Bobby LaPin on Why Cracks Are Emerging Inside MAGA

Summary

The MeidasTouch Podcast

Episode: Bobby LaPin on Why Cracks Are Emerging Inside MAGA

Date: June 22, 2026

Host: MeidasTouch Network
Guest: Bobby LaPin, Army veteran, small business owner, and State Senate candidate in Baltimore City

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Episode Overview

In this episode, the MeidasTouch team delves into the growing fractures within the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement and the chaos it is causing both among supporters and inside Donald Trump’s inner circle. The episode features an in-depth interview with Bobby LaPin, a Democratic State Senate candidate in Maryland, focusing on the importance of state-level races in defending democracy and progressive values. The conversation flows from national-level dysfunction and MAGA infighting to the granular realities and significance of local political action.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Cracks Are Growing in MAGA

• Ron Filipkowski (Political Commentator, 01:57–07:42): Opens with a scathing rundown of the disorder within Trump’s MAGA base. Trump’s own supporters are turning on him on social media, accusing him of betrayal on issues like affordability, foreign policy, and even referencing Epstein.

  “MAGA is dead. This is Donald Trump's worst nightmare. MAGA is turning on him.”
  — Ron Filipkowski (01:57)

• The Trump White House is described as paranoid, suspecting its own MAGA influencers as possible foreign psyops.

• Examples are cited of Trump posting awkwardly on social media and being called out even by supporters for creepy or confusing posts.

2. Bizarre Trump Social Media and MAGA Disarray

• Notable moments include Trump referencing Iran, affordability, and even criticizing algae in the Washington, D.C. reflecting pool, which supporters and detractors alike find bewildering.
  • Quote:

    “He's accusing his political enemies of putting algae in the pool. Dude, the source of the water is the Potomac Basin… Maybe you need to learn a little bit about science.”
    — Ron Filipkowski (05:49)

• MAGA influencers are now feuding with each other and attacking Trump picks like J.D. Vance and Tulsi Gabbard (recently scrutinized for her ties to a cult leader, per the Washington Post).

3. Why State Races Matter: The Interview with Bobby LaPin

• Transition to Interview: Filipkowski introduces Bobby LaPin (Army vet, small business owner, Democratic State Senate candidate) as someone taking on establishment Democrats who are, in his view, failing their constituents at a critical time (09:06).
• LaPin is running against Bill Ferguson, the Maryland Senate President, who notably blocked a redistricting bill that would have countered Republican gerrymandering.
• The importance of fighting fire with fire is emphasized—using the existing rules to protect voting rights and democracy until gerrymandering can be banned altogether.

4. Bobby LaPin on Political Courage, Local Power, and the Need for Change

• Bobby LaPin shares why he entered the race:

  • Frustration with political inaction and waiting for disasters before acting.
  • Personal history as a firefighter: “The best way to fight a fire is to prevent the fire from happening in the first place.” (12:40)
  • Critique of establishment Democrats for lacking urgency and courage.
  • His campaign is fueled by small-dollar donors, not big corporations, emphasizing a grassroots movement.

  “I just think people are tired of this wait and see, wait and see mentality from our politicians when we can no longer afford to wait and see—not only in saving our democracy, but also in just paying our bills and being able to survive as working people in this country.”
  — Bobby LaPin (11:06)

  “I'm Bernie Sanders running against Chuck Schumer. The last thing we need in this country is another Democrat who writes strongly worded letters to a tyrant, while I am… an army veteran… actually trying to fight the tyrant.”
  — Bobby LaPin (14:22)

5. Baltimore’s State Senate Race as a Microcosm

• LaPin frames his underdog, progressive challenge as symbolic of a broader national movement.
  • Emphasizes that state legislatures are pivotal for setting the direction on reproductive rights, district maps, and core freedoms.
• Reiterates the urgency of individual and collective action to counter entrenched corporate interests.

