Trump gets RUDE AWAKENING as GOP COLLAPSES in PA!!

What this episode is about

Donald Trump is facing significant challenges in key states, with recent polling showing widespread negative approval ratings, particularly in Pennsylvania where his influence may be weakening the GOP's position. As the midterms approach, Democratic candidate Janelle Stelson is gaining momentum against MAGA Republican Scott Perry, highlighting voter frustration with extremist policies and a desire for pragmatic solutions.

Key takeaways

• Trump's approval takes a dive in purplish states—Georgia to Texas sees negative double digits.
• Janelle Stelson gains momentum in Pennsylvania, identified as a critical battleground for 2024.
• Scott Perry's absence from town halls sparks voter outrage—ignoring constituents isn't a winning strategy.
• Polling shows a shift; the MAGA agenda is increasingly seen as detrimental to everyday Americans.
• Trump's endorsement doesn't guarantee loyalty; Pennsylvania voters want solutions, not extremist rhetoric.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Ben (Guest) · 8 min speaking
• Janelle Stelson (Guest) · 5 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 3:00: Pennsylvania, Donald Trump, Scott Perry, Janelle Stelson
2. 3:00 – 6:00: Scott Perry, Janelle Stelson, Pennsylvania, Donald Trump
3. 6:00 – 9:00: Scott Perry, SNAP, Josh Shapiro
4. 9:00 – 12:00: Janelle Stelson, Scott Perry
5. 12:00 – 13:11: Janelle Stelson, Pennsylvania, Midas Plus

Notable quotes from "Trump gets RUDE AWAKENING as GOP COLLAPSES in PA!!"

• Republican candidate endorsed by Donald Trump. I'm also very interested in what's going on in Pennsylvania. I think one of the most if not the most important states…

  about Pennsylvania · at 0:28

• I certainly hope so, and I hope the voters will get behind me while we do this. This guy, Scott Perry, who you've been showing us is the most vulnerable extremist across the…

  about Scott Perry · at 4:36

• And served breakfast at a food shelter and the people who hosted us, they gave us a tour and they said, it's never this full till the end of the month when people's SNAP…

  about SNAP · at 8:52

• Become a subscriber to our Substack at midasplus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Philipki, ad free episodes of our podcast, and more exclusive content only available at midasplus.com.

  about Midas Plus · at 12:56

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Scott Perry — Person · Referenced political figure (incumbent) / primary opponent discussed · 9 mentions · first at 1:06
  Incumbent Republican representative for Pennsylvania’s 10th district and Stelson’s opponent; portrayed as vulnerable, aligned with Trump/MAGA, avoiding in-person town halls, and tied to Jan. 6 planning allegations.
• Janelle Stelson — Person · Main guest / Democratic candidate · 5 mentions · first at 1:16
  Interview subject and Democratic challenger in Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District, arguing Scott Perry is an extremist and outlining affordability/healthcare/infrastructure priorities.
  I certainly hope so, and I hope the voters will get behind me while we do this. This guy, Scott Perry, who you've been showing us is the most vulnerable extremist across the country. If we.
• Donald Trump — Person · Referenced political figure (former president) / target of criticism · 5 mentions · first at 0:00
  Used as the central foil in the discussion: polling/approval is cited, and his endorsement and agenda (tariffs, MAGA politics) are framed as harming Pennsylvania and empowering Scott Perry.
  And as we head into the midterms, Trump and MAGA are very scared that they're going to be losing seats in Pennsylvania. Specifically, you zoom in central Pennsylvania, the 10th congressional district, which is.
• Josh Shapiro — Person · Referenced political figure (governor) / contextual benchmark · 2 mentions · first at 4:19
  Mentioned as a Democratic statewide winner in the same geography, used to suggest the district/region has electoral potential for Democrats and to frame energy/jobs discussion in Pennsylvania.
  That 10th congressional district. Just by way of reference, too, this was a district that Josh Shapiro, the Democratic governor, won by a significant margin as well. And so, lots of momentum here, Janelle.

Concepts & topics

• MAGA — Concept · Core topic · 1 mention · first at 0:53
  Represents the political movement associated with Donald Trump, central to the discussion about the Republican candidates and their policies.
  State senate district number nine have a plus 31 overp performance this past weekend where the democrat beat the mega republican candidate endorsed by Donald Trump. I'm also…
• SNAP — Concept · Key argument · 1 mention · first at 8:59
  Highlighted as a critical social program affected by government policies, illustrating the impact on vulnerable populations.

