How You Can Push Back In The New Trump Era Ft. Senator Tammy Baldwin

Summary

American Fever Dream: How You Can Push Back In The New Trump Era Ft. Senator Tammy Baldwin

Hosted by V. Speer and featuring Senator Tammy Baldwin from Wisconsin, this episode delves into the tumultuous political landscape shaped by the resurgence of Trump-era policies and influential figures like Elon Musk. Released on February 20, 2025, the discussion offers insights into the current challenges on Capitol Hill and actionable strategies for citizens to engage and push back against unconstitutional actions.

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1. Setting the Stage: The New Political Climate

V. Speer opens the conversation by highlighting the chaotic environment brought about by the Trump 2.0 administration. She introduces Senator Tammy Baldwin, emphasizing her role in navigating the current political turbulence.

Notable Quote:

V. Speer [00:33]: "Rise and shine, fever dreamers. Look alive, my friends."

2. Navigating the Flood Zone: Unconstitutional Actions and Constituent Impact

Senator Tammy Baldwin discusses the metaphorical "flood" of actions from the Trump administration that she deems unconstitutional or unlawful. She underscores the importance of fighting back through the courts, Congress, and active constituent engagement.

Notable Quotes:

Tammy Baldwin [01:24]: "When I hear about a flood, I step up and that's exactly what we need to do."

Tammy Baldwin [02:02]: "It's daily, sometimes multiple times daily, that we hear some big announcement... we need to fight back on every level."

She shares specific instances, such as the funding freeze that adversely affected Medicaid, fire departments, and community health centers, illustrating the tangible impact on everyday Americans.

3. Elon Musk's Influence: Genuine Threat or Strategic Maneuvering?

The hosts delve into Elon Musk's increasing involvement in government systems, questioning the extent and intent of his actions. V. Speer raises concerns about Musk's potential to destabilize democratic institutions.

Notable Quotes:

V. Speer [04:00]: "I have no doubt that this man is dangerous to democracy and to our world here."

Tammy Baldwin [04:42]: "The courts are stepping in... we need to scrutinize every one of these because... the administration... need to follow the law."

Tammy Baldwin emphasizes the judiciary's role in checking these overreaches and the importance of adhering to constitutional boundaries.

4. Senate Confirmations: Battling Misinformation and Protecting Public Health

A significant portion of the discussion focuses on Senate confirmations, particularly concerning nominees like RFK Jr. and Kash Patel. Tammy Baldwin expresses deep concern over nominees who spread misinformation, especially regarding public health and vaccines.

Notable Quotes:

Tammy Baldwin [15:31]: "He has put out so much misinformation suggesting that vaccines do harm or cause harm, that will make him a very poor person to lead this agency."

V. Speer [15:31]: "...the idea that they're gonna clean house of folks that accepted those assignments is very chilling."

Tammy Baldwin also highlights Mitch McConnell's rare dissent against certain confirmations, suggesting resistance against undue influence from Trump and Musk.

Notable Quote:

Tammy Baldwin [20:02]: "He cannot be intimidated and bullied by Trump and Elon Musk."

5. Strategies for Citizens: Engaging and Fighting Back

Senator Baldwin outlines three primary strategies for citizens to combat unconstitutional actions:

1. Legal Action: Engaging the courts to challenge unlawful directives.
2. Legislative Efforts: Working within Congress to pass laws and appropriate budgets that constrain the administration's overreach.
3. Constituent Advocacy: Encouraging citizens to share their personal stories and experiences to humanize the impact of governmental actions.

Notable Quotes:

Tammy Baldwin [24:39]: "We have power... We have to fight back because we created that agency."

V. Speer [25:22]: "Give us an email... We're actively looking for your feedback."

She recalls past successes, such as defending the Affordable Care Act, to inspire hope and demonstrate the effectiveness of collective action.

6. Encouraging Citizen Engagement: Your Voice Matters

In the closing segment, V. Speer reinforces the accessibility of Senator Baldwin and the importance of direct communication between constituents and their representatives. She urges listeners to reach out, share their stories, and stay informed to ensure their voices contribute to meaningful change.

Notable Quotes:

V. Speer [25:27]: "So if you have any more questions... give us an email... We are actively looking for your feedback."

Tammy Baldwin [25:22]: "We are not abandoned, we're not hopeless... they're answering the phone to you too."

