The MeidasTouch Podcast - Cait Conley Responds to Trump West Point Disaster

Episode Date: May 29, 2025

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on how West Point grads are responding to Donald Trump’s disastrous speech and Meiselas interviews Democratic Congressional Candidate Cait Conley about her response as a West Point grad. Visit https://meidasplus.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 MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial 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 On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Coalition of the Sane: https://meidasnews.com/tag/coalition-of-the-sane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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I'm shouting it from the rooftop. We have a radio ad. You don't need to be up there. The summer big red sale is on from June 5th to June 12th. Conditions apply. Details online. With all of the noise out there, sometimes we just lose the signal

that this is not normal and it's not okay. When we watch Donald Trump with his red political hat in front of the army grads giving this disastrous speech at West Point, yes it's ridiculous, yes it's deranged, yes it's dangerous, but it frequently becomes a one-day story. Then we move on to the next one, not we here at the Midas Touch Network, but the collective kind of we, and I'm referring more though to the to the kind of corporate news and why we've been created to try to stop that because we can't move on from these things

and just go on to the next crisis or the next scandal or the next him making a fool of himself. These things make lasting impressions. And so I thought it was very important that we actually speak to a West Point grad and a West Point grad and a West Point grad who finished top 2% of the entire class when she graduated and get really an inside perspective of what went down.

And I think it's also important that when we think about what Donald Trump's speech was, we again reflect on other West Point commencement speeches and what could have been in the words of former Vice President Kamala Harris because I remember her speech in 2023 which focused on the graduating class. It focused on the future leaders in the army and what that meant not on trophy wives, not on not liking stealth technology, not on attacking former administrations. It focused on the graduating class. So here's what former Vice President

Kamala Harris had to say here, play this clip. And to all the cadets here today, you stand on the broad shoulders of generations of Americans who have worn the uniform, including many barrier breakers and trailblazers. In fact, this year you celebrate the 75th anniversary of the integration of women in the military,

as well as the desegregation of our military. These milestones are a reminder of a fundamental truth. Our military is strongest when it fully reflects the people of America. West Point, each and every day America's service members demonstrate extraordinary skill, dedication, and discipline. They are willing to sacrifice everything to protect the lives and liberty of people they may never meet. And I believe there is no more noble work than a person can do than to serve our nation in uniform. And today then to the class of 2023, you join the greatest fighting force the world has ever seen. So now contrast that to Donald Trump's speech from this past weekend. doesn't work out. But it made him happy for a little while at least. But he found a new wife. He sold his little boat. He got a big yacht. He had one of the biggest yachts anywhere in the world.

So I want to introduce you now to a West Point grad. Her name is Kate Conley. She's running for the congressional seat in New York's 17th congressional district against congressional seat in New York's 17th congressional district against MAGA Republican Mike Lawler. In addition to graduating from West Point, Kate Connolly got her degree, master's degree from MIT and from Harvard. 16 years on active duty as an army officer, deploying overseas six times to keep American safe in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

Kate Connolly, welcome to the Midas Touch podcast. And first and foremost, thank you for your service. And I want to just get your response from an insider's perspective on what went down and how it impacted you. Ben, thanks so much. And to how you introduced this episode, I could not agree more on the importance

about talking about things like West Point and the importance of service and how that type of leadership and that type of sacrifice transcends all. It's not political, it's patriotic. And unfortunately, what we saw transpire at the commencement address didn't resonate with those types of ethics or ethos.

And so I do think it's really important that we talk about these types of issues, the signal through the noise and why it matters. And so I'll tell you somebody who, born and raised in the Hudson Valley, I was a junior in high school when 9-11 happened. And I went home that night and I told my mom, I'm applying to West Point.

And that's because we didn't have much growing up. My mom works for the postal service for 47 years. My dad was a construction worker. So total blue collar family. Didn't have many means, but I will tell you, we had a tremendous amount of pride in this nation and a strong sense of service to your neighbors, to your community, to country.

And so that's why going to West Point was undoubtedly the right answer for me. I also give credit to Demi Moore and G.I. Jane, which I watched a ton of as a kid. I'm helping know that's the direction we wanted to go, at least military service. But that responsibility, that privilege to serve, I mean, this is really one of the most beautiful things I think that represents who we are as a nation. And so yeah,

the four years at West Point and that experience was truly incredible in shaping as a young officer to then lead men and women in uniform on combat tours overseas. As you talked about, 16 years in active duty service, I will tell you, I went back to West Point often during those years when I'd visit my family to remind myself about the incredible ideals that that institution was established on and cultivates in the next generation of military leaders. And it's this beautiful place where, you know,

you have young men and women from all 50 states and territories, from families that span the economic spectrum of some of our country's poorest to some of our country's wealthiest families. And they're all there with this one incredible calling, and that is to serve our country, to swear an oath to the Constitution, right? To put your life on the line

in support of something bigger and better than yourself. And that is the security and safety of Americans. And really, I think living that type of lifestyle and understanding that responsibility is something that leaders in Washington need to not only recognize and honor and respect, but to also continue to cultivate and instill. And so when you look at our nation and the challenges we still have ahead of us,

we need leaders that are laser focused on the very real national security challenges our country faces. We have things like a war in Ukraine that are still raging. We have terrorist groups that are still plotting against the United States and Americans. We have Iran looking to develop a nuclear weapon. There are very real national security challenges that our nation should be focused on. And instead, you know, we're talking about these nonsense things.

