Transcript of Senator Baldwin Addresses Trump’s Attacks on Wisconsin

Americans are absolutely livid at Donald Trump and his regime. Since the summer has ended, I think we've been seeing more and more people just say, enough is enough. I don't know if it's just the ending of summer has signified a rallying call going forward, but there's definitely democracy in the air and despising what this Trump regime is doing. I'll just show you, though, what went down before the summer ended, to remind you, in Wisconsin, Johnson, you had a MAGA Republican Congress member, Brian Steele, getting booed as he tries to defend Trump's disastrous tariffs. Let's play it. My main concern is the tariffs that are coming up. I would like to know what dire economic circumstances put Trump in a position of throwing tariffs on over 190 countries.

This really, at its core, needs to be an opportunity to make sure that other countries treating the United States fairly.

The United States-We've seen how that's gone, especially as additional economic data has come in at the beginning of September, and really some of the worst economic data we've seen in a generation. From that same town hall in Wisconsin, you can see Brian Steele getting further dragged by his constituents.

Let's play it. Why are they wearing masks and why are they unidentified? We'll probably agree to disagree on some of my answer here, but what I view is the moral hazard created by the Biden administration by allowing the US legislature to remain unsecure.

I Let's bring in Wisconsin Senator, Tammy Baldwin. It's great to see you again. It's great to be with you. I think the people in Wisconsin and across the country are pissed. Like, Trump's been saying, Oh, the tariffs have no impact. Don't worry, we're in a golden age. I think here we are after the summer and people are like, Okay, this is ridiculous. This is worse than the worst fears. What are you seeing, Senator?

Well, so what I'm hearing from Wisconsinites is they just honestly feel betrayed by Donald Trump because he ran on this idea of, I'm going to bring down your costs, your grocery costs, your energy costs, your health care costs. I'm going to bring down all these costs a day one, as well as, I think, N2 wars. But people are seeing their costs go up, and they're seeing him take actions like the tariffs that are having major impacts on the cost of groceries, the cost of things. And then his signature piece of legislation is going to result in everyone's health care costs going up. And not just... I mean, people are going to lose health care because of the Medicaid policies and the tax credits that help people afford their private insurance to the affordable care marketplace. But everyone's health care costs are going to go up because that's what happens, cost shifting. And they're going to see it really soon. So my trip through Wisconsin, actually multiple trips through Wisconsin during our August break, brought me to rural hospitals and free clinics and places that employ people who provide services to those on Medicaid who will lose their jobs if Medicaid dries up.

I heard from them, and the impact it's going to have on nearly a quarter million Wisconsinites who will lose their health insurance over the next few years, and those who run clinics that they're not sure they're going to be able to keep the doors open.

I remember back in May, Donald Trump made a post on social media, Effective immediately by way of this executive order, we are instituting a most favored nation provision where Americans will now be paying the lowest prescription drug price that the pharmaceutical company charges anywhere in the world. So if in Europe or India, whatever country it is, they charge 50 cents, then the drug in America would be 50 cents, which if you're an American, that's a great thing. When we're talking about people's health care and lives, and that promise is a matter of life or death, it's a pretty screwed to lie about and to defraud people. I'm not sure people were like, Oh, he's lying about... Because who lies about killing people? Donald Trump. He does. Here we are in September, the most famous nation concept is a total Trumpian fraud. Prices are going higher, and people in Wisconsin are getting screwed. I think now they're like, Oh, wait, I'm getting screwed, too? Yeah, you're getting screwed, too. What do you think?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I mean, if you just limit the discussion to health care, he dangled that idea of Most Fevered Nation status for the... The idea isn't a bad one. You just have to make it happen. Why should Americans pay more than any other country, citizens of any other country for prescription drugs? Well, in every other country, they have a nation that is negotiating lower prices for their citizens, except in America, except for a very slim number of medications that Medicare now negotiates. But We could be expanding this greatly. I mean, his idea isn't horrible, right? It just isn't being implemented. It was words. It was a lie. It was betrayal. And then, of course, we're seeing it throughout health care with all of these other things that he promised would be better. And, Oh, no, don't worry about Medicaid. We're just cutting fraud, waste, and abuse, and throwing off people who may not be documented citizens. That is not what they're doing in that signature piece of legislation that Trump put forward. It is a massive attack, almost a trillion dollars out of Medicaid over the next decade that is going to throw people who are eligible for Medicaid off of it.

And we're going to see a lot of consequences with regard to health costs.

