The Fight on Two Fronts: Iran and the Voting Rights Act with Rep.Gregory Meeks

Summary

Episode Summary: "The Fight on Two Fronts: Iran and the Voting Rights Act"

Andy Beshear Podcast | Host: Andy Beshear | Guest: Congressman Gregory Meeks | June 11, 2026

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Overview

This episode of the Andy Beshear Podcast centers on two urgent fronts facing America: the escalating conflict with Iran and the gutting of the Voting Rights Act. Governor Beshear welcomes Congressman Gregory Meeks, ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, for an in-depth discussion on the erosion of Congressional war powers, chaotic foreign policy under President Trump, and the state of American democracy post-Supreme Court decision. The episode dives into complex current events at home and abroad, weaving in personal reflections, concerns for everyday Americans, and some moments of levity with the show's co-hosts, "the Johns."

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Escalating Iran Conflict and Congressional Oversight

[02:45–10:45]

• Congressional Authority & War Powers Resolution
  • Rep. Meeks criticizes President Trump for bypassing Congress in escalating conflict with Iran:
    • "The President of the United States has gone around Congress at every opportunity... The only body that can declare war is Congress." — Meeks [03:20]
  • No clear rationale, exit strategy, or transparency given to Congress or the public regarding the conflict.
  • A bipartisan War Powers Resolution was passed to require the President to seek Congressional approval for further military action.
    • "Let's not punt our job. Let's not just give it away to the executive branch, no matter who the President is." — Meeks [04:45]
• Lack of Experienced Diplomacy and Apparent Conflicts of Interest
  • Trump’s envoys (J.D. Vance, Kushner, Witkoff) lack foreign policy experience; State Department largely absent from negotiations.
    • "They're basically real estate negotiators... no experience in foreign policy... coming away with billions in business." — Meeks [09:34]
  • Rubio, while leading on the Western Hemisphere (Cuba/Venezuela), is disconnected from the Middle East, creating confusion.

2. Other Global Flashpoints: Venezuela, Cuba, and Ukraine

[10:45–20:16]

• Venezuela & Cuba
  • Trump-backed removal of Maduro led to U.S. control but continued hardship for Venezuelans and downstream humanitarian crises in Cuba.
  • Lack of transparency about oil profits; ordinary Cubans and Venezuelans see no benefit.
    • "There’s no democracy, no talk about elections... creating a complete humanitarian concern." — Meeks [13:39]
• Russia and Ukraine
  • U.S. started strong in supporting Ukraine, but Trump administration shifted, depriving Ukraine of crucial aid and softening sanctions on Russia.
    • "They said that if we just gave them the resources... we would not have to send one American soldier over." — Meeks [15:00]
  • U.S. now needs Ukraine’s drone tech; war continues to drag with global economic aftershocks (oil, grain prices).

3. Supreme Court Decision & The Assault on the Voting Rights Act

[21:16–34:03]

• Impact and Historic Analogy

  • Deep personal and national hurt: decision undermines protection against race-based voter discrimination.
    • "It was, you know, really a shot in the gut... threatens not only black voters, but the integrity of representative democracy itself." — Meeks [22:32]
  • Draws historic parallels to Plessy v. Ferguson and Jim Crow; warns against reversing civil rights progress.

• New Redistricting Wild West

  • Supreme Court ruling opens door to perpetual, hyper-partisan gerrymandering.
    • "...basically said you can [redistrict] anytime you want for as partisan of reasons as you want. So without a fix, are we looking at this every two years?" — Beshear [26:10]
  • Meeks outlines how Republican-led states are aggressively diluting urban and Black votes, while Democrats now fight back with reciprocal redistricting.

• Grassroots Hope: Voter Turnout

  • Despite suppression, Democratic and independent turnout is surging in key states.
    • "...when you try to silence people, they want to show up and make their voice heard." — Beshear [29:42]
    • "For the first time in almost 40 years, a Democrat won [a state senate seat in Florida] where the president lives." — Meeks [30:14]

4. What’s Next: Democratic Congressional Priorities

[31:35–34:03]

• If Democrats Regain the Majority:
  • Focus on affordability: lowering gas prices, challenging unnecessary tariffs.
  • Healthcare access, especially preserving rural hospitals.
  • Aggressive oversight and transparency—"...so that we can make sure the American people know how their tax dollars are being spent..." — Meeks [33:46]
  • Restoring fairness in voting rights and ending "games" with district lines.

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Panel Segment: The Johns Chime In

[35:08–54:23]

Foreign Policy Commentary & Layman's Analysis

• Frustration at ceaseless "ceasefire" claims while active hostilities continue in Iran.
• Skepticism about Trump administration’s negotiation tactics, compared to "mediations that go nowhere."
  • “Hope is not a plan… we’re doing a lot of hoping and not a lot of planning.” — John Rabinowitz [36:34]
• Real-world economic impacts—sky-high gas prices making everyday life difficult:
  • "People are going to work right now and the first two hours that they work now only cover the cost of gas to get to work." — Beshear [40:49]

On Trump and "Meet the Press" Meltdown

• Trump’s combative interview and disregard for facts or civility is palpable:
  • “It’s just so unpresidential in so many different ways from the yelling to now. It’s just clear that he’s going to call anything he doesn’t like rigged.” — Beshear [44:59]
  • Panel notes persistent hostility toward journalists, particularly women.
  • Amusing reference: “John McConnell called it insurrection checks.” [41:45]
• Moments of comic relief with birthday banter and playful "John McConnell is older than ______" jokes among the hosts.

