Trump dealt FATAL BLOW amid shutdown fight

I’m joined now by Senator Elizabeth Warren. Thanks so much for joining me. Thank you for having me. Always good to see you. So, we are heading head first right now into the prospect of a government shutdown. So, first and foremost, given the Democrats limited leverage, can you talk about what they’re seeking to do uh with with what little leverage they do have as far as healthc care is concerned, as far as these ACA subsidies are concerned? Okay. So, you have to remember we don’t have much power, but we do have some power. And this particular sliver of leverage is that to get a budget passed or to get a so-called continuing resolution, another form of budget, short-term budget passed, takes 60 votes in the Senate. And the Republicans don’t have 60 votes. So, they got to come to the Democrats. What the Democrats are saying is if you want our votes, then you got to be willing to roll back some of those cuts to health care that you put in place all by Republicans, no Democrats voted for it, that you put in place last spring. Because what’s about to happen is about 15 million people are about to lose their access to health care. And pretty much everybody in the country who has health insurance is about to see their premiums go somewhere from 75% higher to doubling and that’s going to mean a lot of people in this country who suffer who are making choices like do I eat or do I have health insurance it also has this horrible impact on the whole health care system. Rural hospitals are already starting to shut down because they can’t handle the uncompensated care. Community health centers, they’re starting to pull out um so that there will be virtually nobody who’s not a billionaire who will not be affected by the health care cuts the Republicans have put in place. So all the Democrats are asking for is if you want us to be a part of funding this government going forward, you got to give us roll back some of that stuff you’ve done on health care and you got to make some asurances here that you won’t agree to it and then you’ll turn around a week from now and roll back again and just uh do what’s called a recision and take it all back again. So that’s all we’re looking for. We want to get rid of those health care cuts and we want to make sure that the health care access sticks. Why is that such a non-starter for Republicans recognizing recognizing and I think this is an important point to note that as far as the ACA enrollment is concerned, the places where we’ve seen the biggest jump in ACA enrollment is mo mostly red states. We’ve seen um we’ve seen Texas enrollment grow by 255%. Mrs. And this is since 2020. Mississippi grow by 242%, Louisiana and West Virginia grow by 234%, Georgia by 227, Tennessee by 221. These are largely Republican states that are going to feel the brunt of this. Uh so what is like why not relent on this issue that is overwhelmingly going to help red states? So I think there are two answers to this. One answer is just straightforward and that is last spring when they were negotiating the deal. They wanted to do a trillion that’s with a t a trillion dollars in tax cuts for a handful of billionaires and multi multi-millionaires and billionaire corporations. And because they had other stuff running in there, they were going to run up the federal deficit by trillions more. So they looked around and they said, “Okay, where can we cut?” And they decided the place they could cut was on healthcare. Yeah. So the money that’s being taken out of the health care system, no surprise, is right at a trillion dollar. And that’s the money that’s going over the billionaires. But, you know, I want to make a a related point. It’s it’s definitely about the money. and they just didn’t want to have to face the fact that they would be upping the deficit even more. So that that was part of it. But you know what part of this is? It’s a fundamental question of do you want a government that works for people? And if you really think that the job of government is just to help out the billionaires and keep the masses quiet enough that they will work in your uh your fulfillment centers and not re and and pave your roads and mow your lawns and not raise any problems. If you think that is the role of government, then the Trump administration is for you because that’s the direction they’re pushing everything they can. But if you genuinely think that the role of government is to be on the side of people and to try to help build a safety net for folks so that if your grandma outlives her savings and has to be in a nursing home, or your cousin has a baby that runs up a million dollars in medical bills in the first month, or your neighbor gets hit by a bus and needs a wheelchair, or a home health aid that we can be there for each other and government is the way to do that. So I think it’s both things. They wanted to be able to give that money to the billionaires, but I think also they don’t want government to work for