Reflecting on the Responsibility of Democracy

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Directposit one thousand dollars a month andund invest account for a point five percent increase Cash account offered by Wealthront broer LLC member forer ICnot This podcast is sponsored by Mid in Cookware made in partners with multigenerational artisans and some of the world's best chefs to create professional quality cookware, knives and kitchen tools Their products are trusted in Michelin starred restaurants worldwide and designed to perform just as well in your kitchen From five ply stainless clad to carbon steel, every piece is built to last and made to actually make you a better cook Discover award winning cookweare at madeadeincookweare. com Donald Trump is collapsing in Pennsylvania. The wheels have fallen off. Even Trump's MAGA supporters in Pennsylvania have abandoned him. accccording to the latest economist Paul Trump's approval is net negative twenty two points. according to the latest Franklin and Marshall College poll, Donald Trump's overall approval in Pennsylvania right now is twenty nine percent, a ten point drop over more than three months. The Franklin and Marshall poll director notes, it's a sizable decline since our March poll when his positive approval rating was thirty nine percent, which is still low, by the way. The administration's positive rating for handling foreign policy matters, according to the latest Franklin and Marshall College poll declined from forty two percent to twenty nine percent from March to now Trump's largest decline comes in his regime's handling of inflation, falling from thirty one percent positive in October to seventeen percent today. thirty five percent of voters say the economy, including unemployment, housing, real estate costs, and higher gas and utility prices is the most important problem facing the state. The economy is the top concern of every partisan group and they are livid at the Trump regime. I also think it's notable in Pennsylvania that seven in ten or seventy two percent of registered voters favor a state law that makes it illegal to discriminate in employment or housing based on a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. So despite the fact that the Trump regime continues to spew hate and divisiveness and discrimination against the LGBTQ community and continues to try to attack people on the basis of gender. I think that people overwhelmingly support strong laws that prevent that type of behavior. When Donald Trump was recently in Pennsylvania, he gave that speech at a trucking factory. It was in front of a very small crowd and someone in the crowd was basically calling him pedo, pedo protector Youemember when that went down? you repl play this clip? Before Donald Trump spoke in Pennsylvania, he was asked by a reporters, Hey, you know, you're about to speak in front of truckers over there and truckers are at a high risk of losing their jobs. What do you say to them? because they're struggling right now and And Donaldrump like, no, they're not. They're having the golden age. Truckers in Pennsylvania are living their best lives. No, they're not. I mean, you screwed them over, you screwed over manufacturing jobs You screwed over people across this country and in Pennsylvania play this clip.ident you truckers Truckers are at high risk of losing their jobs to AI because you can't get a job. Right now, we have the highest job numbers we've ever had in the country in the history of the country. And I'm just with a couple of the great senators and Congressmen we're talking It's actually hard to fill the job, you know, nobody's ever seen a time like this. We have right now so many jobs that are going to be available. and the biggest problem we have is getting the people. And of course we got the latest jobs numbers out. yesterday, Trump only added fifty seven thousand jobs per the latest report far below the one hundred fifteen thousand economists expected. while April and May totals were revised down, May job totals revised down by forty three thousand jobs. April revised down by thirty one thousand jobs And if you actually look at the jobs that have been created and lost during Donald Trump taking office. He's basically lost way more jobs than he's created except in the health carere sector is the only area where jobs are being created. And that's a sector of course that Donald Trump is attacking. I want to bring in Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro to talk about Donald Trump's rapid collapse as we approach the july fourth holiday which should be a celebration of our nation's two hundred and fiftieth and ten. Instead, Donald Trump has made it a very divisive day. He's turned it into like a grotesque and weird thing when we all just want to join and unify and not deal with this craziness. I' give Governor Shapiro a lot of credit. You know, he's been a unifying voice in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Let's bring in Governor Josh Shapiro Now I want to bring in Governor Josh Shapiro, of Pennsylvania Governor Sapiro. Great to have you back. I want to talk about America's two hundred fifty right now because This should really be a unifying day. This should be a celebration of what makes this country incredible. And I just think there are so many people sick and tired of the divisiveness trying to use this for personal aggrandizement to further divide us along partisan lines. And I think that's what's just made people K of really upset and you know, I'm glad to see in the G Commonwealth a focus on kind of a unifying principles around America two hundred fifty. Yeah, no question. L, I don't think patriotism belongs to one person or One political party. I really think it is about we the people and the work that was done just a few blocks from here, I'm in Philadelphia right now two hundred and fifty years ago. and so I think anyone who tries to personalize it, politicize it, does a great disservice to this country. I think unfortunately, that's what you're seeing from the president every day trying to make it about him attacking people who don't think like him or look like him or vote like him And to me, that just erodes people's faith. in the promise of our nation, and it politicizes a moment that should be all about coming together, Americans with all different political beliefs, all different views, people from all different walks of life. No matter what you look like or where you come from, who you love or who you pray to. I want everyone here in Pennsylvania across the country to be arm in arm celebrating privilege we have to live in the greatest country on the face of the earth You know, in that spirit, I was hoping in the