State Political Landscape & Democratic Momentum

• Beshear shares news and observations from trips to Minnesota, Colorado, Iowa, and Indiana—Democrats seeing grassroots enthusiasm and momentum.
• Critiques, regardless of party, e.g., Colorado’s Polis pardoning Tina Peters.
  • “If I’m going to criticize Republicans when they do wrong, I should criticize Democrats when they do wrong, too.” — Beshear [48:09]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Meeks, on Trump’s war powers:
  • “He needs to be clean. He needs to come and tell the truth to the American people, tell the truth to Congress, be transparent about it.” [08:54]
• Meeks, on Voting Rights:
  • “As Dr. King once said, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. And lack of voting rights anywhere is a threat to voting rights everywhere.” [24:33]
• Johns' Banter:
  • “John McConnell is older than gravity.” — Beshear [53:42]
  • “I probably feel somewhere around 55 and probably act somewhere around 14.” — John McConnell [54:15]
• Beshear, on impact:
  • “These aren’t distant problems. They’re decisions being made right now that will shape the kind of country our kids inherit.” [54:32]

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Important Timestamps

• Iran & War Powers Discussion: 02:45–10:45
• Cuba/Venezuela, Foreign Policy: 10:45–14:52
• Ukraine & US Policy Shift: 14:52–20:16
• Voting Rights Act Ruling: 21:16–29:36
• Voter Turnout Trends: 29:36–31:35
• Democratic Priorities if Back in Power: 31:35–34:03
• Panel/Johns Segment (Foreign Policy, Trump, State Politics, Birthday Fun): 35:08–54:23

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Summary Tone & Character

The tone remains direct, passionate, personal, and occasionally lighthearted—matching the style of Governor Beshear and his guests. Congressman Meeks brings urgency and clarity to high-stakes issues; the roundtable with the Johns injects relatable insights and camaraderie. The episode delivers both sobering analysis and hope for democratic resilience.

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Takeaways

• Both foreign and domestic crises are symptoms of leadership failures, lack of experience, and disregard for democratic norms.
• The Voting Rights Act rollback is a threat not just to minority voters, but to American representative democracy as a whole.
• Congress and citizens must fight back—through legislation, oversight, and above all, high voter turnout.
• Moments of humor and human connection matter, even amidst the heavy news cycle.

If you care about the direction of American democracy—at home and abroad—this episode provides a clear-eyed, deeply informed perspective punctuated with optimism and a call to action.

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Transcript

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[Andy Beshear]

Welcome back Podcast Family. On this episode, we talk about how the world feels more uncertain than it has in decades. Russia continues its assault on Ukraine, Iran grows bolder, and America's role on the global stage is being questioned in ways that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. At the same time, here at home, the foundation of our democracy, the right to vote, is under attack in the courts and in the statehouses across the country. My guest today has spent years at the center of both of these fights. As a ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, he's been one of the loudest and most clear eyed voices pushing back against the retreat from our alliances and our values abroad. And as a longtime champion of civil rights, he's sounding the alarm on the gutting of the Voting Rights act and what it means for communities that have already had to fight too hard for too long just to have their voices heard. This week, we're going to hear from Congressman Gregory Meeks, a good friend and a person who has a voice that all Americans need to hear. We're also going to have a conversation with the Johns that spans all of this news we've heard. And we're going to wish Happy birthday to John McConnell and have a little bit of fun with it. This is a really substantive episode of the Andy Beshear Podcast. If you're wondering about all these conflicts going on around the world and you want to hear from one of the foremost experts, this is your episode. From public housing to the nation's capital, Gregory Weldon Meeks has lived a true American success story. Known for his compassionate and tenacious representation of his constituents and his coalition building skills, Meeks proudly serves the constituents of New York's 5th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. He is also the ranking member and former Chair of the Committee on Foreign affairs, making him one of the most knowledgeable individuals in Congress about all these conflicts going on around the world. Congressman, thanks for joining the Andy Beshear Podcast.

[Congressman Gregory Meeks]

Good to be with you, Governor. My pleasure.

[Andy Beshear]

I know we've got a lot of topics to cover today, including the Supreme Court's horrendous decision on the Voting Rights Act. But I would love your knowledge for our listeners on what seems to be more and more international conflict under the Trump administration. I think the one that everyone is obviously watching right now and being impacted with the price of gas and, and diesel is Trump's conflict with Iran. Please share your thoughts on it and what we do to ultimately get out of it.

[Congressman Gregory Meeks]

Yeah, thank you for that. Look, Governor, the President of the United States has gone around Congress at every opportunity that he could. The Constitution basically states the only body that can declare war is a Congress. And the President had a responsibility to come to Congress to make the case for why we were going to war, because that's what it is. He says it's war one second, and he says it's, you know, something else another second. But he's never come to Congress to say why or whether there was an imminent threat to the United States of America, why was urgent for us to go in at that particular time, how much it would cost the American people, how we would get out of it, whether we had allies working with us and they had been informed. None of those things took place. And so what we put together is a bill which we call a War Powers Resolution, saying that the President must come to Congress if, in fact, he wants to continue to press pursue his war of choice, because that's actually what it has been. He's not articulated anything in regards to the matters that I just laid out. And so just last, we passed a War Powers Resolution that basically said that the President must come to Congress and lay out his case. If he would come to Congress and lay out his case, then we can make the determination as members of Congress of whether or not it is the right thing to do. So that's just doing our job. So the resolution basically says, Congress, let's not punt our job. Let's not just give it away. The executive branch, no matter who the President is, this is what we should be doing. The other mechanism, of course, is a, what you call a authorization military force, as we did back after 9 11, where the president had to come to office. I had a vote each time, whether it was Iraq or Afghanistan. We had none of those at this time. And on top of that, we had not one single hearing on the House Foreign Affairs Committee where we were focused and dedicated in trying to get the answers that we need in regards to this. In fact, we only had three classified meetings during this whole period of time that at least was bipartisan. I don't know if he was meeting with Republicans or not, but I think that the frustration that we're building on the Republican side also. So in order to get this resolution passed last week, it had to be bipartisan. And I was able to get significant Republicans to sign on to it to say that the President now has to come to Congress. So that's where we are next step. Of course, this resolution is a privileged resolution under the War Powers Act. So just so that people will understand that, meaning that a vote can be forced in the Senate. But I'm not going to do that. I'm going to refer to my colleagues in the Senate. I talked to a number of them for that to make the determination what they want to do. And I should add lastly, Governor, that this is a concurrent resolution, which also means that because people often ask me, well, the President's just on a veto with a current resolution based upon the Wall Powers act. If the Senate adopts the same bill that I did, it does not go to the President's desk at all for veto. So both chambers passed this resolution. We believe it is binding on the President and requires him to terminate US Hostilities toward Iran until such time he comes to Congress with the appropriate evidence and or case.

