MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas resurfaces a committee hearing from 2019 which perfect predicted the capitulation of the Republican Party and Meiselas interviews Mayor Karen Bass who made the prediction in 2019 in her then role as Congresswoman from California. Visit https://meidasplus.com for more! Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Coalition of the Sane: https://meidasnews.com/tag/coalition-of-the-sane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: How did the Trump administration's actions impact federal services?
As we think about the response from the officials in the Trump regime and how they've reacted to Signalgate and all of these other failures, as we've seen once again, the week concluding with the stock market tanking, people's life savings are being crushed as we see in cities across the country, social security offices being closed, essential federal services being gutted.
And then there's that this image, though, of all of the people Trump surrounds himself, whether it's Maga Mike Johnson in the house or his cabinet. It has this Kim Jong Un like feel and they do the clapping for him and they clearly know what's going on is wrong and they're just not doing anything about it.
So I remember that there was a clip from a congressional hearing in 2019 that was prophetic, that summed it up in connection with the initial impeachment hearing. And I found that clip and I have to share it with you now. Let's play it.
Chapter 2: What was Karen Bass's prediction about the Republican Party in 2019?
I do have to say, though, that I have empathy for my Republican colleagues because I don't believe that they have a choice. They have to defend the president and they dare not step out of line because if they do, they will suffer the consequences. A few of my Republican colleagues earlier did try to say that they didn't believe that the president's conduct was appropriate.
And they got slapped quickly. The president said his conduct, he said the call was absolutely perfect. And so now you don't hear any of them saying or questioning whether his behavior was appropriate. You have to fall in line. And not only do you have to fall in line, you have to praise him constantly.
like those famous press conferences we've seen in the Oval Office, where they one by one go around the table and talk about their praise for him. It makes me feel like a meeting that would take place in North Korea.
A meeting that would take place in North Korea. That was then Congresswoman Karen Bass, now Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles. And have her as a guest on the Midas Touch podcast. Mayor! Welcome. And I don't know if you remember that clip, but it was kind of spot on as you reflect on that clip to the moment. What are you thinking?
Chapter 3: How has the White House's control changed over time?
I really think that the White House is in control of the government. And that's not a question this time around. I think you see in the House of Representatives and in the Senate, when the president weighs in on something, they deliver exactly what he wants. And so I think when you look at our government now, it's a little different than it was before. It was more chaotic.
in a different kind of way. It was clearly people who were in the White House who didn't have the experience. But I think that the people that are around the president now have the experience, studied and prepared for this over the years, and they have an agenda, and they are driving that agenda.
So I guess you can say the first administration, it was like a virus fighting the antibodies and it was chaos and what was going to happen. Now there's no antibodies and it's just a virus and it's just doing what it wants to do. And it's a wrecking ball though.
And what Doge is doing in cities like Los Angeles, and I had the mayor of Cleveland on recently, and we've been speaking with a lot of mayors and these are mayors like you have been doing great. Great work for the city. And now it's like you're going against this doge kind of riptide that's trying to pull all of the work apart. What are you seeing with the doge wrecking ball in Los Angeles?
Chapter 4: What challenges is Los Angeles facing under the current federal administration?
And how are you dealing with that right now?
Well, and I'm really glad you brought that up because I think that one impact of Doge that people don't seem to be clued in with right now, when you see massive layoffs in federal agencies, well, those federal workers don't all work in Washington, DC. They work in Los Angeles too. We have over 50,000 federal workers in Washington, DC. And so, I mean, I'm sorry, in Los Angeles.
And so we're already our economy is already hit, which is why we have a big deficit in the city. But that is going to be an impact that we are not feeling today. But mark my words, we will be feeling it in coming weeks. One thing that's happening with the layoffs is that one day you're laid off. Two days later, the court says you're not. And it's been kind of back and forth.
And that's about what I was describing before, that sense of instability. I don't know the earth is moving. Do I have a job? Don't I have a job? Does my agency even exist? And then to hear Secretary Kennedy, Secretary of Health and Human Services, say that he's going to, I think he said he was going to reduce the workforce by 10,000 people.
So those layoffs will absolutely hit us in our local economy right here.
What's going on and how are you dealing with what ICE is doing and what, you know, what the Trump regime is doing with Alien Enemies Act and these renditions? And, you know, we've you know, we've seen Kristi Noem, you know, pose in front of an El Salvador cop.
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Chapter 5: How are ICE actions affecting local communities?
concentration camp, which by the way, in my view, is a violation of the Geneva Conventions to do a photo of yourself as a pose in front of something like that in and of itself. But this idea, and we're hearing lots of stories from ACLU lawyers and others of some people being people who are here lawfully, asylum seekers, doing the process the right way, who basically were kidnapped
and then end up in El Salvador never to be heard from again. Everybody wants to get the bad guys off the street, but how do you deal with due process and how do you protect the population from what's going on?
Right. That is very, very, very frightening. I saw the professor that was snatched off the street. I believe she was a professor back east just a couple of days ago. That then creates a climate of fear. But that fear, I mean, that is targeting people who protested on college campuses.
But the general sense of fear of what people remember from the first Trump administration is alive and well in Los Angeles. You know, I remember in the first Trump administration where kids wouldn't go to school because they were afraid of their parents not coming home. We haven't reached that point yet, but there is an absolute sense of fear. But let me just tell you how it's going to hit us.
We have not had massive ICE raids or anything like that in the city. ICE has been here. It's been very targeted in the sense that they were going after federal fugitives or people who had outstanding federal warrants for violent crimes. So it's been very targeted. But that chill that it sends through the community is palpable. But let me tell you how it's going to impact us if that should happen.
We need to get the Palisades rebuilt. you're talking about a large percentage of construction workers who are immigrants. Now, I'm not saying they're all undocumented, but what is happening now is that even people who have documents, green cards, et cetera, they're going to be fearful of being picked up by ICE. So we're trying to focus on and I'm trying to focus on rebuilding the palisades
at lightning speed. And so far, it's been going with lightning speed. I want that to continue. But if the workforce is too afraid to go to work, you're going to have a negative impact in the Palisades, in Altadena, in Malibu, and in all of the areas that are affected. We're going to have a difficult time rebuilding our region.
And Mayor, what's the latest with the federal funds for rehabbing after the fire? What's going on there? Is that an issue for the upcoming budget discussions? What's the latest on that?
Well, I have to tell you, our phase one and phase two really has gone. And that is what has been lightning speed. And I got to tell you, it's been lightning speed because of the administration. I think that the Trump administration wants to break the record for rebuilding as fast as possible. And so we have been flooded with staff from FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers.
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