Ben, Beleh, and Max sit down with Congressman Mike Levin (CA-49) for a no-holds-barred discussion on Trump’s second term, Elon Musk’s outsized influence in the White House, and how Democrats can fight back.
Levin kicks things off by breaking down Musk’s unprecedented power grab, explaining why his unilateral agency cuts and government overreach are blatantly unconstitutional (01:39). He calls out Republicans’ silence on Musk’s influence and their reliance on billionaire donations, revealing that Musk himself poured $300 million into the 2024 election (04:28).
Later, they dive into how Democrats can reclaim their working-class identity, exposing Trump’s economic failures, from rising costs to disastrous tariffs (12:14). Levin also hammers Trump’s inaction on inflation and lays out what Democrats need to do to rebuild their populist appeal (16:22).
The conversation turns to America’s eroding global credibility, as Trump’s erratic foreign policy decisions leave the U.S. looking weak on the world stage (17:58). Plus, Levin shares his optimism for the Padres, his frustration with the Angels, and his thoughts on the Super Bowl and Chargers' future under Jim Harbaugh (20:11).
This is a must-listen for anyone who wants an insider’s take on the battle to stop the billionaire takeover of our democracy.
Follow Congressman Levin @MikeLevin + @RepMikeLevin, Beleh @Btoma15, Ben @BenBartlettt, and Brogressive Podcast @BrogressivePod on Twitter/X.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:07):
Welcome everyone to the newest episode of the Progressive
Podcast. We were very special episode
today. We're honored to be joined by
Congressman Mike Levin from California's 49th Congressional
District. Congressman Levin was elected in
2018 and since being elected, Congressman Levin has been at
the forefront of initiatives promoting clean energy
investments and he serves on theVeterans Affairs Committee.
(00:29):
His district encompasses North county, San Diego and South
county Orange County. Great interview.
Thank you, Carson Levin, for joining us.
We ended up touching on President Elon Musk, President
Trump and his God awful tariffs.Everyone knows how much I hate
tariffs. Don't get me started again.
Similarly with what Democrats are going to be doing to fight
back. Show that we are the party that
kicks ass for the working class.Yeah.
(00:50):
I want to, you know, thank Congressman Mike Levin and his
team. Make sure to listen to the full
podcast, share it with your friends.
It's one of my favorite episodesthat we've done to date.
I think that the congressman really takes us into what the
Democrats are doing in the House, what Congressman Levin is
doing personally, you know, whatlawsuits are supporting and also
what policies Democrats support and how we can come back to, you
(01:11):
know, being the party of the working class.
Thank you for joining us, Congressman Levin.
We're almost a month into DonaldTrump's second term.
And I think the biggest take away so far is that it's not so
much a second Trump term as muchas a Elon Musk's first term.
And so I'm just wondering, have you been surprised at all with
how big a role Elon has played so far in the administration?
(01:33):
And what do you make of his like, aggressive, probably
unconstitutional actions that he's taken so far?
Honestly, Ben, I have been surprised by just how much power
and authority Elon Musk has beengiven.
It really is an attempt of a great billionaire takeover of
our federal government. And, you know, article One of
(01:54):
the Constitution is pretty clearthat only Congress can create or
destroy agencies, only Congress can fund programs.
And none of those rules are being followed right now by the
administration. And perhaps nowhere is that
clearer than what Doge is doing.I call it destruction of
government by Elon. And when you look at this just,
(02:18):
you know, today saying he wants to delete whole agencies, he
can't do that. And it's not maybe
unconstitutional or maybe illegal.
It is completely unconstitutional and completely
illegal. The question is, how much damage
is he going to do before he is stopped by the courts?
(02:39):
Because at some point the courtsare going to intervene.
Course, our system doesn't work as fast as I would like.
And I am profoundly disappointedand in my Republican colleagues
who took an oath not to the president, but to the
Constitution of the United States.
And no better, at least most of them, I believe no better than
(03:00):
this. They know that Congress, and
only Congress has the power of the purse.
They know that we can have disputes and disagreements about
government spending, which we doall the time.
That is good and healthy are those sorts of discussions.
We ought to be going line item by line item in these agencies,
and we ought to be able to figure out things that we agree
(03:23):
should get cut, things that we agree are worth keeping.
But to have an unelected billionaire, the richest man in
the world, with extraordinary conflicts of interest, running
the show with access to information, including private
information of hundreds, potentially hundreds of millions
of people, It is fundamentally wrong.
(03:45):
And I'm calling on all my colleagues to stand against it.
I I want to hammer home on something you had said a little
bit earlier about your colleagues.
Obviously, like you said, Elon Musk is now the most powerful,
richest man arguably on planet Earth.
He's an unelected bureaucrat going through and accessing
hundreds of millions of people'ssensitive information.
Social Security's going through and dismantling our agencies.
(04:08):
What do you see Congress doing in the future?
And especially with the Republican majority terrified to
speak out against, I mean, Trumpor President Musk, how exactly
are they to or how are we? It's a counter rock.
