Transcript of Trump Faces New Trouble in Florida Ahead of the Midterms New

Donald Trump is in full collapse in Florida, and he is dragging down the MAGA Republican candidates at the state and federal level. All that gerrymandering Trump and the MAGA Republicans were doing there, and frankly across the country, blowing up and backfiring in Trump and MAGA's faces, cuz it was based on all of these assumptions that 2024 Trump voters would remain Trump voters. And that ain't the case at all. You take a look at the latest YouGov Gov economist poll. Trump's approval in Florida, historic lows, negative 17 points there. Look at the Civics poll. Donald Trump's approval, negative 12 points there. And let's take a look at what voters in Florida have to say about Donald Trump. How do they feel about the Trump regime thus far heading into the midterms? Take a listen for yourself.

I would actually tell him to go fuck himself. Tell him to get his head out of his ass, stop being a little 2-year-old and grow up and be a man. I don't give a fuck how much money he has. He's no better than anybody else.

Now, this Labor Day, Florida families, like families across the country, are paying far more for everything, whether it's groceries, whether it's gas, whether it's ground beef, you name it. The American people are paying way more. Things are far more expensive. And Donald Trump's trade war against the world, his escalation of his deranged trade war against Canada, and his catastrophic and unlawful war in Iran are making things impossible to afford. The cost of living crisis right now is getting way worse. I mean, just look at this. Fruits and vegetables up 5% since 2025, ground beef up 9% since 2025, hot dogs up 6%. Since 2025, steaks up 10% since 2025, the highest Labor Day price at the gas pump on record as a result of the Trump regime's disastrous policies. Now, take a watch of this video right here where you'll see a number of former Trump voters, 2-time Trump voters, 3-time Trump voters, Florida voters in general. Listen to what they say about Donald Trump's behavior. You're gonna wanna watch this full clip. Let's play it. How do you feel about your personal support for President Trump right now? It has fallen dramatically. Everybody in my household is a Democrat now, and they're all pulling for me to become Democrat.

But it, it's fallen a lot.

Why?

Well, we're not getting— we're not seeing the promises that he said we'd get. If you could talk to President Trump about his priorities, about where he's focusing his attention right now, what would you tell him?

I wish he would focus more on the American people. They're suffering. Gas prices, food prices, airline tickets. Those are the things that I would talk to him about.

If you could talk directly to him right now, what would you say? Make up—

make— stop making promises. Do your job. At the end of the day, the people need you to do your job. Don't keep making empty word promises. Do what you promise.

If you could talk directly to President Trump right now, what would you tell him right now?

You don't want to know.

I do want to know.

Oh, no, honey. You know, it's not very ladylike. Trust me.

I've heard a lot of non-ladylike things in my day. Try me.

I would actually tell him to go fuck himself. Tell him to get his head out of his ass. Stop being a little 2-year-old and grow up and be a man. I don't give a shit how much money he has. He's no better than anybody else.

You take a look too, uh, of communities that supported Donald Trump, like the Cuban community, the Venezuelan community, all betrayed by the Trump regime. Cubans living in Florida are being deported to Africa en masse. Yes, I didn't misspeak. The Cubans in Florida are being deported to Africa. ICE sent them away under their policy of send them to any country randomly and torture them and torture their families. Horrific. The Tampa Bay Times reporting the following, and this is a story I want to share with you. Yasmany Moreno thought he was being transferred again. The 32-year-old Cuban who traveled between Tampa and Miami for work had already spent more than a year in immigration detention centers. Across the United States. Officers moved him from one jail to another, putting him on a plane in Texas on the morning of July 30th. No one told Moreno, who originally came to the United States on a temporary protected basis, where he was going until 5 hours into the flight when an immigration officer told him, you're going to Africa. I honestly thought it was a bad joke because the officer laughed like he was making fun of me, Moreno said.

