October 29, 2025 • 11 mins
Whether it's providing funds to Argentina or having oligarchs pay to destroy the White House, Trump's America has always been up for sale. Steve Schmidt sits down with Ryan Lizza to look at the government shutdown and why everyday Americans are paying the price.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's the what do you think the most significant the
most significant thing that happened since we last got together
on Monday.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Trump demolished the White House, destroyed the White House, yep.
And give me a look at and you give me
and you did it with Google and Facebook, at Salesforce
and all of the Apple Bryant tech companies. Apple, they
(00:33):
demolished the White House. And I'm not I'm not going
to give a lecture on campaign finance reform today. And
I think it is a very complex subject about what
to do around it. But one of the things that
(01:01):
caused this disaster was John McCain's politicization of the issue,
right without an understanding of the details of his legislation.
So John McCain and McCain find Gold said we have
a corruption problem, which was a correct observation, and therefore
(01:27):
this is the solution. And that was not the solution.
What it was was patently unconstitutional. And I can go
back if I could find them, I could find quotes
of mine on the record when I was twenty nine
predicting what would ultimately become Citizens United as a result
(01:52):
of the McCain find Gold legislation, and in that past
and what John McCain always talked about is these corporations.
And I think about it, if he was alive, that
the combination of a despotic president in league with these
(02:17):
out of control corporations, Trump's oligarchs, this ballroom, and together
they demolished the White House without a single opportunity for
anyone to object and no review. Absolutely our arbortrary. And
(02:44):
and when I think about it like that, I think
it's one of the greatest acts of corruption in the
entire history of the of the country. And I think
it is at some level an atrocity for the contrary,
but a meaningful political opportunity for Democrats.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
All right, Well, first of all, we have a big
disagreement on McCain, Fine Gold and the constitutionality. I think
Citizens United was a travesty. I don't think money equals
you know, corporations giving money equals free speech. But put
that aside for a second.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
This is one.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Of those issues that, besides McCain, just has not been
very successful for politicians to champion. I remember the debate
in two thousand and nine in the Obama white House.
Obama had, you know, a kind of political reform agenda.
There's no doubt that, like being a political reformer was
key to his identity and key to his victory that year.
(03:48):
You were on the other side of that campaign, so
you could talk some more about that. But once they
got into office, they you know, they were dealing with
the emergency crisis of the of the economic crisis, and
political reform form always took a back seat to bread
and butter issues. Healthcare, uh, trying to do cap and
trade which didn't pass, uh, you know, then the portbal
(04:10):
Care Act and the stimulus package. Right, it's always those
issues are always going to beat out. Oh, let's try
and six how we uh fund our elections, which for
lots of people just isn't an acute concern on a
day to day basis. So I'm always very skeptical that
things like reform ideas that I, you know, uh I
(04:31):
think are great, are big good political sellers. So why
why is this one? Why is it different this time?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Well? What so, the direness of the situation today and
the magnitude of the corruption makes political reform and urgent
national ority. So I'm gonna I'm gonna give a I'll
(05:05):
give a example using a Trump constituency. The cattleman. M hm.
So the cattleman supported Trump, and the American cattleman and
the American farmer has been betrayed by Trump, who's bailed
out the Argentinean cattleman at the expense of the American
(05:30):
and is destroying their livelihoods, their ranches, their farms. And
I say, cowboy up right, well, I mean it, right,
what are you gonna do about it? I mean, smart enough?
