GOP Gets Desperate on Labor Day

0:00This podcast features Ben Meiselas.

0:30Ben Meiselas:MAGA Republicans are getting very desperate on Labor Day. You've got MAGA Republican Senator Tim Scott going on state regime media, threatening us all with a good time on Labor Day. Here play this clip. Democrats will find a way to impeach President Trump, his cabinet, and frankly, even judges. They want to pack the Supreme Court. So one way to stop that from happening is to make sure that we defend the majority that we currently have. And you can tell these MAGA Republicans are freaking out right now. You see the latest polling data. Let me show you what Harry Enten says Donald Trump's support from labor looks like right now.

1:09Ben Meiselas:Here play this clip. Let's take a look at how the president is doing on the economy when it comes to those who are employed full time. And it's just a complete 180. Look, this was a major strength for him back in 2024 when it came to the economy. Look at this. Employed voters, Trump in the economy versus Harris. He was trusted more than Harris by 20 points on the economy. But look at his net approval rating now amongst those who are employed full time. It is 41 points underwater. Way down there we go, down into the Hudson River. We're talking about a switcheroo in the wrong direction of 61 points on this Labor Day.

1:47We're talking about those fully employed and how they view Trump and the economy. It is not a happy Labor Day indeed for President Trump when it comes to how those who are employed view him on the economy.

1:56Ben Meiselas:And you can see right there just how bad Donald Trump is doing amongst working class people in the United States. But let me just show you the contrast right here between former President Biden and Donald Trump and their messages on Labor Day. Here's what former President Biden posted earlier today. He writes, I've said it my entire career, the middle class built America and unions built the middle class to every worker who's ever punched a clock, worked a double or worked a line for fair wages. And to everyone who stands up for them at the bargaining table in the state house or on the shop floor.

2:34Ben Meiselas:Thank you. This country runs in large part because of you. And it's a photo of former president Biden with workers standing behind him. Now contrast that with Donald Trump's post, happy Labor Day to all, including the radical left lunatics, communists, and Democrats who will do anything possible to destroy our country. These deranged people after fighting for 10 years should finally acknowledge that your favorite president, me, knows how to win. They should be exhausted by now, but sadly, they're not. They're going to give it one last shot at ruining America. But we're not going to let that happen.

3:15Ben Meiselas:We're going to win the midterms big and save America. Donald J. Trump, you see what a utter lunatic he is, but you also see his strategy right there. It's to try and exhaust you. It is to try to break your will and your spirit, but it will not be broken. and Donald Trump sending out his sycophants like MAGA Republican Congresswoman Lisa McClain. She's among the top MAGA Republicans in the House of Representatives. She's on the leadership there. And she goes around and she's been giving these interviews on various media outlets where she says, when I speak with farmers, you know what the farmers tell me all the time?

3:56Ben Meiselas:What, Lisa? What do the farmers tell you? They want us to attack Canada even more. No, they don't. They're not saying that to you. They're saying that they're suffering the highest farmer bankruptcies in American history. They're saying that Donald Trump threw them under the bus. Ranchers are saying Donald Trump is undercutting them with foreign frozen mystery beef that's not even going through appropriate health processes. They're saying that you sold them out. That's what they're saying to you. But anyway, watch what Congresswoman MAGA Republican Congresswoman McClain has to say play this clip.

4:30Charlie Cook of the Cook Political Report said of your party's prospects in the midterms, Republicans should brace themselves. The outcomes could be bad, really bad or truly horrible. What he was zeroing in on are the tariffs and the fuel and fertilizer costs that are hitting rural voters. I know out in North Dakota, Senator Kevin Cramer said farm country, serious trouble for Trump. Are rural voters in Michigan also serious trouble? Listen, I've had the opportunity to be in the district and talk to the rural voters, right? We have a lot of farmers in our communities. And what the farmers are excited about and actually applaud the president for is actually standing up to Canada and try and level the playing field with the tariffs.

