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- [00:01]
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- [01:02]
Political Commentator
Seem to be turning against Donald Trump. They are expressing, I would say, to put it mildly, deep reservations, even if they've supported him in the past. And those who are just not even all that political are just saying, what the heck is this guy doing? Whether it's his tariffs, his attacking of Medicaid, whether it's his immigration policy. I want to show you what people are thinking in Arizona right now. So first I'm going to show you a lady who was a Trump supporter. She considers herself a devout Christian. She runs a business that hires people with disabilities. She's worried about Trump cutting Medicaid and the MAGA Republicans cutting Medicaid. She says she's more open to voting for Democrats now. Here, play this clip.
- [01:47]
Marga Vargas
I'm worried about Medicaid and Medicare and Social Security. He did say that he wasn't going to cut them, that he was just going to find the waste. And I really hope that he sticks to that.
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Reporter
Why is that so important to you?
- [02:00]
Marga Vargas
It's important because we need to take care of our people with disabilities and our elderly and those that depend on it, and they can't survive as it is right now. And we cannot cut.
- [02:12]
Reporter
Marga is a Tucson hero. Her food truck and Candy store employ 50 people with special needs. She's renovating this restaurant to employ even more. A devout Christian, lifelong Republican. But some big changes. Vargas says she no longer believes Trump's claim the 2020 election was rigged. She's now open to supporting Democrats for local offices and says Trump tariffs are one reason prices are not dropping fast enough.
- [02:38]
Marga Vargas
The items that we put in our gift baskets have gone up.
- [02:42]
Reporter
So when, when he says there's going to be some disruption, maybe even some pain. But we're going to get there. For now, you think, okay, I'll give, I'll give you some time.
- [02:50]
Marga Vargas
I'll give him some time. And I'm hopeful. But you know, I think that if he doesn't come through, he's going to have a lot of people turn on him.
- [02:57]
Political Commentator
I still don't understand that. I'll give him some time. I'm hope. Why do we treat this guy like a baby? So utterly obvious. I'll show you here. I'm not sure this guy's political affiliation, but he runs a factory in Arizona and here's he, he's explaining how the tariffs are just, just from a business perspective, just, just hurting his factories. Here, play this clip.
- [03:17]
Reporter
Matt Mandel helps run SunFed this warehouse just a few miles from the border. 100 days into the Trump presidency, your business has been impacted how?
- [03:27]
Matt Mandel
The biggest problem that we have up till now is uncertainty. We have talk about tariffs and then the tariffs are off. We have tariffs that came into play for three days. They were canceled. But the constant threat of what if makes it very hard for us to plan.
- [03:44]
Reporter
The border crossing at Nogales is almost always humming commerce both ways. Caught up in 100 days of Trump trade turmoil.
- [03:52]
Matt Mandel
Food does not make sense at all. All you're going to do is raise those costs to consumers. People have become accustomed to having all their fruits and vegetables on a year round basis and that is entirely due to imports. Putting tariffs on imports is only going to limit supply, raise prices.
- [04:09]
Political Commentator
Now, there's a ton of stories like that. I could show you more, but I think you get the point. So what are the MAGA Republicans in Arizona doing? How are they addressing this? Well, the big initiative that they've been focused on is trying to rename all of their highways after Donald Trump. There's a law in Arizona that says you can't name the highways or especially all of them after somebody unless they are dead. But they really tried to push this through. It lost with one vote, not because they didn't want to do it, but because it would have been against the existing law because you can't do it. But that's the type of things that they're focused on. So what are Democrats fighting for? What are people who care about people fighting for? Let's bring in Deja Fox, Democrat running in the special election for Arizona's 7th congressional district. The election's right around the corner, July 15, just about less than two months away even at this point. So Deja You've been traveling your district, but you've traveled Arizona as well. What are you seeing there right now?
- [05:15]
Deja Fox
Yeah, I mean, just after the Republicans attempted to push through their budget bill, right. That would strip Medicaid funding SNAP benefits from folks all across the country, but hundreds of thousands of them right here in Arizona and Congressional District 7, we gathered storytellers in my living room in a really intimate session to talk about the impacts of Medicaid cuts. And I heard from a neonatal doctor, I mean, someone who takes care of our most vulnerable, our tiniest among us, who says that half of babies born in Arizona are born under access, which is Arizona's version of Medicaid. So let's be clear, there's nothing pro family about what these Republicans are doing. I also heard from a young woman who was on a pre med track in school, but when her mother was diagnosed with cancer, they had to make a tough decision to delay her care, to be able to afford the cost of living. And she lost her mother because of that delay in care. And these are the stories that we hear time and time again. And you know, I think about one man who came to that roundtable. He introduced himself as James from the neighborhood and he had never been to a political event before and he didn't share much. But when we asked what was your message at the end to these Republicans pushing this budget bill through to line the pockets of billionaires at the expense of our families and our healthcare, he asked, how could these elected officials, these representatives, make these decisions if they had ever sat with people like us? And this is the frustration we're hearing on the ground in Arizona and I'll say across the country, right? I see it all the time on the Internet and the TikTok comment sections and so much further that people are frustrated. They feel unseen and really are asking how can they make these inhumane decisions. And the answer is that they are catering to, to their billionaire buddies, not you.
