Bobby LaPin on Why Cracks Are Emerging Inside MAGA

22 Jun 2026 · 22 min · 8 chapters

Ask about this episode

Ask anything about it. ChatGPT or Claude reads this page and answers with the times it was said.

Connect VO and ask about every podcast you hear, including the moments you saved. Add to ChatGPT · Add to Claude

In short

The episode argues that MAGA is fracturing from within and turning on Donald Trump, driven by social-media infighting, paranoia about “foreign influence” psyops, and public backlash to Trump’s posts and administration actions. It then pivots to a local progressive campaign, framing it as part of a national effort to block gerrymandering and protect reproductive rights.

Guests

Bobby LaPin, an Army veteran and small business owner running for Maryland State Senate in Baltimore City against Bill Ferguson (Maryland Senate president).

Key claims

MAGA supporters are accusing Trump of betrayal (wars, affordability), and Trump is allegedly consumed by paranoia about influencers. Ferguson is said to have blocked redistricting (House Bill 488) and backed down on reproductive-rights protections and utility-rate issues.

Notable examples

Trump posts mocked as “Epstein” references; a “Qatari Air Force One” photo; “great daughter” photo identified as Margot Castamides; reflecting pool “algae/vandalism” claims; baby duck death tied to chemicals.

Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.

Chapters

Tap a time to open that second in VO

Cracks in the MAGA Base

0:34 to 1:01

Discussing the fragmentation within Trump's MAGA base.

“to create professional quality cookware, knives, and kitchen tools.”

Cracks in the MAGA Base

1:47 to 8:01

Discussing the fragmentation within Trump's MAGA base.

“MAGA is turning on him in all of Donald Trump's social media posts, whether it's on Truth Social or Instagram or whatever.”

Interview Introduction: Bobby LePin

8:01 to 8:54

Introducing Bobby LePin, a candidate running for state Senate.

“This is seriously what Mark Levin, this is what's happening to the Trump supporters right now.”

Bobby LePin on Political Change

8:54 to 14:00

Bobby discusses his motivations for running and political challenges.

“Bobby's an Army veteran, a small business owner, and he's running for the state Senate in Baltimore City against another Democrat, by the way, Bill Ferguson, who is the president of the Maryland Senate.”

Hope and Courage in Politics

14:00 to 14:40

Learn about the importance of courage among politicians and the hope for progressive change.

“When I go door to door, people say, OK, just right off the bat, you know, when I knock on their door and this is the first time they might they might meet me or know me or hear my name.”

Bobby LaPin's Campaign and Challenges

14:40 to 16:40

Discover Bobby LaPin's grassroots campaign strategies and the challenges he faces against corporate interests.

“Like I was telling you before we went on live here, I'm hopeful.”

The Importance of Local Politics

17:20 to 19:00

Explore the critical role of state legislatures in shaping national issues like redistricting and reproductive rights.

“And normally you would expect him to do that.”

Wrapping Up: Call to Action

19:00 to 19:58

Bobby LaPin emphasizes the need for community support and engagement in the political process.

“This is why it's so important that politics is all local, because that's where it begins to be messed up in the first place.”
Hear the part that matters, and keep it.Open this episode in VO. Double tap your headphones to save a moment as you listen.
Get VO free

Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

0:01Ben Meiselas:This episode is brought to you by Fox One. Watch all 104 matches of the FIFA World Cup live in 4K for just$19.99 a month with three days free. Build your own multi-view, choose up to three streams, and follow player spotlights. Stay on top of every moment with live stats, highlights, and instant replays. The FIFA World Cup, streaming live on Fox One, offers a subject to change. See fox.com for complete terms and conditions. This podcast is sponsored by Made In Cookware. Made In partners with multi-generational artisans and some of the world's best chefs to create professional quality cookware, knives, and kitchen tools.

