The MeidasTouch Podcast - Rep. Boyle on Trump Abandoning His Promises

Episode Date: March 13, 2025

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Trump completely tanking the Republican agenda and Meiselas speaks with Democratic Congressman Brendan Boyle about Trump’s destruction. 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

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 bet mgm operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming ontario more lunacy this morning as europeans apply retaliatory tariffs against the united states the mega republicans in the Senate and the House of Representatives are trying to just justify everything here is normal. This also as they gut the Department of Education, firing over half of their staff and doing it also so cruelly, they like faked a security emergency to get people to like evacuate the building so that once they were fired, they couldn't get back in. And Linda McMahon basically confirmed that on Fox, the new secretary of it's just it's just cruel. Talking about cruelty. Take a look at MAGA

Republican Senator Jim Banks. But he's asked that, you know, the Department of Education like it it's tasked with protecting disabled students in red states. Also, watch the response. The Department of Education is tasked with protecting disabled students across America. And Jamie Raskin, for example, is all out there saying, how are you going to defend this? So let me ask you. Well, I think it's simple that that will be done at the state level a federal bureaucrat who's in washington dc can't protect schools schools and kids in indiana that has to be done at the local level and that that's why get get getting the federal government out of the way and letting letting schools take care of these issues with those tax dollars that will be spent more more tax dollars

spent the local level will help that happen in a much better way than anything that happens in Washington. They don't even know what the Department of Education is like. The states do run their education and the Department of Education helps with things like helping with disabled students and poor students in their red states. I mean, they're quite literally voting against their constituents. So then you have that combined with what Trump's Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick then goes on and talks more this morning about conquering Canada. The end game here. Could you eventually get to a point where there's no that you've got a huge economy? You've conjoined, you've merged the economies of Canada and the United States. Can you get to that point, you think? Well, the best way, the president has said it, the best way to actually merge the economies of

Canada and the United States is for Canada to become our 51st state. If they want to merge it, that's how you make it the 51st state. But think about this for a second. Why are American cars made in Canada? Why are they made in Canada? The president just doesn't make sense. Why are American cars made in Canada? Those jobs should be in America. Let's call in Democratic Congressmember Boyle, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. From Philly, Congressmember Boyle, what do you, it's like some like weirdo cosplay, like maybe we like did this in high school where we were told to take contrarian opinions and you were still looked at as like, what the heck are you doing? This is what they're doing in our government? Yeah.

Hearing Howard Lutnick talk about cars, actually, he does remind me of the first guy I bought a used car from 25 years ago. And it turns out it was a lemon. So Lutnick is very much along those lines. This is so crazy. It's nuts. I come from, as you pointed out, TV ads for all of 2024. About 70% of them were about inflation and getting costs down. That's really more than any other issue, what the campaign was about. It was the number one issue for voters. Trump ends up winning by one and a half points, or as the other side likes to say, the greatest landslide since George Washington. As those of us who like math say, the second

closest election in the last 50 years. And what does Trump do? Does he attempt to lower costs? No, still to this point, not one piece of legislation has been introduced in Congress by Republicans to reduce costs. Instead, he's focusing on attacking our closest ally and literally has members, senior members of our government, talking about taking over Canada. It is nuts. It achieves nothing. And I don't know really what the end game for this stupid tariff strategy is. And I do fear things will get significantly more expensive for most Americans and Canadians before it ends. Even the Wall Street Journal opinion page today.

How do you like the trade war now? Trump is furious that Canada won't take his tariffs lying down. And then you had that photo of Donald Trump and Elon Musk selling, selling Teslas in front of the White House. I mean, what are you, what are your, I mean, Philly's tough. Philly's tough. I mean, your constituents have to look at the, show show that show that photo one more time, Salty. I mean, I mean, if you go around like that in Philly, what are people saying there? As you pointed out, those of us from Philly are not exactly known for being shy or polite. So we'd have no problem letting Donald Trump know exactly what we think and feel.

But it's just, I wish that all of this, that we could just laugh at it and it was a bad reality TV show. Unfortunately, real damage is being done though to the American people and real damage is being done to the standing of the United States around the world. You know, if I had said six months ago to you that we would be in an all out trade war with Canada, threatening to physically take it over, inspiring Canadians of all different political ideologies to boo the American national anthem, to see the approval rating of the United States in Canada now at around the 10% level, we're polling about where China and Russia do in terms of what Canadians think of us. It's truly disastrous and tragic. When you hear a clip like I played at the outset of Senator Jim Banks of Indiana saying that we don't need the Department of Education, it doesn't matter what they do with

