LEADER JEFFRIES ON MEIDAS TOUCH: "TO THE EXTENT THAT WE NEED REGIME CHANGE AT THIS MOMENT IN TIME, IT IS GOING TO COME IN NOVEMBER"
Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries joined MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas and emphasized that Democrats are pushing back against Donald Trump and Republicans to keep our nation out of another forever war and to tackle the real problems American families are facing.
BEN MEISELAS: Leader Jeffries, it's great to see you here live with everybody. I showed a clip there of Donald Trump in Cincinnati. We also saw Donald Trump's speech in Kentucky. And in that speech, he was barely coherent. He claimed that the war was won. He said the Strait of Hormuz is excellent and that everything's going according to plan. He looked and behaved demented, and we know everything's a lie. I want to get your reaction to that, Leader Jeffries.
LEADER JEFFRIES: Donald Trump is a disaster. This guy has been completely and totally unqualified since the moment he first burst onto the national stage, unfortunately, about 10 years ago, and it's only gotten worse. And certainly, the context of what the country and the world are now dealing with is toxic and extreme. This war is a failure. It's a war of choice. We've already lost seven service members, heroes and patriots. Billions of dollars are being spent to drop bombs in the Middle East. The President is unwilling to spend a dime to actually make healthcare more affordable or reduce the grocery bills of everyday Americans. School children have been killed because of erroneous information. We also know gas prices are through the roof, and war has exploded all across the Middle East from a person, Donald Trump, who, as a candidate, said he was not going to get us into another endless war of choice in the Middle East. And so he's been a failure. Republicans have been a failure. And to the extent that we need regime change at this moment in time, it is going to come in November.
BEN MEISELAS: I think that's what a lot of people are saying and are happy to hear you say that the real regime change that is needed is the Trump regime. And frankly, the GOP regime as well. They're on a retreat right now, or they've been on a retreat in Doral in Miami at Donald Trump's resort, where they've been partying right now during this disastrous war. They've been living it up in the Trump ballroom out there, which is just so utterly offensive. And I think, though, a lot of people have been paying attention, though, to this retreat and what's been going on there and saying, you know, it's not only tone deaf, it's consistent with their behavior in the past. But I just think even some MAGA people or Republican people looking at this, like, what the hell is going on here? What do you make of this GOP retreat, Leader Jeffries?
LEADER JEFFRIES: That's incredible to me. They're down at Donald Trump's luxury golf club, partying with each other and denying reality. Donald Trump continues to pretend as if the affordability crisis is a hoax. And now they're trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the American people by suggesting that they should no longer talk about mass deportation. Republicans are the party of mass deportations. They are the ones who've actually decided that they're going to spend taxpayer dollars not to make life more affordable for the American people, but to brutalize and kill them, as was the case with Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, and to violently target law-abiding immigrant families. It's one of the reasons why their immigration policies are now perceived to be a failure, along with, of course, the failure on the economy, the failure on healthcare, the failure on nutritional assistance, the failure to uphold the rule of law, as you've consistently pointed out, Ben. This is a Trump cartel. This is the largest pay-to-play scheme that any presidential administration has ever run. And so that's why we're determined to make sure we do something meaningful to lower the high cost of living, on affordability, but at the same time, continue to bring about accountability, as was recently done with the termination of Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, although that's not over, because we're going to continue to pursue the corruption that she clearly engaged in as well.
BEN MEISELAS: You mentioned that this entire Trump regime, by the way, which, as you mentioned, there needs to be a regime change right there. But this entire regime is a pay-to-play scheme. But even the people who paid to play in the Middle East are saying, when do we get to play? We paid. Where the hell is the defense? You wanted us to do World Liberty Financials, so we gave you hundreds of millions. You wanted us to do this. You wanted to do that. You wanted the Trump hotels. We gave you all of that. And now you rushed into this war without listening to us, without consulting us. And now we've heard that these Middle East nations are talking about security arrangements with Iran and with China. So we have a reordering of a world order post World War Two, except right now America's being cut out because, despite having the most powerful military in the world, undisputed that we had that or that exists, but the fact that it was done in such an unprepared Trumpian way has turned the whole world against us right now.
