MAGA Mike gets Worst News on First Day Back

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0:23Ben Meiselas:MAGA Mike Johnson, the MAGA Republican Speaker of the House, is panicking as his majority is getting even smaller. California GOP Representative Doug LaMalfa passed away at the age 65. He was representing the Northern California District, and he chaired the Western Caucus. So the House House is now going to be 218 to 213, as Jake Sherman writes. It's a two vote margin, a one vote margin. If you factor in the fact that Thomas Massey, Republican from Kentucky, Kentucky, mostly votes against House Republican leadership at the same time that's taking place. I mean, just look at this math right here.

1:04Ben Meiselas:For the whole month of February, Republicans will only have a one vote majority in March. If they fill Marjorie Taylor Greene's seat, Johnson will have a two vote majority in April. When Dems fill Mikey Sherrill's seat, it goes back to a one vote majority. Also, there's another Republican in the hospital and who's injured right now. So that makes the math even more difficult for Maggie. Michael, all of this is taking place. You had Donald Trump giving a speech at the Kennedy Center where Donald Trump said, I wish you could all explain to me what the hell is going on in the mind of the public. because Donald Trump says we have the right policy, but nobody seems to like what we are doing.

1:43Ben Meiselas:Just play that clip of Trump. But they say that when you win the presidency, you lose the midterm. So you're all brilliant people. Most of you are in this business longer than me. That makes me smarter than you, because look where I am, right? No, it doesn't. But I wish you could explain to me what the hell's going on with the mind of the public, because we have the right policy. They don't. They have horrible policy. They do stick together. They're violent. They're vicious. They're vicious people. That was supposed to be, I guess, Donald Trump briefing Congress, or he only briefed the Republican Party at the Kennedy Center on the invasion of Venezuela, which only 33 % of Americans support.

2:24Ben Meiselas:Also, Donald Trump delivered his message with all these serious problems by dancing in front of the Republicans at the Kennedy Center. Here, play that. let's bring in george conway george conway is running for new york's 12th congressional i had to stop the clip right there conway conway is running for new york's 12th congressional uh district you all know george conway and he's uh putting his name into that uh primary race right there in new york heading into the midterms it's great to see you george and we would always interview you for all your other commentary about what's going on in our country but now you've decided to run for New York's 12th congressional district.

3:03Ben Meiselas:I want to talk about your decision to run on New York's 12th, but let's just start off by just talking about here we are, you know, right now approaching 2026, Donald Trump invades Venezuela. Like what's your state of the union right now about what this Trump regime is doing as we approach 2020, as we head into 2026? Well, he's a criminal doing criminal things like he always does. And, you know, we're at a, we're a crossroads we're in a crisis he's threatened democracy he's threatening the rule of law he's he's he's threatening constitutional government and you know none of this is none of this is surprising to all of us who've been following along and what this is what we talked about last year and the year before what would happen and he's doing exactly that because he is you know he's a mille he's a malignant narcissist he only believes in himself he doesn't care about other people.

3:57He has no, no morals, no, no capacity to tell the truth, no honor, no decency, no compassion, no empathy, no remorse. And everything he's doing is for himself. He has, we have a government that's being run like a mob operation. It's for the boss, by the boss of the boss and that's why donald that's why people don't like this because they are starting a lot of people who probably should have figured it out sooner have figured out that you're just about you donald and that everything you do is focused on you the trump kennedy center the armrests at the at the trump kennedy center the 747 he's getting from qatar the you know everything is about him everything is about making life better for him and drawing attention to him and seeking his seeking revenge to people for people who don't pay him homage and meanwhile what do people get?

5:02Higher prices? No ACA subsidies? It's because he doesn't give a fuck about them. And, you know, he's the guy who lied his way back into office talking about inflation and now says, you know, affordability is a hoax. It's all the same thing. This is about the fight we're in right now is about returning government to what it's supposed to be doing, which is helping people, not helping private interests, not helping Donald Trump burnish his ego and take over the oil in Venezuela, take over Greenland that he's talking about. This is all insane. If he really believes in America, if you believe in America first, you've got to get rid of him.

5:50I mean, it's like what we said, what we had in the Lincoln Project, the big ads in 2020 was America versus Trump. And Trump doesn't care about America. He only cares about Trump.

6:00Ben Meiselas:And that's where we are today. George, to be fair, Donald Trump did say he wants subsidies just for the oil companies in Venezuela. It could be about$100 billion that taxpayers are going to pay for it, but not the Affordable Care Act subsidies. No, not when it matters when people's lives and their health matter. It's about making money for his friends who then can pay money to, you know, pay money to build his great ballroom, this monstrosity where he'll hold his unlawful and unconstitutional third inaugural. Yeah, yeah, that's Donald. That's our Donald. Well, take a look at this, too, because you mentioned, you know, plastering his name on everything while screwing over the American people.

6:45Ben Meiselas:So one of the things that he's put his face all over is those, your American, the beautiful passes. And so lots of people have been putting stickers over his faces because they just want to go to the park. They're not trying to have their propaganda, you know, have propaganda passes. So the Department of the Interior now is passing a rule that if you alter the image in any way by putting a sticker over his face, it's now void if altered, and you will either have to pay a penalty fee or you're not allowed in the national parks if you don't show Donald Trump's face on your card. I mean, you just think about what his priorities are while the American people are suffering.

