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Chuck
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Host
All sorts of interesting stuff, even Charles Barkley's greatest fear.
Chuck
Hey, nobody needs to know that new.
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Host
Research firms, there are consulting firms, and then There's Forrester. Meet today's Forrester@forrester.com and you, Brutus. Yeah, Maga Mike Johnson. You just got stabbed in the back by Elon Musk, who you thought was your friend. My friend Elon Musk. We partied together at the UFC fights. Uh, Elon Musk doesn't like you. Elon Musk isn't returning your phone calls anymore. Elon Musk says that he's going to run primary challenges against any MAGA Republican Congress member who votes for the disastrous budget bill. Elon Musk says that the budget bill, MAGA Mike is a total abomination and that it needs to be killed immediately. Elon Musk keeps posting kill the bill. But I thought MAGA Mike Johnson, you said that Elon Musk had the genius algorithms and the AI and it figured out ways to make this bill so big and beautiful. What happened? He hates the bill. Maga Mike Johnson. Yup. So MAGA Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, he thought he was close to the end zone. He thought he was gonna deliver the touchdown for Donald Trump. A disastrous budget bill, which I refer to as the murder bill, which would literally kill tens of millions of Americans, take 11 million Americans or so off of health care, give the billionaires trillions of dollars in tax cuts, steal food from the mouths of low income people, get rid of supplemental Nutrition assistance programs, bye bye food stamps, make more people unhoused by removing rental assistance in Section 8 housing, taking away women's reproductive rights. You know, all things that the MAGA Republicans love in their death cult and all of the suffering. But you see for Elon Musk, the problem is because of the increase in the deficit. Elon Musk, I think, actually wants more cruelty in this budget bill. And you ain't giving it to Elon Musk. Maga Mike Johnson. So Elon Musk came out strong against the budget bill. He's saying kill the bill. Elon Musk has been posting all of the comment sections from Fox with people saying that they feel betrayed by MAGA Mike Johnson and Donald Trump about how abysmal this budget bill is. And Mike Johnson says that Elon Musk is ghosting him. Elon Musk won't return his call. Watch MAGA Mike Johnson's disastrous press conference. Let's play this clip.
MAGA Mike Johnson
On Monday, he made this 180. What do you think changed? Why do you think he's coming out against this now? And have you spoken to the President and Elon since the infamous tweet?
Elon Musk
Well, I'll tell you, I called Elon last night. He didn't answer. But I hope to talk to him today. I mean, it's not, you know, he's very friendly and we can, and we've laughed about our differences on policy before. I'm not upset about this and I just, I think he understands and he's acknowledged to me before that this is so serious that we can't fool around with it. I mean, the debt cliff is approaching very quickly. Right. All the things that are in this bill are so important for the US Economy. It's going to be jet fuel for the US Economy. All boats are going to rise. And the sooner we do that, the better. And the risk of not getting it done is enormous, not just for the Republican Party, but for the country. We got to do this. We're going to have the largest tax increase in U.S. history at the end of the year if we fail and all the other calamities that we've talked about. So we've got to get it done. And I think Elon understands the weight of that and I hope he comes around. I'd love to talk to him this week and hope he calls him back today.
Host
And then MAGA Mike Johnson says that he thinks that Elon Musk is just flat wrong. Here, play this clip.
Elon Musk
And then Yesterday, you know, 24 hours later, he does a 180 and he comes out and opposed the bill. And it surprised me, frankly. And I don't take it personal. We don't take it personal. You know, he's, policy differences are not personal. I think he's, he's flat wrong. I think he's, he's way off on this and I've told him as much and I've said it publicly and privately. I'm very consistent in that. But am I concerned about effectiveness on the midterms? I'm not. Let me tell you why. Because when the big beautiful bill is done and signed into law, every single American is going to do better. This bill is geared for middle and working class Americans and they are going to feel the effects of it and they're going to feel it before the midterm election. So I have no concern whatsoever. I'm absolutely convinced that we're going to win the midterms and grow the House majority because we're delivering for the American people and fulfilling our campaign promises. And we'll see how that happens.
