Iowa Senate Candidate J.D. Scholten on GOP Tax Bill Disaster

Summary

The MeidasTouch Podcast Summary: Iowa Senate Candidate J.D. Scholten on GOP Tax Bill Disaster

Release Date: June 28, 2025

In this compelling episode of The MeidasTouch Podcast, the Meiselas brothers delve deep into the political landscape surrounding the recent GOP tax bill disaster, featuring an insightful conversation with Iowa State Representative and Senate candidate, J.D. Scholten. The discussion highlights the challenges faced by Iowa farmers, critiques prominent GOP figures, and explores Scholten's vision for a more equitable economic future.

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1. GOP Tax Bill Controversy and MAGA Mike Johnson's Stance

The episode kicks off with the Political Commentator addressing internal conflicts within the Republican Party, specifically targeting MAGA Mike Johnson, the Senate Majority Leader. The commentator criticizes Johnson's handling of the budget bill, labeling it a "total betrayal" and exacerbating existing issues within the Senate Finance Committee.

• Political Commentator [00:57]:
  "MAGAMike Johnson is under fire from his own political party... saying what the Senate is doing with the budget bill is a total betrayal."

Johnson's defense is presented through a brief clip where he denies cutting Medicaid and Medicare, asserting that the GOP aims to "strengthen the program for the people that desperately need it" (see [02:50]).

• MAGA Mike Johnson [02:50]:
  "What do you say to the Democrats that are pushing this narrative that's not true that Republicans are cutting Medicare and Medicaid?"

The Political Commentator challenges this by highlighting inconsistencies and perceived dishonesty in Johnson's statements, emphasizing the detrimental effects of the proposed bill on vulnerable populations.

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2. Introduction of J.D. Scholten and Critique of Current Policies

Shifting focus to Iowa, the podcast introduces State Representative J.D. Scholten as a pivotal figure in the Senate race against incumbent Joni Ernst. Scholten, also a professional baseball player, brings a unique perspective to the discussion, emphasizing the real-world impacts of federal policies on local communities.

• Political Commentator:
  "Let me bring in Iowa. State Representative J.D. Scholten is running for Senate against Joni Ernst... Washington does not know about what's actually happening to the farmers in Iowa."

Scholten responds by highlighting the economic struggles faced by Iowa farmers, exacerbated by trade wars initiated during the Trump administration. He points out the loss of soybean markets to Brazil and the long-term detrimental effects on local agriculture.

• J.D. Scholten [06:13]:
  "Iowa has not bounced back since the 2008 economic crisis. Farmers are impacted by the first trade war... a lot of folks who are relying on that for decades are now seeing it lost in just a few years."

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3. Joni Ernst's Approach and Scholten's Criticism

The discussion intensifies as the commentator critiques Joni Ernst's handling of sensitive topics, such as mortality and healthcare, suggesting a lack of empathy and understanding of the community's fears.

• Political Commentator [06:57]:
  "You have Joni Ernst out there saying, why are you so focused on the die part of this?... it's sick."

Scholten echoes these sentiments, condemning Ernst's stance on the GOP tax bill and its potential to devastate rural communities, including hospitals and clinics.

• J.D. Scholten [07:44]:
  "This bill, if passed, is going to devastate a lot of our rural communities... It’s just going to lead to more stress on urban health centers."

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4. Trump's Impact on Iowa Farmers and Scholten's Vision

The Political Commentator elaborates on former President Trump's promises to farmers, contrasting them with the subsequent realities of trade wars and lack of sustainable support. This segment underscores the disconnect between political rhetoric and tangible assistance.

• Political Commentator [08:27]:
  "Trump has this shtick where he'll go and travel to a state like Iowa... and then he lies and screws you over."

Responding to this, Scholten discusses his campaign's focus on fighting for universal healthcare, fixing the economy to benefit all rather than just the wealthy, and securing democracy from undue influence by billionaires and special interests.

• J.D. Scholten [12:57]:
  "Fight for universal health care. Fix the economy so it works for everyone, not just the billionaires and the multinational corporations. And secure our democracy from the billionaires and special interests."

