The MeidasTouch Podcast - MAGA Mike Gets Bad News as He Fails Trump

Episode Date: June 29, 2025

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Republican Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson’s disaster bill falling apart as he fails Trump after a Parliamentarian ruling. Ridge: Upgrade your wallet today! Get up to 10% Off @Ridge with code MEIDAS at https://www.Ridge.com/MEIDAS! #Ridgepod 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 for your charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. This is speaker, MAGA Mike Johnson's nightmare. A grenade has just been thrown at his disastrous budget bill and boom, it is all blowing up before his eyes. Donald Trump is not going to be very happy with you, Maga Mike Johnson, because it's all falling apart on Thursday. A few things happened. Number one, Elizabeth McDonough, who's been the Senate parliamentarian since 2012, made a parliamentarian ruling that the current form of the Senate budget bill violates what's called the Bird

Rule and thus would have to be brought to the normal procedure which would allow for a filibuster which basically means that in its current form the budget bill could not survive. I'll get into that development. That could potentially totally kill the budget bill. The Senate is now trying to figure out the MAGA Republicans in the Senate. They're trying to figure out a fix to that. Now on the House, you now have a revolt by the so-called moderate MAGA Republicans in the House who I don't believe are moderate at all and one of the things that they're pissed off about is They feel that they've been tricked by Maga Mike Johnson who promised them that they were going to be able to deliver something for their constituents and these are individuals who needed for their

constituents an increase in the SALT deduction from $10,000 to a $40,000 deduction. The SALT refers to state and local tax deduction. It impacts a lot of the New York MAGA Republicans, for example, and these SALT backer MAGA Republicans, as they're called, they're pissed because the Senate undid exactly what they believed they negotiated for in the House with MAGA Mike. But MAGA Mike's plan was to trick these Republicans in the House and then allow the Senate to kind of gut what MAGA Mike promised to these MAGA Republicans in the House. So a lot of them are saying, well, we're not gonna vote for this budget bill anymore.

And also there was this other letter where 16 so-called moderate MAGA Republicans, which to me is an oxymoron, there's no such thing as moderate MAGA Republicans. They've also sent a letter to Senator John Thune and to MAGA Mike Johnson. John Thune is the Senate Majority Leader. in this letter from the 16 Magna Republicans, they're saying, we're not going to support this budget bill based on the way the Senate

has made additional cuts to Medicaid. This is far more than our constituents can handle, and we've already attacked Medicaid in the House, you're even going further than what we did, going to force more people off of Medicaid and we simply can't trick our constituents anymore because of what you're doing, you're making it even more flagrant. But I don't think they've been able to trick their constituents at all because another piece of disastrous news for Mike Johnson is this brutal poll on this disastrous budget bill from Quinnipiac that just came out showing that now there's only 29% support for this, 55% in opposition. When it comes to the Republicans, only two-thirds of Republicans support this disastrous atrocity

of a bill compared to 87% opposition from Democrats. I don't know who the 13% Democrats are who support this thing. They must not know what it is. And there's also two-thirds opposition from independents. So this is one big massive disaster for Mike Johnson. So Laura Weiss was the first to give us this breaking news this morning, and she explained how the Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth McDonough struck a massive blow to Republicans' Medicaid cuts per an announcement from the Senate budget Dems, who were pushing this Senate parliamentarian to make this ruling.

I know it's all pretty complicated, but a Senate parliamentarian? What the hell is going on here, Ben? So, the Senate parliamentarian was appointed back in 2012. Elizabeth McDonough is her name. She's someone who makes kind makes procedural rulings to ensure that budget rules are conformed to, she's someone who is well respected by Democrats and Republicans because she's had this job now for 13 years, she's made rulings that have upset both, but everyone's always respected her rulings. It's just on procedural issues about whether, for example, a reconciliation bill is truly a reconciliation bill.

I'll try to explain this for you as well because I know this can get complicated. So a reconciliation bill is a way to get around the filibuster, if a bill allows for a filibuster in order for it to pass, you have to get 60 votes to have what's called cloture, and then after cloture, you can then vote on the bill. But the Democrats can filibuster a bill because Republicans don't have 60 seats. So you could only do this process of reconciliation when it comes to like spending and taxing and budgetary stuff. The moment you start to try to sneak in provisions that don't really relate to budgeting and taxation and all of these other things, then what the bird rule kicks in, which means the filibuster is activated, and then you're gonna need to get cloture,

you're gonna need to get more than the 60 votes, and you can't pass legislation through reconciliation, which just requires a simple majority. So Republicans are trying to pass this through reconciliation, so they have to go to the parliamentarian to approve that this meets the definition of Reconciliation and the parliamentarian's job, you know as a few other jobs

But just to determine is this reconciliation or were you trying to sneak in other provisions? So the parliamentarian is like nah, you're trying to sneak in other provisions especially as it relates to Medicaid and the parliamentarian ruled that the GOP budget bill that's now before the Senate is not compliant with the Byrd rule, meaning these provisions have to either be removed or you have to overrule the parliamentarian or fire the parliamentarian. That's not going to happen. And already, MAGA Republican Senator John Thune and MAGA Republican Senator Kennedy said that's not going to happen.

