Rep. Maxwell Frost on Why Proposition 50 is Critical to Stopping Trump

0:00Ben Meiselas:Republican Congress members are cracking as Democrats are standing up against this Donald Trump and MAGA Republican shutdown. We're seeing Republican Congress members like Kevin Kiley of California breaking with the decision by MAGA Mike Johnson to send all of the Republicans back to their home districts or wherever else they want to go on paid vacations and to not even talk to Democrats, yet alone negotiate with Democrats. Now, one of the things we see with this Republican Kevin Kiley from California is that his seat has now become very vulnerable as a result of Proposition 50 in California. That is to stop the midterm rigging by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans as Donald Trump worked with the Texas legislature and Greg Abbott to remove Democratic congressional seats.

0:58Ben Meiselas:They just announced they're trying to do that in North Carolina as well. The Proposition 50 in California is a ballot initiative that will be voted on November 4th. Early voting is taking place, by the way, right now in California, and it's in direct response and it's on an emergency basis and it's short term. It will expire in the next five or six years or so after this response to the rigging by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans. But the vote's scheduled for November 4th, and Kevin Kiley set to lose his seat. So now he's frantic. He went on CNN, and he talked to Manu Raju, who's been doing a really good job covering the Trump Republican government shutdown.

1:46Ben Meiselas:And this MAGA Republican, Kevin Kiley, he's changed his tune. He's like, we got to get back to Washington, D.C. I'm not sure why MAGA Mike Johnson is not having this work. I want to go back and work. I'm not sure what the Republicans are doing. This is why you have to stand up powerfully to these MAGA Republicans. Let's play this clip. Being with me this morning, really appreciate your time. What do you say to Speaker Johnson who says there's no reason for the House to come back to session? Well, there are a lot of reasons for the House to be in session. We were supposed to be in session the last two weeks.

2:19We're supposed to be in session next week, irrespective of a government shutdown, because we have oversight hearings to do. We have legislation to mark up. We have the ordinary business of the people to carry out. And there's no justification to shut everything down just because we're in the midst of the government shutdown. In fact, the fact that there's a government shutdown is all the more reason that we should be there in order to be doing everything we possibly can to get us out of this situation, not to mention the fact that the entire reason the House had to pass a seven week continuing resolution in the first place is that we were going to miss the deadline for passing a full budget.

2:54So even if that seven week continuing resolution became law, we've already burned a few of those weeks just being out of session.

3:01Ben Meiselas:And then Kevin Kiley goes on to talk about how he thinks that the MAGA Republicans need to be negotiating with Democrats. And he says, I think this is bad for Republicans. This is bad for government that the Republicans are not even speaking to Democrats when Democrats are showing up every day to work to fight for people's health care. Watch this. Let's play it. You know, the speaker says that there should be no negotiations with Democrats. But, you know, we're about to begin week three of this very damaging shutdown. It's only to get more painful for so many Americans. So is it time for GOP leaders to begin negotiating with Democrats to find a way out of this crisis?

3:43Yeah, I think we need to explore all avenues. And I want to be very clear. I voted for the continuing resolution. I don't like continuing resolutions, but it was the lesser of two evils between that and shutting down the government, which is a terrible thing. I wish the Senate would just vote for the version we passed in the House. I don't agree with what Chuck Schumer is doing. I think he's being unreasonable. But this is politics. Sometimes you have to work with people that you believe are being unreasonable in order to find the common ground that is best for the country. And so long as the House isn't even there, that's going to be very hard for us to do.

4:12Yeah. So you think it's time to negotiate for the Speaker to negotiate with Democrats? I think if there's an avenue that we can explore that will get us out of this, then absolutely. I mean, they've brought up this issue of the subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. There are a number of people in our conference, myself included, who are very concerned about the prospect that people are going to see a sudden increase in premiums. And so if, you know, reaching some sort of deal there or at least a first step towards a deal, which is going to need to be reached anyway, provides a pathway out of the shutdown as well.

4:44I don't see why we shouldn't at least look into that. Yeah. So you think that negotiating the subsidies should be part of this negotiation with. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that that's a possibility. We ought to explore it. We should explore all possibilities because a shutdown is a terrible thing for the American people.

4:58Ben Meiselas:More from this guy, Kevin Kiley, right here, where he then even says that he thinks that Adelita Grijalva, the Congresswoman-elect from Arizona's seventh congressional district, needs to be sworn in. And you can see Kiley is getting very, very nervous that he's about to lose if Proposition 50 goes through. And again, it's a response to the midterm election rigging taking place by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans. as Trump's approval has plummeted to an all-time low. Just take a look at what Kylie said here about Adelita Grijalva. Let's take a look. Congressman, as you know, as the House has been out, it's been almost three weeks since Democrat Adelita Grijalva won her race to fill a vacant House seat.

