The MeidasTouch Podcast - Michigan Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist on Trump Economic Disasters

Episode Date: August 4, 2025

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Donald Trump getting thrown under the bus by his top economic advisor in live tv this morning and Meiselas speak with Michigan Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist about the harm Trump is causing Michigan. 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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guy Kevin Hassett by the way who's basically been wrong about everything in his entire life when it comes to the economy, going back to the dot com bust in 2000, but he was on CNBC this morning and after saying over the weekend that we can't trust the job report numbers and that it was the right thing to do to fire the Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner, he's now kind of changed his tune and he's like, we didn't expect it. It seems like the job market is slowing. He's now kind of changed his tune. And he's like, it doesn't we didn't expect it. It seems like the job market is slowing. It's an interesting admission from this guy, because he usually doesn't concede anything like this. And he's usually one of Trump's chief propagandists here. Watch this.

Just the market seemed to believe the revisions in in the numbers more than they believe the original numbers. That's why you saw bond yields tumble on Friday. Are you in agreement with that? Do you think we are starting to see a real slowdown in the jobs market? Yeah, I think the jobs numbers were slower than we expected. I think that like one of the explanations for revisions

is they have more complete data. And so I think it is likely that the revisions are a better read of the data if the data are not being manipulated. And so, yeah, I would say that it's a little bit weaker, but don't forget, this is before the big, beautiful bill is really kicking in. And so with our eyes on the horizon,

we're highly optimistic about the future of this economy. We've got the big, beautiful bill, we've got expensing of factories, got no taxes on. Okay, now the big, beautiful bill, which is a big disastrous bill that's really going to attack health care industry social services which was actually the only two areas where there was any job growth at all on the last jobs report manufacturing jobs were significantly underwater but did you hear what he said there?

I mean, just watch what he said 24 hours before on the weekend shows when he says, can we even believe their numbers at all? And he cast doubt on those jobs reports. Here's what he said over the weekend, let's play it. How far off was this jobs report from your expectations? I mean, the number for July was low, but the downward revisions of almost 250,000, more than that jobs could not have been welcome news. Right. Well, I think with the economy,

it's really important to keep our eyes on the horizon and the eyes on the horizon are seeing really smooth sailing ahead. We've got 3% GDP growth and yes, this week, a disappointing jobs number. When I first saw the big revisions, which by the way, were the largest revisions going all the way back for 50 years, if we exclude the COVID years. When I saw those revisions, I thought it must be a typo that I've never seen a revision like this. And as you know, you've known me a long time. I live in these data. You know, at the 100th anniversary celebration of the consumer expenditure survey at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Alan Griesband and I were the keynote speakers. I've been following this forever.

I've never seen a revision like that. And so I think that the underlying strength is the headline for me. The big downward revision is something of a puzzle. I don't think it was explained very well. And I think that markets might be as much unsettled by the fact that the data are so noisy. So imagine if the revision in the data,

so the correction of errors is five times bigger than the number itself, then that makes you wonder, well, can I believe this number at all? And I think that that's actually something that needs to be fixed, it needs to be fixed fast. Well, so the president- It's a pretty significant turn in 24 hours. And the fact that, you know, he said,

actually it was a lot of good data now. I mean, you heard what he said in the first clip, but Donald Trump's obviously not on the same page as his own chief economic advisor because Trump's post this morning was last week's job report was rigged, just like the numbers prior to the presidential election were rigged. That's why in both cases, there were massive record setting revisions in favor of the radical left Democrats. And then he goes and posts Sydney Sweeney is the hottest out there, hottest ad campaign. I love Sydney Sweeney. I hate Taylor Swift and you know starts trying to distract from what's really going on. I want to bring in Michigan's Lieutenant Governor Garland Gilchrist who's running for governor in 2026 there in Michigan. You're there.

Was this rigged? Was this whatever? Or is this pretty consistent with what you're seeing in terms of the struggles with jobs and what's happening in Michigan? I gotta tell you, Donald Trump is so disconnected from real people. This is what happens when you surround yourself

with these mega billionaire yes men and your cabinet and your team is all these sick of fans who only tell you what you wanna hear. So they don't know what the truth is because they're so surrounded with lies. But let me tell you, I'm connected to people. I talk to people in Michigan every single day. People who are trying to figure out

what the job prospects are gonna be for their kids, if they're gonna be able to hold onto their job because these tariffs have been so destructive, skyrocketing prices. We've had businesses have to close. We had like a 100 year old furniture and clockmaker in West Michigan called Howard Miller, it's outside of Grand Rapids.

They closed after 100 years due to this economic uncertainty and tariffs. In the last 100 years, they've seen a lot of economic uncertainty, but nothing like this destructive Trump administration. And so those are the people who I talk to on a daily basis, and they just want to figure out how we can get through this. They want someone to fight back against the liar in chief and Donald Trump, but that's what the people in Michigan, you know, they know the truth because they know what they're experiencing every day. Prices they can't afford that are only going up because of these tariffs,

the instability that is putting their jobs in jeopardy, and the fact that this Republicans in Congress just gutted healthcare for hundreds of thousands of people across the state. We need to fight back. Look, you're a business guy. That's your background before becoming the lieutenant governor. When you do business deals, usually they're not made via social media posts. Usually there's

contracts and agreements and binding deals that we can actually see and read and understand. We have zero trade deals in terms of binding agreements that are on pieces of paper that we can actually read. We have social media posts, which then the countries that Trump does these deals with, then contradict. Japan says, we ain't given $550 billion. We have the right to give discretionary high-interest loans if we want to, but we're not going to invest. South Korea this morning just said the same thing. We ain't giving $350 billion. Yeah, discretionary high interest loans.

