The Chuck ToddCast
Trump Is "POISONING The Well" In Congress + Devastating Medicaid Cuts w/Ritchie Torres
19 May 2025
Chuck Todd welcomes Congressman Ritchie Torres for a wide-ranging conversation that begins with a tour of New York's 15th district and the unique challenges of representing one of America's most diverse urban areas. Torres offers candid insights on governance, highlighting how term limits disadvantage legislators compared to lobbyists. The conversation shifts to the current political landscape, with Torres expressing deep concerns about President Trump's approach to his second term, arguing that Trump is "poisoning the well" for bipartisanship despite Biden's successful record of cross-party legislation. Torres delivers a stark warning that America is "planting the seed of its own decline" and characterizes the consequences of proposed GOP Medicaid cuts as "barbaric," particularly in light of the brewing long-term care crisis. They weigh the merits of pragmatism versus idealism in American foreign policy and scrutinize Qatar's growing financial influence in American politics. Torres argues that "Republicans would impeach Joe Biden if he had accepted a plane" while addressing whether Democrats should adopt Trump's aggressive approach to wielding power. Torres acknowledges that Democrats "should have spoken out sooner about Biden's decline" and offers his vision for how the party can project strength moving forward. They conclude with Torres addressing his political future—including speculation about mayoral and gubernatorial ambitions—before outlining his solutions for New York's housing crisis, crime concerns, and utility costs. Timeline:00:00 Introduction00:50 Joe Biden diagnosed with aggressive form of cancer02:00 Was Biden’s decline covered up, or just willful ignorance?03:00 Robert Hur recording has supercharged the Biden story06:45 Joe Biden couldn’t assure voters he was up to the job08:30 Chris Murphy says it’s the Democrats fault that Trump was re-elected11:45 Democrats need to do soul searching like they did with Bill Clinton13:30 Clinton had to run against the party and its prior leadership15:00 Democrats misread the 2020 election result18:00 Democrats will take some blame for problems Trump causes19:00 Democrats need to reinvent themselves21:00 Trump released the Hur tapes as a distraction 23:00 Democrats should be angrier about Biden than Republicans25:00 Mike Johnson needs Trump to pressure members of congress26:00 Ritchie Torres joins the Chuck ToddCast 26:30 Tour of the NY-15 district 28:30 The enormity of the New York city council 30:00 Would he support expanding the size of the house? 32:00 Term limits disadvantage legislators compared to lobbyists 33:00 Can any bipartisan agreement be reached with Trump 34:30 Biden had multiple pieces of bipartisan legislation 35:30 Trump is poisoning the well in his second term 37:30 America is planting the seed of its own decline 38:00 Medicaid cuts will be devastating 40:00 Will the Medicaid cuts be delayed where a future congress could fix it? 41:30 Medicaid work requirements don't work 42:45 The consequences of the GOP budget will be barbaric 44:45 How do we address the long-term care crisis? 47:00 Should America's foreign policy be pragmatic or idealistic? 49:45 How should we view Qatar's infusion of money into American politics? 51:30 Republicans would impeach Joe Biden if he had accepted a plane 54:15 Should Democrats wield power like Trump when they're in charge? 55:50 Democrats should have spoken out sooner about Biden's decline 1:00:00 How can the Democrats project strength as a party? 1:01:15 Democrats need to let the cream rise to the top 1:02:30 Campaigning makes candidates sharper 1:03:30 Why aren't you running for NYC mayor? 1:05:30 Andrew Cuomo is a great "builder" 1:07:30 Will you run for governor in 2026? 1:08:00 How would you address the housing crisis in New York? 1:10:30 Addressing crime in New York 1:13:00 New York's budget has increased, the quality of services hasn't 1:14:45 Public ownership of utilities would lower costs for New Yorkers 1:16:30 Progressives have overprioritized ideological purity over results1:19:15 Chuck's thoughts on interview with Ritchie Torres 1:20:00 If Torres faces Hochul 1 on 1 he could beat her 1:21:00 Rumors that Kamala Harris could run for governor of California 1:21:45 CA governor race will be tough for Harris 1:25:15 If Harris loses governor race, her political career is over(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements)
Full Episode
Happy Monday. Welcome to another episode of the Chuck Todd cast. Thank you for watching. For those of you on YouTube or watching as a video podcast on Spotify, those of you listening. Also, thank you for tuning in. Always appreciate that. So I had to check my watch for the year again over the weekend.
Make sure we were still in 2025 because we kind of had one of these news Joe Biden news cycles over the last 72 hours.
um that was that was quite rare meaning it was a joe biden you you might be forgiven if you thought biden was still president versus trump because it's rare for donald trump to ever get overshadowed particularly when he's actually president but for the last 72 hours all things joe biden has uh very much overshadowed donald trump now some of it um is intentional by Trump.
And I'm going to get into that. But let's let's unpack this Biden news cycle. Obviously, the most recent news being his office announcing that he is an aggressive form of prostate cancer. So obviously, it goes without saying that that is that is Not good news to hear. And he is there is nobody that knows how to fight and rebound from health challenges more than Joe Biden.
I feel like he's been doing it off and on his whole life. The guy is tough. He's resilient. And I have no doubt. He's going to make it through this and likely thrive after they make their decision on where to go with treatment. Obviously, that news came in the middle of what's been a pretty negative set of headlines for Joe Biden and for the Democratic Party as a whole, as you've had the
book, Jake Tapper, Alex Thompson's book about what happened inside the West Wing, what happened inside the Democratic Party that that led to what was a disastrous summer, if you will, the disastrous last 18 months of the Biden presidency. Was it a cover up? Was it not? I don't think there's any proof that it was a cover up of anything other than it was either a lot of willful blindness or
By the staff, perhaps making themselves feel better because it was Donald Trump that was on the other side. And had it been anybody else, maybe they would have had clear set of eyes and thinking. But that book got supercharged over the weekend with the Trump administration's decision and the timing of that. And again, I'm going to get into that in a minute to release the full audio recording.
And this was a Justice Department decision. They did it. So it's Trump's Justice Department that did this. Just keep this in mind. And we're going to ask some questions in a few minutes about why did they choose this moment? Why are they choosing to do this? But we'll get into that in a minute. But let's let's not beat around the bush. The release of the Robert Herr recording.
has certainly, I think, put that entire episode in a different light. What Robert Herr wrote about his interview when he said that no jury would convict him, that his memory was a bit forgetful, but it would be something that a jury would forgive considering his age.
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