The MeidasTouch Podcast - MAGA Mike in Panic Mode as Bill Starts Blowing Up

Episode Date: May 15, 2025

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on MAGA Mike Johnson panicking as Trump’s bug beautiful bill is turning into a big awful disaster. Tushy: Over 2 million butts love TUSHY. Get 10% off Tushy with the code MEIDAS at https://hellotushy.com/MEIDAS! #tushypod 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

What's better than a well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue? A well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue that was carefully selected by an Instacart shopper and delivered to your door. A well-marbled ribeye you ordered without even leaving the kiddie pool. Whatever groceries your summer calls for, Instacart has you covered. Download the Instacart app and enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart. Grocer $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. Discover the magic of Bad MGM Casino, where the excitement is always on deck. Pull up a seat and check out a wide variety of table games

with a live dealer. From roulette to blackjack, watch as a dealer hosts your table game and live chat with them throughout your experience to feel like you're actually at the casino. The excitement doesn't stop there. With over 3,000 games to choose from, including fan favorites like Cash Eruption, UFC Gold Blitz, and more. Make deposits instantly

to jump in on the fun and make same day withdrawals if you win. Download the BetMGM Ontario app today. You don't want to miss out. Visit BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. 19 plus to wager. Ontario only. Please gamble responsibly.

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. The cracks are showing, MAGA Mike. Can you handle the pressure? It looks like Donald Trump's big, beautiful bill is turning into a big, awful disaster. And you're the one holding the bag as this is all blowing up. And some of the MAGA Republican senators are saying under no circumstance are they going to agree to this awful, awful bill that increases the deficit by trillions of dollars and guts Medicaid. So here, MAGA Mike Johnson held a press conference earlier in the day,

and he was asked a lot of questions, by the way, including Donald Trump accepting bribes from Qatar. You can see MAGA Mike's stress as he goes, I've been a little busy dealing with reconciliation. So I don't know, what are we talking about here with this with this Qatar jet? What are we talking about here? Play this clip. If the president were to accept an airplane from the Qatari government, should Congress have a table over that kind of debt? Look, I've been a little busy on reconciliation, so I'm not following

all the twists and turns of the Qatar jet. I've certainly heard about it. My understanding is it's not a personal gift to the president. It's a gift to the United States and other nations

give us gifts all the time. But I'm going to leave it to the administration. They know much more about the details of that. OK, I'm just it's not my lane. Yes, sir. Although MAGA Mike did seem to express some sympathy for members of Congress who engage

in insider stock trading. Let's play this clip. Well, look, you know, the salary of Congress has been frozen since 2009. You know, when you adjust for inflation, a member of Congress today is making 31% less than they made in that year. It goes down every year. And over time, if you stay on this trajectory, you're going to have less qualified people who are willing to make the extreme sacrifice to run for Congress. I mean, it's just people just make a reasonable decision as a family on whether or not they can come and move to Washington, have a residence

here, residence at home, and do all the things that are required. So the counter argument is, and I have some sympathy, look, at least let them like engage in some stock trading so that they can continue to, you know, take care of their family. Madam Mike Johnson is then asked if he has concerns about Donald Trump's business dealings. Here's what MAGA Mike says. Mr. Speaker, you are very critical of President Biden and his family's foreign business dealings. He supported an impeachment inquiry as a result of it. Are you equally concerned about President Trump's family's business dealings,

especially given the fact that he is in a region now where his family has billions of dollars in investments, Doha, Saudi Arabia, and the fact that he has a crypto business now where he's auctioned off access to the White House for the highest bidder in his meeting. Look, there are authorities that police executive branch ethics rules. I'm not an expert in that. My expertise is here in the House. OK, I will say that the reason that many people refer to the biden's as the biden crime family is because they were doing all this stuff behind curtains but in the back rooms they were trying to conceal it and they repeatedly lied about it and they set up shell companies and the

family was all engaged and getting all on the dole um whatever the president trump is doing is is out in the open they're not trying to conceal anything. Mr. Speaker, the investment in the meme coin, those folks are not transparent. We do not know who those people are. I don't know anything about the meme coin thing. I don't know. I can just tell you that, I mean, President Trump has had nothing to hide. He's very upfront about it. And there are people who watch all the ethics of that. But I mean, I've got to be concerned with running the House of Representatives, and that's what I do. Congress has oversight, though? That's the congressional responsibility. Congress has oversight responsibility, but I think so far as I know, the ethics are all being followed. So, yes, sir.