Host
MAGA Mike Johnson also says that he speaks to Elon, he speaks to Donald Trump multiple times a day. He used to speak to Elon Musk multiple times a day. And he goes, donald Trump is not delighted. Donald Trump's been like hiding since last Friday where he went to the US Steel factory in Pittsburgh and lied to the steel workers that Nippon Steel was not acquiring them when they clearly were. But here's the MAGA Mike Johnson. I talked to Donald Trump multiple times a day. Here, play this clip.
Elon Musk
Gossip. Back today, I talked to President Trump all the time, multiple times a day. Obviously, we've talked about this. As you know, he's not delighted that elon did a 180 on that. But look, I don't know what happened in 24 hours. Everybody can draw their own conclusions about that, okay? But I look forward to talking to my friend about it again. And I'm not upset about it. All right? Yeah, Olivia.
Host
And you, Brutus. And you, Brutus, too. Even Steve Bannon has come out against this budget bill. And Steve Bannon says, look, if you want to reduce the debt significantly, you got to tax the rich, you got to tax the wealthy. And I can't believe, am I really saying this, that I agree with Steve Bannon here, that you do need to tax the rich? Even a broken clock is right twice here. Play this clip.
Steve Bannon
Want to stop the dead bomb? Elon and the guys on Capitol Hill, you're going to have to raise taxes. The wealthy can't get an extension of the tax cut. That's got to go. The middle class and the working class. That has to be extended and has to be made permanent at 40%. The top bracket of 40%. You pick them. That's got to go to 39. Go back to 30. Snap back to 39 and a half percent and go to 40%. The math simply doesn't work.
Host
Here's MAGA Republican Senator Rand Paul. Here's what he's got to say. Play this clip.
Advertiser
President Trump chided Kentucky Republican Rand Paul today for opposing the bill.
Host
Senator, he says that you don't understand.
Advertiser
The bill and that you love to vote. No, Well, I would say that's not actually true. I would say that I've been pretty consistent in my time in, in the Senate at being opposed to deficit spending.
Jessica Tarlov
Here's.
Host
Here's what MAGA Republican Congress member Ralph Norman has to say. Play this clip.
Advertiser
Putting GOP supporters on the defensive, he says you're basically saddling this country with unsustainable debt.
Steve Bannon
Well, he's right. The debt is unsustainable.
Jessica Tarlov
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Host
And here's Maga Republican Senator from Louisiana, John Kennedy, who has a fake voice that he does. He's like, well, let me tell you. And it's not actually, if you go back and watch this guy speak before he's like made up a fake voice. It's so weird. Here, play this clip.
Advertiser
He's frustrated. I think he believes, in my judgment, correctly, that we're quickly becoming debt slaves that Congress needs to to rearm the magical healing power of.
Host
No.
Advertiser
And I agree with it. Having said that, I'm not ready to throw in the towel on this bill.
Host
And guess what, everybody. MAGA Republican James Comer. I'm James Comer. James Comer's very upset about this. It wasn't helpful at Elon Musk did. I'm James Comer. Here. Play this clip.
Steve Bannon
I want to support President Trump and his agenda, the big beautiful bill. Is that so it's disappointing that Elon Musk said what he said. It wasn't helpful. But at the end of the day, I don't think it's going to sway very much influence. We're focused on pricing President Trump's agenda and I'm confident there are enough senators that will pass that bill out of the Senate and hopefully we can agree to the changes that they make in the Senate and get President Trump his first major legislative victory of his second term.
Host
All right, Mr. Chair, take a look at this great line of questioning by Democratic Congressmember Garcia of MAGA. Republican Congressmember Turner. Play this clip.
Advertiser
Mr. Turner, you're one of our witnesses today, an expert on economics and a bunch of other things. Mr. Turner, you were invited to testify as an expert on government spending this is your post. Is this correct? Did you post this, sir?
Host
Yes, sir.