7:23Ben Meiselas:And I know this is a small vignette and in the swing of things with the horrible things that he's doing, you know, like why? But it just to me is symbolic of what a maniac he is. Right. The government is all about him. It's all about him. Everything is about him, not about the people he promised to help or claim that he was helping. It's not about the constitution that he swore to uphold. It's not about the laws that he swore to uphold. It's all about him, his glorification, his empowerment, his feeling good about himself. Take the tariffs, for example, which are raising costs for Americans in my district and all around the country.

8:00The tariffs, you know, they're not about economics. They're not about rebuilding industry in the United States. It's about everybody's come to come to Donald Trump and say, Mr. Trump, you are so amazing. We need you. We need to work out a deal with you. And we're going to give you this price. Please drop our tariffs. You know, it's all about power. It's all about ego. It's all about himself. And it's not, you know, and it's gotten to the point. It's gotten so extreme. It's gotten so ridiculous that I think people are starting to make the connection between, you know, the failure to adhere to his constitutional duties and, and, and their personal lives.

8:44Ben Meiselas:George, why'd you make the decision to run in New York's 12th congressional district? Now, I mean, you have a successful legal career, you know, you, you, you're, you know, you, you're advocating very publicly and having an important role in, in the dialogue there. What made you, though, decide, you know what, I want to become a member of Congress now, go through a primary, and it's a crowded primary field, you know, and it's a different type of, you know, grind that you have. What made you make that call that now you want to do that? Because I felt I wasn't doing enough. You know, I've done a lot.

9:23I've been writing op-eds. I've been going on TV. I've been banging the drums. I did the Lincoln project. I did a PAC in 2024, trying to point out Trump's mental illness. I gave the maximum amount humanly possible to the Democrats and Kamala Harris in 2024. And it just isn't enough. And it's sort of unfair, too, to be saying to Democratic officials, you need to do more. You need to do more. It's sort of like, you know, it's easy to lob stuff in from the sidelines here. and so you know i'm putting it all on the line and i don't want to make a career out of this this is like i'm 62 years old i'm a retired lawyer i spent 30 years practicing law just a few blocks away from here in this district new york 12 and um i don't need this as you as you basically are pointing out to me um i'm only gonna i'm not gonna make a career out of this i can't make a career out of this.

10:24I want to get in and I want to get out. I kind of want to be like the special, you know, special team, special forces that basically do two things. One is we need to hold this guy accountable. We need to hold him and his cronies and his corrupt administration accountable through investigation, which is a lot of lawyering, as you know, and impeachment. Absolutely, you know, impeachment. And the second thing we have to do is we have to pass laws to make sure that we never get in these dire straits again. And we have to, you know, it basically, I'm going to call it a second American reconstruction.

11:02We have to pass laws protecting the independence and the integrity of the Justice Department. We need to pass a law pursuant to Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to make sure that the cabinet actually, that we don't have the cabinet, a cabinet of licksplittle, sick fans, pretending that a president is psychologically and physically fit to conduct the affairs of state when you can watch him on television and realize he's completely off his rocker. There's so many things we need to do, and it's lawyering. It's fundamentally lawyering, like you and I, you know, know how to do, and it's aggressive lawyering, and it's got to be lawyering by people who know, who aren't afraid of calling Trump what he is and not afraid of going toe to toe with him.

11:46And, you know, I just feel like if I don't do this, I will not have done enough.

11:52Ben Meiselas:And there's some discussion there, George, right, about people saying, well, do you do you do the impeachment of Trump right away if the Democrats take control? And then there are some people who say, well, you know, do you even go if you go through an impeachment and the Republicans still control the Senate? But what you're saying, though, very clearly is one of the reasons you want to run is your legal background gives you a unique experience to lead impeachment efforts against Donald Trump, which is what I think Democratic voters want to see, and lead a lot of other legal accountability drives against Donald Trump that otherwise may not happen if someone without your legal bona fides is elected in Congress.

12:36I want to write all that down because I want to repeat that. That's 100 % exactly right. And I want to say it's not, you know, this isn't a question of tactics and politics. Oh, should we do A, B and C first and set impeachment aside because it's just not politically. Congress has a constitutional, legal, and moral obligation to impeach people who commit high crimes and misdemeanors in the executive branch who are criminals. The U.S. Congress under the Republicans have completely forsaken, they have completely forsaken their obligations to the Constitution. This man is violating his oath in myriad ways each and every day.

13:26Impeachment is not an option. It is mandatory. It is required. It is morally, constitutionally, and legally obligated. And that's my position about that. Now, to be sure, there are many other things that you want to do in Congress. But the truth of the matter is, if you care whatever your issue is on as a policy matter, whether it be economic, foreign policy, whatever, nothing good can happen or very little that's good can happen until we get job one done, which is restoring the government to putting it in restoring constitutional government with people in charge of the executive branch who actually take their constitution.

14:11constitutional oaths seriously.

14:14Ben Meiselas:George, where can people find out more about the campaign if they want to learn more about the other? Funny you should ask. I was about to mention it. GeorgeConwayForCongress.com. Very easy. George Conway for Congress. And we have a lot of info on there and there's links to give and we'll be putting out a lot of content over the next few weeks and months. And I look forward. I hope everybody out there joins the team. George Conway, thanks for joining us. Thank you. Everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our sub stack at MidasPlus.com.

14:53Ben Meiselas:You'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski, ad-free episodes of our podcast, and more exclusive content only available at MidasPlus.com.

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