The MeidasTouch Podcast - Governor Wes Moore Responds to Trump’s Authoritarian Actions

Episode Date: August 14, 2025

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Donald Trump unleashing havoc across the United States with ICE agents in cities and towns across the United States and Meiselas focuses on Democrats fighting back and Meiselas interviews Maryland Governor Wes Moore who is standing up against the Trump regime. 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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Join now and immerse yourself in nonstop fun and adventure with Chumba Casino. Get in on the action today at Chamba Casino.com and make every day a Chamba day. Total havoc continues to be unleashed by Donald Trump across the United States, but people are fighting back. Donald Trump's Gestapo in the streets, disappearing human beings, migrants and citizens alike. They are racially profiling and engaging in atrocious behavior, putting people into concentration camps. This is among the most important videos we do here on the Midas Touch Network, where we highlight some of these stories, like how ice forcibly. detained a mother and her six-year-old son and confined them in isolated and abusive conditions. Agents confiscated her phone, denied her access to a lawyer, and says, you better be careful

who you speak to. Listen to us. And look, she legally worked as a state employee in Washington with a combo visa. Listen to this story. It is heartbreaking. Here, play this clip. Sarah Shaw and her six-year-old son and late July, after she dropped off two of her kids at the Vancouver airport. I thought we had crossed every tea and dotted every eye. Her close family friend, Victoria, interviewed with us while out of state. She's been Sarah's main point of contact while detained. Sarah was awaiting on some travel documents to get approved. However, when her visa and her children's visas got approved, she felt comfortable being the one to take them over to Canada.

Sarah was reauthorized to work in the U.S., but permission to travel was still pending. Her attorney calls it a simple administrative error. Anyone could have made it. I told her that, you know, yes, that's true. You don't have a travel document, but you've only been gone about a day. Explain what happened to the immigration officials. Sarah's lawyer explained she's on a combo card. That's a temporary status that allows her to work while she applies for permanent residency.

Sarah was originally sponsored by her husband, but she had to leave because of domestic violence. That allowed her to reapply for legal status on her own. Even if she didn't have her travel document, he did. So the fact that ICE has insisted on detaining the six-year-old when there was absolutely no reason for him to be detained is uncontrollable. Now Sarah and her son Isaac are being held at an ICE detention center in South Texas. It's one of two ICE facilities in the U.S. that can hold families. Her friend says Isaac, who has sensory issues, is struggling to adapt.

You never think it's going to happen to you. I think the main thing she has expressed this whole time is just absolute shock and just devastation because she really did feel like she had done everything that was required of her. As for Sarah Chans, two other kids, they were flying to New Zealand to visit their grandparents. The plan for them is to return next month and be in the care of their family friend, Victoria. In the newsroom, I'm Christian Baldaris, King Five News. Next, I want to share this with you how ICE arrested a high school student at drop-off for orientation. with guns drawn and live ammunition.

A 15-year-old boy with special needs was finally released after agents admitted they had the wrong guy. Agents left live bullets on the ground and told school, keep them, use them for target practice. This is what the ICE Gestapo is doing. Here, play this clip. Agents raid Arlita High School this morning, taking a 15-year-old boy with special needs into custody at gunpoint.

only to realize it was a mistake. The raid has prompted officials with the L.A. Unified School District to announce new measures to ensure students can travel to and from campus safely. Carlos, outstado is live in Arlida with the latest on the raid and reaction from parents and other students. Carlos? Michael Sherry, good evening. This immigration enforcement operation happened on the sidewalk right outside the high school. Students were here for orientation when they see a handful of Border Patrol agents.

The armed agents even dropped bullets here on the ground. And tonight, as you can imagine, parents and school district officials are calling the actions unacceptable and careless. This is video of Border Patrol agents surrounding a vehicle outside Arlita High School Monday morning. Agents are seen detaining a 15-year-old student with disabilities as his grandma was inside the car while a relative was registering for classes at the school. The teen who goes to nearby San Fernando High was. later released on the grounds of mistaken identity. I was very upset because our kids shouldn't have to be going through this and being scared of coming to school, you know, or their parents dropping them off.

Soon after, parents like Yvonne received this voice message from the principal informing them of the incident. We are aware of reports of immigration enforcement activity in the area. Many parents who he spoke with call the presence of federal agents near public school campuses shameful. The government, you know, our administration, had stated that they were going to go after criminals at a school. What criminals are you going to find kids try to enroll?

That is disturbing. It is heartbreaking. It is reprehensible. LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalo addressed the matter during a back-to-school press conference with other school and city leaders. This young man was placed in handcuffs, presumably based on mistaken identity. Ahead of the start of the school year, the district has been in touch with 10,000 families potentially impacted by immigration enforcement efforts.