Places & events

• Pennsylvania — Place · Setting · 6 mentions · first at 0:32
  Central to the discussion as a key battleground state in the upcoming elections, with specific focus on the 10th congressional district.
• January 6th — Event · Key argument · 1 mention · first at 5:11
  Mentioned as a critical event involving Scott Perry, highlighting his controversial actions and the need for accountability.
  Trying to let the government negotiate prescription drug prices. He's against all of that. I also want people to remember here's a guy who was paramount in planning the January…

Sponsors

• Midas Plus — Company · Sponsor · 1 mention · first at 12:56
  Mentioned as the platform hosting the podcast's exclusive content, indicating a commercial relationship.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 Donald Trump continues to get a rude awakening across the country in purplish states and even red states. I mean, if you look at some of the latest polling from the economist, he's at a negative 18.6% in Georgia, negative 18.4% in Maine, negative 17.2% in Texas of all places. And we saw that state senate district number nine have a plus 31 overp performance this past weekend where the democrat beat the mega republican candidate endorsed by Donald Trump. I'm also very interested in what's going on in Pennsylvania. I think one of the most if not the most important states commonwealth uh of Pennsylvania uh out there in terms of elections and just in terms of uh the the the heart and soul of our country.

0:46 Donald Trump's net approval in Pennsylvania negative 15.9%. And as we head into the midterms, you know, Trump and MAGA are very scared that they're going to be losing seats uh in Pennsylvania. Specifically, you zoom in central Pennsylvania, the 10th congressional district, which is currently held by uh MAGA Republican extremist Scott Perry. Lots of people are looking at this seat as a real potential for a flip. The Democratic candidate there was someone by the name of Janelle Stelson, a legendary news reporter and host uh over there who previously ran for that seat against Perry. It was close. This was a rematch.

1:27 Janelle Stelson has all the momentum in the world right now. Uh raising lots of money and people see what an extremist uh Scott Perry is for all of these years. And right now, people just want common sense solutions to these problems. And Trump's made things hundreds of times worse. And Perry is just all in on Donald Trump's extremist agenda. Whether it's tariffs screwing over the people in Pennsylvania, screwing over the farmers, ripping away people's healthcare, taking away educational opportunities. You know, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a very resilient place, but it's just a barrage of attacks on them by Trump and Perry just outright antagonistic to the Commonwealth. Then Donald Trump gave that endorsement to Perry that he's a ultra magga. He'll never let you down.

2:15 But he is letting people down in in a really really big way. you know, he's refusing to do these town halls and he like just kind of phones him in at these point at this point. And when he phones him in too, I mean, it's just uh well, I I'll just show you this clip right here. Uh, Central Pennsylvania, as Janelle Stelson says, Central Pennsylvania deserves a representative that's accountable and accessible. Scott Perry's not been showing up at all. Let's play this first clip.

2:40 Mechanicsburg and the rest of the 10th Congressional District hoping to get the attention of their representative, Scott Perry. The organizers of a group called Post It to Perry say that he's been ignoring the group's demands for an in-person town hall. Perry has held several town halls online. But protesters have criticized those events, saying he is choosing easy questions that wouldn't make him or MAGA look bad. We decided that we would save our questions and our our comments and we would deliver them together along one day.

3:14 And just to see the type of questions he gets asked when he does the virtual town halls and refuses to do it in person. I'll just give you an example. When he was asked about uh tariffs here, let's play this clip.

3:26 My question is pretty simple. Um the tariffs are a huge large tax increase. I thought you were anti-ax and I find it very disappointing that you are supporting Donald Trump in taxing American people because we do pay the tariffs and are paying the tariffs. Why have you surrendered all your values as a conservative to Donald J. Trump on this issue? Yeah, I appreciate the question, Carl. Look, I don't love Paris either. Obviously, somebody has to pay them. If we're going to charge another country to send their goods into the United States, you know, the people that buy those goods are going to pay the

4:08 Yeah. I mean, he basically admits it right there, but says, "I ain't going to do anything about it." I want to bring in Janelle Stelson, who was running in that 10th congressional district. Just by way of reference, too, this was a district that Josh Shapiro, the Democratic governor, won by a significant margin as well. And so, you know, lots of momentum here, Janelle. People know who you are. You've built trust over uh your your career there. Um you think you can flip this district, Janelle?

