MAGA Mike Gets Stabbed in the Back by the GOP

Summary

The MeidasTouch Podcast: Episode Summary
Title: MAGA Mike Gets Stabbed in the Back by the GOP
Release Date: May 28, 2025
Hosts: Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas

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Introduction

In this episode of The MeidasTouch Podcast, the Meiselas brothers delve into the recent political turmoil within the Republican Party, focusing on the backlash against MAGA Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson. The discussion highlights the fractures within the GOP as prominent MAGA-aligned senators and influential figures publicly oppose the budget bill championed by Johnson and former President Donald Trump.

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GOP's Rejection of the Budget Bill

MAGA Backlash:
The episode opens with an analysis of the growing dissent among MAGA Republicans regarding the proposed budget bill. The hosts discuss how key figures within the party, including Senators Rick Scott, Rand Paul, Josh Hawley, and Lindsey Graham, have voiced strong opposition to the bill, marking a significant shake-up in the GOP's unity.

“MAGA Mike Johnson is facing his worst nightmare as prominent MAGA Republicans publicly oppose the budget bill he and Donald Trump are pushing forward.”
— Host [01:30]

Senator Rick Scott's Stance:
Senator Rick Scott, previously implicated in major Medicaid and Medicare fraud, emerges as a pivotal figure opposing the bill. Despite his controversial past, Scott's refusal to support the budget highlights the deep divisions within the party.

“I vote no. This bill doesn't have a chance of getting the 51 votes it needs.”
— Senator Rick Scott [02:49]

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Leaked Audio and Public Statements

RNC Chair's Revelation:
A leaked audio clip reveals Michael Watley, Chair of the Republican National Committee, condemning the budget bill as the largest tax increase in American history, with unanimous Democratic opposition.

“What we saw was the largest tax increase in American history that the Republicans had voted for. Every single Democrat voted against it.”
— RNC Chair Michael Watley [03:23]

Elon Musk's Critique:
Elon Musk joins the chorus of dissent, criticizing the bill for increasing the budget deficit and undermining his initiatives.

“I was disappointed to see the massive spending vote, which increases the budget deficit and undermines the work that the Doge team is doing.”
— Elon Musk [03:39]

Ron DeSantis on GOP Betrayal:
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis delivers a scathing critique, accusing the GOP of betraying the American people by failing to implement necessary budget cuts.

“We have a Republican Congress, and to this day, we're in the same position with no cuts implemented. That's why we need a balanced budget amendment.”
— Ron DeSantis [04:06]

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Internal GOP Fractures and Policy Disagreements

Senator Tom Tiffany's Concerns:
Senator Tom Tiffany voices concerns over potential Medicaid cuts, emphasizing the need to protect vulnerable populations through modest reforms rather than drastic reductions.

“If we're going to protect Medicaid for those who need it most, there are more reforms that can be made without slashing benefits.”
— Senator Tom Tiffany [06:25]

Senator Rand Paul's Opposition:
Rand Paul stands firmly against the bill, highlighting the unsustainable increase in the debt ceiling and the projected deficits.

“Raising the debt ceiling by $5 trillion is not conservative. We need someone in Washington who thinks debt and deficits are wrong.”
— Senator Rand Paul [10:57]

Senator Josh Hawley's Firm Position:
Josh Hawley categorically refuses to support the bill in its current form, rejecting significant Medicaid benefit cuts and advocating for work requirements instead.

“This bill includes real Medicaid benefit cuts. No Republican should support that. We're the party of the working class.”
— Senator Josh Hawley [11:51]

Senator Kevin Kramer's Fiscal Critique:
Kevin Kramer criticizes the Freedom Caucus members for not following through on their promises to reduce spending, accusing them of merely passing a slim majority bill without substantial fiscal responsibility.

“We're talking about reducing spending by just a fraction. We've only made a minor advancement in reducing spending.”
— Senator Kevin Kramer [12:31]

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Impact on American Families and Social Programs

Cuts to SNAP and Assistance Programs:
MAGA Mike Johnson highlights the proposed cuts to food assistance (SNAP) and rental assistance, emphasizing the disproportionate impact on low-income families compared to tax cuts for billionaires.

“We don't want to slash benefits. Over $11 billion in SNAP payments were erroneous, and we're preserving it for those who need it most.”
— MAGA Mike Johnson [14:24]

Economic Implications:
The discussion underscores the potential devastation of the budget bill on everyday Americans, juxtaposed against minimal benefits for the wealthy, revealing the GOP's conflicting priorities.