6. Call to Action

• LaPin urges listeners to visit makegoodchange.com to learn more, donate, and support the campaign, highlighting that “knowledge is power” and that fighting corporate interests means relying on people-powered campaigns (16:11).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “MAGA is turning on [Trump]. … Donald Trump weaponized these influencers against every one of his political enemies. Now he believes that his MAGA influencers are psyops of foreign countries going after him.”
  — Ron Filipkowski (02:02)

• “The best way to fight a fire is to prevent the fire from happening in the first place.”
  — Bobby LaPin (12:40)

• “The last thing we need in this country is another Democrat who writes strongly worded letters to a tyrant, while I am… actually trying to fight the tyrant.”
  — Bobby LaPin (14:22)

• “I'm hopeful… when I see Zuron win, when I see how well Graham Platner is doing in Maine… these are true progressives who literally have the people's best interests at heart.”
  — Bobby LaPin (14:58)

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Important Timestamps

• 01:57–07:42: Ron Filipkowski’s monologue on the infighting and chaos inside the MAGA movement
• 09:06: Transition and introduction to Bobby LaPin’s interview
• 10:47–13:21: LaPin discusses motivation for running and systemic issues in Maryland politics
• 14:21: Door knocking stories; LaPin’s campaign philosophy and hope for grassroots progressives
• 16:00: Call to action for MeidasTouch’s seven million subscribers and LaPin’s pitch for campaign support
• 17:44–19:49: The stakes of the Maryland State Senate race and why local races matter

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Tone and Takeaways

The tone is urgent, authentic, and driven by a mix of dark political humor and earnest calls for civic engagement. The brothers' and guests’ language is direct, often irreverent, capturing both frustration with establishment inaction and hope fueled by grassroots momentum.

Listeners unfamiliar with the episode will come away understanding:

• How Trump’s MAGA base is rapidly fracturing, with chaos spilling out into social media and even Trump’s own messaging
• The critical, often underappreciated, role of state-level politics in shaping national outcomes and fighting for democracy
• The difference between establishment complacency (“wait and see”) and the proactive, people-powered action progressive candidates like Bobby LaPin represent

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Further Information

• To support or learn more about Bobby LaPin’s campaign: makegoodchange.com
• Early voting in Maryland begins June 11; primary is June 23

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Transcript

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[Political Commentator Ron Filipkowski]

Yes, the same Monday.com Donald Trump's MAGA base is gone. MAGA is dead. This is Donald Trump's worst nightmare. MAGA is turning on him. In all of Donald Trump's social media posts, whether it's on Truth Social or Instagram or whatever, Donald Trump's former MAGA supporters are out the all out there saying, epstein, Epstein, Epstein, you promised us affordability. You said you would not get us into these never ending wars. You betrayed us. Also you have the White House completely paranoid now that the MAGA influencers are running a foreign influence psyop against Donald Trump. So Donald Trump weaponized these influencers against every one of his political enemies. Now he believes that his MAGA influencers are psyops of foreign countries going after him. He's being utterly consumed by paranoia as he rots away inside the White House. Let me show you what's going down. The White House account is posting things like this worth protecting the values that shape America. And then people are saying things like, you know what?

In 1962, Rockwell openly acknowledged his own

background, stating, I was born a white Protestant with some prejudices that I am continuously trying to eradicate. I'm angry at unjust presidents as other people in myself.

Trumpty Dumpty cheated on all three wives.

You surrendered and gave more to Iran than Obama. Take us back to the 1950s with these propaganda photos. What the hell are you posting? Or Donald Trump post this.

Oil is flowing. Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. Prices are dropping.

And then people are like, I thought

affordability was a Democrat scam. Wasn't affordability a word the Democrats made up? I know you keep saying it to make you feel better, but, like, we're

not like, what are you doing?

Iran closed the straight of her moose again today.

Then Donald Trump posts a photo of

the new Qatari Air Force One. Yeah, Air Force One is a Qatari jet. Great work, Donald. And people are just like, epstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Epstein, Epstein. Playing Grifter PDF Epstein, Epstein.

That's all of the posts right there.

Also, Donald Trump creepily posted this photo of a lady. And Trump writes, great daughter, my honor djt. And people like, who the hell is this lady that you're posting photos of? And even Trump supporters are like, who's this? Who the f. Is this? Is this someone else that you're trying to creepily fuck, I presume? Who dis. Who disappears? And then people are like, oh, wait a minute, that's Margo Castamitas, a billionaire lady who's married to John Castamitas, who

like the wealthy New York MAGA Republican donor.

So you're saying great daughter to this mom. Who's her daughter?

Andrea Castamidas.

Let me google Andrea Castamitas. Oh, that's who you're referring to. Great daughter, by the way. That's what he was posting at, like, midnight. And all of his followers are like, dude, you're creepy.