This, this, this influence over our government.
I mean, this is the most influence any private citizen
has had, arguably ever, ever surpassing Randolph Hearst or
(04:30):
anyone. Ever.
And you know, the reality also, Max, is that Musk just
contributed about $300 million to the 2024 election.
So you have the fossil fuel industry is number one, about
445,000,000 and Elon himself is number 2.
So you wonder why Republicans don't say anything truthful
(04:52):
about climate change or anythingtruthful about Elon Musk.
It's because he is filling, and they are filling the campaign
coffers of my Republican colleagues.
What I have tried to do is a couple of things.
One is just call it out. Talk about what's happening.
Talk about how the shredding of guardrails and checks and
balances is a horrible presidentto set to set because you're
(05:17):
going to eventually you're goingto have a Democratic president.
And to my Republican colleagues,the question is, you know, you
might like the policies of doge,you might like what he's doing.
But if you really think about it, Donald Trump's not going to
be president forever. Eventually you're going to have
(05:37):
a president with whom you disagree and do you want that
president to have no guardrails,no checks or balances?
I believe the answer is no. Moreover, to the illegality of a
lot of what DOGE is doing, we'regoing to be working very closely
with litigants across the country.
(05:58):
There's something like 80 lawsuits already across a a
variety of different topics, including what DOGE is doing.
I'm part of the Litigation RapidResponse Task Force that's been
created just this past Monday orTuesday by Hakeem Jeffries, so
I'm going to put whatever skillsI developed as a lawyer to use.
(06:22):
We also need to communicate and mobilize.
Obviously, it's outside and grassroots groups that will
really make all the difference. Public sentiment is incredibly
important, Lincoln said. With public sentiment, you can
do almost anything and without it, virtually nothing.
So we have to make sure we continue to educate and get the
public on our side or at least listening to the reality.
(06:44):
And I remind folks that we and Ido not support bureaucracy for
the sake of bureaucracy. Let's not forget that we want
efficiency in government as well.
We want to cut waste, fraud and abuse also.
And to the extent that Musk and Trump have done things, it is
(07:08):
really not about efficiency as much as it is a takeover and
shutting down agencies that theydon't like or they can't control
and doing away with the watchdogs, the inspectors
general across 17 different agencies.
(07:28):
Those inspectors general are thenonpartisan watchdogs who are
there to keep track of how taxpayer money is being spent,
to speak out against waste, fraud and abuse.
So for all of them to have been fired in a Friday afternoon or
(07:48):
evening sweep a couple of weeks ago, first of all, that was
illegal also because Congress didn't get any notice of it as
required by law. But second, it is completely
contradictory and hypocritical to their stated objective of
efficiency. So basically we're going to do
(08:10):
everything we can with every tool we have, whether it is
legislative, procedural, supporting the legal and courts
process, communication or mobilization, we need to do all
of it and we need to match muzzle velocity with muzzle
velocity of our own. I totally agree, Congressman.
(08:31):
My name is Belay. I'm from San Diego, so I've been
pretty familiar with you ever since I was about 16 years old
back in the way. Yeah, it's been a been a while.
You're dating me. Billay no, but I think
everything you're saying is a very clear, but I think it's
very important to talk about corruption in our system.
And you've been doing this for awhile, obviously.
(08:52):
So kind of shifting away from President Musk, there was a
video that came out I think 2 days ago of just Trump sitting
behind the Resolute Desk and President Musk just standing up
and responding to the media. So I think we all know who's in
charge in this scenario. But Congressman, if you had to
tell kind of the average, I knowyou come from a swing district,
what do Democrats stand for? You kind of touched on it with
(09:12):
the anti corruption initiatives,what you guys are doing to fight
back. But if you have to tell the
average person, what does the party stand for?
You know, what are you fighting for, championing for?
What would you say? Reducing costs for everyday
working families and trying to help people who really need the
help, whether that's with quality and affordable
healthcare or a great education or making sure they can grow
(09:36):
their small business or live in a safe and secure neighborhood
and community. So actually trying to help the
average person as opposed to just helping billionaires like
Musk with tax breaks that they don't need.
And it's really very clear rightnow what the Republicans are up
(09:57):
to because they just showed someof their cards.
And now we're talking about congressional Republicans with
the budget, what we call the budget resolution.
What they intend to do is extendthe massive tax cuts to rich
people, over 80% of the benefit going to the top 1%.
(10:18):
And to do that, they basically want to bankrupt and mortgage
our future. And you guys, as you get to be
my age, our national debt is already $36 trillion.
By the time they have their way,it'll be more like 50 to 60
trillion over the next decade. And for what?
(10:39):
So that Elon can get a tax break.
And, you know, the other thing is you guys are all already
paying into the Social Security system if you pay payroll taxes.
