Swalwell Calls Out Trump’s Unlawful War and Discusses Gov Race

0:01Ben Meiselas:Not sure how to tackle your taxes? Are you sweating the small print? You may be experiencing FOMO, the fear of messing up. The answer? Using TurboTax on Intuit Credit Karma. They help you get your biggest refund and then we help you do more with it with a personalized plan designed to help you hit your money goals. It's time to take your taxes to the max. Start filing today in the Credit Karma app. Spring Fest is happening now at Lowe's. Keep the spotlight on your yard with Stay Green Premium 2-Cubic Foot Mulch. Five bags for$10. Plus, when you want more help indoors, get up to 40 % off select major appliances that help you supercharge your chores.

0:48Our best lineup is here at Lowe's. Valid to 422 while supplies last. Selection varies by location. See Lowe's.com for details. Mulch offer exclusive. Laskan Hawaii.

1:00Ben Meiselas:Chronic migraine, 15 or more headache days a month, each lasting four hours or more, can make me feel like a spectator in my own life. Botox, onabotulinum toxin A, prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine. It's not for those with 14 or fewer headache days a month. It's the number one prescribed branded chronic migraine preventive treatment. Prescription Botox is injected by your doctor. Effects of Botox may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness can be signs of a life-threatening condition.

1:30Ben Meiselas:Patients with these conditions before injection are at highest risk. Side effects may include allergic reactions, neck and injection site pain, fatigue, and headache. Allergic reactions can include rash, welts, asthma symptoms, and dizziness. Don't receive Botox if there's a skin infection. Tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, including ALS Lou Gehrig's disease, myasthenia gravis or Lambert-Eaton syndrome, and medications, including botulinum toxins, as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. why wait ask your doctor visit botoxchronicmigraine.com or call 1-800-44-BOTOX to learn more jackson hewitt will do your taxes for 149 or less no matter how complicated so if you're a delivery driver slash handyman slash wedding dj you pay only 149 or less we're talking to you waitress check please slash pet sitter slash influencer just 149 or less want your refund to work as hard as you?

2:22Ben Meiselas:Hurry. Don't wait. File with Jackson Hewitt today. Limited time offer for new clients on federal returns. Participating locations only. Terms at jacksonhewitt.com slash 149. This podcast is sponsored by IQ Bar. I've got good news and bad news. Here's the bad news. Most protein bars are packed with sugar and unpronounceable ingredients. The good news, there's a better option. I'm Will and I created IQ Bar plant protein bars to empower doers like you with clean, delicious, low-sugar brain and body fuel. IQ Bars are packed with 12 grams of protein, brain nutrients like magnesium and lion's mane, and zero weird stuff.

2:57Ben Meiselas:And right now, you can get 20 % off all IQ Bar products, plus free shipping. Try our delicious IQ Bar sampler pack with seven plant protein bars, four hydration mixes, and four enhanced coffee sticks. Clean ingredients, amazing taste, and you'll love how you feel. Refuel smarter, hydrate harder, caffeinate larger with IQ Bar. Go to eatiqbar.com and enter code BAR20 to get 20 % off all IQ Bar products, plus free shipping. Again, go to eatiqbar.com and enter code BAR20. Donald Trump is panicking as even people from his own cult are calling for his impeachment. That's right. At a CPAC convention, the head of CPAC, Schlapp, tried to hype up the CPAC crowd and said, who here wants to see Donald Trump get impeached?

3:48Ben Meiselas:And then the crowd started clapping for Trump's impeachment at the CPAC event. Here, watch this clip. How many of you would like to see impeachment hearings? No, that was the wrong answer. how many of you would like to see impeachment hearings no can someone bring some coffee out for the okay well that either demonstrates that they want to have him impeached or the type of voter who flocks to donald trump but at that same cpac event you had todd blanche donald trump's deputy ag panicking over the fact that if democrats take control of the House and Democrats take control of the executive branch in 2028, that Blanche and all of Trump's cabinet are likely going to be prosecuted.