5:44Yet the Speaker's breaking with past precedent and has said she will not be sworn in until the government reopens. You've noted you've been concerned about the Speaker's approach. Why? Well, the woman, I mean, I think she won her election. It's a duly, you know, she's the duly elected member of Congress from that district. And she should be sworn in. I don't know why this is an issue. The constituents in that district deserve to have a representative. Congress was supposed to be in session the last couple of weeks, in which case she should have been sworn in. And so given the fact that session was canceled the last two weeks, and it's apparently being canceled this coming week, They should swear her in on a pro forma session, as has been done before and as she's asking for.

6:26I just don't think that I don't understand why this is an issue at all. Are you worried about the ramifications of that? Say if a Democrat speaker didn't swear in a Republican House member? Yeah, I don't think it should matter what the party is. I mean, this is kind of the most basic thing that every district is entitled to have a member of Congress representing them. When you win your election, you're entitled to be sworn in to represent that district. I don't know why it's an issue. It really shouldn't matter what party is in charge and what party is being elected. All right. Congressman Kevin Kiley of California.

6:56Thank you so much for getting up and joining me this morning. Really appreciate your time and giving me your perspective. Appreciate it. All right.

7:03Ben Meiselas:And so some of the latest data I want to share with you about Prop 50, Democrats are now outspending Republicans by nearly$40 million on TV in California, urging voters to back Governor Newsom's redistrict balloting initiative on November 4th. The Sacramento Bee, you see right here, new poll shows the majority of California voters support Proposition 50. The Cook Political Report True Dot poll shows the yes on Prop 50 at about 50 % to no, 35%, 15 % undecided. And by the way, I have my ballot right here, my return envelope for Prop 50. After this, I'm going to go walk and drop it off right now.

7:48Ben Meiselas:One of the interesting things about Prop 50, the stop the Republican vote rigging proposition here in California, there was a lot of bluster and intimidation tactics. And I think bogus polls that Republicans were trying to push to say Prop 50 is never going to pass in California. It's deeply unpopular. Don't do it and back down. And I just think it's yet another example of where you actually stand up for convictions and stand up to these MAGA Republicans who are trying to rig the midterms that now we're seeing the data reflect a great degree of popularity behind Prop 50. I'm not trying to get too cocky or make sure if you're in California that you're aware that this Prop 50 voting is coming up right around the corner and get those early ballots in.

8:38Ben Meiselas:But I just think it shows people standing up. I want to bring in Democratic Congress member Maxwell Frost, who's been traveling the state and meeting with different groups of people, getting the message out there about Prop 50. It's just interesting, Congressman, because I remember when Governor Newsom announced this. There was all of this media attention and negativity around it, and it seems that it's shifted in the other direction. Again, I don't want to get overconfident by any means, but to me, there's something there. What do you make of it? Exactly. And I think people really understand just how important this is.

9:14And what I told everyone at the Canvas launch that we did with Mayor Bass the other day, and I'll say to you guys is this isn't just about California, right? This is a response to what Donald Trump has said that he wanted to do in Texas and in other states. And he knows that when they pass the big, ugly bill, which rips away health care from 17 million people, you usually don't win elections when you do something like that, when you stage the greatest transfer of wealth from the working class and working people to the billionaires and mega corporations. And so instead of undoing that, he knows that in order to win, he needs to cheat.

9:47And that's why he told Texas, redraw your maps and give me four to five new seats. That's why he is pressuring states across the country to give him more seats. And what California is doing is responding to that through Proposition 50. And, you know, the energy was so high in this room, Ben. I saw people, it was a multi-generational, multi-racial coalition. But the thing that really got me, too, is there were people there who were actually in Los Angeles on vacation. But they know it's so important that they decided to show up. And guess where they're from? They're from the state of Texas, where they're seeing this happen, but not in a Democratic way, where they're seeing politicians just doing it because Donald Trump told them to do it.

10:25Ben Meiselas:You know, we now see Trump and J.D. Vance trying to respond to what California did to respond to Texas by figuring out more ways to try to rig these midterms. So they're out there in Florida. They were out there in Indiana. They're going to everybody. I think, though, in those states, even though there's a little bit of I don't know, fatigue is the right word because, you know, Trump's going to try to push through whatever. But I just think among the people, it's like enough. You did your thing in Texas. California is responding like just stop. Stop the madness. Stop the craziness. I just think that as we head into the no kings protest, to me, that's a theme that transcends a political party.

11:11Ben Meiselas:Just like we're living in crazy times like this. Get back to freaking normalcy. Exactly. And the thing is that, you know, this redistricting thing that Trump is trying to do, which is to try to essentially rig the election and cheat with the election. It's not popular. It's not popular with Republicans. It's not popular with Democrats. It's not popular with non-party affiliates. We actually tested this in the state of Florida because DeSantis wants to do the same thing. Why does DeSantis want to do it? Well, number one, he's not going to be governor at the end of next year because he turns out and he's trying to stay relevant.

11:42And Donald Trump hates Ron DeSantis. So now DeSantis is trying to curry favor with him and do anything that he says. And in fact, you know, it's interesting. Most Republicans in the state of Florida say we don't want to change our maps. But what people should know is that the maps in Florida are already gerrymandered. They're already gerrymandered in our state. That's what happened two years ago. And now they want to do it even more. And the other interesting thing is even congressional Republicans in Florida have come out and said they're not a fan of redistricting. They think it's going too far, which tells you something.