What are you doing?

Focus on the American people. What the hell is this? What the hell is this? Then you have all these MAGA influencers attacking JD Vance, and they're all like, look how these assholes treat JD. This was humiliation referring to JD Vance in Switzerland. JD's being humiliated. I can't believe JD Vance is the Face of United States humiliations. The Qatari snub. J.D.

vance.

Everybody hates J.D. vance. Then you have these MAGA influencers who the White House are accusing of being a foreign psyop to bring down Donald Trump. The influencers are going after me. The influencers are going after me. And then Donald Trump's like, and we've got vandals all over Washington, D.C. that they've destroyed the reflecting pool. It was crystal clear until the vandals

put algae in it.

He's accusing his political enemies and putting algae in the pool. Dude, the source of the water is the Potomac Basin. That's what has the algae. You didn't even install the filtration system correctly. One, even if you did install it correctly, there would still be a ton of algae, because algae is microscopic and it's able to reproduce asexually and sexually wherever it wants to. Maybe you need to learn a little bit about science, and then you've made the situation way worse. But Donald Trump goes. Work will begin immediately on fixing the seriously vandalized reflecting pool. I just inspected it and could only say to myself and those gathered around me, wow, who would do such a thing? Sick, deranged people. We will fix it, DJ T. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is like, he's killing the baby duck. Ducks don't tread on ducks. Why are you killing the ducks? Aaron Parnas from the Midas Touch Network got the exclusive scoop of a baby duck dying in the reflecting pool. Because all of the hydrogen peroxide and chemicals they're throwing in this thing and talking about hydrogen peroxide and chemicals and. Oh, Tulsi Gabbard. Tulsi Gabbard. A Washington Post expose Jonathan Swain wrote writes about 25,000 documents that the Washington Post reviewed indicating that throughout Tulsi Gabbard's career, her political moves were controlled by a cult guru named Chris Butler, who gave her all of her messaging and talking points she was running. She's the head of the odni. Hillary Clinton warned everybody against us, but great pick, Donald. You literally picked. But I guess, you know, MAGA was and is a cult. So having a cult, having another cult leader basically indirectly run our odni, the Office of Director of National Intelligence, that's

not really a shocker.

You have Trey Gowdy over here and Mike Pence. Trey Gowdy is like, I've seen Trump's patients run out before. You think it's going to be running out on J.D. vance and Iran right now? Watch what he says with Pence.

[Interviewee Bobby Lepin]

Play this clip with our CIA Director John Ratcliffe. I've seen his patients run out with me on the golf course. I don't know if you've ever seen his patients run out, but that is not something the Iranians, I think. Well, let's see, Mr. Vice President, thank you for your service. I love serving.

[Political Commentator Ron Filipkowski]

And then you have Donald Trump's buddy, Mark Levin saying, donald, stop trashing little old Israel. Please stop trashing Israel. Be nicer to little old Israel, Donald.

This is seriously what Mark Levin. This is what's happening to the Trump supporters right now.

Let's play this clip.

[Mark Levin]

I want to say to people in and out of the administration, stop trashing, smearing, bullying, the little state of Israel.

[Political Commentator Ron Filipkowski]

Now, I want to bring in the interview I just did with Bobby Le Pen over in Maryland. He's running for an important seat over there. Uh, I wanted to see, show you how he's calling out Trump and this MAGA cult and everything. Let's bring in the interview I did with Bobby Le Pen. You're not going to want to miss this.

And now I want to bring in Bobby Lepin, who's running in a very important race that our national audience may not know about, but you should certainly know about. Bobby's an army veteran, a small business owner, and he's running for the State Senate in Baltimore City against another Democrat, by the way, Bill Ferguson, who is the president of the Maryland Senate. Now, Ferguson is that Democrat in the Maryland State Senate who single handedly killed the redistricting bill that passed the Maryland House 99 to 37, blocking new maps designed to counter Republican gerrymandering of Project 2025. This is deeply serious because we saw the Supreme Court gutting the Voting Rights act and immediately, what do the MAGA Republicans do? They eliminate black congressional districts and in a kind of an overtly racist way. Here in Maryland, where you're trying to do maps the right way, you know, and yes, they would be partisan maps, which are allowed. I think all gerrymandering should be banned. But these are the rules of the road right now until we can ban all partisan gerrymandering. So as Governor Newsom led in California, you got to fight fire with fire. You got to fight back. And it makes no sense to me why in the world this Bill Ferguson guy would be blocking it. I mean, this is critical to the very survival of our democracy, for the survival of the rights of the people in Maryland. And so, Bobby, you're running against him. I mean, you don't have a political background. You're not there you know, you're not a, you're not a politician. You're a small business.