A month after arriving in the Central African Republic. Moreno and 35 other immigrants departed on a 24-hour flight, remain in Bangui, the country's capital, without passports and no information about what will happen next. They stay at the Maison Confort, a modest hotel located in a busy neighborhood near central Bangui. Moreno said they feel forgotten and fear they could be moved to another country. He said African authorities told them they may have to leave the room where they are staying within 90 days. He started an online, an online fundraiser to help him and other deportees in Africa. It's a completely inhumane situation, Moreno told the Tampa Bay Times via WhatsApp. What are we doing here? It's a question we ask ourselves every day. And this is part of the deportation to, uh, third country, uh, process by the Trump regime. And I've shared with you before the videos of the Trump regime torturing Haitians. These are people who were here working. These aren't criminals. These are people— and even if they were criminals, they shouldn't be treated like this. These are people on temporary protected status who had businesses, who have families, who have worked hard here, who have paid taxes, who were lawfully here, who were chained and shackled and are being sent.

In the case of Haitians, if they go back to Haiti, they could die, and they're being sent to Africa and elsewhere. I mean, in locations that aren't their home countries. This is the cruelty of the Trump regime. Then you have several Florida trucking schools are being closed as a result of the Trump regime's policies that say if you don't meet the Trump regime standard of English proficiency, you can't be part of a— you can't be a trucker. You're gonna, you're gonna, you're destroying industries with your racist and hateful policies. Like, what in the world are you doing? And all the while, and you heard some of those Florida voters and 2-time, 3-time Trump voters. While people are suffering, while people can't afford gas and diesel and groceries, and people can't afford their rent, the Trump regime's doing things like this and it's pissing people off in Florida and throughout the country. Secretary Doug Burgum says, we are pleased to announce that after a very long wait, over 125 years, we are preparing to start over the next 2-week period, the excavation work necessary for the great triumphal arch and military observation deck at Memorial Circle on Columbia Island between Lincoln Memorial and the Arlington National Cemetery.

This will be one of the greatest pieces of American architecture. Nobody wants this. We don't want triumphal arches at all. People want healthcare. They want to be paid with dignity. They want to be able to afford a home. As Ambassador McFaul says, usually imperial emperors build such things after they win some great war. But we are not an empire. We are not ruled by a monarch, and Trump has not won some great war. By the way, quite the contrary. Americans don't need this. If Trump wants to do this and build it in Florida, build your monument on your own dime in Florida. But it's worse because in Florida, he took public land for his purported presidential library, which he wants to turn into a skyscraper. and bring in the Qatari Air Force One that the taxpayers had to ultimately pay for, $1 billion to renovate Qatari Air Force One, which isn't even able to fly. I mean, he had to hide in the catering container with Natalie because it can't fly internationally. It's not maxed out. Nobody wants this. And, uh, here's what CJ Warnke posts. There are signs that the same undertow dragging Republicans down nationally is in play in Florida.

One Florida GOP operative said districts carried by Trump just 2 years ago by less than double digits are at risk. Anything 10 or below is in play for Democrats. I would even argue anything 14 or below. A Trump +14 district, in my view, is in play for Democrats because that's what we've been seeing in all the special elections. Democrats overperforming by +14, +16. Plus 18. Any event, I wanna bring in retired Brigadier General Leila Gray. Retired Brigadier General Leila Gray is running in Florida's 13th Congressional District. She's running against MAGA Republican extremist Ana Paulina Luna. And I think this is gonna be one of the most important races throughout the country. Let's bring in Leila Gray. Now, one of the congressional races that I think is actually up there on the most important, if not the most important congressional race this midterm, is Florida's 13th Congressional District. It's currently being represented by MAGA Republican extremist Ana Paulina Luna. Yes, MAGA Republican Congresswoman Ana Paulina, who invited in the Russians despite there being sanctions and prohibitions on it to visit the Capitol and gave him tours and gave him the red carpet treatment. You know, also, I think someone who's been very overtly antagonistic— that's probably the nicest way I could even say it— against American foreign policy and our national interests, in my opinion.