They've rerouted bus stops, deployed a thousand central office staff to assist in school zones, and have virtual options available for those too scared to leave their homes. And we are gathered here today to talk about protecting our children from the federal government. That is a profound moment. While the district promises there are safety measures in place, some parents fear that their children will be a target simply because of the color of their skin, regardless of immigration status. He fits that category, you know, where he's like a little bit on the darker setting. I feel like that's who they're attacking.

Now, we reached out to the Department of Homeland Security multiple times regarding this case of mistaken identity. We never heard back. And then there's this story here in Los Angeles. ICE detained a Trump voter. Now he is suing. He says that he was brand. brainwashed and manipulated by Trump into voting for him.

He feels guilty and shame about his vote after he was arrested in June. Now he has joined a lawsuit to stop racial profiling by ICE agents. Listen to his story here, play this clip. This is where Brian Govidia encounter those federal agents nearly two months to the day. The U.S. citizen says he believes he was targeted because he is Latino. And as a voter who voted for Trump, he says he's now decisive. illusioned by the president's policies. This is something that means so much to me.

I literally have tattooed in my back. We the People has been on 29-year-old Brian Gavidia's back for six years, but it wasn't until this moment. That he says made him really understand what it meant. Every time I sit on a video, it's like a bad memory in my brain 100%. Agents were conducting an operation outside his shop on June 12. I just wanted to go look. Honestly, they don't know it was a crime to go look.

The video shows one agent. pushing Brian up against the wall and demanding he prove his citizenship. I truly believe I was a target because of my race. I believe I was racially profiled. I believe I was attacked because I was walking while brown. He says agents held him, took his phone and real ID that proved he was a citizen and eventually released him, giving back his phone but never his ID. Brian said he was shaken, but also empowered.

Where's the freedom? Where's the justice? We live in America. We should be free. We should have justice. This is why I'm fighting today. This is why I'm protecting the Constitution. carries a mini constitution in his pocket and is one of seven plaintiffs in the ACLU lawsuit that

resulted in a district court's order preventing federal agents from conducting sweeps based on race, accents, or where someone works in seven Southern California counties. The Trump administration recently asked the Supreme Court to lift that stay. Brian says he voted for Trump. Because I believe he ran on lies. He ran on lies. He lied to many of us. President Trump said that he was going to do with. He said mass. deportations. He said this is part of his plan. Yeah, he said criminals. He said, yeah, a bunch of countries opened their jails and release them. Yeah, when you lie to us like that, when you say your countries, other countries are releasing their jails and letting them into the population,

of course you're going to scare the people. Of course you're going to brainwash people. Like, come on, man. Be real. Tell the truth. If you're going to say something, do exactly what you're going to say. Don't lie. Don't manipulate the people. Now, Brian works to educate the people, handing out red cards that detail rights for immigrants and helping with Know Your Rights workshops. Part of his redemption, he says, believing now more than ever in those three words, we the people. We were all manipulated. We were all brainwashed. And now look at us. We are all suffering because of it. And I feel guilty 100%. Now, even though Brian's very confident about that lawsuit, he says his family is still very worried,

including his mother, who he says is really concerned about him speaking out. He says he must. must speak out right now so he can take a stand so other people won't have to put themselves in danger. We're live in Montabella. I'm McCona with you now. NBC 40s. Now here in this clip, Iced used a woman's kids and grandchild as bait to harass her. Now her 13-year-old daughter is missing. She was detained in care of Massachusetts Department of Children and Family, but they say they've lost her. The latest tip said that she was seen 250 miles away in New Jersey. Play this clip. Don't come to me!

Who? Who's that one? No! No! No! Stop! Stop! Don't stop!

And so you see insane that hard. And so you see in those videos right there, Donald Trump trying to unleash hell, his dictatorial fantasies on cities on cities and states across the country, and he's specifically targeting Democratic states and Democratic cities. And on the other hand, you have governors and mayors in these states pushing back, fighting back, trying to create the stability that people want, trying to make sure that Donald Trump's harm to the economy is mitigated, trying to stop the onslaught being caused by Donald Trump. Let's bring in Maryland Governor Westmore, Governor. It's great to see you again.

