Trump gets INSTANT KARMA as MIDTERM Plan BACKFIRES BADLY

What this episode is about

The discussion focuses on the backlash faced by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans due to their failed mid-decade redistricting efforts in Texas, which has resulted in a potential loss of congressional seats. In response, Democrats, led by figures such as California Governor Gavin Newsom and others, are mobilizing to oppose Republican strategies across various states, effectively countering their plans and positioning themselves for the upcoming midterms.

Key takeaways

• MAGA's redistricting plan flopped; it's a classic case of 'oops, we did it again!' for Trump.
• California’s Prop 50: A masterclass in counter-districting. Florida, meet California – even swamp creatures have limits.
• MAGA Mike's camera dodging isn't just shy; it's a political survival tactic in the face of sinking approval ratings.
• Trump's Greenland distraction backfired harder than a cannonball in a kiddie pool. Epstein headlines still loom large.
• From potential gains to deficits: Impeachment fears turned mid-decade redistricting into a game of political hide and seek.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Ben Meiselas (Host) · 12 min speaking
• Rebecca Bennett (Guest) · 5 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 3:00: Donald Trump, Greenland, Dr. Jack Abbott, California
2. 3:00 – 6:00: Greenland, Epstein, Donald Trump
3. 6:00 – 9:00: New Jersey (Jersey), Donald Trump, Bob Bennett, Thomas Kean Jr.
4. 9:00 – 12:00: New Jersey (Jersey), Donald Trump, Thomas Kean Jr.
5. 12:00 – 15:00: Donald Trump, Greenland, Epstein, New Jersey (Jersey)
6. 15:00 – 17:44: Bob Bennett, New Jersey (Jersey)

Notable quotes from "Trump gets INSTANT KARMA as MIDTERM Plan BACKFIRES BADLY"

• Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans are absolutely losing it as their plan to do the mid decade redistricting beginning in Texas blew up in their faces. It backfired big…

  about Dr. Jack Abbott · at 0:00

• Right-wing districts to be unconstitutional. Democrats did a big win in Utah. Donald Trump was trying to push for some redistricting in Indiana, but then he started attacking…

  about Donald Trump · at 1:10

• Is Magga Mike who's always running away from the press while he's on Capitol Hill. And you know we have Pablo Monriquez on Capitol Hill as part of the new Midas Touch DC…

  about Pablo Monriquez · at 1:55

• Every issue, CNN went over all of this polling data and they showed that Donald Trump's worst issue was invading Greenland, which he was using to distract from Epstein, which…

  about Epstein · at 3:48

• By Donald Trump. One of the most rapacious stock traders while all of this is going down though is a guy by the name of Thomas Keane Jr. from New Jersey 7th Congressional…

  about Thomas Kean Jr. · at 6:11

• Basically wipe MAGA Republicans out, let's take a look at some of the superstar candidates, shall we? I want to bring in a candidate by the name of Rebecca Bennett. the main…

  about Bob Bennett · at 7:25

• Leave for my daughters and the next generation. But yeah, to your point, Tom Kane Jr. is absolutely failing us right now. He is a career politician and so he is not standing up…

  about New Jersey (Jersey) · at 10:21

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Donald Trump — Person · Primary referenced political figure · 16 mentions · first at 0:00
  Central antagonist in the episode’s narrative: blamed for initiating mid-decade redistricting efforts, pressuring GOP officials, and driving unpopular foreign-policy distractions (e.g., Greenland) while facing political vulnerability.
• Bob Bennett — Person · Main guest / featured candidate · 3 mentions · first at 7:33
  Interview subject presented as the leading Democratic challenger in New Jersey’s 7th district, positioned as a “flip” opportunity; discusses military background, policy priorities, and critiques of the incumbent’s alignment with Trump.
• Thomas Kean Jr. — Person · Referenced incumbent / political foil · 3 mentions · first at 6:29
  Portrayed as the MAGA-aligned Republican incumbent in NJ-07; criticized for voting with Trump, alleged stock trading behavior, and failing to advocate for district priorities (e.g., Gateway Tunnel, SALT, healthcare).
• Dr. Jack Abbott — Person · Referenced state executive (Texas) in redistricting storyline · 1 mention · first at 0:06
  Depicted as the Texas governor pressured by Trump/MAGA to pursue mid-decade redistricting to gain congressional seats; serves as the starting point of the episode’s redistricting chain reaction.
• Hakeem Jeffries — Person · Referenced party leader / ally in counter-strategy · 1 mention · first at 0:43
  Mentioned as a Democratic leader helping coordinate or support the Democratic response to GOP redistricting efforts; used to frame organized party pushback.
  Then Democratic governor of California, Governor Nuome strikes back with Prop 50. And then with the help of Democratic leader Hakee Jeff and others, Democrats start to fight…
• Pablo Monriquez — Person · Referenced reporter/correspondent (Capitol Hill) · 1 mention · first at 2:00
  Cited as being on Capitol Hill capturing footage of “MAGA Mike” avoiding questions; functions as an on-the-ground media presence supporting the episode’s narrative.