It's always projection and confession with these people. It is the Trump crime family, and the fact that they are doing it in plain sight doesn't make it any better. And it also doesn't mean that there's a lot going on behind the scenes as well. These meme coins are basically untraceable. So which foreign governments, or they're hard to trace, so which foreign governments are using their meme coin wallets and hiding it to buy off Donald Trump? What else is going on behind the scenes that we don't know about? Because actually, the way the cutter jet was exposed was through confidential sources who Donald Trump's DOJ wants to go after. So then what does MAGA Mike have to do? Just think about this,

threatening his colleagues, the Democratic Congress members, with arrest. That's where we are right now, where this despicable, vile piece of trash, Speaker of the House coward, who has some weird app where he monitors his son's website going to porn and his son monitors their mutual porn app. Some weird stuff going on. Here's Megha Mike threatening to arrest Democrats and saying the DOJ is looking into it. What he's talking about is how Democratic Congress members were at Delaney Hall, a migrant detention center, which was reopened in Newark, where the private prison guards assaulted the mayor and assaulted Democratic Congress members. But now the MAGA playbook is saying we're going

to prosecute Democratic Congress members because that's what the Trump regime wants us to do. Here, play this clip. Mr. Speaker, can you flesh out the possible discipline that these members, the Democrats, could face for what happened in New Jersey? Well, look, there's three possible disciplinary actions that Congress, the House, can take. You can censure a member, and that probably does seem appropriate here. You can kick them off committees. That's a new tradition begun by the Democrats in recent years. And you can expel someone from Congress. Now, expulsion requires a two-thirds vote. That's not likely because the margins are small on both sides.

But, you know, we're looking at what is appropriate. Look, I think it's pretty clear that the law was violated. You might have noticed the Wisconsin judge that was trying to conceal the illegal alien that was going to be apprehended by ICE, a federal grand jury indicted the judge. I think that was late yesterday. And I'm told that she'll be brought up on charge, maybe facing potentially six years in jail and $350,000 in fines because she obstructed the proceedings, obstructed justice and was engaged in other activities. So, look, this what what these House Democrats did is in that same lane, the same vein of what the judge is being indicted for. So I think there's some I think there's some legal ramifications to play out here and we'll see how it works. We're talking through all the possibilities. Yes, ma'am.

What if I told you the most luxurious place to listen to this podcast could be on your toilet? Cloud Plus by Tushy Bidet turns your toilet into a biohacking throne that automatically deodorizes the air the moment you sit down. I'm going to keep it real, the Tushy bidet has become my absolute favorite part of my day. The installation was incredibly easy, and the cleaning experience is perfect. Traditional toilet paper absolutely does not stand a chance. The Tushy bidet leaves me feeling cleaner and more fresh after I do my business than anything else. Tushy is the everyday luxury bidet that instantly transforms your bathroom habits and bottom health for life. Tushy's elevated bidet collection nurtures your

bottom with instant warm water that never runs cold, a soothing heated seat, and UV sterilization for next-level hygiene. All Tushy bidets easily attach to your existing toilet without the need for additional plumbing. Instead of wiping endlessly with toilet paper, Tushy pristinely removes 99% of bacteria while protecting your natural skin barrier thanks to one natural ingredient, fresh water. Reclaim your comfort zone in the bathroom. For a limited time, our listeners get 10% off their first bidet order when you use code MIDAS at checkout. That's 10% off your first bidet order at hellotushy.com with promo code MIDAS. Let's take a look at what some of these MAGA Republican Congress members are saying. Like here, Josh Hawley from Missouri saying that he's not going to support the bill that's in the current form

in the House of Representatives, play this clip. We do that by giving them tax relief. We do that by bringing down their healthcare bills. We don't do it by cutting Medicaid. If this bill becomes law, do you, are you concerned that Republicans could face a severe blowback in the elections next year? Oh, this bill is not gonna become law in its current form,

not least because President Trump won't sign it. Manu, I've talked to him about this personally multiple times. He has been crystal clear in public, too. No Medicaid benefit cuts. We need to give a tax cut to working people, not raise their taxes when it comes to health care, not take away their health care benefits. I hope this bill will get refocused on delivering relief for working families. That's what we ought to be doing.

Do you think some of the wealthier taxpayers should pay higher taxes? I'm fine with that. The president has floated that. He said maybe we ought to allow the top rate, the very top rate for people making over a million or over $5 million a year to go back to where it was before. It's like a one point increase, Manu. I would be fine with that if that's what the president wants to do. Bottom line- Here's MAGA Republican Congress member Lawler, who says that he's a no on the reconciliation bill. Let's play it. A 30,000 number with a $400,000 income cap.

That's unacceptable. And we said no very clearly. And so we're going through the process of finally negotiating with leadership to come to hopefully an agreement. But, you know, I look at it very simply, a district like mine, okay, just north of New York City, three of the four counties that I represent are in the top 16 highest property tax counties in America. And so having an income cap of 400,000 would devastate so many families across my district. And I'm just not going to accept it. And so, you know, we will negotiate and hopefully come to an agreement. But the fact is that as this stands, as currently written,

I'm a no. You're a no. Here's some additional opposition from MAGA Republican senators. Manu Raju was able to interview MAGA Republican Ron Johnson from Wisconsin and others. Here's what he had to say. Play this clip. I don't think people who voted for President Trump thought that we would continue spending at President Biden's level. I don't see any way I can support more tax cuts and more deficit spending. We should not be increasing deficit. I do fear that all the really large ticket items for reducing spending have sort of been excluded. So I have a feeling it's going to be wimpy on the spending cuts, and it's going to be maybe a little wimpy on the taxes too.

