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The MeidasTouch Podcast

Brian Tyler Cohen Discusses GOP Chaos and Fighting Back

24 Jun 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What chaos is unfolding in the House of Representatives?

0.52 - 24.227 Professor Devi Sridhar

Olen Shannon Maldonado, käsintehtyjä artesaanituotteita myyvän Jaui lahjakaupan perustaja. Valitsin Shopify, koska alustoja testatessani totesin sen ehdottomasti yhdeksi helppokäyttöisimmistä alustoista. Minulla oli tärkeää pohtia kehittymistämme tulevaisuudessa. Kaikki myyntiin tarvittavat työkalut, kuten varaston suunnittelu, ovat kätevästi dashboardissa.

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24.908 - 46.64 Professor Devi Sridhar

Aloita ilmainen kokeilu shopify.com-sivustolla. Olen Shannon Maldonado, käsintehtyjä artesaanituotteita myyvän Jaui lahjakaupan perustaja. Valitsin Shopify, koska alustoja testatessani totesin sen ehdottomasti yhdeksi helppokäyttöisimmistä alustoista. Minulla oli tärkeää pohtia kehittymistämme tulevaisuudessa.

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47.241 - 57.291 Professor Devi Sridhar

Kaikki myyntiin tarvittavat työkalut, kuten varaston suunnittelu, ovat kätevästi dashboardissa. Aloita ilmainen kokeilu shopify.com-sivustolla.

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57.98 - 85.337 Shannon Maldonado

I founded Ornot in 2013. I think the best thing about Shopify is that we can practice business without technical skills. We can manage the company's background and front-end and sell online. If Shopify was a bicycle equipment, it would be a bicycle itself. That way things are managed and our business is managed in Shopify. Start a free trial at shopify.com.

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87.022 - 110.743 Professor Devi Sridhar

Olen Shannon Maldonado, käsintehtyjä artesaanituotteita myyvän Jaui lahjakaupan perustaja. Valitsin Shopify, koska alustoja testatessani totesin sen ehdottomasti yhdeksi helppokäyttöisimmistä alustoista. Minulla oli tärkeää pohtia kehittymistämme tulevaisuudessa. Kaikki myyntiin tarvittavat työkalut, kuten varaston suunnittelu, ovat kätevästi dashboardissa.

111.424 - 114.987 Professor Devi Sridhar

Aloita ilmainen kokeilu shopify.com-sivustolla.

115.658 - 143.016 Shannon Maldonado

I founded Ornot in 2013. I think the best thing about Shopify is that we can practice business without technical skills. We can manage the company's background and front-end and sell online. If Shopify was a bicycle equipment, it would be a bicycle itself. That way things are handled and our business is handled in Shopify. Start a free trial at shopify.com website.

144.262 - 165.055 Ben Meiselas

MAGA Mike Johnson and Republicans have finally returned to Capitol Hill and chaos has already erupted. MAGA Mike, I think, put the House of Representatives in like another two week vacation. He's trying to act like things are going great and the map lines that are set for these critical midterms look wonderful for the MAGA Republicans.

Chapter 2: How are MAGA Republicans responding to the current political climate?

165.035 - 182.553 Ben Meiselas

But as you see the fear and panic of these magas going on the various TV shows, that's telling quite the other story. So they're bringing back their oldies this morning. They're talking about Dr. Fauci, right? We've seen Donald Trump doing lots of posts attacking Fauci lately. I guess this is their midterm plan.

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182.593 - 200.936 Ben Meiselas

You've got James Comer, who's not even holding oversight hearings or allowing depositions to take place, informal meetings regarding the Epstein file cover up. But he is Definitely focused on Dr. Fauci. That's their main talking point this morning. Fauci. Here's what James Comer said earlier. Let's play it.

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201.517 - 221.046

I can't for the life of me understand why the Department of Justice won't do anything about Dr. Fauci. The pardon, not just Fauci's pardon, a lot of pardons could be declared null and void. The Biden family, you know, you've got Adam Schiff and Jamie Raskin, all the January 6th. I mean, they all got pardons. They can be thrown out.

