PF1 Minisode: How to Lock in Trump Era Wins and Block the Nutso-wing Dems - Pod Force One

Pod Force One Minisode Summary

Episode: PF1 Minisode: How to Lock in Trump Era Wins and Block the Nutso-wing Dems
Host: Miranda Devine (New York Post)
Date: December 22, 2025

Episode Overview

Miranda Devine delivers a "mini episode" focused on the recent efforts and achievements of the Trump administration as it works to undo the "mess" left by Joe Biden's presidency. She provides a rundown of key policy wins, ongoing challenges for conservatives, and the dangers she sees if the "nutso wing" of the Democratic Party regains power. The tone is forthright, brisk, and unapologetically partisan, in keeping with Devine's style.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Trump’s 2025 Achievements and Media Critique

Review of President Trump’s Primetime Address ([00:20])
- Devine addresses the criticism the address received for being "too loud, too partisan, too boastful, too Trumpian" and even for interrupting the finale of Survivor.
- She emphasizes the necessity of Trump listing his accomplishments, noting:
  
  "Donald Trump was right to count the ways his administration has delivered on its promises this year. Nobody else will." ([00:46])
Media Bias and Downplaying Positive News
- Points to improving inflation numbers (2.7% vs. 3.1% predicted) as underreported due to media hostility.
- Critique of “media gatekeepers” for emphasizing footnotes and caveats:
  
  "Only news that hurts Trump count[s]. ... The media gatekeepers suddenly become sticklers for footnotes when there's a risk that Trump might be shown in a positive light." ([01:47])

Regulatory and Bureaucratic Reform

Federal Government Overhaul ([03:00])
- Praises Trump’s efforts to streamline the federal government:
  - Elimination of entire agencies and reduction of nearly 300,000 federal jobs
  - Elimination of offices focused on civil rights and diversity: "Hurrah."
  - Requirement: Cut 10 regulations for every new one enacted
  - Reinstatement of fossil fuels in federal buildings
  - Canceling EPA grants to left-leaning advocacy groups and “fake news” contracts
  - Ending Biden’s $2.5B Digital Equity Act, termed a "race based slush fund"
- Sarcastically references Washington Post’s lament to underscore success.

Exposing and Addressing Systemic Fraud

Welfare and Medical Fraud ([07:05])
- Highlights widespread fraud under Democratic leadership:
  - Minnesota Welfare Fraud: Up to $18 billion, much committed by Somali immigrant groups, and draws on federal prosecutor testimony:
    
    "Every day we look under a rock and find a new $50 million fraud scheme," —Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson ([08:55])
  - Obamacare Fraud: Over $20 billion revealed in a recent GAO report.
  - Federal Welfare Spending: Now $1.4 trillion a year; $70,000 per low-income household.
  - Points at Democrats (e.g., Gov. Tim Walz) benefitting from "unaccountable taxpayer cash" and the resulting reliable voting blocks.
- Devine frames Trump as working to "right the ship" by recouping lost funds, including:
  - Enforcing payment from migrant sponsors for welfare received
  - Projected ICE deportations of 650,000 and 2 million self-deportations as policies tighten

Immigration and Law Enforcement

Criminality and Border Discipline ([10:50])
- Selects a stark Trump quote from his primetime address:
  
  "Our country was being invaded by people who came from prisons and jails, mental institutions and insane asylums." ([11:12])
- Suggests enhanced deportation and law enforcement validate Trump’s warnings.
Gender Policy and Children’s Protection ([12:00])
- Applauds new administration restrictions on "gender affirming care" for minors:
  - Quotes HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill:
    
    "Men are men, men can never become women, women are women, women can never become men..." ([12:20]) "Children are innocent and need our protection." ([12:30])

Democrat Party Weaknesses and Internal Conservative Challenges

Democratic Party Troubles ([13:10])
- Notes DNC’s decision not to release the “autopsy” of its 2024 loss.
- Cites poor approval ratings: Just 18% approval of Congressional Democrats (Quinnipiac poll).
- Harry Enten (CNN analyst) quip:
  
  "Lower than the Dead Sea." ([13:28])
Conservative Infighting ([14:00])
- Warns that internal “feuds”—specifically infighting at TPUSA’s Amfest (post-Charlie Kirk assassination)—are damaging unity.
- Devine criticizes right-wing speakers for focusing on Candace Owens rather than policy battles.

