THE DAILY BLAST with Greg Sargent

This week, The New York Times confirmed the latest revelations in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, reporting on the missing files that appear to involve charges against Donald Trump himself. The Times is treating this as a blockbuster story, digging in hard on the details in a way that will surely cause media scrutiny to intensify further. MAGA is all over the place on this. Fox News has mostly ignored the revelations, as Media Matters shows. One big MAGA influencer is hyping Hillary Clinton's supposed role in the scandal, but that's backfiring. Other MAGA types remain split. We talked to New Republic contributing editor Ana Marie Cox, who writes really well about Epstein and right wing elites. We discuss why the Times coverage is so brutal for Trump, why the saga is driving MAGA toward crackup, what all this says about right wing elites, and why the sun may soon set on Trumpism as a movement.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Wednesday, Donald Trump exploded wildly on Truth Social, ripping into Democrats Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, who attacked him during his speech. He called them “Low IQ,” “mentally deranged,” and “LUNATICS,” and even savaged Robert De Niro, who also criticized the speech, as “sick and demented.” Trump hoped appeal to the middle, but he couldn't help sliding back into full racism at his first opportunity. Meanwhile, even some Republicans found the speech wanting: One strategist said it wouldn't help the party politically this fall, a second said it didn't give enough to people who are “hurting,” and a conservative writer opined that it “wasn't much of a game changer.” We talked to Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg, who had a mixed reaction. We discuss how Trump's tirade exposes a deep tension in his approach to 2026, why he can't let go of his tariffs and deportations, and how smarter GOP strategists really view that problem. We also discuss hidden reasons why this could still go badly for Democrats.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Jeffrey Epstein scandal has just taken another bad turn for Donald Trump. NPR reports that the Justice Department has withheld key documents from the publicly-released Epstein files. Guess what: They apparently relate to charges that Trump potentially abused a minor. And Congressman Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, also dropped a bombshell, claiming he's reviewed DOJ materials personally and confirmed that DOJ does appear to have withheld critical FBI interviews. Is this really as bad as it sounds? As University of Michigan law professor Leah Litman explains in this episode, the answer is: Yes, it is. Litman—the author of Lawless, a book about the Supreme Court—demystifies the legal ins and outs of these new revelations, lays out a roadmap to what will happen now, and explains the prospects for achieving genuine accountability.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new CNN poll finds Donald Trump's approval at an abysmal 36 percent. And a Washington Post survey finds him absolutely tanking on just about all major issues. But to Trump, this cannot be real: He just issued an angry, rambling tirade about how such polls are "fake." He even declared that his support is “silent,” while insisting he got many millions more votes in 2024 than he actually got. Amusingly, this came even as Fox News aired a striking graphic showing Trump's approval on tariffs at an abysmal 34-64. This isn't the first time Fox has admitted how badly things are going: The network's own recent poll found him deeply underwater on the economy, tariffs, and even immigration. We talked to Marquette University political scientist Julia Azari, author of a good new piece explaining how Trump operates outside the Constitution. We discuss how this extra-Constitutional governing is itself rendering him deeply unpopular, why Trump's poll denial reflects a refusal to acknowledge legitimate opposition, and what it all tells us about the current state of the American experiment.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After the Supreme Court struck down Donald Trump's tariffs, he detonated. He targeted justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, fuming that the ruling was an “embarrassment to their families.” He doubled down on the idea that he has unilateral tariff power. He tacitly threatened to investigate the high court for foreign influences. He called the ruling a “disgrace to our nation.” Yet this is backfiring: It prompted GOP Representative Don Bacon to declare that this might prompt more GOP votes to constrain him, remarking that Trump “didn't do himself any favors.” Indeed, after we recorded this episode, Senator Mitch McConnell pointedly noted that Congress is “not an inconvenience to avoid,” suggesting more Congressional action ahead, and other Republicans celebrated the ruling.  We talked to legal scholar Matthew Seligman, a lawyer for some of the businesses looking for tariff refunds. He explains why the ruling was such a major rebuke, why Trump's efforts to revive the tariffs might encounter turbulence, and how his impotent fury—and the GOP response to it—undermine his political mystique in a deeper sense.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After British police arrested the former Prince Andrew in connection with revelations involving Jeffrey Epstein, a reporter asked Donald Trump directly if anyone will face accountability in the United States. Trump rambled and rambled, insisting he had been “totally exonerated.” That's not true, but regardless, Trump could not explain why accountability is happening in other countries, but not in ours. He also had nothing whatsoever to say about whether his Justice Department will ever seek accountability for any elites implicated in the scandal. Meanwhile, MAGA figures are raging over the latest Epstein-file revelations and demanding exactly the accountability that is not forthcoming from DOJ. We talked to Nicole Hemmer, author of good books about the conservative movement and about the right wing media. She explains why Trump has not been exonerated, how the latest in this scandal is causing MAGA to crack up, what all this reveals about supposed Trump-MAGA hatred of “elites,” and what the prospects are for genuine accountability.