The MeidasTouch Podcast - GOP Leaders Implode on Sunday Shows as Trump Tanks Party

Episode Date: December 8, 2025

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Donald Trump’s surrogates in his Cabinet and in GOP leadership crashing and burning on live tv as his approval plummets and the Republican brand is tainted. Qualia Senolytic: Go to https://qualialife.com/MEIDAS for up to 50% off your purchase and use code MEIDAS for an additional 15%. 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At Capital One, we're more than just a credit card company. We're people just like you who believe in the power of yes. Yes to new opportunities. Yes to second chances. Yes to a fresh start. That's why we've helped over 4 million Canadians get access to a credit card. Because at Capital One, we say yes, so you don't have to hear another no. What will you do with your yes?

Get the yes you've been waiting for at Capital One.ca.ca. slash yes terms and conditions apply maga republican leaders and trump mager republican cabinet members were spiraling out of control on live tv on the sunday shows to try to justify trump's disastrous presidency his plummeting approval the fact that americans despise the guy let me show you what went down you had donald trump's treasury secretary scott besant continuing to say that he owns a soybean farm He gets called out for it, and he goes, well, I have family members work on it, which we know is not true. Here, play this clip. Since the agreement with the Chinese, they are going to buy 12.5 million metric tons.

But Margaret, I'm involved in the agriculture industry. I run a soybean farm. And I can tell you. You own or invest in it. Sorry? You own or invest. And people in my family go out and work on it. I actually just divest it this week as part of my ethics agreement.

So I'm out of that business, but I probably know more about any Treasury Secretary than about agriculture since the 1800s. And I can tell you that what farmers need is certainty. And we have put that in place with this trade deal. Then you have Maria Bartaroma speaking with Maga Republican Senator McCormick about Donald Trump's economic plans and his policies to which Senator McCormick, Mager Republican from Pennsylvania, says, I think the message we need to take. tell the American people as we inherited a train wreck from Biden, but we've saved the day.

Here, play this clip. I think to be with the president on Tuesday, and what are you expecting the president's messages to be? Well, I'm hoping to be with him, and I was just in Pennsylvania the last three days in that part of the Pennsylvania, the northeastern part. And listen, I think the message is that we inherited a train wreck from the Biden administration out of control inflation, an enormous regulatory state, real wage growth hadn't kept up. And we've made a lot of progress in the last 12 months with the President's agenda.

Inflation is about half of what it was on average during the Biden administration. Real wage growth exceeds the inflation numbers. And you've got all sorts of things that we did right out of the gate, which is putting money in the pockets of working families, whether it's the child care tax credit or no tax on tips, no tax in overtime. So we've made a lot of progress, but there's a lot more work to do. And I think the president will lay out that agenda and how all the policies that he's put in place are going to help working families. And there's more to come, particularly in deregulation and in energy dominance. Actually, the economy right now is horrible for most Americans. And you didn't

inherit a train wreck. You inherited an economy that the economist, the Wall Street Journal, refer to as the envy of the world. There was a manufacturing boom beginning to take place. I think lots of economic papers called it a Goldilocks economy. Here, going back to Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, he says that actually the economy right now is much better than we thought it would be. What does that even mean? You promised a golden age, and right now it is anything but and the American people are suffering. Here, play this clip. lower numbers of purchases and higher prices? The economy's been better than we thought.

We've had the 4% GDP growth in a couple of quarters. We're going to finish the year despite the Schumer's shutdown with 3% real GDP growth. And by the way, you know, Treasury Secretary Scott Besant is a billionaire and he's so detached from what people are experiencing. But just look at that shit-eating grin of his. He's so, like, proud of himself for the. deceit and the lies that he spreads. I just, I can't get that annoying face out of my mind because this guy is just the worst. He's then asked on one of the morning shows about prices in the toy

space that are going up because inflation is surging right now. And his response is that inflation is a composite number and it's roughly the same every year. And so there's actually no inflation right now. What are you talking about? What does that even mean? We know inflation's rising right now. we all go out there. I just had a breakfast. I mean, for those of you seeing the background, I just had, I just had breakfast in Palm Springs. I brought my wife, my niece, and my sister-in-law, and my baby girl, and we just had standard eggs, bacon, you know, a normal breakfast each. The bill was $165 right now here. Anyway, here, play this clip. Well, the maker of Tonka trucks, their CEO said it's going to cost 40 bucks for their toys right now because of tariffs and inflation. It was 30 bucks

