Trump's House Strategy Puts Mike Johnson in the Spotlight

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2:33Ben Meiselas:MAGA Mike Johnson is in terror as it is increasingly clear that Donald Trump wants to shut down the House of Representatives for the remainder of the year. I'll show you what MAGA Mike is doing in just a moment as he is panicking and flailing and posting everything other than what he should be doing in the House of Representatives, which is dealing with the War Powers Resolution as Donald Trump continues to escalate war against Iran. Now, when I say Donald Trump wants to permanently shut down the House of Representatives, if you look at the moves that he's making, he's doing things to create a constant state of gridlock, a constant state of infighting within the MAGA Republicans in the House and the Senate in order to ensure that no work is done so he can continue to rule as an authoritarian and to continue to engage in his unlawful war against Iran, which of course he just resumed last night.

3:27Ben Meiselas:Now, Donald Trump has just recently posted that he now wants$350 billion for the Defense Department as part of what he's calling Reconciliation 3.0. Now, previously, the Trump regime said all they needed was$67 billion, which is not really a little amount, but they said they needed$67 billion because the Defense Department could not pay its bills arising out of the catastrophic war in Iran, which we hoped potentially maybe could be resolved with the memorandum of understanding, although we knew the Trump regime was going to destroy that, which they've now done. The MOU is basically shredded to pieces, which it was before anyway.

4:08Ben Meiselas:And now the Trump regime notably is saying they need$350 billion or else the Defense Department is going to be in shambles. Now, I believe that Donald Trump knows that that number,$350 billion, when you combine it as well with what else he's asking for, which is his Voter Suppression Act called the Saves America Act, is something that the House of Representatives is not going to be able to pass. He doesn't have the votes for that in the United States Senate either. But I think Trump wants a constant state of gridlock, and he's going to keep on moving the goalposts so nothing actually gets done, so he can reign like the authoritarian that he wants to be.

4:50Ben Meiselas:So this could be like the Russian Duma, not in session. I mean, when was the last time the House of Representatives even worked? And so Donald Trump is going to keep on trying to pull these stunts in order to keep the house basically shut down for the end of the year while he and Netanyahu continue to escalate in the Middle East, which is what we're seeing happen right now with Donald Trump launching a massive military strike against Iran as war is back and Donald Trump destroys our economy. Donald Trump posted the following, and I'm going to show you what MAGA Mike's been posting. Donald Trump writes, the United States military has never been stronger, even more powerful.

5:28Ben Meiselas:No other nation can do what we do. It's not even close. This year, we set even more historic recruiting records, months ahead of schedule. They just lie about that. They lie about all their stats. Morale has never been higher. Lie about that. Our military's unmatched power was on full display during the celebration of 250 years of American independence. Lies about that. What are you talking about where you blew up all those fireworks at once, where you couldn't even see the fireworks, where you had an empty crowd? That was our military on full display. What the hell are you even talking about?

5:58Ben Meiselas:We've never been hotter at the War Department, he says. He says, when Congress returns, we must pass Reconciliation 3.0 with$350 billion for defense, plus the Save America Act. I'm calling on the House and Senate leadership to make this their number one priority and ensure that the$350 billion in Reconstruction 3.0 moves out of the budget committee as soon as Congress is back in session. Now, Donald Trump knows he will be pitting the MAGA Republicans in the House against the MAGA Republicans in the Senate, that this will never be able to pass, that there will be gridlock. It will result likely in a rule not being able to pass the House of Representatives.

6:40Ben Meiselas:And we will see the same cycle where MAGA Mike says, all right, everybody, let's go home. I want you to think about that. Before July 4th, MAGA Mike recessed everybody earlier that week until July 13th or July 14th. And then shortly thereafter, I think it's like two more weeks where it's supposed to stay open. Then they recess for August and basically recess before midterms. And meanwhile, Donald Trump and Netanyahu escalate in the Middle East. They continue their war crimes and genocide. And that's what I think Donald Trump's looking to do right now, is looking to do here. I mean, remember what Donald Trump did yesterday.

7:16Ben Meiselas:He said on his own, he said, you know what? I am hereby declaring that the sanctions against Turkey for purchasing Russian defense systems, I am removing those sanctions. You imposed those sanctions, Donald, based on, you imposed them in 2019, 2020, based on a law. Remember those things? Passed by Congress in 2017 that said that if you buy Russian defense equipment the way Turkey did, you can't get F-35s. And there's other sanctions that Turkey bought the Russian air defense system, and therefore, they received the sanctions. But Donald Trump wants to just be, I hereby decree this. I hereby decree that.

7:59Ben Meiselas:And I'll show you how you can see that he's pitting the House against the Senate, MAGA's in the House versus MAGA's in the Senate to basically shut down all work. This is what James Comer, who chairs the House Oversight Committee, MAGA Republican, here's what he says. He goes to these Republicans in the Senate, you're too weak. You can't pass this. You can't pass the Save America Act. You can't pass the$350 billion. You can't pass this. Why are you so weak? You need to get out of the way. Watch what he says. Again, this is just performative stuff. He's carrying out Donald Trump's plan. You can see right here.