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump has the midterms on his mind. A few days ago he erupted in a wild tirade on Truth Social, raging about voter fraud and voter ID while urging Republicans to make them central in the elections. He's now pinned this rant to the top of his feed. Over the last 24 hours, he's been on a tear, elevating half a dozen other tweets on these topics. By “warning” that Republicans must centralize voter fraud, he's actually telling them to engage in mass voter suppression or perish. He has good reason to panic: One new poll has his approval at 38 percent. Another survey puts Democrats ahead in the House ballot matchup by six points. And polling averages find Trump's approval on immigration, his “good” issue, at abysmal lows. We talked to Lakshya Jain, head of political data for The Argument. He explains why the numbers are even worse for Trump if you dig into the details, particularly on the economy; why it's so unusual that Trump is tanking on two GOP issues, the economy and immigration; and why that is creating unexpected opportunities for Democrats.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today's episode, we talk to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey about the latest developments in his city. Donald Trump and border czar Tom Homan have said they're winding down ICE's occupation, and Frey tells us there are some positive signs in this regard. But Frey also discusses how ICE violence has been directed from the very top, shares new details about the enormous and lasting damage it did to the city, and explains how the extraordinary solidarity between ordinary people there is enabling Minneapolis to emerge from this dark period unbroken and unbowed. “The people here are tough as hell,” Frey tells us, adding that the city feels “pride” at “what we are overcoming.”  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt went full North Korea cult propagandist on Fox News, gushing that the ICE crackdown in Minneapolis has been a “resounding success.” Never mind that two Americans were murdered, violent civil conflict has reigned, and Trump's approval has cratered. Leavitt also undercut her own spin by describing all arrested by ICE as “criminals” and insisting the operation is “targeted”—revealing she can't tell the truth about its targeting of noncriminals because it's so widely hated. She was further undermined by the shocking news that two ICE agents lied about an incident leading to the shooting of an immigrant, a reminder that this entire fiasco has been perpetually awash in lawless horror. We talked to Democratic messaging strategist Anat Shenker-Osorio, who explains how that shooting wrecks White House spin, why Trump's propaganda narratives are collapsing at a deep level, why he's in an unusually weak position, and what Democrats can do with their own narratives to seize the moment.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump's losses are mounting. His border czar just announced a large drawdown of federal agents in Minnesota after protests turned public opinion. Job creation during Trump's first year was worse than previously known. The country is losing manufacturing jobs. Trump is a weak and failing president—and there are now signs that Democrats are acting like it. But couldn't they do more to seize the moment? Yes! The New Republic has a special issue online right now that's full of pieces laying out the way forward. Today's guest is TNR editor Michael Tomasky, author of the lead piece explaining how Democrats can become more aggressive and effective. We discuss the true nature of Trump's weakness, why Democrats face a crossroads rivaling the New Deal and Civil Rights eras, and how that offers them uncommon challenges and opportunities. We also discuss Emily Cooke's writeup of our poll of rank-and-file Democrats, as well as pieces by Alex Shephard, Perry Bacon, and your faithful podcast host. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Trump is tacitly threatening to interfere in the 2026 elections. He's urged Republicans to “nationalize” them and recently said he regrets not seizing voting machines in 2020. Last month the FBI seized ballot boxes in Fulton County, Georgia as part of some sort of criminal investigation that remains murky. Now it's being reported that this FBI move originated with claims from a well-known election denier that have been widely debunked. This raises serious worries that Trump could direct the FBI to seize 2026 midterm ballot boxes based on a similarly spurious rationale. We talked to Lauren Groh-Wargo, head of the voting rights group Fair Fight Action. She explains who this election denier is, decodes the latest revelations about the FBI's action in Georgia, walks through how Trump could attempt to disrupt the 2026 midterm vote count, and lays out ways that local officials—and the rest of us—can start preparing to fight back.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump's top trade adviser, Peter Navarro, just offered an extraordinary statement on Fox News. He admitted that we should lower our expectations for job creation because of Trump's success in removing immigrants from the country. In essence, Navarro suggested it was a good thing to have lower jobs numbers provided the (supposed) cause is higher deportations, and confirmed that removing immigrants isn't creating jobs for Americans. We think this provides an opening to explore what MAGA economics is really trying to accomplish. So we talked to economist Paul Krugman, author of an illuminating piece on his excellent Substack that takes apart Trump's immigration agenda. He explains how Navarro wrecked a core scam that Trump has long peddled about immigrants, how this undermines the most basic story MAGA tells about the economy, and how Democrats can seize on the failure of that story to tell a better one of their own.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump was initially angry over the decision to feature Bad Bunny in the Super Bowl halftime show. But then, as he performed, Trump's rage worsened: In a furious rant, he claimed the show was a “slap in the face” to our country, that Bad Bunny's use of Spanish means “nobody understands a word this guy is saying,” and that the show was “absolutely terrible.” Other MAGA figures fumed that the show was a betrayal of America. Meanwhile, CNN polling guru Harry Enten details in a new analysis that Trump is hemorrhaging support from his working class base. What if those two developments—Trump-MAGA fury at the show and Trump bleeding his base—are related? We talked to Adrian Carrasquillo, author of The Bulwark's excellent newsletter “Huddled Masses.” We discuss how Trump-MAGA are in a bubble about Bad Bunny's show, how most Americans likely viewed it, why Trump's ICE raids and hostility to immigrants are costing him working class support, and how that wrecks various myths about 2024.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After Donald Trump posted a viciously racist meme depicting the Obamas as apes, a self-identified three-time Trump voter called in to C-Span and unloaded. He described the meme as an “embarrassment to our country,” apologized for backing Trump, called out his lying and bribe-taking, and ripped him as “rotten” and “pathetic.” This comes after many Republicans condemned the post, leading the White House to take it down and blame an unnamed staffer for it. We think all this captures a newfound Trump-MAGA weakness in the culture. So we talked to New Republic senior editor Alex Shephard, author of a great new piece on the waning of Trump-MAGA's cultural dominance. We discuss how formidable Trump-MAGA's cultural relevance looked in 2024, why it has waned, how ICE has turned the culture against MAGA on a deep level, and what it all says about the future of MAGA and our country. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt lost her temper with a reporter who asked if Donald Trump intends to flood polling places with ICE agents during the midterms. She called the question “silly” and “hypothetical” and “disingenuous,” even though Steve Bannon, who's influential in the White House, explicitly said this week that this will happen. This comes as Trump himself called for Republicans to “nationalize the voting.” Leavitt also struggled to spin this threat from Trump, suggesting that's not what he meant, only to have Trump undercut her by reiterating his demand soon after. The White House is all over the place on this. So we talked to legal expert Rick Hasen, author of the excellent Election Law Blog. He separates the real from the fake in Trump's threats, outlines the nightmare scenarios that Trump actually could attempt to pull off, and explains how we can gear up right now to fight back.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump just claimed in an interview that the events in Minnesota suggest that ICE needs to use a “softer touch.” He also struggled to create the impression that he's been working constructively with local officials there. While all this is just spin, it reveals an awareness that these events have put him in a politically weak position. Indeed, this comes as Trump's plans for vast migrant prison camps are hitting angry opposition in unlikely places: In a deep red, partly rural county in Virginia; among Republican officials in other states; and even in Mississippi, where a GOP Senator has come out against a planned camp there. We talked to Brian Beutler, who's been arguing on his excellent “Off Message” Substack that Dems need to take charge of debates like these. We dig into the surprisingly robust backlash against Trump on immigration, why the prison camps present a big opportunity for Democrats, and why they must abandon the idea that Trump's 2024 win showed a big cultural shift against immigrants.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After The New York Times reported that President Trump has backtracked on a major demand he'd made on Harvard University, he spiraled out of control in three wild tirades. He angrily insisted on a correction from the Times, and levied unhinged new threats against Harvard, demanding a new billion-dollar extortion payment while calling for the university's criminal prosecution. Harvard officials clearly leaked word of Trump's backtracking to humiliate him at a moment of political weakness. It worked: Trump appeared panicked and weak as he fired off half-cocked threats. Which raises a question: Why don't more institutions grasp that standing firm against Trump is the only way? We talked to Ryan Enos, a Harvard political scientist who has long argued for a strong stand. He explains the internal politics at Harvard leading to its current posture, why this fight's outcome has broader significance amid our slide into authoritarianism, and what the prospects are for Harvard holding firm. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump is making it explicit. In an angry diatribe to a right-wing podcaster, Trump told his usual lies about vote-cheating by undocumented immigrants, but this time he explicitly called on Republicans to “take over the voting.” He also darkly promised something new out of Georgia, where his FBI is investigating an election center. He singled out supposed fraud in Minnesota, lying that he won it three times. And he said he's not backing down in the state. Taken all together, the threat is clear: Trump may try to use federal forces to interfere in the midterms, in part by using ICE to intimidate voters and foment crisis. Notably, this comes as MAGA media figures are loudly calling on Trump to escalate the ICE crackdowns, as Media Matters documents. We talked to reporter Gillian Brockell, who regularly scrutinizes ICE and has a new piece detailing how ICE is getting more cruel. We discuss what Trump can do to interfere in the elections, how far his threats can really get, and how MAGA conceives of ICE as an instrument of authoritarian state terror. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump appears in deep denial about how widely hated his ICE raids have become. He let out a strange, rambling tirade to reporters about how the “silent majority” is still behind what ICE is doing, bizarrely citing approval of the raids among his own White House employees to make the case. In another rant, he lied uncontrollably about the protesters, about crime in Minneapolis, and more. Interestingly, this comes as a poll from none other than Fox News finds Trump deeply under water on immigration. It also finds that very large majorities of independents think ICE is being too aggressive. Incredibly, even majorities of rural whites and non-college whites—loyal base voter groups—think the same. We talked to pro-immigrant organizer Lia Parada, who represents groups losing lawful status under Trump. She recounts what she's seeing out there, shares details about surprising new signs of opposition to ICE, and explains how Democrats can seize this moment to effect a more durable shift in public opinion.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Trump and the GOP are in a growing panic over ICE. Trump's advisers are sinking into recriminations. Republican officials are publicly admitting that his immigration agenda “seems to be not working” and that the GOP is “losing” the political battle over it. Others are suggesting that Alex Pretti's killing was “murder” and that it's time to “recalibrate.” Yet MAGA figures are pulling in the other direction. Media Matters has a good roundup: Many are urging Trump to escalate, with white supremacist Nick Fuentes labeling Pretti a “race traitor.” MAGA doesn't want to let the GOP even appear to moderate. We talked to Jennifer Rubin, editor-in-chief of The Contrarian, who has a new piece urging Democrats to seize this moment. We discuss how MAGA's white nationalism has landed “moderate” Republicans in a trap, why this provides an opening to divide the Trump coalition, and what Democrats can do to demonstrate that they side with the American people against Trump-MAGA's violent lawlessness.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

