Jim Himes
Appearances
Pivot
Signalgate, Auto Tariffs, and Trump's Crypto Empire
Everyone here knows that the Russians or the Chinese could have gotten all of that information and they could have passed it on to the Houthis who easily could have repositioned weapons and altered their plans to knock down planes or sink ships. I think that it's by the awesome grace of God that we are not mourning dead pilots right now.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
GOP Leaders Crack on Live TV as Pressure Grows
I grabbed this headline, national parks in chaos after the Washington Post story. Here's the first paragraph, California National Park, the Trump administration fired the only locksmith on staff. Next sentence, he was fired, he was the sole employee with keys and institutional knowledge needed to rescue visitors from locked restrooms. Now, if that is, I mean, that's the best you can do.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
GOP Leaders Crack on Live TV as Pressure Grows
The real question is, how do visitors get locked in restrooms? I mean, this is how ridiculous some of this thing is. So maybe there have been some mistakes made, but I think the intensity and the focus on getting rid of the wasteful spending, the one guy who can unlock people who somehow get locked in a restroom at a national park, this is ridiculous.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
GOP Leaders Crack on Live TV as Pressure Grows
So the arguments I think you're seeing from the left are pretty darn ridiculous. Pretty darn crazy when you think about, oh, we're spending money for the crazy things of trans comic opera and wherever. I mean, come on.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Rep. Himes on Democrats Going on Offense
Well, it absolutely should have been classified information, right? I mean, there's no doubt about that. Whether it was actually classified, I suppose it's something that they would like to argue about. By the way, if it wasn't classified, that's a whole other scandal because the timing and nature of an attack on a foreign country, you know, not a hard one, as Raja so ably pointed out.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Rep. Himes on Democrats Going on Offense
Yeah, I think, you know, there's a couple of pieces that have to be satisfied here. Number one, we need to get a complete inventory of whatever was on this crazy signal chat, right? That is not provided to us by Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic, right? So step one, you got to produce information the entire signal chain, everything that was on it.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Rep. Himes on Democrats Going on Offense
You, on March 15th, as DNI, retweeted a post from Ian Miles Chong, who is listed on RT, that's Russia Today's website, as, quote, a political and cultural commentator who has contributed content to RT since at least 2022.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Rep. Himes on Democrats Going on Offense
Secondly, there needs to be an investigation over precisely how it happened for two reasons. Number one, it can never happen again. We're getting all twisted up in the underwear here over, you know, is it classified or not classified? Or, you know, is it a violation of the represent? This can never happen again.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Rep. Himes on Democrats Going on Offense
And I know my Republican friends want to convince you that, well, they didn't precisely name the target. Guess what? If the Houthis knew that we were coming on any given day, that could have resulted in dead pilots or it could have resulted in them sinking a naval ship. Right. So anyway, we need to know exactly what happened. We need the investigation to cough up how it happened.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Rep. Himes on Democrats Going on Offense
And then, of course, we need a commitment that it never happens again and that we learn from it and continue. whatever accountability this unaccountable administration thinks is wise to impose on the people who were involved.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Rep. Himes on Democrats Going on Offense
Okay, broadly, let's start with a slightly even broader question, which is, is this an administration that is operating with prudent guidelines, following rules, doing things with competence? No, this is the administration that apart from setting up a signal chat, decided to fire the people who maintain and look after our nuclear weapons. Oops, well, that was a mistake.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Rep. Himes on Democrats Going on Offense
I mean, there is absolutely no reason to believe that this signal chat about a pending attack is is anything other than indicative of the way they do business. And so you raise exactly the right questions. But for Jeffrey Goldberg, we would never know about this in all likelihood, right? So you raise a critical question, which is, where else are they screwing this kind of stuff up, right?
