Screengrab from the MediasTouch podcast.MediasTouch/Supplied
Last month, the left-leaning and unabashedly anti-Trump MeidasTouch Podcast pulled off a rare feat: It bounced Joe Rogan from the top of the charts. The triumph marked one of the few times in the past four years that The Joe Rogan Experience was not the most listened to podcast in the U.S. and Canada. (The top ranking accounts for all downloads and views across podcasts platforms and YouTube, according to analytics platform Podscribe.)
The political podcast is the work of the three Meiselas brothers: Ben, a civil-rights lawyer who represented NFL player Colin Kaepernick; Brett, a former editor on The Ellen DeGeneres Show; and Jordy, who worked in advertising. After the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in 2021, it became clear to them that the media needed to interact and reach Americans in a different way than cable news.
They call MeidasTouch the antidote to Rogan’s show, which has cemented itself as the epicentre of the right-leaning podcasts that have dominated the charts and become a pit stop for campaigning Republican politicians. MeidasTouch publishes around a dozen videos a day on YouTube, where it has around 4.5 million subscribers, and cross-posts the audio on its podcast feeds. The brothers react to breaking news, fact check President Donald Trump’s comments, explain big issues such as tariffs and critique Fox News’ reports.
Increasingly, they have been weighing in on Canadian politics. The NDP’s Charlie Angus has become a regular guest commentator; Ben Meiselas saw the MP call out Trump’s comments about annexing Canada in a December speech and was impressed by his candour.
The Meiselas trio can at times be as blunt as the cable news and podcasts they critique. In a recent video about Trump pausing some tariffs after the stock market plunged, Ben Meiselas says: “I think one of the things our allies are realizing is that they just can’t be nice to this vile, despicable, pathetic and weak person. … You can’t treat him with respect.” They’re not trying to be hyperbolical, he explains, but instead are unapologetic about their pro-democracy values.
The Globe spoke with Ben Meiselas minutes after he had recorded a video about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s first speech since the United States had imposed 25-per-cent tariffs on Canada. On YouTube it’s titled: “Canada PM DESTROYS Trump in Public for Trade War.” So far, it has more than 710,000 views.
Why do you think so many people are turning to MeidasTouch right now?
I think it’s because we are not mincing words. We’re speaking to our audience – not down. We are speaking about the observable reality and we’re saying it in a way that’s clear-eyed and that is data driven.
There’s so much out there that is propagandizing everything and what I call laundering the oligarchy. A lot of the shows – the right-wing podcast bros – try to act like pseudointellectuals and conspiracy theorists and talk about sports. But at the end of the day, what they’re really doing is bringing on some far right-wing person after they’ve attracted the audience with all these other things to normalize that behaviour, and then to try to get somebody elected. I think that is a destructive force in the United States. We’re the antidote to that. We’re the anti-Rogan.
People know where we stand on issues and we let people know what our values and principles are: Be empathetic, support our democracy, support our allies, don’t punch down at people who need help. So much of the right-wing bro podcast sphere is mocking people and just treating people terribly, and we’re the opposite of that.
In the election, the Republican media strategy was going on those types of podcasts specifically because their average listener wasn’t listening to them for politics. What do you make of that?
Rogan’s a jerk. He peddles in conspiracy theories. In my view, we don’t need that. We need an authentic kind of truth-speaking vehicle that appeals to people by speaking to them like people. That to me is the winning ingredient. These podcasts actually really are political, but they’re pretending to be non-political in order to achieve a political aim, so it’s all subterfuge. And without me saying specific names in Canada, I think you’ve seen that podcast playbook playing out in your elections coming up.
I’d love for you to name names.
Jordan Peterson interviews Poilievre and then it gets amplified by Elon Musk. But given the attack by the Trump government and how these pod bros are saying some horrible things about Canada, like 51st state jokes, I doubt he’ll do an interview with a pod bro like that. I could be wrong, but I doubt that that’s a playbook that you want to copy now, given the zeitgeist in Canada.
What do you make of so many Canadians coming to you to get your take on Canadian politics?
First off, it’s a humbling and incredible thing that that trust is placed in us. It comes with awesome responsibility that Canadians are tuned into a podcaster from an American’s living room in Los Angeles.
I think Canadians want to get that perspective of what it’s actually like being an American right now who opposes this. I think it’s also helpful for Canadians, with all of this doom and gloom that’s being projected by corporate media and this negativity towards Canada, to also hear the perspective of Americans who have Canada’s back. That’s an important connection point during these uncertain times.
What are your future plans for the MediasTouch network?
I see our competitors as being Fox, CNN or MSNBC. All of these networks are now trying to go digital, and we’re already here. We are frequently beating Fox and other corporate news in the U.S. with ratings on YouTube views, so it’s just really expanding that digital footprint.
Have you thought about getting a Canadian specific YouTube channel or a Canadian correspondent?
Absolutely. There’s expansion plans into Canada and the MapleMighty or MapleMeidas – as they’re calling themselves. I’m not sure which one they like better – are already representing, but we’d love to expand.
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