0:42Their products are trusted in Michelin-starred restaurants worldwide and designed to perform just as well in your kitchen. From five-ply stainless clad to carbon steel, every piece is built to last and made to actually make you a better cook. Discover award-winning cookware at MadeInCookware.com.

1:01Ben Meiselas:Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same premium wireless for$15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to do at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three-month plan, equivalent to$15 per month required. Intro rate first three months only, then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. See full terms at MintMobile.com. Monday.com AI agents took over my work. And I absolutely love it.

1:35Chasing deadlines, writing status reports, updating stakeholders. Agents handle the daily grind now. I stay in the loop only when it matters. Create your own AI agent in minutes on Monday.com.

1:46Ben Meiselas:Donald Trump's MAGA base is gone. MAGA is dead. This is Donald Trump's worst nightmare. MAGA is turning on him in all of Donald Trump's social media posts, whether it's on Truth Social or Instagram or whatever. Donald Trump's former MAGA supporters are all out there saying, Epstein, Epstein, Epstein, you promised us affordability. You said you would not get us into these never-ending wars. You betrayed us. Also, you have the White House completely paranoid now that the MAGA influencers are running a foreign influence psyop against Donald Trump. So Donald Trump weaponized these influencers against every one of his political enemies.

2:27Ben Meiselas:Now he believes that his MAGA influencers are psyops of foreign countries going after him. He's being utterly consumed by paranoia as he rots away inside the White House. Let me show you what's going down. The White House account is posting things like this, worth protecting the values that shaped America. And then people are saying things like, you know what? In 1962, Rockwell openly acknowledged his own background, stating I was born a white Protestant with some prejudices that I am continuously trying to eradicate. I'm angry at unjust presidents as other people and myself. Trumpty Dumpty cheated on all three wives.

3:08Ben Meiselas:You surrendered and gave more to Iran than Obama. Take us back to the 1950s with these propaganda photos. What the hell are you posting? Or Donald Trump posts this. Oil is flowing. Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. Prices are dropping. And then people are like, I thought affordability was a Democrat scam. Wasn't affordability a word the Democrats made up? I know you keep saying it to make you feel better, but like, we're not. Like, what are you doing? Iran closed the strait of her moves again today. Then Donald Trump posts a photo of the new Qatari Air Force One. Yeah, Air Force One is a Qatari jet.

3:46Ben Meiselas:Great work, Donald. And people are just like Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Epstein, Epstein playing grifter PDF, Epstein, Epstein. That's all of the posts right there. Also, Donald Trump creepily posted this photo of a lady and Trump writes, great daughter, my honor, DJT. And people are like, who the hell is this lady that you're posting photos of? And even Trump supporters are like, who's this? Who the F is this? Is this someone else that you're trying to creepily fuck, I presume? Who dis? Who dis? And then people are like, oh, wait a minute. That's Margot Castamides, a billionaire lady who's married to John Castamides, who like the wealthy New York MAGA Republican donor.

4:30Ben Meiselas:So you're saying great daughter to this mom. Who's her daughter? Andrea Castamides. Let me Google Andrea Castamides. Oh, that's who you're referring to. Great daughter. By the way, that's what he was posting at like midnight. And all of his followers are like, dude, you're creepy. What are you doing? Focus on the American people. What the hell is this? What the hell is this? Then you have all these MAGA influencers attacking J.D. Vance, and they're all like, look how these assholes treat J.D. This was humiliation, referring to J.D. Vance in Switzerland. J.D.'s being humiliated. I can't believe J.D.

5:08Ben Meiselas:Vance is the face of United States humiliations. The Qatari snubbed J.D. Vance. Everybody hates J.D. Vance. Then you have these MAGA influencers who the White House are accusing of being a foreign psyop to bring down Donald Trump. The influencers are going after me. The influencers are going after me. And then Donald Trump's like, and we've got vandals all over Washington, D.C. that they've destroyed the reflecting pool. It was crystal clear until the vandals put algae in it. He's accusing his political enemies of putting algae in the pool. Dude, the source of the water is the Potomac Basin. That's what has the algae.