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Rep. Himes on Democrats Going on Offense
Is there a Facebook page that Elon Musk set up where there's a whole bunch of social security numbers or medical records? The oversight task is enormous. And then let me say this, too. I know what was happening here. You know, you just have to read Pete Hegseth's typed in text about F-18s launching accompanied by MQ-9s. Weather good. You know, CENTCOM says go. This is Pete Hegseth playing soldier.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Rep. Himes on Democrats Going on Offense
Right. It's just the testosterone upwelling he gets when he gets to type MQ-9s en route is his life right now. You know, he's a guy who is, you know, not even closely qualified to the position he has. And so when he gets to get on a signal chat with his buddies and say, we're a ghost and calm says all in F-18s, it just makes him feel really, really good.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Rep. Himes on Democrats Going on Offense
Director Gabbard, do you think that it's responsible for you as head of the intelligence community and the principal's presidential intelligence advisor to retweet posts from individuals affiliated with Russian state media?
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Rep. Himes on Democrats Going on Offense
Sadly, of course, it puts our people at risk.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Rep. Himes on Democrats Going on Offense
Yeah, it's a great question. And it's a question that when you're in the minority, like I am, like the Democratic Party is, always has a somewhat unsatisfying answer. You know, in the Senate, the Democratic senators have a few more tools at their disposal. On the House side, where the House...
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Rep. Himes on Democrats Going on Offense
uh majority rules and where the speaker of the house is a wholly owned subsidiary of donald j trump and where with maybe one or two exceptions i'm thinking don bacon and a few others uh people are absolutely terrified by the political end that they will encounter if they get in the way of this president there's just not a lot of things that you could do to even wake up
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Rep. Himes on Democrats Going on Offense
the republicans who if this had been done under the biden administration they'd have war paint on and be burning the buildings down in fact i pointed this out yesterday in closed session which is okay folks let's stop the pearl clutching and the arguments about whether you know f-18 is a precise war plan you know that if barack obama's administration or joe biden's administration had done that we we would have to deploy the national guard to calm you guys down
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Rep. Himes on Democrats Going on Offense
Yeah, well, it certainly is interesting politically, you know, and I don't know. We'll see in this race in Florida that apparently is in a Republican plus 30 district. And I gosh, the Democrat is five points behind. We'll see what's happening out there. I don't think they really think that that very red district is at risk. But I do think inside this building.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Rep. Himes on Democrats Going on Offense
do think that there are a whole lot of republicans who have realized that the time has run out on the idea that you can cut 880 billion dollars out of medicaid through waste fraud and abuse a lot of people got very sober wake-ups this week when they realized oh my god i got to go back to my constituents and tell them that we're about to destroy medicaid so i think they start to see the unanimity uh uh fraying here
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Rep. Himes on Democrats Going on Offense
Can I, just so that we don't have a lack of confusion amongst our allies and enemies and us, can I act perhaps that you not think that you should be saying one thing on your personal account than you say officially?
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Rep. Himes on Democrats Going on Offense
You know, from Elise's standpoint, I know Elise really well. We served on the Intelligence Committee together. It's almost, you said karma, it's almost Shakespearean, right? I mean, Elise was a classic Bob Dole Republican when she got here, you know, did what she needed to do to become a MAGA darling.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Rep. Himes on Democrats Going on Offense
And now just as high office is right there, you know, the Shakespearean gods have pulled that out, pulled the rug out from under her. So it's a karma, Shakespearean, whatever you want to call it.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Rep. Himes on Democrats Going on Offense
Sure. I mean, look, for the people who are sane enough not to immerse themselves in this stuff, what's about to happen, and this is part of what's happening with Elise Stefanik, is that the Speaker has told his most ferocious budget hawks that we're going to absolutely obliterate the budget. He got their votes, and then he told the moderates, don't worry, we're not going to obliterate the budget.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Rep. Himes on Democrats Going on Offense
We're going to keep Medicaid safe. He's told people completely irreconcilable things and those chickens are coming home to roost right now and so i think we're in for a pretty wild and woolly next couple of weeks as republicans realize that the uh you know the canyon that they've that they've backed themselves into
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Rep. Boyle on Trump Abandoning His Promises
And that's why getting the federal government out of the way and letting schools take care of these issues with those tax dollars that will be spent, more tax dollars spent at the local level will help that happen in a much better way than anything that happens in Washington, D.C.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Rep. Boyle on Trump Abandoning His Promises
Well, I think it's simple. That will be done at the state level. A federal bureaucrat who's in Washington, D.C., can't protect schools and kids in Indiana. That has to be done at the local level.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Panicked Trump Reeks of Fear as Markets Get Twisted
I know you've got a ton of things to do, but what can you say to the working person who owns stocks? Should they buy more stock?