I mean, Donald Trump has seemed to up his kind of fascist dictatorial fantasies, unleashing, again, more ICE agents on the street. I mean, they're putting ads out now. We're trying to recruit 18-year-olds with minimal education and training and just saying, protect your culture. That's one of the messages that they have out there. And he seems to really have amped this up since the last time you and I've talked. And it also continues to show that, you know, he continues.

to build policies, not on data, but on lies, you know, when you put out a call saying they're going to do 3,000 arrests, 3,000 deportations every single day because they want to target gang members and they're going to target the most violent. There is not a single governor in this country who is worth assault, at least, or telling the truth, who would tell you that deporting 3,000 people a day is going after the most violent offenders. Every single one of us will stand in concert and stand in coordination to say we need to make sure that public safety is the number one priority, but that we have to make sure that we're getting violent criminals out of our communities and off of our streets. Every single one of us will say that. But there is no way

that putting this artificial quota of 3,000 people a day is who we are talking about what you're talking about going after gang members or violent criminals, that this is going after many of the people who were just mentioned before. And it's the reason why there's seeing how even the enforcement policies of immigration, how they are framing it, are also deeply unpopular amongst the American people as a whole. That people want immigration reform. People want to make sure that we have a secure border. People want to make sure that we are removing violent criminals from our streets. People want to make sure there's a humane way and a humane pathway to citizenship. But what you were seeing from the Trump administration is not

what the people want, and they continue to see data that shows that. Obviously, this week, Trump unleashing the National Guard in Washington, D.C., Donald Trump, federalizing the Metropolitan Police Department in a bizarre press conference earlier today where there were randomly two women wearing evening dresses also talking about Sylvester Stallone. Donald Trump talked about all he would have to do is just declare emergencies. say we're at an emergency, I'd extend the National Guard 30 days more, and he says, I'm bringing it to Baltimore, Maryland, and I'm bringing it to all these other cities. So what's your response to that? My response is if he really cared about public safety, he should look at what we're doing in the state of Maryland.

Because for the past two and a half years, we've been able to make some of the fastest and most historic drops in violent crime anywhere in the United States of America. that the year before I became the governor, that Baltimore City had nearly a homicide a day. And now, two and a half years later, the homicide rate, the last time the homicide rate was this low in Baltimore City, I wasn't born yet. And you know how we do it? We did it by actually enforcing constitutional policing.

We did it by making sure that we made historic investments in law enforcement, but also making historic investments in community groups and community violence intervention groups and working with Mayor Scott, working with our county executives, and working with our state's attorney, that Maryland's one one of the only states in the country that actually helps to fund the U.S. attorney out of balance sheet,

that we actually follow data. And we follow data to make people safer and making sure that we're getting the encouraging results that we've seen thus far. And the thing that I would highlight to the White House is this. We were able to see historic drops in violent crime, and never once did I activate the National Guard to do municipal policing.

This is not about performance. This is performative. This is someone who has never worn the uniform in its life. The only uniform that they've gotten accustomed to is a Brooks brother's suit, that they are now using the military as pawns in this process to feed into this military fetish because they think that that's somehow going to gain them political favor. But it is actually not going to address the issue of lowering violent crime within our communities. So what happens when he's preparing to do next, which is bold.

Baltimore, while you've made these impressive gains in stopping crimes, he's going to move on. I mean, it's pretty clear what the path is. I mean, he's targeting Baltimore, Chicago, Oakland, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles. There seems to be a theme there as well. Black mayors seems to be where he's going next. He doesn't mention the fact that red states and red cities have far higher violent crime rates. than any of these that doesn't mention that to ever. That doesn't fit his narrative.

So what happens when you wake? He's not going to give you notice to say he didn't give the mayor no. He's going to do it. And so have you thought through that plan or what happens next? Oh, 100%. He's going to learn that in Maryland, we have a governor who knows what the Constitution works. And the way the Constitution works is that the Maryland National Guard reports to me. I'm the Commander-in-Chief of the Maryland National Guard.

And he will learn that I'm also very clear about what the, role and the limitations are of our units. He is very clear that I am someone, I don't come from a political background. I'm a soldier. That's my background. That I know what it's like to put on that uniform. And I know what it's like to actually have a respect for the men and women whose job it is to go and actually do that work in the first place. And I am very clear, and I take a solemn responsibility to understand the when, the how, and the what I'm asking the members of our National Guard to do. And if it is not either mission-aligned or mission-critical,

I will not authorize the usage of the Maryland National Guard to be able to use for missions that I do not deem to be useful, sensible, or mission-aligned or mission-critical. So you know his shtick. He's got a routine now in doing this. He sends the letter. He doesn't do deals. He doesn't talk, right?

The same way with tariffs. He thinks of sending a letter is a deal. But he does the same thing here. He sends a letter to the adjutant general and says, you now report to me. You do not report to the governor. I have, I mean, the statute literally says he has to coordinate through the governor for this and then delineates very specific types of emergencies, which he doesn't have the authority forever.