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5. Campaign Outlook and Closing Remarks

In the concluding moments, Scholten shares insights into his campaign's grassroots support, particularly among farmers who feel squeezed by multinational corporations and corrupt practices. He emphasizes the need for policies that genuinely address the struggles of rural America.

• J.D. Scholten [13:30]:
  "We're creating something special here in Iowa. This race is ripe for an upset."

The episode wraps up with an invitation for listeners to support Scholten's campaign, underscoring the importance of informed and active participation in shaping Iowa's future.

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Key Takeaways

• Economic Struggles: Iowa farmers are facing significant challenges due to trade wars and market losses, which have not been adequately addressed by current GOP leaders.

• Political Accountability: MAGA Mike Johnson and Joni Ernst are criticized for their handling of healthcare and economic policies, with accusations of prioritizing corporate interests over community welfare.

• Scholten's Vision: J.D. Scholten advocates for universal healthcare, economic reforms benefiting all citizens, and safeguarding democracy from special interest influences.

• Grassroots Support: Scholten's campaign resonates with farmers and rural communities seeking genuine representation and effective policy solutions.

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This episode offers a thorough examination of the political dynamics affecting Iowa, providing listeners with a nuanced understanding of the challenges and potential solutions for the state's future. Through J.D. Scholten's candid insights, the podcast highlights the crucial need for leadership that prioritizes the well-being of all constituents over partisan agendas.

Transcript

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[Political Commentator]

MAGA Mike Johnson is under fire from his own political party, the so called moderates MAGA Republicans. I'm not really sure that exists. They sent a letter yesterday to the Senate Majority Leader and MAGA Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader Thune and MAGA Mike Johnson just basically saying what the Senate is doing with the budget bill is a total betrayal. You've made it worse. I don't know how you can make it much worse, but the Senate Finance Committee managed to make it much, much worse. But there's nothing, there's no low about what MAGA Mike Johnson will say or not say. MAGA Mike Johnson mocked millions of Americans who could lose health care and says, hey, you just need to be doing something constructive with your life. If you're going to be on the public wagon and you're able, you should try to help pull it. All we did was put in there, as you all know, a 20 hour work week requirement per week. Give me a break. They're complaining about that. You either have to be working, you got to be looking for a job in a job training program, or volunteering for your community. For heaven's sake, do something constructive. How about MAGA Mike Johnson? You do something constructive because there ain't no work really coming out of that House of Representatives other than taking away people's Medicaid and basically rubber stamping whatever Donald Trump wants. Let me just share this with you all here. This is MAGA Mike Johnson. This is how they try to frame it on the propaganda of Fox where MAGA Mike Johnson is asked, what do you say to the Democrats that are pushing this narrative? That's not true. What a ridiculous question to ask. That's not true that Republicans are cutting Medicare and Medicaid. Like it's literally in the bill that it cuts Medicaid and Medicare and risks people Social Security. But go on, Magamife, let's play it.

[MAGA Mike Johnson]

And what do you say to the Democrats that are pushing this, this narrative that's not true that Republicans are cutting Medicare and Medicaid?

[Republican Representative]

Yeah, it's, it's, of course, nonsense. We had their ads taken down when they began to claim that early on in the process, we are not cutting Medicaid. We are, we are strengthening the program for the people that desperately need it and deserve it, the populations that Medicaid is intended to help, and that's the elderly and disabled and, you know, young pregnant women, for example.

[Political Commentator]

So what we're doing is then Magamike riddled me this. Why did your own party send a letter to you and Senator Th saying that there are. They are very alarmed at what the Senate is doing and it's going to make the budget bill even worse. Then you have MAGA Mike brazenly lying again and saying, we're not cutting Medicaid, we're strengthening it. Just listen to whatever Trump says. He never lies, does he? Here, play this clip.

[Republican Representative]

Look, you've got a number of provisions. We want to make sure that we hold by our commitment that we are not cutting Medicaid. The president has said that and I've said that. We've all said that we are strengthening the program for the people who are the most vulnerable, populations who really rely upon that. You're talking about the disabled, the elderly, young, pregnant women, for example.

