The MeidasTouch Podcast - Congressman Robert Garcia on Trump Chaos

Episode Date: February 26, 2025

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Donald Trump’s plans crashing fast and Meiselas speaks with Democratic Congressman Robert Garcia about these fast moving events. 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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If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Donald Trump is playing with toy planes in his office, the Oval Office right there. Take a look, though, at that mirror behind you. Zoom in right there. That's real. That's Elon Musk right there watching Donald Trump play with toy planes as Musk is really running the show and just destroying our government. We just learned this as well, that Doge quietly has deleted its purported five biggest spending cuts that it was celebrating, or perhaps the headline should be lying about last week. So those are now removed from the site.

And here's what we're learning about as well, about 20 to 21 people who worked within the United States Digital Service Office, an office established during the Obama era that's supposed to help with all of the technology and the data and all of that. They're resigning. They're saying the reason for their resignation is because that they're unable to basically perform their functions. We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations. And we are basically being asked to violate our oath of office by Donald Trump and Elon Musk. So they resigned. Let's bring in Democratic Congress member Robert Garcia. You know, we saw mass resignations, I think last week or the week before at the Department of Justice, both at SDNY as well as Maine Justice. We're seeing more mass resignations here. These are important people as

well because they kind of hold the infrastructure together across presidential administrations. Just what are you making of all of this, the chaos, the cruelty? What's going on? I mean, look, this is what Elon Musk has been all about. I think that it's all chaos. It's complete destruction of the federal bureaucracy. And it's also incredibly damaging and hurtful to so many people. I've talked to so many people back home who are frightened. They feel like they're losing their job. They don't know what to do. They had to respond to Elon's crazy, send me the five things you did for the week email, which then retracted.

So just a lot of chaos and confusion. And obviously, at the same time, Elon Musk and his tech bro crew are lying. And they're putting out savings that are not really happening. And so it's clear. The one thing that's clear with all of this is that Elon Musk is pulling the strings and he, for all intents and purposes, is the president. Donald Trump has advocated all of his power and responsibility to Elon Musk. And Elon Musk gets richer by the day. He was just getting more and more and more wealthy. And being the richest man on the planet is not enough for Elon Musk. I want to show you this, Congress member. There was a press conference held earlier in the day with Caroline Levitt, the press secretary. She was asked a question about who is the Doge administrator? Is was asking the lawyer for the administration who it was,

and the lawyer responded, I don't know the answer to that. Can you tell us who the administrator of Doge is? Again, I've been asked and answered this question. Elon Musk is overseeing Doge. There are career... There are... No, Elon Musk is a special government employee, which I've also been asked and have answered that question as well.

There are career officials at Doge. There are political appointees at Doge. I'm not going to reveal the name of that individual from this podium. I'm happy to follow up and provide that to you. But we've been incredibly transparent about the way that Doge is working. John. I'm not going to reveal it. We've been incredibly transparent. I mean, this is a psycho. I don't know. What in the world? Yeah, I'm not sure how you can say in one breath that you're being incredibly transparent and then just right after then basically say that she's not going to reveal who the administrator

is of their largest, splashiest agency that they somehow created out of thin air. So no, it's crazy. At the same time, we have to take it very seriously that they are causing massive harm. And Elon Musk is, of course, doing all of this, as we know, and as you have said many times, so that he can give himself a huge tax break. I mean, he wants to be even more wealthy. He wants his billionaire buddies and his companies to get larger tax break. I mean, he wants to be even more wealthy. He wants his billionaire buddies and his companies to get larger tax breaks. And the only way to do that is to dismantle the federal bureaucracy, dismantle the federal government. And then of course, damage it so much

that then he and his pals can go around and scoop up contracts to then rebuild and build better products for the government. It's a complete sham and it's got to be called out. And I'm glad that you're seeing Democrats on the ground right now starting to get really fired up about it. Well, I think you're also seeing independents, Republicans, people who are not political also rising up. I mean, this is touching everybody in some way, whether your 401k is down right now, whether you've lost your job, whether a friend or someone you know has lost their job and is worried about being homeless, whether you're on Medicaid and you're about to lose your Medicaid because of this GOP budget scam that's going to help the billionaires, whether you have essential services that you rely on, whether the Department of Education was actually providing you services. It's like everyone's been touched, it seems, already in such a destructive way. I'm seeing these Republican town halls even where Republican constituents are standing up and saying, what the hell is going on here now. Are you seeing, I don't know if the word vibe shift is the right way, but are we reading too much into these Republican town halls or is something happening now that feels and looks