And so I hope that Social Security is there for you when
you need it. But what's happening is my my
(11:00):
Republican colleagues, many of them are trying to do what they
can to cut benefits, to raise the retirement age or to end
Social Security as we know it. The same for Medicare, the same
for Medicaid, which in California we call medical.
And that's what these folks are up to right now, going after
(11:20):
those who are most vulnerable, least able to fight back, so
that Elon and his billionaire friends can get more tax cuts
while mortgaging our future. Absolutely.
I totally agree. And I'm wondering like building
on what you're talking about, the Democratic Party
historically has been the party of working people.
And I think in the Trump era, that's been flipped a little
(11:43):
bit, where I think Trump is still obviously seeking all of
these policy changes that still help the top 1% and hurt working
people, but kind of distracting people by making these broad
claims about corruption or standing against the elites.
And so I'm wondering, do you think that this era with Elon
Musk having so much influence inthe White House, basically
buying a spot in the White Houseafter kind of buying our
(12:04):
election, do you think that provides an opening for
Democrats to kind of regain their populist image and prove
that they're actually the party fighting for working people
again? Well, I'll leave it to the
pundits to decide that, Ben, butI can tell you that I will be
speaking with whatever microphone I have is 1 member of
the House Democrats to try to make the case that we are
(12:27):
actually going to stand up and fight for the working people of
this country and we're going to have a fairer tax system.
We want to actually balance the books long term.
We also want public safety. We want to lower costs, and we
want to address the needs and concerns of the average person
in this country. I think that Donald Trump during
(12:50):
the campaign diagnosed a couple of very important things.
One was inflation, and two was he used the issue of immigration
as a political strategy. But there's no question that we
have a broken immigration system.
So addressing both of those things, I think is key to
winning back the working class. When it comes to inflation, you
(13:15):
see, the president has had, what, 80 executive orders, give
or take, virtually done nothing on reducing costs.
In fact, I just, along with about a dozen of my colleagues,
wrote a letter to Trump. Say, Mr. President, please do
something about the price of eggs, right?
Thank you. You, you have been working
non-stop with all these crazy executive orders on everything
(13:38):
but reducing costs. You ran on reducing costs.
You've done virtually nothing but increase cost because of the
tariffs that you're putting in place.
Why don't you wake up to what the American people really want
and, you know, not just run on reducing costs, but do something
about it, which he can. And they sure they sure were
(14:01):
critical of of Biden on this. And at least Biden was trying.
I don't even see an effort by the Trump folks so far.
Granted, it's early. Maybe our letter will do the
trick some somehow. I don't know if it's going to
wind up on the Resolute Desk. I'm just guessing, But second,
on immigration, I have watched for six years as politicians
(14:26):
have used the issue of immigration denigrating,
demonizing, vilifying immigrants.
And there's no question that we have missed opportunity after
opportunity to work in a bipartisan way on legislation
that would fundamentally improveboth the border security
(14:47):
situation and the asylum process.
It would provide a path for Dreamers and for others who are
contributing positively to our economy and to our society.
And we really have no excuse other than too many of my
colleagues are playing politics with it.
And I go to the border frequently.
(15:07):
I meet with our Border Patrol. I meet with those who are
responsible for public safety. And I can tell you that they are
as frustrated about this as I am, and they are sick of
politicians who go on TV and talk about immigration and
demonize immigrants without a actual understanding of the
(15:28):
facts on the ground or a desire to work in good faith across the
aisle to try to fix things. That's a really good point,
Congressman. Something in there that I'd like
to hammer home even harder actually, is the cost of living,
right. President Trump promised he was
going to come in and fix these things, but like you said, he
has done absolutely nothing to bring down the cost of living.
(15:49):
He has done actually the opposite.
He has been raising costs with tariffs and not smart tariffs,
not targeted, not things to protect national security, but
stupid loud tariffs against our allies nonetheless.
And and so I guess my question to you is, how are we going to
win back this vision of Democrats who kick ass for the
working class and show people that Trump is not doing these
(16:13):
things, that he is not doing anything on the price of eggs?
And I'm just going to say, goddamnit, I want my eggs to be
cheaper because I used to eat 6 to 12 eggs a day.
Like, what the hell, man? That's a.
Lot of eggs, Max, you're you're going to need to save up, you
know, there there goes your retirement savings if you want a
an omelette. My 529 just liquidated but you
know. Exactly.
(16:34):
No, Look, I agree with you. I, I think that it's going to
take some time because Donald Trump is a great salesman and he
sold American people a bill of goods that he was going to
reduce costs. And he's got a really no ideas
of the sort, you know, things that are actually going to work.
He talks about energy dominance,but when you actually, you know,
(16:57):
look at what he, what he wants to do, their energy policy is
pretty all over the place, to behonest with you.
They say energy dominance exceptfor solar, except for when they
say they want to mine for a bunch of minerals, but they
don't want EVs, so they don't want to create the demand.
They're keeping oil and gas prices artificially high to help
(17:18):
their buddies in the Permian andthe others who are fracking.