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Predictions and Future Outlook

Potential Government Shutdown:
The hosts predict that the inability to pass a balanced budget will lead to a debt ceiling crisis and possibly a government shutdown, exacerbating political tensions and economic instability.

“We're going to head right up to an issue where they have to raise the debt ceiling, leading to potential government shutdown and panic.”
— Host [15:12]

Conclusion:
The episode concludes with a bleak outlook on the GOP's internal struggles, suggesting that without unity and genuine commitment to fiscal responsibility, the party is on a collision course with its foundational principles.

“If we don't stand up on it, I really fear the direction the country is going.”
— Host [10:16]

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Closing Remarks

The Meiselas brothers effectively dissect the ongoing political drama within the Republican Party, offering insightful commentary on the challenges faced by MAGA-aligned leaders like Mike Johnson. By highlighting the opposition from within the GOP and the broader implications for American democracy, the episode underscores the urgent need for cohesive and responsible governance.

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Notable Quotes:

• “MAGA Mike Johnson is facing his worst nightmare as prominent MAGA Republicans publicly oppose the budget bill he and Donald Trump are pushing forward.” — Host [01:30]
• “I vote no. This bill doesn't have a chance of getting the 51 votes it needs.” — Senator Rick Scott [02:49]
• “What we saw was the largest tax increase in American history that the Republicans had voted for. Every single Democrat voted against it.” — RNC Chair Michael Watley [03:23]
• “We have a Republican Congress, and to this day, we're in the same position with no cuts implemented. That's why we need a balanced budget amendment.” — Ron DeSantis [04:06]
• “If we're going to protect Medicaid for those who need it most, there are more reforms that can be made without slashing benefits.” — Senator Tom Tiffany [06:25]
• “Raising the debt ceiling by $5 trillion is not conservative. We need someone in Washington who thinks debt and deficits are wrong.” — Senator Rand Paul [10:57]
• “This bill includes real Medicaid benefit cuts. No Republican should support that. We're the party of the working class.” — Senator Josh Hawley [11:51]
• “We're going to head right up to an issue where they have to raise the debt ceiling, leading to potential government shutdown and panic.” — Host [15:12]

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Stay Connected:
For more in-depth analysis and updates, visit The MeidasTouch Podcast and join the MeidasMighty community.

Transcript

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[Political Commentator]

MAGA Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House is getting clowned on he just got devastating news as more MAGA Republican Senators in the Senate are saying no way, no how are they supporting the big disastrous bill that MAGA Mike and Donald Trump want to push forward. But get this. You know who else is also tag teaming MAGA Mike and Donald Trump and telling them no, no way, no how with this budget bill. Elon Musk and Ron DeSantis. By the way, you also have the Chair of the Republican National Committee, a guy named Michael Watley, saying that this thing is no bueno as well. Let me take a look as MAGA Mike gets his worst nightmare smackdown. What the hell are you going to do Magamite Johnson? So here we have MAGA Republican Senator Rick Scott who was involved in the biggest Medicaid and Medicare fraud in the history of the United States. That's how he got his money after pleading the fifth dozens and dozens of times in a case against his company. But here he says he ain't voting on the budget bill. Watch MAGA Republican Senator Rick Scott, play this clip.

[Advertiser]

So, Senator, would you say without any changes at its current composition, would you vote no? Oh, absolutely. I vote no. There this, this bill doesn't have, have if there's, if, if they brought to the floor right now, there's not a, there's not a chance it'll get the, the 51 votes it needs.

[Political Commentator]

Now here is leaked audio from the RNC chair saying that the Republicans voted for the largest tax increase in American history with Trump's budget bill. This came from fact post that clipped it and Hamian who noted it. Play this clip.

[Advertiser]

What we saw was the largest tax increase in the American history that the Republicans had voted for. Every single Democrat voted against it.

[Political Commentator]

But it all here we've got Elon Musk saying he's not in support of this. Play this clip.

[Advertiser]

So, you know, I was like disappointed to see the massive spending vote, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just deep decrease it and undermine the work that the Doge team is doing. I actually thought that when this big beautiful bill came along, I mean like everything he's done on Doge gets wiped.

[Political Commentator]

Out in the first year.