families and healthcare is a place geez what’s so ironic here. The health care system’s already broken, right? Already not working. And their answer is make it worth less. Make it more painful for people. Make it more costly for people. Make more people say government is not on my side. That’s what the Republicans want. Right? So they can use that as a pretext to say this way we should privatize everything. We should privatize social security. We should privatize the post office. Not have to pay for anything. Not have to worry about spending federal uh uh revenues on on these pesky little projects. This way we can keep giving ourselves tax cuts and not feel like we have to offset it with something. That’s right. Um that’s right. There’s a big plan here. Yep. Trump will push back on this and has pushed back on this and has come out and said, you know what the Democrats want? They want they want health care for illegals. And so can I get can I get a very clear uh explanation of of of the reality here are in terms of what Democrats are pushing for with these ACA subsidies and whether undocumented immigrants are even eligible for ACA subsidies. So can we just start with Trump’s statement is a lie. Federal law is absolutely clear. The number of undocumented people here in the United States who are getting assistance from Medicaid or from the ACA is exactly zero. It is not legal right now. That’s it. Nothing more. And every time Donald Trump tries to run this play, we should all just look up and say, “Liar, liar, liar.” because that’s what’s happening here. And it’s one more effort to distract people. Understand this. Not everybody who has Medicaid actually realizes it’s Medicaid. In different states, it’s called different things. In Oklahoma, it’s called Sooner Care. Uh in Massachusetts, it’s called Mass Health. Uh I just learned out that learned that in Vermont, it’s called Dr. Dinosaur. Go figure that one out. But the point is it’s called something different. It’s still the same federal program. So there are a lot of folks who don’t realize that this cut that is barreling toward them is actually going to hit them smack in the head or hit people they love, people they care about smack in the head. And that’s exactly what Donald Trump and the Republicans are counting on. That they’re not going to have to pay a price. that yeah, life will get tougher for you, but no one’s ever going to be able to pin it on Trump and the Republicans. H how is this not a win-win for Trump? Because he’s come out, and I’m going to throw to a clip right now of some of the things that he said Republicans are able to do if and when we do actually get to a shutdown say about the state of the Democrat party when they have a 33% appro uh favorability rating on average in recent months and they’re willing to shut down the government over healthare. They are shutting it down. We’re not shutting it down. We don’t want it to shut down because we have the greatest period of time ever. I told you we have $17 trillion being invested. So the last person that wants to shut down is us. Now with that being said, we can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible that are bad for them and irreversible by them like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like. And you know all you all know Russell vote he’s become very popular recently because he can trim the budget to a level that you couldn’t do any other way. So they’re taking a risk by having a shutdown because because of the shutdown we can do things medically and other ways including benefits. We can cut large numbers of people out. We don’t want to do that but we don’t want fraud, waste and abuse and you know we’re cutting that. So right there he’s he’s basically saying that a shutdown would enable him to make deeper cuts to fire more people to to be more surgical in the ways that he wants to continue to gut the federal government. So on one hand he he notches a win if the government shuts down because there’s no oversight as if there’s really any oversight now on him as it is, but there’s no oversight from from Congress or anybody else. Uh and more power is consolidated into the executive branch. And on on the on the flip side, I mean, like he really doesn’t, you know, he doesn’t benefit much by by by doing any of that. So, what incentive is there for him to to actually make a deal with the Democrats here if he if he if he will consolidate more power and notch more wins by virtue of it shutting down? So, that clip says everything you really need to know about Donald Trump, right? He’s saying we could hurt even more people. Uh, and Democrats are the ones who don’t want to hurt people. So, we’re going to hurt Democrats by hurting working people all across this country, and we got a whole lot of ways to do it. I got a couple of responses to that. The first one is they’re already doing it, and there aren’t stops on this government right now. Look, the courts are doing their best in some places, but so far, the