GOP Senators Thom Tillis and Lisa Murkowski have now called for the resignation of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. This angered Donald Trump, who lashed out at them as “losers” and “terrible Senators” and belittled them in other ways. But Noem's tenure does look shaky. A new government review of the killing of Alex Pretti undercuts Noem's initial account. Senate Majority Leader John Thune is declining to back Noem. And Stephen Miller undercut her, blaming DHS for a potential breach in protocol by the officers and even suggesting the initial smearing of Pretti was rooted in info supplied by the agency. This whole thing has gotten away from Trump. So we talked to New Republic contributor and Substack author Virginia Heffernan, who's been documenting the popular backlash against ICE. We discuss why Noem's standing will likely keep declining, what that tells us about Trump's own miscalculations, and how ordinary people have taken charge of this story in a manner Trumpworld cannot fathom.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After we recorded this episode, we noticed that Axios is reporting that anger is rising at Stephen Miller inside Donald Trump's inner circle. Some White House officials blame Miller for smearing ICE murder victim Alex Pretti. This comes as reports in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times suggest that other top advisers want ICE to change course in a way that is running afoul of Miller's designs. That all this is leaking out shows internal dissatisfaction with Miller is growing. Meanwhile, a new YouGov poll finds 55 percent of Americans and 67 percent of independents have very little confidence in ICE. Both reflect large recent spikes. We think all this reflects a deeper Miller-MAGA miscalculation. So we're talking about all this with The Atlantic's Adam Serwer, who spent time in Minneapolis and wrote a good piece on the outpouring of popular energy there. We discuss what he saw on the ground among ordinary people, why it badly undermines the Miller-MAGA theory of American politics, and how MAGA poses a far bigger threat to social cohesion than immigrants do.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the country absorbs the shock of Alex Pretti's murder by federal agents in Minneapolis, President Trump is politically on the defensive. He sent his border czar there and sort of made nice with Minnesota's Democratic governor. Meanwhile, Republicans and senior ICE officials are panicking about the situation. Democratic Senators are vowing to oppose funding for the Department of Homeland Security absent major restrictions on ICE. Will they hold the line? We talked to Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut. He offers a bracing indictment of Trump-ICE lawlessness, saying bluntly that we're at a “breaking point” that will decide whether “we condone the federal government murdering our own citizens.” Murphy also lays out how Trump is losing the argument over immigration, what Democrats should demand to restrict ICE and explains why it would be disastrous—for his party and the country—if Democrats cave at such a critical moment.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Supreme Court is about to rule on Donald Trump's tariffs, which lower courts deem illegal. But guess what: Trump himself has badly undermined his own case for them. He's claimed broad tariff powers by absurdly declaring trade deficits an economic emergency. But he keeps admitting to other rationales for them. In a crazed tirade in Davos, he said he threatened Switzerland with tariffs partly because a female leader's voice annoyed him. He unleashed a long rant in a letter threatening Brazil with higher tariffs over its treatment of ally Jair Bolsonaro. And in another tirade, he threatened to impose tariffs on European countries opposing his quest to seize Greenland. We talked to MS NOW's Steve Benen, who identified this pattern in a good piece. We discuss all these threats, the GOP's complicity with the Mad King's whims, and what it'll mean for our country if the high court greenlights such obviously absurd abuses of power.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump exploded in fury on Thursday at polling and media companies. He raged over “Fake and Fraudulent Polling,” said this should be a “criminal offense,” lashed out at numerous news organizations, and vowed to put a stop to the “Polling SCAM.” He's plainly talking about The New York Times's new poll, which finds Trump absolutely flailing on most major issues. He's 18 points underwater on immigration, a majority of working class voters disapproves of his handling of it, and public opposition to ICE is overwhelming. These are the worst numbers on the issue he's ever gotten. Trump's rage is a reminder that he thinks he's immune to the laws of normal politics. But is he really? We think not. We talked to political theorist Alan Elrod, author of a good piece for Liberal Currents on the extent of Trump's power. We discuss the meaning of the pro-immigration public backlash, whether normal politics can ever constrain Trump, and how Democrats should prepare for the post-Trump era. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By now you've seen President Trump's big speech at Davos. The slurring, the confusing of Greenland and Iceland, the nonsense about wind power, and the racist smearing of Somalis before the whole world—it was an unmitigated disaster.  But things got worse when Trump's propagandists spun it all as a world-historical triumph: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt unleashed an extraordinary stream of obsequious praise, absurdly declaring that “America is back” and that Trump played “leader of the free world.” When reporters savagely noted the Greenland-Iceland confusion, she offered a true knee-slapper of buffoonish damage control. We think it all exposed the scam at the core of MAGA in a fresh way. We talked to Mona Charen, a podcast host at The Bulwark and penetrating critic of Trump's lawless unfitness. We discuss the brutal criticism of the speech, how this may have killed NATO, why other countries can never trust the U.S. to refrain from electing another Trump, and how it all revealed MAGA's anti-globalism as a sick scam. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the weekend, President Trump sent a deranged text to Norway's prime minister linking his failure to win the Nobel Peace prize to the possibility of taking Greenland by military force. That wasn't a one-off: Trump said something similar in rambling remarks on Tuesday. Trump's lunacy is prompting a medical expert to sound the alarm: He notes that Trump's conduct should “trigger a bipartisan congressional inquiry into presidential fitness.” That was amplified by a Danish politician, who called Trump “mad and erratic.” So how is all this madness perceived by the rest of the world right now? We talked to international relations expert Elizabeth Saunders, who has a great new piece for Foreign Affairs magazine about the future of “primitive anarchy” that Trump is leading us into. She explains the deeper reasons Trump is so unconstrained, how his conduct is seen by other foreign leaders, and why there's reason to fear that Trump's designs on Greenland are deadly serious. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last week, President Trump unleashed an angry tirade over anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis, threatening to invoke the “INSURRECTION ACT” against “professional agitators and insurrectionists,” i.e., ordinary people. On Friday, Trump seemed to suggest he might not, but he also left the threat very much dangling out there. Indeed, after we recorded this episode, Trump kept raging, seething about jailing Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, sharing tweets about “anti-ICE anarchists,” and exploding about Minnesota politicians supposedly wanting criminals in their state, showing his fury is on full boil. This comes as a devastating New York Times frame-by-frame analysis of Renee Good's shooting shows very clearly that the shooting was not remotely justified. Making all this still worse, troops are now reportedly mobilizing for possible deployment to Minnesota. We talked to Mother Jones writer Mark Follman, author of a new piece on Trump's exploitation of crises. We discuss how the Trump-ICE cover story is collapsing, how dangerous invoking the Insurrection Act would be, and what Trump hopes to accomplish by stoking social antagonisms at moments of national trauma.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After fielding a perfectly legitimate question about ICE abuses on Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt lost her temper. She smeared the reporter as a “left-wing hack.” She then broadened her indictment to the whole “fake” media. She also angrily ridiculed another journalist for asking why Trump recently “joked” that we shouldn't have midterm elections. That Leavitt was triggered by questions about ICE again shows the White House is refusing to admit error of any kind. This comes as one new poll has Trump's disapproval on immigration soaring to 61 percent, and another one finds a majority thinks ICE is making our cities less safe. We talked to Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council, which has a great new report on Trump's migrant detention system. We discuss the heartening public rejection of Trump, ICE's coming explosion in recruitment, and why the refusal to change course means ICE is set to wage a Forever War on the American people.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

House Speaker Mike Johnson's response to growing ICE violence is really something to behold. In one long, rambling answer, he blamed shooting victim Renee Good in every which way, absurdly claiming she'd been “taunting” ICE officers and “impeded” them, while insisting they'd been “very patient.” In another one, he played sleazy little games, claiming the violence represents the “tragic consequences” of ICE facing “too much resistance”—again blaming the victims for violence against them, without a hint of concern about ICE's conduct. We talked to Sarah Posner, author of several good books on the religious right, who is launching a new podcast next week called “Reign of Error.” We discuss Johnson's strain of Christianity, how Trump and MAGA fuse religious and secular authoritarianism, and why some leading Evangelicals are now calling on people to pray—not for the victims of Trump-MAGA violence, but rather for Kristi Noem and ICE.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump is going all in on the lunacy that the Minneapolis shooting should prompt a crackdown on the left. He unleashed ugly tirades on this, claiming the protests are “fake” and that officials are investigating their financial backers. He also lied uncontrollably about crime in Minnesota while hinting darkly that the crackdown there will get worse. This comes as a new Quinnpiac poll finds majorities of voters say the ICE shooting is not justified (53-35) and disapprove of ICE enforcement (57-40). Those numbers are even worse for Trump among independents (59-28 and 64-33). And new YouGov poll finds 53 percent say the ICE officer should face charges. We talked to New Republic staff writer Melissa Gira Grant, author of a new piece on the smearing of victim Renee Good. We discuss how Trump has lost the middle of the country over ICE, why his crackdown on the left will fail, and and why new Justice Department resignations over the shooting are so incriminating to Trump and his top advisers. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There have been some ugly developments around the horrific killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis by an ICE agent. Donald Trump offered a vile new excuse for the shooting, claiming the victim was “disrespectful” to law enforcement. Meanwhile, a damning Wall Street Journal report finds that since July, there have been 13 examples of federal agents firing into civilian vehicles, with eight people shot and two confirmed dead. What's more, the report suggests much of this was avoidable. All of that is quite simply a shocking indictment. Yet despite massive anti-ICE protests over the weekend, Trump officials are only being more contemptuous of those angered by the killing. We talked to Tim Dickinson, senior writer at The Contrarian, who attended a protest in Portland. We discuss the utter lack of oversight on law enforcement right now, how Trumpworld sees this as an opening to further antagonize blue America, and why protesters are determined to make something good out of Renee Good's death.