So I want to bring in the Democratic candidate who's running against Ana Paulina Luna, Leila Gray, retired brigadier general. Lila Gray, third-generation veteran, lawyer, and mom running for Congress to serve the people of Florida's 13th. And so I want to start at the outset of real dire times from our military perspective, from the perspective of like a government that's doing things in our national interest. And it's not a political messaging point. I think it's frankly a nonpartisan point when you observe just the fact that our military is really just, I feel like, being treated awfully by this, you know, by this Trump regime, by the Defense Secretary Hegseth, and by a lot of these MAGA Republican Congress members. And you served, retired Brigadier General, you, you've served in a lot of different areas as well. I want to get your perspective on the outset about just like our military readiness and preparedness and just basic stuff.

There's a lot packed in there, Ben. Thank you for having me. It is, it is really a pleasure to talk on these, you know, speak about these issues. But let me just also say right up front that if you'd like to learn a little bit more about me and my campaign and join Team Gray, to go to our website, leilagray.com. Love to have you, love to learn more, love to get connected, love to earn your support. The, the, the national security issues that you're sort of referring to or spoke about directly about are of great concern to me. You know, I did serve for 30 years in uniform, and it wasn't the rank that I'm most proud of. It's the fact that I had the privilege of commanding 4 times, that I had the privilege of deploying 3 times, that I had the privilege to work with people from a wide variety of backgrounds across the United States and in my deployments. And that is, that I think is a great, incredibly important training ground or experience to bring to Congress because for 30-plus years, you know, I was in uniform for 30 years, but I retired 8 years ago.

And one of the things that I think was central to my ability to achieve what I achieved in command and in my deployments and working for some incredible senior leaders, that many people would, you know, names would easily recognize, is that when it comes to leading into or to being responsible, it's about listening what the issues are first. It's about learning what is surrounding that issue. You know, if a soldier or sailor or airman or Marine brings something to you about, I'm having this problem, or we're not able to accomplish what we're supposed to accomplish because of X, then it's about listening to what is going on, learning about the pieces and parts that go into that, and then leading to solve that. And that's what I plan to bring to Congress. And just pivoting briefly to the national security perspective, I wrote a post because the things that Hegseth has been doing to our military have me incredibly concerned. And the fact that Secretary Driscoll felt that he could not get those issues, his own issues that he saw occurring within the Department of the Army, satisfied by going to Hegseth and having instead to go directly to President Trump, that the fact that he had to go outside the chain of command tells you almost everything you need to know.

And in that post, I recited some of the things that have been happening since the beginning of 2025. And it actually is a big reason of why I'm here today, because I refuse to stand by, to be on the sidelines, to stick my head in the sand, to watch all the things that we have built in America be dismantled, that the Constitution be ignored, that we abuse rule of law, I refused to stand by any longer. So I decided I needed to get in the race. And this is a classic example of why I'm here. I'm here to lead, to solve these problems. And when you have a secretary like Hegseth that purges our military for no reason, we have a very distinctive process in place when there are reasons to remove senior leaders, and none of that was being adhered to. And then the fact that we're also not promoting the next round of senior leaders because of either the color of their skin or their gender. You know, we have such a vacuum now. I mean, that was part of the story that really prompted me to talk about the— about 6 things that you— or, and more that have been occurring within the department that have me greatly concerned about the welfare of our service members, the readiness of our forces, and our international standing with our allies and partners.

Talk about the international standing with our allies and partners. part because you're running against a MAGA Republican extremist, Ana Paulina Luna, who is one of the key links. And this isn't me like mocking her or me, you know, being hyperbolic. It's just an objective fact between the Trump regime and Russia. She's invited some of the top Russian leaders to Washington, D.C. These are people who were sanctioned and actually prohibited from even being in the United States, top people in their Duma. She then would post photos and talk about really leaning in and making America allied with Russia, at the same time pursuing a strategy that attacks Canada and NATO and weakens our alliances. And I want you to respond to that. But I reflect on this moment, the Indo-Pacific conference that was held in British Columbia, where You had Admiral Paparo, who leads our Indo-Pacific Fleet, and he was asked a question by a journalist about what would you do if you got an order to invade Canada? He was very dismissive of it. And he said, well, you know, that's like aliens coming down from outer space and all these things. And I understand his sentiments to some extent.

