MeidasTouch was a liberal American political action committee formed in March 2020 with the purpose to stop the reelection of Donald Trump in the 2020 United States presidential election. The SuperPAC has 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.
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, a news site.
History
The committee was founded in March 2020 by three brothers from Long Island, while in quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The @MeidasTouch Network YouTube channel stated that it joined YouTube on 14 May 2010.
One of the founders, Ben Meiselas, was an attorney who represented former NFL player Colin Kaepernick.
Brett was an Emmy-winning video editor for The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Jordan was a marketing supervisor living in Brooklyn, New York.
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, while alluding to the mythological Greek king Midas known for his ability to turn everything he touched into gold.
In 2023, FEC filings indicated that the MeidasTouch PAC renamed itself as Democracy Defense Action, and later that year, news reporting indicated the MeidasTouch name was being used for a news network called MeidasTouch Network.
Notable projects
2020 U.S. presidential election
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, which criticized Trump's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States; The committee shared the video in a Twitter reply to George Conway, which was then retweeted by him.
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. Her Wichita State University Tech speech was canceled due to student and teacher pressure.
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.
On June 23, the committee released a video called "Trump Kills US". The video focuses on Trump's comment at his Tulsa rally which urged doctors to "slow the testing down". MeidasTouch called it "Mass murder on a national scale".
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. The ad uses clips of Conway's comments and remarks Trump has presented about women, and was played on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC.
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.
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".
2020–2021 Georgia Senate elections
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.