The MeidasTouch Podcast: GOP Leaders Lose It Fast as They Get Cross Examined at Hearing

Date: September 11, 2025
Hosts: Ben Meiselas, Brett Meiselas, Jordy Meiselas
Episode Theme:
This episode provides an in-depth, unfiltered recap of recent explosive Congressional hearings where GOP leaders face intense questioning and public exposure by Democratic members. The Meiselas brothers analyze viral moments showcasing MAGA Republican hypocrisy, anti-democratic maneuvers, and how Democratic Congressmembers fight back with wit, facts, and sharp critique.

Main Themes and Purpose

• Exposing GOP leaders’ hypocrisy and crumbling defenses under Democratic cross-examination.
• Highlighting the Democrats’ strategic and sometimes humorous pushback against MAGA narratives.
• Breaking down the most viral and memorable Congressional moments, with a focus on accountability, democracy, and exposing authoritarian tendencies within the Republican ranks.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Republican Efforts to Cover Up Trump and Epstein Connections

• Narrator opens with scathing commentary: MAGA Republicans are acting as “Donald Trump stooges,” trying to cover for Trump’s past associations and criminality — especially ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

  • Quote: "They are working with Donald Trump to cover up a child sex pedo trafficking ring ... cover up the Epstein files, cover up all of Donald Trump's criminality and put our country into the authoritarian state that it is today." (00:28)

• Jared Moskowitz (D) ridicules GOP claims that Trump’s signature in Epstein’s birthday book was a forgery, mocking the idea someone 22 years ago could predict Trump’s trajectory.

  • Memorable Exchange:
    • “So you’re telling me someone, 22 years ago, went back to the future and forged his signature... knowing he would become a Republican, become president 22 years later?” (02:30)
    • Proposes a bipartisan solution: "You guys pick the witnesses, bring in your signature experts, swear them under oath, and let's have the signature examined. Is it his or is it not his?" (03:32)

2. Republican Obsession with Gender Affirming Care

• Democratic Congresswoman (possibly Sara Jacobs) calls out Republican hypocrisy regarding gender-affirming care, noting many colleagues have had cosmetic procedures themselves.
  • Notable Quote: “Filler is gender affirming care. Boob jobs is gender affirming care. Botox is gender affirming care. Lots of my colleagues have received gender affirming care.” (04:58)
  • Nancy Mace reportedly erupts, highlighting Republican sensitivity and double standards.

3. Mike Johnson’s Trump-as-FBI Informant Claim

• Moskowitz skewers Speaker Mike Johnson for recklessly claiming, then retracting, that Trump was an FBI informant in the Epstein case.
  • Highlight: “What word did you mean to say versus informant? Undercover op? What. What did you mean to say?” (06:36)
  • Memorable line: “If he was lying then, is he lying now? I’m just confused.” (07:55)

4. Crime, State Sovereignty, and MAGA Hypocrisy

• Congressmember Frost confronts Rep. Higgins (R-LA) on why he doesn’t call for National Guard intervention in his own high-crime home state, exposing selective MAGA outrage.
  • Quote: "You are more likely to be shot standing on a random street in your state than you are in Washington DC. So... where’s your bill for the occupation of Louisiana?" (09:48)
  • Frost brandishes the “lap dog for Donald Trump” insult, resulting in parliamentary chaos and Republicans demanding his words be stricken from the record. (11:20)

5. Political Violence and Partisan Blame

• Nancy Mace blames Democrats for a recent violent event before any facts are established, echoing a pattern of immediate partisan finger-pointing.
  • Reporter Ryan Nobles attempts to challenge her logic: “So in that case, the Republican who killed the former speaker of the House in Minnesota and her husband, was that right there. Are Republicans to blame?” (14:39)
  • Mace dodges: "We're not talking about that. We're just talking about what I want to talk about." (15:06)

6. Response to January 6th and National Guard Deployment

• Lauren Boebert rails against the National Guard presence that secured the Capitol post-January 6th, missing the irony that the Trump administration was in charge when the deployment happened.
  • Host Commentary: "I'm still trying to remember, like, who was in office still when January 6th took place... Oh, got it, got it, got it. It was Donald Trump." (16:45)

7. Debate Over Homelessness Policy

• Frost and Moskowitz vehemently argue against Republican approaches to homelessness, emphasizing that criminalizing poverty is not a solution.
  • Frost: "Every time the rent goes up 100 bucks, homelessness goes up 9%. Homelessness is a housing problem, and you have no solutions for us here." (17:20, 17:40)
  • "We shouldn't be criminalizing homeless people for the failures of government." (18:53)

8. Epstein Files and Republican Deflections

• Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and Dan Goldman (D-NY) criticize Republicans for suddenly abandoning their push on the Epstein files once Trump’s involvement is implicated.
  • Swalwell: "It's just crazy that you hate the Democrats so much that you would let the most notorious child sex trafficker and the people connected to him not be held accountable because you want to own the libs." (19:13)
  • Swalwell: “The irony... is so thick that it is almost sucking us into the quicksand.” (20:15)
  • Republicans are accused of deliberately avoiding evidence that implicates Trump.

