The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible.

Taya Graham:

Okay. You might have watched President Donald Trump’s state of the Union and found it difficult to reconcile with what’s actually happening in your life. He said we were in a new golden age, but it doesn’t feel like it for most of us. He said the economy is the strongest ever, but perhaps your actual experience doesn’t jive with that assessment. Well, you’re not wrong and we’re going to prove it. Myself, along with my reporting partner, Stephen Janis, are going to break down what Trump’s speech was missing, mainly the perspective of the people actually living with the consequences of his policies. So we’re going to give you the people’s state of the union breakdown and you won’t want to miss it.

Hello, my name is Taya Graham and welcome to The Inequality Watch, the show where we break down the historic wealth imbalance that defines this country and hold the people who are making it worse accountable. Today we’re going to talk about the state of the union or perhaps more accurately, the state of the oligarchy address, which President Trump gave on Tuesday. Like all things related to the current president, it’s been controversial and of course touted by mainstream media and conservatives for its political acumen. But of course, all the people celebrating Trump’s requim for democracy live inside the bubble of elitism and abundance. Like the Zuckerbergs and Bezos who sat on his inauguration stage, they are costated by wealth, stowed away inside a safe and snug insulated abode created by excess that makes them incapable of understanding the real world suffering and struggle that the rest of us live with.

Raise your hand if you have over $5,000 worth of debt. $10,000. More. Okay, maybe it’s just me. So in order to put the state of the oligarchy in its proper place, we’re going to react to some key clips from the speech and provide the people’s perspective on what was said. Or another way to put it, we’re going to reveal the distortions of the truth the mainstream media won’t tell you and take them and this administration to task by holding them accountable. Imagine that. I mean, right Stephen, people deserve a say in all of this.

Stephen Janis:

Yeah, no, it’s always amazing to me when I watch these speeches. To me, it becomes like a mirror on the elite. People like us who are middle class people watch it like a forest fire and they’re sitting there saying, “Oh, there’s some good things here and he had some great moments and this is really going to define the midterms while he’s literally depicting a reality that is destroying people’s lives. And I am always amazed how the pundit class rises to the occasion and gives him plotteds for things they doesn’t

Taya Graham:

Deserve.” Exactly. I mean, the biggest cause of personal bankruptcy in the US are actually healthcare bills and the Obamacare tax credits which help people fund their own insurance have expired, raising the costs substantially. And guess what? Congress has done nothing. In a recent report declared that simply buying a car will set you back about $50,000. That’s a record price. And don’t even think about trying to buy a house. The point is things are great for the ultra rich, not so much for the rest of us. And that speech made it crystal clear. So let’s break it down. Okay, Steven, are you ready? I’m ready. Here’s our first clip, the topic of the moment and why we’re here today, because apparently we’re living in a new golden age, or at least that’s what our president says.

Speaker 3:

You’ve seen nothing yet. We’re going to do better and better and better. This is the golden age of America. But tonight, after just one year, I can say with dignity and pride that we have achieved a transformation like no one has ever seen before and a turnaround for the ages. It is indeed a turnaround for the ages.

Taya Graham:

All right. So there is no doubt that this has been a golden age for billionaires. I mean, and especially for President Trump. I mean, the president himself and his family have pocketed $4 billion from crypto sales alone. And the Trump organization, his private real estate conglomerate is still owned by Donald Trump and consists of his hotels, his golf courses, his resorts, and other businesses. And according to the corporate listings, Donald Trump is the owner of the Trump organization, which has about 250 companies and assets around the world. And he’s actually suing the federal government for $10 billion for the illegal release of his tax returns, which essentially means he’ll be able to settle with himself. As Mel Brooks said, it’s good to be the king. But I think it’s worth noting that while the stock market is up, the top 1% of households own 54% of that wealth and the top 10%, 94%.

So it’s golden for some, but what about the rest of us, Stephen?

Stephen Janis:

Well, yeah, the golden age started with one of the worst years of job creation in the history of this country since 2003. Only about 173,000, 183,000 jobs. So there was no job creation and over a million people got laid off. So it’s been really bad for the average worker, the average person. You got AI looping over us saying it’s going to destroy 40 to 50% of white collar jobs. He didn’t address that. And as we’ve said before, buying a car is now more expensive than it’s ever been. And housing also has gone up in price. So really what you’re talking about here is a very, very bad, bad situation for the middle class. It’s the golden age for Trump, but not the golden age for the people. And I think it’s important to make that point. I mean, think about that. They didn’t create any jobs.

I don’t know why they didn’t make it into his script or his speech, but that’s really essential to the wellbeing of Americans and it just didn’t make the cut.

