The MeidasTouch Podcast - Whoa!! GOP Hearing Goes Off the Rails… Dems Respond
Episode Date: May 8, 2025MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on the MAGA Republican meltdown at their own Oversight Hearing ON LIVE TV as Democrats took control and exposed how pathetic the hearing truly was. Thanks to Po...licyGenius! Head to https://policygenius.com/MEIDAS to get your free life insurance quotes and see how much you could save. 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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I'll let the American people decide who the weirdos are because I think we know.
Yeah, this hearing went off the rails very quickly. Marjorie Taylor Greene is the chairwoman
of the Doge committee here. The hearing that was held was called Unfair Play,
Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports, and it focused on USA fencing, which receives
literally zero federal funding. And you know, with Marjorie Taylor Greene as the chairwoman
of this committee, that it was going to go off the rails and get unhinged very, very quickly.
So she just takes her gavel and just starts banging it over and over again as Democrats are just trying to reclaim their time and ask questions.
Watch how unhinged Marjorie Taylor Greene is here playing this clip.
We stand with you with the LGBTQ plus community.
We stand with you and you can raise your drums all you want, Madam Chair, but we stand with the LGBTQ plus community.
Well, she's always completely unhinged.
So bizarre.
Yeah.
Who are the weirdos there?
Marjorie Taylor Greene.
You may want to look in the mirror.
I want to show you this moment here, though, where Democratic Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett
had the most incredible series of questioning.
She said, OK, let's play a game.
Congresswoman Crockett said she goes, let's call it Trump or trans.
And let's see who's really hurting the American people here.
Play this clip.
So, Miss Goss Graves, I want to play a game.
It's called Trump or trans.
You ready?
OK, I'm going to ask you a question and I want you to tell me whether or not it is Trump or trans people that are responsible.
You understand?
Yeah.
Okay.
Very good.
The first one, gutted medical research.
Trump.
Kidnapping Americans and sending them to foreign countries, a.k.a. deporting them.
Trump.
Driving us into a recession.
Trump. Increasing the cost of everything.k.a. deporting them. Trump. Driving us into a recession. Trump.
Increasing the cost of everything.
Trump.
Waging an idiotic tariff war.
Trump.
Harming farmers.
Trump.
Ignoring the Constitution.
Trump.
Proposing to take away Social Security.
Trump.
Cutting health care.
Trump.
Firing government workers who keep our country safe.
Trump.
Encouraging an environment of hate and divisiveness. Trump. Firing government workers who keep our country safe. Trump. Encouraging an environment of hate and divisiveness. Trump. Thank you so much. This committee could be engaged in actual
oversight of fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement. So let's talk about waste. Like Trump's plan to
spend almost a hundred million dollars for his little birthday parade, or how he spent 25% of his first 100
days golfing, costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. In fact, it's a little bit over $30
million at our last estimation. In fact, President Trump is on pace to spend more than a billion
dollars of taxpayer dollars just on golfing. Yet the Republicans have been silent. So they must
think spending taxpayer dollars on the president's golfing trips is the Republicans have been silent. So they must think spending taxpayer dollars on
the president's golfing trips is more important than providing health care to their constituents.
And when I talk about constituents, we don't talk about the ones on this committee.
And then over here, more Marjorie Taylor Greene yelling at Democratic Congress members and saying,
you're taking my time. You don't have the ability to speak. Just watch how odd this is. Play this
clip. The gentlelady's time has expired. I also want to acknowledge your-
The gentlelady's time has expired. I now recognize-
Madam Chair, do we not have a-
Ms. McClain from Michigan-
You spoke for over a minute point of order.
You took a minute of my time wasting my time on a non-point of order. The gentlelady's time
has expired. I now recognize-
Madam Chair, the clock was not running during the point of order. Ms. McClain time has expired. I now recognize Ms. McClain
for Michigan.
I now recognize
Ms. McClain for Michigan.
Madam.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
Madam Chair. Madam Chair. Madam Chair. Madam Chair. Madam Chair. Madam Chair. Madam Chair. Madam Chair. Madam Chair. Madam Chair. Madam Chair. Madam Chair. We stand with the LGBTQ plus community and you can gavel me to order.