4:36 I certainly hope so, and I hope the voters will get behind me while we do this. This guy, Scott Perry, who you've been showing us is the most vulnerable extremist across the country. If we don't win here in Pennsylvania 10, we are not going to win the US House, and we must flip the House blue. This is paramount. You know, here's a guy who got in the way of uh child tax care credits, got in the way of the infrastructure bill, got in the way of trying to let the government um uh negotiate prescription drug prices. He's against all of that. I also want people to remember here's a guy who was paramount in planning the January 6th attack at the US capital. Uh so much so that the FBI took his phone afterwards, confiscated his phone, and he asked for a presidential pardon. Now, why would you do that? Uh those are all really important facts. He voted for the big bill that is causing so many problems.

5:30 It's increased job losses in addition to the tariff taxes you were just talking about. It is, you know, threatening hospitals that are already struggling in our area. And if you need a doctor for something specific, it's increasing doctor shortages to the degree that it's just really a difficult position for people who need certain kinds of help. So, these are all things, you know, while all of that, the bill is adding$4 trillion dollars worth of new debt and mortgaging our children's futures so that Scott Perry can pay off the billionaires and the big corporations.

6:02 This is a real problem in our area. This is not even a Republican. This is an extremist and we're we're doing our best to take him down.

6:10 Yeah. And you know, he there's so much gaslighting, too, though, because he and Trump, they're saying that everything's great. like they're saying that this is what success looks like and that everybody

6:23 is affordable. Yeah. And I'm like, I don't know where you guys are shopping, but it's not where the rest of us are shopping.

6:28 Yeah. He said, "Look what I've done for the farmers. They love me right now. Look what I've done for, you know, everything's cheaper than ever. Your electricity prices are 50% down." You know, and then they said, you know, one of Scott Perry's things are like, you know, we hate the the Green New Scam. And it's like like you're just going to kill a bunch of jobs and manufacturing. Didn't you all promise that you were going to have a manufacturing boom? I mean, there's a manufacturing recession right now taking place.

6:55 Yeah. Well, you know, in terms of energy, we are definitely along with Governor Shapiro and everything counts. You know, there is fracking here as long as you make sure that the environment is protected. You know, we have at Three-Mile Island, which has now been renamed. We have Microsoft moving in and retrofitting everything, which is hundreds of jobs in this area, which is hugely important. Um, you know, we're working on everything here. And to have an administration and Scott Perry saying, "Nope, that's no good. Got to shut down the wind turbines. You got to, you know, all these different things."

7:27 It's a real problem. And you're right, utility costs are skyrocketing because of it.

7:32 You hearing, are you seeing changes since the election? I mean, you know, you know this area better than just about everyone as as a news anchor, award-winning. I mean, you spoke to people. That's what you did. You you're always in the community hearing people's stories. So, I think you had good insight also into how the Commonwealth has become this purplish state and how it swings back and forth. And um what what's just the overall sentiment, you know, right now, you know, on on the ground as as you travel the 10th?

8:04 Well, frankly, people are feeling pretty upset about a lot of things and affordability is something we talked about during my last race as well. That certainly continues to be a huge big deal. Whether it's skyrocket skyrocketing prices of groceries or the cost of having a roof over your head if you have a roof over your head uh you know all the way to paying for a vacation or sending your children to college. This is all really important and the fact that it is so unaffordable and Scott Perry is a guy who continues you know he's the guy who said it would be a and this is a quote colossal mistake to take down your health care premiums to make them cost less. That's a real problem for people who are struggling and they tell me about it all the time. You know, uh during the government's longest shutdown, uh I went and served breakfast at a food shelter and the people who hosted us, they gave

8:56 us a tour and they said, you know, it's never this full till the end of the month when people's SNAP benefits run out, but their SNAP benefits were not to be that month. So, they were there at the beginning of the month and there were a lot of children, there were a lot of older folks there, people who you really want to look out for in life. Um, and it's not okay to see the pain and see that they're not going to get food anywhere else was a real problem. And you know, those are the kinds of things I'd like to work on and make sure we never have to face those kinds of struggles,

9:25 you know, and Perry's been out there like as you've been talking about kitchen table issues, affordability. I mean, he's been out there kind of mocking the people in the district also. I mean, he mocked veterans and he said that uh if you support any Democratic candidate and you're a veteran or you probably just went in the military to get credentialed to help your career. I don't even understand what his what his what he was even saying. He said the Affordable Care Act, tax credits, extensions would be a colossal mistake and having affordable literally his words colossal mistake.