So what were the areas that were not compliant with the Byrd Rule? The provider tax crackdown. So one of the ways that the GOP in a very sinister, surreptitious and dastardly fashion tried to destroy Medicaid is they wanted to shift the burden of Medicaid away from the federal government onto the states. Then once the burden was shifted onto the states, they wanted to then prohibit the states from taxing providers at certain percentages so the states could then raise the funds in order to support its Medicaid program

that it now had to shoulder the burden for. So the reality is, the moment the Fed said they want the states to shoulder the burden for Medicaid, Medicaid's gonna die, because states don't have the ability to fully fund Medicaid themselves. There's gotta be this cost sharing between federal and state and federal taking more of the cost sharing responsibility.

But then when you prevent the states from taxing providers, the people who provide medical services, and you severely limit that, that basically means you're destroying Medicaid. Do you see how that works? Because then the states can't raise the funds that you've already put the Because then the states can't raise the funds that you've already put the burden on the states for. So the parliamentarian said that

burden shifting to the state and then preventing though the states from having this provider tax that does not satisfy the bird rule. You need to remove it. So that kind of destroys the entire scheme that the MAGA Republicans wanted here. Let me tell you, I used to carry around one of those old school wallets, you know the kind, bulky, leather, falling apart at the seams, stuffed with who knows what receipts from like, I don't know, 2012. It was a back pocket disaster and I think it was actually hurting my back. My Ridge wallet changed everything. It's slim, modern, and built like a tank yet somehow sleek enough to slide right into my front pocket without a second thought.

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Just head to ridge.com and use code MIDAS, M-E-I-D-A-S, and you're all set. After you purchase, they will ask about where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them we sent you. Also, provisions that were deemed noncompliant with the Byrd Rule, limiting federal funding for states that allow undocumented immigrants to get Medicaid, additional limits on Medicaid, Medicare,

and Affordable Care Act premium tax credits for immigrants who aren't citizens. And so now you have other MAGA Republicans attacking the parliamentarian for doing this, like Tommy Tuberville, who calls himself Coach Tommy Tuberville on his social media. He goes, the woke Senate parliamentarian who was appointed by Harry Reid and advised Al Gore woke Senate parliamentarian who was appointed by Harry Reid and advised Al Gore just struck down a provision banning illegals from stealing Medicaid from American citizens. This is a perfect example of why Americans hate the swamp. Unelected bureaucrats think they know better than the U.S. congressmen who are elected

by the people. Her job is not to push a woke agenda. The Senate parliamentarian should be fired ASAP. But as you just saw, that's not really what the Senate parliamentarian did. The big one here, the biggie was saying that the provider tax crackdown on states did not comply with the Byrd rule. Congress member, Maggier Republican, Congress member Greg Stubbe, he says, how is it that an unelected swamp bureaucrat who was appointed by Harry Reid over a decade ago gets to decide what can and cannot go into Trump's one big beautiful bill?

The Senate parliamentarian is not elected, she's not accountable to the American people, yet she holds a veto power over the legislation by millions of voters. Just a lot of whining from them. Now, MAGA Republican Senator Kennedy says that he thinks that tomorrow's Senate vote on the disaster budget bill will be postponed. On calls to get rid of the parliamentarian, MAGA Republican Senator Kennedy says, we all have respect for the parliamentarian.

I think she's very fair, and I don't think she should be fired, nor do I think she will be fired Senate Majority Leader Thune also says that they do not intend to overrule the Parliamentarian as Manu Raju from CNN. He does a great job reporting on the Hill He says the Senate timing to move Trump's mega bill is now in total flux after the Parliamentarian ruled a number of provisions Now in total flux, after the parliamentarian ruled a number of provisions, particularly the provider tax, don't meet the budget rules they need to follow to pass the bill with

51 votes per Republicans. They need to find alternative provisions and that takes time. Democratic Senator Dick Durbin says, the Senate parliamentarian dealt a blow to Republicans' attempts to slash Medicaid health funding in order to give tax breaks to billionaires. This is good news for rural hospitals and families who rely on Medicaid, but the fight is not over. Now you have this fight where a lot of MAGA Republican Congress members are saying that

they want to see the parliamentarian fired. All the MAGA influencers who basically say whatever Trump wants them to say, they're out there saying fire the parliamentarian as well. MAGA Republican Senator Ron Johnson from Wisconsin says, look, there's going to have to be more discussions now in the budget bill. If it takes a few more days, a more weeks That's not a problem the fact that maga Mike and Trump want this thing passed on July 4th That's an arbitrary deadline that they're just not going to be able to meet You have Lauren Boebert mega Republican saying that this sucks and that Congress sucks or something like this Here's what she has to say play this clip

