Founded | March 2020 |
---|---|
Founders | Ben Meiselas Brett Meiselas Jordan Meiselas [1] |
Type | Media Organization |
Purpose | U.S. News and Politics |
Key people | Ron Filipkowski (editor-in-chief) [2] |
Website | meidastouch |
YouTube information | |
Channel | |
Genre | Commentary |
Subscribers | 2.39M [3] |
Total views | 3.3B [3] |
MeidasTouch is an independently owned and operated media company that describes itself as a pro-democracy news network. [4] It is one of the most viewed and visited news networks on YouTube in the world, frequently ranking as one of the top channels on the YouTube charts. [5] The MeidasTouch YouTube channel has over 3 billion views.
Previously, the MeidasTouch name was used by its founders for a liberal American political action committee formed in March 2020 with the purpose of stopping the reelection of Donald Trump in the 2020 United States presidential election. [6] [7] [8] [9] The SuperPAC aligned with the Democratic Party in the 2020 United States presidential election, the 2020–21 United States Senate election in Georgia, and the 2020–21 United States Senate special election in Georgia. [10] [11] [12]
In 2023, Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings indicated that the PAC changed its name to Democracy Defense Action. The MeidasTouch name continues to be used by the MeidasTouch Network, the news organization. [2]
The committee was founded in March 2020 by three brothers from Long Island while in quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [13] [14] One of the founders, Ben Meiselas, is an attorney who represented former NFL player Colin Kaepernick. [15] [16] [17] Brett Meiselas is an Emmy-winning video editor who worked for The Ellen DeGeneres Show . [18] Jordan Meiselas is a marketing supervisor living in Brooklyn, New York. [18]
The group name and slogan come from their mother and father, combining their father's last name, Meiselas, and their mother's maiden name, Golden, [14] while alluding to the mythological Greek king Midas known for his ability to turn everything he touched into gold.
On July 21, 2023, MeidasTouch filed paperwork to rename itself to Democracy Defense Action, [19] and later that year, news reporting indicated the MeidasTouch name was being used for a news network called MeidasTouch Network. [20] [21] [2]
On April 22, 2020, the committee released their first video, titled "Are You Better Off?", an allusion to Ronald Reagan's famous line in the 1980 general election presidential debate, [22] which criticized Trump's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States; [23] The committee shared the video in a Twitter reply to George Conway, which was then retweeted by him. [14]
On June 6, 2020, another video was released, called "Bye Ivanka"; it took parts out of her commencement speech and focused on her relation with China and criticized Trump's handling of the coronavirus crisis. [24] Her Wichita State University Tech speech was canceled due to student and teacher pressure. [25] [26]
On June 17, 2020, another video was released, "Gop Cowards", which accused Republican senators of being cowards. Near the end of the video, followers are urged to vote 11 Republican legislators out. [27]
On June 23, the committee released a video called "Trump Kills US". [28] The video focuses on Trump's comment at his Tulsa rally which urged doctors to "slow the testing down". [29] MeidasTouch called it "Mass murder on a national scale". [30]
On July 8, a new video was released called "Creepy Trump". It compiled Kellyanne Conway's comments on Joe Biden and put it together with Trump statements. [31] The ad uses clips of Conway's comments and remarks Trump has presented about women, and was played on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC. [32]
On July 14, another video was released called "#ByeDonJr". It takes Donald Trump Jr.'s comments on Fox News about Biden and applies them against Trump. The video also further criticizes the older Trump's handling of the pandemic. [33] [34]
The group continued its activities after the November 3 elections. On November 27, it claimed credit for making #DiaperDon the top Twitter trending topic in the US, via a tweet that mocked (as summarized by The Independent) a "press briefing ... which saw [Donald Trump] furiously assail a reporter from behind a surprisingly small desk", and provoked Trump into calling for the immediate abolishing of Section 230 "for purposes of National Security". [35]
The SuperPAC targeted Republican candidates in the 2020–21 United States Senate election in Georgia and the 2020–21 United States Senate special election in Georgia with several televised attack ads, billboards, direct mailings and door-to-door canvassing efforts. [10] [11] [12]
Most notably, MeidasTouch aired an advertisement called "The Grinches of Georgia." CNN said of the ads, "Humor is the chosen route for Democrat-backed Meidas Touch. Their television ads show Perdue and Loeffler with green faces and Grinch-like features. A nursery rhyme narration includes the verse, "Their stockings were stuffed from the stocks that were sold, when they heard Covid was coming, before we were told." [36] The Hill credits MeidasTouch as framing the Republican candidates Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue as "Looting Loeffler" and "Chicken Perdue," respectively. "The ad takes aim at the senators—dubbed 'Looting Loeffler and Chicken Perdue'—and highlights the controversies surrounding their stock purchases," The Hill said. [37] The "Grinches" ad campaign also included matching billboards and mailers. [38]