5:15Ben Meiselas:More from Congresswoman McClain. And she's like, and let me tell you, we stand strongly behind Max Miller. Y 'all know Max Miller from Ohio, right? Who has those heinous accusations against him from multiple women. And Max Miller, his father-in-law is the current MAGA Republican senator of Ohio who says he needs to resign. But folks, the MAGA Republicans in Congress, they stand firmly behind Max Miller. These people, they are the biggest hypocrites in the world. But anyway, here, listen to what she says. They need Max Miller on their team. Here, play this clip. Let me ask you a little bit about House business since you are in leadership.

5:57The National Republican Congressional Committee announced last week it's going to spend nearly half a million dollars boosting Max Miller. He's the Ohio Republican congressman who's been accused of domestic abuse by his two former partners. Speaker Johnson said he still he still supports Miller's reelection. Do you? Listen, divorces are ugly and I'm glad I'm not I'm not in his shoes right now. I support anybody with an R behind their name. I hope when all of this comes comes out that it's not true. But at the end of the day, we got to let the process play out. I'm focused on winning the house back, taking the house back, keeping the house, because we are the only party that's actually putting more money in your pocket, making sure that crime is down, securing the border and rooting out waste, fraud and abuse.

6:50And Max Miller has been a good advocate for his constituents doing that. But some of your Republican colleagues, including Katie Britt over in the Senate, Jim Banks, John Husted, Roger Marshall, Shelley Moore Capito, have called on Miller to resign or quit. They also have ours next to their names. And so does Senator Tim Sheehy, who said this guy's clearly a degenerate sociopath. He should step aside and seek help. As the highest ranking Republican woman in Congress, how do you make peace with that? I think they've tried that avenue and he's chosen to stay in the race. So like I said earlier, divorces are really ugly.

7:33I hope this comes out that he's okay. But at the end of the day, he's our nominee right now. I wish the allegations weren't true. The allegations aren't true. But at the end of the day, we got to continue to do what's right for the American people. And that's what we're trying to do, keeping more money in your pocket, making sure we secure the border and making sure crime rates are down. Congresswoman McClain, thank you very much. We'll be right back.

8:03Ben Meiselas:And then she goes on to say that Donald Trump's trade war will cause pain here in Michigan, but our pitch to the voters is this is the pain that we deserve. This is the MAGA Republican position. We as Americans deserve this because if we want to stop a 47 year war, that's what they call Trump's catastrophic war. It's been going on for 47 years. They say, they say we need to feel this pain. This pain feels good. That's your pitch. Here play this clip. Number two, we have to level the playing field. Like I said earlier, Canada, since the 1990s has had tax and tariffs on our dairy farmers at 250 percent.

8:44Listen, we don't want a trading war with Canada. We want a trading partner with Canada. So I applaud the president for actually trying to level the playing field. But it comes with a bit of pain, and you think voters will understand that? It absolutely does. But at the end of the day, I trust that President Trump is not going to do anything to hurt the American people long term. But because we've had these poor trading policies, and I might remind you that we are at a$60 billion deficit right now with Canada. What's the matter with trying to level those long term and getting the tariffs that Canada is charging us lower?

9:28I applaud the president for doing that, for trying to level the playing field.

9:32Ben Meiselas:You all know that the MAGA Republicans are shutting down the House of Representatives again, right? They're going on yet another recess. I think they worked, what, like three weeks in the past four months. MAGA Mike wants to hide from all of the efforts by Democrats to release the Epstein files. The Democrats, the people, the public wants these Epstein files released. The Trump regime, one of the main reasons they got involved in this catastrophic war in Iran is to cover up a child sex trafficking ring. Like, how crazy is that? That it is an undisputed objective fact that the Trump regime went into a catastrophic war against Iran with Netanyahu to cover up a child sex trafficking ring because the president of the United States names are all over, names all over the files.

10:20Ben Meiselas:That's where we're at. So Democratic Congress member Ro Khanna just spoke with Jack Kucherella at the Midas Touch Network Sunday show. And here's what Ro said about Congress shutting down yet again. Maga Mike saying we're going home here. Play this clip. It's one of the reasons he does not want a vote on the Epstein issue of releasing the rest of the files. And he does not want to vote on ending the war in Iran. You know, Jack, I was shocked by seeing a poll that GBAO did. According to them, independent voters are voting this midterm. Most of the voters, the issue that they care most about, more than health care costs, more than cost of living, are the Epstein files.

