The MeidasTouch Podcast - New York Gov Hochul Responds to Trump’s Disastrous Policies

Episode Date: March 5, 2025

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas interviews New York Governor Kathy Hochul who calls out Trump for his dangerous plans. 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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Governor, what should the people know about them? Well, this is just another devastating policy from the Trump administration. Just a couple of hours ago, I convened a roundtable of farmers from New York who are desperately fearful that this is going to kill their livelihood. I mean, they export most of their products to Canada. They get a lot of supplies. Their fertilizer all comes in from Canada. The sawdust that they use for their animals comes in from Canada. So I don't know what they're thinking in Washington, but this is going to crush the livelihoods of people who supported them. These are your supporters you're killing.

So it makes no sense. And to say that it's short-term pain for long-term gain, like people want relief now. They were promised relief from high prices on Inauguration Day. Still waiting for that one. And now this is going to make it more expensive for average families. So it makes no sense at all. We have to shut this down. Let's talk about some of the other policies coming out of this Trump regime that we know are harming New Yorkers.

We'd love to get your take on some of these federal job cuts in particular. And then I think we should also talk about how Donald Trump and the Republican budget gutting $880 billion in Medicaid is going to impact New Yorkers? They're killing us. First of all, the poor people who are dedicated public servants who could make a lot more in the private sector. These are talented individuals. They're lawyers. They're engineers. They're social workers.

They're people that make sure the planes land safely. They're the ones who keep an eye on the nuclear code. They're the ones that are working to do research to have cures to save our lives and make sure that we don't die from the next pandemic. So these are essential people and they're treated as if they're like disposable tissue. They don't care about them. So here in New York, I started a campaign. In fact, we have digital ads right now in Union Station in Washington, as well as in Moynihan Station in New York, saying, you know what? Doge doesn't want you. They say you're fired. We say you're hired. Come up to New York. I have almost 7,000 open jobs, great jobs throughout the state. I want you to come to New York. So screw that. I'm sorry about

what happened to you. It's painful. I sat down with federal workers yesterday and they're so traumatized. They don't know what hit them and they didn't deserve this. So here in New York, we're saying we appreciate you. We value, come on, we've got a job for you.

Let's talk about those cuts to Medicaid. I mean, millions and millions of people in New York and other states, I mean, red states as well on Medicaid. This is not like he's just attacking blue states or people who vote a certain way. Tell us about the impact this is having or can have on New York. What are you telling the people in New York and what should we know? A lot. First of all, you're absolutely right about the impact on our rural communities. A lot of people think of New York City as just Manhattan and the city.

Most of our landmast, 25% is agricultural. A lot of it is really small towns. And we have rural hospitals that will absolutely collapse under the weight of this if they lose the Medicaid dollars. I was in a hospital in Queens just a couple of days ago. And we went and saw a hospital that's caring for the sickest kids you'd ever see. They're not going to make it home, so many of them. And I went there, and many of them are on ventilators, and their parents, a little two-year-old sitting in a wheelchair, maybe never going to go home. And I said, I was so angry to think that these Medicaid cuts could hurt families like these. They've got so much stress. And I said, Republicans from New York, come on down here and look in the eyes of these

children and their parents and tell them you're going to cut Medicaid. And if you can do that and go back to Washington, then you've got the most callous, cruelest hearts of people ever walked this earth. I hit him hard. And I said, families, you need to start marching to these Republican offices and demanding that they stop what they're doing. They voted for this. They own this. And she said, what are we going to do? I'm going to make sure everybody knows who did this to them. So that's what we're going to do here in New York. Make sure he will

know that elections have consequences and there's one way to fix it. In 2026, we're going to make sure that we continue our sweep of elections. We won five out of seven battleground seats in Congress last year. We worked really hard. And I'm going to make sure we can make Hakeem Jeffries the speaker to create a firewall against the insanity that has been unleashed on Washington. And what went through your mind when Donald Trump started posting long live the king, and then he like reposted like fake Time Magazine covers from the official White House account as he was going after the policies of New York and just reposting this stuff. I mean, look, it's cruel. It's unconstitutional. But like, this is not normal. Like, this is not normal. This is weird stuff. I mean, look, it's cruel, it's unconstitutional, but this is not normal.

This is weird stuff. So what do you make of just this behavior? Weird. It's next level insanity. And when I saw that post, I thought, did someone hack into his account? He didn't just call himself the king, did he? And then I thought, my staff, I thought maybe one of them had made the picture of Donald Trump with the crown on. And it turned out it was the White House that posted it. So I went right down to the subway. I was so pissed off. I marched in there and I said, we have not labored under a king for 250 years and we sure as hell are not starting now. So what I also said, here the Republicans say that states should be the ones who determine control and whether or not a woman can control her own bodies, right?

