The Breakfast Club - DONKEY: Hakeem Jeffries Says He Doesn't Support Medicare For All

Episode Date: August 18, 2026

Charlamagne Tha God Gives Donkey of The Day to Hakeem Jeffries For Saying He Doesn't Support Medicare For All. Listen for moreYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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you listen to joy 101 with hoda cotby on the iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts it's time for donkey of the day there's a bunch of donkeys out here in this street i've made donkey today called donkey of the day it really caught me off guard we live a life where we bite our tongue based off who we may offend we never would say anything you're sorry shalda man give a tour give it to you are a donkey that is why shalememagne is here Some donkey today's just like that. On the breakfast club. Okay, Salome, who will be given donkey of the day to today?

Well, you know, donkey today for Tuesday, August 18th, goes to one of the most confusing people in American politics, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries. Well, actually, he's not confusing. If you follow the corporate pack money, then you know exactly why Hakeem moves the way he moves. Okay, it's the reason they call him A-PAC Shakor. It's a reason they call him A-PAC-Rucky.

But today, we aren't here to talk about A-PAC. We are here to discuss Medicare for all. Okay, what is Medicare for all? It is a proposed single-payer national health insurance system for the U.S. It would expand and improve the current public Medicare program to cover all U.S. residents, replacing private health insurance companies and eliminating out-of-pocket costs like premiums, co-pays, and deductibles. A lot of data I've seen says around 50 to 60 percent of all Americans support a national Medicare for all our single-payer health care system. But Hakeem Jeffries is not one of those people.

See, Hakeem was on Meet the Press with Kristen Welker and the House Minority Leader indicated. that he does not currently support Medicare for all, okay, legislation. Even though he co-sponsored similar bills from 2013 to 2021. Let's go to meet the press for the report, please. All right, let's move on to Medicare for all. You co-sponsored Medicare for All legislation from 2013 to 2021.

You've not co-sponsored it since you became Democratic leader. Will you put Medicare for all up for a vote if you become speaker? Well, listen, these are all conversations that the House Democratic Caucus is going to have to have. Right now, we're focused on November 3rd, not January 3rd. What we are promising the American people is that we're going to fight to make health care affordable for every single American. And we know there's a lot of damage that Republicans have done that we've got to restore and repair. For instance, Republicans have enacted the largest cut to Medicaid in

American history. More than a trillion dollars or so has been cut from Medicaid, and what you're going to have is about 14 million Americans. lose access to health care. Do you personally support Medicare for all? Do you personally support Medicare for all? No, as you indicated, I haven't co-sponsored the Medicare for all legislation that has been introduced over the last several years. I do think we need to figure out how to fix our broken health care system

and then build something better once we repair the damage that has been done. Now, that will include doing things like extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits so that more than 20 million people who have seen their health insurance premium skyrocket, in some cases, by up to $1,000 a month, that's not sustainable, and that's something that Donald Trump and Republicans have visited upon the American people. Just to be very clear, though, as a Democratic leader in the House, would you vote for or against Medicare for all? I think, as you've indicated in your question to me,

it's not legislation that I currently am co-sponsoring, or that I support. Okay. But we do support the notion that we've got to find a path forward to fix our broken health care system and make health care affordable for every single American. Pathetic. Some Democrats don't want to win, and it's about time folks stop pretending that they do. Okay.

Now, listen, I want to be clear. Hakeem Jeffries is not getting don't here today because he doesn't support Medicare for all. You are allowed to not support Medicare for all. You can believe in a public option. You can believe in. scrinfining Obamacare. You can believe in expanding Medicare and Medicaid. You can believe there's another way to get every American affordable health care.

That's called having a policy position. But what Hakeem did on Meet the Press illustrates one of the biggest problems Democrats have right now. And it's one of the things that pisses me off the most about the Democratic Party. They will tell people what they're against without giving them something equally clear that they're for. Okay. We will come back to that. But I have a question for Hakeem Jeffries in regards to Medicare for all. simply what changed okay right hakeem in september of 2019 you became a co-sponsor of the medicare for all act

then in 2021 hakeem you know you wasn't just somebody who eventually jumped on the medicare for all no you was an original co-sponsor of the medicare for all act of 2021 meaning when that bill was introduced your name was already on it okay now fast forward to 2006 hakeem jeffreys as you just heard goes on meet the press and says medicare for all is not legislation that he currently co-sponsors are supports once again what changed what did you learn between 2021 and now that changed your mind did the economics change did you discover something about medicare for all that you didn't you know know when you co-sponsored it did america's health care system suddenly get better we know the answer to that did premiums get so cheap that i missed the announcement did deductibles disappear did

prescription drugs become free did medical debt go away that insurance companies stop denying claims because if any of that happened we all missed it okay and by the way politicians are absolutely allowed to change their minds. Okay, we should actually encourage people, people, to change their minds when they get new information. Growth requires changing your mind sometimes. Wisdom requires changing your mind sometimes. But when you're an elected official

