Top GOP Leader Suddenly Quits as Party Implodes

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3:15Ben Meiselas:MAGA Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who was running for governor of New York, has suddenly not just quit the governor's race, she has quit politics entirely. She's also resigning as a member of Congress, and she will no longer be involved in politics at all. Everything Donald Trump touches dies. She was once viewed as a rising star within the Republican Party. She worked for George W. Bush in the 2000s. She went to Harvard. She was then a protege of Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney. When Donald Trump came into office during the first regime, she started more closely being an ally of him. She went all in on Donald Trump and MAGA.

4:04Ben Meiselas:She was an election denier when Donald Trump lost in 2020. She started calling the January 6th insurrectionist hostages, And she went from being a moderate who was elected in New York's upstate area to now being a MAGA radical who turned her entire New York constituency against her. She became a loathed political figure. And she was even, for all of her loyalty, utterly disrespected by Donald Trump and MAGA Mike because that is what they do in the MAGA movement. They chew you up and they spit you out. You'll recall that she was appointed by Donald Trump to be the United States ambassador to the United Nations.

4:50Ben Meiselas:And then she was pulled from that role. And then you had the guy who was involved in Signalgate replace her and get rewarded for leaking classified information on Signal. Elisa Stefanik then pivoted back to Congress, where she then said that she would be running for governor of New York against Kathy Hochul. All the polls had Elisa Stefanik getting absolutely destroyed. I mean, New Yorkers hate Elisa Stefanik right now. One of the things that Stefanik was trying to, you know, run on is Kathy Hochul endorsed Mom Donnie. And she would say Mom Donnie is this radical and extremist and anti-Semitic and all of like, you know, just this defamation against Mom Donnie.

5:38Ben Meiselas:And then Donald Trump was asked in the Oval Office when he was standing next to Mom Donnie, you know, do you think this guy is bad for New York or do you think? And he's at least Stefanik has said all of these things about him. What do you make of that? And Trump's like, yeah, I don't think Elise Stefanik's right about this guy. And so at every step of the way, for all of her loyalty and for all of her just totally throwing out any of like what she claimed her principles to be in college and during the early days when she was a young leader in the conservative movement, when that used to exist, her career is trash.

6:14Ben Meiselas:Her career is destroyed. She is done with politics. She is out. And I'll read for you her statement right now. And then I'll read Governor Hochul's statement because Stefanik was going to be running against Hochul for the governorship of New York. Here's what Stefanik said. While spending precious time with my family this Christmas season, I've made the decision to suspend my campaign for governor and will not seek reelection to Congress. I did not come to this decision lightly for our family. I'm truly humbled and grateful for the historic, overwhelming support from Republicans, conservatives, independents, and Democrats all across the state for our campaign to save New York.

6:57Ben Meiselas:That's not really what the polls were showing. The latest Siena Research poll had you down by 20 points to Governor Hochul, but go on, go on. She goes on to say, thank you to my dedicated staff. It's been an incredible professional honor. She goes, as we've seen in past elections, while we would have overwhelmingly won this primary, it's not an effective use of our time or your generous resources to spend the first half of next year in an unnecessary and protracted Republican primary. She goes on to say, I'm proud of the significant results we've delivered. Thank you for your support and encouragement as my family and I look forward to the next meaningful personal and professional chapter.

7:45Ben Meiselas:Now, going back probably into her family's business and see you later. Bye-bye. You played yourself. You destroyed your career by giving up any of your principles to just do whatever Donald Trump wanted. And Trump and MAGA chewed you up and spit you out and treated you like crap after all the loyalty you showed them. Your legacy is that of a disgrace. Your legacy is of a pathetic loser. That's what your life is now. That's what your legacy is. You did that. Hold yourself accountable. You screwed up big time on what actually could have been a promising career. Horrible. Every day, look in the mirror and know how terrible of a life you've lived, Elise Stefanik.