In April 2021, Rolling Stone magazine did an in-depth look into MeidasTouch and their activities, called "The Trouble with Meidas Touch". Among other findings, Rolling Stone noted their campaign fundraising was "nonsensical and a more effective tool for fundraising than for helping Democrats win elections" and that "MeidasTouch's grandiose self-promotion doesn't match reality". [39]
In February 2022, singer-songwriter India Arie shared a compilation of podcaster Joe Rogan saying the racial slur "nigger" on The Joe Rogan Experience on Instagram. [40] Rogan apologized, calling his past language "regretful and shameful" while also saying that the clips were "taken out of context" and he only quoted the slur to discuss its use by others. [41] [42] [43] The footage in question was first published by the political action committee PatriotTakes, [44] an affiliate of MeidasTouch. [45] This resulted in allegations of a defamation attempt by MeidasTouch, which the founders denied in an interview with Barstool Sports founder David Portnoy, instead attributing the source of the footage to Alex Jones, who was a recurring guest on Rogan's show. [46] Rogan described the video compilation as a "political hit job". [47] [48]
Joseph James Rogan is an American UFC color commentator, podcaster, comedian, actor, and former television host. He hosts The Joe Rogan Experience, a podcast in which he discusses current events, comedy, politics, philosophy, science, martial arts, and hobbies with celebrity guests.
Ivana Marie "Ivanka" Trump is an American businesswoman. She is the second child of Donald Trump and his first wife, Ivana. Trump was a senior advisor in his administration (2017–2021), and also was the director of the Office of Economic Initiatives and Entrepreneurship.
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David Alfred Perdue Jr. is an American politician and business executive who served as a United States senator from Georgia from 2015 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, Perdue was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Georgia in 2022.
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The 2020–21 United States Senate special election in Georgia was held on November 3, 2020, and on January 5, 2021, to elect the Class III member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Georgia. Democrat Raphael Warnock defeated appointed incumbent Republican Kelly Loeffler. The first round of the election was held on November 3, 2020; however, no candidate received a majority of the vote, so the top two candidates—Warnock and Loeffler—advanced to a runoff on January 5, 2021, which Warnock won narrowly.
The 2022 Georgia gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 2022 to elect the governor of Georgia. Incumbent Republican governor Brian Kemp won re-election to a second term, defeating Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams in a rematch. Abrams conceded on election night. The primary occurred on May 24, 2022. Kemp was sworn in for a second term on January 9, 2023.
Kelly Lynn Loeffler is an American businesswoman and politician who served as a United States senator from Georgia from 2020 to 2021. Loeffler was chief executive officer (CEO) of Bakkt, a subsidiary of commodity and financial service provider Intercontinental Exchange, of which her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, is CEO. She is a former co-owner of the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Loeffler is a member of the Republican Party.
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The podcast host Joe Rogan has offered "sincere and humble apologies" after footage emerged of him repeatedly using the N-word on his hit show. The comedian, 54, who has a lucrative deal with the streaming giant Spotify, said it was the "most regretful and shameful thing" he has ever had to speak about, but stressed the clips were "taken out of context". Rogan has come under fire recently for sharing coronavirus misinformation on his hugely popular podcast The Joe Rogan Experience. Prominent musicians including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell have withdrawn their music from the service over its decision to continue hosting the show, which was reportedly acquired for more than $100m (£77m) in 2020.
Resurfaced Joe Rogan footage, shared by musician India Arie, shows the podcaster using the N-word multiple times. On Tuesday (1 February), the Grammy-winning singer said she was removing her music from Spotify because of Rogan's "language around race". She branded the podcaster "problematic", saying that she came to her decision as she felt she should "walk" through a door "opened" by Neil Young. The week before, Young asked that his music be removed from the platform due to its affiliation with Rogan, whom he said had spread "false information" regarding Covid-19 vaccines.