disabled students, the states will just deal with it anyway. I mean, it fundamentally misunderstands the dynamic of the way education works, but you're someone who's always, from the day you arrived in Congress, you've been fighting for the best education and to avoid cuts. And now you're seeing the entire Department of Education essentially get gutted. What's your response to all of it? My wife is a public school teacher. She's an elementary school teacher, has been for 25 years, very dedicated person that could be making a lot more money than than she chooses to make because she's so committed to what she does. Teaching right now, teaching second grade kids, the war on education that we're being seen, that we're seeing being waged by Donald Trump and Musk and the Musketeers, it is disgusting. And what Jim Banks wanted to confuse people about, the reality is most of the funding for K through 12 education in this country comes from the state and local level. And that's already

where those decisions are made. Nonetheless, the Federal Department of Education plays a crucial role in our overall education system, while still primarily most of the funding and the decisions are made at the state and local level, especially as it relates to higher education and student loans. So to see so many people committed to education, committed educators, literally thrown out of their offices and not allowed to come back in after years, sometimes decades of real service to our country, it's just disgusts me. Let's talk about how, in addition to attacking education, it seems that Doge and these MAGA Republicans and Trump are always attacking the most vulnerable or the people who have also given the most to the country.

I mean, they're attacking veterans, getting rid of, what, 70,000 jobs at the VA, attacking the Social Security Administration, 7,000 jobs there, attacking over and over again Medicaid. What are you hearing from your constituents there? And again, that contrast as people's 401ks and pensions are being destroyed, as people are being cruelly fired, Trump in front of the White House with Elon Musk selling Teslas and talking about buying fancy cars? Yeah, let's just be clear. What happened in the 2024 presidential election is perhaps the greatest con of Donald Trump's long career as a con man. And this was the con. He was able to convince a lot of working class people that he and his party were on their side. And then in office, what was his number one agenda item? His bill to extend the Trump tax cuts,

most of which go to the top 1% of Americans. The majority of the money literally goes to billionaires. And it is funded, it is paid for, by the largest cuts to Medicaid in American history. $880 billion worth of cuts to Medicaid. Now, Trump gets on TV and he lies about it. He lies as easily as he breathes. He said, oh, I promise to, in his words, love and cherish Medicaid.

Well, anytime Donald Trump promises to love and cherish anything or anyone, you know that that commitment is about to be broken. And that is the reality of what they're pushing. We had that vote a couple of weeks ago in the House. I hope that it gets more attention than I think it's currently getting with all of the madness that's going on.

It shouldn't distract people from one of the most significant votes of my time in Congress. And that is the largest cuts to Medicaid in American history to pay for tax cuts for billionaires. That, in the end of the day, is what Donald Trump and the Republican Party is actually about. Let's talk about finally, what's the plan right now, though? I mean, obviously, Democrats don't control the House, the Senate, or the executive branch, so you can't really set the committee agendas or issue subpoenas or whatever. But what are you doing to fight back right now? What are you doing in your district? And what are you urging others to do in this very difficult moment? Yeah, look, I think a lot of Democrats throughout the nation are

frustrated and angry right now. I know I'm one of them. Because the reality is, while it was a very close election, the Republicans ended up winning the House and winning the Senate and have the White House. And so as a result, they'll be able to do a lot of damage. That said, I'm not giving up, and I don't think any one of us should give up. I believe in a three-pronged strategy, a legislative strategy, a litigation strategy, and a people mobilization strategy. On the first point, even though we're in the minority, we do have leverage. You do have enough senators on the Democratic side in the Senate that they can filibuster most bills if they choose to do so. You also have in the budget vote yesterday,

it forces every Republican but one to vote for any piece of legislation that they want to pass. We have to make sure that we stay unified as House Democrats and continue to force Republicans to reach total unity for them to achieve anything. Something that historically, they've really had a tough time doing. Second, on the litigation front, we've already seen initial success in trying to block what Elon Musk and his Doge crew are doing. A lot of our outside groups

have really been successful in courts, even, I have to say, with Republican-appointed judges, and I think you're going to continue to see more of that. And then third and finally, on the people mobilization front, the model is exactly what happened eight years ago. You know, at this point, eight years ago, it was Republican president Donald Trump, Republican House, Republican Senate, and their number one priority, if you recall, was to repeal and replace Obamacare. They got it through the House. But then what happened? In the Senate, enough Republican senators voted with Democrats to block the repeal of Obamacare. They did that in part because so many people mobilized throughout the

country. They had protests. They made their voices heard. The repeal effort you saw in the polls became very unpopular. That was enough to sway wavering Republicans in Congress to vote against the repeal, including the moment ultimately that John McCain gave the final thumbs down. So I look at that as a real model for us to follow, that we know that if enough people mobilize and speak out and pressure Republican members of Congress, then hopefully just enough will be more afraid of the American people than they are afraid of Donald Trump. Democratic Congress member Boyle from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Thanks, Congressman. All right.

Thank you. Everybody hit subscribe and 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.