But he creates a fake emergency. He sends the letter and he goes, you're mine now. And to that, you go wrong. that guy is not who you report to you report to me i'm the commander-in-chief not that guy is that the showdown that kind of happens well what i know is that i'm always going to protect the yoke that i you know i've taken i've taken uh two oaths in my life uh one was when i promised to defend the united states against all enemies foreign and domestic when i took an oath when i joined the United States Army. And the other one was when I took an oath to the Constitution, to the Maryland

Constitution when I became the 63rd governor of our state and also the commander-in-chief of Maryland's National Guard. And I take those oath very seriously. And I will not allow someone to come and violate those oath or those laws. And also, the thing I know is this, is that the members of the Maryland National Guard, they took an oath to. They took an oath to their commander-in-chief, and they took an oath to our state's constitution. And I plan on taking up and I plan on protecting that oath that they took and also making sure that I'm going to make decisions that is actually going to be respectful for these remarkable citizen soldiers,

these remarkable men and women who raise their hands on our behalf and also for their family members to know that their safety is going to be protected and their orders will be lawful. Final topic, Governor, the economy, and you and I have, you know, we've been doing an interview about once a month, once every month and a half, and we've been tracking the impact of Trump's disastrous trade war against the world, Donald Trump attacking jobs here, going after workers, going after education institutions, going after veterans. What are you seeing right now in the state of Maryland? And I know you've done everything you can to try to protect Maryland from his actions. But what we're seeing across the country now is Donald Trump's economic policies really hurting people, all of his promises on affordability, all lies. He may pretend that inflation doesn't exist. It's surging again and people are struggling. So how are you able to fight that? And how are you able to discuss with the people

of your state kind of what's what's happening i mean do do they recognize what's happening now from german yeah because and it's one of the disgusting things that we're seeing about this uh this utilization of national guard members to patrol uh city streets is it's a distraction it's a distraction about the fact that donald trump's economic policies have been utter failures to the people of this country that it's his economic policies that have caused prices to rise because you're not watching tariffs that are increasing the prices on everything in our lives. It's his economic policies that have caused energy prices to continue to spike. It's his economic policies that have picked people off of health care, that have taken away food assistance from children,

that have hurt the most vulnerable so we could give millionaires and billionaires a tax cut. And so these are his economic policies. And I can tell you, in the state of Maryland. We are seeing that firsthand and we're seeing it directly. These are not glancing blows. These are direct shots where Maryland has now lost over 13,000 federal workers who call the state of Maryland home the largest number that we have seen anywhere in this country that just last month, for the month of June, Maryland lost over 3,500 federal workers in one month, the largest month among loss of federal workers that we have now seen in 30 years that Donald Trump fired because of his economic policies

and his war on public servants that we continue to see. And so the economic catastrophe that has been the Trump administration, it is real. It is having very direct human impacts on people's lives. And frankly, it's one of the reasons that this introduction of the National Guard has become so disturbing because it's trying to mask the fact that we have an economic policy that is having huge.

and disparate impacts on so many people that call the state of Maryland home all throughout the state of Maryland from Western Maryland to the eastern shore. Let's leave on a sense of optimism, though. I know you do still see room for hope as people are banding together, as people don't like this, and people want to see fighters right now in this moment. Can you speak to that before we go? I think it's one of the most inspiring things that we continue to see.

about our state is that, you know, our state is gritty. And our state is some fighters. And I think the people of our state have realized that with this administration and with this governor, you know, like I said, I'm a soldier. That's my background. That's my training. And we don't, we don't lose fights. And so I think about the fact that even now, as we're watching this assault on our federal workers, that we've been able to announce programs that are helping to support our federal workers, get them into classrooms and hospitals quickly with our feds to, you know, with our feds to eds program. That's now cut down about 10% of our teacher vacancies by actually having federal workers

that are now just being moved into the classroom. And now Maryland has an unemployment rate of 3.3%, which is about a full point lower than the national average, despite losing more federal workers than anyone else in this country. We now have seen how the, in terms of crime numbers, our violent crime in Maryland has absolutely, absolutely plummeted. Maryland's helping to leave the country in drops in violent crime. You know, as I mentioned before, the homicide rates in Baltimore City are hitting historic lows despite the fact that, you know, when I came on board as governor, they were hitting historic highs under a Republican governor, by the way, that we've been able to turn a structural deficit into

a surplus, that we've been able to see population growth inside of the state of Maryland. Like, things are moving, but that's because Marylanders are resilient. the same way that we rebounded after the tragic and deadly strike of the key bridge, the same way we were able to come and recover when we are watching after COVID-19, that the state of Maryland is resilient. And so I'm really proud that in this moment that people are realizing and showing what it means to be Maryland tough inside of this era. And I'm really proud of the fact that despite these direct shots from the federal government,

the state of Maryland continues to rise. Governor Westmore, I appreciate you, as always, coming on. I appreciate you. Congratulations again. Thank you. Everybody, hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers. The truth is more important than ever.

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