Warnings and Strategic Recommendations

Democrat “Guardrails” and Filibuster ([16:20])
- Predicts that Democrats, if regaining power, will eliminate institutional checks:
  - Packing the Supreme Court
  - Granting statehood to new (Democrat) territories
  - Weaponizing government shutdowns to block Trump’s initiatives
- Advocacy for eliminating the filibuster:
  
  "Only axing the filibuster can neutralize that Democrat weapon. A promise to get rid of this outdated tradition should be the Christmas gift Senate Republicans give to America. Then all good things can flow." ([17:10])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

"It was too loud. It was too partisan. It was too boastful. It was too Trumpian. It interrupted the finale of Survivor. Oh no." — Miranda Devine ([00:23])
"When was the last time anyone talked about the border?" — Miranda Devine ([02:51])
“Success is not just measured in problems solved, however. One of Trump’s superpowers is to shine light on extreme Democrat malfeasance...” ([06:50])
"Every day we look under a rock and find a new $50 million fraud scheme." — Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson ([08:55])
"Our country was being invaded by people who came from prisons and jails, mental institutions and insane asylums." — Donald Trump ([11:12])
"Men are men, men can never become women, women are women, women can never become men." — HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill ([12:20])
"Only news that hurts Trump count[s]." — Miranda Devine ([01:47])
"If Democrats do win back power in 2028, it will be worse than we can imagine. There will be no guardrails." — Miranda Devine ([16:41])
"Lower than the Dead Sea." — Harry Enten ([13:28])
"A promise to get rid of this outdated tradition should be the Christmas gift Senate Republicans give to America." — Miranda Devine ([17:15])

Important Segments & Timestamps

00:20–02:00 — Review of Trump’s speech, media critique
03:00–05:10 — Bureaucracy cuts and regulatory rollbacks
07:05–10:10 — Welfare, Medicaid, and Obamacare fraud exposition
10:50–12:30 — Immigration enforcement and gender policy changes
13:10–14:30 — Democratic Party polling woes, approval ratings
14:30–15:40 — Conservative movement’s internal feuds
16:20–17:40 — Filibuster, future Democrat threats, strategic advice

Closing

Miranda wraps the episode with a preview of a Christmas Eve special, promising candid White House interviews and a look back at key moments of the year. She ends with, “Merry Christmas everyone, and let's do it all again in the new year.”

This minisode offers Miranda Devine’s sharp editorial take on the Trump administration’s agenda, Democratic Party missteps, and ongoing conservative challenges, sprinkled with memorable quotes and strategic commentary for listeners deeply engaged in American politics.

Transcript

A (0:00)

