclosures, the collapse of Trump’s cultural power grabs, is happening because people power is prevailing.

While institutions and so-called leaders have failed us, you have not.

There is still a lot of work ahead. Trump will get more desperate. Independent media is under attack. We are under attack. MAGA would love nothing more than to see us silenced, arrested, or erased.

That’s why we have to keep building every single day. This network must always be bigger than any one person. It’s about you. It’s about democracy. It’s about freedom.

I’m heading to teach class this morning at USC Law, so I’ll leave it there. But let me make this ask:

Please subscribe to this Substack.

If you can, become a paid subscriber.

Spread the word about the MeidasTouch Network.

Becoming a paid subscriber is one of the most meaningful ways you can help us right now as we take on corporate media that has bent the knee—and beat them anyway.

We’re grateful for you. We appreciate you.

And we’re going to keep fighting. Together.

—Ben