9:57 I know. And that's quote again. Yes. Well, you're absolutely right. And when he said that about the military, that Democrats hate the military, hate America, only serve so they can come home and run for something, which is exactly what he did. Um, that's a real problem. That's the kind of person we need to get out of office. We held a press conference after that. Well attended. We had um big Navy guy Chris Deluzio from the western part of the state, the congressman. He came in and headlined for it because I have a lot of military in my family, but that's not me. And uh I stood to the side and we had men, women, Republicans, Democrats, they all talked about what they had done in the service and they pretty much all ended with Congressman Perry, you owe us an apology. And you know what? The guy who hasn't faced the public since 2019 for a town hall never gave that apology either.

10:51 Like all of the polling shows great momentum, but polls don't vote. There was a poll in the summer that had you up three. Poll in December, some of the most credible polls there have you up four. I mean, Perry's approval right now is net negative 17. I think it's only 36% of people in his district actually approve of him. But again, polls don't vote. Um, we've we we know that very well by now. Too well, unfortunately or fortunately, in different settings. Um, but before we go, what what's I mean the people of the 10th know you, but for people who may be watching this now who don't know Janelle Stelson one, where could they find out more about your campaign and any final remarks you want to tell our six million subscribers?

11:33 Only six million. Wow, we got to get you up to seven. Um, I would say you can certainly go to janelstelson.com. You can get a lot of information there, you know, talking about a variety of subjects. You can find out how to volunteer. You can find out how to donate. Very important things. all. Um, but I think the fact that I've been a TV newscaster, was a TV newscaster for more than 30 years and was the trusted voice in everybody's homes, nonpartisan, you know, in fact, I was a Republican for a long time. I didn't necessarily vote that way, but when it came time to run for office, I made sure that I ran in the party that fitted me best, and that was the Democrats. We're doing everything we can to get this seat into the hands of somebody who listens like I've been doing as a broadcaster who's continuing to listen, who's continuing to communicate with people, find out what they need, and not just shine a

12:23 bright light on it anymore, but actually take their voices to the halls of Congress, make sure their voices are heard, and make sure we attend to the actions that they tell me they need. These are important things, and that's exactly what I'd like to do. Ben,

12:38 thanks, Janelle. Janelle Stelson running for Pennsylvania's 10th Congressional District. We'll be following that race. Thanks for joining us, Janelle.

12:44 Thank you so much for having me again. Janellestelson.com. We're there to help.

12:49 And everybody, hit subscribe. Janelle says, "Let's try to get to 7 million subscribers." Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our Substack at midasplus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Philipki, ad free episodes of our podcast, and more exclusive content only available at midasplus.com.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Trump gets RUDE AWAKENING as GOP COLLAPSES in PA!!"?

Ben (Guest), Janelle Stelson (Guest).

What is "Trump gets RUDE AWAKENING as GOP COLLAPSES in PA!!" about?

Donald Trump is facing significant challenges in key states, with recent polling showing widespread negative approval ratings, particularly in Pennsylvania where his influence may be weakening the GOP's position. As the midterms approach, Democratic candidate Janelle Stelson is gaining momentum against MAGA Republican Scott Perry, highlighting voter frustration with extremist policies and a…

What is mentioned in this MeidasTouch episode?

9 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Scott Perry, Pennsylvania, Janelle Stelson, Donald Trump, MAGA, January 6th. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Trump gets RUDE AWAKENING as GOP COLLAPSES in PA!!"?

The episode runs 13 min; the transcript is about 2,467 words in 27 timestamped sections.

More from MeidasTouch

• All analyzed episodes
• Books mentioned on MeidasTouch
• People mentioned on MeidasTouch
• Sponsors mentioned on MeidasTouch
• Topics mentioned on MeidasTouch