8:32Unless John Thune's talking exclusively with Mike Johnson, all that I'm hearing from the the Senate leadership is that they don't have the votes. Not only do they not have 60 votes, they don't have 50 votes, which I don't believe that. You know, some of these Republicans say, we can't vote for that because we could lose our election. I mean, are you that weak? That's my question to any Republican senator that's up for that. Are you that weak to where if you vote for a valid ID to be shown to vote, you're going to get beat in your home state? I mean, if you're that week, you don't need to be a United States Senator.

9:08Ben Meiselas:More from James Comer right here saying, and all the Democrats want to do if they take over the House of Representatives, they're going to be investigating Donald Trump. We don't want them investigations. Okay. You're literally the investigation committee. You are the House Oversight Committee. That's what you do when you hear that Donald Trump made$2 billion on crypto and that his meme coin wallet holders lost three and a half to four billion, yeah, that's something that you're supposed to investigate. When he's flying around in a Qatari jet and calling it Air Force One, that's something you should investigate.

9:43Ben Meiselas:When you have all these Middle East countries do these quid pro quos and funnel them all this billions of dollars, that's something that you should investigate. When the Trump kids are getting hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars, that's something that you should investigate. You certainly wanted to investigate when Hunter Biden was making$100 ,000 off like one painting. That was part of your impeachment inquiry into former President Biden. You certainly wanted to investigate Hunter Biden receiving$50 ,000 a month when he was on a board when Biden wasn't the president and when Biden wasn't the VP.

10:17Ben Meiselas:You made that part of your impeachment inquiry of former President Biden. But now this is what you're saying here. Play this clip of James Comer. This is just a perfect example of the Democrats. And I think that all they're going to do if they flip the house and become the majority of the house is investigate and harass Donald Trump. And now let me interrupt for a moment with some major news that's not getting enough attention. The Trump administration just announced that spending another$765 million in taxpayer money to cancel four offshore wind projects. Under this deal, Chicago-based energy developer Invenergy will surrender its offshore wind leases in the New York Bight off California's Central Coast, and in the Gulf of Maine.

10:59And in return, the federal government will reimburse the company$765 million, with Invenergy saying that it plans to redirect much of that money into building new natural gas power plants in states like Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri, along with some geothermal projects. This is now the third major lease buyout by the Trump administration, bringing the total taxpayer cost to roughly$2.5 billion, dollars, billion with a B, to get companies to abandon offshore wind development, all because of Trump's bizarre crusade against wind energy. This announcement comes just after the administration dropped its appeal in a lawsuit brought by 17 states after a federal court ruled its attempt to broadly halt wind development offshore was unlawful.

11:47And rather than continuing that legal fight, the administration is now pursuing this different strategy, paying more companies to walk away from clean energy projects instead. So now taxpayers are being forced to bankroll the cancellation of renewable energy projects that were expected to provide electricity to millions and millions of people as other countries like China continue to expand their investments in clean energy like wind. What do you think about the Trump administration's use of taxpayer money to cancel clean energy projects? How important is climate policy to you? And what are your thoughts on our climate coverage here at Midas Touch?

12:21Now is the time that I need to hear from you So leave a comment below and let me know what you think. Okay, Ben, back to you.

12:30Ben Meiselas:Now going back to MAGA Mike Johnson now, as I said I would, here's what MAGA Mike is posting. Cartoons like this. Make no mistake, we are in a fight to save the republic and every American must take this seriously. We will not let Mini Mamdani take over the greatest nation in the history of the world. Mini Mamdani? What are you even talking? You're a little dude. Like your little Maga Mike, like you're calling a mini mom Donnie? Just name calling? I mean, it's just such weird behavior. Oh, and then Maga Mike reposts this. We just celebrated one year of Donald Trump's working family tax cuts. And what have we seen?

13:10Ben Meiselas:We've seen nothing. We've seen devastation. We've seen economic recession where most Americans feel like they're in a great depression right now where Americans can't afford health care, where Americans can't afford groceries, or they can't afford gas. They've had their healthcare ripped away. They can't afford homes. They can't afford rent. And then you just lie. Manufacturing jobs are up. No, they're not. We're in a jobs recession. Construction jobs are up. No, they're not. No tax on tips, no tax on overtime. You know what? If people had jobs and they were being paid more money, that could be good.

13:45Ben Meiselas:But when they're being paid less and hospitality's down significantly, there's been massive job losses in the hospitality sector, which is a big sector of tips. So I think they'd prefer their jobs in order to get those tips. And then he goes, almost 1 million new jobs created. You're losing. We do the jobs report every month and you're like losing jobs and barely making any jobs. Record-breaking stock market. That's what you want to tout. The stock market is a record breaking. It would be much higher right now if there were interest rates cuts and not interest rate increases, which is going to be taking place.

