A terrifying week in global
warfare brings cautious relief
days later by way of a two-week
ceasefire in Iran.
Citizens on the sidelines may wonder
where their congressional
representatives stand and how they
are responding to the war.
Tonight, we turn to Second District
Democratic Congressman Mark Pocan.
We should note we reached out to
Republicans in several districts
without reply.
Congressman, thanks very much for
being here.
Sure, thank you.
So on Tuesday this week, the
world was on tenterhooks,
waiting President Trump's threat
that a whole civilization
will die tonight unless
Iran opened the Strait of Hormuz,
and then the announcement of a
ceasefire.
The White House says it was a tough
negotiating tactic that
worked. What do you say?
You know, this is chaos
piled on top of chaos pil'd
on top of uncertainty, right?
I don't think Donald Trump from day
one really had a plan on
how to deal with what he was
doing going into Iran.
And we're seeing that all unfold
right now. And that rhetoric just
has been unseen by any world leader
previously.
And even now, the ceasefire
is still has all kinds of
uncertainty. We're not exactly sure.
What all the standards were.
Donald Trump said, he knows the 10,
he'll tell you if they're met.
That's ridiculous.
And Iran just, I saw today, he said
two conditions aren't met yet,
the stopping of the bombing in
Lebanon and releasing some funds to
them, which that was the first time
I actually had kind of heard that
part of whatever it was negotiated.
So this is just a complete mess.
Our gas prices are going up, our
respect across the world was going
down, and it was a war of choice.
There was no imminent threat to
the United States, And that's the
only. Time the president could
initiate this without Congress.
So, you know, to call it
chaotic is probably an insult to the
word chaos.
You and others have called to invoke
the 25th Amendment to remove Donald
Trump from office.
Now that would take the Vice
President and the majority of the
cabinet to declare the President
unfit.
So is this really a
rhetorical demand on
your and others' part?
Yeah, I think this is a signal to
the world that don't hate America.
There are normal people here because
what Donald Trump is doing is
hurting our place across the
globe right now.
Some of our best trading partners
in Japan and South Korea rely
on like 70% of their energy coming
through the Straits of Hormuz.
The fact that now they're
paying the price of Donald Trump's
bad decision, the fact that our best
allies were not informed
going into this, So now
they're not participating in which.
I totally understand, but Donald
Trump doesn't.
We have to express that as
a nation, we understand
this is a bad decision.
What he did in a couple of those
social media posts this week were
beyond a bad decision.
And I seriously, and many others,
question whether or not he's able to
do this job. But we want others to
understand that many of us do
question his capability.
Wisconsin polling shows that
61 percent of voters opposed
this war, many of them
probably in your district.
But what levers of power do you
and others in Congress have over
this? Will Dems continue to
push for a war powers resolution?
Yeah, we'll push for a war powers
resolution next week when
we're back in Washington.
And I'll tell you, this is one
where, you know, we need some of the
Republicans from Wisconsin and
across the country to reach around
their backs and feel if they
have a bone down the middle called
the spine, because it's
necessary for Congress to stand up
and stop Donald Trump from this
chaotic behavior.
It is up to Congress to initiate
war. That's according to the
Constitution. And I've heard a few
Republicans say they're waiting 90
days and all this other stuff.
The Constitution doesn't say that.
The Constitution gives the power to
Congress on this.
So we have to act and take
the responsible role in this.
And if we don't, then unfortunately,
we continue to pay higher prices
at the gas pumps.
We continue to hurt ourselves with
other countries across the world.
So there's a lot riding on this and
we need Wisconsin Republicans
and others in Congress to
stand up and grow
a spine.
Why should Wisconsinites care
about a conflict happening half
a world away?
A lot of reasons.
I mean, you're seeing it right now
in gas prices. They're up about
$1.20 a gallon right now
because of what's going on.
This is going to continue for
months. If this ended today,
Frederica, we will see gas prices,
those increases for months to
come yet. So this was a terrible
decision that was done by the White
House. But you should care because
also our trade around the world,
you know, is chaotic as Donald
Trump's tariffs have been.
It's important that we have partners
across the globe that American
products that create American jobs.
And when we're hurting ourselves
like we are with this right now,
we jeopardize our role in being
able to do that. So it's about jobs,
it's about your pay, it is about
what you're paying for goods,
because we're paying too much for
everything from groceries and
everyday goods because of tariffs to
health care and utilities because
of the big ugly law.
And now we're paying too much for
gas because of this.
There's a lot of reasons we should
pay attention and care.
As to rising inflation,
I see that consumer sentiment just
ranked at the lowest on
record in the U.S.
And meanwhile, Trump's budget calls
for $1.5 trillion
in defense
spending.
This would not be, I trust,
a priority of yours.
No, in fact, I think what the
president said is we don't have
money for things like childcare
because he wants to put it into
the national,
the Pentagon's budget, essentially,
because he's wasting so many
weapons right now while he's
doing this war of choice in
Iran. And, you know, I Think if you
talk to the average person,
certainly the average employer,
childcare is far more important than
what he's Doing right now.
So the fact that he doesn't
understand, let's face it,
he's the Epstein class, right?
He's a really, really rich guy.
Who is out of touch with what it is
to actually live paycheck to
paycheck, to pay a mortgage,
to make sure you have health care
for your family, can you budget for
a vacation. This guy hangs out
at Mar-a-Lago and has 20s,
roaring 20s style parties.
That person doesn't understand
what Americans are going through and
we see it because we're paying for
the increase in prices.
So, you know, November, people can
see a change.
They can change out some of the
faces in the House and Senate.
And then we can finally have the
ability to stand up and do proper
oversight. But right now,
you know, it's tough times and we
can get the calls in the office and
people are certainly nervous.
How do you think the war in Iran
informs voters coming into the
midterms?
Well, I think it just shows another
bad decision, right?
The tariffs are a bad decision.
We know that, and we're all paying
more for groceries and everyday
goods.
That big ugly law where they gave a
giant tax break to Elon Musk and
people who belonged to Mar-a-Lago,
that took away healthcare
from people, and more in November,
by the way. All the Medicaid cuts
take place at that point.
So 15 million people lose
healthcare, and we are all paying
for it, plus it made utility rates
go up. And now we're paying more for
gas because of the war.
So you look at all of this.
And I think people are just kind of
exhausted from the
winning that Donald Trump keeps
telling us. I think, you know, most
of us have a different definition of
winning. It's being able to have
that little luxury of snowmobile or
a boat or whatever it might be, but
it's not just paying more for good
so that rich people get tax breaks.
Speaking of elections, what's your
reaction to liberal Supreme Court
candidate Chris Taylor's 20-point
victory this week?
Well, she was an extraordinarily
good candidate. I think they fielded
an extraordinarily poor candidate by
Supreme Court standards.
But people also are very frustrated
with what's happening nationally.
And I think you saw that translate.
I mean, you saw mayors flip
from conservative to more
progressive across parts of the
state that aren't exactly blue,
maybe not even purple.
But people are just frustrated with
what going on.
So I think he saw a lot of that.
But you know, Chris Taylor.
Is gonna be a great Supreme Court
justice. She's very smart, very
savvy. I've worked with her since my
time in the state legislature.
She's gonna help that court.
We need that court to probably get a
kick in the butt, maybe to get a few
more things done.
And I think she may just be that
catalyst.
But how is a spring election
different from a November election?
Turnout's definitely lower, but you
saw the intensity of certain people
wanting to come out. And we've seen
that also in polling.
The intensity of Democratic or
more progressive leaning voters
versus Republican,
people are really upset with
Donald Trump and very few
are very happy.
In fact, independence, we saw a
poll, the swing was 48 points
from independence from a year ago.
That was called extinction level
numbers when that happens.
So I think, you know, when you look
at, you know, certain congressional
districts in Wisconsin, The
state assembly and state senator
both up to flip.
I think all of that is going to
happen this November because people
have just had it with how Donald
Trump is behaving and how
Republicans are just rolling over
and getting their bellies rubbed
rather than standing up and fighting
for their constituents.
We leave it there.
Congressman Mark Pocan, thanks very
much.
Sure, thank you so much.
I have no idea how long that
went and we may need to
trim to fit it into our program,
but thank you.
Thanks a lot.
Yeah, no problem, it's
going to be interesting.
Everything we're seeing come
November is not
going their way.
I mean it's massive, more than
I think a lot of people are even
ready for.
So I don't know how
he gets out of this Iran thing.
I mean just this morning seriously I
saw the fact that Iran said
part of the deal was releasing of
funds, which remember they
criticized Joe Biden about
in Obama.
And it's just, you know.
It's kind of inexplainable in some
ways, so.
We'll see how these peace talks go.
Hopefully, you know,
everyone hopes, right, that there's
a cessation of this
kind of violence.
Yeah, the problem is we never should
have got there in the first place.
And now we got to figure out how to
get out and let Donald Trump save
some face. And that's why I
think the difficulty is just
beginning.
Well, thank you for your time.
Sure, thank you.
Yeah, take care.