The MeidasTouch Podcast
New German Chancellor Rips Trump in Acceptance Speech
Well, Shannon, I have, I mean, I have two problems with that concept. One, it just looks like an episode of The Sopranos, right? Give us your minerals or we're not going to help you fight a bloody butcher. I mean, is this really what we want the greatest country in history to be known for, for like, you know, some mafia thing? Look, we've always stood with the good guys.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
New German Chancellor Rips Trump in Acceptance Speech
We stood with Churchill against Hitler in World War I. We stood with the good guys. Even when we've gotten it wrong in Vietnam, we were standing with the good guys against the Viet Cong. In Iraq, we were going after Saddam Hussein. Now this president is standing with the bad guy.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
New German Chancellor Rips Trump in Acceptance Speech
He's saying Zelensky is the problem when Zelensky, with very few resources, is trying to stand up for democracy against a totalitarian butcher. What really worries me, Shannon, though, is what do you think President Xi is thinking? Because President Xi wakes up every single morning thinking, is today the day I go into Taiwan?
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Swing Left Executive Director Yasmin Radjy on Fighting Back
We know this is going to be disruptive, but there's a silver lining and good news in the midst of all of it. And as you said, it's happening right in my hometown at a General Motors plant that's going to pay more in overtime and create hundreds of new temporary, hopefully permanent jobs and make more cars in America.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Swing Left Executive Director Yasmin Radjy on Fighting Back
Because General Motors, a great American company, actually makes less cars that they sell in the U.S. than Toyota, Honda or Subaru do.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Swing Left Executive Director Yasmin Radjy on Fighting Back
These other countries are already coming to the table, and this is what's brilliant about what President Trump is up to. He's put other countries on notice. You're not going to take advantage of us anymore. They're already reacting. Canada and Mexico is begging President Trump to come to the table and negotiate their tariffs down and do away with our tariffs, too.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
Yeah, no, absolutely. And by the way, I'm going to struggle like crazy to make sure that the Intelligence Committee remains sort of not partisan, not caught up in the politics. You know, we we do a lot of stuff abroad, CIA, NSA, surveillance, counterterrorism. It's really important that we have oversight, even in a moment like this that is really fraught. But look, you know.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
Trump and his people, and by the way, almost all of my Republican colleagues here, with the startling exception of Lisa Murkowski, who stood up and said, this makes me sick to my stomach. Look, foreign policy can be complicated, but this is not complicated.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
When the Russian spokesman is saying we're excited by where the United States is, our goals are aligned, and the United Kingdom, with whom we have fought side by side since the Revolutionary War and all sorts of conflicts, when France, when our allies are saying the United States is gone, The United States is no longer the global leader.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
When Russia is saying you're doing it all right and our allies are saying you're doing it all wrong, guess what? You're doing it wrong. And it's going to take a very long time, a very, very long time for the United States to reestablish what Reagan called a city upon a hill, what JFK in his 1961 inaugural address said we would pay any price, bear any burden for the survival of liberty.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
Yeah, well, we're in a mighty weird world, right? And I mean, you can just see it out there. The Russians are thrilled. Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for Putin, is saying it looks like the United States and Russia are aligned now on our goals. Remember, this is the country that is responsible for 70,000 deaths in Ukraine that brutalized a struggling democracy.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
Well, and it is what they said, right? I mean, I never in a million years imagined that I would be on precisely the same page as Dmitry Peskov, but he said it perfectly. The United States has reworked the international order and they're on our team now. And think about what happened in the Oval Office.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
And look, I understand why Marco Rubio, who spent his entire political career standing up to Russia, as the descendants of Cuban refugees. I understand why the cabinet and Tulsi Gabbard, the people who work for the president need to lie through their teeth and radically change the people that they were just three months ago. But what's really painful is my colleagues here,
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
who are just coming up with this stuff, including that line of thinking. Let's step back from here. Zelensky is watching 70,000 dead Ukrainians. Every single day, missiles are slamming into hospitals. Children are being killed on their way to school. This is what he's seeing. And he comes to the Oval Office and a reporter asks him why he's not wearing a suit. And J.D.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
