GOP Cornered as Democrats Expose Their Arguments on Capitol Hill

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0:52Ben Meiselas:Terms at dkng.co slash offer. Limited time offer. Nationwide based on sportsbook predictions and free-to-play sports contest availability. Varies by state. MAGA Republican Congress members getting beat down on Capitol Hill. You can tell why they didn't want to show back up and why they want to get the hell back home. Democratic Congress members like Neguse, Congress Member Raskin, Congress Member McGovern, and others were leading the charge exposing these MAGA Republican Congress members for the utter hypocrites and Trump sycophantic bootlickers that they are. I want you to watch as Democratic Congress member Neguse in the rules committee expertly cross-examine these MAGA Republican Congress members showing that they and Donald Trump are the communist authoritarians from within.

1:42Ben Meiselas:Here, play this clip. Now, cutting about five minutes of my question there. So going back to you, Mr. Stile, socialism, owning the means of production, right? That's a piece of it. Yeah. Okay. What would you call the Trump administration acquiring a 10 % equity stake in Intel, a 15 % stake in rare earth producer MP materials, and a 10 % stake in lithium, Americas and trilogy meals? It's an American first policy to make sure we cannot compete China. Do you believe that the government should own grocery stores? No. That would be socialist to you? I think that would be a type of overreach of the federal government, absolutely.

2:25Would that be socialist to you? That'd be a form of socialism, yeah. Okay. And if Donald Trump announces tomorrow that he's going to take a 20 % equity stake in Kroger, would that be socialism to you? I'd want to see the details. Oh, you'd want to see the details! No, but understand the difference. What percentage would it be? Understand the difference. 50 %? 80 %? For the folks watching at home, watch the sleight of hand. The sleight of hand? I'm asking an honest question. You said if government owns grocery stores, that would be socialist. But if, of course, Donald Trump were to announce an equity stake in a grocery store, well, I'd have to really see the details because we all know the play, Mr.

3:03Stile. If I mentioned anybody else but Donald Trump, you would have answered it a different way.

3:11It's...

3:11Ben Meiselas:Then we heard from Democratic Congress member Jamie Raskin on the House floor. And he again exposed Donald Trump for being the number one cheerleader for communist authoritarians around the globe. Play this clip. Try to answer the interesting questions raised by my distinguished colleague, Mr. Jordan in Syriatim. First of all, anything that we do to try to improve the fortunes and the well-being of the American people, our colleagues call socialist. They called Social Security Socialist. They call Medicare Socialist. They call Medicaid Socialist. So that's just water off our back. The president talks about communists.

3:49The only communists on earth today are his best friends and his role models, like Kim Jong-un, who he writes love letters to, and President Xi, who he's praised more than two dozen times in public. And so I'll come to you in a second. How about Vladimir Putin, who he follows around like a puppy dog? Vladimir Putin was head of the KGB. So if there's a problem with communism, it's over on that side of the aisle.

4:13Ben Meiselas:Now, back to Democratic Congress member Neguse in the Rules Committee. This was another pitch perfect cross-examination in the Rules Committee of these MAGA Republican Congress members. He explained how, look, we've been out of session for a very long time. MAGA Mike Johnson has put Congress in recess. And I've heard from my constituents that their biggest issue is the cost of living. Things are not affordable right now. People are suffering and struggling as a result of this catastrophic and unlawful war in Iran. People are worried about AI, that data centers will be put in their backyards. People are feeling this Trump authoritarianism everywhere, and they hate it.

4:55Ben Meiselas:But for MAGA Republican Congress members, the big push when you got back on Capitol Hill was to delay or block protections for the North Atlantic right whale. that's what your number one priority is watch democratic congress member negus expose these mega congress member fools play this clip i imagine you had a chance to talk to a lot of constituents back home i did and i assume that they wanted to talk to you about health care fair enough they they talk about a lot of things but one thing they wanted to talk about especially down in el dorado let me let me get let me ask you all right three specific gas prices let me tell you my experience.

5:36I was in Colorado, so I was visiting with a lot of constituents. Gas prices came up quite a bit. Healthcare came up quite a bit. Jobs, economic opportunity came about a lot. I assume that's similar to your experience, right? Absolutely. And in Eldorado, they actually produce oil and gas. Here's the question. How many of your constituents brought up the North Atlantic right whale?