You know, it's I'm an energy guyby background.
I was, I was an environmental attorney.
So I watch all that very closely.
But I care a lot about energy costs.
I care a lot about groceries. They're doing nothing on supply
chain other than the tariffs, asyou said.
And you know, unless they what really expensive Maple syrup and
(17:42):
guacamole, I'm really not sure honestly what the hell they're
doing, if anything. Like a fundamentally incoherent
set of rules. You know, you don't bring costs
down by disrupting supply chainsand raising tariffs on close
allies. It's just a fundamentally
incoherent, You know, you don't bring down energy costs by
blocking solar, which is, for the record, I'm thinking now one
(18:04):
of the cheapest sources of energy.
You know, and, and, you know, toyour point about Mexico and
Canada, the president got nothing that Mexico and Canada
weren't already doing and hadn'talready announced pretty much, I
think maybe the fentanyl czar that Trudeau agreed to, but that
(18:25):
was, you know, not exactly worththe market disruption.
And what I worry about is that America is no longer a stable
partner for the world. You take a look at USAID and the
work that was done. And we can again go item by item
through the USAID budget and dispute the merits, as we should
(18:47):
have done as Congress. But wholesale destruction of
that agency creates a vacuum forChina and Russia to fill, where
if you are a country in need around the world, you cannot
turn the United States as a trusted partner and ally to have
your back. If you have severe famine or you
(19:10):
have disease, now you're maybe you're going to have to turn to
China in order to fill that need.
And the loss of credibility and the loss of what we call soft
power. It is all about national
security. And it is a massive mistake.
(19:31):
One of the biggest errors in judgement, in foreign policy
since I've been in Congress is what I've seen undermining those
relationships around the world. And it's not just about USAID,
it's about The Who. It's about the Paris climate
agreement. Our leadership on the world
stage matters. And the inconsistency and the
(19:54):
volatility making us a less thanstable partner is a huge
problem. I think that's perfectly nailed
it, Congressman. Just just real quick, I know you
do have to go soon. I'm, you know, I'm from San
Diego, so I'm still a big Chargers fan.
The Chargers were not in the Super Bowl, obviously.
I flew out to Texas for that playoff game where we just got
(20:15):
destroyed. What was your reaction to the
Super fan Wasn't so horrible. The fans were nice, though.
But what was your reaction to the Super Bowl?
What'd you think of it? I well, first of all, I'm a Rams
fan, so I am bombed because the Rams almost beat Philly.
We came very close. Yeah.
And had one closed on differently.
We were in the snow. Had Stafford completed one more
(20:38):
pass, I think we'd have beaten Philly.
I think we'd have beaten Washington.
And then we'd have had a good shot against Kansas City when it
didn't go our way. I was all in for fly Eagles fly.
My wife went to Penn for grad school.
And when Trump was on the one side and, you know, the owner of
(20:58):
Philly is a true blue Democrat, I said, OK, you know, I I know
where I'm gonna, I know which way I'm gonna go.
But no, the Chargers, you know, I'm actually a big fan of
Harbaugh because when I was at Stanford, he, he was really,
after I left, he was the guy that really brought that team
back from the dead. You know, I think they were 1:00
and 11:00. And then he got him back to 5:00
(21:20):
and 7:00 and then 8:00 and 5:00 and then eventually to I think
12:00 and 1:00. With Andrew Luck, we won the
Orange Bowl and then from there he went to San Francisco and
then the Michigan and now to to the Chargers.
So I'm wishing them all the best.
Justin Herbert is a fantastic quarterback and I like the
Chargers. I just, I grew up in Orange
County so I grew up with the Rams playing in Anaheim Stadium
(21:45):
and they they betrayed us when they moved to Saint Louis.
But they're back and I try to get to a game of year with my 12
year old son. That's nice.
I know you're also a Los AngelesAngels fan, and I'm sorry for
that. I have dual allegiance, just so
long as we're cheering against the Dodgers.
So Padres too. You like the Padres?
(22:06):
I grew up. I grew up an Angels fan and
growing up, Tony Gwynn was my favorite player.
But I grew up near, fairly closeto Anaheim Stadium, and so I'd
go with my grandpa. Now, my other grandfather was a
Dodgers fan growing up, growing up in, in OC, you know, and, and
(22:26):
today it's like very, very toughto cheer for the billion dollar
colossus that is the Los AngelesDodgers.
And we really need a salary cap.And, you know, my hope is that
Artie Moreno, the owner of the Angels, sells the team and that
the Seidlers figure out the Padres situation.
(22:47):
And, you know, they're, they're doing well, though.
I, I, you know, I, I actually ammore optimistic about the young
core of talent for the Angels than most people.
And the Padres obviously have several more good years of Tatis
and hopefully bounce back for Bogarts.
And, you know, Machado will havea few more good years too.