Vance says, you don't say thank you? Think about it. Look, Tulsi has this theory that Zelensky was a little aggressive. He's presided over a brutal invasion, 70,000 dead Ukrainians. And the VP, the effing VP wants him to say thank you for the aid that we've grudgingly provided. By the way, too late. Thank you to the Republicans in the Congress.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
It took us a year to get that supplemental package done. And by the way, this gets to the real truth of the matter. You know, half the Republicans now, all of the Republicans don't want to support Ukraine because the dear leader is
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
hates ukraine but can you imagine 70 000 dead ukrainians a brutal invasion and jd vance wants you to say thank you and by the way i've met with the president any number of times and all of his people and the first thing they say always is thank you it is disgusting it is sickening it makes me want to throw up as i watch that tape of what happened in the oval office
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
And we have always, certainly in my lifetime and well before, the United States has always stood with the good guys, right? You know, in 1941 and 1942 and World War II, we didn't say, oh, so many people are dying in France and the UK and Germany. And, you know, we should bring an end to this. We've always stood with the good guy.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
Well, first of all, you know that the White House realized after that Zelensky meeting that they had a problem, right? Because the cabinet officers, Besant, Rubio, they all within 10 minutes were putting out exactly the same stuff about how this remarkable president had doing courageous things that no president has ever done. But the talking points went out. They knew they had a problem.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
I mean, frankly, the talking points and the propaganda that the cabinet put out would make the North Korean Politburo throw up, but they did that. And, you know, look, I agree with you. There is a lot of anger and concern. Foreign policy has never been the thing that has driven American voters, by and large, most American voters. It's the economy.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
And, you know, okay, fine, Donald Trump, deny what is happening in all of these Republican, imagine that they're all paid fine. You know, underestimate the rage that is out there because because I want you to underestimate it so that when we have the house election in 2026, we wipe the floor with your people. But here's the thing, right?
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
Foreign policy is generally not all that important politically to most Americans, right? But what they're talking about, and you brought it up, they're talking about
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Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
cutting medicaid this is health centers uh this is hospitals listen to a hospital talk about medicaid any hospital um it is grandma in the nursing home who doesn't have assets and so she's being paid for by medicaid it's pell grants they're cutting all of that they're cutting all of that for one reason and one reason only which is to lower the corporate tax rate and to provide an ongoing tax cut
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
For the top 1% of the people in this country, that's what's happening. And oh my God, pull anything in this country and what you will see is that lowering the taxes of the wealthiest people in the country by cutting aid to people who need that aid, to children, to indigent grandmothers, absolutely toxic. So boy, if you think those town hall meetings are bad now, you ain't seen nothing yet.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
Yeah, look, like it or not, the American people decided that the Democratic Party would be in the minority in the House, the minority in the Senate, and that the Republicans and Donald Trump in particular would be in the Oval Office. They took away almost all of our tools. Now, in Westport, Connecticut, which I represent, or the Upper West Side of Manhattan, that is mind-boggling.
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Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
And right now you've got Donald Trump and his administration fighting.
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Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
And I tell people, look, you can't underestimate your opponent. Go to Altoona, Pennsylvania, get out of the East Coast areas that don't understand this so that at least you understand it, right? Because what we can't do is respond to the MAGA instinct with condescension, with what I hear all the time, which is, oh, those people are so stupid. That is fuel, that turbo charges the MAGA movement.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
So start by understanding
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Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
what it is that caused america to take us out of the equation then do everything you can right and in the house sadly there isn't a lot all we all we can do is communicate by the way the house has a tiny republican uh majority so the moment they need our help we're either not going to work with them because they're not abiding by the law anymore or we are going to have a long list of things that if they want to for example pass a budget or not shut the government down they're going to need to do
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
trying to convince the American people, despite the civilian bodies you saw, the raped women, the children who were murdered in the town of Bucca, you've got the Trump administration trying to convince the Americans that this is some irrelevant conflict where we're just trying to stop the violence between two pesky combatants, right?