Concepts & topics

• Epstein — Concept · Core topic · 6 mentions · first at 3:58
  Discussed as one of Donald Trump's worst issues, with attempts to distract from it by focusing on Greenland.

Places & events

• Greenland — Place · Setting · 10 mentions · first at 2:29
  Discussed in the context of Donald Trump's unpopular proposal to invade or buy Greenland, serving as a distraction from the Epstein files.
  Second worst issue. And so if you thought that Greenland was going to distract from Epstein, Americans hate everything that Donald Trump is selling here. Play this clip.…
• New Jersey (Jersey) — Place · Setting · 9 mentions · first at 6:17
  Mentioned in the context of the 7th Congressional District race and the political dynamics involving Tom Keane Jr. and Rebecca Bennett.
• California — Place · Setting · 1 mention · first at 0:38
  Mentioned as the home of Democratic Governor Nuome who struck back with Prop 50 in the redistricting fight.
  Donald Trump is going to get impeached and MAGA Republicans are terrified. But then Democratic governor of California, Governor Nuome strikes back with Prop 50. And then with…

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans are absolutely losing it as their plan to do the mid decade redistricting beginning in Texas blew up in their faces. It backfired big time. So of course Donald Trump and MAGA Mike they run to Governor Abbott the MAGA Republican sickopant in Texas and say Abbott we need five seats. Don't do it as a referendum. just give us five additional congressional seats because if the Democrats win the midterms, Donald Trump is going to get impeached and MAGA Republicans are terrified. But then Democratic governor of California, Governor Nuome strikes back with Prop 50. And then with the help of Democratic leader Hakee Jeff and others, Democrats start to fight back and assert themselves. We see in Virginia Democrats pushing for potentially a mid decade redistricting map of 10 to one. We see uh the formation in Maryland of efforts by Democrats to change the map there. In

1:05 New York, Democrats got a big ruling from a court declaring one of the right-wing districts to be unconstitutional. Democrats did a big win in Utah. Donald Trump was trying to push for some redistricting in Indiana, but then he started attacking disabled persons and attacking personally the Indiana Republican state senators. And he started attacking them so much that they were like, "We don't want any part of this if you keep coming at us like this." So they voted down Donald Trump's mid-deing plan in Indiana. And now MAGA Republicans likely have a deficit of plus five seats based on what's now being described as dummy mandering and MAGA Mike is just losing it. I'll just show you a few data points right here.

1:53 The first thing I just want to show you is Magga Mike who's always running away from the press uh while he's on Capitol Hill. And you know we have Pablo Monriquez on Capitol Hill as part of the new Midas Touch DC bureau. Watch Magga Mike run away from the cameras right here. And Magga Mike's ass though. So like Donald Trump's like clearly cognitively and physically declining Magga Mike. Watch Magga Mike like I don't want to talk. I'm Magga Mike. I don't want to talk. Here, play this clip. I think that'd be I think it'd be a reckless decision on their part.

2:29 The pre the president mistakenly called Greenland Iceland. His speech is slurred. He's got bruises on his hands. Are you at all worried about the president's health or his decline at all?

2:38 Is this a serious question? This president sleeps about 3 hours a night. He outworks everybody in this building by a factor of two or three.

2:45 Now, let me just show you. I think CNN did a great segment on it. The description here of the dummy mandering by Donald Trump, which has now resulted in Democrats with an advantage heading into the midterms. Let's play this clip right here.