Reproductive freedom, they want to be able to control women's decision making. But I in New York can't control my own damn traffic? Who are you kidding here? So we're fighting this, the end of congestion pricing, which has worked incredibly successful. we're fighting this, the end of congestion pricing, which has worked incredibly successful. The traffic is down. The quality of life is up. And who are you to tell us we can't do this? This is managing our traffic, for God's sake.

Go worry about solving the crisis in the Middle East and Ukraine. Figure out something more useful to do and stop doing so much harm to New York. What's your message? You know, we know his staff often watches these clips. They have their rapid response, 47 or whatever. And so we know that they follow these shows, these interviews. And so if he's watching this evening on the eve of when he's giving this joint address, what's your message? What would your message be to him? Stop hurting America. A lot of people put their faith in you. They believed that you

would actually reduce prices the day you got sworn in. They believed you, that you'd create all these great things were going to happen. And it hasn't happened. Things are off the charts. Anxiety levels of families. When you're talking about taking away healthcare that covers little kids or seniors, your parents and grandparents are nursing homes. You know what's going to happen? If Medicaid can't cover their costs, they're going back right home in your guest room. You're going to be able to take care of them. That's the reality of America today. He can stop this. President Trump can stop this.

He did a lot. I would say just pull it all back and start thinking about, are you really going to keep hurting your voters? I will talk about a place like Long Island. Offshore wind is big for us. A lot of people, union members, trained hard to be able to get these good-paying jobs as we transition to clean energy economy. But guess what? Long Island voted for you. These guys voted for you. And then one

of the first things you do is you kill the industry. So I would say, look at the people who voted for you and stop hurting them. You saw that town hall, I think it was in New York's third and Hofstra at Hofstra University in Hempstead, Congressmember Swazi was a plus five, I think, Trump area. And he was talking about how horrified Congressmember Swazi, how horrified he was about what happened in the Oval Office with Trump attacking Zelensky. He got a standing ovation at that town hall. I think I heard earlier this morning that the head of the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee said, stop the town halls, cancel them all. And they're now accusing these people of being like paid actors, which just to me further demeans the suffering of these people. What what what what vibes are you? Are you seeing a vibe shift in New York amongst the electorate there?

Oh, I represent the largest Ukrainian population outside of Ukraine. You know, we go to the Ukrainian restaurants. We go to the, you know, we interact with individuals all the time. And this is so painful. The way that he just tried to embarrass a brave, courageous individual

who's leading this country through some of the most traumatic times you ever could imagine. Republicans ought to hang their heads in shame about how they're cozying up to one of the most villain, vile people who's in Russia, Putin, who's been doing nothing but hurting us,

undermining us and compromising our own security. We have to walk away from people like that and embrace people like Zelensky and praise him for what he has done and give him more money. Don't starve him. It's a shame that he has to run in the arms of Europeans and not get that kind of comfort and support that he had all these years. The last three years, he's had that from us. And now to just say it's gone, they don't know what's hit them. So let's stop the craziness. Let's stop the insanity and say, let's really look at who our friends are and stand with them.

You talk about the You're Hired program that you have in New York. Any other kind of programs and policies that you're excited about right now that you want New Yorkers and the rest of the country to hear about? I just wish Washington would do what we're doing here in New York, which is focus on affordability. My budget has plans to put upwards of $5,000 back in the pockets of hardworking New Yorkers, $1,000 child tax credit, middle class tax cuts, and inflation rebate. You know what? Here in New York, because inflation was so high for the last few years, we collected $3 billion more in sales tax revenue. And I said, that doesn't belong to us. Let's put that in the pocket of New Yorkers so families are going to get a $500 rebate.

So I've added up countless ways to address what we heard loud and clear. Democrats heard this in the election, that people want some kind of relief. Someone who's listened to them, understands their pain. Now, listen, I didn't start here. My parents used to live in a trailer park. We bought our clothes at used clothing stores and ate spam sandwiches for dinner a lot. So I know what they've been through, and I want them to know that we are going to not just listen to you. We're going to do something about it.

Washington has the same power. They should be doing this, but until they do, other states, my friends, Democratic governors, and they are just extraordinary leaders, are working hard to just say, we'll take care of you. And I think there's going to be a backlash like we've never seen in the 2026 elections for the House and the Senate. And then we finally get the checks and balances, the firewall that is so essential that is not there right now. New York Governor Kathy Hochul, thanks for joining us. Thank you. Everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to 5 million subscribers.

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