So I think both teams, you know,I, I'm not looking for a playoff
(23:10):
run for the Angels for the next couple years, but I, I think the
Padres have a window here. They just have to defeat the
Goliath known as the Dodgers. I'll take a healthy Mike Trout
season at this point so. Hey, I'll get that a healthy 50
games from. I mean, I saw Rendon is already
out for the year before the yeareven started.
(23:33):
And yeah, it's just really, really a shame.
He does not want to play well. Thank you so much for joining
us, Congressman. I know you.
I know you've got a got a run, but.
Thank you guys. Really appreciate it.
And make sure to check out Congressman Levin, his Twitter
keeping us updated on how they're gonna actually try to
keep our Constitution in order and to not allow us to be taken
(23:54):
over by a single billionaire. But thank you so much,
Congressman, and hope you have anice day.
Thank you, Congressman.
Welcome everyone to the newest episode of the Progressive
Podcast. We were very special episode
today. We're honored to be joined by
Congressman Mike Levin from California's 49th Congressional
District. Congressman Levin was elected in
2018 and since being elected, Congressman Levin has been at
the forefront of initiatives promoting clean energy
investments and he serves on theVeterans Affairs Committee.
(00:29):
His district encompasses North county, San Diego and South
county Orange County. Great interview.
Thank you, Carson Levin, for joining us.
We ended up touching on President Elon Musk, President
Trump and his God awful tariffs.Everyone knows how much I hate
tariffs. Don't get me started again.
Similarly with what Democrats are going to be doing to fight
back. Show that we are the party that
kicks ass for the working class.Yeah.
(00:50):
I want to, you know, thank Congressman Mike Levin and his
team. Make sure to listen to the full
podcast, share it with your friends.
It's one of my favorite episodesthat we've done to date.
I think that the congressman really takes us into what the
Democrats are doing in the House, what Congressman Levin is
doing personally, you know, whatlawsuits are supporting and also
what policies Democrats support and how we can come back to, you
(01:11):
know, being the party of the working class.
Thank you for joining us, Congressman Levin.
We're almost a month into DonaldTrump's second term.
And I think the biggest take away so far is that it's not so
much a second Trump term as muchas a Elon Musk's first term.
And so I'm just wondering, have you been surprised at all with
how big a role Elon has played so far in the administration?
(01:33):
And what do you make of his like, aggressive, probably
unconstitutional actions that he's taken so far?
Honestly, Ben, I have been surprised by just how much power
and authority Elon Musk has beengiven.
It really is an attempt of a great billionaire takeover of
our federal government. And, you know, article One of
(01:54):
the Constitution is pretty clearthat only Congress can create or
destroy agencies, only Congress can fund programs.
And none of those rules are being followed right now by the
administration. And perhaps nowhere is that
clearer than what Doge is doing.I call it destruction of
government by Elon. And when you look at this just,
(02:18):
you know, today saying he wants to delete whole agencies, he
can't do that. And it's not maybe
unconstitutional or maybe illegal.
It is completely unconstitutional and completely
illegal. The question is, how much damage
is he going to do before he is stopped by the courts?
(02:39):
Because at some point the courtsare going to intervene.
Course, our system doesn't work as fast as I would like.
And I am profoundly disappointedand in my Republican colleagues
who took an oath not to the president, but to the
Constitution of the United States.
And no better, at least most of them, I believe no better than
(03:00):
this. They know that Congress, and
only Congress has the power of the purse.
They know that we can have disputes and disagreements about
government spending, which we doall the time.
That is good and healthy are those sorts of discussions.
We ought to be going line item by line item in these agencies,
and we ought to be able to figure out things that we agree
(03:23):
should get cut, things that we agree are worth keeping.
But to have an unelected billionaire, the richest man in
the world, with extraordinary conflicts of interest, running
the show with access to information, including private
information of hundreds, potentially hundreds of millions
of people, It is fundamentally wrong.
(03:45):
And I'm calling on all my colleagues to stand against it.
I I want to hammer home on something you had said a little
bit earlier about your colleagues.
Obviously, like you said, Elon Musk is now the most powerful,
richest man arguably on planet Earth.
He's an unelected bureaucrat going through and accessing
hundreds of millions of people'ssensitive information.
Social Security's going through and dismantling our agencies.
(04:08):
What do you see Congress doing in the future?
And especially with the Republican majority terrified to
speak out against, I mean, Trumpor President Musk, how exactly
are they to or how are we? It's a counter rock.
This, this, this influence over our government.
I mean, this is the most influence any private citizen
has had, arguably ever, ever surpassing Randolph Hearst or
(04:30):
anyone. Ever.
And you know, the reality also, Max, is that Musk just
contributed about $300 million to the 2024 election.
So you have the fossil fuel industry is number one, about
445,000,000 and Elon himself is number 2.
So you wonder why Republicans don't say anything truthful
(04:52):
about climate change or anythingtruthful about Elon Musk.
It's because he is filling, and they are filling the campaign
coffers of my Republican colleagues.
What I have tried to do is a couple of things.
One is just call it out. Talk about what's happening.