4:42Ben Meiselas:Here's what he says. Let's play it. Everybody's afraid that the next administration, if we don't win, we're going to all be investigated and indicted. Think about that. This is not a third world country. This is America. And the existing administration is afraid that they're going to get indicted. And why are they afraid, because that's exactly what happened during the last administration. All of President Trump's cabinet, everybody that worked in the White House, his secret service detail had to go to the grand jury. And meanwhile, Pam Bondi is trying to raise her hand up and say, look, I'm exhibit A, everybody, as earlier on Friday morning, while the markets were also tanking, she said, you know, being a citizen in our country, it's not a right.

5:24Ben Meiselas:It is an absolute privilege to be a citizen. And Donald Trump's going to pick who he wants to be as a citizen because it's Donald Trump's determination of if you have the privilege to be. Let's watch what she says. Play this clip. I'd about their marriage to get in this country. You can't do that. Being a citizen in our country is a privilege. It's not a right. And Donald Trump is going to have everyone in this country who deserves to be here who's a citizen. And, yeah, sure, it could be faster. It could be easier. But I think we're moving at lightning speed, given what we're up against. I'm thinking about the old Dominion shoot.

5:56Ben Meiselas:Meanwhile, Donald Trump's approval is absolutely tanking on the economy. It's net negative like 33, the lowest in presidential history at this time on cost of living net negative 41. His overall approval is 36 percent and it's just continues to crash each week amongst white non college male voters. he's at a net negative four percent right there when just this past december 2025 he was a plus 10 so it's all a crashing down for donald who is also curious about the 25th amendment being invoked against him as well let's play this clip but i wouldn't talk it's like the question this young lady yes sorry about i embarrassed i don't want to embarrass you because i think you're of i think she's a friendly reporter so i'm sorry but you know i can't say what we're going to do because if I did, I wouldn't be sitting here for long.

6:49Ben Meiselas:They'd probably, what is it called? The 25th Amendment? That institute the 25th Amendment. I want to bring in Democratic Congress member Eric Swalwell, who's also running for governor, the great state of California, the state that I call home. Congress member Swalwell, it's great to see you as always. I want to get into what's going on in California, California, what's going on with the airports in California. We'll get there. But I want to first just have you react to just this historical moment that we're in as this disastrous war rages on in Iran, as Americans can't afford things at home. And as we see a deranged Donald Trump do his encore, I guess, to COVID doing the exact same shtick as we head into Easter, but about this disastrous war in Iran as our economy implodes and as we lose lives overseas.

7:41I saw your CPAC clip intro. Sounds like there's a lot of conservatives who want the president to be impeached. And I bet they're pretty pissed that this guy promised he'd lower costs on day one. And instead, he's done the exact opposite with this stupid tariff tax that has raised the cost of almost everything that we buy. He said he would have no more wars. Instead, he's added wars to the map and it's costing us money. By the way, in California, as you see when you go to the gas station, we are paying almost $2 more per gallon today because of these wars than we paid on the first day of Joe Biden's presidency.

8:19So he's costing us in every way. And if you listen to that room, sounds like people are pretty pissed off about it.

8:26Ben Meiselas:You know, with all of the destruction he's unleashed and with all of the money that they've spent on this destruction. I've always thought we imagined a world, regardless of who the person is, came into power and they use the money in order to build housing and to give people health care and to help people get the type of education they want and help people find jobs. And the amount of efforts spent right now hurting people, if you use those same funds and help people, it always just seemed like the entire country would benefit or the state of California, states across this country would benefit.

9:11Ben Meiselas:It's obviously there if it's so easy to say$200 billion supplemental for a war in Iran where we're chasing Netanyahu into a war over there and no one even knows what the hell we're even doing, you know, to kill people. Why is it so difficult to spend money here to actually help the American people that could have a return on investment? Two things would happen if he did that. First, he'd help people and bring down costs and lift up opportunity. And two, he'd be more popular. The popularity tracks exactly with what people expected and are not seeing from this guy. And all they see is that he has more fucking plans for a ballroom in the East Wing than he does to lower costs or to carry out this war in Iran, which he can't justify or explain what he's going to do next.

10:02Ben Meiselas:So talk to us about California. People refer to this as a jungle primary. And people get awfully nervous who look at that jungle primary and they get worried. They see two Republicans and 10 Democrats. And people have been very proud, I think, in California of the way Newsom has stood up to Donald Trump and pushed back against him and been a leader internationally as well during a time when that was needed, because California is also the fourth largest economy of the world. And so people are saying, what's going on with this jungle primary? And what do I make of it? And, you know, who, how do you make sense?