Advertiser
Okay. You called Social Security a Ponzi scheme. 100%. Which we know Elon Musk has also done. I'm glad you admitted it. Social Security is a government sponsored Ponzi scheme, as you said. Now, what about the second part, though, sir? I should be able to keep 100% of my. You can read the whole money, not watch government waste it. Giving $9 billion. Thank you, sir. Giving $9 billion to climate groups. Madam Chairwoman, thank you. Thank you, sir. A Ponzi scheme. And so I think it's interesting, of course, as one of our Republican witnesses is calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme. And that's a person that we should be taking advice from here today. Without Social Security, 22 million people would be pushed into poverty. That includes over 16 million seniors and nearly 1 million children. And in fact, Elon Musk has also said and agreed with you, sir, that this is a Ponzi scheme. I think it's ironic that you are one of our witnesses talking about efficiency when you want to attack the single best program that we have to support people not just out of poverty, but across this country to uplift them, to ensure they can afford a decent life. We on this committee need to work every single day, not just to protect Social Security, but to hold Republicans accountable for attacking Medicare, Medicaid, for attacking Social Security and the programs that we all depend on. With that, I yield back. Thank you.
Host
And Jessica Tarlov's getting in on the action. He says she goes pro democracy hero over at Fox. She goes, Steve Bannon, a huge supporter of Donald Trump, feels the same way as Musk. Play this clip.
Congressmember
That's what matters. And Steve Bannon, a huge supporter of President Trump, feels the same as Elon Musk does about it. He says, you're going to have to raise taxes. And the Republicans have a new talking point. Mike Johnson was doing this on the Sunday, Sunday shows Lutnicks tried at best since try where they say, oh, the cbo, it's a Democratic organization. It's run by a Bush appointee who's only ever donated once to a candidate. And it was a Republican in 2014. But the CBO was fine in 2018 and 2019 when their projections were 99.5% accurate, grading Trump's bill. But because it's.
Political Analyst
But, Jessica, let's just be honest. I worked on Capitol hill starting in 1996. You can do the math, okay? Ever since then, anybody who is president and has doesn't have the con. They hate the CBO and Biden, they hated the cbo, but the point is.
Congressmember
That it's a backlash and they're saying that it's a lie.
Political Analyst
I actually don't think that it's correct to say that it's accurate. I think that it is complicated and complex and difficult and you can argue it in all these different ways. You can get different people to use different numbers. But the Biden people hated cbo, and now the Trump people hate cbo. It's like it always.
Host
So now with maga, Mike Johnson and Donald Trump's feelings all hurt. You know, they got to come up with their distraction, right? They got to come up with their distraction. So here you have Dan Bongino going on Fox, and rather than them devoting the time to talking about Elon Musk trying to tank this disastrous budget bill, what do they spend their time on? Dan Bongino says, damn right, we're focusing on the COVID origins. Damn right. That's what we're focused on here. Play this clip.
Elon Musk
Let me ask you about.
Host
And again, a lightning round.
Elon Musk
Let's go quickly. Covid origins. Are we going to find out information that the government lied to us?
Advertiser
Damn right you are. We're all over that. I, the minute I got in there in that job, I said they purposely.
Elon Musk
Lied to the American people.
Advertiser
They purposely lied down yet listen, that's the one I'm the most optimistic about. I was pretty clear on my social media account that I ordered that case immediately to be looked into again. We have a great investigator on it and I think we should see action on that one shortly.
Host
Then you had maga, Republican Congress member Crane, and he was all upset. He's like, why didn't Elon Musk come out earlier? We would have wished that he would have told us he didn't like this bill any earlier. Here, play this clip. Why wasn't he talking about this before the bill? Right.
Advertiser
And that's what frustrates me. Hey, if you're going to be in this fight, be in this fight when we need you. Because we needed him. Musk waited.
Host
And finally here we have Jessica Tarlov saying we've got the Congressional Budget Office scoring came out. We know it's gonna be added to the deficit here. We're talking about at least 2.4 trillion added to the deficit. We're talking about 16 million Medicaid cuts. We're talking about Obamacare, credit tax cuts. We're talking about Medicare on the chopping blocks, Medicaid And Medicare. Watch this clip.