12:13Ben Meiselas:Well, and now you have Republican Congress members in California like Kevin Kiley. You know, he's out there saying, wait a minute, I'm going to lose my seat right now. Why are you doing this? And so you see he's breaking with Maga Mike Johnson strategy to keep the house closed. he's like, all right, let's swear in Adelita Grijalva now. And, you know, let's do these. When you start holding these people accountable, you start to see them respond that way. What do you make of that? No, exactly. It wasn't until Gavin Newsom came up and said, we're going to put forth Proposition 50 that Kevin Kiley and some of his other colleagues came out and said, hey, actually, we're down to work with Democrats to ban gerrymandering.

12:56It's like, until it impacted them directly, they didn't give a shit about the entire thing. And that's part of the issue here. And look, I think it's important. We're not here to gaslight people. Politicians should not be choosing their voters. Voters should be choosing the politician. But what's happening in California is a response to something Donald Trump is doing. We can't be in this fight tying our hands behind our back. This is part of the reason why people don't view Democrats in the most favorable way right now. We have to be aggressive about the things we stand up for. We have to be 10 toes down, we have to be willing to fight.

13:27And that's what we need in this moment, fighters. And that's what Proposition 50 is all about. And so, but what I would tell Kevin Kiley is, look, if you want to join forces with Democrats, get us enough votes, let's pass through something that will make sure that every single state plays by the same rules in terms of gerrymandering. Because here's the problem. The only states that have statewide independent redistricting committees are democratic states. So you have democratic states doing this the right way. And then you have red states gerrymandering it and making it so that way the politicians are picking the voters.

14:00And that's not right. There is no statewide solution to gerrymandering. I'm sorry, there doesn't exist. It has to be a national law. So let's do this now to combat Trump, to fight against Trump and him trying to completely rig this democracy. Let's get in the power and then let's actually do the thing we're talking about, which I think is the most important part of this.

14:18Ben Meiselas:No, I think there's a parallel with Democrats finally fighting and standing up when it comes to Prop 50 with Democrats standing up against Donald Trump and the Republicans government shutdown because where Democrats have stood firm and said, no, you have to protect people's health care. as MAGA Republicans went through each iteration of their lies and propaganda, first immigrants and transgender people in Peru and this and that. And the other thing, you know, today they're now like, all right, look, we basically have to repeal Obamacare and we got to get rid of it. And then what's your replacement?

14:53Ben Meiselas:And Mike Johnson's like, we just have to repeal Obamacare. So it finally was like, that's your point, that you don't want Americans unhelpful. That's what this is about. And it took, I think, Democrats standing firm to really expose that. And then we're seeing what happens when you fight with Prop 50. I don't think it's a coincidence that those two things are happening. So before we go, I wanted you to speak to that, Congressman. No, 100 percent. And look, unfortunately, the only thing a lot of people, especially Donald Trump and Mike Johnson, understand is when you respond with the same energy that they're bringing.

15:29And we saw Donald Trump come out a few weeks ago and say, well, you know, at some points I was surprised that there wasn't as much pushback. And that's part of the issue. We have to push back with everything we have. And what we see is that when we're aggressive in the things that we believe in and we tell them we're not going to let you walk all over us, then you start seeing cracks in their coalition. Take, for instance, what's going on now with the government shutdown. Donald Trump shut down the government because he rather shut down the government than make sure people can actually afford their health care.

15:57And he wants people to pay more for health care because it frees up money in the federal budget to give billionaires a tax break. Like, that's what's going on. It's very simple. But here's the thing. When we are actually aggressive about what we believe in and we don't vote for an evil bill, now you're starting to see that are certain Republicans in Congress coming out saying, well, maybe we ought to work with the Democrats and fix this health care problem. That wouldn't happen if we just did what they said. Right. And so for me, you know, we're in this era where not just our base, but Democrats as a whole are calling out to us saying, stand up, stand up and stand tall for what we believe in.

16:35And when we do it, it's not only is a good policy, but it's good politics to election is November 4th.

16:41Ben Meiselas:Prop 50 on the ballot here in California. Before we go, if people are watching this, if they live in California or if they live in another state and they want to be helpful in just getting the word out, what do you suggest that people do who are watching this? Because just in a few weeks, that vote's going to take place. Yeah. So first off, go vote. And if you live in California, you know that you have that mail-in ballot already. Fill it out. Send it in the mail. Just do it now. Okay, once you do that, now we need your help to get out the word. So get involved with certain organizations. You can California Democratic Party, Proposition 50, Grassroots Democrats HQ, and find out where the canvases are and the phone banks are and go and get more people to vote too.

17:23That's what we need you to do in this moment so we can win this thing.

17:27Ben Meiselas:Congress member Maxwell Frost, appreciate you. Thank you for having me. 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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