The MeidasTouch Podcast - ANOTHER GOP Congressman SUDDENLY QUITS in Congress…

Episode Date: March 23, 2024

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on the abrupt resignation of Wisconsin Republican Congressman Mike Gallagher who left because of the Donald Trump and MAGA takeover of the GOP. Find your forever cookware at Hexclad and get 10% off at https://Hexclad.com/MEIDAS #hexcladpartner Visit https://meidastouch.com for more! Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown Lights On with Jessica Denson: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/lights-on-with-jessica-denson On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Mike Gallagher, who now joins Ken Buck from Colorado, who recently departed from Congress as well, basically saying, I want nothing to do with this MAGA mess. Republican Mike Gallagher, who is now leaving, was viewed as a more moderate member of the Republican Party. He was critical of Donald Trump. He famously put out a statement on January 6th condemning the behavior of his colleagues, condemning Donald Trump. Although, let's be clear, Congressmember Gallagher also did a lot of cowardly things to enable Donald Trump and this MAGA mutation that took over the Republican Party.

Let me read for you right now, though, the statement by Representative Gallagher. And this was not expected, although although if you recall our prior coverage, Republican Ken Buck said that he expected other kind of more moderate Republicans to leave the House of Representatives as well and quit. I mean, I guess one of the things to mention as well, though, Ken Buck was always considered like a very conservative Republican. So when I say, you know, more moderate, I mean, that's relative to this MAGA mutation, which as I've always described here on the Midas Touch Network, ain't conservative. It's not Republican. It's just this kind of Trump cult. Here's the statement from Representative Gallagher. He says, after a conversation with

my family, I have made the decision to resign my position as a member of the House of Representatives for Wisconsin's 8th Congressional District, effective April 19th, 2024. I've worked closely with House Republican leadership on this timeline and look forward to seeing Speaker Johnson appoint a new chair to carry out the important mission of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. My office will continue to operate and provide constituent services to the 8th District for the remainder of the term. Quote, for term serving Northeast Wisconsin in Congress has been the honor of a lifetime and

strengthened my conviction that America is the greatest country in the history been the honor of a lifetime and strengthened my conviction that America is the greatest country in the history of the world. I will forever be proud of the work I did on the Armed Services and Intelligence Committee, chairing the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, and chairing the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. It has truly been an honor to serve in the House of Representatives, although I doubt that Congress member Gallagher appreciated as the chair of the select committee on the Chinese Communist Party that his colleagues, James Comer and Jim Jordan and other MAGA Republicans, relied on a spy from the CCP who had zero credibility to try to impeach President Joe Biden and to get dirt on President

Joe Biden. Many are commenting on the timing of this and how this is going to impact the overall balance of control. Let's go in reverse order there. First, let's talk about the balance of control. When Congress member Gallagher leaves, the U.S. House majority will be 217 to 213, meaning that Republicans can only afford one defection if Democrats vote together. So could there be a Speaker of the House, Hakeem Jeffries, soon. Stay tuned for that because Republican Ken Buck, who was left as well,

said that he expected there to be other departures as well. Also, other Politico insiders or political insiders are noting the timing of how Mike Gallagher decided to exit. As Aaron Frischner writes, wow, like Ken Buck, remember Ken Buck left leaving open the vacancy in Colorado's fourth congressional district, which then thereby screwed over Lauren Boebert, who had moved from the third congressional district to the fourth congressional district. Here's what Frischner says, wow, like Buck, Mike Gallagher carefully timed his departure under Wisconsin law. Congressional vacancies occurring, quote, prior to the second Tuesday in April in an

election year get filled on a faster timeline. An April 19th resignation, as Gallagher's doing here, will keep Gallagher's seat vacant until November. So it is a way that Gallagher can really stick it to his party that has gone full-blown MAGA at this point. Let me share this with you. This is a Republican Congress member Lawler over in New York. And here he's commenting as well on the extremism of MAGA that's taken over the Republican Party and how any remaining moderate Republican members of Congress, like Lawler, are very vulnerable right now because Americans are looking at the behavior of MAGAs in Congress and saying, what in the heck is this? Here, play this clip.

The way to really advance the conservative movement is to win elections. And doing stunts like this actually undermines our ability to win elections. We'll probably get her reelected, though. Sure, in an R plus 30. But you know what? The difference between having a Republican majority and not is seats like mine. Joe Biden won my district by 10 points. And speaking of what Lawler just said, you'll recall our coverage that one of the MAGA factions, because the Speaker of the House is named MAGA Mike Johnson, but one of the other MAGA factions that called themselves the Freedom Caucus in the very Orwellian dystopian sense of the word, who, by the way, kicked out Ken

Buck, who you could disagree with him vehemently like I do, but Buck's a real conservative. The Freedom Caucus members, led by Marjorie Taylor Greene, introduced a motion to vacate or remove the chair, in other words, to get rid of Maga Mike Johnson, to get rid of the Speaker of the House, just as they did with Kevin McCarthy. Because the Congress passed what they call a minibus, not an omnibus spending bill, but a minibus spending bill that will keep government funded through September, the House Freedom MAGAs, as they call themselves, they wanted to attack MAGA Mike because they wanted to defund the government and throw all of our country into total chaos. And MAGA Mike Johnson only

wanted to do a minibus version of throwing our country into chaos by keeping the funding going from prior CRs, staggered continuing resolutions, and keep the funding going through September. So that turned all of the MAGAs very, very, very angry at MAGA Mike, and they want to now remove him and introduce a resolution to do so. Chef Brett here. It's almost spring, so New Year's resolutions might have come and gone, but it's never too late to invest in yourself and your kitchen. Today's sponsor, Hexclad, has revolutionized the cookware industry with an all-in-one hybrid pan that gives you the convenience and cleanup of nonstick, the versatility of your grandma's cast iron, and the durability to last a lifetime.