14:23Ben Meiselas:And under former President Biden, it was going up. And all you had to do was ride that, but you screwed that up. Registered apprenticeships up, which is making stuff up right over there. And then you have people like the former Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy. So he shows up because he sees MAGA Mike is acting all week. And this is what all the MAGAs want to talk about on Fox. They all want to talk about Graham Plattner and act like they haven't supported in Donald Trump. Someone literally found liable in a federal court. Donald Trump found civilly liable for sexual assault by a federal jury in a civil case.

15:03Ben Meiselas:Trump is on audio bragging about sexually assaulting women. But this is what, they have no shame, these MAGAs. They'll say anything. Watch what Kevin McCarthy has to say. Play this clip. The one thing I know about Republicans, when we had a very bad candidate and found out we didn't vote for that person. We walked away. For better or for worse. When Matt Gaetz came forward, we got rid of him. Yeah. Kevin McCarthy, as always. Great to see you. Thank you. Great to see you. And then you have MAGA Republican Senator Kennedy say the same thing, basically. Well, you know, this guy's a predator. You don't want him anywhere near power.

15:36Ben Meiselas:What about Donald Trump? What about literally your Fuhrer? What about your Fuhrer who bragged about the beauty pageants of girls? He ran a beauty pageant with girls. and then he would brag about going into the locker room to look at the girls naked because he says you get to inspect them when you own the pageants he says you can grab women by their genitals when you're rich because you get away with it he's he brags that saying that's locker room talk anyway here's what senator kennedy has to say knows that this this guy is just he's a predator he is a predator and you don't want him anywhere near power these allegations of abuse and assault and disparaging our military calling them fat you deserve to die said to one of our troops and the nazi tattoo it just goes on and on and it never seemed enough for your colleagues across the aisle in the democratic party to chuck this guy into the latest rounds of allegations um thereby showing Senator Kennedy that for the Democrats, they don't believe all women.

16:42They chuck that to the side when you're talking about a swing state. You're not talking about morality here. You're talking about electability. They're not counting up the victims of Graham Plattner's abuse. They're counting votes. Senator Kennedy, the one and only. Thank you so much for joining us, sir.

16:56Ben Meiselas:And here's what the future House Oversight Chair, Congressmember Robert Garcia, had to say. Let's play this clip. Now, President Trump is on Air Force One right now, headed to Turkey for the NATO conference. What goes through your mind when you see President Trump representing the United States of America at a conference like this? Well, the first thing I think is I wish he wasn't on an airplane that was gifted to us by Qatar and a foreign government. I mean, the idea of an American president representing the United States going to NATO on a jet given to us by a foreign country, I think, honestly, it's quite shameful.

17:33Beyond that, I do think that it's important for us to be at NATO. I think that I'm hopeful that the president understands that what's happening right now with Ukraine and the progress that they are making, while limited, is important. So I hope that conversation continues. And I also think that the world, NATO, the UN, these are important institutions that the U.S. should be a part of. And I think the fact that there's so many NATO countries that the president has continues to insult, whether it's Canada, whether it's our other neighbors across the world. I hope he doesn't do that this trip. What does an end to the Ukraine-Russia war look like for you?

18:10And what do you think the United States' role in that should be? I mean, look, for me, it certainly includes the invasion of Russia to end. And I think it's got to be obviously a position that Ukraine feels strongly about. Obviously, the fighting has got to be over. But I think as far as what peace looks like, that's really up to the Ukrainian people and our partners and allies around the world.

18:32Ben Meiselas:And then MAGA Mike has the audacity to say, you know what, everybody? This election year is about normal. Like, we're the normal guys in the Republican Party. I'm MAGA Mike. I've got a Fuhrer Donald Trump. And then we've got the weirdos, the crazies, the Democrats. That's what MAGA Mike is saying. Okay, MAGA Mike, got it. I see with all of you the oddest cult imaginable where you've given away all of the checks and balances in our Constitution to like a demented individual in Donald Trump who is getting us back into a war in Iran as the American people suffer. But anyway, here's what Magamike has to say.

19:14Ben Meiselas:Let's play it. And since Mamdani got elected in New York, I've been out on the campaign trail countrywide across coast to coast, every swing district, the blue states, red states saying the same thing. There are many Mamdani's popping up running for Congress around the country. And you better be very serious about this. This is a serious threat to our whole system of government. These are Marxist. It's communism, socialism. Those are deviations of Marxism begins with the opposite premise of America. And it is a serious threat to us. These people want to say they're saying it out loud. They want to abolish all borders.

19:46They want to abolish all prisons. They want to defund the police. They want to abolish the U.S. Senate. They want to pack the Supreme Court. They want the government to take over control of all production. This is communism, and it has led to the murder of innocent people, tens of millions of them in the 20th century alone. We have to fight this. We're no longer just in an election cycle. We were saying it was common sense versus crazy. Now it's common sense versus communism, and everybody needs to wake up.

20:11Ben Meiselas:Well, there you have it, folks. Let me know what you think. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. And thanks for watching everybody.