8:31Ben Meiselas:And I'm not trying to be harsh. She's just an awful human being, and I'll come with some receipts shortly. Governor Hochul's campaign spokesperson put out the following statement. Elise Stefanik has finally acknowledged the reality. If you run against Governor Hochul, you're going to lose as Donald Trump raises costs on New Yorkers and targets this state relentlessly. Governor Hochul has cut middle class taxes, put money back in New Yorkers pockets and fought this administration and won when New York has come under attack. The fact is 100 percent MAGA Bruce Blakeman traveled all the way to D.C.

9:04Ben Meiselas:to celebrate Trump's expensive tariffs. He ran Long Island safety net hospital into the ground by appointing corrupt cronies to run it and let violent crime in Nassau County spike to its highest level in decades. Governor Hochul's message to him or whichever lackey Trump picks to run against her is simple. Bring it on. And Elise Stefanik, utterly disgraced right now. Getting older hits harder than you expect, right? One day you wake up with stiff joints, recovery from the gym takes longer, your hair is thinning, nails are breaking, and your skin just doesn't have that same smooth glow anymore.

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11:27Ben Meiselas:No, let me just bring you some receipts right here of Elise Stefanik. So you had Elise Stefanik in the past two weeks saying that Maga Mike Johnson needs to go, saying that Maga Mike Johnson would be voted out if there were to be a vote to remove him as the speaker. That's one of the things she came out with recently. Maga Mike was like, maybe she should just give me a call in a little bit. Let me show you that in a moment. But first, let me show you over here. This is back on January 7th, 2024. Elise Stefanik referred to the January 6th insurrectionists as the hostages. She called them the hostages.

12:08Ben Meiselas:Here, play this clip. On the issue of election integrity, though, as you know, Trump took his case to court more than 60 times that there was fraud. he didn't win. But I want to get back to this key question. Do you still think it was a tragic day? Do you think that the people who stormed the Capitol should be held responsible to the full extent of the law? I have concerns about the treatment of January 6th hostages. I have concerns. We have a role in Congress of oversight over our treatments of prisoners. And I believe that we're seeing the weaponization of the federal government against not just President Trump, But we're seeing it against conservatives.

12:45We're seeing it against Catholics. And that's one of the reasons why I'm so proud to serve on the Select Committee on the Weaponization of the Government, because the American people want answers. They want transparency. And they understand that as you look across this country, there seems to be two sets of rules. If your last name is Clinton or it's Biden, you get to live by a different set of rules than if you're an everyday patriotic American.

13:06Ben Meiselas:Now, when Elise Stefanik was potentially going through that confirmation process to be the United States ambassador to the United States, the United Nations, which her nomination was withdrawn by Donald Trump, Senator Van Hollen asked her a question. Should Israel have a biblical right to take over all of the West Bank to just seize it? Here's what she said. Play this clip. I'm rarely surprised by answers in my office, but I did ask you whether you subscribe to the views of Finance Minister Smotrich. Of who? I'm sorry. Smotrich. This is the Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich and the former National Security Minister Ben-Gavir, who believe that Israel has a biblical right to the entire West Bank.

13:55And in that conversation, you told me that, yes, you shared that view. Is that your view today? Yes. Okay, I think when it comes to this very difficult issue, if the president is going to succeed at bringing peace and stability to the Middle East, we're going to have to look at the U.N. Security Council resolutions, not just the ones on Lebanon, which we should enforce, but other U.N. Security Council resolutions. And it's going to be very difficult to achieve that if you continue to hold the view that you just expressed.

14:27Ben Meiselas:when she was auditioning to be Donald Trump's VP and he ultimately passed her over to pick J.D. Vance. She was asked, had you been vice president on January 6th, what would you have done? Here, play this clip. And let's talk about the vice presidency because you just said that you would be willing to serve in a Trump administration. Had you been vice president on January 6th, 2021, what would you have done? I stood up for the constitution. I believe it was - What would you have done if you were vice president? I would not have done what Mike Pence did. I don't think that was the right approach.