Talk about how the shredding of guardrails and checks and
balances is a horrible presidentto set to set because you're
(05:17):
going to eventually you're goingto have a Democratic president.
And to my Republican colleagues,the question is, you know, you
might like the policies of doge,you might like what he's doing.
But if you really think about it, Donald Trump's not going to
be president forever. Eventually you're going to have
(05:37):
a president with whom you disagree and do you want that
president to have no guardrails,no checks or balances?
I believe the answer is no. Moreover, to the illegality of a
lot of what DOGE is doing, we'regoing to be working very closely
with litigants across the country.
(05:58):
There's something like 80 lawsuits already across a a
variety of different topics, including what DOGE is doing.
I'm part of the Litigation RapidResponse Task Force that's been
created just this past Monday orTuesday by Hakeem Jeffries, so
I'm going to put whatever skillsI developed as a lawyer to use.
(06:22):
We also need to communicate and mobilize.
Obviously, it's outside and grassroots groups that will
really make all the difference. Public sentiment is incredibly
important, Lincoln said. With public sentiment, you can
do almost anything and without it, virtually nothing.
So we have to make sure we continue to educate and get the
public on our side or at least listening to the reality.
(06:44):
And I remind folks that we and Ido not support bureaucracy for
the sake of bureaucracy. Let's not forget that we want
efficiency in government as well.
We want to cut waste, fraud and abuse also.
And to the extent that Musk and Trump have done things, it is
(07:08):
really not about efficiency as much as it is a takeover and
shutting down agencies that theydon't like or they can't control
and doing away with the watchdogs, the inspectors
general across 17 different agencies.
(07:28):
Those inspectors general are thenonpartisan watchdogs who are
there to keep track of how taxpayer money is being spent,
to speak out against waste, fraud and abuse.
So for all of them to have been fired in a Friday afternoon or
(07:48):
evening sweep a couple of weeks ago, first of all, that was
illegal also because Congress didn't get any notice of it as
required by law. But second, it is completely
contradictory and hypocritical to their stated objective of
efficiency. So basically we're going to do
(08:10):
everything we can with every tool we have, whether it is
legislative, procedural, supporting the legal and courts
process, communication or mobilization, we need to do all
of it and we need to match muzzle velocity with muzzle
velocity of our own. I totally agree, Congressman.
(08:31):
My name is Belay. I'm from San Diego, so I've been
pretty familiar with you ever since I was about 16 years old
back in the way. Yeah, it's been a been a while.
You're dating me. Billay no, but I think
everything you're saying is a very clear, but I think it's
very important to talk about corruption in our system.
And you've been doing this for awhile, obviously.
(08:52):
So kind of shifting away from President Musk, there was a
video that came out I think 2 days ago of just Trump sitting
behind the Resolute Desk and President Musk just standing up
and responding to the media. So I think we all know who's in
charge in this scenario. But Congressman, if you had to
tell kind of the average, I knowyou come from a swing district,
what do Democrats stand for? You kind of touched on it with
(09:12):
the anti corruption initiatives,what you guys are doing to fight
back. But if you have to tell the
average person, what does the party stand for?
You know, what are you fighting for, championing for?
What would you say? Reducing costs for everyday
working families and trying to help people who really need the
help, whether that's with quality and affordable
healthcare or a great education or making sure they can grow
(09:36):
their small business or live in a safe and secure neighborhood
and community. So actually trying to help the
average person as opposed to just helping billionaires like
Musk with tax breaks that they don't need.
And it's really very clear rightnow what the Republicans are up
(09:57):
to because they just showed someof their cards.
And now we're talking about congressional Republicans with
the budget, what we call the budget resolution.
What they intend to do is extendthe massive tax cuts to rich
people, over 80% of the benefit going to the top 1%.
(10:18):
And to do that, they basically want to bankrupt and mortgage
our future. And you guys, as you get to be
my age, our national debt is already $36 trillion.
By the time they have their way,it'll be more like 50 to 60
trillion over the next decade. And for what?
(10:39):
So that Elon can get a tax break.
And, you know, the other thing is you guys are all already
paying into the Social Security system if you pay payroll taxes.
And so I hope that Social Security is there for you when
you need it. But what's happening is my my
(11:00):
Republican colleagues, many of them are trying to do what they
can to cut benefits, to raise the retirement age or to end
Social Security as we know it. The same for Medicare, the same
for Medicaid, which in California we call medical.
And that's what these folks are up to right now, going after
(11:20):
those who are most vulnerable, least able to fight back, so
that Elon and his billionaire friends can get more tax cuts
while mortgaging our future. Absolutely.
I totally agree. And I'm wondering like building
on what you're talking about, the Democratic Party
historically has been the party of working people.
And I think in the Trump era, that's been flipped a little
(11:43):
bit, where I think Trump is still obviously seeking all of
these policy changes that still help the top 1% and hurt working
people, but kind of distracting people by making these broad
claims about corruption or standing against the elites.
