The MeidasTouch Podcast - Senator Gallego on Trump’s Mental Decline During Shutdown

Episode Date: October 7, 2025

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Donald Trump’s dark past surfacing as it becomes increasingly clear that one of the main reasons for the government shutdown is Donald Trump covering up his past and also his deep and serious cognitive decline. 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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Or a lot of fear. Mom? Or you can get completely terrified. Who's that? Choose wisely. With Halloween on Disney Plus. As Donald Trump's dark past is surfacing the House GOP and Donald Trump are keeping the government shut down to protect pedophiles. It's a direct post from Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego.

And the facts bear that out, refusing to swear in Adelaidea Griha, Arizona's congresswoman elect from the 7th Congressional District is what Maga Mike Johnson and the MAGA Republicans are doing now. And at the same time, they refused to swear her in. There was a hearing before the Senate committee, where they brought in attorney general Pam Bondi. Here's what Senator White House asked her if the FBI found photographs of Donald Trump, that Trump's biographer and someone who was potentially going to be Epstein's biographer, guy by the name of Michael Wolfe said that Epstein told him that there were these photos of Donald Trump and little girls of indeterminate age or girls of unclear age that potentially were kept

in a safe, unclear if those exist or not, but Wolf said that that's what Epstein told him. So Senator White House asked the question of Bondi today. Here, play this clip. Did the FBI find those photographs that have been discussed publicly by a witness who claimed Jeffrey Epstein showed them to him? You don't know anything about that? Okay. Senator Durbin, then ask this question of Pam Bondi. Let's play it. The quarrel with you is to read somebody that you mentioned I never heard of. Reed Hoffman.

So who gave the order to flag records related to President Trump? To flag records for President Trump? To flag any records, which included his name. I'm not going to discuss anything about that with you, Senator. Eventually, you're going to have to answer for your conduct in this. You won't do it today, but eventually you will. My Pambandi impression. Who are you talking about?

What are you talking about? What are you talking about? What do we want to talk about anything right there? I'm not answering any question. Reed Hoffman, I'm just going to start Antifa. I'm going to start saying names. And then here when Maga Mike Johnson was asked about swearing in Adelita Griehlva from Arizona's seventh congressional district who would lend her name to become the 218th signature on that discharge

petition to then have a vote to release the Epstein files. He just walks away. Here, play this clip. Congress and get everybody back to work. I certainly pray and hope that they will do that, and they don't drag this on for political purposes. Thank you all so much. Mr. Speaker, where do you slur in, Mr. Hullo?

You saw right there the House floor. Mag and Mike sent the people home on vacation. He said, go take a paid vacation. We're not even going to speak with Democrats, yet alone negotiate with them. Horrible. Let's bring in Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego. Senator Gallego, great to see it.

You wrote, House GOP is keeping the government shut down to protect pedophiles. It's like an accurate statement, sir. What do you make of what's going on? I mean, if this was on the other foot, and this was Democrats doing this, the right would be losing their minds, right? The fact is Mike Johnson is keeping the government closed to protect some of the most powerful men, not just Donald Trump, the world from being exposed as pedophiles.

They're willing to also not just keep government shut. What does that mean? They're going to mess with our travel. They're going to mess with pay. They're going to mess with the ACA tax credits to make insurance, you know, cheaper for 24 million Americans. And they're doing it because they're afraid what's going to come out. I mean, this is just, it astounds me the sheer amount of bullshit that we're all dealing

with right now. and the fact that this guy, you know, Speaker Johnson, will go on camera and say that the Democrats are the problem, you have, we have no one to negotiate with, right? Dementia Donald Trump is half the time on the golf course. Mike Johnson's half the time hiding and or avoiding putting his Congress, the Congress back into session. And so essentially we only have the senators to talk about and we're the problems here. We're the problems here.

This is, this is the worst written, you know, what's the problem. sweet script I've ever seen at this point. Right. You know, it would be parity if it wasn't so real and impacting our lives. I mean, you talk about dementia Donald. I mean, he's, yesterday, he was pretending that there were negotiations taking place with Democrats. I guess they've moved off of their talking points of blaming migrants. That wasn't working. And transgender people from Peru, that wasn't, that wasn't sticking. So now he went with, this is about health care. He said, yesterday in the Oval Office and we're negotiating. Very big things about Hamas, you know,