5:46Ben Meiselas:You didn't even install the filtration system correctly. One, even if you did install it correctly, there would still be a ton of algae because algae is microscopic and it's able to reproduce asexually. It's actually wherever it wants to. Maybe you need to learn a little bit about science and then you've made the situation way worse. But Donald Trump goes, work will begin immediately on fixing the seriously vandalized reflecting pool. I just inspected it and could only say to myself and those gathered around me, wow, who would do such a thing? Sick, deranged people. We will fix it, DJT. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is like, he's killing the baby ducks.

6:26Ben Meiselas:Don't tread on ducks. Why are you killing ducks? Aaron Parnas from the Midas Touch Network got the exclusive scoop of a baby duck dying in the reflecting pool because all of the hydrogen peroxide and chemicals they're throwing in this thing and talking about hydrogen peroxide and chemicals and oh tulsi gabbard tulsi gabbard a washington post expose jonathan swain wrote writes about 25 000 documents that the washington post reviewed indicating that throughout tulsi gabbard's career her political moves were controlled by a cult guru named chris butler who gave her all of her messaging and talking points she was running she's the head of the ODNI.

7:11Ben Meiselas:Hillary Clinton warned everybody against this, but great pick Donald. You literally picked, but I guess, you know, MAGA was and is a cult. So having another cult leader basically indirectly run our ODNI, the Office of Director of National Intelligence, that's not really a shocker. You have Trey Gowdy over here and Mike Pence. Trey Gowdy is like, I've seen Trump's patience run out before you think it's going to be running out on J.D. Vance in Iran right now? Watch what he says with Pence. Play this clip. ...with our CIA director, John Raxroof. I've seen his patience run out with me on the golf course.

7:51I don't know if you've ever seen his patience run out, but that is not something the Iranians, I think, want to see. Mr. Vice President, thank you for your service.

8:00Ben Meiselas:I love service. And then you have Donald Trump's buddy, Mark Levin, saying, Donald, stop trashing little old Israel. Please stop trashing Israel. Be nicer to little old Israel, Donald. This is seriously what Mark Levin, this is what's happening to the Trump supporters right now. Let's play this clip. I want to say to people in and out of the administration, stop trashing, smearing, bullying the little state of Israel. Now I want to bring in the interview I just did with Bobby LePin over in Maryland. He's running for an important seat over there. I wanted to show you how he's calling out Trump and this MAGA cult and everything.

8:47Ben Meiselas:Let's bring in the interview I did with Bobby LePin. You're not going to want to miss this. And now I want to bring in Bobby LePin, who's running in a very important race that our national audience may not know about, but you should certainly know about. Bobby's an Army veteran, a small business owner, and he's running for the state Senate in Baltimore City against another Democrat, by the way, Bill Ferguson, who is the president of the Maryland Senate. Now, Ferguson is that Democrat in the Maryland State Senate who single-handedly killed the redistricting bill that passed the Maryland House 99 to 37, blocking new maps designed to counter Republican gerrymandering of Project 2025.

9:35Ben Meiselas:This is deeply serious because we saw the Supreme Court gutting the Voting Rights Act. And immediately, what do the MAGA Republicans do? They eliminate black congressional districts and in a kind of an overtly racist way here in Maryland, where you're trying to do maps the right way. You know, and yes, they would be partisan maps, which are allowed. I think all gerrymandering should be banned. But these are the rules of the road right now until we can ban all partisan gerrymandering. So as Governor Newsom led in California, you got to fight fire with fire. You got to fight back. And it makes no sense to me why in the world this Bill Ferguson guy would be blocking it.