[Advertiser]

I think, I think a bill can be, can be, can be big or it can be beautiful, but I don't know if it could be both.

[Political Commentator]

My personal opinion, this was a speech from Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, saying that this is a bad bill that the Republicans and in the House and in Congress in general have betrayed the American people. Play this clip.

[Advertiser]

Yet we have a Republican Congress and to this day we're in the, the.

[Political Commentator]

End of May, past Memorial Day, and not one cent in Doge cuts have been implemented by the Congress. That's one of the reasons why we need a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. constitution. It's another reason why we need limits for members of Congress. But I think what you've seen with.

[Advertiser]

How, and I kind of said this.

[Political Commentator]

Early on, that Doge and Elon were on a collision course with the swamp.

[Advertiser]

And the question is what would happen?

[Political Commentator]

And I don't think there's any question.

[Advertiser]

That Doge fought the swamp and so.

[Political Commentator]

Far the swamp has won.

[Advertiser]

And that's just unfortunate. But, but I don't think you can.

[Political Commentator]

Look at this any other way. More from MAGA Republican Senator Rick Scott.

[Advertiser]

Because our audience is like, wait a second, I thought it passed the House. Are you saying that the Senate can change it and then there's a reconciliation between the House and the Senate? Is that correct? Yeah, Charlie will change it. We'll have our own bill and what will happen? It'll go back through a conference or just go back to the House and they'll pass our bill. But I believe we're going to dramatically reduce mandatory spending to get this budget balanced in a short period of time, which is what we have to do.

[Political Commentator]

Here's Rick Scott again right here. Play this clip.

[Advertiser]

The House bill cuts the spending by less than 2% over the next 10 years. It doesn't balance the budget. Close to balance in the budget. So there's a whole bunch of us. We are going to fight like hell to balance this budget.

[Political Commentator]

Now we're seeing fractures even among MAGA Republicans in the House of Representatives as well, who voted for this thing. For example, You've got a MAGA Republican Congress member named Tom Tiffany from Wisconsin's 7th who says he wants to see more cuts to Medicaid. Play this clip.

[Advertiser]

Are you concerned at all that the Senate would look to cut Medicaid even more in a quest to find more savings? I think there's some ways in which they can find more savings, and I think over time it's going to be important to do that. Because if we're going to protect and save that program for who it's meant to be, which is the vulnerable, it's the, you know, it's someone that has a disability, pregnant women, poor people. If we're going to protect that program for who it was meant for, there are more reforms that can be made.

[Political Commentator]

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[Advertiser]

President Trump has suggested that the debt is not really top of mind of his concerns. He wants Republicans to fall in line. He wants Republicans to pass the bill. You told cnn, quote, somebody's got to be the dad that says, I know y' all want to go to Disney World, but we can't afford it. I guess I'm going to be that guy, unquote. So how determined are you to be that guy if it actually means telling President Trump you are going to vote against the bill and you're going to try to get other Republican senators to join you unless there are major, major changes. Well, in 2010, I sprang out of the Tea Party movement and as I did parades, I would shout, this is a fight for freedom. We are mortgaging our children's future. It's wrong, it's immoral. It has to stop. I haven't changed. My campaign promise in 2010 and every campaign after that was to stop mortgaging our children's future. It's immoral. It's wrong. It has to stop. And so he may not be worried about that. I am extremely worried about that. That is my primary goal running for Congress. This is our moment. We have witnessed an unprecedented level of increased spending, 58% since 2019, other than World War II. This is our only chance to reset that to a reasonable pre pandemic level of spending. And again, I think you can do it. And the spending that we would eliminate, people wouldn't even notice. But you have to do the work, which takes time.

[Political Commentator]

MAGA Republican Senator Rand Paul saying he ain't supporting this cutting spending.

[Advertiser]

Somebody has to stand up and yell, the emperor has no clothes and everybody's falling in lockstep on this. Pass the big beautiful bill. Don't question anything. Well, conservatives do need to stand up and have their voice heard. This is a problem we've been facing for decades now. And if we don't stand up on it, I really fear the direction the country is going. The senator, Ari, excuse me, the speaker.

[Political Commentator]

One and here he explains one of the reasons why. He says it's going to add trillions to the deficit. And he goes, just look. The budget bill itself calls for raising the debt ceiling by 4 trillion over the next two years. They're going to run $2 trillion deficits per year. I think it's going to be more Play this clip.