Supreme Court just seems to give a pass every time. But I see it exactly in reverse here. And that is there comes a time you got to stand up and fight back. You just can’t say anymore that we are going to lie down and let Donald Trump do whatever he wants. What? Look, it’s been nine months now and things have not gotten better. He never reached a point where he said, “You know what? I got enough now. I have imposed enough pain on people. I have gotten enough crypto dollars. I have helped out my billionaire donors. There is no enough for this man. So this is the fight. This is the fight to pick right now. The fight over health care for millions of Americans. The fight that will touch every single person in our country and to stand up and show that we can fight. Because here’s the risk that Donald Trump runs. We stand up and fight back. We push back. We make clear that this is Donald Trump and the Senate Republicans and the House Republicans shut down and that everything that is not working is not working because of them. All of a sudden the world starts to look different because understand we watched Donald Trump just go on and on but he is not indifferent to hearing that people don’t like what he’s doing. Remember last April he was doing all the tariff stuff and all of a sudden the stock market went down and he said whoa not so much. Right? He decides he’s gonna go invade and then whoa, he gets pushed back and he decides maybe he’s not going to Chicago. Maybe he’s gonna pull and try to do it another way. He is listening. So this is the moment. I know you hear this all the time. You know, call your senator, call your rep, call the White House, talk to each other, put it out online. But it really is because if we could come together and push back, if we can get a win here on health care, if we can show that we fight and that we know how to stick together, that we know how to bruise them over trying to impose this kind of pain on the American people. That’s when we start to take our country back. That’s when we start to make this democracy work again. That’s when we start to put checks and balances back in place. Whatever you are most agrieved about that Donald Trump has done, fighting back starts with coming together in a big joint fight and winning. And I think the healthc care fight is exactly the right place to do that. And finally, let’s end off with this. Um, you know, there there is still a a not insignificant a non-zero faction of Democrats who who are in support of of a shutdown. I believe it’s like a third of Democrats, twothirds of Democrats are against the prospect of a shutdown. And I think that that there are plenty of examples of why that would be so dangerous. But for those last third, can you talk about just some specific instances? And Trump alluded to this in the clip that I showed you before, but but it’s also he’s not a trustworthy narrator and so he he will just say whatever, you know, errant synapse fires in his brain and words fall out of his face. What kind of power does he have in the event that a shutdown does occur and that Democrats, even from the minority, no longer have any say on anything because Congress uh is no longer in session? So that’s a really difficult question. And the reason it’s difficult is we have no precedent here. Always before we have had presidents who were willing to follow the law. We now have somebody who says, you know, if he’s got a hammer, he can break anything he wants. Yeah. And that Democrats have no power to stop him. Hell, Republicans have no power, it seems, to stop him. So, we’re living with a guy right now who thinks he can fire anybody. And a Supreme Court so far that when the cases have bubbled up to them have said, you know what, go ahead and fire those folks while we decide whether or not it’s actually legal to do that. I have to say, I take his argument that he can do so much more as nothing more than an empty threat at this point. Donald Trump doesn’t feel bound by the oversight of Democrats in Congress. He doesn’t feel bound by the laws that are written on the books. He doesn’t feel bound by the advice of his own lawyers, if there are any still around, who are willing to say to him, uh, Mr. President, what you’re doing here is not legal. He doesn’t feel bound by any of that. I think that means it is time to wage a fight and the fight has to be all of us. The fight has to be the giant push back to say Donald Trump, the people are not with you on this. And not not with you by a little bit, not with you by a lot. Because the people of America think that it is wrong to give a trillion dollars in tax breaks to your billionaire friends and to take that money away from little babies who need health care and seniors who need nursing homes that we are willing to stand up and fight for our values. That’s that’s where the power is and I think it’s about time to show that to Donald Trump. We’ll leave it there. Senator Warren, thanks so much for the time. You bet. So good to see you.