But but then, but but at any rate, Trump portrays
(05:54):
and screws over every every group that he's that he's
ever been in, and he does it for money, right,
And so the American economy is cracking. It's cracking. Trump's
approval numbers are down to thirty five percent. So we're
(06:16):
gonna have an experiential learning about the consequences of a deranged,
despotic president who hates the country having the most power
in the country. Right, forty nine and a half percent again, right,
(06:39):
the magnitude of the failure of the Democratic Party here
to stop it twice, to confront it now on on
and on this moment though, as we look at the
(07:03):
destroyed White House, right from a political perspective, when you
think about the opposition there's there's one thing that and
I know we have a lot of Democrats between our
audience or democratically aligned in our in our audiences as
(07:26):
as as we talk about as we talk about this,
there is a there is a Washington, DC word right
that they you'll hear from a bunch of pundits podcasters
that drives me crazier. And it's and it's a political
(07:47):
word that exists within the Democratic Party, and the word
is distraction. I want distraction that I want. I want
Democratic politicians to stop telling me what is and what
is not a distraction. But my response to it is
fuck you. It alienates me and I'm and I'm not alone.
(08:10):
I will I will decide for myself what is and
what is not a distraction. I watch and I watch,
and I see John Obama's communications guy, John Favreau and
Tim Miller talking about, oh, it's a distraction, right. Tim
(08:33):
Miller is a guy who at the Christmas party line
jumps out a line and literally hudgs Joe Biden and says,
I'll do anything to keep you here, right when he
clearly was not able. And this is why we are
where we are. But at any rate, Jon Favreau and
Tim Miller. The White House and its destruction is a distraction.
(08:59):
It's not a distraction. The first, then, that every person
in this country should be able to agree upon, is
the restoration of the White House to what it was
(09:20):
before it was destroyed. This should be item one on
the Democratic Party platform. Condition one for every single Democrat
wanting to be President of the United States that the
(09:42):
restoration will begin with the restoration of the dignity of
the People's House as surely as if it had been
destroyed by Al Qaeda, must be returned to its state period.
(10:09):
There is a cohort of Americans that if you are
on the left and you're a Democrat, you cannot win
the election. And plus, America cannot win the election without
people like me who see the world the way I
see it. We're not a majority, but there's enough of us.
(10:39):
This is an issue of profound importance to a lot
of Americans. And you go on from there. I'm Steve Schmidt.
This is the warning. I invite you to join this community,
where I promise to be honest and direct about what
(11:02):
is happening in this country. America is in crisis. Follow
and subscribe to this channel and on substack. Thank you
What's the what do you think the most significant the
most significant thing that happened since we last got together
on Monday.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Trump demolished the White House, destroyed the White House, yep.
And give me a look at and you give me
and you did it with Google and Facebook, at Salesforce
and all of the Apple Bryant tech companies. Apple, they
(00:33):
demolished the White House. And I'm not I'm not going
to give a lecture on campaign finance reform today. And
I think it is a very complex subject about what
to do around it. But one of the things that
(01:01):
caused this disaster was John McCain's politicization of the issue,
right without an understanding of the details of his legislation.
So John McCain and McCain find Gold said we have
a corruption problem, which was a correct observation, and therefore
(01:27):
this is the solution. And that was not the solution.
What it was was patently unconstitutional. And I can go
back if I could find them, I could find quotes
of mine on the record when I was twenty nine
predicting what would ultimately become Citizens United as a result
(01:52):
of the McCain find Gold legislation, and in that past
and what John McCain always talked about is these corporations.
And I think about it, if he was alive, that
the combination of a despotic president in league with these
(02:17):
out of control corporations, Trump's oligarchs, this ballroom, and together
they demolished the White House without a single opportunity for
anyone to object and no review. Absolutely our arbortrary. And
(02:44):
and when I think about it like that, I think
it's one of the greatest acts of corruption in the
entire history of the of the country. And I think
it is at some level an atrocity for the contrary,
but a meaningful political opportunity for Democrats.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
All right, Well, first of all, we have a big
disagreement on McCain, Fine Gold and the constitutionality. I think
Citizens United was a travesty. I don't think money equals
you know, corporations giving money equals free speech. But put
that aside for a second.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
This is one.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Of those issues that, besides McCain, just has not been
very successful for politicians to champion. I remember the debate
in two thousand and nine in the Obama white House.
Obama had, you know, a kind of political reform agenda.
