Tim Greimel on MI House Race and GOP Attacks on State

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2:04Ben Meiselas:MAGA Mike Johnson, the Republican Speaker of the House and all MAGA Republicans, are panicking after a shock poll, which may be the most disastrous poll yet, leading into the midterms for MAGA Republicans. What this latest CNN poll has found is basically that everybody hates both parties. It's pretty much that a quarter of Americans say they hate both parties. But amongst that cohort of what's called the double haters and people who hate politics in general, they prefer Democrats by 31 points. So people who don't like politics, people who, you know, otherwise are just like, just get me away from all of this.

2:45Ben Meiselas:I just am done with this crap. They want to vote for Democrats, though, by 31 in order to do essentially regime change here in the United States. G. Elliott Morris writes, this might be the largest party lead I've ever seen among the so-called double haters cohort. A new CNN poll finds about one quarter of the public holds a negative view of both parties, so-called double haters. Voters in that group, however, prefer the Democrats in the upcoming midterms by 31 points. You know, so what MAGA Republicans are trying to do heading into the midterms is their usual scare tactics. You know, they've got people like MAGA Republican Scott Perry, who just went on TV and he's like, you know, the immigrants, they're going to slit your throats.

3:33Ben Meiselas:They slit your throats and they they kill you. And the Democrats support the the throat slitting, killing people. And it's like, just stop it. We know we stop with the fear mongering. OK, you know, Donald Trump's latest one point five trillion dollar military budget proposes one hundred and fifty two million dollars to rebuild Alcatraz. Donald Trump's on video and audio saying that we don't have enough money to help people in America for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and for other critical functions that we must spend all of our money on war and a one point five trillion dollar war budget right now.

4:10Ben Meiselas:Anyway, here's what Scott Perry has to say. Play this clip. stand with uh you know people that have been arrested multiple times and stay in the country they they slit the throats of young women on trains they stab uh elder or mid you know midterm not midterm but middle-aged women in in in virginia at a train station uh they shoot people a young lady in college in the back of the head that's who democrats are willing to stand with that's going to be the choice that Americans have to make when they go to the then MAGA Republican Congress member Barry Moore took his turn this morning on a state regime media which calls itself Newsmax.

4:51Ben Meiselas:And Barry Moore was like, you know what? Guess what, everybody? Here's what we're going to run on now that Pam Bondi is no longer attorney general. We in the House Oversight Committee, MAGA Republicans, we're going to try to avoid Bondi being subpoenaed so that she doesn't still have to talk about the Epstein files. And we could just cover that up the way Todd Blanch has said, you know what? We're done talking about the Epstein files from here on out here. Play this clip. Congressman, now next question for many people is, will Pam Bondi be forced to sit for a subpoena with House Oversight Committee over the Epstein files on April 14th, I believe?

5:28What are you hearing from some of your colleagues on that? Do you think that will stand and they will still drag her before that deposition? You know, probably not. I mean, Jamie Comer is going to make that call, obviously, as chairman of the committee. But I don't know that that's beneficial now that she's not the attorney general. And again, that's Jamie's call. And we'll see what they decide to go with. And there may be some information that we need as we're investigating Epstein. And like I said, I think the weaponization of the DOJ, the FBI, the CIA, those agencies, what they've done to the Justice Department, and I mentioned this to Merrick Garland here, and they have undermined the trust of the American people and the FBI, the CIA, all those agencies.

6:03So we'll see if Jamie wants to bring it out about Epstein or the DOJ. Maybe we can get some information. But I think that'll be up to the chairman and see what he wants to do.

6:11Ben Meiselas:Yeah. Then you had MAGA Republican Congress member Chip Roy. He went on state regime media, which calls itself Fox this morning. And Chip Roy says, you know what I'm looking for in a new attorney general, somebody who goes after the people who harassed the January 6th. We need somebody pro-insurrectionist, pro-overthrowing governments when the election doesn't go your way. That's what I'm looking for in a new attorney general. I mean, he just goes and outright says it. Here, play this clip right here. We've got to deal with things like Antifa. The president rightly declared them a terrorist organization.

6:50We want to see people who are affiliated with these Marxist networks funding antifa creating all sorts of danger for the american people we want them held accountable we want the people who are harassing jay sixers held accountable we want to know the truth on arctic frost my records were targeted under arctic frost on jack smith we want to see heads roll we want to see john brennan who the the judiciary committee referred to the department of justice held accountable and jim comey like these are all things that we think need to happen the next Attorney General needs to be very aggressive. And I hope the president will pick somebody who will do that.

7:26And I've been working with Todd Blanche and I look forward to working with him in the interim.

7:29Ben Meiselas:You know, it's just interesting to seeing the right wing so-called podcast bros, you know, all the people who wrap their arms around Donald Trump as they now look at the disastrous wars in the Middle East, as they look at Donald Trump wreaking havoc here on the United States and destroying lives and ICE and Border Patrol, Gestapo terrorizing and torturing people here. Just take a look at two of the bigger podcast bros. By the way, the Midas Touch Network gets significantly more downloads and views now than both Joe Rogan and Theo Vaughn. But here's Rogan and Theo Vaughn talking about how I'm so confused, man, about everything that's going on, man.