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221.026 - 251.033 Ben Meiselas

because again there's no evidence joe biden participated in that so now i'm sure that's what people are focused on what what dr fauci and schools and donald trump's we should donald trump's mishandling on covid which led to all that inflation but okay that's what they want to talk about right now then you've got mega republican congress member hardopolis saying look we know that you can't afford anything but we all know the number one reason why americans can't afford homes it's it's it's the 10 million people who are here unlawfully and it's biden's fault here let's play this clip

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251.013 - 270.612

Now, on this housing bill, this is the 21st century road to housing bill and the final legislation coming after all of those months of negotiations between the Senate and the House. It would roll back some permitting regulations while limiting corporations from buying single family homes. It was another priority for President Trump.

270.652 - 289.083

Congressman, is this a priority because you believe that this is going to affect inflation and the cost of living? I do. Number one reason why we have these higher hiring costs, in my opinion, is that you had 10 million people coming here illegally over four years. You had too many people demanding housing.

289.444 - 293.997

And by changing these rules and laws, we're going to be able to reduce some of that friction.

293.977 - 309.741 Ben Meiselas

Blame the immigrants. I want to bring in Brian Tyler Cohen here. Brian, I want to show you one more right here, where they bring in MAGA Republican Congress member Pete Sessions, and they're asking him, they go, Pete, you know, so Donald Trump said when it came to Iran, unconditional surrender, I'm going to blow you up, all these things.

310.302 - 313.868 Ben Meiselas

Now, even after yesterday, Donald Trump threatening Iran more.

Chapter 3: What strategies are being used to address the housing crisis?

314.288 - 333.408 Ben Meiselas

Now it's, you know, a full general license, complete sanctions waiver. So just, you know, By the way, I think that there should be peace. I want to see a deal happen and I don't want us to be in war. I just want to be clear where I stand on this. But they're asking him, so talk to us about the representations versus what happened. And Pete Sessions is just like, look, he's a very complex guy.

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333.428 - 339.113 Ben Meiselas

Like you don't understand the plan yet, but it's all complex. Watch this and let's talk about it. Let's play.

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339.133 - 347.44

We have seen during this period of the of the talks, the United States has had time to retool

0

347.588 - 376.093

their military drone war and i think that that is going to be necessary but you've also got to understand what available assets we have there now what have come home and what might be left so i think that there are a number of circumstances this president is a pretty complex guy i think the military is is up to the work but let's know what the plan it is once we know what the plan is

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376.327 - 379.752

then we'll be able to nod our head or shake our head one way or another.

380.113 - 401.507 Ben Meiselas

Absolutely. Absolutely. That's what we normally do. Going to wars. Then you talk about several months later, the plan, Brian Talico and the author as well of the day after how to wield power in a post Trump world. Everybody make sure you order right now. It officially comes out July 14th, but you can get a copy of the book right now. And I know

401.487 - 422.871 Ben Meiselas

all of our audience is buying The Day After by Brian Tyler Cohen. But Brian, I want you to react to that right here, because here we are not just a day after this catastrophic war in Iran, when Donald Trump said it would be days, then weeks, then months. And now you have the MAGAs out there saying all of those things, but really the American people are suffering right now.

422.891 - 426.195 Ben Meiselas

And they're saying, what's Congress doing? What are these people doing, Brian?

426.175 - 440.243 Brian Tyler Cohen

Well, I mean, what they're doing is pretty clear. It's just basically shoving their heads as far up Trump's ass as they can possibly get them. I mean, that is what these people are there to do. They're there to just placate Donald Trump.

Chapter 4: How is Brian Tyler Cohen's book relevant to today's political landscape?

440.263 - 461.793 Brian Tyler Cohen

They're there to pander to him, to grovel to him. And so even in this scenario where you have a president who campaigned expressly on not getting into foreign wars in the Middle East, who got into a foreign war in the Middle East, which in turn caused gas prices to spike here at home, inflation to spike 33% since Joe Biden left office, and yet they're still running cover for him.