But when you speak to Canadian people, you go, you're threatening us with annexation and you're doing the things that Russia did to Ukraine. So we don't see this as a joke. We don't see the memes about taking us over as something that's funny.

used—

you used the word annexation. That's war language. You didn't just do a trade war, you declared a real war on us. So this is how we're treating our allies. This is how we're treating Russia. Russia just announced they were doing nuclear, uh, they're helping Iran with nuclear capabilities at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. And yet you're running against someone who seems to be Russia first, in my opinion. People can disagree with that opinion. And, and people who are actually trying to hurt the United States. Talk to us about that.

It is clear that Luna is a sycophant, a MAGA Trump sycophant. And she, in my estimation, when you entertain sanctioned Russian sanctioned leaders in our own state Capitol, it is very troublesome. And did they sweep for bugs afterwards? I hope so, because I would not put any trust in having them on our on our turf. It's that they're very sophisticated. Let's be really clear and clear-eyed about this, right? Our peer and near-peer competitors, some of them are not just competitors, they are enemies to some, if you want to put it really bluntly. We can't trust them. We might have to work with them because this is a global situation in a variety of ways, but we can't trust Russia. We can't trust Iran. We can't trust North Korea. And we certainly need to make— while we make sure we have relationships with China, we shouldn't trust them. We shouldn't give away our trust in that regard. And when you have a person like Luna who has responsibilities as a representative of this district, Florida 13, to be representing the people here, but instead she's entertaining sanctioned Russians, that is highly problematic. She's basically forgotten people here anyway, because Her entire existence in the last 2 years has been about herself, her self-dealing, her self-promotion.

She, you know, has created an incredible social media profile and national-level media profile, but she's not delivered for her constituencies here. We wouldn't be under the strain and stress that we are under if she had been. Let's be real clear, too. She voted against FEMA in 2024. And oh, by the way, we got hit by 2 major hurricanes in 2024. In fact, we're about to hit the the 2-year anniversary of that. And, and people are still suffering. They're not even back in their homes right now, and they're not even back in there. And there's some of the businesses are not back up and running. So, you know, with the cost of living crisis that everybody's experiencing across the globe, you know, people exactly like Luna who are rubber stamping the war in Iran that is driving up costs, that she's rubber stamping these tariff taxes that are driving up costs, then— and she's certainly not focused on the people here. And that's why I think when I'm out in the field, I'm hearing over and over again, when I have my boots on the ground, I'm hearing over and over again, they feel forgotten. They're scared that they can't survive.

Grown children are moving home because the cost of living crisis is crushing them. And even though they have jobs. So then you're putting that pressure back on an entire elderly group of people that have long since retired and are winnowing down their retirement accounts. So this is— national security is tied to our local security as well. And I consider that financial security, economic security, because we don't have that, we're really not going to be able to have a strong national security as well.

I think it's a great point because people like Trump and Hegseth and Ana Paulina Luna and other enablers did a foreign policy of trade war against the world, tariff everyone and everything, and that, that was going to make us rich is what they promised. But I don't think that's the experience of people in Florida's 13th. Then they went into these catastrophic, never-ending wars with no plan. And ultimately what that means is higher costs, higher gas prices, higher prices of everything, inflation surging, and that impacts the people at home, not to mention Donald Trump's disastrous domestic policy. So with all of that as background though, you know, talk to us about Florida's 13th because this is a very close race. There are some polls that have you ahead. There are some polls that have her slightly ahead. There are some polls that have it kind of dead heat. But you talk about it, the people in the 13th are, I think, objectively are doing worse. If that was the measure, are you doing better under all of this Paulina Luna Trump stuff, or are you personally doing worse? I think the answer is, is worse. Talk to us about that.

But then how do you make the next step of saying— Why are we— why are we going to go back to that? Why don't we try this? And here's my background as a proven leader in the military. And here, here's where we should go. Here's what we should do now. How do you make that pitch, especially with everything that's going on in the 13th?