2:59 Yeah. Okay. You know, Donald Trump and the Republicans started this redistricting fight, but it looks like that the Democrats are going to finish them off because what are we talking about? What's the most likely outcome? Most likely how seat came from mid mid decade redistricting. You mentioned back in the summer of 2025, it started in Texas. It looked like Republicans, the most likely that they were going to get nationwide was five seats. But today, at this point, the most likely outcome is Democrats actually gaining from the mid decade redistricting battle. Now, this is an about right and it's an approximation. I wouldn't be surprised if it's tied. I wouldn't be surprised the Democrats actually gained two or three seats from the mid mid decade redistricting battle. But the bottom line is this. It started out as a plus for Republicans and now it looks like the Democrats have fought back and

3:40 fought back in a major way. Looks like it's going to be a plus for them nationwide. And then just so you can see how deeply unpopular Donald Trump is on every issue, uh CNN went over all of this polling data and they showed that Donald Trump's worst issue was invading Greenland, which he was using to distract from Epstein, which is his second worst issue. And so if you thought that Greenland was going to distract from Epstein, Americans hate everything that Donald Trump is selling here. Play this clip. There's been a suggestion among some that one of the things the president is trying to do by focusing on Greenland is maybe to distract from other things. With us now, CNN chief data analyst Harry. So, how much are people focused on Greenland opposed to other things?

4:25 Yeah. Okay. So, this is the whole idea, John. The president, United States didn't like the focus on the Epstein files. We're going to change the subject and we're going to go over to Greenland. And from that perspective, it's worked. Look at this. Google searches versus December for the Epstein files down through the floor. Far fewer people are searching for the Epstein files. Down 72%. Of course, you can't fall any lower than down being 100%. Versus for Greenland, look at this. The highest on record. Up like a rocket. Almost up 1 1600%. My goodness gracious. So, if the idea was to distract from the Epstein files and focus and focus the American people on something else, it has been a success by that metric.

5:02 But we don't know if that was the goal here. But if it was if it was if it was now, how is saying focus on Greenland opposed to the Epstein files in terms of focusing on an issue that's good for you?

5:13 Yeah. Okay. So, if this was the idea, right? Well, it's a bad idea politically speaking. Why do I say that? Because take a look here. Trump's net approval rating on the Epstein files. Look at that. Just absolutely awful. 38 points below water. But any try to buy Greenland is somehow even more unpopular. Look at this. It's 40 points below water. There is barely an issue out there that's worse for Donald Trump than the Epstein files, but any attempts to buy Greenland or use military force on Greenland, which even polls worse than this, is one of them. It is arguably the most unpopular thing that Donald Trump can try to do is mess with Greenland. So Greenland is polling worse than the Epstein.

5:55 You got it. Before I showed you that clip, I said Americans are hating everything that Donald Trump is selling. Unless of course you're a MAGA Republican in Congress and you are stock trading. You are buying and selling stocks while the market gets manipulated by Donald Trump. One of the most rapacious stock traders while all of this is going down though is a guy by the name of Thomas Keane Jr. from New Jersey 7th Congressional District. It seems like every other month we learn about some massive stock positions that he's taking. What was one of the most recents? He took a pretty big stock position in Texas Instruments, a top 10 semiconductor industry uh company, of course, while he sits on the energy and commerce communications. So, I guess for people like Kerna, they're okay with all this madness because of uh you know, I I guess it's a great payday for them. I don't know. But I can tell you that as

6:51 these midterms are approaching with Democrats now potentially taking a lead in the redistricting fight, we're also seeing Democrats in key areas asserting themselves right now and starting to move ahead of the pack. And that's why I want to highlight a Democratic congresswoman from that New Jersey 7th Congressional District cuz all the stars seem to be aligning for this blue tsunami coming up. So, I just think it's important that we highlight with all of this dummy mandering taking place and with all of the fact that Democrats can basically wipe MAGA Republicans out, let's take a look at some of the superstar candidates, shall we? I want to bring in a candidate by the name of Rebecca Bennett. Uh the main Democratic candidate running for New Jersey 7th Congressional District. I just interviewed her the other day. Let me just bring that in right now. You you're going to want to watch all this. This is

7:44 incredible. and the MAGA Republican congressman you just saw there, Tom Keen Jr., so he represents New Jerseyy's seventh congressional district. That guy is a career politician. He votes with Donald Trump all of the time. And in New Jersey, he just basically makes a career of attacking his own constituents. It's one of those seats that I think that Democrats are going to be able to flip and certainly need to flip in the midterms. Let me introduce you to the person who I think is going to be able to flip it. Her name is Rebecca Bennett.