[Political Commentator]

Oh, got it. They're helping the most vulnerable, not the billionaires. That's where their focus is on, you know. And then, you know, you see, you've got these MAGA Republican senators like Jodi Ernst from Iowa. And when she's asked about Donald Trump's other kind of betrayal and lie, there's so many of them. But starting a war in Iran, joining Israel in a war with Iran. But then I guess their new statement is war. War is peace. We're not really at war. Don't worry about it. Here, play this clip.

[MAGA Mike Johnson]

They do not want to see a war. This is not a war. This was a strike on a threat to the United States of America. I would say, as well, this is retribution, Harris, for the thousands of American lives that have been taken by Iran through direct strikes from Iran as well as their terrorist proxies.

[Political Commentator]

And, well, apparently we also learned that the facilities are still largely intact. And Iran's no longer meeting with the IAEA to cooperate with any oversight into their nuclear arsenal. And that, if anything, things have gotten much worse. I want to focus on how all of these policies are also hurting states like Iowa. You saw Joni Ernst there. And so let me bring in Iowa. State Representative J.D. scholten is running for Senate against Joni Ernst. And State Representative Scholten is also a professional baseball player. You got the Sioux City professional shirt right there. You're at the stadium. So let me ask you this question first, though, because when Donald Trump was campaigning, he did not know the difference between Sioux City and Sioux Falls. And I think, you know, it's an important point, though, I think, to bring up, which is that Washington does not know about what's actually happening to the farmers in Iowa. And to me, it was a really revealing moment if you don't know the difference between Iowa and South Dakota. So that revealed a lot to me.

[J.D. Scholten]

I mean, that's pretty consistent with what we hear from folks out in D.C. we're a flyover state. And so folks like Donald Trump don't recognize the difference between the two states. And the reality is a lot of Iowa has not bounced back since the 2008 economic crisis. You have farmers right now that are impacted by the first trade war with that during the first Trump administration. A lot of our soybean farmers have lost the market to Brazil. And so a lot of folks who are relying on that for decades of trying to get into that market have now lost it in just a few years, and we'll probably never see that again in my lifetime. That's the reality.

[Political Commentator]

You have Joni Ernst out there saying, why are you so focused on the die part of this? Like, if you die, we're all going to die at some point. So, like, why do we. Why do we care? You're going to die no matter what. And then she goes in front of the cemetery and then she, like, mocks one. I thought it was so disrespectful to people's resting places, but then also, you know, mocking people's fears of dying. You know, and I don't like to go into hyperbole and talk about, you know, death cult and this and that, but it's like, we know that this bill is going to have consequences on people in the state, on people's jobs and people's health care. And she like. And she mocks it and she mocks people dying. It's sick.

[J.D. Scholten]

Exactly. Is so disrespectful. Of what she said, just in that quote, unquote apology. The reality is we all are going to die, but we don't have to die so billionaires can have a bigger tax break. This bill, if passed, is going to devastate a lot of our rural communities. It's going to devastate rural hospitals, it's going to devastate rural nursing homes and ob GYN clinics, all of which are already massively consolidated. And it's just going to lead to more stress on urban health centers. And so this is going to impact all of us, not just kick off millions of Iowa or millions of Americans and thousands of Iowans. It's off their health care. It's also going to hurt all of us because the health care centers are going to close.

[Political Commentator]

You know, Trump has this shtick where he'll go and travel to a state like Iowa and he'll say, oh, my farmers, I love you. My farmers, no one's going to make you better farmers than I'm going to make you. You will be the greatest farmers ever. You'll be so rich. And then he lies and then screws him over. He then tries to scramble and figures out if he can get government subsidies to cover losses that are caused by the trade wars that, you know, that, that he starts as kind of temporary band aids on a solution that's unsustainable and actually building the wealth that farmers deserve in a state like Iowa. So, so I guess, how do you win? And, and how, and how does that work? I mean, look, you know, to your point, you know, when people think about Iowa, I think from D.C. they try to, you know, they view it as a flyover. They view it like this and that the people in Iowa are smart. I see the people out there in Iowa, you know, protesting at no kings, and it seems that they, that they get it. So how do we translate, though? Like, how do we get people to say, no, no, no, I know he's saying that, but he's screwing you. Every time he does this, he does that, then he screws you. Wake up.