9. DC Funding and Trump’s Authoritarian Moves

• Congresswoman Ansari slams Trump for withholding $1 billion from DC, militarizing the capital, and redirecting federal resources for his own image.
  • Quote: “Donald Trump obviously believes that this city is his personal playground ... because he is a dictator and he wants to deflect from the fact that the biggest criminal ... is himself sitting and occupying the White House.” (22:13)

10. Honors for January 6th Insurrectionists

• Senator Ruben Gallego lambasts the honoring of Ashley Babbitt, equating her actions to those of a traitor like Benedict Arnold.
  • Quote: “Ashley Babbitt is not that — she is a traitor, she will be a traitor and she died a traitor and let the halls remember that here.” (24:52)
  • “Giving her honors undermines the Constitution and ... the real sacrifice of millions of veterans.” (25:35)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• [02:30] Jared Moskowitz: “So you’re telling me someone, 22 years ago, went back to the future and forged his signature ... knowing he would become a Republican, become president 22 years later?”
• [04:58] Rep. Sara Jacobs (possibly): “Filler is gender affirming Care. Boob jobs is gender affirming care. Botox is gender affirming care. Lots of my colleagues have received gender affirming care.”
• [06:36] Jared Moskowitz: "What word did you mean to say versus informant? Undercover op? What did you mean to say?"
• [09:48] Rep. Maxwell Frost: "You are more likely to be shot standing on a random street in your state than you are in Washington DC. So my question is, where’s your bill for the occupation of the state of Louisiana to keep your people safe?"
• [11:20] Rep. Jared Moskowitz, Rep. Frost, Sen. Gallego: “You’re here because you’re a lap dog for Donald Trump.” “Take his words down. He’s attacked me personally!”
• [17:20] Rep. Frost: “Every time the rent goes up 100 bucks, homelessness goes up 9%. Homelessness is a housing problem, and you have no solutions for us here.”
• [19:13] Rep. Swalwell: "It's just crazy that you hate the Democrats so much that you would let the most notorious child sex trafficker and the people connected to him not be held accountable because you want to own the libs."
• [22:13] Rep. Ansari: “Donald Trump obviously believes that this city is his personal playground ... he is a dictator and he wants to deflect from the fact that the biggest criminal is himself sitting and occupying the White House.”
• [24:52] Sen. Ruben Gallego: “Ashley Babbitt is not that — she is a traitor, she will be a traitor and she died a traitor and let the halls remember that here.”

Timeline of Major Segments

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |-----------|--------------------| | 00:28 | GOP hypocrisy called out: attempts to cover up Trump/Epstein links | | 02:09 | Rep. Moskowitz scorches GOP on Trump’s signature in Epstein book | | 04:58 | Rep. Jacobs equates cosmetic procedures to gender-affirming care | | 06:36 | Moskowitz questions Mike Johnson’s walk-back of Trump-as-informant claim | | 09:48 | Rep. Frost exposes GOP double standard on crime and National Guard | | 14:39 | Nancy Mace blames Democrats for violence, rebuffed by reporter logic | | 15:49 | Boebert objects to National Guard in DC after January 6th | | 17:05 | Frost and Moskowitz on homelessness policy failures | | 19:13 | Swalwell and Goldman on Epstein files/Trump coverup | | 22:13 | Ansari slams Trump’s treatment of DC | | 24:52 | Gallego: Honoring Ashley Babbitt dishonors true veterans |

Tone and Commentary

The tone remains unapologetically critical, combative, and often humorous — true to both the Meiselas brothers’ signature style and the fiery rhetoric of the Democratic lawmakers featured. The hosts and their guests do not mince words, aiming to lay bare what they term as the Republican Party’s descent into hypocrisy, bad faith tactics, and the abandonment of democratic norms.

Conclusion

This episode of the MeidasTouch Podcast is a high-energy, sharp-tongued survey of a pivotal week of congressional hearings, featuring viral soundbites, exposed contradictions, and pointed challenges to MAGA Republican narratives. The message is clear: critical examination, humor, and persistence are vital tools in the ongoing defense of democracy.