Congressmember
Not a ton, but I know that I have to to some degree. I mean, I'm a pretty happy Democrat.
Advertiser
You are, but that's because you're around us.
Host
That's right.
Congressmember
Oh, it's my conservative lift that I get every day.
Host
Yes, it is. To keep you real, we keep you real.
Advertiser
You don't drift off into some far left loony bin.
Congressmember
I mean, sometimes, but no one is in love with Elon Musk. Like, politics is a game. And J.D. vance didn't like Donald Trump a whole lot. Right. Excited America's Hitler. Now he's the vice president. Marco Rubio has all the other jobs in the government and he hated Donald Trump. Ted Cruz has forgiven him for saying that his wife is super ugly and saying that his dad was a murderer. Right?
Host
Yeah.
Congressmember
Didn't he say that about Ted Cruz? Anyway, he was only halfway.
Political Analyst
But you're saying.
Congressmember
So for this particular. In this particular moment, we have something in common with Elon Musk. You should definitely leverage it. That's what's important. But I do think that Republicans, including my dear colleagues here at the table, would prefer that we were talking about Elon Musk versus the brass tax of the bill itself. So the final CBO scoring came out today. 2.4 trillion. Yeah. Oh, boy. 2.4 trillion to the deficit. 3.7 trillion in tax cuts. 16 million all in total between Medicaid cuts and Obamacare. Credit tax cuts. Going off their health insurance. That's what matters. And Steve.
Host
So. Oh, Maga, Mike Johnson. I'm sorry, Maga Mike. I'm sorry, Maga Mike, but what a disastrous bill this is in all honest. Right. This bill is actually. Is an abomination. Not for the reasons that Elon Musk doesn't like it. Although I think that we should rein in the deficit. But to me, it's easy. You know how you reign in the deficit? You tax the billionaires more. You do. First off, they should be paying at the very least the same percentage of their income as everybody else. They shouldn't be paying less, but I think they should be taxed at a higher rate. I think after X, X, hundreds of. After X, millions of dollars, then hundreds of millions of dollars, then billions of dollars. Yeah. I think you get taxed more. I think you get. Look, Ro Khanna, Democratic Congressmember from Silicon Valley. He represents Silicon Valley. Way more billionaires in his district than everywhere. He says, tax the rich. Tax my constituents more. They won't feel it. Tax them more. And if they. And if they are feeling. If they do feel it, if they're too greedy, whatever, then go to another country. You want to live in the United States? You get all of these incredible benefits and you think you want tax cuts so you can buy five extra private jets instead of one extra private jets. Now f that, tax the rich, give people free health care, give people free education. That's a right in my view. Health care, education, treat people with dignity and equality. People shouldn't be living paycheck to paycheck. It's ridiculous. People should have affordable housing. That's what we should be focused on, not disastrous budget bills that rip apart government services and take money and take lunch out of the mouths of children. Well, hit subscribe. Let's get to 5 million subscribers. New Midas merch drop. Check out the latest Pro democracy sticker packs, T shirts, patterns, sweatshirts and more.
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Host
The numbers look good.
Political Analyst
Brad, you're on mute.
MAGA Mike Johnson
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The MeidasTouch Podcast: "MAGA Mike Has Worst Day of His Life After Terrible News" - Detailed Summary
Release Date: June 5, 2025
In this gripping episode of The MeidasTouch Podcast, hosts Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas dissect a tumultuous day for MAGA Republican Congressman Mike Johnson, triggered by unexpected opposition from tech mogul Elon Musk regarding a contentious budget bill. The episode delves deep into the ramifications of this political fallout, exploring the interplay between high-profile figures, fiscal policies, and the broader implications for American democracy.
The episode kicks off with Host introducing the central conflict: MAGA Mike Johnson faces intense backlash after Elon Musk, once an ally, vocally opposes the proposed budget bill. The budget, deemed "disastrous" by critics, has sparked heated debates across the political spectrum.
Host outlines the severity of the bill, highlighting its potential negative impacts:
"This bill is actually an abomination... it would... take 11 million Americans or so off of healthcare, give the billionaires trillions of dollars in tax cuts, steal food from the mouths of low-income people, get rid of supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs, bye-bye food stamps..." (20:35).