11:05And the reason they care about it is because it goes to the corruption in this government, and they are sick of that corruption. Johnson's seen the same polls. He doesn't want Epstein becoming the issue heading into the midterms, and he doesn't want votes on the Iran war becoming the issue heading into the midterms. And, of course, Thomas Massey and I have done both of those things. We introduced the first War Powers Resolution to prevent us from getting into Iran, and then soon after that we introduced the Epstein Transparency Act. Do you snore? Did somebody hand you a CPAP and did you quietly stop using it?

11:40The mask that never quite seals the hose tugging at you every time you roll over and a machine sitting abandoned in a closet. Well, Excite OSA works a different way. It treats a root cause instead of managing the noise and you use it while you're awake. It's an FDA cleared prescription device for primary snoring and mild obstructive sleep apnea. And here's what the routine looks like. 20 minutes once a day. While the coffee brews, while you watch one episode of something daily for six weeks, then a lighter routine to keep it. Most people notice a change in just four to six weeks. And then when it's actually time for bed, you go to bed like a person, nothing strapped on, nothing plugged in.

12:16In clinical studies, 90 % of patients saw a reduction in snoring. And getting started is simple. No sleep lab, no waiting room. You answer a few questions online, a licensed provider reviews them, and it ships to your door. See if it's right for you. Get ExciteOSA at springsleep.com slash Midas and use code Midas for 20 % off. Again, that's ExciteOSA at springsleep.com slash Midas, M-E-I-D-A-S. Thanks to Spring Sleep for sponsoring this episode. ExciteOSA is an FDA-cleared, prescription-only device for primary snoring and mild obstructive sleep apnea. Not for everyone. Individual results vary.

12:57Risks and benefits at springsleep.com.

13:01Ben Meiselas:Oh, by the way, Midas Touch Network is working on a lot of ideas of kind of counter-programming the Trumpapalooza disaster Republican midterm convention. That's going to be on September 9th and September 10th, where 90 % of Republican Congress members will not be showing up and speaking at this event. We're going to come up with some interesting counter-programming ideas. Put in the comments some of your thoughts. So Republicans are freaking out. You've got Ro Khanna calling them out. And on Labor Day, did you see this? Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker's powerful Labor Day speech. This to me is where Americans are at.

13:42Ben Meiselas:This is where the workers are at. This is what it's all about. Listen to what he says. Play this clip. leaders thrive, everyone thrives. Everyone, including businesses, including families, including truly everyone. You are the backbone of the middle class because you built the middle class. That's where we came from as a country. It's what made our country great. And Illinois isn't going to let anti-union leadership in Washington take that away, are we? it's hard it's hard to think of a time in the last 40 years when the federal government has been more hostile to workers honestly i mean we've we've even had some republican presidents that were i don't know survivable but not now that they've decided to sell us out they've decided to sell out to big corporations so that now federal protections for workplace safety are gone.

14:39Federal protections gone. The number of OSHA inspectors is now the lowest that it's been in 45 years. We fought for years, all of us, to make sure that after a long day's work, you can make it home to your families. Now Washington is telling you to go to hell. So on top of that, in this summer, when literally the world has seen the hottest month on record, Washington is rolling back basic workplace summer heat protections, like requiring that employers provide access to drinking water. They're taking that away. They've made a rule now that for every new safety measure that OSHA puts in place, they have to remove 10 other safety measures.

15:23Add one, take 10 away. how is that good for our workers? This is the right wing playing politics with your lives. Then they've fired and lowered wages for tens of thousands of union workers who care for our veterans, who deliver our mail. Folks who are, well, they keep our food and water safe. We have a federal government that's treating workers like garbage and they're telling corporations that they can do it too. Why? Why are they going after union workers? Why? Well, first, it's a payoff to the profiteers who put Trump in office. That's the first thing. And second, they want to intimidate you and all union members into silence.

16:07Chip away at your rights until you decide that you can't win. That's their goal. Well, they picked the wrong people to try and silence.