[Bobby Lepin]

No, I'm just a working guy.

[Interviewee Bobby Lepin]

Yeah.

[Political Commentator Ron Filipkowski]

And so talk to us about why this is so important. Why, why you decided to run.

[Bobby Lepin]

Well, I think it's, you know, it's the same message. I think that every working person or just every common person in this country has. We're just tired, sick and tired of being stepped on. Like we have a. We have a government that gives everything to the billionaires, gives everything to the well connected. And meanwhile, we have to fight for every little crumb that we get in this country. And, you know, and the person I'm running against, you know, Bill Ferguson, he's not only a person that stood up or backed down to redistricting when every single Democrat in this country was asking him to do it as a tactical defense, to project 2025 as a tactical defense to protect reproductive rights for every woman in this country. As a tactical defense. So marriage isn't defined between, as one man and one woman. He didn't only back down from that, but he backed down from our utility companies who have just been just raking us over with their rates. He backed down from protecting reproductive rights in this state. When Roe v. Wade was going to be overturned and it was apparent, it was obvious every women's rights organization begged him to add a constitutional amendment to Maryland's Constitution, basically codifying that reproductive rights are safe in the state. He didn't do it. Roe v. Wade was overturned and we went almost an entire year before the next General assembly session where they can actually put that in our Constitution. I just think people are tired of this wait and see, wait and see mentality from our politicians when we can no longer afford to wait and see not only in saving our democracy, but also in just paying our bills and being able to survive as working people in this country. And you brought it up at one point. I was a firefighter back in the day.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Right.

[Bobby Lepin]

And the best way to fight a fire is to prevent the fire from happening in the first place. We need to stop electing politicians who wait for the building to be burning before they run in with a hose and give us whatever minimal protections they actually do in the end. We literally need to prevent the building from catching on fire in the first place. And that is America in a nutshell. Maybe not a building on fire, but a dumpster fire right now. And we need people, you know, that just aren't backed by corporations who aren't, you know, listening to the powerful who are literally listening to the people. Listening to the people and fighting for them. Sorry, that's probably a long.

[Political Commentator Ron Filipkowski]

I think you lay out a very

[Podcast Host]

interesting paradigm because the way I've thought always of the MAGA side of things

[Political Commentator Ron Filipkowski]

is that they are the arsonists.

[Podcast Host]

They light the thing on fire and then they say, okay, let us fix it.

[Political Commentator Ron Filipkowski]

But a big problem within the Democratic

[Podcast Host]

Party is allowing the fires to be

[Political Commentator Ron Filipkowski]

lit, allowing this vicious cycle to continue, where then the magas will blame the Democrats for being the firefighters because Democrats aren't using the right hose to put out the fire.

[Podcast Host]

And so then the magas come in

[Political Commentator Ron Filipkowski]

and they go, ah, you see, they were just using a little spritzer. We're going to be the ones to fix it. And then people like, forget, wait, you created the fire.

[Interviewee Bobby Lepin]

Yeah.

[Bobby Lepin]

You started it.

[Interviewee Bobby Lepin]

Yeah.

[Political Commentator Ron Filipkowski]

We need the true, in the truest sense, an entirely different fire. I'll keep the analogy going. An entirely different fire department to put this fire out once and for all so we can just live and go on with our lives and, and align politics with people's interests.