[Andy Beshear]

So I think for most people when they're waking up each day, they are seeing new news about the exchange of fire, missiles, drones between the different parties. Yet the President every day tells us there's a ceasefire. I think most people, when they think about that word ceasefire, think that means that you are not exchanging fire. Shouldn't the President, I mean, actually tell it like it is directly communicate to the American people and not try to act like what is a continuing ongoing conflict has somehow stopped?

[Congressman Gregory Meeks]

Well, you're absolutely right. And the President has already shown that he can't. He doesn't know himself because he told us initially that the war would only last a couple of weeks. It was a couple of weeks, then it was three weeks, then it's a month and now it's been over 90 days and he still has not come clean with us. Gas prices continue to go up, food prices continue to go up. Our allies are sitting on the sidelines saying that we did not start this. So therefore you've got to negotiate something. And clearly, you know, bombing U.S. bombing would not get us out of this. So it's got to be something that is going to take long term negotiations. Remember now, I was a supporter of the JCPOA that was negotiated with President obama back in 2008, 2009 that took some time to get it done, but we did it with allies. So the president has not come clean. And the only one that has suffered doing this is the American people and those innocents that are dying, whether it's in Israel or Iran or Lebanon. You know, he needs to be clean. He needs to come and tell the truth to the American people, tell the truth to Congress, be transparent about it.

[Andy Beshear]

I think about your vast expertise and not only seeing a lot of conflicts and being briefed on them through your time in Congress, but. But you've also seen the individuals a president has sent to try to negotiate resolutions. You know, I see J.D. vance, with no experience, going over and failing. I see developer friends of the president, with no foreign affairs experience going over and failing. Then I see the president trying to negotiate on top of a negotiation, which makes everything difficult. Are these the least experienced negotiators you've ever seen, tasked with something this important?

[Congressman Gregory Meeks]

Absolutely. There's been no time, and I've been in Congress a pretty long time now on this committee working with the State Department. But the State Department has relatively been absent in these negotiations. You know, you see Secretary Rubio, he's basically working on the Western Hemisphere, but you don't see him in working on the Middle east at all. And any of these Gulf countries are working together. By the way, it seems as though those individuals, Mr. Kushner and Mr. Witkoff, not only are they not negotiators, they are, you know, basically real estate negotiators. No experience in foreign policy, but in a lot of the transactions that you see, whether it be with Saudi Arabia or the UAE or other allies, basically, they're coming away with billions of dollars in business. So there's conflicts of interest even with them at the negotiating table in the Middle east as we speak.

[Andy Beshear]

So with Rubio in the Western Hemisphere, we see him making a big push for this administration to potentially take military action in Cuba. Give us your thoughts on that.

[Congressman Gregory Meeks]

Yeah, look, on the Western Hemisphere, first, I think that, you know, you see Rubio advising the president and taking and arresting Nicholas Maduro, who's not a good guy, not the guy that we support, but he took him forcibly from that country. And basically, the government is now in the hands of the United States because the same Maduro administration is still intact and is Trump's friends that are getting all the oil.

[Andy Beshear]

No transparency whatsoever with a bank account in the Middle east, if I'm not mistaken.

[Congressman Gregory Meeks]

You're absolutely right. There's no transparency. We recently had Rubio in the Foreign Affairs Committee to talk about the State Department. And there's absolutely no records that they could produce or anything else as to how that oil is being appropriated and who is, you know, in it and on it. I was recently in an airport traveling over to Southeast Asia. I ran into somebody and he said, oh, he's gone to Venezuela to try to do some deals. But the Venezuelan people are not seeing anything directly there. And there's no democracy, no elect, talk about elections or putting elections together, getting electoral council so that the people of Venezuela can choose their own leaders, what this president is doing and continue to prop them up. Now back to your question. On top of that, as a result, Cuba was very dependent upon a lot of the oil resources that Venezuela had going to Cuba. And so once the president took that over, he stopped the flow of energy into Cuba, causing all kinds of humanitarian concerns on the ground there. For the average everyday Cuban citizen does not have any access to gasoline to put in their cars. There was an article in one of the, I think it was the New York Times today talking about how all of the antique and other automobiles are just sitting on the sidelines. There's blackouts because of how their energy is being, is, has been produced for lights. So there's times, you know, that there's know, hours on end where there's no power, it causes a backup of food. So I've heard from individuals who have traveled to Cuba recently that people are going hungry and even if they have food because there's no fuel stoves or cooking food or anything of that nature. So the people. So what has been caused by this president's boycott or I should say embargo into Cuba is creating complete humanitarian concern. Now, I agree that we, you know, my position has been for a long time that our policy toward Cuba for over 60 years has been something that we needed to change because it did not work. And I for one favored trying to make sure that we began to open up Cuba, but in a different way than what caused a humanitarian crisis in the way that this president is doing it.

[Andy Beshear]

And given that there is so much chaos in the world, I want to touch on one more, and that is Russia's invasion of Ukraine. And just thinking back over the last several years from a United States that was strongly behind Ukraine initially based on the fact that we knew who exactly the aggressor was here, to the Trump administration coming in and seeming to favor Putin at every turn to now the United States needing some of Ukraine's anti drone technology and Trump seemingly being too proud. Give us Your thoughts on that? Very ironic turn.