And their approach to everything is when Americans, Wisconsinites, people in other states are experiencing these things. We know groceries are up. If you go to a grocery store and you're living, you know things are less affordable. You know because you go out into the world. And then he goes, I've solved inflation. We're actually in a golden age. Health care costs have plummeted. We're doing amazing. And we are. We objectively aren't. So then he goes, Let's fire all of the data people because I don't like the data. So let's get rid of the data people. And that's their approach to everything. And then in the White House, they open up Club Rose Garden, an elite club for Republican cabals to spend our taxpayer dollars, like partying in the area where the Rose Garden. I'm just thinking about that image of Club Rose Garden and the people of Wisconsin who are living paycheck to paycheck, who were made all of these promises, who now feel very nervous.

Yeah. The Ways in which Donald Trump has enriched himself through the normalization of corruption, frankly, meme coins and multimillion dollar tickets to dinners with him. It's just grotesque. When I think of all the people that I represent who are just trying to make ends meet and who know they used to be able to put a little bit in savings and feel like they were getting a little bit ahead. And now it feels feels just the opposite, that there's not enough to make it through the month before the next paycheck comes. And I think, as I said in the outset, people feel really betrayed because I will give Trump credit during the election, he diagnosed the problem. People were upset with the cost of things, and he promised solutions. But now that they've seen his actions contribute to the matters getting much worse.

So what can we do? There's legislation you're championing to extend ACA premium tax credit. How do we call the bluff and say, Here's what we're doing, here's what they're voting against. If they truly wanted to make prescription drug prices cheaper, here's what they would do. And I'll prove to you this is what they're not doing.

Yeah. Well, let's start by just acknowledging fact here. Republicans have the presidency, they have the Senate, and they have the House. We have to find places where we have leverage. There's a moment like that coming up. Because as you know, in the Senate, for some legislation, you need a super majority. You need 60 votes, which means Republicans have to work with Democrats to get certain things done. We have a moment like that coming up, and I think we're going to see one of two scenarios. We're going to see the potential for Republicans and the President saying it's our way or the highway, take it or leave it. We have some things that we need to get done. The other path is that they agree to reverse some of the harm that has been done in Trump's signature budget bill, harm to Medicaid, that they agree to extend the premium tax credits that allow people to be able to afford to pay for their health insurance, that they work with us on measures that will seriously bring down the cost of prescription drugs. And not only that, but it's not enough to achieve those goals. In addition, we have to curtail Trump's lawlessness because we can't get an agreement, a bipartisan agreement, to do these things that are really important that we need to do and have Trump just the next day undo them unilaterally.

It has to have the safeguards that say, Congress acts, Congress creates the budget for the agencies. You have to implement and administer what Congress passes. And so those are the two paths, but we will have some leverage at that moment.

There's a lot of things that concerned me. But as I think about that RFK Jr. Testimony, and I saw Republican senators, physicians, Cassidy, Barroso, others were pushing back saying, You're killing my constituents. This is what you're doing is so dangerous. On the one hand, I'm like, Okay, well, we've got some Republican senators who are physicians saying that you're killing my constituents. In terms of things the Health Secretary can be doing, killing my constituents, probably be pretty bad thing to say. And he is, I mean, with all of his actions at the CDC and the vaccination board. But then they get interviewed outside, and I saw whether it was Barroso, whether it was Cassidy. So Do you have no confidence in what Trump's doing? I got to trust Trump. You got to trust? What do you mean? What did I just see? What are you talking about? That makes no sense. I want to leave you with your observations there, being colleagues with these people who are physicians who know that he's killing people, but then don't get to the next step of saying, I'm a freaking senator. That's a pretty big deal. You're a senator of the United States.

Not a small job, one of the biggest, if not the... Why not stand up to the guy? Why give all of your agency to this guy who's telling us that he didn't sign the Epstein birthday book when it's his signature? Why are we giving agency to crazy people? Why are smart people seemingly doing that?

Right. Well, we started by talking about how my constituents feel that Trump betrayed them. He ran on one thing and he's doing just the opposite. But I think my Republican colleagues, especially the doctors that you were identifying, it's Dr. And Senator Cassidy. Barroso is a doctor as well as a senator. They, I believe, in fact, Cassidy recited the commitments he got from RFK Jr. As a condition of becoming a yes vote to confirm his nomination. I remember as clear as yesterday, we were in committee and he went through the various commitments that RFK Jr. Made to him that would lead to his voting yes on his confirmation. Kennedy has broken every single one of those commitments in full view. So even if my colleagues won't stand up to President Trump, they should at least be standing up to RFK Jr. And calling on him to resign or calling on the President to fire him.

Senator Tammy-Baldwin. Before we go, anything else you want to say to our 6 million subscribers that I missed?

Oh, my goodness. We could talk for the rest of the day. Just keep up the fight. We have to keep up the fight.

Senator Tommy Baldwin from Wisconsin. Thank you.

Thank you.

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