Well, you did summarize it correctly because, you know, as I mentioned, the hurricane. So, you know, across the board, people are experiencing cost of living crisis across the United States. And not everyone's feeling it the same way. Depends on where you are on the, on the, on the spectrum of your own personal economics and your personal finance. But the— what in essence for our district, because we are a coastal economy and I mentioned the hurricanes, our crisis, our cost of living crisis is exacerbated because of the cost of insurances, both from the housing insurance, flood insurance, and even, believe it or not, car insurance. And then, of course, the healthcare crisis, the healthcare insurance situation that people are now paying double or triple. Same thing on their homeowner's insurance. I'm hearing stories from people that are paying double or triple what their homeowner's insurance were. And if you, you know, if you're like the average person and you make a budget and that's what you're sticking with, it's hard to absorb those kinds of dramatic increases and then tackle that. Or on top of that, the dramatic increases or the constant movement of the cost of gas and groceries and other you know, essentials that we find ourselves— if you're taking your kids to school, uh, I've, I've, you know, parents are telling me the cost of school supplies have gone up significantly.

And I've, I've also shared recently that I— because I learned that Floridians have spent $4 billion more on gas since the start of this war, and it's only been 6 months. $4 billion with a B. That's pretty dramatic. And then per household, it's been about $1,200 per household. I actually think it's higher. I don't think it's capturing everything that's happening in the households because I'm personally seeing it. And I have a, you know, I don't have an adult child to take care of or children or elderly parents like many of my colleagues and neighbors do. And so they're under, you know, even more of a squeeze there. But I think what you're seeing is this constant inability to focus on people. And that instead we're watching, you know, this blatant corruption, like, you know, the president getting— earning $2 billion last year, or in the case of the congresswoman right here in Florida 13, Luna has invested almost $500,000. It could be more, actually, $500,000 into one of her donors' private companies. I don't know where you get that kind of cash to invest in a private donor company, but there's a lack of ethics.

across the board here. And in fact, last week, beginning of last week, I introduced my anti-corruption agenda. And the basis of that comes from my military experience. It comes from the fact that as a senior leader in the military, we're held to a higher ethical standard than those that can send us to war. And so I want to stop that. We need to all be on the same playing field. If you've got general officers and admirals that have a higher ethical standard than the congressional members or the President of the United States, then that's, that's not an even or, you know, a, a common sense approach to what we should be doing governing this nation. And, and it goes in it— you're seeing the impact of that, you know, when you don't bring common sense problem solving to the issues that we're facing. You see these dramatic, you know, splits between our international and, you know, partners and allies. You see this saber rattling that's going on with Canada and the threats going back and forth and the tariffs going back and forth. There's just a lack of, of what I would consider a common sense approach to, to, you know, solving our problems.

If we've got, we've got debt problems and, you know, making things worse is not obviously the way to solve them. And we need to be intellectually honest about these issues and we need to make sure that we're also leveraging our partners and allies. And I'll go back to the war with Iran, you know, it's fascinating to me that we made a decision to go to war with Iran. We were not prepared for that because there's very clear signs if we were, we would've made sure we secured the Strait of Hormuz first. But 6 months later, then, you know, right after we get into the real heart of the war with Iran, we then expect our partners and allies to come in and start doing things within the strait or providing support when we never even consulted them before we decided to go to war. You know, that we're not gonna— we can't be allowed to commit other nations to spend that kind of money and treasure without talking to them. And so it's, it's really clear that these decisions are being made in a vacuum and not, not to the benefit of the American people.

Right.

I mean, and if you purge your top most experienced generals, people like Randy George and Donahue and the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs, C.Q. Brown Jr., And I could go through the list and there's so many top respected people. You know, it'd be like the basketball team getting rid of their starting lineup and then the 3 people on their bench and then putting the other people in to play against another professional team while we underestimate them. They're still— the other side's putting their top people in and their most experienced and their most war-hardened and PhDs and they're going against, you know, people who, you know, are part of a system and a process, but not the people who we had who would have said, you know what you got to do? They're going to strike Bahrain. We should make sure our main logistical hub is ready to go, because if you don't have the logistical hub, you're not going to bring the food and the mail and the supplies to the Lincoln and to the Ford. And then we're going to be in Diego Garcia. And the broader point is, you and I, I'm sure, could talk about this forever, and maybe we should one day just really geek out on critical military logistics and things like that.

