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[Transcript edited for clarity, flow and length]
Mary Trump: You know what would be amazing? Not just electing new, awesome Democrats to serve in the House, but keeping the amazing progressive leaders we already have. One of those leaders is Becca Balint of Vermont. She is truly a progressive leader for our times. She knows how important it is to fight for people on the margins, and we are going to make sure she can keep doing that. It is so great to have you here.
Becca Balint: It’s nice to see you again, Mary.
Mary Trump: Yeah, you too. It feels like it’s been several millennia since we met, but I think it’s only been a couple of months.
Becca Balint: A couple months, but boy, a lot has happened.
Mary Trump: Time means nothing. However, we have less than a week until the 2026 midterms, which are the most important election of our lifetimes. So first of all, I just want to check in with you and see how things are on the ground. How’s the race going, and how are Vermonters feeling about all of this? There’s a lot going on that’s hard to take in.
Becca Balint: Definitely. Personally, I’m feeling very optimistic. I think we are on track to flip the House of Representatives and take one step toward ending this national nightmare. We have a path to the Senate. It’s not as clearly defined as it is in the House, but people are feeling cautiously optimistic. They are concerned about getting their hopes up too high and then having them dashed. I have traveled not just all over Vermont but to other states as well, on behalf of other candidates, because we all have to do our part to run through the tape. What I’m hearing everywhere is that people have had it. They’re disgusted. They’re angry. They feel like they are losing agency over their own lives, and they believe this president and all of the people who have bowed down to him are responsible for much of the damage.
It is critically important that people don’t take this for granted. I always say the polls are just one data point. Things look like they’re trending in the right direction, and we have a lot of internal polling and focus groups showing the same thing. But we have to vote in massive, massive numbers so that they cannot deny us the victory. It is an optimism tempered with the reality of what we saw on January 6th. We saw that the president still will not acknowledge that he lost the 2020 election, and he has so many Republicans who have been willing to cover for him. We got caught flat-footed on January 6th. We are not flat-footed this time. I also want viewers to know that we are planning for every possible scenario they could try to pull in order to deny us access to the ballot and to keep everyone’s ballot from being counted fairly. We are not going to let that happen again, and we are prepared.
Mary Trump: You make such a great point in connecting turnout to making sure we can overcome all of the structural and institutional advantages they have. I should say illicit advantages they have.
Becca Balint: Yes, exactly.
Mary Trump: The truth of the matter is that we wouldn’t be having this conversation if we had won big enough in 2020, because it wasn’t enough for Donald to lose. The Republican Party needed to lose.
Becca Balint: That’s exactly right, Mary. I’m so glad you are connecting that, because he is one person. As you know yourself, he is a deeply flawed, narcissistic, dangerous person. You know this better than anyone, right?
Mary Trump: Stop pulling punches. My goodness.
Becca Balint: But here’s the thing. He could only do the damage he’s been able to do because he has so many willing accomplices. It is absolutely not enough to win a one or two seat majority. We need a strong majority. If he had been elected president but we were able to hold onto a slight majority, or regain one, we’d be in a very different place right now.
Mary Trump: Yeah, absolutely. I want to talk a little about what we can expect in the next week, but before we do that, I want to remind people, or tell those of you who don’t know, that Congresswoman Balint is one of our Transcend champions. That means she embodies all of the qualities of the kind of leader this country desperately needs. As you’re hearing, you speak truth to power, you understand and embody public service, and you also believe in the importance of accountability. We can’t just say, “Oh, well, that’s okay. We’re done with that. We’re going to move on.” We need to make sure the American people feel that justice has been done. Can we clone you? I don’t know. That’s probably unethical, but we need more leaders like you. One of the things I want to get to shortly is how, when Democrats have the majority, you can start taking control of a narrative that’s compelling to the American people and getting buy-in for the massive, fundamental, systemic changes we need.