14:59I specifically stand by what I said on the House floor. And I stand by my statement, which was there was unconstitutional overreach. There was unconstitutional overreach in states like Pennsylvania. And I think it's very important that we continue to stand up for the Constitution and have legal and secure elections, which we did not have in 2020. And the tens of millions of Americans agree with me, Caitlin. I would say the Supreme Court in the state of Pennsylvania said that that Republican past changes to their law was constitutional.

15:29Ben Meiselas:And Donald Trump didn't even know how to pronounce her name. Here, play this clip right here. How good did Elise step in at you? And here is what Mike Johnson had to say about her when she was saying that he needs to go, but she was the one who ended up going. Play this clip. I don't exactly know why Elise won't just call me. I texted her yesterday. She's upset that one of her provisions is not being made, I think, into the NDAA. I explained to her on a text message as soon as I heard this yesterday. I was campaigning in Tennessee, and I wrote her, and I said, what are you talking about? This hasn't even made it to my level.

16:05The way regular order works is, and I think she should know this. We'll be talking about it, I'm sure, today. The way this works is that it has to go through committees of jurisdiction if it will be attached to the NDAA. and this provision that she's working on, I think is under the jurisdiction of judiciary. And so there's a four corners engagement and agreement that's required. You all know how this works. The two chairs and the two ranking members of the committees of jurisdiction, which would be judiciary in the house and Senate all have to agree, or at least three out of four have to agree.

16:35It's typically unanimous to make sure that it makes it onto the bill. Well, in this case, I found out last night, this wasn't even on my radar, that that apparently didn't happen. I haven't even talked to those chairmen. I haven't had time because I got in late last night. But apparently those four, the two chairs and the two rankers in both chambers did not agree. And so that provision was dropped out of the NDAA. It doesn't mean it can't become law or even that that is a final decision.

16:59Ben Meiselas:Now, finally, I'll show you this clip where Donald Trump was with Mamdani and he was asked about Elise Stefanik saying that Mamdani is like a jihadist or whatever the hell she would say. The New York Post would run her headlines, right like new york post would be like you know uh she says that he's an anti-semi terrorist and so trump was asked that and then trump threw her under a bust again trump like gloated in throwing her under the bus here let's play this clip right here republican elise stefanik has campaigned multiple times by calling zara mamdani a jihadist do you think you're standing next to a jihadist right now in the oval office no i don't but uh she's out there campaigning and uh you know You say things sometimes in a campaign.

17:42She's a very capable person. But you really have to ask her about that. But I don't particularly. I think I met with a man who's a very rational person. I met with a man who really wants to see New York be great again. And I can say again, because New York was great.

18:01Ben Meiselas:Also, by the way, folks, you had another major Republican figure resign. Republican Senator Cynthia Loomis of Wyoming will not run for reelection in 2016, right? It's like the rats are leaving the ship, right? The rats are fleeing the ship. Here's what Loomis had to say. It's been an incredible honor to represent Wyoming in the U.S. Senate and throughout my time here. Wyoming has been my one and only priority. Really? Because you seem to have screwed the farmers pretty badly. Donald Trump's tariffs against the world have been an absolute disaster. You ripped away people's health care. What do you like about the people of Wyoming?

18:42Ben Meiselas:Torturing them? Okay. What a blessing to serve. What a blessing. I decided not to run. That doesn't represent a change of heart for me, but it's exhausting. I've come to accept that I do not have six more years in me. I am a devout legislature, but I feel like a sprinter in a marathon. The energy required doesn't match up. The energy required doesn't match up. That's one way of saying that the rat is fleeing the ship. There you have it, folks. Bye-bye, Loomis. Bye-bye, Stefanik. I'm sure I'll be reporting on more of these losers leaving soon, and they deserve it. They've caused such harm to the American people, and their life legacy will be that of shame.

19:30Ben Meiselas:Shame on you. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million and thanks for watching.

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