There's no doubt that, like being a political reformer was
key to his identity and key to his victory that year.
(03:48):
You were on the other side of that campaign, so
you could talk some more about that. But once they
got into office, they you know, they were dealing with
the emergency crisis of the of the economic crisis, and
political reform form always took a back seat to bread
and butter issues. Healthcare, uh, trying to do cap and
trade which didn't pass, uh, you know, then the portbal
(04:10):
Care Act and the stimulus package. Right, it's always those
issues are always going to beat out. Oh, let's try
and six how we uh fund our elections, which for
lots of people just isn't an acute concern on a
day to day basis. So I'm always very skeptical that
things like reform ideas that I, you know, uh I
(04:31):
think are great, are big good political sellers. So why
why is this one? Why is it different this time?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Well? What so, the direness of the situation today and
the magnitude of the corruption makes political reform and urgent
national ority. So I'm gonna I'm gonna give a I'll
(05:05):
give a example using a Trump constituency. The cattleman. M hm.
So the cattleman supported Trump, and the American cattleman and
the American farmer has been betrayed by Trump, who's bailed
out the Argentinean cattleman at the expense of the American
(05:30):
and is destroying their livelihoods, their ranches, their farms. And
I say, cowboy up right, well, I mean it, right,
what are you gonna do about it? I mean, smart enough?
But but then, but but at any rate, Trump portrays
(05:54):
and screws over every every group that he's that he's
ever been in, and he does it for money, right,
And so the American economy is cracking. It's cracking. Trump's
approval numbers are down to thirty five percent. So we're
(06:16):
gonna have an experiential learning about the consequences of a deranged,
despotic president who hates the country having the most power
in the country. Right, forty nine and a half percent again, right,
(06:39):
the magnitude of the failure of the Democratic Party here
to stop it twice, to confront it now on on
and on this moment though, as we look at the
(07:03):
destroyed White House, right from a political perspective, when you
think about the opposition there's there's one thing that and
I know we have a lot of Democrats between our
audience or democratically aligned in our in our audiences as
(07:26):
as as we talk about as we talk about this,
there is a there is a Washington, DC word right
that they you'll hear from a bunch of pundits podcasters
that drives me crazier. And it's and it's a political
(07:47):
word that exists within the Democratic Party, and the word
is distraction. I want distraction that I want. I want
Democratic politicians to stop telling me what is and what
is not a distraction. But my response to it is
fuck you. It alienates me and I'm and I'm not alone.
(08:10):
I will I will decide for myself what is and
what is not a distraction. I watch and I watch,
and I see John Obama's communications guy, John Favreau and
Tim Miller talking about, oh, it's a distraction, right. Tim
(08:33):
Miller is a guy who at the Christmas party line
jumps out a line and literally hudgs Joe Biden and says,
I'll do anything to keep you here, right when he
clearly was not able. And this is why we are
where we are. But at any rate, Jon Favreau and
Tim Miller. The White House and its destruction is a distraction.
(08:59):
It's not a distraction. The first, then, that every person
in this country should be able to agree upon, is
the restoration of the White House to what it was
(09:20):
before it was destroyed. This should be item one on
the Democratic Party platform. Condition one for every single Democrat
wanting to be President of the United States that the
(09:42):
restoration will begin with the restoration of the dignity of
the People's House as surely as if it had been
destroyed by Al Qaeda, must be returned to its state period.
(10:09):
There is a cohort of Americans that if you are
on the left and you're a Democrat, you cannot win
the election. And plus, America cannot win the election without
people like me who see the world the way I
see it. We're not a majority, but there's enough of us.
(10:39):
This is an issue of profound importance to a lot
of Americans. And you go on from there. I'm Steve Schmidt.
This is the warning. I invite you to join this community,
where I promise to be honest and direct about what
(11:02):
is happening in this country. America is in crisis. Follow
and subscribe to this channel and on substack. Thank you
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