a year before that 25. Prices in the toy space are accelerating and people are feeling that. Well, Margaret, you know, inflation is a composite number and it's roughly the same year over year. And if we were to look at all imported goods, imported goods inflation is below the inflation number. The inflation number, you mean that? The PC, the PC number, which is about 2.9%, imported goods inflation is about 1.8. It's the service economy that's generating inflation, which actually has nothing to do with tariffs. Okay, going back to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent right here. He's asked again about Donald Trump saying affordability is a con job. Here, play this clip. We hear from, for example, the president,

when he says that affordability is a con job by Democrats, that seems to just not be resonating with consumers that have been polled by CBS. 60% of Americans polled by this network told us President Trump makes prices and inflation sound better than they really are. And his approval rating in the economy is now down to 36% in our latest poll. On inflation, approval is even lower. 32%. Don't you need to show that you feel the pain?

Well, Margaret, I think the president's frustrated by the media coverage of what's going on. This is the polling of average Americans. Yeah, but I think the average Americans, they are hearing a lot of it from media coverage. And I will tell you that affordability has two components. There's inflation. And then there's real incomes. Real incomes are up about 1%. And what we're not going to do is say that Americans don't know what they're feeling.

We've been working on it every day. I was on your show on March talking about affordability. We've made a lot of gains, but remember, we've got this embedded inflation from the Biden years where... And again, look at his face. Look at this face of this liar, this smug, arrogant, liar. And again, he's a billionaire. He bought himself in Charleston, South Carolina, before taking this job, a pink Barbie Malibu Mansion replica in Charleston, where he lived in a pink Malibu Barbie home. like $22 million.

And this is the guy saying, Thanksgiving was much cheaper. He goes, he says, Thanksgiving was much cheaper this year. Turkeys were down 16%. I don't know where you're shopping right now. Thanksgiving was not cheaper. And stop the freaking gas sliding, people.

We know we've went out. If you're out there, we know it's more expensive. Here, play this clip. Well, I mean, grocery prices are up nearly 3% compared to last September, the president seems to be acknowledging that grocery prices or at least beef prices are a challenge because he put out this order just yesterday saying they're going to investigate corporate price gouging for high beef prices. Isn't suing the food companies the same thing

the Biden administration did and it didn't really work? Well, nothing. Nothing the Biden administration did work. So why are you doing it? Because this isn't the same thing. If they had done this, if they've done it properly, we'd be in a different spot. And beef is one component. Thanksgiving turkey was down 16%. Well, I... So next, Treasury Secretary Scott Besson's asked, so if everything's great, if everything's fine,

with farmers and you're saying things are great, why is it that you need to bail out farmers right now? Why do you have to give them what you're calling a bridge payment, which is a bailout, to the farmers right now? And he goes, well, because you need to help them with the financing now because next year is going to be so great. Here, play this clue. Why, if everything's fine, then why do farmers need a bridge payment from the agricultural department? Sorry?

Why would farmers need a bridge payment from the agriculture department then? Because these prices haven't come in because the Chinese actually used our soybean farmers as pawns in the trade negotiations. And we are going to create this bridge because, again, Agriculture is all about the future. You've got to start financing for planning next year. They'll win things will be very good. Ever have one of those moments where your body reminds you it's not 25 anymore?

Maybe it's the slower recovery after a workout or the way your joints creak like an old floorboard. And don't get me started on how much worse it is in the winter. It's like my energy goes into hibernation. Aging is a reality for all of us. But our actions determine how we age. That's why I use qualia senolytic to help keep my cells healthy and my body feeling youthful.

Zombie cells are real, and they're aging you. These senescent cells stop being useful, but stick around draining your energy, slowing recovery, and making you feel older than you are. Qualicenoletic helps your body fight back against aging. It's a powerful, clinically tested formula with nine vegan, plant-derived compounds that support your body's natural ability

to eliminate zombie cells, so you can feel sharper, stronger, and more energized. Take it just two days a month. That's all it takes. Take Quality Asanalytic for just two days a month and start aging better at the cellular level. After adding Quality Asanalytic to my routine, I noticed the real difference. My energy feels steadier, recovery is quicker, and mentally, I'm more dialed in. Experience the science of feeling younger. Go to QualityLife.com for up to 50% off your purchase and use code Midas for an additional 15%. That's qualia life.com slash mitus for up to 50% off your purchase. Your older self will thank you. And thanks to