[Advertiser]

Biden spending levels when March every Republican, virtually every Republican other than me, voted to continue the Biden spending levels, which are going to give us a $2.2 trillion deficit. Now, if you increase the debt ceiling $5 trillion, that means they're planning on 2 trillion this year and more than 2 trillion next year. That's just not conservative. So I've told them if they strip out the debt ceiling, I'll consider, even with the imperfections, voting for the rest of the bill. But I can't vote to raise the debt ceiling 5 trillion. There's got to be someone left in Washington who thinks debt is wrong and deficits are wrong and wants to go in the other direction. The idea that we're going to explode deficits and the projections are now looking at over $3 trillion in deficits over the next 10 years, I think is just, you know, not a serious prop proposal.

[Political Commentator]

So, you know, the, you know who's also against the budget bill in its current form. MAGA Republican Senator Josh Hawley. Play this clip.

[Advertiser]

So if this bill comes over from the House to the Senate and you have to vote on it, are, you know, if this bill does not change. No, I'm not going to support this bill from the House in this form. I think that's clear. It's got to change before it can pass the Senate. And I continue to stand by my line in the sand, which is no Medicaid benefit cuts. Listen, if you want to do work requirements, I'm all for that. I bet every Republican and I bet most Americans would agree with that. But we're not talking here about just work requirements. The House goes much, much, much further than that. This is real Medicaid benefit cuts. I can't support that. No Republican should support that. We're the party of the working class, Manu. We need to act like it.

[Political Commentator]

MAGA Republican Senator Kevin Kramer. Play the clip.

[Advertiser]

It's rich coming from. From the freedom practices. Supposed to be fiscal. Fiscal conservatives and end up with not that conservative. No bill to lecture us. What we're going to do is we're going to pass a bill that can get 50 votes and whatever other numbers come along with that. The magic number is 50. In other words, both are going to actually pass the bill.

[Political Commentator]

MAGA Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. Play the clip.

[Advertiser]

Some of the Freedom Caucus members are warning you guys not to water down.

[Political Commentator]

Any of their cuts. What do you say to them?

[Advertiser]

You had your chance. That there's. Some of these cuts are not real. And we're talking about over a decade. You know, if you do a trade and a half, that's like a percent and a half. So let's don't get higher on our horse here that we've somehow made some major advancement of reducing spending, because we did.

[Political Commentator]

And one of the things that MAGA Mike Johnson has done here as well is he's highlighted the cruelty of the GOP platform, right? He's showing that they want to Cut food assistance, SNAP, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, cut rental assistance programs to two people. If you're making between 0 and 50,000 or 51,000, you literally just, just on day one, $1,000 gets taken from you and gets given to people who make more than $4.3 million who will be saving an extra $370,000. The billionaires are going to get literally trillions of dollars in tax cuts right here. And Medicaid and Medicare is cut. But here's what MAGA Mike Johnson had to say about cutting SNAP in his own congressional district here, playing this clip.

[Advertiser]

We don't want to slash benefits. And again, I make this very clear. We are not cutting Medicaid. We are not working in the elements of fraud, waste and abuse. SNAP, for example, listen to the statistics. In 2024, over $11 billion in SNAP payments were erroneous. I mean, that's a number that everyone acknowledges is real. It may be much. Louisiana is like the second largest recipient of state stamps in the country. Sir. Let me explain it. Margaret, let me explain it. The states. The states are not properly administering this because they don't have enough skin in the game. So what we've done in the bill is add some. Just a modest state sharing component so that they'll pay attention to that, so that why Again, so that it is preserved for the people that need it the most. This is common sense, Margaret. It's good government. And everybody on both sides of the aisle should agree to that.

[Political Commentator]

Well, Senator hall, there you have it. I've got the receipts. We're going to see. Here's my prediction we had they're not going to pass anything. We're going to head right up to an issue where they got to raise the debt ceiling, and we're going to have an issue of a potential government shutdown. Everybody's going to scramble and panic. And that's just how the GOP does business. Like Trump the bankrupter, the felon, the sexual abuser, the criminal. Anyway, hit subscribe let's get to 5 million subscribers. Can't get enough Midas? Check out the Midas plus substack for ad Free articles, reports, podcasts, daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski and more. Sign up for free [e-mail].

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