This hearing will come to order.
This hearing will come to order.
Madam Chair.
This hearing will come to order.
Madam Chair.
This hearing will come to order.
I now recognize Ms. McClain from Michigan.
I just have a point of order.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
And yeah, this committee that Marjorie Taylor Greene's chairing goes more off the rails.
Let's play this clip.
Point of order.
Ms. McClain from Michigan.
I just have a point of order.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Let me tell you.
Madam Chair, I just was, I had a point of order.
Could we just have the timekeeper, you know, log the time between both the Democrats and
Republicans and then we rebalance them so that we each have equal time.
That's pretty basic.
We will consider that.
Thank you.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
You took a minute of my time.
That's not a suggestion.
Those are the rules.
Enough, enough.
No, no, no, no, no.
You're wasting your time.
Either we go by the rules or we're out of here.
We're keeping equal time.
The door's open.
Ms. McClain from Michigan is now recognized.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Let me tell you what I'm here for.
Now, there was one moment as well, and this just shows you how deceitful these MAGA Republicans
are. So one of the people who were subpoenaed to show up is a guy named Damien LaFelte,
and he's the chairman of the board of USA Fencing. Now, you may say, USA Fencing,
but what the hell are they even doing here? Well, one of the state regime media fox things that they
were pushing was like two years ago or something that there was a transgender fencing person
and that the transgender fencing person was this major scandal.
So this was on Fox all of the time.
So as a result of Fox basically doxing this chairman of USA Fencing because there was
a one transgender fencing person.
And I don't think it was even recently.
This guy got death threats.
LaFelte got death threats over and over again, the head of USA Fencing.
So they subpoena him to try to attack him, and then they try to defame him.
So the MAGA Republicans show a photo of him that makes it look like he's giving the camera the middle finger,
but they manipulate the image, where if you actually look at what the
image is, you'll see that he was showing two fingers, but they chop it off. So it looks like
he's giving the middle finger. This is how deceitful and devious these MAGA Republicans
are. Play this clip. Now, one big fight, Martha, has been over a picture of the chairman.
Chairwoman Marjorie Taylor Greene actually brought it up during the hearing,
and Democrats said this was a big misrepresentation. Watch this.
Mr. LaFelte came in here today saying that this is game day. You're right, Mr. LaFelte,
this is game day. The document that you have up behind you is a misrepresentation of the actual post. It appears
that you're trying to misrepresent a witness here who you use subpoena powers. Folks, I'm sure you
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Now, do you remember the video I did, when was it, 18 months ago or maybe longer ago when the MAGA Republican Congress
members were doing the Hunter Biden hearings and they would literally edit the text messages,
like they'd manipulate the words. And then I think it was, yeah, it was Congresswoman AOC who said,
I have the real texts. You literally changed the language here. Like you're committing a fraud
in Congress, like tampering with evidence, but that's who they are. Here's a moment where
LaFelte, the head of USA fencing says, we don't get any federal funding. Not one penny of USA
fencing is supported by federal funds. Play this clip. Now, this committee is supposed to be
about saving taxpayer dollars.
And let's be really clear.
Mr. Liefeld, USA Fencing doesn't receive
large taxpayer-funded grants
and doesn't really receive federal funding.
Is that correct?
Sir, we do not receive a penny in federal funding.
So you do not receive a penny of federal funding,
and we're spending our time in a government efficiency committee debating a fencing tournament and your funding. So you do not receive a penny of federal funding and we're spending our time in
a government efficiency committee debating a fencing tournament and your association. That
of you which receive no federal dollars. So what the hell is this government efficiency doing?
They're spending their time going after USA fencing, which is not subsidized by the federal
government at all. This is what they're spending our taxpayer money on while you are suffering
while while people are living paycheck to paycheck while mortgage rates are close to seven percent
while inflation is on the rise again as we're heading towards stagflation as our gdp is
shrinking as freaking donald trump and all theseGA morons are out there saying that you should
only get $1 and five pencils for your little girl or granddaughter, and that she needs to pay more
for it because why would she want more than one toy or whatever the hell they're talking about?