Qualia for sponsoring this episode. Then they bring on this Maga Republican Senator John Curtis from Utah who tries to fancy himself as a moderate, but he's really not. He aids and abets all of Trump's extremism. But he says it in a tone that he tries to act like he's reflecting on things in a serious way. He isn't. And he's asked about Donald Trump calling the entire Somalian community garbage, saying they're garbage people. Again, clearly racist and xenophobic and hateful, but Trump's a racist, xenophobic, hateful person. So what do you have to say about that, Senator Curtis, Maga Republican Senator Curtis? And he's like, well, you know, I don't like, I don't love that language.

But this is what the American people voted for. We wanted to experience pain. So we're getting the pain that we deserve. Here play this clip. Right. And the best thing I can do is set my. example. And I think all of us need to wake up every morning, look in the mirror and say, what are we doing? What am I doing specifically today to make this country a better country,

to make all of our immigrants feel more welcome? That's what we've always had. And I think if more of us would do that, it would matter less what individual said. Right. But as you know, he's not just an individual. He's the president of the United States calling an entire community garbage. So, you know, it wasn't very long ago, just a little year ago, that we elected. him and we knew very well what we were electing at the time the country wanted a disruptor and he's put disruptors into place tom homo and things like that and that disruption is very very painful but you have to remember the reason i think the country went that direction is they were very uncomfortable with a number of things we were doing in this country and we wanted

a disruptor and uh for good or bad that's what disruption brings and they bring on tom cotton just to me tom cottons basically just uh the the the this guy's a weird guy i mean there's more to this guy's background than I think people know publicly, but I'll just leave it at that. Okay. I'll leave it at that. But Tom, and he tries to compensate for that with this bloodlust and acting like he's got all this testosterone and ah, here's what we're going to do. So he's asked about a few things.

So first he's asked, well, how are you protecting Arkansas right now from drugs if Donald Trump is pardoning the biggest drug trafficker? Juan Orlando Hernandez, who brought in 500 tons of cocaine and was instrumental in helping the Sinaloa cartel. So does that make sense to you? Play this clip. You are talking about the president protecting Americans, Arkansasans from drugs. And yet just this week, the president pardoned, the former president of Honduras, who trafficked more than 500 tons of cocaine into the United States. He was serving a 45-year sentence, Senator. How does that make America safer?

Well, I haven't spoken to the president about that pardon. There may be strategic reasons to pardon a former president of Honduras because of our relationship with Honduras and trying to move them in a more pro-American direction. I'll leave that open as a possibility. But, Chris, I think you know, my general approach to crime is that we should lock him, we should convict them, and then we should lock them up. And once they're locked up, we should keep them locked up. So given that, do you oppose the pardon, given that you're saying you want to protect our Kansas? I'd have to know more about the circumstances. Sometimes pardons of foreign nationals who have been leaders of other countries do have underlying strategic reasons.

But my approach, as you know, Kristen, to crime is to lock him up, throw away the key, and don't let him out. The war power. Oh, I guess he doesn't know about that. But what he does know is that when the survivors of the first boat strike on September 2nd were waving their shirts and they were surrendering and they were stranded in the water that actually they were signaling that they wanted to pick up more drugs. Let me just say this as well. The ship was headed to Suriname. The ship was heading the fishing boat, not even a ship, the little tiny fishing boat that couldn't even make it to the U.S. without seven refueles if it was going in the direction. It was going from Venezuela, east, east, outside the direction of the U.S. here, play this clip.

He continued to talk about, one of them took off his shirt as if he's trying to sunt him. But again, your colleagues, some of them saying, look, they were waving their arms around. Isn't it possible that even the act of taking off a T-shirt could have been part of an attempt to get it, attention for health? Or it could have been an attempt to signal to another cartel boat to come pick them up and pick up the cargo. But is there a confirmation of what they were doing and what they're in terms of. For Admiral Bradley's decision, it doesn't really matter what they were doing. They were on that boat. That boat was still a valid target.

They were not in a state of distress on a plank of wood in the ocean like subsequent survivors were. And when that was the case in October, our military did the right thing. It sent a vessel. It picked them up. It took them back to shore. Whoever lets facts get in the way of MAGA bloodlust and terrorism and despicable criminal conduct. Speaking of, you got MAGA Republican Senator Eric Schmidt. And he's asked, do you support Trump pardoning the former Honduran president here?