Before we talk about that, I want your sense of what we should be looking for in the next week. As I said earlier, it’s very out in the open. Donald and his minions are trying to steal this election. I think it’s fair to say they’re using the courts and they’re using the DOJ.
Becca Balint: They’re using voter intimidation.
Mary Trump: Exactly. So how do we understand that without being demoralized by it?
Becca Balint: I’m so glad you asked. Let’s go right to the heart of it. One of the ways I’ve been inspired by other people in this moment is that we need to name things really clearly. Maya Wiley, an amazing attorney, professor, and civil rights activist, made a post a few days ago that really stayed with me. She said, “Can we stop using words like disenfranchisement or voter suppression?” Her point was, “Let’s call it what it is. They are trying to block us from voting. That’s what’s going on here, whether it’s demanding the voter rolls or, in the case of Alaska, trying to preemptively say that if their guy doesn’t win, there was obviously malfeasance.” In this moment, we have to call it out in real time and not be afraid of these people or let ourselves be intimidated.
Yes, we individually have to have a plan to vote, and I voted early. We have that option here in Vermont. I dropped my ballot in the drop box. I didn’t leave it up to the mail. If you don’t have that option, make sure not only that you have a plan, but that other people in your circle have a way to get to the polling station and know where it is. We have to believe in the power we have to deliver a free and fair election. It’s not in other people’s hands.
As members of Congress, we are working with secretaries of state, attorneys general across the country, voting rights organizations, and the best legal minds on election law. But ultimately, it’s up to us to show up and say, “You will not take away a fundamental right that we have.” It’s a mindset shift, because I see a lot of people who are very anxious and scared, and I understand that. All you have to do is look at how these people have treated marginalized people over the last two years. It is absolutely brutal, disgusting, and dehumanizing. Still, we have to know that it’s in our hands to deliver a free and fair election, and when we have our game face on, we will see it through.
Americans are so protective of their rights. We’re not just going to turn the other way when someone comes to intimidate us at the polling stations. The people who volunteer at the polls in each of our towns are there because they believe in the sanctity of that right. So some of it is a head game, right?
Mary Trump: That’s really empowering. One of the long term projects Republicans have pursued for decades has been to make the American people believe that government is a hostile foreign power. It’s not. It’s us. It’s our government, and it doesn’t exist without us. By connecting the exercise of your right to vote to what can happen afterward, you make a really powerful case. What would also be powerful, of course, is getting Democrats those massive majorities.
Becca Balint: Believe me, I’ve been in the minority for four years. I can’t wait to actually get something done that will alleviate suffering in this country.
Mary Trump: I blew it earlier. I was telling people why you’re a Transcend champion and all the amazing things about you, and I neglected to say that people should please, please, please donate directly to Congresswoman Balint’s campaign HERE. So again, go straight to her page. Let’s cut out the middleman and make sure she gets as many resources as she needs to do the good work. As you just said, you get a majority. Walk us through it, because that is something I want to think about all day long.
Visit and Donate to Becca’s campaign HERE
Becca Balint: Yes, exactly. Let me do a little education, because the House is a very strange entity. Whoever has the majority, even a tiny one, controls everything. You control the floor, the bills that go through committee, and who the committee chairs are. It’s obviously easier to govern with a larger majority, because you have some wiggle room to get legislation passed. We’re going to finally have what we call the gavels. We’ll be in charge of those committees, and we have to do two things. First, we have to make sure we’ve heard Americans loud and clear that they can’t afford their lives right now. We have to roll back the Medicaid cuts that are devastating people’s health insurance, reinstate the Affordable Care Act subsidies, and restore SNAP benefits for all the people going hungry. We have to deliver for people materially so their lives get better.
Second, we need to think broadly about investing in housing and mental health supports and getting rid of this asinine tariff regime. There are things we can do, including bringing an end to the war we are in. At the same time, I serve on the Judiciary Committee, and I used to serve on the Oversight Committee. Those are the two main committees that will hold accountability hearings. Robert Garcia, a former mayor of Long Beach, California, is a terrific guy and will be the incoming chair of Oversight. Jamie Raskin will chair Judiciary. Both are incredibly strong leaders in their committees. They’re figuring out what investigations we are doing and what our committees will focus on, and then we’re going to follow all the receipts we’ve been gathering. We held some hearings with Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi, and one of the points I made in those hearings is that you’re not always going to be in these roles. Just because you’re out of your position of power doesn’t mean we can’t still go after you for lawbreaking.
That is incredibly important, especially for people in states that didn’t get FEMA dollars because Kristi Noem was running a pay to play scheme involving Corey Lewandowski and FEMA. Are we finally going to get answers about why Ghislaine Maxwell was moved to a low security facility when, as a convicted sex offender, she wasn’t entitled to that? We have a path to follow. The danger for us, and it’s always a cautionary tale, is that we have to deliver on accountability and get our house in order while continuing to do the work people desperately need us to do on affordability.
Mary Trump: I have faith that it can be done, especially with leaders like you. You mentioned Jamie as well. There are a lot of phenomenal Democrats in the House, and after next Tuesday, there will be even more.
Becca Balint: I’m excited for the folks coming in with new energy and new experience, and it’s going to be tremendous.
Mary Trump: I think it is very important for people to hear the planning that has gone into all of this, because when a party is out of power, it’s difficult to get attention. Corporate media has failed us so egregiously that it’s very hard for people to get a clear sense of what Democrats are doing behind the scenes and sometimes even in front of our faces, because it just doesn’t get covered. It’s really heartening to hear this. Before I do my little public service announcement about voting, what are you most looking forward to? I’m assuming it’s probably getting a good night’s sleep after Tuesday.
Becca Balint: You’re not wrong about that, Mary. You don’t know how not wrong you are. I am super excited about holding people accountable for the damage they’ve done to our country. They have stripped it down to the studs, and I’m excited for that work. I’m also really excited about my work on antitrust, which means breaking up the big monopolies that are controlling our lives and giving us no choices in all kinds of marketplaces. I am ready to go. Let’s start enforcing antitrust law again so that Americans can actually get a fair share out of this economy.
Mary Trump: Well, my work here is done, because you just gave people one of the best reasons to go out and vote. That all sounds incredibly motivating. But just in case, everybody, if you’re feeling demoralized or overwhelmed, that’s intentional. They want us to feel like that.
Becca Balint: Yes, that’s the plan.
Mary Trump: That’s the plan. But we still have one of the most important rights endowed to us by the Constitution, which is the right to vote and choose our representatives. If you haven’t voted already, and you’re not like me, because I like to vote on Election Day but I also live in New York City, which is a pretty safe bet, then please vote early. Make sure, even if you think you’re registered, that you actually are registered. If you haven’t registered, register.
Becca Balint: That part, Mary, yes.
Mary Trump: What I always say is check your registration until such time as you have cast your ballot. Keep checking. If you haven’t registered, register. But Congresswoman Balint, I am feeling so hopeful, and you’re one of the reasons. Thank you so much for everything you do. I cannot wait to check in with you after next Tuesday.
Becca Balint: Thank you, and I can’t wait either. If I can say the last word here, Mary, there’s a famous June Jordan poem, and it ends with, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
Mary Trump: Yes.
Becca Balint: We are the ones. We’re going to make it happen, guys. We’re turning a page on this. We really, really are. I feel it. Let’s do it. Let’s go.
Mary Trump: Let’s win this thing. Thank you. The conversation continues in the comments, so let us know what you think. Thank you for being here.
Visit and Donate to Becca’s campaign HERE
I voted early, in person.
Becca sounds awesome—like Mary.
I am very proud that Becca is my representative. I have already voted by absentee ballot from overseas - of course, I voted for Becca.