and you change your position on something this significant that people deserve to know why, especially when the thing that changed most dramatically during that time appears to be your position, okay? Not your policy position, your actual position, because once again in 2021 Hakeem you was a congressman from Brooklyn remember that remember when you was a congressman from Brooklyn

and you was quoting Biggie and Jay appearing to be down with the people today you're the leader of the House Democrats okay the House Democratic caucus he could potentially become speaker at a house but you appear to be down with corporate America not the people so I have to ask did your beliefs change when your title changed

because that's what people hate about politics okay it's not disagreement all right it's the feeling that politicians believe one thing when they're trying to move up and another thing once they moved up. Okay? And Akeem Jeffries has repeatedly said health care is right. All right. If health care is a right, how are you going to guarantee

that right? That's all we want to know. Okay, because if Medicare for all isn't the answer anymore, what's the answer? Don't just tell me what you don't support. Tell me what you do support. How are Democrats going to make sure every American has health care? How are you going to lower premiums? How are you going to lower deductibles? How are you going to lower prescription drug prices? How are you going to

stop families from being financially destroyed because somebody simply got sick. What happens to the millions of Americans who are uninsured or underinsured? What's the plan, my guy? Okay. Because this is another problem Democrats have. You cannot spend all day telling America what Republicans are doing wrong and never clearly articulate what you're going to do right.

Opposition is not an agenda. Resistance is not an agenda. We're not them. It's not an agenda. And saying we need to fix our broken health care system isn't a plan until you tell people how you're going to fix the broken health care system regular people don't wake up debating the finer points of single pair of health care okay they wake up asking why am i paying hundreds of dollars a month for insurance and still have a deductible that's thousands of dollars

okay why did my insurance company deny the procedure my doctor said i need why does this prescription cost hundreds of dollars that i don't have why am i afraid to go to the er because i don't know what the bill is going to look like that's what people are dealing with in real life ikeem so once again I don't need you to support Medicare for All, but I need you to explain why you supported Medicare for All when you weren't the Democratic leader, but Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffreys, does it. Okay, what changed, all right?

Was it the policy, was it the country, or your position? And I'm asking because leadership should make, you know, shouldn't make your convictions harder to find. Leadership should make your convictions clearer. Okay, if you believed Medicare for All was a solution in 2019 and believed it enough to become an original co-sponsant in 2020, but you don't believe it's the solution in 2026. You have to tell us why.

And more importantly, probably the most important, tell us what replaced it. Because you can't tell Americans health care is a right and then get vague when they ask you how you're going to guarantee that right. Rights require mechanisms, rights require. Policy rights requires somebody actually fighting to make those rights real.

And maybe that's the lesson in all of this. The easiest thing for a politician to change is their position when their position changes. When you're trying to climb the ladder, Bold ideas sound great. Okay, and then you become responsible for protecting seats and raising money and maintaining coalitions and potentially becoming speaker, not to mention taking corporate pack money. And suddenly those bold ideas get a whole lot quiet on the creek. Okay.

I understand the politics of that. But the American people deserve more than politics. They deserve an explanation. So, Congressman Jeffries, you don't owe anyone your support for Medicare for all. What you owe the American people is an explanation for why something worthy of your signature. in 2021 isn't worthy of your support in 2026 and until you explain that people have every right to wonder whether the thing that changed was the policy or the politician. Please give House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries the biggest he all.

All right. What the hell was that? I said all right. I said, all right. It sounds like you need to go see somebody right now. Uh-uh. Jesus Christ. That's that damn biscuit. God.

It sounds like a damn cat. The guy hair stuck and they threw him. That's what that sounds like. He's about to cough up a frog. You know, one time I seen somebody put root work on someone and they coughed up a whole frog. Sounded just like that. See, it could be a hairball.

How many biscuits you had? All right. Thank you for that donkey of the day. Donkey of the day is sponsored by renowned personal injury attorney Michael the Bull Lamensoff. Don't be a donkey when you need a fighter on your side. If you're ever injured, go to Michael the Bull.com. That's MichaeltoBoole.com.

And when you mess with the bull, You get the horns. If your bookshelf and your for-you page are equally important to your personality, welcome home. Pro Society is a weekly podcast that's part book club, part group chat for anyone who thinks pride and prejudice and love island to serve the same level of discourse. Each week, we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and pop culture with your favorite writers, book talk creators, and plenty of overthought opinions. Yeah, I'm obsessed. Listen to Pro Society on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or online. wherever you get your podcasts.

I survived nine months in captivity, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are the Survivor Files. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable, abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. These are stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the I Heart Radio, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Hoda Kotby, host of the podcast, Joy 101 with Hoda Kotvey. You know, I'm always searching for inspiration and useful tools to maximize joy.

Like when my friend Henry Winkler offered advice to aspiring actors and really anybody hoping to stand out. You're not hired just to fill time and space. You're hired to fill the space with you. Listen to Joy 101 with Hoda Kotby on the I Heart Rout. radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Our hometown is not a test tube. 90 miles northeast of Nashville, a battle for the future of America, plays out in one small

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