This is what they're focused on. Democratic Congress member Garcia had an important point
to make here as well. Let's play this clip. People are aware there is some bipartisan consensus. Here's a quote from one of my
Republican colleagues who's actually on this committee today, which I want to read. I find
it encouraging. It says, I strongly support LGBTQ rights and equality. No one should be
discriminated against. I have friends and family that identify as LGBTQ. Understanding how they feel and how they've been treated is important.
Having been around gay, lesbian, and transgender people has informed my opinion over my lifetime.
Now, Ms. Goss Graves, do you know who said this by any chance?
I don't know.
This was actually Congresswoman Nancy Mace, who's I know waved onto our committee today.
Now, Madam Chair, I'd like to insert into the record
this article on CNN that says,
titled, Nancy Mace, now targeting transgender lawmaker,
calls herself pro-transgender rights in 2023.
Madam Chairwoman?
Without objection.
Thank you.
Now, Congresswoman Mace, of course, is here today. Now, in November
of just last year, Congresswoman Mace posted 326 times on social media about trans people
and their access to bathrooms in just one 72-hour period. That's a fact. So I'd like to introduce
another article from Newsweek, and it's entitled, this is the title,
Nancy Mace has posted 326 times in the last 72 hours about bathrooms. Madam Chair, can I introduce this into the record? Without objection. Thank you. I point this out because it's actually
important context. Republicans accuse Democrats of focusing too much on LGBTQ plus issues or trans
issues. But we want to talk about protecting social
security. We want to talk about protecting the cost of living. We want to talk about lowering
prices. We want to make sure that all people have health care. But Republicans are so obsessed
with demonizing trans people that we are wasting time in our government efficiency committee
talking about trans people that like fencing. Yeah, he showed the words of Nancy Mace
because once upon a time when she was pretending to be a centrist in her district in South Carolina
before it was gerrymandered to be one of the most extreme agri-republican districts,
Nancy Mace was saying, oh, I'm for the LGBTQ community. Of course I am. Now she posts, what would he say? 347 times
in a day, anti-trans, anti-LGBTQ stuff. And here she is posting, this is weird behavior.
Set aside politics. This is weird human behavior. This is not how people behave.
And she goes, spotted in Austin, all gender restroom on a recent trip to Texas.
Um, no, there are only two hold the line. Biology isn't bigotry. This is what she does. She posts
this crap over and over again. She got community noted. This is a single occupancy ambulance
toilet, which is a lockable door. These are also known as disabled toilets. What are you doing?
Pictures of him posting yourself on this. What are you taking pictures of
and posting yourself on this? Why are you bullying transgender people? Why are you bullying gay
people? Go spend your time doing something else, like maybe actually making trade deals or making
the economy work for everyone. Maybe just focus your freaking time on dealing with housing so
that people don't have to work multiple jobs to live paycheck
to paycheck. But if they work one job, they can get paid with dignity and they can afford a house
and they can afford their mortgage and they don't have to worry about living paycheck to pay. Why
don't you guys focus on those issues? And then maybe once you get through the basics, if you
want to start talking about USA fencing, let's go through a bunch of other
issues first, shall we, right there? Here's Congress member Kassar. Let's play this clip.
So, of course, Republicans on the Government Efficiency Committee are holding an emergency
hearing on semi-pro fencing. Not fences like the kind that goes around a building, but like the sport with the swords.
And I've knocked on thousands of doors and talked to thousands of Republican,
independent, and Democratic voters in my career. And not a single time has someone flung open their
door and said, thank God you're here, Congressman. I want to ask you about transgender people fencing. It's just never happened. I've
never even met a fencer before. I've just seen it on the parent trap. I'm sure it's a great sport,
but what the hell are we doing here? Seriously. We're here because chairwoman Marjorie Taylor
Greene thinks that if she picks on vulnerable people like trans folks,
she can avoid having a discussion about the allegations of insider trading against her.