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461.853 - 488.992 Brian Tyler Cohen

Nobody has an ill word. We have no idea what the plan is. We haven't had an idea what the plan was for over 110 days now. We're nearly four months into this whole debacle. And they're presenting it as if it's 4-D chess, as if Trump is some master negotiator, when in reality, we've seen how he negotiates. He just basically logs on to Truth Social and threatens nuclear annihilation to the Iranians.

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489.313 - 515.407 Brian Tyler Cohen

And as a result, the whole negotiation falls apart, or they try to, you know, piece together some iteration, some lesser iteration of the JCPOA, Obama's Iran nuclear deal, and then call it a win. So the whole thing for the last several months has just been such an abject disaster. The people who are feeling the consequences of this are the American people. We've seen our energy prices rise.

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515.427 - 533.266 Brian Tyler Cohen

We've seen our gas prices rise. We've seen our consumer good costs rise. And yet none of these Republican legislators or senators have any interest in fixing this on behalf of their constituents because they are solely interested in just pandering to the God King. That is their first, second and third priority.

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533.786 - 558.092 Ben Meiselas

And I think though they're gonna base their strategy on, look, it worked for us last time, look how disastrous Trump handled COVID. And then when someone had to go and fix the mess, they engage their trillion dollar media network to then blame the person who was handed the baton or handed the ticking time bomb that was blowing off. And then the firefighter got blamed as being the arsonist.

558.112 - 576.625 Ben Meiselas

So in your book though, the day after, How do we avoid this dynamic though? Because we could see how this plays out. Brian, for the next two years, Trump is going to keep this 60 day, maybe it's 90 days, maybe it's 30. Iran closes the Strait, it reopens. This is what's going to happen. I mean, it's pretty clear.

Chapter 5: What are the implications of Trump's foreign policy decisions?

576.645 - 591.125 Ben Meiselas

This is what's going to happen for the next two years. This is how he does things. And then it's going to be handed over to the next person. And then they're going to be blamed when they actually to do the surgery to fix it. It's bloody when you do the surgery. So how do we wield power the day after?

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591.565 - 610.603 Brian Tyler Cohen

Yeah, I think in this instance, it's going to be a little bit more difficult for them to just pin the blame on an Anthony Fauci-like figure. I mean, I know that you opened up this video by talking expressly about how they're trying to rerun that playbook, the 2020 playbook for this upcoming election in 2026. But the problem is for Republicans, they have full control of government right now.

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610.643 - 631.909 Brian Tyler Cohen

They have the House, the Senate, and the White House. And we have seen the extent to which the extent to which the economy has such a massive impact on how Americans are feeling. And there is nobody to blame. I mean, you can't point to any Democrats in power that are going to be that are going to be responsible for high costs.

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631.929 - 651.118 Brian Tyler Cohen

We know that that was the result of Trump's trade war, the result of inflation. We know that that's because of this Iran war, the high costs that stem from health care being gutted. That was the result of Republicans passing that almost immediately. food assistance getting gutted. I mean, all of these things, one by one, are the direct results of Republican governance.

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651.178 - 669.55 Brian Tyler Cohen

And so they're not going to be able to say, hey, who's the Anthony Fauci of 2026? Who can we pin the blame on? It is Republicans who are in full control, who have caused these high prices, who've caused inflation, who've caused this Iran war, who have refused to release the Epstein files, who got us involved in another war in the Middle East that they swore that they would avoid.

669.53 - 689.069 Brian Tyler Cohen

So again, I think it's gonna be really difficult for Republicans to pin the blame on somebody, which is not to say that they won't try because Donald Trump's whole ethos, his whole mentality, his whole MO is to take all the credit and none of the blame. And so for everything that's kind of falling crumbling around him, he of course is going to try to blame it on the Democrats.

689.109 - 701.207 Brian Tyler Cohen

But I do think in this instance, past is prologue, and we can see how Americans react to a weakening economy and who they blame, and it is the party in power.

702.132 - 721.549 Ben Meiselas

So let's talk about, though, what you think Democrats do short term, long term. You know, what worries me a little bit is the idea of creating these frameworks versus listening to the people. And there are all these people who are professing to be experts with all these models.

Chapter 6: How do political narratives affect public perception of issues?

722.03 - 745.398 Ben Meiselas

We need to be more like this or we need to be more like that or this is too much like this or this is too much like that. And they're thinking about it of how do we move? the voter X points this way or this points that way. I think that's a fundamentally flawed framework to even start to think about things. But I want to get your take because my view is listen to the people.

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745.959 - 755.072 Ben Meiselas

They're pretty much telling you exactly how they feel right now. And rather than trying to move them points this way or points that way,

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755.052 - 777.55 Ben Meiselas

why don't you move yourself and your ass to fight for the people that are telling you what they need right now and so that to me is an important thing but i want to hear from you what you think about it absolutely i mean we are in we we have a rare opportunity coming up in this in this moment where um where i think because of the extent to which

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777.53 - 792.585 Brian Tyler Cohen

Republicans and Trump have been so willing to lie and show utter contempt for their voters on all of these issues where they offered up promises and then refused to deliver. Democrats have a rare opportunity here where we can get people back into this camp, but it's gonna take

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792.565 - 815.215 Brian Tyler Cohen

To your exact point, not having commissions and not trying to move people to tenths of a point and not deferring to the processes of government. We have to focus on the outcomes of government. And so in the book, the day after, I talk a lot about the fact that Democrats have refused to wield power in the past while Republicans completely abused their power.

815.195 - 835.89 Brian Tyler Cohen

we have to think using that mentality, but to do it in a virtuous way. So to not let the filibuster or the parliamentarian or processes or norms, all of those things get in the way of actually delivering for Americans, but I think Democrats are institutionalists or have been institutionalists in the past.

835.91 - 849.85 Brian Tyler Cohen

And so to get ourselves out of that mindset and start thinking, okay, Donald Trump was onto something when he tapped into a lot of the populist frustrations that people are feeling. Of course, he had no intention of delivering because this guy is a billionaire looking to deliver for billionaires.

849.87 - 855.057 Brian Tyler Cohen

He did it in his first term when the only major piece of legislation he passed was a tax cut for millionaires and billionaires.

855.037 - 883.12 Brian Tyler Cohen

they re-up that tax cut again and since then trump is and you know enshrouded the oval office in gold built himself a ballroom bought himself a qatari jet that we paid for to the tune of a billion dollars to retrofit and on and on so this guy obviously had no intention of following through on any of those things but i think it can be instructive for democrats to recognize hey there is a swath of very disillusioned disaffected people out there uh who left the democrats to go to trump and now we're leaving trump because they know that he isn't willing to deliver

Chapter 7: What lessons can Democrats learn from past Republican strategies?

969.481 - 994.581 Ben Meiselas

It is reality. I can't afford my rent and I have to decide if I'm going to eat tonight or pay my rent. And unless and until you feel that way and you recognize that people feel that way, And it's not a talking point. You really have to get into the trenches with people. And I think that's how you wield power for the people and people will reward you for it.

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994.601 - 1016.836 Ben Meiselas

I want to give you the final word in all of this though, Brian, about where we go from here. And then of course, your message to the Midas mighty subscribers. I know they're all gonna buy your book. I've got a copy of your book, but you're doing some incredible things with your book as well. And there's also a really good cause behind it too. So kind of final message.

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1016.936 - 1020.781 Ben Meiselas

And then I'd love so that you tell people one of the great things you're doing with this book.

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1021.281 - 1045.795 Brian Tyler Cohen

Yeah, I think the final message here is that know when i was growing up um kind of my formative years and really getting into politics and obama came onto the scene and it wouldn't matter where you were geographically it wouldn't matter where you were socioeconomically obama had one culture in such a big way that everybody you know when i was going to college was an obama voter and

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1045.775 - 1066.044 Brian Tyler Cohen

you know, I'm a millennial. And so millennials are, I think in large part owed to Obama, the most liberal generation. And then, you know, cut to today. 2024, 2025, 2026, Republicans kind of did the unthinkable and were able to win back a lot of the support from younger generations, something that I didn't think we would see.

