Governor Katie Hobbs Defends Arizona from Trump’s Extremist Plans

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2:10Ben Meiselas:So who would have thought ripping away people's health care, making prices surge even more in the United States while bragging about all the gold in the Oval Office and how rich you are and maybe adding to that now launching a Qatari military base in the United States. And that's somehow supposed to be helpful to America. Those things aren't popular. Who would have thought those things aren't popular? When you actually take a look at some of the states that were voting for Donald Trump in this past election, whether you look at Texas, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Nevada, you look at it, Donald Trump's deeply underwater in these states.

2:51Ben Meiselas:I just think people want normalcy. They want promises kept about making things affordable. And I think people are just seeing in particular what's going on with this government shutdown as their health care is being ripped away and they're absolutely livid. I mean, just take a look right here let's go to arizona let's take a look at arizona's fifth congressional district because this guy is running for governor he's the republican candidate andy biggs andy biggs says we're not going to talk to democrats about giving people health care at all they're terrorists we don't talk to terrorists okay okay andy let's take a look at your district right here because uh in 2024 2025 a couple earning 82 000 a year they're paying 492 a month in premiums on their Affordable Care Act plan.

3:39Ben Meiselas:But if the Affordable Care Act subsidies are not extended, they'll be paying, what, three times as much,$1 ,481 a month. What family making$82 ,000 a year is able to afford close to$1 ,500 a month? So Andy, maybe you should do what we teach fifth grade students to do in American government classes, which is you talk to the other side, You figure it out. You don't rule like dictators. By the way, this is what Biggs said. Just so you know, Ben, he called them a terrorist. Yeah, watch what Biggs said. Here, play this clip. I don't think you should be negotiating with these people because they're political terrorists, just like they are domestic terrorists.

4:20Ben Meiselas:I think they do. I think they care about health care, and I think they want to open up the government, but ensure that people get health care and not just billionaires are the ones getting subsidized. And then Andy Biggs has said that we need to eliminate all courts, just get rid of federal judges, just if the federal judge doesn't, you know, rules against Donald Trump. I guess the federal judge in Portland, Oregon, for example, who ruled against Donald Trump. Are these the types of judges who need to be eliminated? Here, play this clip. I've got my bill that I keep asking for support on, and that bill would basically say, you're not in good standing.

4:53Ben Meiselas:And if you're not in good standing, you're not in good behavior, then you're no longer qualified to be a federal judge. These are the things that we have to do. We have to, we can actually eliminate courts. We can limit jurisdiction. That's the priority right now, not delivering health care, eliminating courts. And also, apparently, Biggs doesn't believe in the concept of having reasonable suspicion before you just pull people off the street and put them into prisons. Here, play this clip. Judge says you got to have a reasonable suspicion before you arrest somebody, before ICE can take people into custody.

5:30Ben Meiselas:Your reaction?

5:35Ben Meiselas:Well, this is another time where the judges have kind of gotten this wrong for political reasons. And this judge is trying to also issue a national injunction again. I mean, that's what you're saying. That's the intent of this. I want to bring in Arizona's governor, Katie Hobbs. Governor Hobbs, it's great to see you because what you've done in Arizona, I think is a model of how you actually govern, how you engage in bipartisan, a balanced budget. You talk to the other side, even if you disagree with them on a lot of issues, you figure it out as opposed to what seems to be going on with bigs and these Republicans in Washington.

6:14Ben Meiselas:You've announced your reelection campaign and you're running on, look, this is how you govern. Talk to us though about what you've seen in Arizona right now as the governor, being able to pass balanced budgets and actually do the work and show up? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I launched in the face of coming off of the most successful legislative session that we've had under my tenure as in a divided government. And I think our state is stronger because I have continued to focus on Arizonans first and the politics last. I've taken on the tough challenges that so many of my predecessors, career politicians have ignored for years.

6:55And we got stuff done because I'm willing to work with anyone to deliver for Arizonans on the tough issues we're facing. When extremists in the legislature sent me a partisan budget that slashed services for Arizonans across the state, I vetoed it and I forced them back to the table. And what we got instead was this bipartisan balance budget that delivers for Arizona families. In contrast to the partisan Washington budget that skyrockets the debt, that slashes Medicaid for millions of Americans, we protected health care for 60 ,000 Arizonans with disabilities. Their budget slashes meals for kids and nutrition assistance.