LEADER JEFFRIES: That's absolutely correct. And as we've seen in prior conflicts, including, of course, Iraq and Afghanistan, military might is not enough if the people who are actually directing the war don't know what the hell they're doing in terms of the civilians in suits in Washington, D.C. And that's what we see as it relates to Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth and all the people who have gotten us into this war of choice without any justification. They've got no plans, no objective and no idea how to get us out of this situation that they themselves got us into. And as you've pointed out, you now have a dozen countries in the Middle East who are under attack from Iran and are trying to figure out, okay, if the United States doesn't really know how to deescalate a conflict that they raced into, they're considering other options. So Donald Trump, as the American people know, hasn't made this country safer. The American people correctly have come to the conclusion he's actually making us more vulnerable. And this guy, by the way, doesn't even know the difference between friend or foe. He seems like he had a friendly conversation with Vladimir Putin of all people, who apparently is providing intelligence to Iranians to be able to target U.S. military servicemen and women. And rather than admonish, punish, make sure they have consequences for what Vladimir Putin and Russia appear to be doing, this guy, Donald Trump, continues to go after Ukraine, who's our ally, partnering with Western Europe, trying to push back against Russian aggression. The whole thing is extraordinary and out of control. It's one of the reasons why, though, the American people have been rising up, and Republicans have been losing elections literally for 15 consecutive months. Because the American people are done with the extremism, and we, as Democrats, are gonna continue to lean in to focusing on the issues that matter, driving down the high cost of living, fixing our broken healthcare system and yes, cleaning up corruption wherever it may be found.
BEN MEISELAS: You know, Leader Jeffries, when, look, I obviously am no fan of Donald Trump's, but when America is in a war, even if it's a war that I believe is unlawful and I believe is disastrous, I still want to see, I still root for leadership qualities and clarity. Like let me say that, like, so that American people know what's going on. And so when Donald Trump was giving the speech in Kentucky, and people are looking for just some level of clarity, a fraction of a fraction of moral clarity, this is what we hear. Salty, let's play this clip.
RECORDING OF PRESIDENT TRUMP: The only thing I admired about Barack Hussein Obama, which was nothing, actually. But the only thing is the way he bobbed down. Remember, he'd bob, hey, if you talk about unpresidential, he's bobbing. And I couldn't believe that he made it without at least a noticeable major fall. But Biden was the opposite. Biden couldn't even walk up the stairs. He fell.
BEN MEISELAS: So, Leader Jeffries, when I watch this speech, in my opinion, there's something seriously wrong with this person cognitively, physically. This person's not right, you know. And I say this in the utmost seriousness. There's truly something, and it's staring us in the face. Before we go, I just want, you know, you to maybe just address like what we're observing right now because I feel like we're just being gaslit by a lot of media to believe that this is like normal. And it isn't.
LEADER JEFFRIES: It's absolutely abnormal. You know, from the perspective of someone who's a New Yorker, we've known there's something seriously wrong with this individual for decades. He's been in our face, but the deterioration has certainly accelerated. And now it's frightening for the American people, understandably, because this guy is the Commander-in-Chief at this moment. And it's just going to be incumbent to make sure that we can erect as many ironclad guardrails around this guy and as you know you've pointed out, look, when we're at war, we are going to continue to pray for the safety and security of our troops, our brave servicemen and women, all who are in harm's way. But at the same period of time, we have a responsibility to make sure we're defending the best interests of the American people, the country, the rule of law, the Constitution, all of which Donald Trump continues to run over. And he's not offering a single coherent reason for the policies, the extremism, that he's jamming down the throats of the American people causing folks to reasonably question what's wrong with this guy.
BEN MEISELAS: Leader Jeffries, I know you got to go in 90 seconds. Address the midterms, though. A lot of people want to hear your perspective of it, you know. It's so critical, I think, that Article One behave like Article One and be a check against this regime. Talk to us about it.
LEADER JEFFRIES: Absolutely. You know, James Madison once made the observation when they were contemplating the creation of the House of Representatives, that it should be an intimate sympathy with the American people and to function—Congress—as a rival to the executive branch. And that's not what's happening right now. House Republicans continue to bury their heads in the sand and they act like reckless rubber stamps to Donald Trump's extreme agenda. Enough. In order for us to have a check and balance, for us to block and tackle on behalf of the American people, push back against this extremism and actually spend taxpayer dollars in ways that are designed to make the lives of the American people more affordable, Democrats are going to need to rout Republicans and take back control of the House. And the good news is we're only three seats short. Narrowest majority that Republicans have since any party since 1930. We're going to take back the House with the support of the American people and then put the American people first, not the Trump cartel.
BEN MEISELAS: Democratic Leader Jeffries, appreciate you joining us on this live. Thank you very much. And a lot of people are paying attention right now, these midterms especially. And I think you mentioning regime change of Trump is something that I saw in the chat that people are saying. I mean, for real, like this is something that I think in our worst nightmare, you know, people would say, it's this bad. It's worse than people say. Leader Jeffries, thank you so much.
LEADER JEFFRIES: Thank you so much, Ben.
Full interview can be watched here.