But I think the broader point, and we'll end with this, is this is political season where people talk about messaging and this and that. And I always like to say, I think you're kind of missing the point of this moment. It's a little bit different than just the messaging and will people move 2 points this way or 2 points that way. I like to say the suffering is real out there and people are struggling And they want a fighter and they want someone who exudes empathy and isn't bullying and restores what they once thought of as what America meant here and abroad. It's not just like Democrat and Republican and this and that. It's what makes your candidacy intriguing for me because I feel like you're reluctantly— I'm doing this because I'm a commander. I'm not a lifelong politician and I need to, I need to show I need to bring my leadership to bear in this district because that's what's needed now. So that's my read on it. But I want to give you the final word to talk to our audience of nearly 7 million subscribers here.

Thank you again for having me, Ben. This is real. And when you talk to a 68-year-old man like I did at the Largo Evening Market a few weeks ago, and he had a table of necklaces that he had made. And he was reading his book while he was just sitting there waiting for people to come by. And I could tell he was kind of pulled back a little bit. But I asked him, I said, hi, I'm Lila Gray. I'm running for Congress. I hope it's okay I'm introducing myself. And he's like, sure, that sounds great. And I asked him, I said, would you share with me— can you share with me what's going on in your life? And I kid you not, Ben. He paused and he was starting to get choked up and I could see tears welling in his eyes. And he said, I can't survive on my Social Security and I'm concerned about cuts to my Social Security. And he's already not surviving. And then he's being, you know, the threat of losing even more. And I feel this is a personal, personal mission. I had the chance to grow up in an America with, with very humble beginnings, experiencing things that a lot of people do— food stamps, you know, working multiple jobs.

I went off to college. I, I received a Pell Grant. I worked 2 jobs there. And then I found ROTC or ROTC found me. And that really changed the trajectory of my life. But I— and so I truly feel like I am the product of the American dream. But that those barriers to that are too high and too expensive right now. I mean, when you hear about the average age of the first-time homebuyer being 40 years old when my husband bought his first place at 27, you know, you know, something's upside down. And so I feel it's, it's a personal mission for me to listen to what's going on and to represent the people. There's no need for me to go to Washington and have another career. I've had a great career, but there is a need for me to lead to solve these problems. And that's what we're lacking. We're lacking on— we're lacking people in Washington like Congresswoman Luna who doesn't understand service over self, that certainly has not displayed that for decades like I have done, and certainly hasn't led to actually problem solving, instead has been more of a problem maker.

You know, we in the military, if you talk to some military folks, we have the term, we call it like, are you a show horse or a workhorse? And I've always been a workhorse. And, you know, in the course of my career, both in the Army and out of the Army, just like I mentioned It's about listening first, then learning about the issues, and then leading to solve that. And that's what we're missing in Congress because they're busy. You know, people like Luna are busy putting herself above others. She's not listening to the people in this district. She's not helping them have a better life. And they are truly suffering. And I want to do— and I will do something about it.

Yes. You put in your post, Pete Hegseth, we all know that type, the most vocal and least qualified person in the room, just blabbering. and imposing what they view as it has to without listening and understanding and bringing in experts. And again, I view this in a very nonpartisan, nonpolitical way. But anyway, thank you so much for joining us. Remind us one more time, where can people learn more about the campaign?

LeilaGray.com. Thank you for pointing that out.

Check it out, everybody. All right, hit subscribe. Let's get to that 7 million subscriber mark. Before you go, our book WTF America is available for preorder now. It's the story of how we got here and how we fight our way To preorder, scan the QR code or click the link in the description. Let's do this. Genieße vollen Kaffeegeschmack mit Tchibo Feine Milde entkoffeiniert. Entdecke das Original von Tchibo jetzt auch ohne Koffein. Wie gewohnt aromatisch fein, naturmild und in Tchibo-Qualität. Tchibo Feine Milde entkoffeiniert. Für deinen bewussten Genussmoment. Wann und so viel du möchtest. Selbst am Abend. Jetzt erhältlich in deiner Tchibo-Filiale, im Supermarkt und auf tchibo.de. Erhalte mit dem Code FEINEMILDE 15 bis 31.12. einmalig 15% auf das Feine-Milde-Sortiment.