[Congressman Gregory Meeks]

Yeah, it's mind blowing. You know, I say, governor, I led the last congressional delegation to Ukraine before Vladimir Putin's invasion into Ukraine. And one of the things that stays on my mind is talking to the Ukrainian people. And what they said to me and the delegation that was with me was that if we just gave them the resources that they need, the equipment, the weapons, the munitions, et cetera, we would not have to send one American soldier over that they know that their freedom is on the line and they would fight for their freedom. They said that we will stand and we will fight. And remember, at that time, Vladimir Putin had said it would take them and Trump also to be a week or two. But here we are almost five years later, and those individuals in Ukraine, those strong and mighty individuals in Ukraine are still fighting. And they were moving forward until such time, especially under the Biden administration. But at the end of the Biden administration, the Republicans came in and started not giving Ukraine any munitions or anything that it needed to help fight off the aggression of Vladimir Putin. And we went for about three, four, five months, and it was down to where the Ukrainians were, almost out of munitions, period, nothing left, because the Republicans refused to pass a budget that was going to give them what they need. And that was brought on by Donald Trump, who was running for president at that time. And he started giving orders, really at that time, to many members of Congress. And as a result of that, there was very much concern by our NATO allies also. So we were all working collectively together with our NATO allies and others. And now Ukraine was left out without anything from the United States. I give credit and thanks to our NATO allies who stepped up and started giving Ukraine more things what it needed. But we stopped sanctioning Russia in the way that we should. In fact, because of the Iran war, President Trump has lifted some of those sanctions, oil sanctions that we had on Russia, which helps them finance their war, but we stopped giving. But as you said, Ukrainian and their engineering and their determination to fight for their freedom started coming up with and creating their own drones. And now they are pushing back and has and is holding off Russia in this fifth year and what we're trying to do. And this bill that we passed last week, I had another bill that we were able to do through a process called motion to discharge because the Republicans would not put it on the floor to have a vote. I knew all along we could have a vote on Congress, in Congress that we would be able to pass a bill because some Republicans understand That since World War II, because of NATO and us sticking together, we had not had that kind of aggression before. So we put the bill on again. I had bipartisan support. I had three Republicans, four Republicans that decided to join us and put what was unusual, a motion of discharge on the floor to vote on whether or not we should further sanction Russia as well as allow Ukraine to buy munitions from us. And the reason why I say that's important also, Governor, is that all of the money that would be going to help Ukraine comes back to the United States. It's all, you know, the equipment would be bought in the United States, creating American jobs. The food that they would be getting is coming from the United States, creating American jobs. So this is a win win for us, standing by our allies, giving them what they need. And as you said, it turns out that we need things for them now because what you look at in regards to Iran and the missiles that they've been shooting down, you know, they've been using drones also. But we have to use equipment that costs millions of dollars to knock down a drone that is valued at $1,000 or so. So he passed that. Other Republicans came on board and said we should be doing the right thing in that regards. Now it goes to the Senate also. I had several senators call me after the vote passed and said they will begin to try to do a similar bill. So hopefully we can stand with our NATO allies, stand with Ukraine against the aggression of Vladimir Putin. Lastly, it's also important because when I talked about the oil coming out of Russia and how it's being utilized, circulated also you talk about some of the ports that are there. It causes prices oil. It contributes to the price of oil and food in America also. So we need to end both of these wars because the economy of the United States is directly affected by both of these wars that are going on. One, the aggression of Vladimir Putin and the other the war of choice by President.

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[Andy Beshear]

It seems like the only constant with Trump administration policy, whether it's foreign policy or domestic, is that they want the price of gas to go up. You're listening to the Andy Beshear Podcast. Our guest this week is Congressman Gregory Meeks. We've been talking to him about foreign policy because he is the ranking member on that most important committee. But I want to turn now to that shameful decision by the US Supreme Court on the Voting Rights Act. The context I put it in is, for me, about a year and a half ago, getting invited to the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma. And I knew it would be a moving experience. But actually talking to the foot soldiers that are still with us that marched that day was, was really incredible. I mean, these are people who put their body and lives on the line to ultimately result in this Voting Rights Act. And you have gotten to see so many of the gains over time and hopefully the progress. So I know this hits you pretty hard. I guess my first question is how did you, how did you feel when you heard that news?

[Congressman Gregory Meeks]

Well, it was, you know, really a shot in the gut, and I think it should be for all Americans because, you know, the Supreme Court's decision to gut the Voting Rights act, which is what it basically does, it threatens government, not only black voters, but the integrity, integrity of representative democracy itself when courts can weaken protections. That was, as you so exquisitely said, that took place in March of 1965, crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge. But when it weakened protections against racial discrimination in voting, which is our everything, the communities, it weakens communities. It opens doors for efforts to enact discriminatory policies of that nature, silence entire communities and erode public trust in our institution. And you got to remember when you look at the Voting Rights act, it was about communities that had no voice and no real representation in Congress on the issues that were important for them. And so by this erosion, by the course that has taken place, it's disempowering and not giving people, especially in the South, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Tennessee. So it weakens them and they don't have a voice in saying by compacting and doing this racial gerrymandering, it is unconstitutional based upon, I should say it breaks precedent of the civil rights law that was passed by Congress.

[Andy Beshear]

Right.

[Congressman Gregory Meeks]

And had been up until recently. So. And all Americans, all Americans should be concerned about just that. And because if you, you know, as Dr. King once said, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. And lack of voting rights anywhere is a threat to voting rights everywhere. And making sure that we're not going back. You know, to me, my family's from South Carolina. They tried to do something in South Carolina also. But to me, you don't want to go back to those days of Jim Crow. That's who we not as a people or as a nation. And I warn folks that when I look back post Reconstruction time, it was a Supreme Court decision at that time, Plessy v. Ferguson, that eroded rights that individuals had to vote at that particular time and brought in Jim Crow. And now I don't want to have Jim Crow. 20

[Andy Beshear]

John Marshall Harlan, great dissenter from Kentucky, he had been attorney general here in Kentucky. So those are big shoes to fill. I also think about what they did in the Voting Rights act, as it's going to have some repercussions in that you're not going you might not have a congressman, say, from Memphis, a large city with important interests in Congress. Montgomery, what we're seeing right now is very intentionally urban areas being broken up in so many different ways so that you don't have a congressman or woman from there. The other piece is, I think it creates the Wild, Wild west for redistricting because they basically said you can do it anytime you want for as partisan of reasons as you want. So without a fix, are we looking at this every two years?

