MAGA Mike Panics as GOP Senate Votes Against him...at 2 AM

28 Mar 2026 · 19 min · 10 chapters

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In short

The episode argues that MAGA Mike Johnson and House Republicans are panicking after the Senate unanimously approved a bill funding TSA agents but not ICE or Border Patrol, following Donald Trump’s claim he could fund TSA via an executive order. It claims the House will instead pursue a continuing resolution funding all of DHS, while Democrats threaten a filibuster to block it.

Guest backgrounds

No guests are mentioned in the transcript.

Key claims

Trump could have funded TSA weeks earlier; the Senate left Washington around 2 a.m.; House rejects TSA-only funding; Republicans are using the shutdown/airport chaos as leverage; Trump’s TSA executive order may be unlawful (“power of the purse”); Democrats oppose a 60-day continuing resolution.

Notable examples

Senators John Kennedy and John Thune leaving on planes; quoted House/Senate excerpts saying ICE/Border Patrol amounts would be zero; Trump urging Republicans to terminate the filibuster.

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

MAGA Mike's Panic over TSA Funding

1:58 to 4:00

Discussion on GOP's funding debates and MAGA Mike's reactions.

“Spring is in bloom now at Whole Foods Market.”

Senate Dynamics and MAGA Republicans' Reactions

4:00 to 6:00

Exploring the Senate's decisions and the fallout for MAGA Republicans.

“And while TSA is going to now be funded via this executive order, that money is getting pulled from other areas in order to fund TSA.”

MAGA Mike's Press Conference Insights

6:00 to 8:00

Analysis of MAGA Mike's comments and the GOP's stance.

“And the senators are like, giving MAGA Mike the middle finger.”

Debate on Immigration and Security Funding

8:00 to 10:00

Debate over immigration policy and its implications for funding.

“he could have done that weeks ago, right?”

Trump's Position on Senate Bill

10:00 to 12:00

Donald Trump's views on the Senate's funding bill and its appropriateness.

“and try to hoist this upon the American people and then get on their jets and go home for their holiday and pretend and think that we're going to go along with that.”

Maga Mike Johnson's Reactions

14:02 to 14:14

Discussion on Maga Mike Johnson's response to late-night negotiations.

Trump's Support for Johnson's Plan

14:17 to 14:37

Analyzing Trump's endorsement of Maga Mike's plan after a recent call.

“And Maga Mike Johnson's like, I spoke to him moments ago.”

Trump's Criticism of Senate Bill

14:40 to 16:00

Overview of Trump's criticism regarding the Senate's funding bill.

“Now we're hearing Donald Trump's reaction.”

Legislative Challenges Ahead

16:02 to 16:18

Explaining the challenges in passing the proposed legislation.

“But now the Senate's passed basically what Trump signed.”

Trump's Controversial Statements

16:23 to 16:35

Examining Trump's remarks and their implications on social issues.

“So Donald Trump saying, let's stop the filibuster and let's talk about genital mutilation and let's bully transgender people because that's where Donald Trump is reducing every argument to to bully transgender people.”
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Transcript

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1:58Spring is in bloom now at Whole Foods Market.

2:00Ben Meiselas:MAGA Mike Johnson, the Republican Speaker of the House, is panicking after MAGA Republicans in the Senate passed by a unanimous consent motion, a bill that would just fund TSA agents and not fund ICE and Border Patrol, which is exactly what Democrats had been proposing for some time. And that followed Donald Trump making a social media post saying that via executive order, he would be funding the TSA using funds that were already appropriated to the Department of Homeland Security, thus showing that Donald Trump could have been funding the TSA for many, many weeks now, as we've been saying at the Midas Touch Network.

2:43Ben Meiselas:So the sequence of events is that Donald Trump says that he's going to fund the TSA via an executive order, which he could have done for a long time. Then around 2 a.m. in the United States Senate, Senator John Kennedy, MAGA Republican from Louisiana, basically adopted the Democrat plan, the Democratic plan to just fund TSA. Then the MAGA Republicans were going to defer ICE and Border Patrol funding, perhaps at a later time during reconciliation proceedings in a few weeks or a few months. Then the Senate left. They left Washington, D.C. I mean, they got in planes and they went home to their districts and said, see you later.