8:19 Rebecca, great to see you. I know you're humble, so I'm just going to do your background for you. Former US Navy helicopter pilot, officer in the Air National Guard, a business leader in healthcare, and a mom of two. You served in the Navy for over a decade as a helicopter pilot and an aircraft commander. Um, so I definitely want to talk about that because you also tested helicopters for the uh Danish Navy, of course, in the news now as uh Kern Jr.'s kind of MAGA prophet Donald Trump wants to invade Greenland. So, we'll talk about we'll talk about that. Um, and you're also a member of the Hellcats, just so everybody knows uh that group.

8:58 It's a group of female veterans running for Congress in competitive swing seats to take back the House and the name plays off. Of course, it's a tribute to the all female Marine unit that served in World War I known as the Hellcats. Rebecca, great to see you. So, before we were on, I showed that really cringy clip of Tom Kern Jr. Um, and I've showed other clips of these MAGA Republicans about what they're doing right now. But again, it just seems that all of their conduct and behavior is the opposite for what the people in your congressional district are asking for. And at its most basic level, if you're not going to like represent the people of New Jersey 7th, like what what are you doing? Like what's the point of this all?

9:39 Yeah. Well, thanks Ben for having me on. It's great to be on. And you know, I I know you went through my background, so I appreciate you covering that. I'll just say a little bit of the you know, I'm a former Navy helicopter pilot. I did serve in the military for over 15 years between my time in the Navy and the Air National Guard. I flew helicopters for the Navy and I led missions, people, and teams all over the world. After doing that, I moved into healthcare where I've been working ever since. And I'm also a mom of two kids.

10:04 And you know, I'll just say for me, I really felt called to run after the election in 2024 because I love this country. It's why I joined the military. And for me, wanted to know that I did everything I could to fight for this country. I literally put my life on the line. And so for me, this is about what version of the country are we going to leave for my daughters and the next generation. But yeah, to your point, you know, Tom Kane Jr. is absolutely failing us right now. He is a career politician and so he is not standing up and fighting for all of us here in the district in the way that we deserve and so that is why we are going to replace him in November with somebody who's going to.

10:39 Right. So he votes with Trump 100% of the times. He also refuses to call out Donald Trump when Trump threatened to pause funding on the gateway tunnel which is a critical New Jersey priority. just going to be, you know, and and he's the kind of guy who just dodges the constituents and like he hides and people try to ask him questions and he just refuses to even explain what he's doing other than Donald, what are you doing today? Got it. I'm going to do that today. And it's like just it's just like grow a spine and represent the people. It's funny in the pre-in you and I were talking and and I think you said you're like, you know, you're not forced to do this job. Like no one's like you you ran for this ostensibly to represent constituents and so if you don't want to do that like why why even run why even do it?

11:31 Yeah. I mean and you know you brought up the Gateway Tunnel and I'll just say you know this is personal for me. I used to commute into the city for work and I know firsthand how difficult it is to be able to get to the city reliably for work. And you know what that means is that it means that people are missing soccer practice. They're missing dinner with their family. And so you know when Donald Trump announced that the gateway tunnel funding was being cut, Tom Kane Jr. should have been jumping up and down and screaming every single day to make sure that we were getting that funding to be able to get our transportation.

12:00 You know, there's a ton of examples of this. He also, you know, for us in New Jersey, salt is a really big deal of how much it impacts our taxes that we're having to pay. And, you know, Tom Kane Jr. made it worse for us from a salt deduction perspective. We're also seeing that our health care costs are continuing to go up and he was the deciding vote on the one big beautiful bill and so tens of thousands of people in our district are going to lose access to their health insurance because of that. And so, you know, there's a laundry list of things, but our plan is to make it very very clear how what Tom King Jr. is doing in the district is directly impacting all of us and and why he's not standing up and fighting for us.

12:36 As I mentioned at the beginning of the video, you served in the Navy for over a decade as a helicopter pilot and an aircraft commander um officer in the Air National Guard. Um, you also worked with the Danish Navy uh to help them test their helicopters and helicopters that we're now seeing being used to protect and defend Greenland from possible invasion and threats by Donald Trump. So, I know this issue is um well, for Americans, I think Trump has a net negative 40. He's less popular on invading Greenland than he is on not releasing the Epstein files, which says something. but he's net negative on all of it. Now he's what what's Donald Trump's latest thing he's whining about?