[Congressman Gregory Meeks]

Yeah. I'm glad you brought that up, Governor, because let's think about how this started. It really started by this president, again, cheating.

[Andy Beshear]

Yes.

[Congressman Gregory Meeks]

And going to Texas first and say, find me five more votes, Republican votes. Nobody was talking about redistricting on midterm. It generally takes every 10 years. And then we go to redistricting based upon census and other things. But this president, similarly to 2020, when he went to the governor of Georgia and says, find me more votes, he

[Andy Beshear]

says it out loud.

[Congressman Gregory Meeks]

That's right. Find me five more Republican seats. He couldn't be more clearer in that regard of what and the reason why he wanted those five seats. And then he's gone on to other states. And so what's not going to happen, Governor, is Democrats are not going to sit back and just allow try to steal the election. And that's why the governor of California and the people of California came up and said, okay, if you do five seats, we will do five seats. And to show that it wasn't something that we wanted to do, said, now you take away those five seats. Don't go ahead with this redistricting piece. We won't go ahead with the redistricting piece. And in that case, the Governor Abbott of Texas, he just summarily did it without a process in California. The people of California had to go and vote in the proposition to say it's okay to do this. So in one sense, even at that, one was more Democratic than the other. And so then this war keeps going on where this president has gone from state to state to try to find more by gerrymandering more districts that would be in favor of Republicans. So you stated the state's right in Louisiana, they want to take away one of the black seats there. In fact, at one time they were talking about looking at both. But it appears right now one black seat would be gone from Louisiana, Alabama, white, blacks and possibly two from there. And then, you know, we also did something in Virginia fighting back. Right. Of course the people went to vote and voted to be district and of course the Supreme Court and the Virginia state court reversed that. But guess what? We're going to still win in Virginia. We're not going to allow them to be five seats won in Texas.

[Andy Beshear]

Right.

[Congressman Gregory Meeks]

We're going to fight. You know, people sometimes says Democrats don't fight back. We're going to fight back to make sure that we not to get to have a level playing field so that the people can then go to the polls in November to vote for the people that they want to represent them with fair lines that were drawn appropriately before this president tried to still an election.

[Andy Beshear]

I'm with you. What we're seeing is record turnout even across the South. So I did a stop with Doug Jones. The Democratic primary turnout in Alabama doubled from four years ago. I was with Jim Clyburn in South Carolina and they broke every early voting record with 80% of it being Democrats. I think when you try to silence people, they want to show up and make their voice heard.

[Congressman Gregory Meeks]

You're so right. Even in Florida, where the president lives, Margo Lago, I call it Margo Loco sometimes.

[Andy Beshear]

That's probably right.

[Congressman Gregory Meeks]

The state Senate seat there was a special election for the state Senate seat there. And for the first time in almost 40 years, a Democrat won that seat. And so now a Democrat state senator represents where the president lives in Florida. So you're right, the enthusiasm of Democrats is very high. And what I also predict and what we're seeing is that the enthusiasm of independence is very high to make sure that, you know, that that's not. They don't want to go back to Jim Crow into those days where we had racial discrimination. And my father, for example, my family's from South Carolina. He wasn't able to vote his childhood at all. He took to him when he became an adult in the early 60s or the first time that he was able to go to the polls to vote. So we don't want to go back to those days. That's not who we are as a country and as a people. And I think the overwhelming majority of Americans are that way. And that's why we just want to make sure that these games are not rigged. We have a fair play, fair a playing field, and then get to where we could have a vote in November. And the people will decide. And we, as you said, enthusiastic on the right side of this. Fairness for all, I believe, will be what you'll see coming from the American people.

[Andy Beshear]

So as you and I are putting in the work to make sure that the U.S. house of Representatives flips, you are back in the majority, what are some of the first actions that the American people can expect from, from a Democratic Congress?

[Congressman Gregory Meeks]

Well, number one, what I think we're going to do is try to make sure that we bring affordability, bringing costs down, and that is by putting a check to a degree on the president with reference to these wars that they're still going on. That is to make sure that gas prices go down, to make sure, because we've forgotten about these tariffs that this president put on. Many Americans had to suffer from it. Farmers still suffer from it. We had, you know, I did another, you know, motion to discharge on that, that we won with regards to Canada and the courts. Then one of the few good decisions we had said, yes, the president did not have the authority to issue those tariffs. And so we will be making sure that we fix and hold them accountable in that regards. I think that you'll see that we will also be pushing forward legislation for health care, trying to make sure that every American, and you've done a great job of that in Kentucky as far as making sure all Kentuckians get health care. I visited Kentucky not too long ago, and I saw in various communities creating hospitals who are in danger from what the Trump administration did with you know, a lot of rural hospitals would close, et cetera. We got to make sure that we put policies very similar, Governor, to what you've done in terms of, I think that it's something that we need to look at very closely because it's been successful, and that's something that can spread as we move forward and meet some of those first agendas. You know, for me and my committee, if I'm the chair, I also have to make sure that we have oversight responsibilities and that we make sure that those oversight responsibilities are upheld and bringing people in so that we can make sure the American people know how their tax dollars are being spent and who the people are that they put in charge of them, as opposed to hiding them behind the scenes and not allowing them to come before Congress in an open manner so that there can be questions asked in transparency to the American people. So I think that those are the initial pieces that we'll be looking at, so that we are looking at what is going to help average, everyday Americans drive down their cost of living so that they're not being hit by high tariffs, inflation, gas prices, food prices. There's ways and things that we can do in that regard.