8:09Ben Meiselas:I'm so confused, man. It's so, so confusing. Here, play this clip. What do you think is going to happen? You think we're going to be OK? I hope so. Of course. I don't know. Do you think about it? I'm confused. I can't believe we went to this war. When we started bombing Iran, I was like, this can't be true. And what about Lebanon now? I know. Israel's invaded Lebanon. Yeah. Yeah. And it's like, just fucking stop it. What do you need? Well, they're trying to supposedly they're trying to stop the terrorists. that's crazy though if you're the fucking terrorist you know what i'm saying like if you want to stop them fucking stand in front of the fucking mirror and start there you know i want to bring on somebody by the name of tim grimel he's running for congress right now in the uh in michigan um a critical seat as well let's bring him in as well to kind of talk about all of this.

9:06Ben Meiselas:Let's bring in my interview with Tim Grimel. Now I want to bring in Tim Grimel, former mayor of Pontiac, Michigan, former Democratic state house leader in Michigan, now running for the 10th congressional district. There's an open seat there, MAGA Republican, John James running for governor. The area for the 10th congressional district is Oakland, nearby areas, parts of Oakland and other nearby areas, which we'll talk about. When I led into this segment, I showed a bunch of video clips of these MAGA Republican Congress members who are doing their usual tricks, Tim. I mean, they are doing the fear mongering, the immigrants are going to kill you.

9:50Ben Meiselas:And that's why we need MAGA Republicans to protect you. This is a very big race. It's a race that very well and could and should flip blue right here. And lots of people are focusing it almost as like a bellwether for what's going to happen in the rest of the country. You're running for the seat. Talk to us about how important this is. Then we'll get into your background as well. But talk about how important is this race? Yeah, this really is ground zero for our efforts to get back to a Democratic majority in the U.S. House. And obviously, I don't need to tell you, Ben, or your viewers how important it is for us to get back to a Democratic majority in the U.S.

10:32House. That is the most immediate, most important way that we can restore checks and balances on this presidency. And the 10th district here in Michigan is probably the best opportunity in Michigan to flip a Republican seat and certainly one of the top five or 10 opportunities in the entire country. So it's a real must-win district if we're going to get back to a majority in the U.S. House and restore checks and balances on the insanity that we're seeing from the Trump administration.

11:01Ben Meiselas:You know, what's so fascinating about the 10th, and you can tell us a little bit about the counties and the cities. I've been to the area before, you know, and I know the area to be very reasonable, moderate, like let's make deals and figure out what's in the best interest and actually not in any way any type of like MAGA extreme is like that's just not the makeup of the of the area. And so I just find it fascinating as I do interviews, you know, with you running for the 10th, but I've done interviews with other people, you know, running in nearby congressional districts as well, others that occupy areas of Oakland and other things.

11:41Ben Meiselas:It's that like, you know, you have these kind of Trump sycophants who have done things that are really harmful to the district that are really extreme in these areas and it just, it never felt like a fit. And I understand that when somebody gets into Congress, you know, they, they often are able to kind of have this incumbency advantage. It's an open seat right now. I should mention based on John James running for a, for governor, but it's always a weird thing to have like an ultra MAGA in a district. It's so surprising to me. Well, it is, you know, the, the, the average person in the 10th district is, is a normal person.

12:17They're people who are concerned about their family, about their communities. They're not an extremist. They're not really a MAGA true believer. And so my friends, my neighbors here in the 10th district, they really just want what every American wants, a better life for them and their families. They want to see their communities function and thrive. And so the fact that they've been represented by somebody who's been just gone along with literally everything that President Trump has done, no matter how detrimental it's been to the local communities here in the 10th district, is really disappointing to a lot of people here in the 10th because they just want some common sense representation, people who are fighting for them, for normal, hardworking Americans.

13:04And they haven't unfortunately gotten that over the course of the past four years.

13:08Ben Meiselas:So, Tim, you've held lots of different positions, you know, whether you were a mayor doing kind of the day to day, you know, you know, governance hands on of a city like Pontiac. Similarly, you've led, you know, the Michigan state Dems in the House and you've, you know, rose up the ranks there. You've seen it all. To talk to us a little bit about your background, though, particularly, and the issues that you would be fighting for if you were elected. Yeah, you know, I was born here in the 10th district, grew up here, graduated from high school here. And when I graduated from University of Michigan Law School, came back home to the 10th district and ultimately ran for and was elected to the local school board here, became a union side labor lawyer, and then ultimately became the statehouse democratic leader in the Michigan legislature, where I successfully fought to expand health care here in the state by expanding Medicaid coverage to provide health insurance to 700 ,000 uninsured Michiganders.

14:16I successfully fought to increase Michigan's minimum wage and for the first time in state history index it to inflation and really have dedicated my whole adult life to standing up for hardworking Americans fighting for a stronger middle class. And, you know, we've seen increasingly in recent decades that the rich in this country have gotten richer and richer while everybody else has been falling further and further behind. And I've dedicated my adult life to trying to be part of the solution and try to actually make sure that we're bringing the American dream within reach of everyday people again.