health care, Hamas, health care. That's what he said yesterday. I guess the word H went into his mind. So he went there. But he said that they're negotiating. I spoke with leader Jeffries. I spoke with leader Schumer. They both did interviews here. We don't know what he's talking. He's not, they're doing no to go. They're not even here. What in the world are they talking about? I mean, that in it of itself should be a major three alarm. Yeah. I mean, even when Donald Trump is, in D.C. He's not really mentally in D.C. Um, so we don't know who to negotiate with. And fact is, we're getting closer to November 1st. Open enrollment happens then. Like, Donald Trump has never dealt with insurance personally. He's never bought insurance. He's never

had to go and figure out what insurance rates, uh, really are, right? He's always had someone doing that, doing that from. And you have Speaker Johnson, uh, and Leader Thune that know that. So they know how to manipulate this man. They, they have a goal. They want to destroy the ACA. You know, Russ vote also has, is able to manipulate this president, too. And the president, really, at the end of the day, you know, all he cares about is destroying the legacy of Obamacare. And 24 million Americans are going to suffer because of that. 24 million Americans are going to see their rate increase doubled.

In Arizona, a family of four is going to see their premium increase by almost $4,400. Like, if you are a swing Republican in a swing district in an off-year election, why are you falling on this sword for this guy who's clearly checked out and needs to be probably put into some type of treatment program for whatever dementia he has, for Johnson, who comes from one of the safest districts in the country who's covering for pedophiles, and for John Thune, who is in there for six years and he is not worried about members of Congress, but you have all these members of Congress that are diving themselves on the sword for what? At the end of the day, they're going to end up losing their elections for something they could have easily

a fix with just a simple compromise. You know, you hit on something that I hadn't even thought of. The for what they don't know what they're doing because it also seems that the shutdown has at least either exasperated or it's probably more shed a light on Donald Trump's cognitive decline in the sense that he's not there to provide any kind of guidance or anything. And Maga, Mike is just waiting for his orders. Thune has compromised, you know, the old Thune that he pretended to be, you know, unfortunately. And so they don't know what to do.

So they're out there. I mean, Mike Johnson this morning, he's like, I read a headline. And I haven't been read in on it. The headline did say that furloughs may be something, but I did read this. But we're going to have, like, you just read a headline. That's your press conference, that you read a headline before you gave a press conference. you're the speaker of the house like what the hell are you talking about but you're right i mean it's because trump's out there you know speaking nonsense about trump 2028 hats in the oval office

yeah i think they're trying to be asked their way through this and hoping that you know them being a little kind of keep talking to their maga base will actually solve this problem the problem is it doesn't at the end the day when people have to sign up for their to get in shirt again next year, this is when all reality hits. And the people that get affected the most by, by the way, with these ACA cuts are actually in Trump country. So you could deny, you could lie, and you could even have some of your lives be believed by your base. But fact is, insurance premiums go up, people have got to cut checks, everything's really damn expensive right now, and your lies then all of a sudden become a liability. And, you know, the worst again is someone

like Mike Johnson is putting his swing seat members in trouble. Marjorie Taylor Green, for fuck's sakes, is smarter about this. She literally has said, like, I hate the ACA. I wish ACA didn't exist, but there's no way I'm going to vote to increase the premiums of my constituents, smart move. And yet you have people like Juan Siscomani who wins by a couple thousand votes, a couple of other members of Congress, like win by a couple thousand votes that are literally marching themselves onto the gallows just because they just have zero opportunity nor really

courage to step away from their leadership from Donald Trump. And, you know, it's just dumb. Like, in what world are you willingly voting to increase the premiums of your constituents in this year, of all years, when people are paying extra for everything and you as an elected official are going to actually add more costs to your constituents. Good luck explaining that. I want to ask you about Donald Trump's speech before the Navy. You're a veteran. Donald Trump is very, he goes out there and he's like, we were too woke after World War II. And then he, you know, attacks the troops in front of the Navy and start saying incorrectly that we've lost

all of, you lost this war, that war, this war, because of your wokenness. And you posted, the man who never pulled the trigger to defend his country, but sure talks shit like he understands. This is the most dangerous type of military leaders. And he's someone who's famously dodged the draft five times lying that he had bone spurs. And he's the one attacking veterans right there. It's deeply personal to you as well, I think, in lots of veterans. Well, it's personal to me because, like, I, you know, I was in the Marines. I was in combat and very heavy combat.

that. I had to make some decisions to save myself, save my Marines. I also conducted myself in the best possible way that bided by the honor of being a Marine. And my Marines did too. And we, you know, when you have people like this guy who kind of glamorize the idea of war and think that, you know, we should just be able to, essentially what you're trying to say is to shoot whoever you want and destroy whole cities. I don't want to be part of that military. I don't want to be part of the military that, you know, does that type of warfare. The reason, you know, I joined the military is because I remember growing up hearing about the Marines of World War II, the Army of World War II, the Marines who had some really

hard fights in the Vietnam War. And then, you know, the Marines and Army of the Persian Gulf War, who, you know, despite some, you know, some glaring examples, like the, my like massacre, stuff like that, you know, the the U.S. military does and tries to keep its honor, unlike our enemies. And, you know, this guy just doesn't understand the impact of war, the impact of, of, you know, ordering these young men and women to do some really horrible things that are, you know, against the action human nature. It's one thing to protect yourself.