[Andy Beshear]

That is exactly what our country needs. Congressman, I'm going to do my part to put you back in the majority as chair of that critical committee. But today, thanks for joining the podcast.

[Congressman Gregory Meeks]

Thank you for having me, Governor. Thank you for being the great governor that you've been. We really appreciate being with you and look forward to working with you in the future.

[Andy Beshear]

We talk about the Andy Beshear Podcast as a conversation among friends. That's why we started my conversation with the Johns, my two friends, John Rabinowitz and John McConnell, that helped me start this podcast. Just about every week we break down the news of the week. There's so much of it, especially this week, try to make a little bit of sense of it, try to give you a. A little bit of analysis and hopefully make you feel a little more in control of a world that feels pretty out of control. So, gentlemen, this is a big week. And near the end of this, we will have to talk about the fact that Today is John McConnell's birthday. Happy birthday.

[John McConnell]

Thank you, guys.

[John Rabinowitz]

Yes. Happy birthday, John.

[John McConnell]

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[Andy Beshear]

And I just say, if you're listening right now, make sure you listen to the very end, because at the end of my conversation with the Johns, we're going to play a game called John McConnell is older than Blank. I'm ready for it.

[John McConnell]

I can only imagine where this goes, I can only imagine.

[Andy Beshear]

All right, let's start with the continued war in Iran. We are seeing, really, an escalation of strikes, whether that's Iran on Middle Eastern countries. Iran, Iran and Israel exchanging some pretty significant fire. Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, and the US Responding to that. It is a lot of activity for what's supposedly a ceasefire. And then despite us being told over and over that they were really close to a democratic diplomatic resolution, it doesn't seem like we've gotten any closer to the end of this war whatsoever since last week, guys.

[John McConnell]

It just seems like every week it goes back and forth, we're gonna have a ceasefire, then someone starts to shoot, then we're not gonna have a ceasefire, and then it's back on. It's almost like they just come up with another reason to get themselves in the media to talk about it and see how things react.

[John Rabinowitz]

So conflict remains unstable, is what you're saying, Andy, shocking?

[John McConnell]

Yes.

[John Rabinowitz]

And we don't really know what's going on. Trump is pushing de escalation, at least outwardly to us. But I do have real concerns on are we negotiating with the right people? Do we have any control over the situation? Do we really know what's going on? I'd like to think that maybe we're just not being shared with all the information for strategic reasons, but it is frustrating to feel like things lack transparency and there's no plan. You know, hope is not a plan, as we've told a million times. And I feel like we're doing a lot of hoping and not a lot of planning.

[Andy Beshear]

But John Rabinowitz, I noticed something that, as lawyers, we might be able to react to. The other day, President Trump said, well, my negotiators are there, and they were hammering out terms, and the sides agreed to the terms. But then I got them and said, no, those terms aren't enough, and I started changing them. Are we doing what you and I have seen in mediations, where the two come to some agreement and then one side says, nope, I can't do that, and then tries to negotiate from that position?

[John Rabinowitz]

I will tell you, there's nothing more frustrating than having a client like that at times. I will tell you that if you go in again, this goes back to planning. Andy, if we go in with a plan and we have a set of goals and we're able to accomplish those goals, then it should make resolution of an outcome much, much easier. But when you go in and you don't, it seems, at least to me, when you Go in without a plan. You know, it's important. Listen, again, I go back to this. I think he's 100% right that we don't want them to have a nuclear weapon, and nor do we want them to have the ability to purchase a nuclear weapon. Great. But. But at what expense? Now we're over here in the US and our people are struggling. And so to your point, yes, super frustrating. I don't know how it does sound like a mediation that's going nowhere, which we have many mediations in our world that go nowhere the first couple of times, but it's at the expense of the American people.

[Andy Beshear]

I want to get to the struggling point, but I think you just had some really good analysis in that if you go into a conflict without clear goals and a way to achieve them, then negotiating your way out of that conflict is just as problematic that in the very start, the fact that they did not have clearly outlined realistic goals, because I think when they went in, they thought that there would be regime change, which obviously did not happen. They didn't think that Iran would close the Strait of Hormuz, which they did. The fact that they didn't have a realistic game plan from the start is still haunting them. And through gas and diesel prices, the American people and I want to transition,

[John Rabinowitz]

I guess, Andy, to your point, ultimately the President's in charge, but who's really in charge of the negotiations on our behalf? Right. It seems like different people at different times. And how can you accomplish those goals when you have so many chiefs and not enough Indians?

[Andy Beshear]

So when we look at the impact here at home, I think that there's just a disconnect with the Trump administration and how hard this is hitting the United States. Now, Trump said a lot of things like he doesn't care about the financial situation of Americans and then that he said he's in no hurry. He doesn't care about the midterms. But the urgency of is about the American people. It's about the price of gasoline and diesel, which remains just too high for not just the average, but most all American families. And it is just increasing the price of everything at a time when people were already struggling.

[John McConnell]

Yeah. And we talked a little bit about this, I think last week, even that, you know, for families, you know, having gasoline in your car is not an option. You have to fill your car up in order to get to work. So while we stand back and watch a mediation with a negotiation go on, that seems to go nowhere except back and forth. Like you said, Andy, the families are still struggling here in our country and they're the ones who are paying for it.

[Andy Beshear]

People are going to work right now and the first two hours that they work now only cover the cost of gas to get to work. Talk about falling behind.

[John Rabinowitz]

Well, when you got to make choices between groceries for the week, transportation and again like good luck with vacations this summer for many, many people it's a real problem. And it's to your point, Andy, it doesn't seem like it's getting acknowledged enough publicly by his administration.

[Andy Beshear]

It's that while inflation is complicated and can be caused by a lot of things, the price of gas and diesel is very simple. Right now it's the choice of Donald Trump to go to war with Iran.