3:26Ben Meiselas:So that means the House of Representatives would basically have to pass an identical bill to what the Senate passed just funding the TSA. And by the way, Donald Trump said he was doing that via executive order. And if there were any changes made to what the Senate passed in the House, the Senate would have to come back. But you see, the problem is the Senate left and they ain't coming back for the next two weeks. That's what I talked about in the video I made earlier today. The next time the Senate's going to come back, it's like the second week of April. So we still have this partial government shutdown of DHS.

4:04Ben Meiselas:And while TSA is going to now be funded via this executive order, that money is getting pulled from other areas in order to fund TSA. And the MAGA Republicans want to make sure that ICE and Border Patrol get additional funding because they're already well-funded. Let's be very clear. They've gotten hundreds of billions of dollars. I want to see ICE and Border Patrol abolished. They don't need any money at all, in my view. But Republicans want to give them more money. Democrats have set the conditions. No masks. Must use search warrants. Must identify yourself. Can't be at polling stations. But the MAGA Republicans don't want any of those conditions.

4:41Ben Meiselas:And the MAGA Republicans want to make sure that they have more money to torture and maim and kill and terrorize people here in the United States and expand the concentration camp system that is being built here in the United States. And so ultimately, when this was passed from the Senate to the House, the House said, uh-uh, we are not just going to fund the TSA. We want to make sure the Department of Homeland Security, ICE, and Border Patrol get extra funding so they can do the torture. That's what we want. So we're not going to support you MAGA Republicans in the Senate. So come back, Senators, because we in the House, we're going to do what's called a continuing resolution regarding the previous status quo funding in order to make sure all of DHS is funded.

5:28Ben Meiselas:Now, the Democrats have objected to that in the Senate and have threatened the filibuster, and Republicans don't have enough votes to obtain cloture. And so Republicans made a deal with the Democrats not to fund ICE and Border Patrol, but the MAGA Republicans in the House were like, screw that. We can't support that. So we're not just going to fund TSA alone. We want to make sure that ICE can wear masks and have no search warrants and terrorize and torture people. And so the MAGA Republicans in the House have been panicking, MAGA Mike, and they're like, we're going to do a continuing resolution that funds everything.

6:04Ben Meiselas:Come back, senators. We're going to force a vote on this. And the senators are like, giving MAGA Mike the middle finger. The MAGA Republicans said, good luck. See you later. I mean, you've got Ted Cruz on a plane. They're all on airplanes. They've all left, by the way. I mean, I'll show you right here. This is a video of MAGA Republican Senator John Thune, the majority leader in the Senate. And Fox interviewed him, state regime media, as he was leaving. He's like, see you later. I'm out. Good luck, MAGA Mike. I want you to watch this here. Play this clip. How are you feeling resolved? What's that?

6:35Are you thinking everything is resolved, working out well? The House is going to do their job? Well, we'll see. We made some temporary headway, but we got a lot of work to do still.

6:44Ben Meiselas:So after the House of Representatives got word that the Senate passed via a unanimous consent motion, the funding just for the TSA, you had MAGA Republicans just flipping out like MAGA Republican Mark Harris posted the following. I am done with Senate Republicans. Their failure to fully fund DHS is not just disappointing. It's a disgrace. They refuse to fund ICE units that target sex traffickers. They refuse to fund Border Patrol agents. And where is the Save America Act? Once again, they have failed the American people. They have made one thing clear. America's safety is not their priority. MAGA Republican Congress member Chip Roy writes, why would Senate GOP throw Democrats a political lifeline now to fund TSA that doesn't find that doesn't fund ICE and Border Patrol and in the process likely get off of Save America Act to go home for Easter recess?

7:36Ben Meiselas:As our editor in chief, Ron Filipkowski writes, more proof that Republicans wanted to withhold TSA funding to cause airport chaos for negotiating leverage. Everything they said about airports being a mess over the past two weeks is exactly what they wanted. Let's just think logically together. If Donald Trump just signed an executive order funding TSA, which he did late last night and he signed it today, he could have done that weeks ago, right? This whole mess was manufactured by Republicans. Republicans and if the Senate Republicans were willing to just fund TSA alone, which they were able to do, why couldn't they do that weeks ago?