Taya Graham:

Steven, I have to ask you something about tax cuts because for your average middle class folks, your taxes are between 15 to 24 or 25% because you get your income tax and then there’s payroll tax. And so that ends up being a huge chunk. But people who are multimillionaires and billionaires, somehow they don’t seem to pay quite as much of their income. Maybe you could explain how those unrealized gains work and why billionaires just don’t seem to have to pay any taxes. Well,

Stephen Janis:

This is a very controversial topic, but as you have your assets appreciate, most billionaires and wealthy people have assets that appreciate. That’s where a lot of their wealth comes from.

Speaker 4:

It

Stephen Janis:

Doesn’t get taxed until you sell it. And there’s been a proposal in California to actually tax people on those inflated assets. And that’s why the stock market thing is important. Your stock market account keeps going up and up, but you’re not paying taxes on it. Now, some people say it would be impossible to execute, but the point is you can keep getting richer while our wages stay the same. And we pay on our wages right away. We don’t get to hold them or let them appreciate or whatever. So basically, yeah, that’s a big deal. I mean, the wealth that is concentrating and held does not get taxed. Meanwhile, our wages get taxed right away taken right out of our paycheck.

Taya Graham:

You know what? I think a really great example of this, just to make it crystal clear for folks, Elon Musk, he does not take a salary. He gets a salary of $0 a year. Jeff Bezos, when he was pulling a salary, took $80,000 a year. And yet how are they able to be the wealthiest people on the planet? Can you imagine how you don’t get taxed on $0 a year, but they take loans against their money, they pay the interest. I mean, it’s just the way they do it with these low interest loans is that they just can live off these unrealized gains. They can live off their assets without ever having to sell them. It’s something that we can’t even comprehend. Now, let’s go a little bit deeper into healthcare. Now, it hasn’t been on the radar of the elites since the Obamacare tax credits expired, but let’s listen to what President Trump had to say, and then we’ll come right back.

Speaker 3:

I’m also confronting one of the biggest ripoffs of our times, the crushing costs of healthcare caused by you. Since the passage of the Unaffordable Care Act, sometimes referred to as Obamacare, big insurance company has gotten rich. It was meant for the insurance companies, not for the people. With our government giving them hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars a year as their stock prices soared, 1,120, 1,400, and even 1,700%, like nothing else. That’s why I introduced the great healthcare plan. I want to stop all payments to big insurance companies and instead give that money directly to the people so they can buy their own healthcare, which will be better healthcare

Taya Graham:

At a much lower cost. Okay, Steven, you have some pretty passionate thoughts on this subject. What do you think about this healthcare proposal?

Stephen Janis:

Well, first, before I address the proposal, there’s one thing that really, really annoys me. We talk about health insurance. It’s a misnomer. Insurance is a risk pooling for an anomalous event. Healthcare is not something that’s anomalous. We use it all the time. We use it regularly. So you can’t say we’re pooling our health insurance to pay someone’s healthcare. We really have a system that makes no sense, doesn’t address the problem at hand. Trump’s answer to this crisis is to put out a plan where he’s going to kind of alter Obamacare a little bit to create what’s called skinny plans or catastrophic healthcare, where you pay huge deductibles, 15,000 for an individual, 30,000, and then get maybe 80% of coverage of catastrophic. But the day-to-day healthcare that we need is not being covered. And I want to say this about this particular subject and the way Trump raised it.

Americans deal with the reality that no other country really around the world deals with, and that is that any of us can go broke because our healthcare is not coverage. Personal bankruptcies are almost all involving healthcare bills. We walk around in a reality defined by the inability to pay for our own healthcare and the lack of solutions in our leadership. So in other words, any of us at any time could be subject to a disease that would make us broke. And that is really, really something that defines reality. People stay in bad jobs because they need healthcare. They stay in bad relationship because they need healthcare. There’s no universal right to healthcare in this country. And I think it defines us psychologically. It defines how we think. And to see Trump just casually say, “Yeah, I got this plan,” with no details. And obviously, really, in many ways, kicking people off coverage like Medicaid and Medicare, excuse me, Medicaid specifically through the Big Bad Beautiful Bill, excuse me for calling it the bad beautiful bill, really, really defines our lives in ways that I don’t think we talk about enough to you.

Taya Graham:

Steven, that’s such an excellent point because it really does trap people trapped in bad jobs, trapped in bad relationships because they desperately need their healthcare. And of course, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the big, beautiful bill will cause 10 to 11 million Americans to lose healthcare by 2034 due to the cuts to Medicaid and Obamacare. And all of this to give a huge tax break to the richest Americans, which of course, again, is more bad news for us and more good news for the richest 1%. Now, the next oligarch versus the people moment came in what has been the portion of the speech most heavily touted by pundits from both sides as being defining, a moment of political theater that really seemed to impress the pundit class. Let’s watch.