and is different? Well, no, I think something's definitely happening. I've been home and talking to folks these last few days. And what you hear from everyone is that there is concern about Elon Musk. And certainly there's more concern amongst Democrats. And, you know, you have some Republicans that are in the tank for Donald Trump. But a lot of people that are just, you know, maybe they may not be super political, but there might be independents or Republican leaning. They all don't understand what Elon Musk is doing. And they're all hearing stories about a friend who may have lost a job or, you know, a family member that may have been in the park service or worked for the VA and now having to essentially be frightened about keeping their jobs and not knowing if they actually have a future for themselves and their family. So you are hearing that.

And I do think, you know, a lot of Republicans want to blame, oh, these are just Democrats coming to these town halls for Republicans. I mean, that's just not true. Yes, there are all types of folks that come to these town halls for Republicans. I mean, that's just not true. Yes, there are all types of folks that come to these town halls, but a lot of Republicans and independents are also coming to these town halls for Republicans because they're pissed, they're upset. And so there is a shift on the ground that is happening. We just got to continue moving it. And we've got to continue to honestly encourage it because Republicans need to hear from people in their districts. Let's talk about the attack on you by the Department of Justice, which is what now referring to itself as Donald Trump's personal lawyers. I mean, that guy, the United States attorney from the District of Columbia, who had no federal prosecutorial experience ever before

getting this position. He represent the January Sixers. He called them heroes. That's what he was known for before getting this very distinguished position. I mean, the United States attorney for DC is like the people who are usually the most experienced federal prosecutors of the most elite. And they give it to this guy, but he came after you. He wrote a letter saying that he was basically criminally investigating you because you utilized your free speech rights to criticize the Trump administration.

And then he's out there saying, this is what Martin writes, as Trump's personal lawyers, he goes on and talks about how he's Trump's, as Trump's lawyers, we're proud to do this, we're proud to do that. Talk to us about these attacks on you, what that letter was to you, what your response is going to be. Is there any information that hasn't been reported? I mean, what's the status of that investigation? Tell us, what do we know? So, I mean, look, they've asked us to clarify our remarks. There's nothing to clarify. A metaphor is a metaphor. I've been using figure of speech in my whole life.

We all have. And I'm not going to be silenced or backed down because Elon Musk or Donald Trump get offended by something I say. I mean, we should be encouraging folks to bring the fire to our debates. We should be encouraging folks to be tough in this moment, not to retreat. So we're not going to back down on that. But look, we'll see what they choose to take as the next step. This US attorney has said that he's opening up this investigation. I'm not sure what much

there is to investigate. I said what I said on CNN. It was out in the public sphere, and no reasonable person would assume that I said anything that was threatening. It was a figure of speech. I mean, saying that you think that the American people want us to bring weapons to this bar fight, that's a figure of speech. And I think we all know that. So we'll see what they do, but we're going to keep being loud and strong and and like i've told other democrats we can't be intimidated by these tactics uh maybe if you can we know that a lot of the magas watch this musk may be watching this now would you direct a message a lot of the constituents are saying why isn't musk uh you know testifying before congress why isn't he showing up before oversight or any of

these you know hearings so if if he was watching this now what would your message be about you know testifying before the house and letting the american people know what the hell he and you know mr big balls and his crew of 19 to 25 year olds are doing now elon musk what what what are you afraid of don't be afraid of coming in front of our committee is what I would say to Elon Musk. I'm not sure what there is that he's so afraid of folks like myself or Jasmine Crockett or Maxwell Frost. Just come before us, allow us to ask you some questions to get to the bottom of what's going on. And you should be able to stand in front of the American public and be honest about what you're actually trying to do and i think that's

something that we've asked for republicans shot that motion down unanimously they don't want elon mess to testify because they don't want to be held accountable it's it's quite cowardly congress member garcia please join us again let's's, you know, just at this point, it doesn the people and people like what the hell is this? Like this isn't what I learned about in government class. This isn't checks and balances. This is some idiocracy authoritarian crap. Anyway, thanks for thanks. If you want to say anything else, I'll let you get the final word. No, just thanks for keep reporting the story. We got to continue to expose Elon Musk and, you know, turn this around. So thanks. Everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to 5 million subscribers and thanks for watching. Can't get enough Midas? Check out the Midas

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