14:52Ben Meiselas:You know, Donald Trump said in the past 24 hours or so, we don't have enough money to deal with Medicaid, Medicare, or really any social programs or Social Security. That's not what we should be doing as a federal government. I mean, I wish I was being hyperbolic here, Tim. But he word for word said that. And then he went on to say what we really only have money for. kid, everybody not, they all saw these clips, is war. And Donald Trump is putting forward now a budget,$1.5 trillion, mostly focused on military spending, more endless wars. And the American people are like, you've ripped away our healthcare.

15:41Ben Meiselas:You are now causing inflation to surge again. We're struggling to get jobs. Your trade war against the world has crushed us. And you've seen that firsthand in Michigan, especially with some of the things Trump's done in attacking Canada and especially them and our other allies. And people are like, what? What did you just say? And sometimes I just think, I'm like, what the hell did he just even say? And how is this even talked about, talked about through any like normal political prism? Like I remember growing up and I'm sure you do, too, where Dan Quayle spelled potato wrong. And it was like, dude, you're done.

16:16Ben Meiselas:There's no more political career for you. I mean, he's up there saying, we don't care about you. We're just going to war. And that's where the money's going. And look, he's deeply unpopular, like 33 percent approval. But like still, it's like, all right, what the hell is even going on, Tim? yeah i mean unfortunately and it's sad ben but you're not being hyperbolic i mean i i saw the same clip you saw that that so many americans have seen and we have a president of the white house who is profoundly out of touch with the needs and concerns of regular americans and you hit on a couple of things you mentioned the tariffs of course and those have been incredibly punishing to regular people, to hardworking Americans.

17:03You know, the cost of living was already high when Trump entered office, and his tariffs have just made that situation all the more worse. We see incredibly high energy costs. We see skyrocketing health insurance premiums because of Trump's health care policies. We see housing costs continue to go up and up and up, And grocery store prices are still incredibly high. I mean, we often make chili in my household. And I was out watching the gas prices, of course, hit$4 a gallon here locally while I was driving to the grocery store. And then at the grocery store, I was buying meat for our chili and hamburger costs$7 a pound now.

17:49And so if you're an everyday person who, meanwhile, is seeing their wages stagnate and the cost of everything is going up and up and up, the tariffs are hitting folks incredibly hard. It's a tax on consumers and it's driving inflation even higher. And then meanwhile, it's disrupting supply chains, especially here in this district where we have a lot of auto plants that rely on parts coming across the border from Canada. And the tariffs on Canada, of all places, are disrupting those supply chains, idling plants, resulting in layoffs, resulting in people losing income, while they're also simultaneously driving the cost of goods that people rely on day in and day out ever higher.

18:35and we need to get back to a rational tariff policy. You know, it's one thing to impose tariffs on bad actors in the world, but imposing them on places like Canada and Western Europe, places with good labor standards, good environmental standards makes no sense at all. And it's just punishing regular Americans. The other thing you hit on, of course, and that Trump was speaking about recently is the fact that because of military expenditures, he doesn't think the federal government can afford to do anything to help regular people with health care, with child care. And it's outrageous. I mean, obviously, Iran and Iran's government in particular has been a horribly malevolent force to its own people, to people in the entire Middle East region, and they can never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon.

19:27But people in the 10th District and all across this country have no interest in yet another endless war. And Trump has no strategy, obviously. He has said in his own words that because of the focus on military expenditures, the federal government can't afford to help everyday people with their basic needs. I was talking with a woman the other day who's not sure she can continue working because she can't afford child care. Meanwhile, we have Are people losing their health insurance because of Trump's health care policies? This is completely unacceptable. The people in the 10th district and Americans in general want a federal government that prioritizes their families, their day-to-day needs, making sure that we can actually bring the American dream back within reach of regular folks.

20:19And unfortunately, this administration is so out of touch that they are prioritizing other things over the needs of American people and everyday folks. And that's unacceptable. And the whole reason I got into politics is to fight for middle class families, fight for working families. I have delivered results in the past in my state legislative role. I've delivered results as a union side labor lawyer who has gone toe to toe against billionaires and successfully fought and won for working people. And we have a president who's out of control and we need to get back to a majority in the U.S. House.

20:57But we need to elect fighters who not only have a proven track record of fighting for everyday people, but of winning those battles and delivering results so that we can get back to building a strong middle class in this country.

21:08Ben Meiselas:Tim, where could people learn more about you and your campaign? Well, the easiest place is Tim Grimel.com. You can see how my name's spelled on the signs behind me, but it's T-I-M Grimel, G-R-E-I-M-E-L.com. We're also, of course, on Facebook, on X, on Instagram. And so we encourage people to check out, follow us, learn more about the campaign. But this campaign is really about a movement to restore the American dream for everyday people and get back to building a strong middle class in this country. Tim Grimel running for Michigan's 10th congressional district. Open seat, MAGA Republican John James departing that to run for governor.

21:52Ben Meiselas:Great to see you, Tim. Thanks for having me, Ben. Appreciate it. Everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our sub stack at MidasPlus.com. 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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