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Conclusion

This episode of American Fever Dream offers a compelling examination of the current political challenges under the new Trump era, emphasizing the critical role of citizen engagement and legislative action in safeguarding democracy. Senator Tammy Baldwin provides a grounded perspective on navigating these turbulent times, encouraging listeners to remain proactive and united in their efforts to uphold constitutional integrity.

For more insights and continuous updates, listeners are encouraged to subscribe to Betches Media's Sup email newsletter and follow their social media channels.

Transcript

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[V. Speer]

Rise and shine, fever dreamers. Look alive, my friends. I'm V. Speer and this is American Fever Dream, presented by Betches News. And today we have a super fun guest, second time on the podcast. This might be our first repeat guest cause she's so great. It is the senator from Wisconsin, Tammy Baldwin, and she's here to tell us what's going on on the Hill. How are the vibes and what we could do to try and re anchor ourself to reality and maybe find some peace through this chaotic Trump 2.0 situation that we find ourself in. Here's my conversation with Senator Baldwin. Senator Baldwin, welcome back to the show. What's going on, friends?

[Tammy Baldwin]

Oh, my goodness. What isn't going on right now? There's a lot. You know, Steve Bannon said that the new Trump administration was gonna flood the Zone.

[V. Speer]

Yeah.

[Tammy Baldwin]

And we certainly are experiencing that right now, that flood. But you know, when I hear about a flood, I step up and that's exactly what we need to do. So that's what's happening.

[V. Speer]

I know. Gosh, when they said that you were coming back on, I was so excited. Cause we had such a great chat last time. And last time we were in a little bit more of an optimistic space. Right. I think I talked to you pre election last time, but now.

[Tammy Baldwin]

Yes, you did.

[V. Speer]

Now you're hot in the heat of Senate confirmations. In the new world that we're in. Just doing like a quick vibe check. Like what are the vibes on the Hill right now?

[Tammy Baldwin]

Well, as I said, they are flooding the Zone. It is daily, sometimes multiple times daily, that we hear some big announcement. Many times these announcements are about actions that are unconstitutional or unlawful without authority. And so we need to fight back on every level. And that means the courts, the Congress and our constituents. And we are engaging all of those. I mean, I'll tell you the reaction when the funding freeze was announced. I can't believe how many phone calls we got from constituents who were trying to access funding and were shut out of the computer portals. That they usually use to draw down funds. We had head starts close, leaving hundreds of children with no care, hundreds of parents with no place for their children while they needed to get to work. We had fire departments with federal grants saying, do I need to lay off the new firefighters that we just hired? We heard from community health centers who wondered whether they would have to shut their doors. And that was just one action, the funding freeze. But you know what? We, we elevated the stories of our constituents. We went to court and they backed off. They rescinded their directive. And that was just one of like dozens of examples, I'll tell you, just later that week was when we heard that Elon Musk had somehow gotten access to the treasury payment system, which has records about all of us. Our most sensitive information, our Social Security numbers, and then our phone calls went from several hundred a day to several thousand a day. And so things are happening. This is fast moving.

[V. Speer]

So talking about Elon, right? A lot of folks will say, nobody voted for this. Other folks will tell me, yes, I did. I voted for Trump. And it's because I knew that he was bringing in Elon to do all of this. Mark Cuban had a good point, which is it appears that Elon is perhaps just manufacturing some screenshots from USA spending.com and like, maybe he's over exaggerating how much he's actually able to do to try and, you know, show gravitas and whatnot. I have no doubt that this man is dangerous to democracy and to our world here. But how, how much of what he's doing is actually like work and how much of it is this flood the zone scare tactic, freak everybody out thing?

[Tammy Baldwin]

Well, it's gonna remain to be seen because the court. Well, first of all, the courts are stepping in. And even when he said he's done something, if a court enjoins that that court needs to be respected. And we're watching really closely to see whether President Trump and co President Musk are obeying the court orders that are being announced. We have a running streak going on right now in the courts on many of these overreaches, these illegal and unconstitutional actions. But some of them may be permissible under law. The cancellation of some contracts might be possible, but we need to scrutinize every one of these because, look, the Congress, the Constitution is clear. The Congress passes laws, passes budgets, passes appropriation bills. And the administration, the President and his administration, including any non government people that he empowers to do his work, they need to follow the law. Now, certainly the president can have a lot of influence over the next budget and future laws we pass. He can veto them or try to influence them, but in terms of existing law, he does not have that leeway to pick and choose. And imagine if he did, what could follow. If he could just pick and choose what he wants, he could reward all the states and localities that voted for him. Maybe they only get their Social Security checks and no one else does. Or maybe there's only VA centers in red states and not blue states. I mean, imagine the logical consequences if he doesn't have to follow the law. And we need to be mindful of how important it is that he follow the law.