[J.D. Scholten]

Well, it was interesting. When I ran for Congress, we got retweeted by farmers and ranchers for Trump. You'd see that in their little bio and everything. And a lot of it, because I took strong stances against anti monopoly in Franklin, forcing our antitrust laws and having new ones. You know, I've talked to farmers who will always vote for me and ones who will never vote for me and everywhere in between. And when you, when you convey that they know they're being squeezed. They know on the input side, when it comes to seeds and fertilizer and those costs, they're getting squeezed by a huge multinational corporation. They know on the market side, they're being squeezed by a multinational corporation. You have JBS, who Brazilian owned, very corrupt, charged with over $256 million worth of fines because they're so corrupt. Give the Trump inauguration $5 million more than all those billion tech billionaires that were front row and center. JBS gave them more for that inauguration. And now the Trump administration is trying to waive some of the laws we have to protect, like the Foreign Corruption act, so, so JBS can have more benefits to them. It's a pay to play situation. And this is something that we need to talk about because farmers feel this. You know, I think Covid put a huge spotlight on this. You had farmers getting squeezed. You have workers working in suppressed, dangerous situations. You have the consumer paying the most they ever have for things like meat and different things like that. And then you have these huge multinational corporations bragging about the record profits. They have all that happening at the same time. And so I think if we're going to win in rural America or compete in rural America, you have to talk about things like that. At least in the Midwest, you do.

[Political Commentator]

You know, one of the things that I try to say, too, is that farmers are so integral to our country. The very fabric of our country is built on farmers. And I always say that, really what Donald Trump and MAGA and people like to me, Journey Ernst are doing is they're using farmers as props. And by the way, it's. I understand at some level that, you know, it's exciting to be on TV and to, you know, to have the shiny lights on you and to have someone who is the president or whatever, you know, put their arm around you. But the question is this. As you look back at Trump's 2016 campaign, as you look at what he's doing now in 2024, you always ask, are you better off? And it just seems that over and over again, farmers are used by Washington, by Trump, to get the photo op of himself next to someone who looks like a farmer who's out there. And so Trump can say, you see, look at me, I care about these people. And then they not only disappear, disappear, then they undercut the market by going to Brazil or China or elsewhere and throw the American farmers under. Under the bus. I'll give you the final word on what you think our audience needs to know.

[J.D. Scholten]

Well, that's exactly right. And that's why we talk about Fight fix secure every single day. Fight for universal health care. Fix the economy so it works for everyone, not just the billionaires and the multinational corporations. And secure our democracy from the billionaires and and special interests that are dictating things. So if you want to follow our campaign, you can go to scholtenfor Iowa.com all our socials are on there too. We're creating something special here in Iowa. This race is ripe for an upset. And so I just hope folks can follow along because some special is brewing.

[Political Commentator]

JD where can more people find out about you and your campaign? Yeah, you can go to schultenforiowa.com everybody check it out. Good luck in the game tonight. Who you playing?

[J.D. Scholten]

The Winnipeg Gold Eyes. So we just got we were in first place, now we're in second, so we got to get it back.

[Political Commentator]

Good luck. And everybody hit subscribe. Check out that site and let's get to 6 million subscribers. The truth is more important than ever. Check out our new Truth over lies [e-mail] touch.com All 100 USA Union made.

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[MAGA Mike Johnson]

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[MAGA Mike Johnson]

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[MAGA Mike Johnson]

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[MAGA Mike Johnson]

I don't really have much in my purse. Oh, let's see. Hand sanitizer. It's lavender.

[Zoe Saldana]

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[Political Commentator]

Seriously.

[MAGA Mike Johnson]

Let me check this pocket. Oh, mints.

[Zoe Saldana]

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[MAGA Mike Johnson]

Oh, I have raisins. I'm a mom. Wait, wait one sec. I've got cupcakes in the car.

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