13:20 He was threatening to sue the New York Times uh for releasing their New York Times Sienna poll that lists that lists all but this is personal to you. I mean you worked with that Navy. You know that when America called on the Danish uh soldiers uh and invoke and America invoked article 5 per capita, the Danish army lost more people in the Afghanistan and Iraq war more than any other country. They serve side by side with Americans on the front lines in wars and Donald Trump to treat them like this. I want to get your perspective on that.

13:55 Yeah. No, thank you. And you know, I'll say to this point, it is deeply personal to me. you know, I deployed to the Middle East in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, which were the Afghanistan operations. I had the chance to work with our allies very closely in that capacity. And then also as a test pilot, to your point, I led the development of technology for the United States as well as partner nations to include Denmark. And so this is personal and we know that our allies are incredibly important and that it's incredibly important that we're supporting our allies around the world to include NATO. And so the fact that we're even talking about what we're talking about in Greenland is honestly really just beyond parody at this point.

14:29 But to me, this is why it's important that we're able to get serious people in office that understand the stakes of this and are going to be able to push back on this administration because we've seen that this Congress has completely abdicated its responsibility on being an equal branch of government. But it's not only that. It's also just that, you know, we are living through a cost of living crisis in this country right now. And that is what Donald Trump and Tom King Jr. Iran on was lowering costs and being able to actually solve these issues. And instead, what we're seeing is that they're going and doing all this foreign policy stuff that to your point, people do not want us to go get involved in any more long forever wars. And so, this is why it's important to make sure that we're pushing back and and you know, holding them accountable.

15:10 So, before we go, I want people to learn more about your campaign. So, where can they go to find out more information, but also what's your message right now in general about your platform? If people were to elect you and replace Tom Keane Jr., little little Donnie, whatever he calls himself, what what what what are you going to do and what does your platform look like and where can people learn more about you?

15:35 Yeah, so the first one is, you know, folks can follow us on social. They can also go to my website. It's rebeccabennetforongress.com. So would love to get people involved in the campaign. If they're interested in signing up to volunteer or help, please go check us out there. And then, you know, as far as the message goes, the message that I am sharing with people is that this district in New Jersey 7th is one of the top opportunities for us to flip a seat from red to blue across the country. And so, what I tell people is that I know that it is a scary time right now in our country, but we have something we can do about it, which is being able to flip this seat and to be able to send, you know, principled ethical leadership to Washington to fight for all of us. And you know to your question on what are the things that I'm focused on. It's focused on the issues that I'm hearing most from everybody in the district. I'm also a

16:20 mom and I'm raising my kids in this district. And so it's things like making sure we're really addressing cost of living and making sure that people can afford child care and they can afford to pay for their health care and they can we can bring our energy costs down and we can bring down our grocery prices. But really addressing the issues that I'm hearing most from people. So it's you know affordability, it's healthcare and it's national security. Those are the areas that I'm focused on most. But, you know, really it's about just being really pragmatic and bringing common sense solutions to solve the issues that are impacting all of us the most.

16:49 I want to remind everybody, make sure uh you all check out Rebecca's website and learn more about her campaign. As I mentioned before, this is one of those very flippable seats out there. So when people are wondering what's the math uh in order for Democrats to take control of the House, this is one of the seats that people are very much focused on that I'm focused on and I think you see what an incredible person yet alone candidate, incredible person and background Rebecca has and is. And uh thanks for all you've done and thanks for your service, Rebecca.

17:20 Thank you, Ben. It was a pleasure. Yeah, I appreciate it. Rebecca Benn and everybody everybody hit subscribe here. Let's get to 6 million subscribers. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our Substack at midasplus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Philipki, add free episodes of our podcast, and more exclusive content only available at midasplus.com.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Trump gets INSTANT KARMA as MIDTERM Plan BACKFIRES BADLY"?

Ben Meiselas (Host), Rebecca Bennett (Guest).

What is "Trump gets INSTANT KARMA as MIDTERM Plan BACKFIRES BADLY" about?

The discussion focuses on the backlash faced by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans due to their failed mid-decade redistricting efforts in Texas, which has resulted in a potential loss of congressional seats. In response, Democrats, led by figures such as California Governor Gavin Newsom and others, are mobilizing to oppose Republican strategies across various states, effectively countering…

What is mentioned in this MeidasTouch episode?

10 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Donald Trump, Bob Bennett, Epstein, Thomas Kean Jr., Greenland, New Jersey (Jersey). Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Trump gets INSTANT KARMA as MIDTERM Plan BACKFIRES BADLY"?

The episode runs 18 min; the transcript is about 3,517 words in 30 timestamped sections.

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