lead up to America's two hundred and fifty, there was finally going to be a bipartisan bill. that was going to be passed in Congress, a housing affordability bill. You know, and I think we could all rally around opportunities to try to make housing more affordable. I know you take lots of efforts in the state to do that. You know, And then on the day that it was supposed to be signed, and this was something we could have all rallied around. You know, Trump doesn't show up. and then later he says, it's really just a big yawn to me. And you know don' really I don't really get it. I don't really care about it. You know, And I just think, you know, yet again, when you take any of kind of Trump's you know fake promises from his campaign to their logical conclusion, I think sadly you realize on the issue of affordability, on the issue of the release of the Epstein files on the issue of no endless wars. It's all fraud. Like it's all of Fugazi I that's disappointing No, I mean, look, you have Democrats and Republicans in Congress who actually put aside The differences found common ground worked on an issue that's incredibly important to the people of Pennsylvania, and I would argue all across this country. build more housing to have more access to affordable housing to have more people in America be able to afford to be able to put a roof over their head And Donald Trump just decided to throw a temper tantrum at the last minute and instead focus on his conspiracy theories about the election, trying to nationalize our elections and take away the control that states have and counties have over running elections, instead put himself in charge. We're certainly not going to back down to that Pennsylvania. Hopefully the president will get over his latest hissy fit. He'll sign that bipartisan bill into law And I think this an example of the Congress of the United States Final Finally meeting their Article I responsibilities to actually legislate and to be a separate branch of government, not just simply be an extension of the president of the United States. I thought that housing bill was an important step in that process and hopefully Congress will do more of that You talk about the tantrum that Donald Trump threw and we can get into specific policies, but you know for me, leadership kind of begins and ends with character, keeping your word, you know, and thinking about future generations, you, who look to the presidency This you know should be the most important position. someone should be careful and yet again, just every day, these temper tantrums and the posts and the behavior, you know, to me, there's that aspect of it, which is doing deep damage, you know, within the country, reputationally and abroad when they just see this behavior and go, who just who Like that who behaves that way Yeah, you know, I think about this issue a lot and less as a governor and more as a father You know, I know we're both fathers. My kids are a little older than yours But my kids entire frame of reference about politics Over the last decade has been Donald Trump has been crruelty has been personal attacks has been, you know, attacks on social media, attacks in speeches, attacks person I think they have seen negative behavior reinforced by the most powerful person in our country. And that's something as a dad that's hard to deal with. That's something that's hard to be able to say to your kids, that's not behavior we'll accept. making fun of people with disabilities is just O example And for them to be able to sort of know that they grew up at a time where the president of the United States, that's all he does is put down people with disabilities, attack them You know, my wife sets a different example. She's one of the leaders in the country on the Special Olympics. She shows our children that we need to treat all people with all abilities with dignity and with respect. Sadly, we have a president of the United States who does the opposite It's going to take us some real time in this country to help the generation of my kids and those around that generation overcome the negativity that they really experienced for this last decade. And if Donald Trump has his way This type of politics will continue with JD Vance or Marco Rubio. And so I don't think we're sort of out of the woods yet on this. And I think it has certainly had a negative impact on my kid's generation, your kid's generation, and many others. As a former attorney general, you've seen all different types of financial schemes and artifices and You know, when I looked at this last financial report that Donald Trump released, nine hundred plus pages, over eighty stock trades a day and seemingly with companies that he interacts with on an almost regular basis, seeing these crypto schemes, these where by the way, if you look at it, Trump makes two billion dollars. The investors lose two billion dollars. And that seems to be a consistent theme, this almost zero sum meme coin game when you actually look at the disclosures as well. I'm just curious, you know as a law and order governor and as a former AG, you know, when you see something like that, you know, I was speaking to the brothers about it. The sheer numbers are so big that maybe it's hard for some people to wp Billions here, billions there. but that doesn't mean we should somehow ore it because it's so overwhelming in scope. Yeah. Let me make two points here. I mean first, I think the administration, the Trump administration has been defined by chaos by cruelty and by corruption. The latest example that is the two billion dollars that Donald Trump has made during his time as president, whether it's from his crypto scheme or from Mar a Lago other things in between But I think we're missing the broader point here If we're just focused on the dollars he's put in his pockets When you have a president of the United States who is focused on making money for himself Corruption leaves us all worse off. becausecause it means he's picking favorites, not based on what benefits the American people, but what benefits him and. his children. He's picking sides in battles that ultimately are un American because he's putting his own profiteeering ahead of the needs of the American people That's point one that his corruption has a real cost to the American people Point two, though is what he's doing seemingly is totally protected because the Supreme Court of the United States made one of its worst decisions, really over the last century to give this president absolute and total immunity. And so he feels like he can do anything So while he sits in that gilded oval office He's not focused on solving your problems, getting you healthca Putting a roof over your head driving