10:19Ben Meiselas:I mean, this is critical to the very survival of our democracy, for the survival of the rights of the people in Maryland. And so, Bobby, you're running against him. I mean, you don't have a political background. You're not there. You know, you're not a you're not a politician. You're a small business. No, I'm just a working guy. Yeah. And so talk to us about why this is so important, why why you decided to run. Well, I think it's, you know, it's the same message, I think, that every working person or just every common person in this country has. We're just tired, sick and tired of being stepped on.

10:51Like, we have a government that gives everything to the billionaires, gives everything to the well-connected. And meanwhile, we have to fight for every little crumb that we get in this country. And the person I'm running against, Bill Ferguson, he's not only a person that stood up or backed down to redistricting when every single Democrat in this country was asking him to do it as a tactical defense to Project 2025, as a tactical defense to protect reproductive rights for every woman in this country, as a tactical defense. So marriage isn't defined as one man and one woman. He didn't only back down from that, but he backed down from our utility companies who have just been just raking us over with their rates.

11:35He backed down from protecting reproductive rights in this state when Roe v. Wade was going to be overturned. And it was apparent. It was obvious. Every women's rights organization begged him to add a constitutional amendment to Maryland's constitution, basically codifying that reproductive rights are safe in the state. He didn't do it. Roe v. Wade was overturned, and we went almost an entire year before the next General Assembly session where they can actually put that in our constitution. I just think people are tired of this wait-and-see, wait-and-see mentality from our politicians when we can no longer afford to wait and see, not only in saving our democracy, but also in just paying our bills and being able to survive as working people in this country.

12:23And you brought it up. At one point, I was a firefighter back in the day, right? And the best way to fight a fire is to prevent the fire from happening in the first place. We need to stop electing politicians who wait for the building to be burning before they run in with a hose and give us whatever minimal protections they actually do in the end. We literally need to prevent the building from catching on fire in the first place. And that is America in a nutshell. Maybe not a building on fire, but a dumpster fire right now. And we need people, you know, that just aren't backed by corporations, who aren't, you know, listening to the powerful, who are listening to the people, listening to the people and fighting for them.

13:05Sorry, that was probably a long...

13:06Ben Meiselas:No, I think you lay out a very interesting paradigm because the way I've thought always of the MAGA side of things is that they are the arsonists. They light the thing on fire and then they say, OK, let us fix it. But a big problem within the Democratic Party is allowing the fires to be lit, allowing this vicious cycle to continue, where then the MAGAs will blame the Democrats for being the firefighters because Democrats aren't using the right hose to put out the fire. And so then the MAGAs come in and they go, ah, you see, they were just using a little spritzer. We're going to be the ones to fix it.

13:47Ben Meiselas:And then people like forget, wait, you created the fire. And so we need, in the truest sense, an entirely different fire department to put this fire out once and for all so we can just live and go on with our lives and align politics with people's interests. When I go door to door, people say, OK, just right off the bat, you know, when I knock on their door and this is the first time they might they might meet me or know me or hear my name. They say, OK, what's the biggest difference? And I'm like, well, I'm Bernie Sanders running against Chuck Schumer. And the last thing that we need in this country is another Democrat who writes strongly worded letters to a tyrant.

14:28While I am a, you know, a veteran, an army veteran who's out there trying to actually fight the tyrant. and you're right, man. We just need more courage from our politicians these days and I'm hopeful. Like I was telling you before we went on live here, I'm hopeful. I really am. Even though we're seeing a rise in authoritarianism in this country, even though it's so hard for so many of us to pay our bills, when I see Zoran win, when I see how well Graham Plattner is doing in Maine, this fills me up with hope because these are true progressives who literally have the people's best interests at heart.

15:05And just here in this district, you know, running against what is arguably the most powerful politician in Maryland, at least one of them, you know, with$2 million in his bank account, of which more than 50 % come from special interest corporations or big donors. I'm just this little guy with almost 5 ,000 individual small contributions, not taking any corporate money, not connected to politics. and we are literally seeing huge numbers in the polls. And that just goes to show you that people have had enough. People have had enough. I've had enough. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. And the American people, the people of Baltimore, the people of Maryland are sick and tired of being sick and tired.