16:18Ben Meiselas:Or how about California Governor Gavin Newsom's speech during his tour of Southern states? Here play this clip. Why did Donald Trump make that call? Well, you know why he made that call? Because he knows he's going to lose the midterm elections. He can no longer make the case. He can't persuade. He's gonna lose. So he has to rig the election. He has to rig the election, just like he tried to light democracy on fire. He has to rig the election before one vote is even cast. The question was what we're going to do about it. We know this in life. You know this in life, in your personal life, professional lives.

16:56We know it in political terms. It's not what happens to us. It's how we respond to what happens to us.

17:03Ben Meiselas:More from Governor Newsom right here. Let's play it. I'm sorry. I'm not here just to win arguments anymore. I'm not. Not when our republic is being destroyed in real time. Our inheritance is being squandered by this administration. Not when these guys are censoring historical facts. Not when these guys are rewriting history. Not when these guys are banning books. Not when Ron DeSantis is taking social studies books and curriculum and erasing Rosa Parks' name out of the book. Not at this moment. I'm not interested in winning an argument when they're consolidating power. I'm not interested in putting America reversed.

17:36I don't want to go back to a pre-1960s world. That's not why Martin Luther King lived and died. Not to see this moment pass. Not to see us play the old kind of politics. We need to fight fire with fire. Democrats need to be tougher. We need to recognize what's on the line. It's all on the line. We've got to draw the line.

17:56Ben Meiselas:And we saw Pete Buttigieg out with Governor Shapiro as well. We saw both of them in Pennsylvania. Governor Shapiro at the Pittsburgh Labor Day parade right there speaking with workers. And we stand strongly behind the labor movement. So shout out to all of the unions out there today on Labor Day. We're thinking about you. And one of the main things we're doing in this channel, hopefully you know that, is we are fighting for you. Now, I just want to show you the contrast, though, in Minnesota between the MAGA Republican extremist candidate, Michelle Tafoya, and what she's saying today in contrast with the Democratic Senate candidate, Peggy Flanagan.

18:39Ben Meiselas:So let me show you. First, let me show you Tafoya in Minnesota, the extremist candidate right there, Michelle Tafoya. Play this clip. War in Iran. President called it war yesterday. The vice president said, well, I wouldn't call it a war i don't know that to me the word it is what it is do you support the president's war in iran look i think everyone agrees iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and that is a given for we need strength in the middle east and that comes from u.s strength so i agreed with the initial uh actions that were very strong because we've had extreme appeasement of iran over the decades over 47 years and so i was in favor of those strong actions right now i think the president and his administration needs to lay out very clearly what the objective is let's accomplish that objective and let's get our soldiers home i agreed with it too it seems to me though now watching this going on that there was uh absolute miscalculation as to the way iran was going to take over the Strait of Hormuz?

19:47That may be. Look, just feels like a failure at this point, right? We're dealing with higher prices at the gas pump. I do want to point out that higher prices didn't start five months ago. Higher prices started five years ago under the Biden administration when inflation got to be nine point nine percent, a 40 year high. And we've been recovering from that ever since.

20:10Ben Meiselas:But I don't just want to show you the Magna Republican extremist candidate. Let me show you the Democratic candidate for that Senate seat in Minnesota, Peggy Flanagan. Here's what Peggy Flanagan had to say. Let's play this clip right here. This is the Democratic candidate for Minnesota Senate seat. Here, let's play. This game is rigged and it is rigged for these greedy corporations and it is rigged for these billionaire besties who are paying for this gilded ballroom for the most corrupt president. we have ever seen in our nation's history. And so the good news is we showed this entire country that we are not powerless in the face of the Trump administration.

20:57As we marched 50 ,000 strong through frigid temperatures to push back on Donald Trump's ice when we said we stand up for our neighbors. We look out for each other. And do not mistake Minnesota nice for anything else than standing up for justice and standing up for what is right and good in this country.

21:28Ben Meiselas:There you have it, folks. Let me know what you think. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. And thanks for watching, everybody. We appreciate you so much. Before you go, our book WTF America is available for pre-order now. It's the story of how we got here and how we fight our way back. To pre-order, scan the QR code or click the link in the description. Let's do this.