- [07:09]
Political Commentator
Now, Deja, you graduated with a full scholarship to Columbia University, but you share your story with people. You're 25 years old now. You represent a new generation of leadership, not just for the Democratic Party, but just in general in our country. But you were on SNAP benefits, food stamps, you were Section 8 housing, which is housed under HUD. You were a Medicaid recipient. All of those programs are precisely what Republicans are attacking in your district and throughout the rest of the country. So there's also your personal story in this as well. And you being an example of someone who graduated from Columbia, who's now a leader. And it just seems like Republicans see your story and you are who they fear. They want to stop the future deja foxes because they want more. Andy Biggs. Yeah.
- [08:12]
Deja Fox
This is the American dream story that they all say they support, right? That because of good policy. You know, I was raised by a single mom. I'm a first generation American. And I was raised in Section 8 housing, right? That's what put a roof over my head. SNAP benefits, food stamps, but food on our table. And my mom worked every odd job. I mean, she delivered flowers, she worked at a post office, she cleaned houses to make ends meet. And we needed a little help to get by at the end of the month. I mean, there were times where we had to choose between bills and back to school clothes. It's something that so many families understand. But those social safety nets, those programs are not handouts, they're hand ups. Right? They made it possible for me to, to be the first in my family to go to college. And, you know, my first advocacy battle had everything to do with that American Dream story. I think about during the first Trump administration when Republicans here in Arizona voted in lockstep with him to defund Planned Parenthood centers. Something else that was in that budget bill. And these are the places where I got my healthcare, where I got birth control. When I had no money and no parents and no insurance. At 16 years old, I walked into a Planned Parenthood and walked out with the birth control I needed to take control of my body and my future and go on to be the first in my family to go to college. And I think about that as sort of this, you know, that subway door, elevator door moment in which things could have gone a different direction for me. But because of good policy, Title 10 funding Planned Parenthood centers, I was able to go the step further to achieve that American dream. And now I'm running for office because I feel a deep sense of responsibility to the version of my younger self who's out there right now, that girl who cannot wait until this Trump administration is over, who deserves care now, Families like mine who need food and housing now and my community members who need health care not in three years, but today.
- [10:14]
Political Commentator
You know, as I hear your story, I think about a few of the phone calls I've been getting, I've been getting recently since that New York Times story was out about the left needs a Joe Rogan and we got to find out. And I say to them, I said, look, if you go and you speak to American people at town halls, or in the living rooms, I go, there's not a single person other than these narratives that are out there wanting a left version of a Joe Rogan. I'm like, people want housing. They want an education. They want affordable health care. They want to allow women to have their own reproductive rights. They want men to get the hell out of it. They want to be able to live an American dream and to not have the psychological torture of living paycheck to paycheck. We need to spend time talking about those things and less time talking about manufacturing a Joe Rogan in a lab, which is incredibly problematic for reasons that would take an hour more for us to get into here. But as we kind of wrap this up, talk to us about your district. And it's a competitive race that you have in this special. So why you? Why now? Why should the voters be looking at you?
- [11:34]
Deja Fox
Like I said, my name is Deja Fox, and I'm running in Arizona's 7th congressional district. It's a special election that opened up because my member of Congress passed away, right? And we have seen the conversation around age coming to a head in our party and in our country. Just in the past few months, three Democrats have passed away while in office in Congress, right? And when we think about that budget bill that passed by a single vote and has the potential to strip millions of their access to health care, Right? Take food off the table of our most vulnerable families just to put money in the pockets of billionaires, we need to be having a conversation about age. And I'm 25 years old. I would be the youngest member of Congress. I'd be the first woman of my generation. Gen Z. We have an opportunity to make history in this election, but it's coming up fast. Early ballots drop in the month. I mean, they are literally coming out in no time. And our election is July 15, less than 50 days away. And I wanted to share one story about why me? Why now? We shared this frustration around Donald Trump, right? We've heard Republicans say that he is not living up to the promises, which he is a grifter, and we know this. But we are also hearing a frustration with Democrats for not standing up, for not doing what they promised. And I want to share that, though I'm young, I'm 25, I'm not new to this work. I've been at it since I was 15. For the last decade, when my mom was struggling with substance abuse, navigating a rehabilitation process, I was all on my own at 15 years old. And at the very same time, I was seated in a sex education class and this was a curriculum that was last updated in the 80s, didn't mention consent, was medically inaccurate and made my life harder when I was already working at a gas station, fighting a real uphill battle on my own. And it was the kind of thing that my school board members elected had decades to fix, and yet they didn't. It took a young person like me showing up and demanding better organizing and telling vulnerable stories. And there was a mix of both Republicans and Democrats on that school board. Right. And this points out the larger problem with our democracy is that elected officials are out of touch with the needs of their constituents. And I'll share that. I am actually running against one of those school board members now because I believe that we need to not only fight back against Donald Trump and these MAGA extremists, but demand that Democrats do better. And I'm in this race because I know what it means to be a fighter. I've been fighting for the last decade, and I had to ask myself the tough question I hope you'll ask, which is when everything was on the line, will you be able to say you did everything you could? And who do you trust to stand between Donald Trump and your mom's access to health care, your grandmother's Social Security check, your daughter's ability to make choices about her body?
- [14:41]
Political Commentator
Deja Fox, running for Arizona's 7th congressional district. Thanks for joining us.
- [14:46]
Deja Fox
Thank you for having me.
- [14:48]
Political Commentator
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