[John Rabinowitz]

And then but ironically enough guys, if you watch that Meet the Press episode, he's still focused on that $1.8 billion. We'll call it slush fund, but however you want to term it, I think

[Andy Beshear]

John McConnell called it. John McConnell called it insurrection checks.

[John McConnell]

Yeah, Insurrection checks. The slush fund to be used.

[Andy Beshear]

I think that's a great place to turn to. As you're mentioning. Donald Trump had a disastrous interview on

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[Donald Trump]

Press your elections are crooked and you're crooked and Meet the Press is crooked and so is ABC and CBS and cnn, you one sided crooked network. So let's call it quits because I've had enough. Thank you, darling. Have a good time.

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Mr. President, let's please.

[Congressman Gregory Meeks]

I traveled all the way to Wisconsin.

[Donald Trump]

I've slept the rain.

[Andy Beshear]

I know I slept all the way

[Donald Trump]

to an hour on and off in the rain. And I've given you enough time. You ought to straighten out your press because you know what? A country can never be great with a dishonest.

[Congressman Gregory Meeks]

Listen, he traveled all the way to Wisconsin for this interview.

[Andy Beshear]

I think he showed us, showed us that you're never too old to act like a child. He, he was very combative. But what I saw in that is somebody who's had a couple of very bad weeks. The price of gas and diesel still too high.

[Congressman Gregory Meeks]

Yep.

[John McConnell]

And then also he got no gold cards. So you can't pay $100,000 for a gold card.

[Andy Beshear]

The court just struck down the plan he wanted where people would pay an exorbitant price for a gold card and gain access to the United States through immigration.

[John McConnell]

And then you've still got no ballroom going up. And you've also no name on the Kennedy Center.

[Andy Beshear]

So Congress did not fund that ballroom. And since we criticized it on the Andy Beshear podcast, the Trump administration backed off of that $1.8 billion slush fund, even though he keeps defending it. Because we are convinced that if this administration watches three things, it is cnn, Fox News, and the Andy Beshear podcast.

[John Rabinowitz]

I mean, listen, we are so impactful across the country. It's great. So the Meet the Press interview, much different than your Meet the Press interview.

[John McConnell]

Yes.

[John Rabinowitz]

I do always wonder why we know how these interviews are ultimately going to turn out. They never end well, especially when questioned on the facts. So is it really that surprising that it ended this way?

[Andy Beshear]

It just so unpresidential in so many different ways from the yelling to now. It's just clear that he's going to call anything he doesn't like rigged. And then it's so transparent that he has absolutely no facts other than he's not winning or getting his way. But it just, it's another example of how he treats women and especially female reporters that, I mean, it's disgraceful and no one should act that way.

[John McConnell]

I would almost use the word. When you watch it, it's just cringe.

[Andy Beshear]

Ooh, bring it in. A little Gen Z lingo.

[John McConnell]

That's it. It's just cringe because you just feel bad for her saying, I traveled all this way can we please just. And it's just completely disrespecting her, her time, the fact she's there, or any transparency, just to have a conversation.

[John Rabinowitz]

I didn't see this portion, but did he take his mic off, throw it on the ground and stomp on it?

[Andy Beshear]

I think there's a question of whether he intended to stomp on it, but he definitely took it off. I think was very unprofessional with her as he was leaving and then eventually stormed out, stomping on a mic.

[John Rabinowitz]

Well, that's one way to exit.

[John McConnell]

It's one way to leave the room.

[John Rabinowitz]

Speaking of traveling, you've been all over

[Andy Beshear]

the place lately, Andy, since the last podcast, I've been in Minneapolis for Minnesota's big democratic dinner. Almost 2,000 people strong. Saw Tim Walls in his last address to one of those dinners. And then our, what, third ever podcast guest, I believe, Amy Klobuchar. We had her on as a US Senator. She is now running for governor. There she is, way up.

[John McConnell]

Oh, that's terrific. And Amy was great. I mean, when you think about her story, father being a coal miner, and

[Andy Beshear]

I think of a minor.

[John McConnell]

A minor. I think of all the things that I've heard so far about a superpower. Andy always seems to bring up hers just out of just admiration of. How can that be Jealousy? Jealous.

[Andy Beshear]

Hers was that she doesn't need that much sleep.

[John McConnell]

That's it.

[John Rabinowitz]

Yeah. It's amazing. Wasn't it like, at most three hours? It's the craziest thing.

[Andy Beshear]

Could you imagine having that many more hours in your day? After that, I was off to Denver for their Democratic dinner, which is called the Obama Gala. And there I got to see both of the candidates for governor that we've had on the podcast. U.S. senator Michael Bennett and Attorney General

[John Rabinowitz]

Phil Weiser, both very strong candidates. Colorado really is going to luck out in this election.

[Andy Beshear]

It's become a chippy primary, which I hate to see, but either of them will win the general, and it's going to be a really good governor. And of course, there is some controversy there as I went in, because not long before that dinner, the current Governor, Jared Polis pardoned Tina Peters, who was convicted of trying to mess with their presidential election.

[John McConnell]

Oh, okay.

[Andy Beshear]

So there was. I had a line in my speech on it. I'm not sure Jared Polis can be very happy with me, but truth is truth. And if I'm going to criticize Republicans when they do wrong, I should criticize Democrats when they do wrong, too. And then I was to Iowa with one of our favorite guests, Rob Sand. The energy there is enormous. We had a, a rally in Des Moines. It had about 700 people at it, just through open RSVP. You can really feel there that not only Rob has a real chance to flip Iowa. Their Senate candidate, Josh Turek, who is a gold medal Paralympic Olympian in basketball, has won gold medals for the United States, but really ran a strong primary. That's put him in a good position.

[John McConnell]

Well, and Rob was an amazing guest when we had him on just his ability to communicate. They're. They're going to be very lucky to have him.

[John Rabinowitz]

Isn't Rob sand the Andy Bashir of Iowa what we're being told?