8:14Ben Meiselas:Democrats kept on introducing that, right? I'm just speaking logically. I'm not speaking as a partisan, right? And now the MAGA Republicans in the House can fund TSA and they're saying, nope, we need to give extra money to ICE and Border Patrol. Why? Just fund TSA now and then you can have the debate and the discussion on ICE and Border Patrol, but get TSA funded in a meaningful and material way. that's all. And meanwhile, Democrats in the Senate said, look, under no circumstance will we support any 60-day continuing resolution that the House passes. That's dead on arrival in the Senate. So if you go and pass this in the House, even though all the senators gone, when you send this back to us in the Senate, we ain't passing that at all.

8:55Ben Meiselas:So good luck. See you later. So with all of that as background, MAGA Mike just held a press conference. And during the press conference, MAGA Mike acted like Democrats were in the majority of the Senate and the House when Republicans control the majority in the Senate and Republicans control the majority in the House. And what's happening now, Republican House members in MAGA Mike are panicking and attacking Republican Senate members. But somehow MAGA Mike turns this into an attack on Democrats. The MAGA Republicans in the Senate were the ones who did the unanimous consent motion that allowed TSA to get funded.

9:31Ben Meiselas:You're attacking them. The Democrats supported it. Sure. Democrats want TSA to be funded, but wake up, MAGA Mike. So here is MAGA Mike. He's like, this was unconscionable that the Democrats would wait until 3 a.m. to do this gambit. John Kennedy, you don't get much more MAGA Republican than that from Louisiana. Watch MAGA Mike here. Play this clip. We're not doing that. And it is unconscionable to me that the Democrats would force some sort of negotiation at three o 'clock in the morning and try to hoist this upon the American people and then get on their jets and go home for their holiday and pretend and think that we're going to go along with that.

10:08So we're going to do something different. We're going to do the responsible thing. Republicans are going to continue to govern and do the right thing morally, legally, and politically. We are going to take care of those who take care of us. The employees in the Department of Homeland Security have gone without funding and without paychecks for 42 days. It's the second longest shutdown in U.S. history.

10:31Ben Meiselas:More over here from Maga Mike. And as Alex Cole says, according to Maga Mike Johnson, you would think Democrats controlled both houses in Congress. Republicans can't govern for SHI. And he uses the curse word. Watch what Maga Mike says over here when a reporter says you and John Thune are not on the same page, it seems. Here, play this clip. Democrats will continue to play politics. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You and John Thune are not on the same page. You came out and criticized Democrats. He was the engineer behind this. Why are you guys not on the Senate? And are you not extending the shutdown?

11:04If you were to accept what the Senate had passed, this could end tonight and the TSA lines would shrink. I wouldn't call John Thune the engineer of this. Chuck Schumer and the Democrats in the Senate have forced this upon the Senate. I have to protect the House. Let me answer the question, Chad. I have to protect the House and I have to protect the American people. That's our responsibility. Our colleagues on this side understand this is not a game. We are not playing their games. These people want open borders and they want criminal illegal aliens in the country. They do not want to enforce the law.

11:36They want to literally defund. You just read it in the in the bill here. They want to give zero dollars to enforcing federal immigration laws and keeping the borders secure. That was the biggest issue in the election of 2024. The wide open border that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris hoisted upon the country. And 20 million, by some estimates, 20 million dangerous criminal illegal aliens included in that number came over the border. We have terrorists in our country. We have obviously murderers. They're putting it on display. And then these big blue cities that have sanctuary city policies, they're releasing these people onto the streets.

12:08They released them over the border when they came over under the Biden years. And that is the turmoil that we're facing right now. The very serious threats to the homeland and everybody. It's not just long lines at the airport. It is the danger and safety of everyone. We'll talk more after this is passed. We'll get it done.