And so I'm wondering, do you think that this era with Elon
Musk having so much influence inthe White House, basically
buying a spot in the White Houseafter kind of buying our
(12:04):
election, do you think that provides an opening for
Democrats to kind of regain their populist image and prove
that they're actually the party fighting for working people
again? Well, I'll leave it to the
pundits to decide that, Ben, butI can tell you that I will be
speaking with whatever microphone I have is 1 member of
the House Democrats to try to make the case that we are
(12:27):
actually going to stand up and fight for the working people of
this country and we're going to have a fairer tax system.
We want to actually balance the books long term.
We also want public safety. We want to lower costs, and we
want to address the needs and concerns of the average person
in this country. I think that Donald Trump during
(12:50):
the campaign diagnosed a couple of very important things.
One was inflation, and two was he used the issue of immigration
as a political strategy. But there's no question that we
have a broken immigration system.
So addressing both of those things, I think is key to
winning back the working class. When it comes to inflation, you
(13:15):
see, the president has had, what, 80 executive orders, give
or take, virtually done nothing on reducing costs.
In fact, I just, along with about a dozen of my colleagues,
wrote a letter to Trump. Say, Mr. President, please do
something about the price of eggs, right?
Thank you. You, you have been working
non-stop with all these crazy executive orders on everything
(13:38):
but reducing costs. You ran on reducing costs.
You've done virtually nothing but increase cost because of the
tariffs that you're putting in place.
Why don't you wake up to what the American people really want
and, you know, not just run on reducing costs, but do something
about it, which he can. And they sure they sure were
(14:01):
critical of of Biden on this. And at least Biden was trying.
I don't even see an effort by the Trump folks so far.
Granted, it's early. Maybe our letter will do the
trick some somehow. I don't know if it's going to
wind up on the Resolute Desk. I'm just guessing, But second,
on immigration, I have watched for six years as politicians
(14:26):
have used the issue of immigration denigrating,
demonizing, vilifying immigrants.
And there's no question that we have missed opportunity after
opportunity to work in a bipartisan way on legislation
that would fundamentally improveboth the border security
(14:47):
situation and the asylum process.
It would provide a path for Dreamers and for others who are
contributing positively to our economy and to our society.
And we really have no excuse other than too many of my
colleagues are playing politics with it.
And I go to the border frequently.
(15:07):
I meet with our Border Patrol. I meet with those who are
responsible for public safety. And I can tell you that they are
as frustrated about this as I am, and they are sick of
politicians who go on TV and talk about immigration and
demonize immigrants without a actual understanding of the
(15:28):
facts on the ground or a desire to work in good faith across the
aisle to try to fix things. That's a really good point,
Congressman. Something in there that I'd like
to hammer home even harder actually, is the cost of living,
right. President Trump promised he was
going to come in and fix these things, but like you said, he
has done absolutely nothing to bring down the cost of living.
(15:49):
He has done actually the opposite.
He has been raising costs with tariffs and not smart tariffs,
not targeted, not things to protect national security, but
stupid loud tariffs against our allies nonetheless.
And and so I guess my question to you is, how are we going to
win back this vision of Democrats who kick ass for the
working class and show people that Trump is not doing these
(16:13):
things, that he is not doing anything on the price of eggs?
And I'm just going to say, goddamnit, I want my eggs to be
cheaper because I used to eat 6 to 12 eggs a day.
Like, what the hell, man? That's a.
Lot of eggs, Max, you're you're going to need to save up, you
know, there there goes your retirement savings if you want a
an omelette. My 529 just liquidated but you
know. Exactly.
(16:34):
No, Look, I agree with you. I, I think that it's going to
take some time because Donald Trump is a great salesman and he
sold American people a bill of goods that he was going to
reduce costs. And he's got a really no ideas
of the sort, you know, things that are actually going to work.
He talks about energy dominance,but when you actually, you know,
(16:57):
look at what he, what he wants to do, their energy policy is
pretty all over the place, to behonest with you.
They say energy dominance exceptfor solar, except for when they
say they want to mine for a bunch of minerals, but they
don't want EVs, so they don't want to create the demand.
They're keeping oil and gas prices artificially high to help
(17:18):
their buddies in the Permian andthe others who are fracking.
You know, it's I'm an energy guyby background.
I was, I was an environmental attorney.
So I watch all that very closely.
But I care a lot about energy costs.
I care a lot about groceries. They're doing nothing on supply
chain other than the tariffs, asyou said.
And you know, unless they what really expensive Maple syrup and
(17:42):
guacamole, I'm really not sure honestly what the hell they're
doing, if anything. Like a fundamentally incoherent
set of rules. You know, you don't bring costs
down by disrupting supply chainsand raising tariffs on close
allies. It's just a fundamentally
incoherent, You know, you don't bring down energy costs by
blocking solar, which is, for the record, I'm thinking now one
(18:04):
of the cheapest sources of energy.