[Bobby Lepin]

When I go door to door, people say, okay, just right off the bat, you know, when I knock on their door and this is the first time they might, they might meet me or know me or hear my name, they say, okay, what's the biggest difference? And I'm like, well, I'm Bernie Sanders running against Chuck Schumer. And the last thing that we need in this country is another Democrat who writes strongly worded letters to a tyrant, while I am a, you know, a veteran, an army veteran who's actor out there trying to actually fight the tyrant. And you're right, man, we just need more courage from our politicians these days. And I'm hopeful, like I was telling you before, you know, we went on live here, I'm hopeful. I really am. Even though we're seeing a rise in authoritarianism in this country, even though it's so hard for so many of us to pay our bills. You know, when I see Zuron win, when I see how well Graham Platner is doing in Maine, this fills me up with hope, because these are true progressives who literally have the people's best interests at heart. And just here in this district, running against what is arguably the most powerful politician in Maryland, at least one of them with $2 million in his bank account, of which more than 50% come from special interest corporations or big donors. I'm just this little guy with almost 5,000 individual small contributions, not taking any corporate money, not connected to politics. And we are literally seeing huge numbers in the polls. And that just goes to show you that people have had enough. People have had enough. I've had enough. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. And the American people, the people of Baltimore, the people of Maryland are sick and tired of being sick and tired. You know, Bobby, working.

[Podcast Host]

Where can more people learn about what you're doing? And we have 7 million subscribers here. So what's your. What's your final message to our 7 million subscribers? And where can people learn more about what you're doing?

[Bobby Lepin]

Well, first of all, I just want to say thank you to the 7 million subscribers and thank you to everybody that watches. Because the only way that we can fight back is when we have knowledge. Knowledge is power. But there's another reality, is I'm fighting this, this battle against an entrenched incumbent who has just f you money from corporations. So people can go to my website, which is makegoodchange.com makegoodchange.com you can read my platform, read my bio. But really what I need folks to do is if you can chip in, because the only way we win is if we stand up together and we fight. And the only way I can fight a guy that has corporate money, as if 7 million subscribers out there, everyone watches this video, goes to the website, make goodchange.com and just pitches something and just chip in what you can, because that's how we're going to win. Our election is in six weeks, June 23rd. And now, although that seems really close, we have a long way to go. We have a lot more mailers to send out, a lot more phone calls to make, a lot more doors to knock on. And that power only comes when people stand up together. And I believe in us. I have hope for the future. And I know that we can win as long as we stick together.

[Podcast Host]

Very important race. I know early voting starts June 11th as well over there. And Governor Westmore did not endorse your opponent. And normally you would expect him to do that. And so that silence makes a statement as well in this gerrymandering situation. As I said, I want to see

[Political Commentator Ron Filipkowski]

all gerrymandering band, but like, I do too, right? To the extent it exists. Why would we be going in here

[Podcast Host]

and not doing, like, just.

[Political Commentator Ron Filipkowski]

It just makes no sense to me.

[Podcast Host]

Why would, why we would be not fighting?

[Bobby Lepin]

Let, let me give you some background real quick, because this is important. First of all, you know my race, even though it's Maryland, and people say, well, why the hell should I care about this race in Maryland? It is yet another stepping stone in this progressive movement moving forward. Like Zoron, you know, Graham, I gave money to Zoran, you know, before I announced. I gave money to Graham before I announced I needed to save all that money for this race. But it's the same progressive movement and people all across this country. I mean, me being on your show is just proof people all across this country are wondering what's going to happen with that guy in Maryland who literally sided with Trump and didn't redistrict the map. In the end of the day, the reality is the bill that we had, House Bill 488 that was being put forth was a good bill that would add constitutional amendments into our constitution that would allow us to redistrict. Now because he dragged his feet and he let the house catch on fire and burn, or the dumpster, whatever, caught on fire. Now we may have to wait until 2028 to actually have this defensive, to actually fight back. That's why your state legislators are important, because we see that, you know, reproductive rights aren't being taken away from women on just the national side. On the national level, redistricting isn't happening. On the national level. These are states. Texas, you know, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, you know, Maryland, California. This is your state legislature. This is why it's so important that politics is all local because that's where it begins to be messed up in the first place. So, yeah. So what was his reason for doing it? Nobody knows. No one knows at all because his legal reasons for not redistricting, you know, Bill Ferguson just doesn't hold any water. But that doesn't matter because he had his time. He made his choices. He made his bed. And I am fighting and we're going to win. And I'm going to win with you. Folks, just another hit. Makegoodchange.com it's so important.

[Podcast Host]

Bobby Lapin, thanks for joining us.

[Bobby Lepin]

Hey, thank you so much. And thanks for what you do by spreading the message.

[Podcast Host]

Everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers.

[Bobby Lepin]

Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our [e-mail] you'll

[Political Commentator Ron Filipkowski]

get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski, ad free episodes of our podcast and more exclusive content only [e-mail]

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