The MeidasTouch Podcast - Rep. Moulton Discusses Trump’s Disastrous Shutdown

Episode Date: October 29, 2025

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Republican Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson making an utter fool of himself on live television as the Trump shutdown is too much for him to handle and Meiselas interviews Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton about the disastrous Trump shutdown. 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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Republican Speaker Maga Mike Johnson just had a totally disastrous press conference. He went up there again with the whole cast of characters, the other MAGA Republican Congress members. It's part of the morning humiliation ritual that he does. And here he kind of just admits what he's trying to do. He's like, if I just keep repeating this over and over again with the repetition, maybe you all in the press will start to write what I'm telling you to write. He's like the talking points that Donald Trump gave.

give them your play this clip that's that's plain and simple and so it's painful for them for us to get up here every single day and relate again the simple truths we have to do that the repetition is what makes the truth uh saturate because most of the mainstream media is given us headwins they're pushing back as i just demonstrated from you from the results the the the research proves what we know intuitively that the mainstream media most of the legacy media is parodying the talking points to their side. You are not asking Chuck Schumer the hard questions. You're not asking Hakeem Jeffries, the hard questions. Not enough of them. They're hiding. They're literally they're not hiding. They're working. And the MAGA Republicans at your order are not showing up

to work. I mean, you've told them to go on a vacation. You keep gaveling out and adjourning. You've worked, you've had the housework 10 or 12 days out of the last 100 days. That's why people are asking, like, what the hell are you actually even doing? And we know that y'all are the ones who refuse to extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies. Y'all are the ones who want to get rid of SNAP from 42 million Americans. Then Maga Mike Johnson is angry that Democrat, Democratic attorney generals in 22 states have filed the lawsuits to try to protect the emergency fund for SNAP benefits, which still has about five to six billion dollars or so in it that Trump and the Department of Agriculture refused to tap into here, play this clip.

Snap benefits will stop flowing to all those who need it. You're talking about tens of millions of Americans at risk of going hungry if the Senate Democrats can continue the scambit. Instead of taking simple vote to fund the government, which Senate Democrats have now had more than a dozen opportunities to do, Democrat attorneys general are suing the federal government to try to compel SNAP benefits to flow despite the government being closed and despite the fact that there is no money to do that. Congress hasn't authorized that. The contingency fund for that was something they batted down. No, it's literally there. There's literally a bank

account that has five to six billion dollars in it called a contingency fund that the Department of Agriculture took this advisory point down from its website, but it can give to SNAP. Instead, it wants to give $40 billion to Argentina. So Maga Mike was asked about that. So $40 billion goes to Argentina and you're not tapping into the SNAP contingency fund, which everybody knows you can tap into the SNAP contingency fund. And Trump said that you could do it during the shutdown during his first term as well. But here will play this clip when he's asked about Argentina. All right, questions. Mono, go ahead.

that you express for so many Americans right now. How do you justify the administration giving this big, massive bailout, Argentina, as well as calling for an increasing beef and forth from Arkansas? Look, we give foreign policy, the execution of foreign policy to the executive branch. That's what the president is doing right now. There's lots of nuances about that. He's involved in negotiating trade agreements around the country to the great success of benefit of the American people right now.

Dozens of them being worked out. He's overseas right now. doing the same thing. And what he accomplished in Japan is a remarkable thing for the American people. And by the way, they've agreed to invest $550 billion into America, and that's good for everyone.

So I can't get into the nuances of every single trade agreement with every country around the world, but we're going to trust the president to do what he's doing. He's had a remarkable track record of success for the American people, and nobody in this room can refute it.

So I'm going to leave it right there. Let's talk about the government shutdown. It's the main important thing right here. Jack, go ahead. Let's bring in Democratic Congress member from Massachusetts, Seth Moulton. Congress member Moulton, good to see you as always. He also made the big announcement recently

you're running for that Senate seat in the Democratic primary. We'll talk about that as well. But you hear Maga Mike says, nobody can refute it. This has been an incredible track record. He's out there unilaterally doing these trade deals and we're just gonna just trust him and just give away our Article I authority as well apparently.

When you see this humiliation ritual that he goes through every morning like this and just the lies, I mean, what's your response to it? He's auditioning to be the weakest speaker in American history. And actually, maybe it's not an audition anymore. He's affirmatively the weakest speaker in American history. He's completely throwing out the Constitution. He might as well not be in Congress because Congress, he's just sent on vacation. You know, we're not doing our jobs.

As far as I know, he's still taking a paycheck. I'm not taking a paycheck. I'm deferring my pay, but apparently most of his Republicans are. A lot of Democrats are too, but the point is it's ridiculous that he refuses to do his job. And maybe no one in that room in Washington is going to refute his claims. I mean, he's standing amongst a bunch of Republicans. But guess what? You hear from a lot of farmers who are pretty upset about these trade deals because they're getting screwed. You hear from a lot of Americans who count on food assistance, including veterans, you know,

who count on SNAP payments who are going to go hungry in a few days while they're sending $40 billion to Argentina. I mean, it's just absurd. Trump made an announcement where he gave away the game when he was in South Korea. We all knew what it was. And he says, I want to go back to the days where you announce good news and the stock market goes up is what he basically said. He said that word for word.

And, you know, he, Maga Mike mentions, you know, Japan has committed to do this. Well, didn't they say that three months ago also? And then, you know, I know Trump's going to be talking to Xi Jinping and there's that aspect of this trip. I went back. There was a framework announced in May with China. Then there was a framework announced in June. Then another one over the summer. Then another one's going to be announced right now.