5:59Zero. Zero. Let me tell you, Mr. Westbrook. But I'm chairman of a committee that I hear you. I have jurisdiction over there. But here's the thing. Nobody in my district brought that up either when I was back. I did a bunch of town halls. No one said, Congressman Neguse, you ought to go back to Washington, D.C. and make it your priority. The very first bill, after a 38-day recess, ought to be a bill undermining environmental protections for the 380 North Atlantic right whales that are left in existence on planet Earth. That's House Republicans' top priority. I'm back in the ruling committee. I've been here for five minutes and the very first bill that I have to consider is a bill that would eliminate protections for the North Atlantic right whale.

6:40And I just I can't imagine how that's a priority for the people in Arkansas or Colorado.

6:44Ben Meiselas:Then we heard from Democratic Congress member McGovern. He always gives incredibly impassioned speeches from the House floor. This was no different. This is absolutely inspiring. I want you to watch the whole thing. Let's play this clip. I know that those are the Republican talking points. But I got news for you. Nobody's buying it. I mean, I don't know whether my friend was home talking to her constituents over the break. But I was home talking to my constituents. I was in other states talking to voters as well. And you know what? Life is getting harder for them. Prices of everything are through the roof.

7:25and to the extent that anybody, you know, any working person got a small tax cut while the rich got these big tax cuts, millionaires and billionaires got all these big tax cuts, to the extent that they got that, any little tax break they received has been totally erased by the cost of living and by high gas prices because of this illegal, reckless war. And by the way, wouldn't you think that Congress would want to exercise its constitutional prerogatives and actually debate the war in Iran and actually vote whether to authorize it or not. We've been forced to try to bring, you know, privileged resolutions to the floor to try to get any kind of a debate on this.

8:10But I mean, there should be hearings. There should be a full vote on whether to authorize this and whether or not people want to go on record as saying we're going to spend over a hundred billion dollars on this stupid reckless war in Iran by the way which resulted in the Strait of Hormuz being closed which was open before the war began I mean we're going to spend the money on that and we're not going to spend it on helping alleviate the high cost of living on people in this country you know I mean this congress is the least productive Congress in history. This has been a total failure, a total failure.

8:47And I would just encourage my Republican colleagues, don't take my word for it. Look at every public opinion poll, including those that are coming out by Fox News and right-wing influencers. They'll tell you, nobody's buying it. You know, and one of the things that I've heard about over and over again during the August work period was that the American people are rightfully outraged that an out-of-control AI data center buildup is wreaking havoc on their communities. Data centers are driving up utility costs and polluting water supplies, all why big tech reaps record profits. Yet now, with November on the horizon, some House Republicans are acting as if they did not turbocharge the data center buildup.

9:34I mean, a year ago, Republicans were bragging about giving tax breaks to big tech in order to build data centers across rural America. You can check it out yourself. It's section 70421 of the Big Ugly Bill. According to the Republican chairman of the tax-ready committee, this provision would, quote, significantly reduce barriers for large-scale capital-intensive projects in rural areas, most notably hyperscale data centers, end quote. that's you guys the that provision alone cost the american taxpayers 40 billion dollars that's money that is going to big tech to build unpopular data centers instead of lowering the cost of health care and housing or groceries and i want to ask unanimous consent to insert it into the record an article um entitled big beautiful success story rural america rebound on the horizon with new Opportunity Zone incentives.

10:35Objection. I reserve my time.

10:38Ben Meiselas:The gentleman from Matt. Now we heard from our friend, Democratic Congresswoman Kamala Gurd-Dove, and she said that with MAGA Mike Johnson and these MAGAs rolling into Dallas for Trumpapalooza, that it may break the servers of Grindr in Dallas. So she wanted to give notice to Grindr and to all of the data centers in the Dallas area that there may be an overload of activity from these MAGA Republicans on Grindr coming to town. Yes, she went there. Folks, play the clip. Well, I know he's got to get ready for this gaslighting convention that they have next week in Dallas. I'm just gonna ask Grindr to make sure you are at capacity because Republicans are coming to a town near you.