10:47Ben Meiselas:I mean, obviously you're in it, you know, and, you know, and so what's your pitch to the voters? The Californians want a fighter and a protector. And as I talk to folks from Redding to Redlands, you know, what I hear is they ask, what are you going to do to fight and protect for me? And you mentioned Governor Newsom. And there's no person in America who's more protected by their governor than a Californian by Governor Newsom. And so the first thing you have to do is show how you're going to protect against a president whose ICE agents are chasing Californians through the fields and factories where people work, who are dragging women by their hair and throwing them into unmarked vans and who are committing public executions.

11:25You have to protect the people first. And I offer in our candidacy 10 years of being in the arena and taking on this guy in every imaginable way, from investigations to impeachments to my own lawsuit against him. That is the only one that survived this new presidency. It's me and the January 6th officers. But then also being in parallel able to write a new California story on lowering the damn costs. And you said it. There are a lot of candidates in this field. There is a risk right now that two Republicans could get through in a crowded field. Now, we are at the top consistently in all the polling.

12:03We're consistently the only Democrat that has been in the top two. But if we had a republican governor god forbid donald trump would have a western white house and what californians want right now as it relates to donald trump is not a friend they want a fighter

12:20Ben Meiselas:you know as i think about whether it's the california governor's race governor's races across the country heck the iowa governor's race i have people like that on here right you know i i I think about ICE and Border Patrol on the streets, though, and what it's like living in California, seeing people terrorized and tortured here, seeing those scenes across the country, seeing the cruelty of Elon Musk and Doge and taking people's private data and gutting these programs or cutting off aid to people with HIV. and just the true extent of the cruelty isn't even known yet. And I think when we read that, it'll be proportions that are so sick.

13:09Ben Meiselas:But I think, I just imagine, imagine if there was the governor of a state or the leader of the country who rather than seeing ice on the streets when we were driving down our blocks, we saw homes being built. And rather than a Musk who was cruel and taking away and mocking people on social media, and I'm not suggesting Elon would do it, but you actually saw Tesla homes being built that were $50 ,000 and they were going up and people were with their families playing out and parks were being built. And to me, I just think of that and I'm like, we know that's possible because again, if you do all the opposite with the money, it's possible just to do that and have help people.

13:55Ben Meiselas:So it seems like, you know, you you running for the governor's race. I mean, it seems to me when I speak to voters, what they're looking for is who can execute on that vision to see things getting built and and and connections being made and help being offered and people being uplifted and steady leadership. What do you think about that? Yeah, you can put your energy in one of two directions, right? You can put it in the direction of good and growth, growth in wages, growth and economic development, growth in the number of houses in California. or you can put it toward cruelty and evil as the president and so many others have done.

14:34What I have said I'll focus on on day one is to tell every agency in the state that they have 90 days to approve or deny every outstanding housing application so that we surge supply. I've always thought over 20 years in government from being a planning commissioner to a city councilman to a deputy district attorney to Congress that a goal without a deadline is a dream. dream. And Californians, when it comes to housing and affordability, are done dreaming. They want more doing. And so, yes, you have to be able to see the optimism in Californians and see our way out and through this president. And so being a fighter protector is table stakes for being able to run.

15:14But building on the optimism of a great state that always remakes and reimagines itself, that's the path forward. I could have named my campaign anything, Ben. I named it A New California because we have to write a new California story as it relates to post-Trump, but also what we can do on affordability, growth, and modernization for the next chapter.

15:37Ben Meiselas:Congressman, where can people learn more about the campaign, learn more about you? Thank you. At Eric Swalwell, one L in the middle, on social and ericsswalwell.com. And about 38 days to go until voters go to the polls. And we're proud that from Senator Schiff to SEIU, to California's firefighters and doctors. We have broad support in this race. And now it's on me. It's my job to make my case across the state and close this thing out and be the one Democrat that gets through so that we can really do the work between June and November, which is building the best team to lead, but also making sure we win the House seats in California that were so critical to what we did last November with PropFit.

16:22Ben Meiselas:Congressman Swalwell, thanks for joining us. Thanks, man. Everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers.