So, do you want Congress to extend these

ACA subsidies?

>> I'd like that to be able to do it.

>> The president claims he somehow wants to

bypass insurance companies to pay people

directly, but he hasn't explained how or

what this would mean for Americans

healthcare, and he has not released a

health care plan of his own. During the

campaign, he said he was working on one.

>> I have concepts of a plan. I'm not

president right now.

>> Now, 11 months into his term, still no

plan. It's Ken Harbaugh with the Midas

Touch Network. Millions of American

families are on the precipice right now

of a disastrous increase in healthcare

premiums because Donald Trump and the

Republican party have no viable plan.

All they seem capable of doing is

complaining about the ACA, Obamacare,

without offering any meaningful

solutions. They have had 15 years to

come up with an alternative. But when a

political movement is fueled by

grievance, solutions aren't a priority.

Here is Dr. Oz in the Oval Office

alluding yet again to concepts of a

plan.

>> We have some ideas out there. Congress

is working through some concepts.

>> This has become a bad punchline and

whatever concepts the Republicans have

proposed would be catastrophic for our

healthcare system. They would raise

premiums, undermine Medicare and

Medicaid, and gut protections for

pre-existing conditions. And all that

tough talk about insurance companies.

Whose side do you think Trump is really

on? Thankfully, state governments still

have a lot of power here. Governors will

play a critical role in defending

Medicare and Medicaid while holding

insurance companies accountable. Jocelyn

Benson currently serves as Michigan's

Secretary of State and is running for

governor. In part one of our

conversation on Monday, we talked about

what it will mean for families facing

these spikes in healthcare premiums. In

part two, we talk about what governors

can do to protect health care, to defend

democracy, and to stand up to the Trump

regime. Here's me and Joselyn Benson.

How much power do states have not just

to regulate the insurance industry? I

mean, all the power of regulation is

there, but to hold bad actors within

that industry accountable. I mean, I I

think some of us are ready to see

executives go to jail for for some of

what's been happening, but what can

governors do? What can state AGS do to

to probe some of these practices of the

insurance companies and say that's

illegal. We're going to hold you

accountable.

>> Yeah. I mean, there has never been a

time where state officials, for that

very reason, to hold bad actors

accountable, there's never been a time

when state officials have been more

important. Whether it's holding bad

actors accountable at the federal level

who are overreaching uh and abusing

their power or uh private insurers and

others who are illegally uh blocking

health care access to folks or otherwise

breaking the law. State officials and

particularly governors and attorneys

general can work together to hold uh

companies accountable to hold insurance

companies accountable and ensure the

system works. And then what a governor

uniquely can also do in addition to the

policies, in addition to holding bad

actors accountable, uh we can also

ensure that the systems working well

that when you interact with with our

state government agencies that they're

actually efficiently helping to serve

you and make your life a little bit

easier and solve problems for you uh

instead of adding to the obstacle course

and adding to the challenges. So, you've

got a unique opportunity to to stand up

for people as governor, as a state

official, especially in this challenging

time, but also make state government

work well so that we're alleviating some

of those struggles.

>> Speaking of holding bad actors

accountable,

state governments need to do more about

DHS and ICE and CBP and the abuses of

power that we see every day in the

cities into which ICE has has descended.

in some cases literally repelling out of

helicopters to raid civilian apartment

complexes resulting in absolutely no

charges. That's the latest report out of

one of these Chicago raids. The federal

government is hopeless in this area.

They are the problem. What can state

government do and what can you promise

to us you will do as governor to begin

to rein in some of these abuses of power

by DHS, ICE and CBP? Well, I think again

this is a moment where governors have

never been more important in standing up

to abuses of power and authority at the

federal level. I think Governor Pritsker

is showing this right very well of how

effective a governor can be at

leveraging every tool in your toolbox to

ensure that you're actually doing what

government's supposed to do, which is

keeping people safe and keeping

communities safe from harm. Uh, and the

irony of of of this abuse of power we're

seeing at the federal level is that it's

not keeping any communities safer. It's

actually creating a lot of discord and

fear and challenges and it's

heartbreaking especially because we do

need a lot to do a lot to actually

invest in the safety of our communities.

And I come from a military family. My

husband served in the army and so I also

know firsthand how hard it is for so

many folks in our military right now who

sign up to serve and protect uh the

people in our country um to see their

own positions abused and misused um by

the commander-in-chief. So, this is a

time when governors have never been more

critical to stand up to that abuse, to

stand up to that injustice, uh, and to

use every tool in our toolbox, whether

it involves suing, uh, to block and

protect, uh, or also investing in local

and community policing so that we can

keep communities safe and empower our

local law enforcement to actually

protect communities and do the job that

the federal government is claiming to

do, but is actually not doing. So, it's

going to take a strong governor who's

willing, above all, to stand up to the

president of the United States and seek

justice and stand up to the abuse of

power. And I'm the only person running

for governor in Michigan that's actually

done that. I've stood up to Trump

multiple times when he in a similar way

in 2020 didn't like that he lost an

election and tried to through lies and

abuses of power and authority uh

intimidate me and local election

officials from certifying that election.

I said no. And even if people came to my

home with guns and stormed my lawn, I

still stood firm, willing to stand up to

anyone, no matter how powerful or how

many threats they throw my way, when the

Constitution, justice, the safety of our

people, the votes and voices of

Michiganders are on the line. So, I'll

do the same thing as governor. And

that's exactly what you need from

governors in this moment at a time when

you're not seeing that type of

leadership at the federal level.

>> Hey everyone, it's Ken. Quick break for

a shameless pitch for my Substack and

Patreon pages. To all of you who have

subscribed, thank you. Your support is

what makes this show possible. Anytime

you see in-person reporting, whether

it's trips to Ukraine to show you what

is really happening on the ground or my

recent conversations with Congressman

Jason Crowe and Senator Tammy Duckworth,

where we got on there commitments to

back hearings into ISIS abuses of power.

People need to know that we're taking

names.

>> All of this only happens with your

support. Every dollar that comes in

through Substack and Patreon goes back

into this show. And with the holidays

coming up, you can give gift

subscriptions as well. The links are

below. Thanks for everything. Your

support means the world to me. Back to

the show.

How confident are you that we will have

a free and fair election in 2026 and

beyond given the minations of the the

Trump regime, the positioning of ICE as

not just an arm of immigration

enforcement, but increasingly a regime

protection force. I think a lot of

people are now worried about armed

agents of the federal government

surrounding polling places in minority

neighborhoods in 2026. Uh and it it

seemed alarmist a couple years ago. It

seemed

realistic a couple months ago. Now it

seems prophetic like this is coming and

what can what can we do to prepare? I uh

as someone who's been on the front lines

administering elections and defending

democracy for now nearly a decade and

really throughout most of my career, I

am deeply concerned uh about the

potential for federal overreach and

abuse of power to impede our ability to

have safe and secure elections in the

future. Not just in 2026, but in 2028,

the presidential election that year. And

that is why it is so critical in this

moment that we have citizens and state

leaders who are willing to stand guard

because democracy has always prevailed

when the people demand that it does.

That's what we saw in 2020 despite an

unprecedented coordinated national

effort to overturn the results of a

legitimate presidential election.

Democracy prevailed. That free and fair

election prevailed. Those results held

because people stood up alongside

election officials and ensure the truth

and the law and the facts ruled the day.

So, we're going to need to continue

doing that. And it's again underscores

why state officials, why the 2026

election itself is so critical for

protecting democracy in the future.

Because the ability for us to have free

and fair elections in 2028 will be

directly dependent on whether we elect

governors and attorneys general and

secretaries of state in 2026 who will

hold the line who will understand the

assignment and will protect the rights

of our citizens, the voices and votes of

every resident in our state of every

citizen in our state and also be

prepared to stand up to anyone no matter

how powerful or wealthy who would try to

interfere with democracy in a way to

further their own agenda or or extend

their own power. Last question and I

want to ask you this not as a candidate

for governor but as a a military family

member. One of the themes that we are

hitting as often as we can on this show

is the difference at least now between

ICE and the National Guard. Uh and the

the idea that you know these National

Guard members they join to help during

fires and floods and to to keep the

peace. Anyone joining ICE today is doing

it to beat up on people who can't defend

themselves. And I think this

administration, this regime is working

really hard to conflate the two and to

confuse Americans and to deploy ICE and

CBP side by side with the National Guard

so that we get used to seeing uniforms

in our streets and turn our our

frustration and our against the National

Guard when at least until now they're

the good guys. They are us. They're our

neighbors. They are our sons, our

daughters, our dentists, our bakers. As

a military family member, can you help

us reinforce that difference and what

the National Guard actually exists to

do?

>> Yeah, I mean, we have many heroic

National Guards members who sign up to

serve and protect the communities they

live in. It's an extraordinary act of

patriotism, and they sign up because

they believe in that promise of America,

that promise of democracy, that promise

that we're all in this together and that

community. And to see that promise, that

commitment to service be abused by uh

their commander-in-chief to further his

own political agenda based on no data

and no re research that it's going to

keep communities safe, but only to serve

his only his political agenda is

heartbreaking. Uh and it rips against

the fabric of who we are as Americans.

But we're also something else as

Americans. We are a we are a people that

stand up to bullies. That's that's in

deeply ingrained in who we are. We stand

up to people who are trying to take

others rights away, who are bullies, uh

who are trying to make people feel less,

recognizing that we all have a voice and

that voice must be heard. And so the

beauty of this moment is it also gives

us all an opportunity. And I I think of

men and women who are who are serving in

our National Guard as part of that

opportunity to actually ensure that we

are connecting to that fabric of America

that stands up for each other, for

ourselves, for our communities and

stands up to bullies, whether they be

the most powerful or wealthiest people

in the world or whether they just simply

be people in our neighborhood. So that's

what we all have to find right now, that

American ethos of standing up for each

other and standing up to bullies. And if

we reconnect with that as a country, as

a nation, we can get out of this dark

moment, uh, I believe, and light our

candles and and and light the way

forward. But it's going to require all

of us, uh, to re to re remind ourselves

who we really are as Americans, to not

let the bully in the White House define

that for us, no matter how many things

he tries to use to to make us forget who

we really are. Uh, and instead reconnect

uh, to that ethos, all of us, across

party lines, and stand up together

against this uh, tyrannic regime. and

instead ensure we're uplifting each

other and electing folks on both sides

of the aisle who will will reflect that

ethos and stand up for each other and uh

and against any powerful interests that

would try to take away our voices or our

rights.

>> Amen. Thank you, Jocelyn. We'll check in

again soon.

>> All right, thanks.

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