Should also be noted that I think Democrats have been doing some great cross exams during these congressional hearings. For example, you had Democratic Congress member Tom Swasey expose that in cross exam of one of the individuals who has to rate this tax bill, that actually all of Donald Trump's promises on the campaign trail about no tax on this and no tax was false. Play this clip. Okay. On tips, the president said, your tips will be 100% yours. Does this tax bill continue the payroll tax on people's tips? Yes, it does. Overtime. The president said your overtime will be tax-free. Does this bill continue the payroll tax on overtime? It does not exempt overtime from

payroll tax. The president said he's going to remove taxes on Social Security. Does this bill remove taxes on Social Security benefits? The legislation provides an increased exemption amount. But does it remove taxes on Social Security benefits as promised by the president? It does not change Social Security. The president and the Republicans. And we also know that from additional cross-exam that tens of millions of people will lose their health insurance. Play this clip of Democratic Congress member Doggett and his questions. Play this clip. Mr. Barthold, that this legislation fails to extend the enhanced tax credits that lower the cost of insurance for millions of Americans

who purchase their own coverage through the marketplace. That's correct. And when the Republicans permit these credits to expire in a mere seven months, what is the effect on health insurance premiums for those individuals that rely on the marketplace today? Work that our staff has done in conjunction with the Congressional Budget Office suggests that premiums will increase for individuals. Yes, sir. They go up about almost 8 percent, I believe is the specific calculation that you did. And is it true that this failure on the part of Republicans will raise premiums, not just for those, not that they'll raise them really for nearly everyone in the marketplace, not just for those who receive the subsidies? That's correct. That's part of the analysis. If my understanding is correct, failure to extend this policy will result in an increase

in the number of uninsured Americans. Is that right? That's correct, sir. That's and I've received that. You see the cracks beginning to form as well right here. Here's MAGA Republican Congress member Jeff Hurd, who talks about his concerns of Donald Trump getting bribed by Qatar. Play this clip. Backlash even from some Republicans and NAGA allies like Laura Loomer

and Ben Shapiro. Where do you stand on that decision? I have serious concerns with this so-called gift from the government of Qatar. Security concerns, ethical concerns using this used airplane. But it's also a gift from a government that supports terrorist organizations like Hamas. So if there were a Democratic president that was accepting a gift like this, we'd be outraged. I think it's something that we should look at carefully. And I have definitely serious concerns with this gift. And what do you make of the fact that now the Trump administration is saying, well, actually, it's going to go to a department, DOD, State Department. It's really going to get a gift to the department. Does that assuage your concerns at all?

No, it's six and one half a dozen of the other. I'm still concerned with this gift. Again, there's ethical concerns that I think still remain, but there's also security concerns. Why are we accepting a gift from a used airplane that's 13 years old from a government that is aligned with individuals and organizations that are hostile to our interests in the Middle East. It just makes me concerned fundamentally. It's a bad issue. And again, regardless of who the president is, I think we would be cautious. And I certainly is something that I cannot support. And here's MAGA Republican Senator Kennedy talking about Qatar. Play this clip. Reflections on what we're watching now, Senator.

Well, first, quickly, Qatar. I trust Qatar like I trust a rest stop bathroom. If they want to be friendly, I want to be friendly back. But with those guys, you know, trust in God, but tie up your camel. Now, in terms of Iran, what you do is what you believe and everything else is just cottage cheese. That's true in life and in foreign policy. You can't just talk tough. You got to be tough. And finally, Democratic Congress member Jared Moskowitz. Let's show you what he had to say. Let's play it. Donald Trump said he's not cutting Medicaid. Okay. And so, you know, that's what he's been saying.

Okay. And yet Republicans come with almost $800 billion of Medicaid cuts, which is what the Democrats have been talking about for the last five months. You know, there are members here in the House and the Senate said they're not going to cut Medicaid. And it looks like, John, we're literally on our way to capitulation. And so this is taking healthcare away from our most vulnerable to try to offset some of these tax cuts. They're still going to add trillions of dollars to debt. Don't listen to me. Just listen to Chip Roy or Thomas Massey who are saying that. There you have it, folks. Let me know what you think. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 5 million subscribers.

Can't get enough Midas? Check out the Midas Plus sub stack for ad-free articles, reports, podcasts, daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski, and more. Sign up for free now at MidasPlus.com.