Foreign. Hello, it's Miranda with a mini episode of Pod Force One to kick off your Christmas week. This feature is a little more topical and relevant to my day to day job as a columnist for the New York Post. Today I offer a roundup of Trump administration efforts this year to fix the mess Joe Biden left behind and the challenges ahead to future Proof America for the next time the nutso wing of the Democrat Party takes power. There was a lot of sneering about the president's primetime address to the nation last week when he trumpeted his achievements for the year. It was too loud. It was too partisan. It was too boastful. It was too Trumpian. It interrupted the finale of Survivor. Oh no. But Donald Trump was right to count the ways his administration has delivered on its promises this year. Nobody else will. I inherited a mess, he said, and I'm fixing it. That was Trump's theme, with a modest pitch for an optimistic outlook in 2026. On Thursday, the day after his speech, fate smiled upon him when inflation figures came in at 2.7%, well below the 3.1% predicted by experts and below the long term US average. Democrats were devastated. But you probably didn't hear the good news, because only news that hurts Trump count. And if you did hear it, you would have had to wade through all sorts of qualifications and caveats crafted by grinches in newsrooms across the land. The media gatekeepers suddenly become sticklers for footnotes when there's a risk that Trump might be shown in a positive light. The problem with governing competently is that people quickly take it for granted. When was the last time anyone talked about the border? The Washington Post last week bemoaned the changes implemented in Trump's first year to rein in the federal government bureaucracy. So you know they were good. Entire agencies were deleted, the post whales. Nearly 300,000 employees were forced out of the federal workforce. The Trump administration gutted or eliminated offices and programs devoted to civil rights and diversity. Hurrah. Ditto for requiring that agencies cut 10 existing rules or regulations for every new rule they introduce for ordering staff back to the office five days a week, allowing fossil fuels to be used in federal buildings again, cancelling tens of millions of dollars in EPA contracts to left wing advocacy groups, terminating all federal fake news media contracts, as Trump called them, and ending Biden's $2.5 billion qu Digital Equity act, which is a race based slush fund. What's not to like? Success is not just measured in problems solved, however. One of Trump's superpowers is to shine light on extreme Democrat malfeasance around the country, which was turbocharged during the Joe Biden interregnum. From revelations of staggering Somali fraud to new evidence that 315,000 votes in Georgia in 2020 were invalid, conservative belief has been vindicated. Time and again. Minnesota's industrial scale welfare fraud could reach $18 billion, most of it committed by Somali immigrant groups under two term Governor Tim Walsh. Taxpayer money was so easy to steal that fraud tourists, as they're called, traveled to his state, according to federal prosecutors, who have charged almost 100 people so far. Every day we look under a rock and find a new $50 million fraud scheme, says Assistant U.S. attorney Joseph Thompson, a career federal prosecutor. Minnesota is especially bad, but it's just the tip of the fraud iceberg. For example, the Government Accountability Office released a report this month revealing more than $20 billion in systemic Obamacare fraud, including fake enrollments and payments to dead people, federal welfare spending has been growing more than twice as fast as total federal spending and now $1.4 trillion annually, or $70,000 per low income household per year, according to the Wall Street Journal. And wherever there is a gushing torrent of unaccountable taxpayer cash, fraudsters come calling, turning a blind eye only benefits unscrupulous politicians like Walls who gain reliable voting blocks and generous donations from the scammers. It's a grind, but Trump is attempting to right the ship and recoup taxpayer money. His latest effort is to make migrant sponsors pay back the money that migrants received through taxpayer funded welfare and Medicaid, a law that was never enforced under Biden. The administration is following the old adage how do you eat an elephant one bite at a time. ICE deportations, for instance, should reach 650,000 by year end, plus almost 2 million self deportations as illegal aliens realize the gravy train has stopped. It's hard earned, but still only a portion of the hordes Biden ushered across the border. The horrendous criminal records of so many being arrested seem to validate Trump's claim Wednesday night that, quote, our country was being invaded by people who came from prisons and jails, mental institutions and insane asylums. Common sense, compassion is back when it comes to this surgical mutilation and hormone abuse of children brainwashed into questioning their sex, quote men are men, men can never become women, women are women, women can never become men, said the quiet achiever of Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Jim o' Neill last week when announcing new administration policies to restrict what the left euphemistically calls of gender affirming care for minors. Children are innocent and need our protection, said o'. Neill. Our men. Yet the Democrats will admit no wrong and have not renounced a single policy. In fact, last week the Democrat National Committee decided not to release the, quote, autopsy of their 2024 election loss, claiming it would be a distraction. No wonder the Democrat Party approval is in the toilet. Or, as CNN's election analyst Harry Entin put it last week, lower than the Dead sea. A Quinnipiac University national poll of registered voters last week found that only 18% approve of the way Democrats in Congress are handling their job, while a whopping 73% disapprove. That's a death spiral, but there are storm clouds on the horizon for conservatives. The right is split, as we saw from the high profile internecine feuds hijacking Amfest, the first big TPUSA event since Charlie Kirk's assassination. Instead of giving the audience of mainly college and high school age kids the tools they crave to combat the left, the event's most dexterous debaters, Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly and Ben Shapiro, wasted their speeches fighting about toxic Candace Owens. This only helps Democrats, who are chortling with glee and fanning the flames of disharmony. If Democrats do win back power in 2028, it will be worse than we can imagine. There will be no guardrails. They'll stack the Supreme Court and create new Democrat states to entrench their power in perpetuity. For all their problems, they benefited from staging the longest government shutdown in history and will do it again to slow Trump's agenda, block election integrity reforms and demoral his administration. Only axing the filibuster can neutralize that Democrat weapon. A promise to get rid of this outdated tradition should be the Christmas gift Senate Republicans give to America. Then all good things can flow. Don't forget to come back this Wednesday for our special Christmas Eve episode. You'll get the real stories, not the Vanity Fair's spin in this White House cabinet edition of Pod Wars 1. We've had an incredible year interviewing the formidable leaders and patriots who make America great. President Trump, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Vice President J.D. vance and press Secretary Carolyn Levitt, to name just a few. So please enjoy this episode of some of my favorite Pod Force One moments all in one convenient listen. PodForce One will be right back in your feeds next week with a brand new episode. Merry Christmas everyone, and let's do it all again in the new year.