15:46You know?

15:47Ben Meiselas:Bobby, where can more people learn about what you're doing? And we have 7 million subscribers here. So what's your final message to our 7 million subscribers and where can people learn more about what you're doing? Well, first of all, I just want to say thank you to the 7 million subscribers and thank you to everybody that watches. Because the only way that we can fight back is when we have knowledge. Knowledge is power. But there's another reality is I'm fighting this battle against an entrenched incumbent who has just F you money from corporations. So people can go to my website, which is makegoodchange.com, makegoodchange.com.

16:24You can read my platform, read my bio. but really what I need folks to do is if you can chip in because the only way we win is if we stand up together and we fight and the only way I can fight a guy that has corporate money is if seven million subscribers out there everyone watches this video goes to the website makegoodchange.com and just pitches something and just chip in what you can because that's how we're going to win our election is in six weeks June 23rd um and now although that seems really close we have a long way to go. We have a lot more mailers to send out, a lot more phone calls to make, a lot more doors to knock on.

17:01And that power only comes when people stand up together. And I believe in us. I have hope for the future. And I know that we can win as long as we stick together.

17:11Ben Meiselas:Very important race. I know early voting starts June 11th as well over there. And Governor Westmore did not endorse your opponent. And normally you would expect him to do that. And so that silence makes a statement as well in this gerrymandering situation. As I said, I want to see all gerrymandering banned. But to the extent it exists, why would we be going in here and not doing – it just makes no sense to me why we would be not fighting fire. Let me give you some background real quick because this is important. First of all, you know, my race, even though it's Maryland and people say, well, why the hell should I care about this race in Maryland?

17:55It is yet another stepping stone in this progressive movement moving forward. Like Zoran, you know, Graham, I gave money to Zoran, you know, before I announced. I gave money to Graham before I announced and needed to save all that money for this race. But it's the same progressive movement. And people all across this country, I mean, me being on your show is just proof. People all across this country are wondering what's going to happen with that guy in Maryland who literally sided with Trump and didn't redistrict the mat. In the end of the day, the reality is the bill that we had, House Bill 488, that was being put forth was a good bill that would add constitutional amendments into our Constitution that would allow us to redistrict.

18:32Now, because he dragged his feet and he let the house catch on fire and burn or the dumpster, whatever caught on fire, now we may have to wait until 2028 to actually have this defensive to actually fight back. That's why your state legislators are important, because we see that, you know, reproductive rights aren't being taken away from women on just the national side, on the national level. Redistricting isn't happening on the national level. These are states, Texas, you know, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, you know, Maryland, California. This is your state legislature. This is why it's so important that politics is all local, because that's where it begins to be messed up in the first place.

19:14so yeah so what was his reason for doing it nobody knows no one knows at all because his legal reasons for not redistricting you know bill ferguson just doesn't hold any water but that doesn't matter because he had his time he made his choices he made his bed and i am fighting and we're going to win and i'm going to win with you folks just another another hit makegoodchange.com

19:34Ben Meiselas:it's so important bobby lepin thanks for joining us hey thank you so much and thanks for what you do by spreading the message. Everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our stuff stack at MidasPlus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski, ad-free episodes of our podcast, and more exclusive content only available at MidasPlus.com.

From the publisher

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Donald Trump losing control as MAGA as they turn against him and plot against him behind his back and Meiselas interviews Bobby LaPin in Maryland. 

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

Cult Conversations: The Influence Continuum with Dr. Steve Hassan: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan

The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show

The Ken Harbaugh Show: https://meidasnews.com/tag/the-ken-harbaugh-show

Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54

On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman

Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More from The MeidasTouch Podcast

All 2,219 episodes
Bobby LaPin on Why Cracks Are Emerging Inside MAGAThe MeidasTouch Podcast · 22 min
Listen in VO