Speaker 3:

So tonight I’m inviting every legislature to join with my administration and reaffirming a fundamental principle. If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support. The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.

Taya Graham:

So it’s interesting that this would be Trump’s big moment, given what has happened with ICE in the past couple of months. I mean, ICE has been actively killing Americans and violating constitutional rights at a rapid pace. So I have to ask you, Steven, do you think it’s really the big win Republicans think it is?

Stephen Janis:

Well, I mean, if Trump wants to produce the next triumph of will, yeah, it’s a big win. But in reality, in reality, what it is is another example of him crushing dissent, oversimplifying a very complex policy, and also completely flying over his own faults and what his administration has done with this particular problem. Because as you point out, ICE has been killing Americans. So ICE is not protecting anybody in that sense. ICE is not protecting the people who protested and exercise their First Amendment rights, throwing them all around, putting their hands on them, beating them up. I mean, from the get- go, this idea that we have to somehow bend to his will by standing up to a simplified statement that he said that doesn’t reflect the current realities of the policy is just absolutely stunning to me. But what was more stunning was the pundits and the CNN commentators were like, “Wow, great, great us Nazi salute you guys had to give there to President Trump.” I mean, it’s really, really disturbing that our democracy is completely devoid of dissent the minute Trump stands up and says something provocative.

And they think this is going to get them the midterms, but I don’t think so because people can see the reality. And the reality is that what he said makes no sense. It’s completely contradicting the policy on the ground and that’s the problem. Why should people have to stand up and bend to Trump no matter what he says? Why can’t we dissent in the people’s house? That’s the problem.

Taya Graham:

And Steven, you make such an excellent point. The death of Renee, Nicole Goode, the death of Alex Pretty, and even the death of Kevin Porter. They were all Americans killed by ICE. And there’s actually another report of an American killed by ISA also did not receive a lot of attention like Kevin Porter’s death on New Year’s Eve. Ruben Ray Martinez died in March 2025 on some Padre Island during a traffic stop. Now Ice says he drove at an officer. We’ve heard that before. But a witness who was with him at the time disputed that account. However, let’s be clear, he wasn’t committing a crime and he was not an immigrant. He had pulled up to a checkpoint and still ended up dead. So to your point, President Trump and ICE are not protecting Americans. They are in fact killing them and violating their rights. Now, Stephen, we’re going to pivot here and discuss something that Trump failed to mention at all, and that’s the Epstein scandal.

Just before his speech, survivors gathered in the Canon office building next to Capitol Hill to call on Trump and the Department of Justice to acknowledge them and to unredact documents that have hidden the identities of the co-conspirators of Epstein. Their point is we aren’t going away. Now, we were there to listen to the survivors and I have extended clips of exclusive interviews we personally conducted and I will link those in the comments below for people to watch. But first, let’s listen to Epstein’s survivor, Lisa Phillips, discuss why she will not give up.

Speaker 5:

I always get emotional because every time I look at my survivor sisters behind me, I’m reminded that they represent at least 200 victims. I don’t want you guys to forget that. So when I stand here, I do not stand alone. I represent hundreds of faceless, nameless survivors. Some I have had the honor of knowing and supporting over the last few years, young women and girls who were never given a voice. My survivor sisters and I have come to Capitol Hill many times this past year, as you know, and we will keep coming back again and again until all the Epstein files have been released because accountability is impossible without full transparency. Those of us who live through the horrors of Epstein world have always known this was never just a story about one powerful man. It was never just a crisis of wealth and privilege in America.

It is and always has been a global crisis of corruption.

Speaker 4:

He is going to know that looking back at him will be numerous survivors of Epstein’s abuse and that he is facilitating the single largest coverup in modern American history.

Taya Graham:

You know, one thing I have personally witnessed being on Capitol Hill covering the Epstein survivors is that it certainly seems like they are not giving up and something that you didn’t see at the rest of the Lisa Phillips clip. And this is also something that Theresa Helm told me herself directly, which is that these women are going to Europe to tell them what they have learned, to tell them what they have uncovered, to tell them what they have experienced, what other survivors have told them, Lisa Phillips, as she had said in a previous press conference, that she was compiling her own Epstein list and receiving information from other survivors who did not want to come forward publicly. And because the American government isn’t criminally charging anyone, arresting anyone, they’re going to Europe to give them this information. So no matter what the Department of Justice throws at them or what President Trump says, these women have stood tall, they’ve taken the heat and they’ve refused to back down and they’re going to keep pushing until they get some kind of justice.

But Stephen, there was also some breaking news about the ongoing controversy surrounding the Epstein files. Can you tell us a little bit about it?