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
But look, right now, there's just no getting around the fact that the sharp edge of the spear are the courts, which over and over and over again, the courts are saying, sorry, you can't do that. No, you can't do away with birthright citizenship. No, it is Congress's prerogative to control the purse strings, not yours. Now, what makes that a little complicated is back to my North Korean Politburo.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
Almost every single Republican around here is totally happy. to be that North Korean Politburo. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And to not stand up for the Congress's checks and balance authority that the Constitution suggests that we should have.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
They become dear leader people. It's got to be strange. Exactly. You know, sadly, we had a real preview of this after January 6th, 2021. Right. After on January 6th, 2021, when there were people in the building who wanted to kill all of us on January 7th, Republicans were were were gobsmacked. Right. Just shocked, shocked and appalled.
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Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
probably two weeks later or so you saw this effort to deny what we all experienced you know and it ranged from uh oh well yeah there were people who were a little bit out of line but they were confused to people who said hey it was like any other day a bunch of tourists coming through So we've seen this movie before, and I can tell you the anatomy of it, right?
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Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
Roughly a third of Republicans are absolutely paid up members of the cult. I'm thinking of the Jim Jordans of the world who no matter what, principle and values do not matter, whatever Donald Trump wants, he gets. Then you've got a sort of middle group of people who are a little appalled by what they see, but they know that if they speak up against Donald Trump, it's curtains.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
Look at Bill Cassidy, Senator Bill Cassidy, who voted for the impeachment of Donald Trump, but has not stood up against a single one of Donald Trump's insane cabinet nominees. So that's that group. And then you've got a pretty substantial group. And I work with a lot of these guys who just don't want to talk about it.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
We, for the first time in our history, in a major conflict, certainly in Europe,
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Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
They just don't, you know, I really just want to get my bill passed through financial services or I need to stand up for this base. So please don't ask me that question. You can identify that type because when a reporter sticks a mic in their face and says, what do you think about Donald Trump, you know, siding with the Russians against Ukraine? They say, oh, I didn't see his comments.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
I didn't see his comments. I haven't read the statement. So that's kind of the anatomy right now of the Republican Party. But of course, what is missing, other than arguably one or two members, you know, Lisa Murkowski, who made a very strong statement about the Oval Office fiasco, you know, none of them, none of them will stand up to Donald Trump because they know that doing that
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
are trading our heritage of standing up for what is right and good and liberty in favor of Donald Trump's bizarre internal hatred for Ukraine in particular, but for anybody that it perceives as not powerful and strong, and that's radically changing the way our allies think about us, the way we're thinking about us, and it's just enormously concerning.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Congressman Jim Himes on Trump's Disaster Policies
means the end of their political careers. We used to believe that political careers weren't the be all end all, that if you were in the service of a, you know, obviously amoral at best dictator, maybe you make a point of resigning your position and make a statement of principle. It just, you know, that isn't happening.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
MeidasTouch Full Podcast - 2/6/25
You know, Trump rolls out this threat. I'm going to do these tariffs. And believe me, I've seen this movie before. He is the king of empty threats. He puts out these empty threats all the time. And, you know, you'll talk to his aides and advisors and they'll say, this is what we call strategic rhetoric.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
MeidasTouch Full Podcast - 2/6/25
and he'll he'll say all of this stuff and then he'll get concessions baloney it doesn't always work out that way take a look what happened with kim jong-un remember when trump during the first administration uh his first administration was saying there's gonna be fire and fury and all this stuff and then he goes and he meets with kim jong-un what happened kim jong-un still has nuclear weapons that not nothing happened as a result of that you know brett those uh