Interview: Elizabeth Warren exposes Trump’s government shutdown lie

For more from Brian Tyler Cohen:
Straight-news titled YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@briantylercohennews
YouTube (español): https://www.youtube.com/@briantylercohenespanol
Order my #1 NYT bestselling book: https://www.harpercollins.com/pages/shameless
Newsletter: https://plus.briantylercohen.com
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/briantylercohen
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/36UvEHs
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0066rKCBIycIMI4os6Ec5V
Twitter: https://twitter.com/briantylercohen
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/briantylercohen
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/briantylercohen
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@briantylercohen
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/briantylercohen.bsky.social
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@briantylercohen

36 comments

  3. Ummm…. The only part I have to disagree with is that what he said isn't an empty threat and for all the reasons she laid out. I agree that a united front is what is required but downplaying this man's statements is how we got here in the first place.

  6. Every Democrat needs to start a multi-platform social media presence and post every day.
    Every staff member.
    Getting past the Faux-news.

  8. When I hear this congresswoman talking, I remember her at the security conference in Germany as soon as Trump took over. She said supporting Trump that he was a great negotiator and supported him. I would really like to ask her how she sees herself today regarding what she said
    Quando ouço essa congressista falando me vem a lembrança dela na conferência de segurança na Alemanha assim que Trump assumiu. Ela disse apoiando Trump que ele era um ótimo negociador e o apoiava. Gostaria muito de perguntar a ela como se vê hoje com relação ao que disse

  19. I absolutely agree that the Republican cuts to Medicare are horrific but surely by preventing the bill to pass and shutting down the government the Democrats are effectively saving the Republicans from themselves. If on the other hand the Democrats had allowed the bill to pass and cost of healthcare had skyrocketed then and perhaps only then would Republican voters, the people most affected by the cuts, change their vote. Do Democrats really believe that Republican voters will even understand why the Democrats prevented the bill from passing and subsequently thank them for doing it. I have long believed that the filibuster should be abolished and whichever party has 50 plus votes should get their legislation through. This is definitely the case in any other democracy and of course if the legislation impacts the voting population adversely, then typically the ruling party are thrown out of office at the next election. This is democracy in action.

  21. Instead of giving free health care to illegals how about we spend that money for America’s homeless they are always left out and it makes me sick.

  22. Nice maga hope your proud of yourselfs this is something to brag about, impeach this fool and vote blue 🔵 midterm and get this administration out

  23. I feel the same thing! I also want to fight but don't know exactly where to start. I think I will go to our local Democrat Headquarters.

  24. How dumb are Republicans? So dumb that, when the democrats said "We're not voting for this unless you do the very thing that will save your asses in the midterms," and they're saying no.

  25. I am not for anything the republicans stand for. Like Warren said it is about the wealthy can get their money and the rest us can go to hell. When or if the government it will not be due to other party. They are trying to save our health care and keep asshole/republicans taking it away.

  28. I think that electing someone like Trump is always risky. He grew up rich and privileged, without any consequences, believing that he can do whatever he wants to. Thinking, because of money, that he's superior and he just has to throw a hissy fit and people will do whatever he damn well pleases! It's 🤢

  29. Forget all of that. I'll tell you exactly why they're doing. What they're doing is because last term as President Donald Trump wanted to gut and kill the ACA because of his insults. He thought they were insults that Barack Obama made at the very last White House press center. He is still on that all these years later. He is still his ego is still personally bruised and offended because of a goddamn joke. That's why they're doing this because they received their fucking marching orders from the president of the United States to gut and kill the affordable Care act

  31. Let's face it.. Democrats only have the power and leverage to cave and give in to Republicans. I remember when the Democrats were in charge they couldn't get anything passed because the Republicans kept standing firm and not letting them get bossed around. They stood on raising taxes and getting their kickbacks passed. Now that the Republicans are in charge the Democrats are going along with Everything and Anything the Republicans want. 🙄

  35. None of this matters if Trump just ignores everything. Congress and the courts are in his pocket anyway . They're irrelevant now.😢😢

Comments are closed.