down your costs Instead, he's focused on trying to figure out how he can make a buck for him and his family. And that is at odds with meeting the needs of the American people So the first thing is, his corruption has a cost to you And the second thing is his corruption has been enabled. by this Supreme Court who hass given him absolute and total immunity That's why we need real reform That's why we need anti corruption laws at the federal level. I could make an argument that we need a twenty eighth amendment to our Constitution to bake in some stricter guardrails to protect the American people from president of the United States that lacks integrity and ethics and honor the way this president does. I think everything needs to be on the table. We need real reform You know, a cruel euphemism that describes this disastrous Trump economy is economists say it's K shaped which really means that Most Americans are below the horizontal line and suffering and Trump's rich friends are getting wealthy. That also is how his meme coins and his various kind of schemes look as well looks K shaped. I mean, he and the kind of peopleople in his inner circle made all the money and everybody loses all the money. We've seen the latest job reports u come out You know, anemic would be an understatement. The only growth sector seems to be healthcare, an area that Donald Trump is attacking hospitality, shedding jobs by the tens of thousands, you know every month, manufacturing really getting hit hard. I know you're fighting as hard as you can in the state, but it must be kind of going against really tough tides because it seems that this, you know, Trump regime keeps fighting against you and other states that are trying to bring business to their states Yeah. I mean, let's focus on health carere for a minute since you mentioned it Donald Trump is partart of his scheme to get rich He promised his friends at the very top He would give them a huge tax cut So what's the first thing he does? He passes that Bill, whatever they call it to give a tax cut to the people at the very top who didn't need it. And how did he pay for it? He paid for it on the backs of hardworking Pennsylvanians and their health carere wereere their food assistantance I mean, this is not theoretical anymore We've had about ninety thousand Pennsylvanians lose food assistance We think when all the damage is done about one hundred forty thousand of our neighbors will lose food assistance. That's snap At the same time We're going to have over five hundred ten thousand Pennsylvanians lose healthcare. We've already had about one hundred fifty thousand of them lose their health care And again, this is all to pay for a tax cut for people at the very, very top And so when you want to think about health carere, I've got a president of the United States who is working against me, who is making it harder for me to help the people in my state who believes that we should give a tax cut to the people at the very top and pay for it on the backs of middle class folks who are working hard who just need a little bit of extra help to provide health carere for them and for their families That is wrong, that is immoral. And yet that is Donald Trump and that is the policies of his administration. I think we got to try and put an end to this. We have to try and have a stop or a check on this. and that's where these midterms come in. I think we need a national referendum on Donald Trump's chaos and cruelty and corruption Cital C cruelty is when you take food assistance or healthcare away from people who are in need People show up in every state, in every district across America and vote as it seems like they are poised to do. We will have a Congress of the United States that actually meets its constitutional obligation to be a check on the executive branch and hopefully we can reverse some of these cruel policies that Trump has put forward Governor, before we head out, I want to share a sneak peek at a video that you will be releasing on july fourth, a unifying video about America's two hundred fiftieth birthday celebration. Let's play that click Today, we find ourselves at a moment in American history When the foundational ideals that this nation was founded on are under threat. The chaos, cruelty and corruption being injected into our democracy every day are testing the very guardrails established by our founders two and a half centuries ago. Just as it was in seventeen seventy six American freedom is not the product of a single document. were the result of a single man's actions. It is the result each of us doing our part rising up demanding more Working perfect our Union. Today, on the two hundred fiftieth anniversary of our nation's independence, we can take lessons from those who came before us Before we go, go great video. Be we go, anything you want to say to our seven million subscribers heading into the forth You know, I had the honor of standing at Independence Hall when I filmed that video. Independence Hall where Our Declaration of Independence was drafted and signed. Our Constitution was debated, deliberated over, written and signed lot of words on those pieces of parchment but maybe the most important words uttered in that space, was when Ben Franklin actually left Independence haall. And he went out onto the cobbledestone streets of Philadelphia And a woman walked over to him Think about this at the time. She didn't even have the right to vote at that moment She walked over to Franklin and said, Dr. Franklin What do we have here monarchy or a republic Franklin looked her in the eye and said, a republic if you can keep it I think those words, if you can keep it, They're arguably the most important words in our repepublic's history in the history of our democracy because what it means is that the citizens are empowered to keep it The citizens are called upon to have a unique responsibility as Americans to do this work. to try and rein in excess and promote progress. That is now the challenge that we all must meet. and that challenge falls to all Americans. And so on this Iependence Day I hope everybody is reminded of that unique responsibility we have as Americans. I hope everybody considers that as we go forward. and certainly keeps that in mind when they go vote this November Governor Josh Shapiro, thanks for joining us Great to be with you. Thanks. Happy independence Day Be Independence dayt everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to seven million subscribers. Want to stay plugged in? Beome a subscriber to for our substack at Midasplus dot com dot Youll get daily recaps from Ron Philipkowski, add free episodes of our podcast and more exclusive content only available at Midasplus. com