7:43My budget invests in school meals for 68 ,000 kids from working families. Their budget cuts law enforcement budget. My budget gives much-deserved raises for state police and fire. Their budget makes college unaffordable for so many Americans. My budget invests in community college scholarships so more Arizonans have access. The list goes on and on, but these are the kinds of things you can get done when you're focused on working with anyone who wants to come to the table with solutions and you're focused on the people who sent you to the Capitol to deliver on these, on these issues.

8:22Ben Meiselas:You know, it's such a interesting thing that I think deserves more attention because you said the kind of extremist faction of Republicans, they tried to push forward what would have been a disastrous situation in Arizona. They were testing you. They were trying to call your bluff. They had their whole kind of propaganda machine ready to go. Governor Hobbs isn't supporting. She's vetoing this. And they rolled out all their usual tricks, which we're seeing now at a macro level in D.C. They're kind of doing the same playbook. But you said, I'm not going to be bullied. Absolutely not. This does not benefit the people.

8:58Ben Meiselas:And then you put forward your own budget and you won and didn't win for you. You won for the people. And whether the people in Arizona are Republican or Democrat, I think they looked at what you did and say, I respect that. That was I see that's the way government's actually supposed to function. A Republican may say, I disagree with Governor Hobbs on this issue or this issue. And a Democrat may say, I agree with her. But you brought people together. And I think that's what people are seeing not happening in D.C., where you heard Biggs, who's running for governor. He says, he calls them terrorists and says, I'm not even talking to them.

9:35Ben Meiselas:You got to talk, right? That's our system. You speak, you negotiate, you figure stuff out. Yeah, no, absolutely. I'm really not sure what ideology you come from when you think that government shouldn't be there to help the people who elected you to serve in that government, like ripping away healthcare and thinking that you're helping Americans by doing that. And then also you played the clip about the courts. Like the courts are an important check and balance. And obviously they don't want to be checked on their abuses of power right now. Like how is this even like a, I'm thinking about DC now.

10:14Ben Meiselas:Like how is this even a partisan issue? I showed you bigs, but I could go every one of these Republican Congress members. I can go Crane. If you're paying$499 a month in premiums right now, you will be paying$2 ,141 if these subsidies are not extended. So over$25 ,000 a year. I'm just wondering what Arizona couple who's making$82 ,000 can afford$24 ,000 a year in healthcare. Like this isn't this was never Republican, Democrat. This would be an American issue, it seems. And I imagine that's what you're hearing a lot from Arizonans right now. Yeah, absolutely. Whether it's health care costs or any other costs that when I talk to Arizonans, the thing I hear the most about this president is, look, he ran on lowering costs.

11:07He says he won because costs were too high and he was going to do something about that. He's doing exactly the opposite, whether it's these insurance premiums that we're going to see going up or ripping away Medicaid that's going to also drive up insurance premiums for everyone or the tariffs, his trade war. That is like the biggest tax we've ever seen. That's making costs go up everywhere for for businesses, for Arizonans. It is exactly the opposite of what he ran on. And Biggs and the other two Republicans that are in this primary against me are are the biggest cheerleaders for these failed Washington policies at the expense of Arizonans.

11:52Ben Meiselas:how are you you know we know it's like the worst housing market in the country since 1995 construction and manufacturing are basically in recessionary territories as a result of of course the country as a result of trump's tariffs against the world and tourism down significantly because people see the images one of these kind of ice agents who are roaming the streets and like, if you look a certain way, disappearing you. And also people don't like traveling here when Trump's threatening the existence of their sovereignty. So lots of Canadians would visit Arizona. That's, you know, that's down across the country and Vegas and Arizona and elsewhere.

12:33Ben Meiselas:How are you weathering those challenges and the headwinds that you face as a democratic governor in a, in a purplish state? Yeah. So, um, economic, uh, growth is, a huge priority for me. I have worked to continue creating good paying jobs under my tenure. We've created over 100 ,000 jobs. And Arizona is one of 12 states right now that's experiencing economic expansion. But there is this climate of uncertainty from the trade war, from so many other policies that are just creating uncertainty. When I talk to small business owners, whether it's from the tariffs or other factors. They're very cautious about making growth plans, about hiring.