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The other day, five Senate Republicans helped pass a measure blocking President Trump's authority to wage war in Venezuela without Congress. That caused Trump to erupt in a crazed fury. He attacked those Republicans by name, fumed that they had weakened his authority, and raged that “they should never be elected to office again.” He even seethed at their “stupidity.” This comes amid other signs of GOP defiance:  A number of House Republicans backed extending Affordable Care Act subsidies and other measures Trump opposed. Several GOP Senators openly criticized the administration's handling of the ICE killing in Minneapolis. One slammed Stephen Miller's comments on Greenland as “stupid.” We talked to Salon's Amanda Marcotte, who writes well about Trump's psychoses. We discuss how all this shows Trump's power isn't absolute, why he's so desperate to keep you from realizing that, and why we shouldn't get psyched out every time he plays tyrant on TV. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the scandal around ICE's killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis gets worse, two leading Democrats—Representatives Eric Swalwell and Daniel Goldman—are set to introduce a new bill reining in ICE. It would end qualified immunity for civil enforcement officers like ICE agents, making it easier for victims of their abuses to sue them or pursue criminal charges against them in court. All this comes as top MAGA figures and leading Republicans have flatly defended the killing in some truly ghoulish displays. This, even as powerful new video analyses from The New York Times and The Washington Post show unequivocally that the shooting was at minimum absolutely unjustified. We talked to Swalwell and Goodman about their new proposal, the need for the state of Minnesota to prosecute the shooter, the folly of expecting the FBI to investigate the killing, and the need to functionally end ICE's existence over the long term. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Wednesday, an ICE agent killed a woman in her vehicle on the streets of Minneapolis. She was reportedly a U.S. citizen. But then President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made their own conduct even more damning by blaming the victim and insisting the officer acted out of legitimate self-defense. The video Trump posted didn't come close to supporting his claims. Other videos strongly suggested the officer wasn't at all in a life-threatening situation and that lethal force was in no way justified, and Minnesota officials vehemently backed that up. DHS officials then leaked that the agent had violated use-of-force protocol. We talked to New Republic contributing editor Felipe De La Hoz, who writes well about ICE accountability. We discuss the government's collapsing cover story, how this saga sheds light on ICE's larger rogue-agency lawlessness, and what needs to happen to rein in this rogue agency. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last year, Senator Mark Kelly and five other Democrats posted a video with a stark message: Military service members and officials are not obliged to carry out illegal orders. This infuriated Donald Trump, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is reprehensibly bringing disciplinary action against him as a retired Navy man. But this is backfiring: Kelly has now offered a striking new response in a second video, and it's powerful stuff. Kelly speaks emotionally about his family's commitment to the military and to the country, and absolutely humiliates Trump over his disregard for military service and disdain free speech. Indeed, the attack on Kelly is likely to fail and will continue making Trump look worse. We talked to legal expert Leah Litman, author of the book Lawless, about the Supreme Court. She walks us through the legal ins-and-outs of this dispute, explains why the case against Kelly represents its own abuse of the process, and reflects on how this saga captures Trumpworld's deeper contempt for public service.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Trump just unleashed a wild rant on Truth Social, accusing media figures of deliberately ignoring good news about his worsening tariff disaster because they “hate and disrespect our country.” He added that the tariffs have made us “FAR STRONGER AND MORE RESPECTED THAN EVER BEFORE.” What caught our eye is how this shows Trump running everything, no matter how trivial, through a “strong” versus “weak” frame. He's vowing to seize Venezuela's oil after his invasion; he's threatening many other countries with military action; and he's even menacing Greenland, a NATO ally. Yet a new poll finds surprisingly low support for his action against Venezuela on multiple fronts. We talked to international relations expert Nicholas Grossman, who argues that Trump has it all backwards: All these blustering fits and threats are a sign of Trump's personal and political weakness and also are weakening our country's international standing. We discuss whether that bad poll suggests an opening for Democrats to seize the strong/weak frame from him.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After American forces captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and brought him to the United States, almost no Republicans spoke out in dissent. But Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene did speak out. In an extended rant, she accused Trump of breaking his promise to avoid military adventurism. She sharply questioned Trump's commitment to fighting “narco-terrorists.” And she even said straight out that this is a naked bid to take Venezuela's oil. With other MAGA figures questioning Trump's interventionism, all this wrecks any sense that Trump's version of MAGA stands for anything. We talked to Norm Eisen, the publisher of The Contrarian and co-founder of the Democracy Defenders Fund, who has been talking about the invasion as an example of international corruption, just as Greene has. He explains how Greene laid bare MAGA's corrupt core, why Trump's illegal invasion is so damaging to international law, and what can be done to try to bring some accountability.