Elon Musk's change of stance is a pivotal moment in the episode. Initially supportive, Musk's opposition has shaken Johnson's confidence and strained their professional relationship.
MAGA Mike Johnson expresses his confusion and disappointment:
"Elon Musk doesn't like you. Elon Musk isn't returning your phone calls anymore." (02:01).
In response, Elon Musk defends his position, emphasizing the bill's fiscal irresponsibility:
"Policy differences are not personal... I'm very consistent in that... when the big beautiful bill is done and signed into law, every single American is going to do better." (05:49).
This divergence underscores the tension between fiscal conservatism and political alliances within the GOP.
The episode further explores the GOP's internal discord stemming from the bill.
Steve Bannon, a key Republican strategist, unexpectedly supports tax increases on the wealthy:
"Want to stop the dead bomb? Elon and the guys on Capitol Hill, you're going to have to raise taxes. The wealthy can't get an extension of the tax cut." (07:57).
This admission is ironic, considering Bannon's usual stance against tax hikes, adding another layer of complexity to the Republican response.
Senator Rand Paul also expresses skepticism about the bill:
"I've been pretty consistent in my time in the Senate at being opposed to deficit spending." (08:26).
Meanwhile, Senator John Kennedy and James Comer voice their frustrations with the bill's trajectory and Musk's late opposition, highlighting a fragmented Republican front.
A critical turning point in the discussion is the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) scoring of the bill, revealing severe fiscal implications.
Host emphasizes the dire predictions:
"The final CBO scoring came out today. 2.4 trillion added to the deficit. 3.7 trillion in tax cuts. 16 million Medicaid cuts..." (17:05).
This analysis serves as a grim assessment of the bill's sustainability, fueling further opposition both within and outside the party.
Democratic members on the podcast counter the Republican narrative by defending essential social programs and criticizing attempts to dismantle them.
Jessica Tarlov highlights the importance of Social Security:
"Without Social Security, 22 million people would be pushed into poverty. That includes over 16 million seniors and nearly 1 million children." (12:20).
She underscores the bipartisan necessity of these programs, challenging the labeling of Social Security as a "Ponzi scheme."
In response to the budget bill controversy, Republicans are portrayed as seeking distractions. Dan Bongino shifts focus to the origins of COVID-19, diverting attention from the fiscal debate:
"Damn right we're focusing on the COVID origins. That's what we're focused on here." (15:24).
This tactic reflects a broader strategy to sideline pressing economic issues in favor of other contentious topics.
Wrapping up the episode, the hosts emphasize the importance of addressing the budget bill's shortcomings and the need for fiscal responsibility. They advocate for tax reforms targeting the wealthy to balance the deficit and support essential public services.
Host concludes with a rallying cry:
"Health care, education, treat people with dignity and equality... Let's get to 5 million subscribers." (20:35).
This statement encapsulates the podcast's commitment to promoting democratic values and informed political discourse.
MAGA Mike Johnson:
"He thought he was gonna deliver the touchdown for Donald Trump." (04:43)
Elon Musk:
"I'm flat wrong. I think he's way off on this." (05:49)
Steve Bannon:
"You pick them. That's got to go to 39. Go back to 30." (07:57)
Senator Rand Paul:
"I've been pretty consistent... opposed to deficit spending." (08:26)
Congressmember:
"Social Security is a government-sponsored Ponzi scheme." (12:20)
Dan Bongino:
"Damn right we're focusing on the COVID origins." (15:24)
This episode of The MeidasTouch Podcast provides a comprehensive analysis of the political upheaval surrounding MAGA Mike Johnson and the disintegration of his alliance with Elon Musk over a controversial budget bill. Through incisive discussions, the podcast sheds light on the intricate dynamics within the Republican Party, the profound impact of fiscal policies on American society, and the broader struggle to uphold democratic principles amidst partisan conflicts.
Listeners are left with a nuanced understanding of the challenges facing current political leaders and the imperative to advocate for equitable and sustainable economic policies.