Play this clip. In the Senate and Senator, let me just begin where we left off with Congressman Smith. Do you support this pardon of the former Honduran president? I'm not familiar with the facts or circumstances, but I think what's telling here is to try to imply that somehow President Trump is soft on on drug smuggling is just ridiculous. At least Stephanopoulos pushes him again. He's like, what do you mean you're not familiar with the facts? Like, everybody knows about it.

You haven't had time to formulate an opinion on things that we all know has happened to your playlist club. What do you mean you're not familiar with the facts and circumstances of the pardon? It's been well reported all across the country. He's the former president of Honduras. He was convicted of conspiring to bring in 400 tons of cocaine into the United States, also guns and other materials. It's been front-page news across the country.

Aren't you curious about that? Well, I'm curious about your pushback on that particular point. With your previous guess, you had zero pushback because he's giving the Democrat talk. Again, so utterly despicable. Here's Tom Cotton again, defending war crimes. Let's play it. Here you saying they weren't incapacitated, and yet Democratic Congressman Adam Smith of Washington, the ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, saw this very differently.

He saw that video. He said, quote, it looks like two classically shipwrecked people. people. Other lawmakers who saw the video said the two men appeared to raise their arms potentially to signal that they were trying to surrender. Senator, why did Admiral Bradley interpret those actions as anything other than these two men trying to seek help and survive? Well, again, they were sitting or standing on top of a capsized boat. They weren't floating helplessly in the water. And Kristen, I don't think it matters all that much what they were trying to do. It looked at one point like they were trying to flip the boat back over, presumably to

rescue its cargo and continue their mission. Or to stay afloat. Maybe they were signaling to other airplanes or drug cartel boats because they're in waters that are just off drug cartel areas. At one point, the guy takes off his t-shirt. Maybe he's trying to get a sun tan. It doesn't really matter what they were trying to do. What matters that they were not in a shipwreck state distressed dog paddling in the water at all. And therefore, that boat, it's cargo and those drug traffickers remained valid targets. And here's Senator Curtis right here saying that, uh, he'd have to reflect a little bit more on whether he would reconfirm Pete Hegseth,

knowing all he knows now, he would have to think about it more. I mean, these people, after all they know, war crimes, leaking classified information, war plans, after all they seen with Hegseth, they'd still go with this guy. I mean, that's why these people are just freaking as pathetic as possible play this clip. I want to ask you about the Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, just this week, a government watchdog report found that his use of the signal chat put American troops at risk, what he said in that chat. Lawmakers are continuing to look at his involvement in that double-tap strike in the Caribbean on an alleged drug boat. If you were to take the confirmation

vote again today, would you vote to make Pete Hexeth Defense Secretary? That's a question I can't answer without as much thoughtful research as I did the first time I did that vote. I think you might. Now you have evidence, not research. Yeah, but you know, what the reality of it is, if you go on what's in the newspapers, it's near impossible to know exactly what's going on. We heard one day that he had put in order in to kill the survivors. The next day, we're hearing something else, and the next day we're hearing something else. But I will tell you, I am pleased with Congress's role of oversight. I think we're doing a really good job of demanding answers and getting answers. I chair the Western Hemisphere subcommittee and we're going to have a hearing on

this. You're having other hearings and I think Congress really wants to know exactly what's happening and the real facts, not what's reported in the newspaper. If you go back to his confirmation, that's what I tried really, really hard to do is like separate out what we're hearing. Let's get to the real facts and let's make a good decision. And here's Tom Holme and here's what he has to say as it relates to Donald Trump saying the entire Somalian population is garbage played. Mr. Holman, the president said very clearly this week that he doesn't want Somali immigrants in America. He called them garbage. Is that the real reason this operation is happening in the Somali community?

No, I think President Trump's referring to public safety threats to national security threat from Somalia and every other country. Well, he didn't say that. He said the whole, the whole. He talked about the whole community. Well, look, I'm not aware what the President Trump was think when he said that, but I agree to President Trump. There you have it, folks. Let me know what you think.

Hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers, and thank you so much for watching. Love this video? Support independent media and unlock exclusive content, add free videos, and custom emojis by becoming a paid member of our YouTube channel today. You can also gift memberships to others. Let's keep growing together.

You know,