She thinks that she can distract from the fact that Trump and MAGA Republicans are raising your
costs every single day, suppressing your wages every single day, stealing your taxpayer dollars
every single day, and threatening your health care.
That's the reason we're at this crazy hearing today.
But of course, the MAGA Republican Congress members like here, Congress member
Fallon, basically, though, goes and attacks the head of USA fencing here
for not being transparent here. Play this clip right here for transparency. Let's go. Did you recently
change your social media profile from public to private? I did, sir. Okay. Was that before or
after you got wind that you might end up being here today? That was around the time that I was
receiving death threats and anti-semitic messages. Also happened to be right after you found out that
you might be here. Correct? I can't recall, sir, specifically when I went private.
Yes, that is April 14th.
And you did it after.
So I'm going to give you another F, two counts for transparency.
Let's talk about.
More Marjorie Taylor Greene attacking Congresswoman Crockett.
Let's show you this clip right here.
Now, let's go a little bit further with this.
Madam Chairwoman, your time has expired.
You're not recognized, Ms. Crockett.
Mr. LeFelt, you wrote a blog post where you said that one day your daughter.
Madam Chair, on a point of order.
This is my time and I'm the chair of the committee.
No, that was your time.
Your time is over.
And now we're asking a week.
The chair has discretion to assign time.
I've lost time.
I have lost time.
As long as we have that understanding, that's fine. I've lost time. I yield two and a half minutes to the chair has discretion i've lost time i have lost as long as we have that understanding
that's fine i've lost time i yield two and a half minutes to the chair lady mr lafell
maga republican congresswoman mclean also kind of going through this saying like you you're living
in a fake reality or whatever the hell she's talking about here play this clip the issue that I have for the young girls is you can live in your reality.
You can live in your reality.
But when your reality intrudes on my safety and puts another person at harm or in harm's way,
that's when I have a problem with it.
Now, if you go to another committee hearing that was taking place as well,
you have Andy Biggs, who's chairing this committee over here,
attacking Democratic Congress member Goldman.
Let me show you this when he's banging the gavel over and over again as well.
Let's play this clip right here.
Finish answering the question.
You attack.
I'd like to reclaim my time. You have no additional time. You are out of order. Be quiet. You are
out of order. I would like to reclaim my time. No, he's answering the question because you
personally attacked him. I've said he can answer the question. I give that courtesy. How did I
personally attack him, Mr. Chairman? You attacked his credibility. We're not going to get into it.
We're not getting into this right now. What we're going to get witness is credibility.
You are out of order. You are out of order. You're done. You can't say anything else right now.
Then finally, we got to hear from Democratic Congress member Goldman
about how he feels about that hearing. Let's play this clip right here. This interview over the weekend that he doesn't know
if he would uphold, should uphold the Constitution
in the situation with due process
with undocumented immigrants.
What's your reaction to what the president said this morning?
Look, I think this is so misguided.
The notion that because he won an election, that he should be able to ignore the Constitution or violate our laws is preposterous.
Every president wins an election. That does not mean that they get to just make up whatever laws they want and decide which ones they're going to comply with and which ones they aren't. Donald Trump does not get to decide what
the law is. The Supreme Court and the judiciary does, as well as immigration judges for deportation
cases. And so the issue here is he wants to use the Alien Enemies Act in 1798 law from a completely
different era that says only those who represent, who are essentially soldiers for a
different country in wartime, can be removed from this country. But there hasn't been established
in any way, shape, or form that there's any war that Venezuela is waging on us. In fact,
the intelligence community has determined that Venezuela is not directly supporting the Trenadera, the gang, the foreign terrorist organization
that's been designated now.
So there is no factual basis to think
that the Alien Enemies Act should apply.
And for Donald Trump to just say,
"'Oh, well, I won in my election,
"'therefore I get to determine
"'what the Alien Enemies Act says' is preposterous.
"'It runs totally counter to the very fundamental nature of our constitutional and democratic values.
Well, there you have it, folks.
Hit subscribe.
Let's get to 5 million subscribers.
And thank you all for watching.
Have a good one.
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