11:27But Mike Johnson doesn't have a platform. He doesn't have a platform. He doesn't have a message. They have not had any kind of success. So of course he's too afraid to have his members here in Washington, D.C., where the press will be hounding them every single day, asking them what they've done for the American people, and they have no answer. So that's what cowards do. They send their members home.

11:49Ben Meiselas:More from Democratic Congress member Jamie Raskin right here, calling out the MAGA Republicans for wanting to cede the authority of Congress by supporting an amendment to the Constitution to freeze the total amount of Supreme Court justices to nine Supreme Court justices, which no Americans ask for. You know, there's very little to no Americans. You're like, you know what's working well right now? You know an institution that we need to just protect and preserve the status quo? The Supreme Court, they're doing their job. Of course they're not. We have a right wing extremist, out of touch, illegitimate fascist Supreme Court.

12:32Ben Meiselas:And thankfully, Congress member Raskin is calling these fools out. Play this clip. Why suddenly should we amend the Constitution of the United States to revoke our own powers simply because President Trump happens to like this Supreme Court and they voted him immunity from felony crimes committed while in office? These so-called textualists, these so-called originalists. Where do you see in the Constitution anything about the president having immunity? When the framers wanted to write immunity in the Constitution, they did it. Like with the speech and debate clause for members of Congress. Maybe that's what they're going to want to give up next.

13:08The speech and debate clause protecting us from prosecution by the executive branch for saying things that he doesn't like. Well, that's not in the original Constitution. The president's got it, but they made it up. Where'd that come from? The stork brought it. They invented it. They call themselves originalists. It wasn't in the Federalist Papers. It wasn't in the original Constitutional Convention records. It's not in any of the ratifying convention records. Where did that doctrine come from? They made it up. So we all can argue about what the Supreme Court does, but nobody yet has made a single satisfactory argument about why we should freeze for the first time in American history.

13:45The number of justices at nine when it's always been up to the representatives of the people in the House and the Senate. And let me just close on that thought. The Senate already gets some say over the Supreme Court by rendering the power of advice and consent. The only power we've got is the power they want to give up. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I yield back.

14:03Ben Meiselas:Gentleman yields back. And we heard from Congresswoman Melanie Stansberry from the great state of New Mexico. She always brings the fire on the floor of the House. Play this clip. Well, Mr. Speaker, today the GOP is proposing a constitutional amendment to lock in the current conservative Supreme Court. In fact, it would take away the power of this Congress to reform the court. And the question is, why? Who asked them to do this? Where did this proposal come from? And why are Republicans arguing that they have to protect the court from reform? This is a court that has, under this conservative majority, undermined democracy, undermined our rights, and undermined the system of checks and balances that make this country great.

14:53And these reforms would bring equity to the court. They would bring fairness to the court and they would bring ethics to the court. So why are my colleagues across the aisle bringing this constitutional amendment? It is clear in the debate here on the floor itself, they don't even know how many justices are currently sitting. In fact, my colleague across the aisle just claimed that there are currently 13 justices sitting on the court. So what is this? Political theater? Is this what you plan to run on because you don't actually have an agenda to run on this election cycle? Because you've decimated the economy?

15:32Because you have an unending war in the Middle East? And because Americans can't afford their health care, their housing, and to put food on the table and a roof over their head? Well, we are a hell no on this resolution and we'll vote no.

15:45Ben Meiselas:Next, we heard from Democratic Congress member Menendez about the horrific conditions in these detention center torture chambers that MAGA Republicans created for immigrants, where mostly non-criminals are being tortured in perverse and sick ways by Stephen Miller and his goons. Here in the United States, the MAGA Republicans have brought concentration camps. Play this clip. Last year, I stood outside Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, and made the dire observation that no one is safe in Trump's America. Since then, three people that we know of have died after medical emergencies at Delaney Hall, including Edwin Lopez Cornejo, who leaves behind his 12-year-old U.S.