[Andy Beshear]

Or maybe. Or maybe I'm the Rob sand in Kentucky. You know, he, he, as we mentioned before, he has won statewide down ballot while Republicans were winning big right above his name. That's impressive. And this, in a way, I don't want to say will be easier because the race is bigger, but you don't have to go very far down to see where his race is. But from the moment I got off the plane in Iowa, people were saying thanks for being here. The different places that we were headed, there was real excitement for change. And if you look at what's going on in Iowa right now, it very much reminds me of what Sam Brownback did to Kansas. He just cratered their economy and they needed a change. A state that had typically voted Republican, elected a Democratic governor. And Laura Kelly, also a podcast guest, and she helped stabilize things, grow the economy, move in the right direction. I think that's what I was looking for after eight years of Kim Reynolds.

[Congressman Gregory Meeks]

Yep.

[John Rabinowitz]

Hey, let's not forget to give a shout out to our guy, Beau Bai over in Indiana with his W. That's right.

[Andy Beshear]

He came out of his primary. He will be at the top of the ticket in Indiana. And I was up in Indianapolis a couple months ago. People really fired up for his race.

[Congressman Gregory Meeks]

Yep.

[John McConnell]

Guy looks like Captain America. That interview, I'll never forget. He just.

[John Rabinowitz]

Speaking of fired up, have you seen these Knicks fans?

[Andy Beshear]

Oh, my. Yeah, you know, the Knicks are on a tear. I mean, Brunson will not let that team lose. And of course, Karl Anthony Towns leading the way, former Wildcat. But how do you think those fans are going to react when they show up to see their Knicks and they don't get in in time because President Donald J. Trump has come and all the extra security that it's going to take?

[John Rabinowitz]

4 hours early.

[Andy Beshear]

Well, how do you think he's going to be Received.

[John McConnell]

I think probably the same way people are right now in front of Trump Tower there. I think it's going to be interesting to see how the fans, when he stands up and waves, who gets.

[John Rabinowitz]

You can bet on it. I think I have to check downstairs. There's 0% chance he's warmly received in New York City.

[Andy Beshear]

Who, who do Knicks fans boo more, Wemby or Trump?

[John Rabinowitz]

Oh, it's going to be Trump, I think.

[Andy Beshear]

I'm with you.

[Congressman Gregory Meeks]

I'm not.

[Andy Beshear]

I'm not. I'm not taking that bad. I'm on. I'm on your side.

[Congressman Gregory Meeks]

Yep, yep.

[John McConnell]

Be Trump.

[Andy Beshear]

To close out my conversation with the Johns, on this edition of the Andy Beshear Podcast, we have a special new game called John McConnell is older than Blank. We are going to go around and we are going to fill in that blank that lets you know just how old Johnny Mac is. Today is his actual birthday. And so, John, I'm going to start us off. John is older than dinosaurs.

[John McConnell]

Listen, dinosaurs were great animals. You guys can't keep hating on dinosaurs.

[Andy Beshear]

John Rabinowitz.

[John Rabinowitz]

Yes. So he's actually older than technology,

[Congressman Gregory Meeks]

if

[John Rabinowitz]

you think about it. And this is really like, I hate this for myself because my birthday's in a few weeks. Microsoft Windows, smartphones, wi Fi, Bluetooth, social media. Like, he's just older than technology.

[John McConnell]

Yeah, these things are true.

[Andy Beshear]

His is practical. John McConnell is older than the primordial soup.

[John McConnell]

I mean, I had to crawl out of the soup. That's what happened.

[Andy Beshear]

We could tell.

[John Rabinowitz]

When is he getting these? John, you're older than Tom Brady's whole career.

[Andy Beshear]

John McConnell is older than the Roman Empire.

[John McConnell]

We've all got to live through our

[John Rabinowitz]

struggles being realistic here because I don't want to set myself up here. But you are older than Home Depot, Oracle, Tesla and Google.

[Andy Beshear]

Actually, John McConnell's older than AOL and it's no longer here.

[John McConnell]

It's true. It's true.

[John Rabinowitz]

Definitely older than dial. Here's what's even better. Guess how much. John, this is a question for you. How much was gas in June of 1977?

[John McConnell]

13 cents a gallon.

[John Rabinowitz]

60. 60 to 65 cents.

[John McConnell]

Oh, yeah. So I was going a little before.

[Andy Beshear]

He's actually so old, it was at least 13 or did not exist. Okay.

[John McConnell]

Yes.

[Andy Beshear]

My final. John McConnell is older than gravity.

[John Rabinowitz]

I just go with Andy Ender.

[Andy Beshear]

So, John, what was it like knowing what an animal was like before fossils?

[John McConnell]

Well, I mean, you've got to be there to watch them actually get into the mud. So just knowing that they're there and they're going to be here for some other day. Just. That's just what it was. You're there. You enjoy it.

[John Rabinowitz]

John, two questions for you. How old do you feel and how old do you act?

[John McConnell]

I probably feel somewhere around 55 and probably act somewhere around 14. So that's probably my.

[Andy Beshear]

All right with that, let's give a big happy birthday to John McConnell.

[John Rabinowitz]

Happy birthday, John.

[John McConnell]

Thank you, guys. Thank you.

[Andy Beshear]

Thank you to our special guest, Congressman Gregory Meeks. If that conversation didn't light a fire under you, I don't know what will. From Ukraine to Russia to, to the Voting Rights act right here at home, these aren't distant problems. They're decisions being made right now that will shape the kind of country our kids inherit. I'm grateful to Congressman Meeks for his time, his candor, and the work he keeps doing and showing up to do every single day. If this episode meant something to you, share it, send it to someone who needs to hear it. And if you haven't already, subscribe so you never miss a conversation. I'm Andy Beshear. We'll see you next week.

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[Congressman Gregory Meeks]

Make it quick, young man.

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[Andy Beshear]

I think we should call a doctor.

[John Rabinowitz]

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