You know, and, and, you know, toyour point about Mexico and
Canada, the president got nothing that Mexico and Canada
weren't already doing and hadn'talready announced pretty much, I
think maybe the fentanyl czar that Trudeau agreed to, but that
(18:25):
was, you know, not exactly worththe market disruption.
And what I worry about is that America is no longer a stable
partner for the world. You take a look at USAID and the
work that was done. And we can again go item by item
through the USAID budget and dispute the merits, as we should
(18:47):
have done as Congress. But wholesale destruction of
that agency creates a vacuum forChina and Russia to fill, where
if you are a country in need around the world, you cannot
turn the United States as a trusted partner and ally to have
your back. If you have severe famine or you
(19:10):
have disease, now you're maybe you're going to have to turn to
China in order to fill that need.
And the loss of credibility and the loss of what we call soft
power. It is all about national
security. And it is a massive mistake.
(19:31):
One of the biggest errors in judgement, in foreign policy
since I've been in Congress is what I've seen undermining those
relationships around the world. And it's not just about USAID,
it's about The Who. It's about the Paris climate
agreement. Our leadership on the world
stage matters. And the inconsistency and the
(19:54):
volatility making us a less thanstable partner is a huge
problem. I think that's perfectly nailed
it, Congressman. Just just real quick, I know you
do have to go soon. I'm, you know, I'm from San
Diego, so I'm still a big Chargers fan.
The Chargers were not in the Super Bowl, obviously.
I flew out to Texas for that playoff game where we just got
(20:15):
destroyed. What was your reaction to the
Super fan Wasn't so horrible. The fans were nice, though.
But what was your reaction to the Super Bowl?
What'd you think of it? I well, first of all, I'm a Rams
fan, so I am bombed because the Rams almost beat Philly.
We came very close. Yeah.
And had one closed on differently.
We were in the snow. Had Stafford completed one more
(20:38):
pass, I think we'd have beaten Philly.
I think we'd have beaten Washington.
And then we'd have had a good shot against Kansas City when it
didn't go our way. I was all in for fly Eagles fly.
My wife went to Penn for grad school.
And when Trump was on the one side and, you know, the owner of
(20:58):
Philly is a true blue Democrat, I said, OK, you know, I I know
where I'm gonna, I know which way I'm gonna go.
But no, the Chargers, you know, I'm actually a big fan of
Harbaugh because when I was at Stanford, he, he was really,
after I left, he was the guy that really brought that team
back from the dead. You know, I think they were 1:00
and 11:00. And then he got him back to 5:00
(21:20):
and 7:00 and then 8:00 and 5:00 and then eventually to I think
12:00 and 1:00. With Andrew Luck, we won the
Orange Bowl and then from there he went to San Francisco and
then the Michigan and now to to the Chargers.
So I'm wishing them all the best.
Justin Herbert is a fantastic quarterback and I like the
Chargers. I just, I grew up in Orange
County so I grew up with the Rams playing in Anaheim Stadium
(21:45):
and they they betrayed us when they moved to Saint Louis.
But they're back and I try to get to a game of year with my 12
year old son. That's nice.
I know you're also a Los AngelesAngels fan, and I'm sorry for
that. I have dual allegiance, just so
long as we're cheering against the Dodgers.
So Padres too. You like the Padres?
(22:06):
I grew up. I grew up an Angels fan and
growing up, Tony Gwynn was my favorite player.
But I grew up near, fairly closeto Anaheim Stadium, and so I'd
go with my grandpa. Now, my other grandfather was a
Dodgers fan growing up, growing up in, in OC, you know, and, and
(22:26):
today it's like very, very toughto cheer for the billion dollar
colossus that is the Los AngelesDodgers.
And we really need a salary cap.And, you know, my hope is that
Artie Moreno, the owner of the Angels, sells the team and that
the Seidlers figure out the Padres situation.
(22:47):
And, you know, they're, they're doing well, though.
I, I, you know, I, I actually ammore optimistic about the young
core of talent for the Angels than most people.
And the Padres obviously have several more good years of Tatis
and hopefully bounce back for Bogarts.
And, you know, Machado will havea few more good years too.
So I think both teams, you know,I, I'm not looking for a playoff
(23:10):
run for the Angels for the next couple years, but I, I think the
Padres have a window here. They just have to defeat the
Goliath known as the Dodgers. I'll take a healthy Mike Trout
season at this point so. Hey, I'll get that a healthy 50
games from. I mean, I saw Rendon is already
out for the year before the yeareven started.
(23:33):
And yeah, it's just really, really a shame.
He does not want to play well. Thank you so much for joining
us, Congressman. I know you.
I know you've got a got a run, but.
Thank you guys. Really appreciate it.
And make sure to check out Congressman Levin, his Twitter
keeping us updated on how they're gonna actually try to
keep our Constitution in order and to not allow us to be taken
(23:54):
over by a single billionaire. But thank you so much,
Congressman, and hope you have anice day.
Thank you, Congressman.
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