16:31citizen daughter. And in private detention centers across the country, ICE and their private partners like the GEO Group are continuing down this dangerous path without any regard to the human cost of their actions. In my over 20 visits to Delaney Hall, I have seen a man with a debilitating condition refuse a wheelchair for weeks. And when finally given one, was forced to stay in medical isolation for months. A woman who suffered a miscarriage and was told she had a psychological pregnancy. requests for medication and post-op care that go unanswered. These are not mistakes or oversights. This is a deliberate choice by this administration to inflict pain and suffering because their cruelty knows no bounds.

17:14And this is happening across the country. 31 people died in ICE detention last year, the most in more than 20 years. This year, 24 more people have lost their lives. But ICE isn't just killing people in detention. They are shooting American citizens like Renee Good and Alex Petty in broad daylight. This should outrage every American. And yet here, in this chamber, what has been the response of our Republican colleagues? Silence. And while they carry their Bibles to church on Sunday, they carry the word of Donald Trump and Stephen Miller every other day of the week. And they are responsible for what is happening across our country.

17:54Instead Instead of finding their voice to speak out against this administration, they are trying to suppress and silence the voices of Americans, whether by limiting their ability to vote by mail or limiting the number of polling locations in Texas, because Republicans know they have failed. They have failed their constituents. They have failed their country. And they know Americans are angry, as I am angry. But we will end this national nightmare with or without them. We will protect our communities. And we will hold accountable everyone who is responsible for the lawlessness, pain and terror that this administration has inflicted on all of our communities.

18:30And we will remember everyone here who stayed silent in this moment. I yield back.

18:38Ben Meiselas:Then our team on Capitol Hill at the Midas Touch Network caught up with MAGA Republican Congressmember McCormick. And we asked him, buddy, bud, you signing the second Epstein discharge petition? which will now allow the victims and survivors to have causes of action against the attorney general. Surely, if you support survivors, you're going to sign this thing, huh? Watch this squirmy little weasel, MAGA Republican Congress member McCormick, behave like the squirmy little weasel that he is. Play this clip. Oh, sorry, go ahead. Go ahead. Can Republicans oppose birthright citizenship and also support the U.S.

19:19men's national team considering the top score is a birth rate citizen so first of all is he a citizen now he is yes so what's the problem well he's a he's a product of birth racism which is the company's trying to do away with so you're not gonna you're not gonna retroactively take away his citizens right no actually so back in 1914 we had anybody can come to america yeah And nobody had a problem with that. Free immigration, by the way. Why is that? Is that not rhetorical? I'm not sure. Mildred Friedman talked about it. He's a great economist. Because something changed between then and probably the 70s and 80s when all of a sudden, even back then, we started recognizing there was a problem.

20:02Why is that? What's the difference between open borders and closed borders between 1914 and the 70s and 80s? Well, some people would say that it's because white immigrants were coming in the 1914 and Latinos were coming in the 70s and 80s. Not at all. If you have jobs to come to and you're paying taxes, everybody's happy. But if you come here and you're starting to take welfare and we're paying for you being here, that is a cost to America. The business of America is business. If you're doing something that's bad for the American economy, that doesn't lift the tide of all ships here, then it's not good for America.

20:40This is about the American country that we've all grown to accustomed to. And it has to make common sense. I mean, common sense is what we're supposed to be about. Do you think that given -

20:50Ben Meiselas:We then caught up with veteran Pat Ryan, Democratic Congress member, indicating that he will be investigating the Department of Defense influencer operation, whereby many of these MAGA ex-influencers are actually the drum roll, please, the deep state. Yep, the Pentagon has created under Pete Hegseth the exact thing they've accused everybody else of doing, which wasn't the case. They created their deep state feds, MAGA X influencers on what used to be Twitter, who just parrot regime propaganda for the fragile, weak, little, pathetic individual Pete Hegseth. Play this clip. Yeah, I mean, and we think they're paying these, I mean, it's incredible corruption.

21:39It's straight out of an Orwell novel. You know, only listen to what this authoritarian regime is saying in the middle of a war where Americans are dying and all of us are paying at the pump. And we're not even going to have a public press briefing with you since May. We're going to set up an army of propagandists. I mean, it is really, really dark and deeply un-American that that's the case. This is one of many things that we need to investigate. But thanks to that great post reporting, colleagues and I are now going to add this to our growing list of oversight we need when we retake the House.