13:22So that's definitely impacting us. But I continue to keep my head down to focus on what's right for Arizonans and move forward on those policies, again, with whoever wants to work with me to solve these challenges. You brought up housing. Housing is a huge issue, not just here in Arizona, but across the country. And I know here in Arizona, the housing costs have gone up and that didn't happen overnight. We're not going to solve it overnight, but we're taking aggressive action to help address it. I invested huge amounts in our state's housing trust fund where we've been able to build thousands of units of affordable housing.

14:02We use that fund to invest in down payment assistance so Arizona families could purchase their first home. I've signed legislation that cuts red tape to allow for faster approvals, to allow for missing middle and other housing like accessory dwelling units or casitas. I signed water legislation this year that will also help solve some of our water issues by converting high use agricultural land to housing and build the housing we need in some of the fastest growing areas of our state. And so there's not one single issue or solution. It's not going to happen overnight, but we're we're chipping away at it.

14:48And I continue to just be focused on what's right for Arizonans and working in a bipartisan way to address these tough issues.

14:55Ben Meiselas:As we talk about elections and bipartisanship, the idea of mail-in voting never used to be a partisan issue. Mail-ins are very popular in Arizona among Republicans, Democrats, independents. This is a way to be more efficient and secure. At the same time, you're the former Secretary of State, but Republican Secretary of State, Democrat Secretaries, Republican. This was never an issue that had these conspiracies abounding it and just the complete assault that we see by Trump and some of these right wing kind of extremists about it. When you ran, you've been unapologetic that mail in voting is should be a nonpartisan issue.

15:42Ben Meiselas:It makes sense. You've defended it in the face of a lot of pressure from Trump. So talk to us about that, because I know it is a big issue in the state and it's a popular one in the state. Yeah, about 75 % of Arizonans or more, depending on the election, utilize our system of early voting. It's been around for decades before other states implemented universal mail-in voting. In fact, David Schweikart, who's one of the Republicans running in this primary, when he was in the legislature, voted to implement mail-in voting. When Andy Biggs was in the legislature, he voted to implement the permanent early voter list, which solidified early voting as a safe way to participate in elections in our state.

16:29And now they're lockstep with the president in attacking it. It makes no sense. It's a secure way to vote and a huge number of Arizonans participate in it.

16:45Ben Meiselas:Don't you think there's a lot of things, though, that no matter what political party you're from, people are looking at this White House and also a lot of the kind of magus sycophantic environment that surrounds us. It doesn't make sense. Like, you can't just say you brought in 17 trillion dollars when you didn't. Like, you're just you're just making up numbers. And, you know, why are you why are you saying that, you know, inflation is gone when it's not like like we're experienced these things? And like just because you have some weirdo stuff, Donald Trump, about windmills and solar, like stop, stop getting rid of like like this stuff works and we need energy to me at a most basic level.

17:27Ben Meiselas:I think that I've seen so many Democrats, Republicans, independents just look at what's coming out of the White House and they get this pit in their stomach. And they're like, what are you talking about? Like, what are you doing? Like, and again, that to me is something beyond just the partisanship. It's like, huh, what the hell is this? Oh, yeah. I mean, it is a lot of chaos every single day. And I think that chaos is by design to make it hard to follow and to push back because it's like so much on so many different levels. And you talk to folks on any side of the political aisle who say in private, oh, yeah, I don't support this, but, you know, you have to go along to get along.

18:11It's very frustrating that more people aren't willing to call this out. It's hypocrisy. It's bad policy. It's harming Americans for some political ideology rather than policies that actually work and that actually move us forward and actually deliver on what you said you would do when you ran, like lowering costs, like making our community safer, whatever the issue is. And again, I think how we win moving forward is, for me, especially as governor in a state like Arizona, is focusing on the issues and not the politics and bringing whoever to the table is willing to have a conversation about solving them.

18:59Ben Meiselas:Governor, where can people find out more about the election campaign if they want to follow it and see more of the positions and platforms? Oh, that is an amazing question. Thank you so much. This is going to be a very tough race. I need help from all over the place to win. And as you've seen, governors are the last line of defense. Folks can go to katiehobs.org to get more information about how you can help with the campaign. Thanks. Governor Hobbs, thanks for joining us. First time on the Midas Touch Network. We'll see. We'll get you back on to it. You appreciate everything you're doing for the state and for the country.

19:35Thank you.

19:36Ben Meiselas:Everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers. Thanks for watching. Be sure to add the Midas Touch podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts for new updates every single day.

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