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the world that the Kennedy Center has now been renamed after President Donald Trump. Her announcement of this great honor was bizarrely obsequious, mimicking phrases Trump himself uses and slathering him with great flattery. We think it's no accident that this comes as Trump's decline is worsening both physically and politically: On Friday, he seemed to nod off amid his escalating physical deterioration. And a brutal Fox News poll finds his approval on the economy cratering, huge majorities saying economic conditions are bad, and even majority opposition to his mighty boat bombings. We talked to Moira Donegan, a columnist for The Guardian, who has a great new piece on Trump's decline. We discuss how Trump's minions are compensating for his deterioration with increasing cult worship, why his physical and political decline are connected, and what it means that the world is now looking beyond Trump.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a blow to House Speaker Mike Johnson, four House Republicans joined Democrats to force a vote next year on an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies. Anger is spiking in both directions: Representative Mike Lawler, one of those four, ripped Johnson's effort to block that vote as “absolute bullshit!” But more MAGA-fied allies of President Trump like Representative Eric Burlison excoriated those rebels for “stabbing the rest of the party in the back.” This is the worst of both worlds for Republicans: They are mired in infighting, yet despite this push by centrists, the subsidies will still expire, bringing political trouble next year. Indeed, Johnson seemed unnerved as he gamely insisted he has “not lost control.” We talked to Grace Segers, who writes well about Congress and policy as a staff writer for The New Republic. We discuss the deeper roots of intra-GOP tensions, how this all might play in the midterms, and the deeper human toll that the expiring subsidies will unleash.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles gave numerous interviews to Vanity Fair that were way too candid about, well, everything. That prompted press secretary Karoline Leavitt to offer some rancid spin: She went full cult in praise of Trump. She dissembled lamely about “fake news.” And she raged at the publication for not including enough of Trump advisers' praise for him—as if it's obliged to do that! We think Wiles' most interesting revelation was her open admission that Trump's prosecutions are indeed about “retribution.” Zeteo reporter Asawin Suebsaeng has a piece out today reporting on a new turn in this saga: That confession will complicate Trump's prosecution of enemies, because it gives them ammo to show that his targeting of them is vindictive. We talked to Suebsaeng about the damage this will do to Trump's corrupt prosecutions, why Leavitt and others praise Trump so obsequiously at difficult moments, and what all this says about our slide into authoritarianism.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Trump offered a disgusting response to the horrific death of Rob Reiner and his wife, narcissistically insisting they'd died of “Trump Derangement Syndrome” while delusionally claiming world-historical successes for himself. What surprised us was MAGA's retort to this. Marjorie Taylor Greene offered a remarkably heartfelt reply to Trump, and the contrast between her measured tone and his unhinged, megalomaniacal cruelty had the effect of quietly humiliating him. Other MAGA figures piled on as well. We think this captures a deeper set of divisions inside MAGA, and indeed, it comes as other MAGA figures are now warning that the base is drifting away from Trump. Even Trump's own pollster is sounding the alarm. We talked to New Republic senior editor Alex Shephard, who's been writing well about Greene and MAGA. We discuss why Trump's hold is weakening over his base and MAGA influencers alike, what Greene recognizes about Trump's weakness that other Republicans don't, and how this will likely get worse for Trump, to the benefit of Democrats. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump keeps ranting furiously that “affordability” is a Democratic scam. But suddenly he's now promoting video of himself talking about how devoted he is—really, truly—to doing something about costs (while angrily blaming Democrats for it). And that admits costs are a problem on his watch. Republicans want him to stabilize his message on affordability, but by lurching wildly back-and-forth, he's sabotaging it. And even the very MAGA chair of the Republican National Committee is admitting the GOP faces a “looming disaster” in the midterms. Other MAGA figures are also sounding the alarm. There's a reason Trump can't escape this conundrum: His policies actually are making things a lot worse. We talked to economist Rob Shapiro, who has a good piece at Washington Monthly spelling this out. We discuss the true nature of the Tump-GOP conundrum, the deeper reasons Trump is so vulnerable on the economy, and why it's all likely to get worse right through 2026. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Trump erupted Thursday in a wild rage on Truth Social in which he appeared to blame pollsters for failing to register his world-historical success. “When will Polls reflect the Greatness of America at this point in time?” he fumed. Notably, this comes just after Democrats scored big wins in the Miami mayoral race and elsewhere, which analysts see as a sign that the Latino vote is shifting hard away from Trump. Not coincidentally, a new poll has Trump's approval on immigration plunging below 40 percent. We talked to William Saletan, staff writer at The Bulwark, about his great new piece on Trump's open agenda of ethnic persecution. We discuss the relationship between Trump's racism and his unpopularity, what the latest GOP losses show about the collapse of the MAGA coalition, what to make of the GOP's open embrace of full-bore ethnonationalism, and why it's (somewhat) heartening that the public is rejecting it so decisively. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today's episode, we talk to Representative Jamie Raskin about President Trump's corrupt scheme to gerrymander the 2026 midterms—and about Raskin's new ranked-choice-voting plan. Trump's rage is growing as Indiana Republicans keep resisting his pressure to gerrymander their state, and he exploded in a wild Truth Social rant over the weekend. Yet for now, state Senate Republicans appear dug in. Worse for Trump, other Republicans are now beginning to argue that his scheme is backfiring. Why? Because Trump is hurting Republicans so badly that those whose seats are made somewhat less safe by gerrymandering might now be at risk. Raskin sees an opening to offer another way: Today he's introducing a new bill that would require ranked choice voting in congressional races across the country. He tells us about the proposal, discusses how Trump's gerrymandering chaos shows why ranked-choice is a better alternative, and urges Democrats to fight GOP tactics with hardball of their own.