[V. Speer]

Do you ever see Elon up on the Hill? Is he, like, walking around the Reynolds Building or anything ever? Or is he mostly stay, you know, under Trump's skirt?

[Tammy Baldwin]

Yeah. So I saw Elon Musk at inauguration. Let me just explain. I attended the inauguration. It was brought inside, so everything was much closer. And I got there a little early. The billionaires all got there early, and they occupied, like, the second row, right behind the family and the president. And so Elon Musk was there, the richest man on Earth. And then Jeff Bezos, I think possibly the second richest man on Earth. And then Mark Zuckerberg was there. Tim Cook was there. You know, he wasn't. This is a billionaire agenda that Trump has. He said he was for the working person. He said he was gonna lower prices. But this is a billionaire agenda. And all this cost cutting that we're talking about, you know, Doge and all the things they're doing, make no mistake, that is to create room for a tax break for the billionaire class.

[V. Speer]

I mean, that's what he said, right? He was like, I'm gonna bring down the price of oil and eggs and end all these wars. 1. I don't know what's happening in your state, but here in New York, in Rochester, I can't even get eggs. I've taken pictures at several different grocery stores. They were up to eight bucks, and now we can't get them at all. And then, in addition, he also said he didn't know anything about Project 2025. And we tracked his executive orders to page numbers in Project 2025, where the language is exact. So, I mean, I don't think it's lost on anyone that the man is a liar. But there's so many folks out there that are so frustrated. We hear about people who are regretting their vote right now. And in the meanwhile, Democrats don't have power in any of the branches right now. What is it that we can be doing for folks who just feel kind of like, really stuck and hopeless and overwhelmed?

[Tammy Baldwin]

Yeah. Well, let me first acknowledge that in Wisconsin, too, we're seeing shortages of eggs and $8 a carton when you can get them, and we're seeing costs go up. You know, I went grocery shopping on the day that President Trump said he was gonna put 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada. I wanted to go on the day like it was announced so that I can go back a few weeks later when he puts them back into effect. Right. To see what the impact is, because I know there's going to be an additional cost to consumers beyond what people are seeing right now. Okay, so you say. Very true. The Republicans control the presidency and both houses of Congress. And so what can people do? Look, we have the sort of the three things we can do. We can go to the court. We've been doing that. We've had a good run right now in terms of getting temporary restraining orders and stays. We can work in Congress to assert the congressional power that we have to budget appropriate and pass laws and force the administration to follow them. But our constituents play an enormous role in fighting back. When the funding freeze took place, we heard from hundreds of constituents who are trying to just figure out how this funding freeze affected them. If they were on Medicaid, would they be able to get health care and prescriptions filled? Would community health centers be able to run? Would fire and police departments that rely on federal grants have to lay off first responders? And so all of that came alive. We elevated those stories. We took to the floor, individual constituent letters and communications, and they backed off. And the courts helped. And so we have power. And let's not forget Trump 1.0. It was the people who fought to make sure that Trump didn't rip health care from millions of Americans. We fought to protect the Affordable Care act by one vote. We won.

[V. Speer]

Mm.

[Tammy Baldwin]

That's how we fight back. We are not going to win all these battles, but we have to fight.

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[V. Speer]

Well, another thing that I don't envy you for is sitting through the Senate confirmations lately I've been watching them on C Span as lots of our listeners have been. And you gotta be looking across the aisle at some of the folks that you've served with for all these years and being like, come on man, you're gonna vote for RFK Jr. For health and Human Secretary? Like, how are you managing having to sit through a confirmation hearing for someone like an RFK junior? And what power do we have to ensure that some of these people, who quite frankly, in my opinion are not qualified, don't do massive damage to our institution?