European Union says they can't guarantee anything in terms of giving money to the United States. But Trump's like, this is a signing bonus that's happening in the United States. But when you look at what potentially exists in the form of a deal, which isn't existing, I guess it's a number that he gives to a country about what the tariff is. But then when you look at that number, assuming that's the only piece that actually goes into place in terms of what's actually being taxed on our importers when goods are arriving, isn't it true that our manufacturers

are getting screwed based on those numbers? Because our auto manufacturers, the businesses in Michigan, they're the ones, even if they build everything in Michigan in the United States, they now have to pay more for the parts based on where they import stuff from than what other countries do when they manufacture it in the UK, like Jaguar, Land Rover or Japanese vehicles. And isn't this screwing our auto manufacturing? It's killing not only the big three, you know, the United Auto Workers came out really strongly against that Japanese deal because now it actually advantages cars made in Japan over cars made in Michigan and in America. I mean, just like remember in the debate when Trump talked about he had concepts

of a health care plan, but that is what we're working with concepts of a deal and all these trade deals. They don't work. And what instead we're seeing is an auto supplier called Detroit Axle, for example, announcing they had to lay off 102 people and close a facility. This is Trump killing jobs because of this instability, this destruction, this distraction. And he just frankly is horrible for people and families and livelihoods in our state. That's why it's so important that we have to counterbalance this by fighting back and also by providing stability and sanity at the state level. This is what we need, especially in a state

where there's so many people who work in manufacturing, who work in the service sectors and the sales sector, these small businesses that do retail that are reliant upon importing some of their products. These are the jobs that are getting set on fire by this Trump, you know, arsonist trade regime. You and I met, we did an interview two months ago or so. How much worse has it gotten?

How much worse is the business environment do you see from when we last talked? And is this kind of a bipartisan issue in Michigan at this point? I mean, you know, are there any businesses that like that, like, like this uncertainty? It just, it baffles me that business people who need certainty and are organized and can ever like somebody who wakes up one day like a Trump and it's just like, you're 35, you're 50, you're 25. All of a sudden, Canada, if you recognize the Palestinians, he just like makes up stuff. If you recognize the Palestinian state, we don't do trade deals with

you. Actually, I'm changing your tariff. And by the way, Sydney Sweeney, like this would never be someone who can lead an organization. So any people like this anywhere? A board would fire this guy instantly. I mean, here's what I know, that these tariffs have not discriminated. Whether you voted for Trump or not, whether you're a Democrat or a Republican,

102 people lost their jobs at Detroit Axel. More than 100 people lost their jobs from Howard Miller over on the West side of the state of Michigan. The damage is falling upon communities, upon workers, among families all across the state of Michigan. You're getting your health, your Medicaid gutted. That doesn't matter if you're a Democrat or Republican because you're losing your health care. And so I haven't talked to anyone who's excited about uncertainty, who's excited about job losses, who's excited about prices going up, which is happening across Michigan and across sectors. And so no, I haven't found those people, the people who I'm talking to every day, want to see stability, they want to see change, they want to get us out of this death cycle that Trump has put the economy in their

well being and only the prices are growing up, only foods getting more expensive, only medicine is getting more expensive. Nobody's been held accountable. Like this is just complete and utter chaos. Before we go, tell us about, you know, your background, what you're going to do. How are you going to, how are you going to change this? What can you do from from your position to fight back against this? And where can people learn more about what you're doing? You got to give people confidence that in my case, in the state of Michigan is a place where they know they can stay and Succeed and build their dream of health and wealth meaning that if they can Know that they can get a good education and get a job

That's gonna be grounded in an industry that matters in Michigan like manufacturing like agriculture We know we make the things that matter in our state. We did it when we were invented the mobility sector We did it we were the invented the mobility sector. We did it when we were the arsenal democracy during World War II. We can do it again and make the things that matter. If we have stability at the state level, the counterbalance is calamity and chaos at the federal level. I'm an entrepreneur, I'm an engineer,

I'm a problem solver, I make systems work for people. And that's what we need to have. Someone who can get things done for people, who's gonna stand up and fight against this chaos, say we're gonna protect people's healthcare, we're gonna lower prices, we're gonna put food on the table, we're gonna put money in people's pockets. stand up and fight against this chaos. Say we're going to protect people's health care. We're going to lower prices. We're going to put food on the table. We're going to put money in people's pockets. That's what I'm going to do. And then I want people to go to support that to go to Garland

Gilchrist dot com to find out more to join this movement so you can stay and succeed. Michigan Lieutenant Governor Garland Gilchrist, thanks for joining us as always. Thanks for having me. Everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to six million subscribers. The truth is more important than ever. Check out our new Truth Over Lies collection at store.mitustouch.com. All 100% USA Union made.