And then the same thing with all these back to South Korea, a deal with South Korea. Another deal with South Korea, the same deal with, and no one knows what these terms are. They just keep announcing the same thing because it seems the focus is just pump the crap out of the stock market while American people who are living on Main Street suffer. Yeah, I mean, guess what? A lot of Americans don't care about the stock market because they don't have stocks. They care about the prices at the grocery store. I mean, I looked at the grocery bill from yesterday at my house just to buy a hamburger meat. for you know for pasta sauce and spaghetti and I mean well north of a hundred dollars with a little bit of milk and some on eggs and the amount of things thrown in I mean it's just this is what matters to Americans but it just it's so telling that is not where the focus of this administration is the the administration and maga mike and other Republicans they are focused on the stock market they're focused on helping out their billionaire pals they're trying to distract a

from two things. The fact that Americans are about to go hungry this weekend, that the troops are barely getting paid. And they're also trying to distract from the Taco Trump president who has to keep renegotiating these deals because he always chickens out on his own threats. That's why they keep getting renegotiated. You know, you're a veteran.

You served four tours, you're overseas, in active combat areas. When you see someone like Trump say that he's bringing in $130 million from some reclusive billionaire part of, I guess, the Mellon family or something like that, which when you actually do the math pays for six hours of active duty reserve payroll and doesn't address the broader systemic issues, it just feels like it's part of this broader Ponzi scheme going on. Look, the number sounds big. I brought in $130 million from, you know, whoever this guy is, but also going around like, like, why is a billionaire giving $130 million? Do we get to see the numbers?

Is it really going to troops? Is it a, is it a hundred percent tax deductible? Is it part of some other deal? Like, where is this money? I mean, the answer is simple because billionaires have bought this government. He is, he's beholden to billionaires. He's, that's the only. class of people that Trump cares about.

And whether it's the billionaires who get to rape, innocent girls with Jeffrey Epstein and get away with it, just like the president, or whether it's billionaires who just get tax break after tax break at the cost of working people in America, that's what matters to this administration. In the meantime, he's also trying to buy the army. I mean, he's trying to have a private army,

which is, you know, like rule number one in the playbook for authoritarianism, He wants a military that's completely politicized and completely beholden to him, not the Constitution. And, you know, that part not only makes me angry, it makes me sad because that's not what anyone signed up to do in the military. It's not the oath that we took to protect and defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic. I know there's going to be a briefing in the Armed Services Committee coming up. about what's going on in Venezuela with Trump shooting these fishing boats. You know, we've heard from the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, that these innocent

Colombians potentially were individuals who were killed. Then there was individuals who survived one of the bombings by the United States and they just got to go back to their countries. No, no prosecution, apparently just like. Apparently they're innocent. You know, it's like the hunger. If you survive, you're good. Yeah, exactly.

there's nothing that happens so i know this is an important issue to a lot of americans but i don't think it's getting enough attention what's what what can you let us know where we are right now on this well sir it's almost like the best case scenario is that they're just killing innocent people and not only are innocent people dying you know fathers mothers whoever sons you know getting killed without any proof of the fact that they're even transporting drugs or didn't just get bamboozled into piloting these boats. We know for a fact that the two of the people who miraculously survived one of these strikes were just released because they apparently weren't guilty of anything.

That's like the best case scenario. The worst case scenario is that Trump is going to start a war with Venezuela. And I don't know the answer to that. But we've never had more combat power in the Caribbean than, you know, in the last 50 years or something. So you don't bring in subs and aircraft carriers to intimidate people in little speedboats. I don't know what's going on, but I'm very concerned that Trump right now has the blood of innocent people on his hands. But he's about to have the blood of American troops if this goes forward. Talk to us, Congressman, about your Senate race.

Big announcement there. There'll be a Democratic primary. There's a Democratic Senator Markey in the state. Talk to us about your decision to run. One of the things you expressed is it's just time for new leadership. But can you speak to that? Yeah, absolutely. So I just don't think we can afford to wait six more years for new leadership in our party

or in the country. And with all due respect to Senator Markey and in his half century of service, the playbook is not working. The status quo is not getting it done. And he's been elected longer than I've been alive. I think it's time for a new generation of leaders in our party. The current generation has got us a second term of Donald Trump

and he's hurting a lot of people all across America. So, you know, as someone who's never been afraid to stand up to my own party when I think we need to change, I'm running to bring a new generation of leadership to our party, to stand up harder to Donald Trump, and to show a way forward, to show that Democrats are investing in the future and that we can lead. That's, I think, what we need to do going forward. Where can people find out more about the Senate campaign? Yeah, please go to Sethmulton.com. And, you know, some people may ask, okay, why is a Democratic primary happening when we need to focus on the midterms. Look, I stood up Serve America a few years ago. Back in 2018, the last time

we were in this position with Trump in the White House, Republicans controlling the House and the Senate, serve America accounted for more than half the seats that we flipped as the entire Democratic Party to take back the House. So I know a lot about winning midterms and supporting new leaders like Mikey Cheryl, Abigail Spamber. They were all in that 2018 Serve America class are now running for governor into important elections just about to come up here. So, I know about winning the midterms, and I actually think that this primary, that's about the future of the Democratic Party,

are we gonna stick with the old playbook and the status quo, or are we going to pass the torch to a new generation of leaders? This is an essential debate for our success in the midterms. So I'm excited to be running, and I invite you to come to Sethmulton.com to find out more. Congressman Seth Moulton, thanks for joining us, as always. Thanks for having me back. Everybody hit subscribe.

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