MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Donald Trump destroying the lives and carers of truck drivers who overwhelmingly voted for Trump. Tushy: Over 2 million butts love TUSHY. Get 10% off Tushy with the code MEIDAS at https://hellotushy.com/MEIDAS #tushypod 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: What is the focus of this episode about Trump's impact on truck drivers?
Surprise, surprise, Donald Trump is screwing over one of his most reliable voting groups, truck drivers. About 80% of all truck drivers voted for Donald Trump and 90% of all truck drivers out there in the United States voted Often they lived in critical key swing states. So truck drivers could have turned the balance of this election and tipped it in favor of Donald Trump.
Chapter 2: How is Donald Trump negatively affecting truck drivers' incomes?
Now over the past week, what's going on? Trump just absolutely destroying the incomes of those employed in America's number one job among non-college educated men. Truck drivers, the average seven day van rate mile drop to
negative 40 percent and still falling yep trump won this demographic by 80 percent his core electorate as jay in keeve puts it craig fuller from freight alley explains the trucking market conditions are soft but with imports and exports collapsing The industry is in for a very rough season in the coming months. The winds are picking up, but the hurricane is still offshore.
Chapter 3: What are the current market conditions and challenges in the trucking industry?
The way I've described it right now is it's like a tsunami where the shore recedes and And you see that tsunami coming and you know where this story is going to end and it's not gonna go well for truckers. The only difference with this tsunami example is a tsunami and many tsunamis and average size tsunamis are already hitting this industry. As Dominic Tullo says,
COVID level supply shocks are beginning to happen. The general public and most operators have no idea what could be headed our way if this is not fixed within a week. And it won't be. May 2020 had 51 shipment blank sailings over October. 80 so far in April 2025. COVID actually will look like good times for the trucking industry. Let me repeat that stat one more time for you.
Chapter 4: What do blank sailings mean and how do they affect trucking and supply chains?
In May 2020, there were 51 shipments of blank sailings. Already over 80 in April of 2025. And just for the non-truck drivers and people who don't follow freight, blank sailings occur when ocean carriers skip scheduled port calls due to low freight demand or equipment shortages, disrupting supply chains.
So in April 2025, over 80 blank sailings were reported, surpassing the 51 from May 2020, signaling a severe collapse. In global shipping activity, this spike in blank sailings could exacerbate the trucking market woes as reduced import and exports shrink freight volumes, intensifying economic pressure. Craig Fuller from Freight Alley goes on to say more.
Chapter 5: What economic repercussions are truck drivers facing due to collapsing freight volumes?
Many truck drivers I've spoken with don't realize how quickly container volumes have collapsed. Starting in May, port freight out of California will be almost eliminated. It's going to be a bloodbath, bloodbath, they are saying, for truck drivers. And just as we told you before, the polling by groups like CDL Life and others showed 75 to 80 percent of truck drivers were supportive of Donald Trump.
Again, you just take a look at these graphs of the canceled sailings by the major container shipping firms by month. And again, you see a total collapse. Derek Thompson posted the following new pod. A lot of companies are definitely going to go under. That's for sure. I talked to a manufacturing CEO about how the tariffs are affecting his business.
He told me America could be could be sleepwalking into a small business apocalypse. Derek says, let's say the tariffs on China stick around. How does your industry, the toy industry, look different in three years? Molson Hart goes, if the tariffs don't go anywhere, toys are the least of our worries. What about transformers and pumps and air conditioners?
A lot of these products aren't really made anywhere but China. At a certain point, the stock of replacement transformers, the replacement pumps that we need for clean water, are going to run out. And there isn't anyone building new factories for those things. And the factories won't be ready in time.
As for the toy industry, I mean, I'm not sure what's going to happen, but a lot of companies are definitely going to go under. That is for... Sure. We're hearing about an Allentown, Pennsylvania. Hundreds of workers now being laid off at two truck plants in Pennsylvania and Maryland as company officials say orders are down amid market uncertainty.
Volvo Group North America confirmed to ABC 27 News. that 250 to 350 people will be laid off from the Mack truck plants near Allentown, along with 50 to 100 people from the Volvo Mack powertrain plant in Maryland. Volvo owns Mack trucks. And the plant manufactures engines, transmissions, and drive trains for both.
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Chapter 6: How are layoffs at truck manufacturing plants linked to the trucking industry's struggles?
The reason why I was mentioning that Derek Thompson pod where they were talking about the transformers and the air conditioners and the pumps is because they arrive, trucks take them from the ports and bring them across the country. But that's why you now have these blank sailings. Now, So I want to share with you, what was Donald Trump doing during his campaign?
Here was a moment where Donald Trump was in Allentown, layoff central right now for truck drivers. And here's what Donald Trump said to the truck drivers. And apparently this worked. Apparently this was effective. Here, watch this clip.
By the way, nice trucks. You think I could hop into one of them and drive it away? I'd love to just drive the hell out of here. Just get the hell out of this. I had such a good life. My life was great.
Chapter 7: What was Donald Trump's campaign messaging to truck drivers in Allentown?
Seriously? Seriously? I remember when Donald Trump was like walking to, remember he was cosplaying like he was a garbage truck driver? Remember he was doing that? The cosplay garbage truck driver? Play this clip. That's why we were telling you then that red flag, red flag. He cosplays these positions, and that's how you know who he screws over the most. When he does that cosplay, he's mocking you.
He's not lifting you up. He's telling that he thinks that you're pathetic. Let me show you another moment where Donald Trump said things that were similar. Here, play this clip. These people are crazy.
Chapter 8: Why does Ben Meiselas say Trump's 'cosplay' of working-class jobs is a red flag?
No, they want trucks to be all electric. The problem is they don't go far. That's a problem. You know what else is a problem? So the trucking industry comes to see me because they think I'm going to win. And they come in to see me. And these guys come in and they're great guys. They've been in like Roger Penske. How good is Roger? The guy's won. but he's in the trucking business too.
He's won like 19 Indianapolis Vs. Think of how good this guy is. 85% of people have already crapped the bed on their resolutions, but you could still get your ass right by washing with a Tushy bidet. Listen, we all have our problems, but your cleanup routine, that does not have to be one of them. That's where Tushy comes in. I've been using the Tushy Wave bidet, and let me tell you, game changer.
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And by the way, it's not just truck drivers, also just trucks that people drive in general. The tariffs that are retaliatory from China to the U.S. has effectively shut down the China market to the United States on basically everything. So Ford this week halted all shipments of its F-150 Raptors, Mustangs, and Michigan-built Bronco SUVs, as well as Kentucky-made Lincoln Navigators to China.
The Wall Street Journal reported, this is bad, but you know how, what was it, Kimberly Gargoyle said, the best is yet to come. The problem with what's going on for truck drivers and frankly, for all professions, And the far worse is yet to come. Right now, what we're experiencing, the volatility of the markets, the days where it dips three, four percent, goes back up a little, dips some more.
That volatility is actually nothing compared to why it is that Jerome Powell of the chairman of the Federal Reserve and others are predicting volatility. dismal economic conditions. It's because there's a lag effect.
So what China's doing, what all these other countries are doing, what the, just think about the boycott from Canada and Europe, what that is doing, that's going to start being felt now in April, May, June. And then what happens when one company defaults on its loans and multiple companies default on their loans? And then you have this domino effect of defaults. Then what happens to the banks?
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