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Let's play this clip. Right now, I am sheltered in place in my office because we have protesters who have stormed the Capitol, clashing with Capitol police, forcing their way into Statuary Hall. The vice president of the United States was just rushed off the floor of the House by Secret Service? This is Banana Republic crap that we're watching happen right now. And the objectors over the last two days have told me there is no problem with just having a debate. We know we're not going to succeed, so we're just going to object. We're going to have a debate.

We'll voice people's concerns, and then we won't actually overturn our entire system of representative government. So nothing bad will happen. There'll be no cost to this effort. This is the cost of this effort. This is the cost of countenancing an effort by Congress to overturn the election and telling thousands of people that there is a legitimate shot of overturning the election today, even though you know that is not true. We have got to stop this. Mr. President, you have got to stop this. You are the only person who can call this off? Call it off. The election is over. Call it off.

This is bigger than you. It's bigger than any member of Congress. It is about the United States of America, which is more important than any politician. Call it off. It's over. I wanted to share this with you because as I mentioned, Gallagher's going to be gone. We know that Ken Buck resigned as well. And Ken Buck told us other Republicans are going to be gone as well. This is when Ken Buck, after announcing he was leaving

Congress, he said that this is the worst Congress he has ever seen and the worst Congress that has ever existed, as far as he knows, for the last 50 plus years. Play this clip. Really that miserable right now to be, I mean, from the outside in, it doesn't look that fun. From the inside in, is it that bad that you're saying, I'm done? It is the worst year of the nine years and three months that I've been in Congress. And having talked to former members, it's the worst year in 40, 50 years to be in Congress. But I'm leaving because I think there's a job to do out there that I want to go do. And just to share this with you as well, this was House Freedom Caucus member Ken Buck,

also just talking about how the MAGA Republicans pursued a bogus impeachment of President Biden in order just to distract from the Republican dysfunction. Play this clip. I think that the weaponization of government committee, the impeachment of the president are all distractions that will make sure that the base is excited, make sure the base is donating money, make sure that people don't focus on the dysfunction that we have with a speaker who promises something different to a lot of different groups and can't deliver. And that was the Republican Party relying on spies, actual spies from the CCP. You know, ironic because of Gallagher quitting, of course,

because he was supposed to be the committee investigating the CCP. But the Republicans relied on spies and foreign agents from the CCP and from Russia in order to undermine and attack and try to impeach President Biden. And here, you don't have to say, oh, well, Midas touches reporting or whatever. Here's Republican, very conservative Republican, Ken Buck saying it himself. Play the clip. So James Comer and Jim Jordan, they knew that this was not corroborated information, yet they still went public with it, talked about it on television, used it to fuel these investigations regardless? That's what it appears. I certainly didn't have any evidence outside the statement itself that it was credible. And as a prosecutor for 25 years,

Kaylin, I never went to the public until I could prove the reliability of a statement. And even then, the only public statement a prosecutor makes is the charging document. Let's see what the evidence is in this impeachment, if there is more evidence, before going forward. And then folks, of course, earlier in the day, you had Marjorie Taylor Greene introduce the resolution to get rid of MAGA Mike Johnson, and he or she is talking about that. Play the clip. I filed the motion to vacate today, but it's more of a warning and a pink slip. I respect our conference. I paid all my dues to my conference. I'm a member in good standing and I do not wish to inflict pain on our conference and to throw

the House in chaos. But this is basically a warning and it's time for us to go through the process, take our time and find a new Speaker of the House that will stand with Republicans and our Republican majority instead of standing with the Democrats. Folks, doesn't Speaker Hakeem Jeffrey sound nice? By the way, like whatever political party you are affiliated with, I mean, let's just be clear. We need leaders who have core competency. Like there should be a modicum of competency. So you may be Republican and not like the ideas of Hakeem Jeffries and the Democrats, but by the way, and we could have those debates. Like that's fair to have intellectual, intelligent debates, but don't you want to at least have intellectual, intelligent debates?

Like not this like weirdo MAGA stuff. Like let's have the intelligent debates. And I think right now we need leadership in the House of Representatives that can actually lead. That's competent. People acting like adults. Let's start there. And then once we're there, let's have, we can debate other things. So anyway, I'm Ben

Micellus. This is the Midas Touch Network reporting on the MAGA Republican chaos in the House of Representatives. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 3 million subscribers together. Hey, Midas Mighty, love this report? Continue the conversation by following us on Instagram, at Midas Touch, to keep up with the most important news of the day. What are you waiting for? Follow us now.