And so this is where I think serious leaders who have actually gone out there and seen what it takes to get it done are important to step up right now and to say, let's focus on what really matters for the American people. You know, and I think that's the most important thing is to talk about just leadership. And then I guess even even a step below on the hierarchy, how just like behaving like an adult like like a grown-up and and the behavior that I see frequently from Donald Trump and the leaders in this Republican Party

Feels and again, it's it's offensive to children because children behave more mature than this but sometimes I say this behavior is like, if a little child was doing these things or posting these types of things or, you know, behaving this way, I would say, I'm not okay with it. So why are we supporting it when it's in a Republican, when it's a political party, and why is it being normalized as like whatever?

And you know, I go to your district because someone like a Mike Lawler was out there trying at first he represented to everybody in the community that he was the normal guy that he was going to go in there and I'm a centrist. And occasionally, you know, you'll see him try to pretend to do that. He'll do, you know, the funny bit. Hey, you remember me? I'm Lawler. Everybody remembers me.

But then when it comes to the voting, when it comes to the actual time, okay, well, now you got to be a leader every single time. He'll do the exact opposite. And that, and that, that complicity to me is what enable it it's almost worse than the trumps, because we know what the trumps are. To me, it's the wolf in sheep's clothing, like the lullers that get me even more worried. You know, Ben, you're talking about, I did the six overseas tours

that I can kind of talk about. A lot of my stuff that I did during those days was classified, but, you know, going to Yemen to target Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula terrorists. If you remember the underwear bomber from 2009 that came from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. If you remember after Benghazi, I went to North Africa, right, to hold those accountable for the attacks

on the Benghazi consulate accountable. We did things like fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria as they were plotting terror attacks and trying to really mobilize lone wolf terrorist actors in Europe and the United States. When you look at the importance of these missions that are truly no fail, you don't have the luxury of just saying whatever you want

or doing whatever you want. You have a responsibility to deal with the hard facts and realities. You don't have the luxury of not doing your job or saying one thing and doing another. And I think this is what we're talking about right now. The stakes are too high. Failure is not an option. And we don't have serious people taking this stuff on. We have people who say one thing and do another. Whether it's incidents like Signalgate, whether it's things like the commencement speech which we just heard, you know,

or just overall conduct and decision-making. The stakes are too high for failure. And instead of having these really thoughtful and deliberate discussions and processes and taking it seriously, we see these routine mistakes that are largely based in either negligence or just disregard for doing the right thing.

I think this is where it's like, we should be showing the world right now that America is a superpower. And instead we're showing them it's amateur hour. And the American people deserve better. You know, we just celebrated Memorial Day where we honor those who've given the ultimate sacrifice for all of us, not a single political party, but for all Americans and for our country and what we stand for. And I think that's what we need to constantly remember is we owe those people, those patriots, who put this nation first and gave all to honor that sacrifice by making this country better than we found it, right?

And I am a firm believer, and I have tremendous faith that the best days for our country are still ahead of us, but we have a tremendous amount of work to do to make sure that is the case. And I don't see politicians stepping up and demonstrating they can lead us out of this. No, finally, when it comes to New York's 17th congressional district, that's the district Hudson Valley that Mike Lawler, Republican holds right now.

It's a competitive, democratic primary field. We had the opportunity to speak to others, you know, in the primary. So we were glad to be able to to kind of speak to you as well. So to tell our audience about, you know, your vision in that congressional district and in a competitive primary field, what's been your pitch to the voters? Thanks, Ben. So I'll tell you running for office was not my plan for 2025. But I feel like I have a responsibility right now to step up because I believe our country is at a crossroads and the politicians who got us into this mess on both sides

are not gonna be the ones who fix it or lead us out of it. And right now our country needs true leadership. And that's where I am incredibly proud of my Hudson Valley roots. I told you my mom, right? Post office for 47 years, my dad, a construction worker. I understand how hard it is for working families to make ends meet.

I hear about families who are working two jobs and still can't pay the rent or are cutting back on grocery bills, but they can still barely afford their prescriptions. Like we have made it too hard in America for working class families to get by. We have to focus on making this more affordable and taking care of the people who are throwing everything they have in to make this country the incredible place that it is.

And so that's where I think there is a tremendous amount of work to be done. And I don't think we see that happening. I mean, look at the House bill that just passed, right, where we're cutting $700 billion in Medicaid. We're going to leave working class families, like in limbo, for their own health care. And that should be unacceptable here. And this is where it goes back to we need true leaders to step up who are going to do what's right for this country, for all Americans. And this is where certainly in New York 17, we deserve better. And that's where I have been incredibly disappointed by the lack of leadership by the two-facedness that we're seeing coming out of Mike Lawler. And my family deserves better. I deserve better.

This community deserves better. So that's why I'm doing this, because throughout my career, I've raised my hand to say, I will continue to serve this country. I have been a proven leader. That's battle tested. That's delivered results for this country. And I will continue to do that for New York 17. And I think that type of leadership matters more now than ever.

Kate Connolly, thanks for your service and thank you for your perspective on the West Point Grant and thanks for everything you're doing for joining us. No, thanks so much, Ben. Everybody hit subscribe and let's hit 5 million subscribers. Can't get enough Midas? Check out the Midas Plus Substack for ad-free articles, reports, and let's hit 5 million subscribers.