Democratic governor rips Trump for turning US into a bad reality show
One day, Americans are being hit with President Donald Trump’s dreams of annexing Greenland, and the next, the U.S. government is creating a global trade war. Living in the United States in 2025 feels like an endless episode of a bad reality TV show. At least, that’s how Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer describes it.
“It’s almost like we’re in ‘The Apprentice,’” the Democrat told Daily Kos in an exclusive interview. “We’re in this game show where there’s constant exciting, great headlines and Americans are just lurching from one headline to the next.”
But just below the surface is a darker reality that Americans are living every day.
“Our education system is getting destroyed,” Meyer said, referring to Trump’s attempts to completely dismantle the Department of Education.
On April 3, the administration also threatened to pull funding to the country’s poorest public schools, and it has been slowly chipping away at funding for public universities that teach things Trump disagrees with.
Meyer also emphasized how the U.S. health care system is on a downward spiral, to which the Trump administration has responded with even more massive layoffs and budget cuts.
“We don’t need to take a chainsaw to the government, we need to make it work,” he told Daily Kos. “I think what Americans want is they actually want a government that works. But our system is broken.”
“I think what's happening is that a lot of Americans are dissatisfied,” he added.
Meyer speculates that people would actually be happy to foot the bill for social programs if they could see and experience their impacts.
“I bet you if Americans know … [they’re] getting the best schools in the world for those taxes, Americans will pay. Because there will be a return [on investment] to all of us if we know we're paying for the highest quality health care,” he said.
Meyer has already shaken things up on his own turf. In March, the governor proposed a 2026 budget that includes new tax brackets. placing some of the highest taxes on the wealthy that Delaware has ever seen.
And while Meyer—like every other governor at the moment—is trying to protect his residents from the chaos at the federal level, he’s also struggling to hold onto the state’s largest source of revenue.
As Daily Kos previously reported, Meyer has been under heat for creating a bill aimed at keeping businesses in Delaware. On one hand, critics called it a handout to billionaires. On the other hand, businesses and locals alike were advocating for it as a means to keep money flowing to crucial state programs.
Related | Delaware governor defends move to keep big business in his state
For Meyer, all of the noise at the federal level reminds him of his core purpose: protecting Delaware residents.
“For me, to be frank, it's not necessarily about pushing back against Trump. It's [about] fixing problems that Delawareans face every day, whether the people support Trump or not,” he told Daily Kos.
Looking toward the future of the Democratic Party, Meyer said Democrats need to focus on the broken systems and not be afraid to call out what’s going wrong as it's happening.
“We don’t just invest nilly-willy, but we’re smart and strategic about our investments in Americans’ futures,” he told Daily Kos.
“I think that's ultimately what's gonna win the country and win for the Democratic Party.”