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pete Hegseth's defense of the killing of two men clinging to an incapacitated boat is falling apart on multiple fronts. Lawmakers who saw video of this horror are letting it be known that the two men were waving before their execution, suggesting they were either surrendering or beckoning for rescue. And other leaks confirm that the boat very well might not have been bound for the United States to begin with. Meanwhile, some Republicans are abandoning him or acquiescing to legislative language that denies Hegseth funding until video is made more widely available to lawmakers, suggesting his position is weakening. We talked to Tess Bridgeman, co-editor-in-chief of the Just Security website and former national security lawyer in the Obama administration. She explains why Hegseth's position is untenable, why the entire bombing campaign is illegal, why it's critical that oversight pin down President Trump's role, and what the prospects are for true accountability later.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Under persistent questioning about President Trump's unfitness for office at his latest cabinet meeting, White House press secretary offered one of the ugliest defenses we've ever seen. She singled out Trump's vile racist attack on Somalis, and praised it as an “epic moment” that put an “exclamation point” on that meeting “for the whole world to see.” Never mind that Trump appeared to fall asleep there, and in that rant about Somalis, called them “garbage” who “contribute nothing” and suggested he wants them all out of our country, even though many are American citizens. We talked to Vedant Patel, a former State Department and White House official. We discuss what it means that Leavitt went full cult in giving White House sanction to his ugly bigotry, why the targeting of Somalis is so ghoulish, and what Trump really intends when he threatens denaturalization and “remigration,” as he is now doing. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Democrats have signaled that they're running in the 2026 midterms on “affordability.” This week, Trump unleashed several angry, wild-eyed rants about their “affordability” message. In one, he raged that this message is a “con job.” In  another, he seethed that it's a “Democrat scam.” He's angry because these attacks are working, and because he knows it means the GOP's midterm woes are getting much worse. And right on cue, in this week's special election in Tennessee that Republicans won, the vote shifted 13 points to the left relative to 2024. That shocked Republicans into a panic: Representative Elise Stefanik openly fretted that Republicans are “underperforming.” Senator Ted Cruz urged Republicans to sound the “alarm.” And a senior GOP strategist called the result a “flashing red warning.” We talked to Amanda Litman, the president of Run for Something, which is recruiting candidates across the country. She digs into the special election results to explain why they're good news, details how Democrats can keep the momentum going through 2026, and reflects on what could still go wrong. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Suddenly, on many fronts at once, President Trump and his allies are demonstrating how central sheer sadism is to his agenda—and to how MAGA conducts politics. Trump just unleashed a hateful rant to the media about Somali immigrants to set the stage for a coming campaign to arrest them en masse. Meanwhile, MAGA excitement over the Caribbean Sea bombings is spiking: Pete Hegseth tweeted out a deeply sadistic cartoon celebrating these extrajudicial killings. A prominent MAGA personality just declared her desire to see bombing victims “bleed out.” And MAGA figures are raging at reporters who broke the story of the follow-up strike killing two men in the water. We talked to Paul Waldman, who has a good piece on his Cross Section Substack about all of this. We discuss the centrality of hate and bloodlust to Trump-MAGA politics, how the administration's social media strategy utilizes sadistic imagery, and why the public backlash to all these depravities is heartening. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Trump's illegal boat bombings just got even worse. We've now learned that after demolishing a boat allegedly carrying drug smugglers in September, two survivors were left behind, and they were both blown apart in a second strike. That's probably a war crime. On Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt struggled mightily to spin this as perfectly lawful. But all she revealed is how hard it is to defend all this when actual facts are known. Meanwhile, the latest turn in this saga is clearly rattling some Republicans, who feel forced to appear as if they want to exercise more oversight. We talked to Jennifer Rubin, editor-in-chief of The Contrarian, about her good new piece on this latest fiasco. She explains why we should take GOP angst over the bombings seriously, why people inside the chain of command should fear they're on the hook for illegal acts, and what it will really take to impose accountability.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Trump dreads being seen as weak. He exploded in a long, crazed rant about a harsh new piece in The New York Times about his ongoing decline. Though the piece documented his deterioration in careful detail, Trump insisted in all kinds of ways that, no, really, he's as physically energetic and cognitively sound as he's ever been. We think this gets at a bigger story: The illusion that Trump is strong, powerful, and wields absolute mastery over foes is essential to his political mystique. As his wildly unhinged overreaction to the piece demonstrates, he knows this better than anyone. Yet that eruption only confirmed the thesis: The whole fracas even got medical professionals to weigh in on his obvious mental decline. We talked to David Lurie, who writes for the Public Notice Substack, about his new piece depicting Trump as a “lame duck dictator.” We discuss the collapse of Trump's aura of strength, how the combination of his political debilitation and consolidation of authoritarian power poses new dangers, and the importance of depicting him as the naked emperor figure he truly is.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices