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The MeidasTouch Podcast

Senator Warnock Discusses Trump’s Attack on Decency

20 Dec 2025

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

0.031 - 34.442

Fortune presents... Six-year-old Ada plays her favourite song. Not the funniest, but let's add a bit of energy. Donald Trump's approval is crashing in Georgia.

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34.422 - 59.072 Ben Meiselas

as MAGA Republicans are imploding on the hill as well. You take a look at Donald Trump's net approval rating in some key states and you look in Georgia, for example, negative 13% according to one poll, another one has him at negative 4%. And the issues dominating the national headlines are the reasons why Donald Trump's approval is plummeting.

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59.432 - 75.787 Ben Meiselas

It's promises made and total fraud that has been executed on the American people and the people of Georgia. Donald Trump ran on a lot of things, but he claimed he was going to bring down prices. We know that's not the case. The only thing he's bringing is taking away people's health care at this point.

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76.067 - 86.957 Ben Meiselas

Let's just take a look at Georgia, for example, about what's going on with their Affordable Care Act subsidies and the fact that it's not being extended by Donald Trump and these MAGA Republicans and what it means to the people there. Let's play

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86.937 - 106.06

Georgians are seeing the new cost of insurance now that those federal subsidies are ending. Georgia's insurance commissioner spoke one-on-one today with Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray about what people can do now to find the best price. Justin is live tonight at the insurance commissioner's office in downtown Atlanta.

107.947 - 115.278

Yeah, Linda, in 2025, 60% of Georgians on the exchange auto-enrolled instead of shopping for new coverage.

Chapter 2: What is the current approval rating of Donald Trump in Georgia?

115.298 - 140.899

Now, Commissioner King and his staff here, they say that with the ACA subsidies expiring, it is essential to shop around, to look at different plans. There might be another plan on the exchange that offers you a better price. Her premium was $47.42. But without the expiring Federal Affordable Care Act subsidies, Ursula Fulgham's daughter Amy's coverage will cost seven times more a month.

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141.04 - 155.014

When I saw the new rates, I'm going campy. $398.10 from $47.42. Amy is battling brain cancer, glioblastoma. Her 82-year-old mother, now also her caregiver. It's a must.

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154.994 - 157.518 Ben Meiselas

How about Georgia farmers? Here's what they're experiencing.

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158.179 - 178.133

Georgia's number one industry, which is agriculture, is getting a major federal boost. The Trump administration has announced a $12 billion farm aid package. Georgia leaders say it could help stabilize farms, but critics argue the plan leaves too many other farmers behind. Atlanta News First reporter Abby Caceres explains what all this means for families across the state.

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178.906 - 200.497

This is being framed as a lifeline for farm families. Farmers I spoke with wouldn't go on camera. They say they're still unsure how to feel as uncertainty still hangs over the industry. From corn in South Georgia to cotton across the plains, agriculture fuels one in seven Georgia jobs. Now billions in federal dollars are headed to farmers. Money state leaders say is overdue.

200.718 - 207.107

Where a lot of our farm families have run out of equity, they've run out of ways to stretch that dollar thin.

Chapter 3: How are Georgia voters reacting to Trump's policies?

207.087 - 220.725

Georgia's Ag Commissioner Tyler Harper stresses urgency. Input costs keep climbing. Row crop season is ending and farmers are already making decisions for next year. The American Bankers Association reports half of U.S. farms will profit this year.

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220.925 - 241.677 Ben Meiselas

Then of course, two weeks back, there was that big flip in Georgia's House District 121, going to a Democratic candidate there who had previously lost just the year before by about like 40 points. The Democrat flipped it and won that House District. I want to bring in Georgia's Senator Raphael Warnock. Senator Warnock, it's great to be with you.

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241.697 - 262.269 Ben Meiselas

And I want to talk about all of those things that we just mentioned. But the first thing I want to talk is just about the character in the Oval Office, because I think a lot of people saw Donald Trump's Oval Office address, or it wasn't Oval Office, the address in the White House, wherever it was, and they looked at that and they said, what in the world is, what was that?

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262.669 - 287.919 Ben Meiselas

The lies, the anger, the venom, you know, and then the Daily Post that people wake up just saying, And you were targeted by one of them, obviously, in the past 48 hours, where he said that you went on a TV show and you talked about religion. And Donald Trump, one of the most divisive people, if not the most divisive person ever, is like, you're weaponizing the church against the people.

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287.96 - 301.423 Ben Meiselas

And that's what Donald Trump does every single day. I just think people look at this and go, enough of this. Can we just have characters and adults in the White House? What do you make of all of them? Let's start with that. What do you make of his attack on you and just character? right now.

301.443 - 330.042 Raphael Warnock

Well, as we say in Georgia, God bless his heart. Look, the people of Georgia are struggling, as you show earlier in the segment. I'm talking to a lot of those folks. Can you imagine that young person who's dealing with brain cancer now seeing her insurance premiums go up seven times? Let's be really clear. What that means for a lot of people is that they won't be able to afford the insurance.

330.578 - 361.467 Raphael Warnock

And we see that all across our state. I personally know folks who started small businesses and were doing pretty good because they were able to get healthcare on the exchange. And now with these premiums going way up, they're literally having to shutter their businesses. Farmers who say they want trade, not aid, are dealing with Trump's awful tariffs policy. So Georgia is struggling.

361.587 - 385.834 Raphael Warnock

Folks are trying to make the best of their lives out of Trump's terrible policies. And as they look to the president, as you would to do something about the economy, If he's not sleeping in cabinet meetings, he's watching cable news and tweeting against his political adversaries in the middle of the afternoon. Man, you're the leader of the free world.

Chapter 4: What impact do Trump's policies have on health care in Georgia?

387.175 - 401.389 Raphael Warnock

People actually need you to bring relief. And I'm not worried about his attacks on me. I'm gonna keep on doing everything I can for the people of Georgia. For me, this is a sacred trust to be able to bring their needs to the seat of power in our federal government.

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401.487 - 424.769 Ben Meiselas

There's only one other thing I would add to the list that you just gave of him sleeping, watching Fox, which I sometimes refer to as state regime media with angry posts. The other thing he's doing is enriching himself and announcing self-dealing. So while people of Georgia suffer and people in the country suffer, he just makes himself richer by using the office to do that.

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424.789 - 446.489 Ben Meiselas

I mean, just think in the past 24 hours, he announced himself that his media company that's been failing, in my opinion, the social media company, which loses money each quarter, like how are they losing that amount of money? They announced a merger with a private fusion energy company that would require the Department of Energy approvals.

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446.91 - 461.585 Ben Meiselas

Because of this merger, the stock price shoots up and he's sitting there, I almost think about the cartoonishly evilness of the money everywhere while the American people, while the farmers in Georgia are like, what the hell's going on?

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462.747 - 477.445 Raphael Warnock

Donald Trump was asked the other day how he would grade the economy. He said that he would give it an A+++++. And you're left there scratching your head saying, well, who is he talking about? Clearly he's talking about himself.

Chapter 5: How are Georgians coping with rising insurance costs?

477.644 - 502.156 Raphael Warnock

He's never had it so good. His family has never been as wealthy as it is right now. This is naked corruption in real time. And what I'm concerned about is that we've watched this awful movie so long that we become spiritually and morally numb. And we just say, oh, that's just the way it is. Well, we need to shake ourselves and remember, no, that's not the way it should be.

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503.238 - 530.254 Raphael Warnock

And while he's trying to divide us, We are witnessing literally, we have witnessed the largest transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top in American history, thanks to the one awful and ugly bill. He's giving tax cuts to his billionaire friends while imposing a tariff tax on everyday goods, which means he's taxing the rest of us.

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530.915 - 551.586 Raphael Warnock

And as you see your utility bills go up, there's a reason for that. Donald Trump told his friends in the oil and gas industry that you give me a billion dollars to get me reelected. I mean, he said that in the mic, give me a billion dollars and I'll give you a good return on your investment.

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552.247 - 572.461 Raphael Warnock

And so as you're watching your utility bills go up, know that he has pulled green energy off of the grid, which by the way is cheaper these days. So we've witnessed that generational Thanks to technology and advancements and investments. Solar and wind would do us a lot of good right now, but he's pulling all of that off the grid.

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573.403 - 579.133 Raphael Warnock

And that's one of the reasons why you're seeing your utility bills go up. And sadly, it's going to get worse.

580.345 - 603.238 Ben Meiselas

You know, you have MAGA Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House, I guess, Speaker in name only at this point, given that he just does whatever Donald Trump does. So I guess his decision today is to yet again go on an early vacation after a discharge petition was signed and four Republicans crossed over to sign a Hakeem Jeffries discharge petition.

603.278 - 618.604 Ben Meiselas

I think Leader Jeffries did a great job holding the ground. Three-year extension, Affordable Care Act. Now it still has to go, Affordable Care Act subsidies, it still has to go to the Senate, and then it would still have to be signed. Now, Meg and Mike shut down the House to avoid this vote.

618.584 - 641.79 Ben Meiselas

happening before january i mean what a kind of cruel just a very cruel thing to do um so he wants to wait till the affordable care act subsidies technically expire on the 31st but then it goes to the senate and then it has to be signed so what happens there next are there discussions in the senate what what happens there let me just say that that what the speaker is doing is shameful

642.158 - 667.933 Raphael Warnock

And as a pastor, I would appeal to my Christian brother because he wears his Christian identity on his sleeve. I'm a Matthew 25 Christian, where Jesus said, I was hungry and you fed me. Jesus said, I was sick and you came to see about me. You visited me. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. And someone asked the Lord, when were you hungry? When were you thirsty? When were you sick?

Chapter 6: What federal support is being provided to Georgia farmers?

853.298 - 877.264 Raphael Warnock

to be that light shining through the darkness. Don't give up. Don't give in. Don't give up. Straighten up your back. Know that we've seen hard times before. We've seen strong men before. We've seen tyrants before. I think about my parishioner, John Lewis, crossing that Edmund Pettus Bridge with brute force under the color of law on the other side of that bridge.

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877.345 - 899.775 Raphael Warnock

He had no reason to think that he could win, but he kept on walking. And not only did he cross a bridge, he built the bridge. And many of us in my generation crossed that bridge. I crossed it over into the United States Senate. And so we have to keep fighting the good fight, keep the faith and draw closer to one another and toward one another rather than on one another.

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900.515 - 911.09 Ben Meiselas

Senator Raphael Warnock, great to have this conversation with you heading into the new year. And I know your words of hope and perseverance mean a lot to everybody and me as well. So thank you for everything you do.

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911.771 - 913.353 Raphael Warnock

Take care, everybody.

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913.373 - 915.756 Ben Meiselas

And subscribe. Let's get to six million subscribers.

916.357 - 928.294 Dr. Craig Spencer

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