MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on the powerful message from a 102 year old on Medicaid who rips Trump to shreds and Meiselas speaks with democratic Rockland County legislator from that same congressional district who is running for Congress against MAGA Republican Mike Lawler. Visit https://meidasplus.com for more! Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Coalition of the Sane: https://meidasnews.com/tag/coalition-of-the-sane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: Who is Dionne Volz and what is her perspective on Medicaid?
Dionne Volz. I'm 102 years old. I taught for more than 20 years. Taught journalism. and worked for various papers and have been always a great believer in American independence and good taste. We have a president who has no dignity and no sense of the dignity of a human being. Especially one who is old and expects to die any minute.
When I say that Medicaid was a tremendous blessing, they paid my son to care for me. And it was a dream come true. He knew so well how to do it. He was so wise and so kind. It was lovely. And I still feel grateful for Medicaid. He seems to be insensitive, completely unaware of the issues.
which are to lose, either to lose FDR's principles, which were concerned for everybody, no matter what their income, and he has abandoned the people.
So she lives in New York's 17th Congressional District. She talked about MAGA Republican Mike Lawler. When I see Dionne Volz there spoke to me, tell her story, and then I see Mike Lawler, who's around my age, and I see him going and doing these interviews, and the way he talks about Medicaid and Social Security as though it's just, eh, we're going to deal with it.
Here, just watch an interview that he did recently. Let's play this.
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Chapter 2: What is Mike Lawler's stance on federal spending and Medicaid?
Basically, defense spending, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, that's about 90 percent of it right there. You can't cut from the rest of the budget to balance things.
This this this has been the whole challenge, right? Because we're blocking off roughly 87, 90 percent of federal spending and saying we can't touch that. Can't touch it. So we're arguing over roughly 13 percent of federal spending, you know, in terms of trying to find savings. And it's just not realistic.
So the issue long term that we all have to grapple with, Republicans and Democrats, and we have to get serious about is how to tackle our national debt. Most of our debt is accrued by mandatory spending. There are savings to be had in the Defense Department. No question about it. There are savings to be had across every agency and department in the federal government.
I wanted to show you those clips back to back, because when you hear Dionne Volz, 102, talk about what Medicaid meant to her, And then you see MAGA Republican Mike Lawler representing the district. I think it just brings the point home. Let's bring in Beth Davidson. She's a Rockland County legislature running for the congressional seat there against Mike Lawler, still in the primary stage.
Chapter 3: How does Beth Davidson respond to Mike Lawler's position on social services?
So running in the Democratic primaries there in New York 17th. Beth, I want to ask you this. from your perspective as a Rockland County legislator in that district, of course, when you see those videos and you see what Mike Lawler says, what's your response to that?
Well, we here in the 17th District know that Mike Lawler was a devotee of the late Michael Jackson, but it was another prophet of my generation, Generation X, M.C. Hammer, who said, you can't touch this. And that is what Mike Lawler seems to be implying, except I really thank Joe Scarborough for teeing that up for him to say, for he, Mike Lawler, to say it's not realistic.
not to cut, not just Medicaid, which we already, you know, had concerns about for 230,000 people in the 17th congressional district, but he implies that Medicare and social security are also on the chopping block. And I'll tell you that I have constituents in Rockland County.
I represent the 10th legislative district who are already reaching out to me, very concerned that our social security office in White Plains, the appeals office is going to be shuttered as of May 29th.
And for those watching at home, Mike Lawler tried to blame that closure on the Biden administration, but whoops, the Doge memo of the week outlining all of their savings put that social security office on their docket. So we know who's to blame for this. We know who funded Mike Lawler's campaign hugely, $1.7 million.
And that was one Elon Musk who, you know, you stole my line about the wrecking ball. That is what it feels like. And we're going to start feeling the impacts of that wrecking ball right here in CD17.
You know, I think about just these human stories and I try to take the games out of politics in my reporting. I think corporate news for too long made this like a horse race when this is about people's lives. So I think about Katie Sanchez, a 37-year-old disability rights advocate and Medicaid recipient in Pearly River who spoke with me. Let me just share her story.
And then I want to hear just generally about your communications with constituents there. But let's play this one.
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Chapter 4: What are the concerns of Katie Sanchez regarding Medicaid cuts?
Chapter 5: How do personal stories highlight the impact of Medicaid policies?
As Donald Trump and his minions take a wrecking ball to the federal government and social services that people rely on, it's important never to forget the human element here, the stories of real people who are suffering, people
who have experienced things in the past when government worked the way it was at least supposed to work better, and seeing it now and seeing how this has harmed their lives, I was able to speak with a 102-year-old Medicaid recipient named Dionne Volz. Her perspective on things really touched me, and I wanted to share this with everyone.
So she lives within New York's 17th Congressional District in that area. Let's just take a look at this interview. Here, play this clip.
Dionne Volz. I'm 102 years old. I taught for more than 20 years. Taught journalism. and worked for various papers and have been always a great believer in American independence and good taste. We have a president who has no dignity and no sense of the dignity of a human being. Especially one who is old and expects to die any minute.
When I say that Medicaid was a tremendous blessing, they paid my son to care for me. And it was a dream come true. He knew so well how to do it. He was so wise and so kind. It was lovely. And I still feel grateful for Medicaid. He seems to be insensitive, completely unaware of the issues.
which are to lose, either to lose FDR's principles, which were concerned for everybody, no matter what their income, and he has abandoned the people.
So she lives in New York's 17th Congressional District. She talked about MAGA Republican Mike Lawler. When I see Dionne Volz there spoke to me, tell her story, and then I see Mike Lawler, who's around my age, and I see him going and doing these interviews, and the way he talks about Medicaid and Social Security as though it's just, eh, we're going to deal with it.
Here, just watch an interview that he did recently. Let's play this.
Basically, defense spending, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, that's about 90 percent of it right there. You can't cut from the rest of the budget to balance things.
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Chapter 6: What political dynamics are at play in New York's 17th Congressional District?
Katie Sanchez is a friend. She is such an inspiration to me. She is a long distance runner. She's also running for president of her supportive house through ARC. So really proud of her. And look, she's speaking truth to power. I was at an event with the disability rights community a few weeks ago called Rally in the Valley.
And when Mike Lawler got up to speak and talked about how he was going to protect Medicaid, he got booed. So, you know, he can say over and over again that he's not touching Medicaid, but we know what he's doing.
He's now voted twice to put those entitlement programs on the chopping block that people have worked their whole lives for, including Social Security and including Medicaid, which, you know, not everyone understands that Medicaid helps, you know, people with disabilities, of course, seniors, children, half of all babies and moms in this country. And to think that
that anyone would put those programs up for grabs is just really despicable. And again, I'm hearing from it from my constituents. They're really concerned. And that's why you're seeing these huge rallies of three, four, five hundred, a thousand people pushing back against these cuts and specifically against Mike Lawler, Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
Beth, are you seeing a shift in the district because the people still elected this guy in 2024?
Actually, CD17 narrowly went for Kamala Harris. It's one of only three districts in the entire country that voted for Kamala Harris, but did not elect a congressional Democrat.
Kamala, but Lawler. And so they still picked Lawler, though. So are you seeing, though, a shift there where they're starting to realize, though, that Lawler is an agent of Trump, that this is not someone who's pretending to be something else? Do you think that's getting through right now?
I think that we're seeing exactly who Mike Lawler is through his voting record, through his false promises, you know, along with cutting Medicaid, that continuing resolution also clawed back $33 million in community project funding that he claimed he had secured conveniently right before the 2024 election.
So, you know, these are funds for law enforcement here in Rockland County where I live, for clean water in Putnam County, for sidewalk improvements in the town of Ramapo to protect pedestrians and improve pedestrian safety. So people are finding out again in their real lives, day-to-day lives, what these cuts have meant and what Mike Lawler's promises mean, which is, as it turns out, nothing.
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