[Tammy Baldwin]

Well, I'm very concerned about the damage that some of these nominees, some now confirmed and taking the oath of office. I'm very concerned about the harm that they can do. You know, I've been looking at these nominees through a very simple lens. Will they help Wisconsinites or will they harm Wisconsinites? And RFK Jr is a great example of that. You know, he is the leading vaccine skeptic. He if you look at his social media presence, there is nobody who even comes close to RFK Jr in purveying misinformation and disinformation and that has public health consequences because of vaccines. There are very few people alive today that have a memory of half a million people worldwide dying from polio or becoming paralyzed by polio. There's very few people alive today that have a vivid memory of what measles can do because of vaccines. And the fact that he has said on a podcast there's no safe and effective vaccine, the fact that he has put out so much misinformation suggesting that vaccines do harm or cause harm, that will make him a very poor person to lead this agency, the largest public health agency probably in the world. But this is very dangerous, and it's very hard to be in a hearing. As I was with him when he appeared before the Health, Education, labor, and Pensions Committee and ask him questions of settled science. And he kept saying, show me the data. Show me the studies. He's seen the data. He's seen the studies. He has some other motive for wanting to sow doubt.

[V. Speer]

Yeah. I mean, and I can't even imagine what that motive is. I'm like, aren't you a Kennedy? Don't you have bear cubs to drive around in your truck or hawks to Falcon with or whatever weird stuff he's into? Some of the other Senate confirmation hearings that I'm particularly concerned with are Kash Patel. And I know that you guys were successful in pushing that off. This is a man who is famous for writing a children's book in which he is a wizard that helps Donald Trump, who is a king. What, squash everything that's potentially woke or liberal. He has a hit list, and there's rumors that he's already trying to meddle in FBI relations. How do you think we keep Kash Patel away? Is there a chance that we get a trade out? Like what happened with Matt Gaetz, where he was gonna be Attorney General, but public outcry was so much that he ended up stepping down. Do we have a chance to avoid Kash Patel, you think?

[Tammy Baldwin]

Well, sadly, the committee just voted him out of committee.

[V. Speer]

God.

[Tammy Baldwin]

I know, I know.

[V. Speer]

He's so hopeful.

[Tammy Baldwin]

I know. I was, too. So he's headed to the Senate floor for consideration from the full body. And I think he and many other of Trump's nominees have already had a hand in some of the things that we're seeing. Many of it, you know, illegal activity. The idea that they are looking at discharging incredibly loyal people who have served their nation in the FBI, who may have had been assigned to investigate the January 6 protesters or who have been assigned to a case involving Donald Trump. The idea that they're just going to clean house of anyone not who volunteered for that duty. Well, I mean, they volunteered to be FBI agents, and we thanked them for that, but they were assigned.

[V. Speer]

Yeah, they're clocking in to the job like Everybody else.

[Tammy Baldwin]

That's right. And the idea that they're gonna clean house of folks that accepted those assignments is very chilling, and we're seeing that in other departments. Also, yesterday, the new attorney general gave a press conference where she was talking about prosecuting elected officials in states.

[V. Speer]

My governor? Yeah. She was talking about going after Kathy Hochul. Look, I'm gonna tell you, Kathy's a tough bitch, all right? And I love her. She's my favorite. But, like, I just. I don't know that you want to mess with a girl from Buffalo. Pam Bondi. Okay, maybe that stuff flies down in Florida, but Kathy Hochul's, she's backed and stacked. I don't know if you want to come for her.

[Tammy Baldwin]

That's right. Well, I mean, but it just shows the lengths that they're going to go to. Not just to clean house and fire people without any valid basis, but also to intimidate and bully, and we just have to stand up and not be intimidated.

[V. Speer]

Do you think, like last time with Trump's. I'm looking for, like, the silver lining everywhere. Right. Like last time, Trump couldn't keep people for a really long time. So even some of these folks that get in. Do we think that there's a chance that in a couple months maybe we're going through this all again, or is that just kind of wishful thinking? Is there a better. Is there, like a better B team out there somewhere?

[Tammy Baldwin]

Well, V. I think that we are seeing a very different second term than we saw the first term. Yeah, there was a lot of commentary back then that they didn't really expect to win. They weren't ready to govern. They brought in a lot of outsiders who had no idea how government worked, and it sort of haunted them. We have Project 2025, a 922 page document written as a guidebook for his second administration. And so I'm not saying that we're not gonna see some of them have short tenures. I hope that is the case for the most dangerous of these nominees and cabinet positions. But it's a very different administration than it was the first time around.

[V. Speer]

What do you think about Mitch McConnell voting no on some of these Senate confirmations? He was the lone Republican to vote no on a couple of them. Is he including RFK Jr including RFK Jr like, what. What do you think's happening there? Is it just sort of like old age or something?

[Tammy Baldwin]

You know, he's probably one of the few Republican senators who cannot be intimidated and bullied by Trump and Elon Musk. Coming swooping in, saying, I'm gonna make sure that you have a primary with a MAGA candidate against you, and I'll put $100 million in their campaign. We are hearing at least rumors that that's what's happened in some of these instances, that the billionaire agenda is being enforced with threats of Republican primaries.

[V. Speer]

That is so ooky spooky.

[Tammy Baldwin]

It is, it is.

[V. Speer]

So what's on the docket for today? What's something you can maybe help our audience to know? Cause so many people, Republicans, we had an election, right? That was the day to show up. And now they're like, where are the Democrats? What are they doing? And we know that you guys are in the courts and there's fol who are out there trying to every which way you can make sense of something. What's something that folks can kind of maybe should pay attention to or maybe can feel some sense of power, Something they can do.

[Tammy Baldwin]

Yeah. So in terms of the Senate, we are trying to put up the strongest fight we can. A few years back, there was the ability to kind of shut down the Senate. And because we're 50, 50, and we had Vice President Kamala Harris to come in and break ties, but, you know, somebody was absent, you wouldn't have a quorum this time around. Republicans have 53 members, and we have 47 members. And so we don't have the same ability to sort of shut things down that would have happened just a few years back. That said, we have insisted that every minute of consideration that needs to happen for each of these is played out. And we've done a couple all nighters, and I did a lot of all nighters in college studying for my exam. It's getting a little harder these days.

[V. Speer]

I got a call from Cory Booker at 11:30 last night, and then Raphael Warnock at midnight. I was like, guys.

[Tammy Baldwin]

I spoke right before Raphael Warnock on the floor last night. He spoke after me. He probably called you after that. So, you know, we're doing. We're holding it. And yet there are limits to how much we can do to block or absolutely prevent these from happening. But we're gonna make sure that we use every minute that we have to tell the American people what's happening. But, you know, what can your. What can your viewers do? Share your stories about how these actions are affecting you. I talked about the calls and the stories we heard after the funding freeze. We got Even more at 10 times the number when people realized that their data was seized by somebody who's not in Government, Elon Musk, you know, who knows what they're going to do with that. But that's so dangerous. And we've seen so many other actions, shutting down agencies that Congress created, whether it's the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau earlier this week, which is our, these are the cops on the beat to help consumers avoid being defrauded by, you know, car loan companies and home loan companies and financial agencies. We gotta fight back because we created that agency. The Trump administration cannot just unilaterally shutter it, although right now they've tried to do that. We also have USAID that they have effectively shuttered, leaving food and nutrition resources that my farmers in Wisconsin, across the country have grown for this program to rot on the dock when they could be providing life saving nourishment and medicines to people who are on the brink of starvation. So people need to shout out their stories. We will uplift them. And just like we did to save the Affordable Care act when Trump was first president, we've got to use our voices and our power to fight back.

[V. Speer]

Absolutely. And I know one of the next big fights you'll have is that budget that they're putting forward. Maybe we'll have you back to chat with that. I appreciate you taking the time. And also for our listeners, I want you to know, like when we call Tammy Baldwin's office, she answers, you know what I mean? We're in touch with our senators. The Democrats are really working very hard to try and get their message out while at the same time holding down the floor when they can. And so I think that's something that people should know too, is that we're not abandoned, we're not hopeless. It's a shaken, scorched earth, crazy world we're in. But they're answering the phone, they're gonna answer the phone to you too. So make sure you give your representatives a call, give them some support, tell em what you wanna see happen, that's what they're there for. And we appreciate you so much, Senator Baldwin, giving us the time.

[Tammy Baldwin]

Thank you.

[V. Speer]

Thank you all for being here to check in with us and the Senator, it is always so great to have her on. She is so accessible to us. So if you have any more questions about what's going on up there, maybe you're from Wisconsin, you have something Wisconsin specific, give us an email. You can email us americanfeverdreamtches.com or leave us a comment on Spotify or find us on social media. We are actively looking for your feedback. So we make sure that we're getting you the answers that maybe other channels aren't able to get you. Thank you again to the senator for being on. Such a pleasure having her on our side to fight for us and to give us this transparent look at what's happening on the Hill. Until next time, I'm V. Speer, and this is American Fever Dream. Goodbye, Betches.