12:23Ben Meiselas:Why are you attacking the Democrats? Everything's Democrat, Democrat, Democrat, Democrat. Just fund the TSA. Let people have normal experiences in the airport. Stop breaking every damn thing, you idiots. For real. Just let people live their lives and be normal. Stop behaving like this, you little weasel. More from MAGA Mike right here. He's like, the Republicans are not going to be a party to this. You're quite literally the party to this. You're the majority, you weasel. Here, play this clip. And this has to stop. The Republicans are not going to be a party to this. They have taken hostage the funding processes of government so that they can impose their radical agenda on the American people when we can't have any part of it.

13:02This gambit that was done last night is a joke. I'm quite convinced that it can't be that every Senate Republican read the language of this bill. And I'm going to I'm going to just read you one excerpt of it because it's pretty alarming. And it says everything that you need to know in Section 4. This is on page two of the bill. This is this is an actual it's an actual copy of the bill that that excerpt. It says, quote, the contents printed under the headings of this bill, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Security Operations under the heading of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and Protection shall have no force or effect for purposes of this act and amounts specified in the final bill under the subheading Border Security Operations and under the heading U.S.

13:50Customs and Border Protection and under the headings of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Department of Homeland Security shall be zero. We're not doing that. And it is unconscionable to me that the Democrats would force some sort of negotiation at three o 'clock in the morning and try to hoist this upon the American people and then get on their jets and go home for their holiday.

14:14Ben Meiselas:More from Maga Mike Johnson right here. A reporter says, so has the president endorsed your plan? And Maga Mike Johnson's like, I spoke to him moments ago. He knows exactly what we're doing. Here, let's play this clip. More after this is passed, we'll get it done.

14:32I spoke to the president a few moments ago. He understands exactly what we're doing and why, and he supports it. Yes.

14:40Ben Meiselas:Now we're hearing Donald Trump's reaction. Donald Trump is telling state regime media, which calls itself Fox in a call that the Senate bill that passed in the overnight hours to fund all of DHS, except CBP and ICE wasn't appropriate. Donald Trump told Fox, well, it wasn't good. It wasn't appropriate. Now what they should do is they should terminate the filibuster and just vote. But you have three or four Republicans in there that are not doing the right thing. You can't have a bill that's not going to fund, in my opinion. You can't have a bill that's not going to fund ICE. You can't have a bill that's not going to fund any form of law enforcement, of which ICE is a big form, and so is Border Patrol.

15:17Ben Meiselas:Then Donald Trump ran to social media and wrote, the Republicans should terminate the filibuster and vote. Haven't they had enough of this nonsense from the radical left lunatics that are looking to destroy our country. Make America great again, Donald J. Trump. And so just I don't want you to be confused here. To be clear, based on Donald Trump's executive order, the TSA agents should be funded. But he should have signed that order weeks ago. Still, Donald Trump's executive order is likely unlawful because he doesn't have the power of the purse. People probably won't challenge it because we want TSA agents to get their funds, to get paid, right?

15:55Ben Meiselas:So no one's going to challenge it, even though we had the money. And the process that should happen is the Senate and the House pass a bill. Donald Trump signs it into law. But now the Senate's passed basically what Trump signed. They said, let's fund the TSA. The House is rejecting it, right? So there's no way to have that law. The House is telling the Senate, come back. The Senate's saying, we ain't coming back. And then the Democrats in the Senate are saying, even if you send it back, we have enough votes for a filibuster. So Donald Trump saying, let's stop the filibuster and let's talk about genital mutilation and let's bully transgender people because that's where Donald Trump is reducing every argument to to bully transgender people.

16:34Ben Meiselas:All right. That's the lay of the land, folks. So hopefully that explains it for you. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. And while you're at it, have you subscribed to Scott McFarlane's YouTube channel at Scott McFarlane News? Scott McFarlane's YouTube channel already has 120 ,000 plus subscribers in just three days since joining the Midas Touch Network. How incredible is that? Subscribe to his YouTube channel and tell him in the comments that Ben says hello and hit subscribe here. And let's get to 7 million subscribers on the Midas Touch channel. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our sub stack at MidasPlus.com.

17:09Ben Meiselas: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 Republican Senators turning against MAGA Mike Johnson and MAGA House Members and Meiselas shares the surprise vote taken at 2 am by Republican Senators.

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