Because everyone can agree Congress is broken this place sucks that Congress sucks or something like this. Here's what she has to say. Play this clip. Because everyone can agree Congress is broken. This place sucks. You cannot run the House of Representatives like a business or, you know, I guess if we did run it like a business, it would possibly succeed, but you can't run a business like Congress or it would ultimately fail or you would need a government bailout from the taxpayers' expense. That's what Lauren Boebert has to say. Democratic Congress member and ranking member of the Oversight Committee, Robert Garcia. Here's what he's got to say. Let's play it.

Let's get your reaction to the breaking news. A few moments ago, the Senate parliamentarian casting out much of the health provisions, some of the Medicaid cuts in the so-called big, beautiful bill there in the Senate. Obviously, it's going to have to get reworked. It's going to eventually find its way back to the House. Talk to us about the conversations you and your Democratic colleagues are having about this development.

Well, I think the Senate's finding out. We in the House, Democrats already know this is a horrific bill, much of it unconstitutional. A lot of it will not pass for the parliamentarian. And the Senate now is struggling with this idea that what this actual bill is trying to do is to rip away health care for 16 million Americans. It's trying to take away food assistance for low-income families across the country. And the parliamentarian is right to strip out these provisions. And we're going to see what the Senate is going to try to do. But at the end of the day, every American should know that this bill is all about taking away health care and then giving away a huge wealth transfer to the richest people in this

country. The only folks who are going to benefit from this plan is billionaires and large corporations with the massive tax breaks are gonna be in place. And so the Senate's gonna have a hard time trying to defend and support a bill that is taking away healthcare and the parliamentarian is absolutely correct. And as I discussed before, and Laura Weiss reports

how the House salt backers met again at the treasury in the morning to try to get a new offer from the Senate regarding the salt cap to try to raise the deduction that they believe they bargained for in the house to that $40,000 deduction limit. But the Senate doesn't seem to be moving at all right there. And especially as we know that this disastrous budget bill is going to add trillions

of dollars to the deficit. Some expect even adding $20 trillion to the deficit, which was my initial projection. We're learning that US trade deficits are soaring. Remember how Donald Trump and MAGAs all claimed that Trump's tariffs against the world was going to bring in so much money that we didn't have to worry at all about the deficits they were going to run because it would be a perfect offset. In fact, as you may remember, Donald Trump said he's going to eliminate the IRS. There's going to be no taxes.

Remember, he said that there'll be no taxes. There will just be an external revenue service from all of the money China is going to pay us. Oh sure, Mexico is going to build the wall. He's the biggest liar ever. Remember when he also promised Doge checks? He said you would get $5,000 from Doge. Again, they lie about everything. The Commerce Department Census Bureau on Thursday reported that the international trade in goods increased about 11% in May as exports decreased while imports remained relatively unchanged, a sign that Trump's tariff strategy has been a colossal failure. Tariffs are not working. The US trade deficit in goods surged to $96.6 billion in May, up 11% from April and 6.5% above expectations. Most problematic was the 5.2% decline in exports.

Trump's goal to reduce trade deficits while expanding markets for U.S. exports has utterly backfired. I'll just share this with you as well because we were hearing from certain senators on the Hill about a number of topics, including the disastrous budget bill. Tom Cotton, MAGA Republican Senator from Arkansas, when he was asked about a number of topics, he's now saying that it was never a part of the United States mission to destroy all of the enriched uranium from Iran. That was never the mission when that's what Donald Trump said over and over again, totally obliterated.

Here, play this clip. We'll stop and explain the reason. Do you have some sense of where the enriched uranium is at this point? Has the intelligence community figured that out at this point? I don't have a comment on that. I will say it was not part of the mission

to destroy all their enriched uranium or to seize it or anything else. Again, it's not a mission. Again, so more bad news from MAGA Mike. We'll keep you posted every step of the way, but it looks like this bill is blowing up in his face. Keep the pressure on. Keep the pressure on. That's why we hosted that press release yesterday as well. Go check our live feed with the three top Democrats in the Budget Committee where they talked about what's in this budget bill. Let's not get distracted. Let's stay focused, folks.

You see how unpopular this budget bill is, huh? Hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers. Thanks for watching. Can't get enough Midas? Check out the Midas Plus Substack for ad-free articles, reports, podcasts, daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski, and more. Thanks for watching.