It's another thing to cause atrocities. He'll never understand that. Number one, because he's a psychopath and can't really have feelings for other people or thoughts for other people. But number two, because he's never been in that situation. He's a selfish, selfish man. He's never have to have to deal with the idea of self-sacrifice, the idea of a sacrifice for the greater good of a country or a cause.

And, you know, I think he looks at our military as a bunch of play toys and we're not play toys. You know, I live with the consequences of the Iraq war, you know, every day. And, you know, people like him will never care about people like me. They don't care about the ground pounders. They don't care about the guys that are door kickers. and they care about us in the grand scheme and the idea of it, but they don't understand what we actually usually suffer coming back from wars. You know, and finally, doesn't it seem like he enjoys this shutdown?

It seems that they're like he, you know, I've always had like a friend in the past who's no longer a friend who seemed to be happy when things were bad in your life. And it was like, are you happy with the suffering? Everybody knows a person. He seems to find this all funny, you know, the weird sombrero memes, which I acknowledge just, but he seems to be enjoying this. He called it in a post a great opportunity. He's playing golf.

He's bragging about the gold that's all over the White House on their TikTok account. The team Trump account literally posted a $100 bills flying around saying Trump is making it rain on the country. He's talking about $1 commemorative coins. Like while the American people are suffering, just from the shutdown, but from the rising prices on affordability across the board, he just seems to be like at his most happiness, like at his happy place when people are suffering. It's interesting.

I actually look, I think he's actually is not doing, I don't think he's doing well. I really think he's actually in decline. But number two, I actually do not think he's actually doing it with all this because what I see, you know, dealing with a lot of, you know, men in power my whole life. what actually is the reactions of a very weak man because he's all over the place with his answers and how to respond to it. Finally, someone's standing up to him, right? Democratic Party has been unified saying we're not going to let you cut the insurance

of 24 million Americans. And for him, he's very confused the fact that he can't bully his way out of this, that he can't embarrass people out of this, that he can't just snap his finger out of it. And that's why you're seeing him kind of grasp at all these different things. things to kind of help him feel good, to feel like he has some sort of power. What you're seeing is actual weakness. He's scared. He does not know how to get out of this without compromise.

And to him, that means that he's going to end up looking weak because he started by such a strong stance that says, like, you know, just open this up. And, you know, for someone like Kim, he, it does not come naturally. to him. Like, he's always been able to either walk away, you know, like for all his failed properties, all his jobs and just kind of like, you know, bluster his way into the next thing. And this one, he's going to either have to walk away and reinforce one way or the other, the Affordable Care Act, or he's going to have to shut down. And at some point, some of this starts affecting a lot of what he cares about, right? So he cares about certain things that

he wants to execute. And whether or not the government is shut down, eventually that starts having an effect on him. So I read this as an absolute like show of weakness and it does not surprise me that you're going to see him kind of lash out. He's going to keep trying different things because he knows that he has no power in this issue and he's just trying to figure out how to figure out, you know, how he can still look tough and, and have control when he really doesn't. You know, finally, Senator, where do we go from here? What do you see happening next does, you know, one week, two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, you know, no Kings protest. I mean, this could be, this could end tomorrow very easily, right? I have zero trust that these guys are going to listen to a

CR or budget, right? If we put a budget together, they're just going to ignore it next year or however long we put a budget together for, right? They're just going to ignore it. What the cat ignore is once we give the tax credit to American citizens. And so for me, it's very simple. Give my people the tax credits. Give my people their tax credits. It's their money so they could use it to bring down their premiums at the end of the day. And, you know, he can push, he can cry, he could do whatever he wants. But at some point, Johnson is going to have to talk to some of his Republican colleagues. Remember, he only controls the House represented by three votes. And the idea that you're about to send some of your, you know, members of

Congress into a very hard year after putting a Trump tax on people's insurance, good luck. So if I was them, I would understand that, you know, the, you know, the gig is up, get this deal done, and be able to move on to whatever stupid shit they want to do afterward. Senator Ruben Giego, thanks for joining us. Have a good one. Everybody hit subscribe. Let's hit that 6 million subscriber mark this month. Thanks for watching. Be sure to add the Midas Touch podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast for new updates every single day.