Stephen Janis:

Yes, Teya. Some files that were turned over in the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell who received 20 years for being a co-conspirator with Jeffrey Epstein showed missing files of 302 reports that had cited Donald Trump for abusing a minor. So this has been a big, big scandal because those documents, for some reason, they violated the law and did not include them in the entirety of the disclosure. So it’s just another example of the Justice Department redacting or not including documents that are critical to this. And the law, the Epstein Transparency Act was absolutely specific that all documents had to be turned over. So this is just another example of, it looks like the Department of Justice covering up for President Trump who was cited in the 302 reports that were submitted to the FBI.

Taya Graham:

And the FBI has been redacting these files since last March, even before the Epstein Transparency Act was passed. So we can only imagine what we are actually missing and what won’t be released. We actually co-wrote a piece about how the Epstein scandal might be the one that Trump can’t shake. And that seems to be true so far. We talked about how it was the fact that victims not backing down could be his downfall, their courage and their resolve. I mean, they are literally flesh and blood examples of our unequal justice system and our historic wealth inequality in general that created it. What do you think about that in the light of recent revelations and the survivor’s persistence?

Stephen Janis:

Yeah. I mean, I think we’ve always said that in many ways inequality seems intangible. You talk about these numbers like a trillion dollars here, a trillion dollars there, and it doesn’t really seem to add up in a way that’s personal, but this is really personal until you’ve done great coverage of the survivors and really highlighted their stories and no person can watch them without saying they are victims of an unequal justice system that literally exempts the rich, literally exempts the powerful. There’s no other conclusion, but now you see specific victims of all … And those victims are children. So I think this, yes, will continue to haunt Trump. I don’t think you can duck it. And I think it really is like a marker of inequality in this country where you have a criminal justice system that literally sells exemptions to wealthy people.

Taya Graham:

Steven, that is such an excellent point. And I just really want to highlight something you said. These were women and children that were victims of this abuse and trafficking, and that just cannot be ignored. These were children that were abused and sold off to the highest bidder. And those co-conspirators, those predators, those perpetrators, those who aided and abetted this, they deserve to see their day in court for the sake of the victims and to make sure that the Epstein class can’t get away with this again. Now, Steven, is there anything you want to add before we sign off?

Stephen Janis:

I think I want to talk again about how the pundits interpreted Trump’s attempt to get Congress to bend the knee to whatever he said. Trump really likes to regulate our bodies. Trump really likes to regulate people. He likes to make sure that we have papers. I mean, American citizens, for the first time in my memory, in my lifetime, American citizens have had to literally have papers to prove that they’re American citizens or they get thrown in jail. He’s trying to come up with some idea where you have to have a birth certificate to get a bank account or have a birth certificate to vote. I mean, they’re really, really … The conservatives say we’re a world of freedom and we don’t believe in overregulation and too much government. Well, they become exactly the opposite. It’s more and more about regulating how we think, how we feel, how we move through the world.

There’s this idea of investigating left organizations as terrorists. It’s ongoing. And so that one moment where he says, “Stand up and support what I say, regardless of what you know about what’s actually going on. ” To me, it was shockingly fascist and shockingly authoritarian and yet the pundit class was like, that’s his moment. He’s going to win the midterms because of this. This is going to be the best thing he ever did. How insane are these people? I mean, how rich and costuded and in the bubble, as you said, do you have to be to think this is a great moment in American Democratic history? When you stomp out dissent and when you take away people’s right to vote and when you take away our free movement through society, what you have left is nothing more than an authoritarian regime. And I just find it stunning and really offensive that people found this to be such a great moment.

Taya Graham:

And Steven, you make such an excellent point. I mean, who thought the party of Ronald Reagan would end up being the big government party? Being

Stephen Janis:

Big government.

Taya Graham:

And to see our mainstream media sit there and just try to be as neutral as possible, saying they’re just calling balls and strikes and how great this was, it’s just incredibly disappointing.

Stephen Janis:

Yeah. Sometimes you just have to call something out for what it is. And those punitives don’t have to be neutral. They’re getting paid by either party to be sort of propagandist, but to me, they lack insight and intelligence. That’s the problem, not the problem that they don’t have enough money or enough access to the mainstream media. They have all that. They just don’t have intelligence.

Taya Graham:

Well, I think that’s it for the people’s state of the union breakdown. And as always, Steven and I will continue to report from Capitol Hill and around the country wherever we’re needed to expose the underbelly of America’s destructive concentration of wealth. And remember, if you do have a tip about a story we should cover, you can reach out to me. You can email me at par@therealnews.com, or you can reach out to me directly at Facebook and Instagram at Thea Graham. I’ll post the information below in the comments for you. My name is Taya Graham, that’s Stephen Janis. We’re your inequality watchdogs reporting for you.