1066.865 - 1084.725 Brian Tyler Cohen

But once you win a generation, that generation largely stays within contained within that political ideology. That's why millennials continue to be one of the most or continue to be the most liberal generation. And now we're seeing Gen Z that is much more conservative than millennials. And so that's usually how it stays. But because Trump has refused to deliver,

1084.705 - 1104.486 Brian Tyler Cohen

because republicans have decided that adherence to trump is more important than adherence to the law or the constitution now we have a rare opportunity where we can actually win those people back but those opportunities a don't come around often and b i think we have one shot before people just become disillusioned with all of politics

1104.466 - 1121.025 Brian Tyler Cohen

And so I think in this moment, it's going to be really important to deliver right away. And we've seen, for example, how it can be done. We've seen Zorin Mamdani come to power in New York and within five minutes of taking office, fill 100,000 potholes. That's something that people see on a daily basis.

Chapter 8: How can Democrats effectively connect with disillusioned voters?

1121.466 - 1139.296 Brian Tyler Cohen

And so I think that has to be our North Star is figuring out what tangible wins we can deliver for people, depending on what they want. To your point, Ben, what they want, because if you just listen to people, they will tell you. and deliver in this small amount of time that we have once we actually take power again.

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1139.316 - 1161.145 Brian Tyler Cohen

I think that that will have a massive impact in terms of not just winning elections moving forward, but also you know, changing people's political identity. I think like the brand of the Democratic Party, people are so worried about the brand. That's not something you can fix with a new logo, right? It's not something you can fix by tweeting better or going on to podcasts.

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1161.165 - 1181.571 Brian Tyler Cohen

You fix the brand by bringing people into power who are then willing to deliver for their constituents. I think Zorin Mamdani in that sense is helping fix the brand because he's showing that as a Democrat, he's willing to deliver. So that will come in time. But I think that all Democrats have to recognize that we have this rare opportunity where they can actually do that.

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1181.551 - 1200.677 Brian Tyler Cohen

So that's a little bit about what I talk about in the book. The north star of this book is how Republicans have abused power, how Democrats have failed to wield it, but what Democrats must do if and when we take power back again. And I'm really proud to be able to announce that I'm partnering with Mark Elias' Free Election Fund. That's a 501c3 that supports election litigation.

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1201.238 - 1206.225 Brian Tyler Cohen

We have seen how important the courts have been over these last several years.

1206.205 - 1230.559 Brian Tyler Cohen

months and years in in fighting against you know these uh these executive branch overreaches so i think it's important you know in terms of the work that i'm doing not just to talk the talk but to walk the to walk the walk and so i'll be donating proceeds from every single book sold to the free election fund those are going to be matched by my editor and those are going to be matched by my publisher so we're doing a three to three to one match a three times match

1230.539 - 1260.023 Brian Tyler Cohen

um all to support the free election fund and to support this election litigation which as we get closer and closer to midterms is going to become more and more important so ben i know that you're going to throw a link to pre-order into uh you know into the post description um of this video but would really appreciate if you support not just my work and the work of uh of folks like me in independent media but also the the the crucial uh critical election uh litigation that's happening right now and as we head toward november

1260.138 - 1282.804 Ben Meiselas

Brian Tyler Cohen, of course, got that great channel on YouTube, but also the number one New York Times bestselling author, back at you with another book, The Day After, How to Wield Power in a Post-Trump World, forward by Mark Elias. And you heard The Great Cause as well. Go get your pre-order right now. Thanks, Brian. Thanks, Ben. Everybody hit subscribe here. We appreciate you.

1282.919 - 1295.072 Dr. Craig Spencer

Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our sub stack at MidasPlus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski, ad-free episodes of our podcast, and more exclusive content only available at MidasPlus.com.

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