THE DAILY BLAST with Greg Sargent

Donald Trump has been running propaganda ads starring, well, himself as a way to help the GOP in the midterms. The ads are government-funded, and one official even suggested that the payment scheme is partly designed to get media attention to the ads, amplifying them further. It's appallingly corrupt and potentially illegal. But, amusingly, they're backfiring: A new Quinnipiac poll shows that Trump is more toxic for the GOP than we thought. It finds his approval at an abysmal 34 percent, and at 31 percent on the economy, a record low for him. Worse, Democrats now lead Republicans on the economy, international conflicts and immigration, three traditional GOP strengths, underscoring just how big a drag he's become. We talked to David Corn, author of the new book How Russia Won and a New Republic piece on Trumpian propaganda. We discuss how badly Trump is screwing the GOP, why those TV ads are destined to fail, why he'll grow more dangerous as Election Day approaches, and how to prepare for it. 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 ban on a range of Canadian imports just went into effect, and The New York Times calls this a sign that the trade war has grown “vicious.” In a rambling tirade this week, Trump upped the ante in a dark way, calling Canada “one of the worst countries in the entire world.” Trump also said almost in passing that we get along with China better than we get along with Canada. We think it shouldn't pass unnoticed just how casually Trump will toss aside a longtime ally. Trump also unleashed his top trade adviser to say sneeringly nasty things about Canada and Canadians, another sign that MAGA nationalism is growing more malicious. Meanwhile, Republicans tell the Los Angeles Times that the trade war is really bad news for the GOP. In one focus group, almost all swing voters in Michigan opposed it. We talked to New Republic contributing editor Virginia Heffernan, who's been writing well about the economic roots of GOP midterm woes. She explains why it's so dumb of Trump to order Americans to hate Canada—and why it's all tailor made to get MAGA-adjacent “diesel class” voters to turn on Trump.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Republicans leaking about the midterms are growing more alarmed. One GOP operative in Iowa says this: “It feels like it could be a wipeout.” In story after story, Republicans are confiding about their mounting panic. A GOP pollster who privately told donors that the Senate might hold was mocked by Republicans themselves as “delusional.” Meanwhile, over the last few days, Trump has unraveled in a series of panicky Truth Social posts. In one, he ranted at length about how great the economy is and ordered Americans to “VOTE FOR REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES.” In several other posts, he raged at the media for reporting “Fake Polls” while not reporting all the fabulous economic news. We talked to Melissa Toufanian, managing director at the progressive firm Navigator Research, which has done interesting polling on Trump supporters who now regret their vote. She explains what's really happening with voters in red states with big races, what focus groups reveal about how Trump-backing constituencies see him now, and why politicians from both parties should listen carefully to what voters are really telling them.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A few days ago, Donald Trump exploded in an extended tirade at news organizations. Why? Because they had suspended TV pool coverage of him to show solidarity with three news outlets he'd banned from the White House. This resulted in no TV footage of his reception of Xi Jinping at the White House. Trump absurdly raged that news orgs were trying to deny him coverage of a major success. But in saying this, he actually revealed that he badly needs the attention of news outlets. Without this attention, he shrivels. His fury shows that if news orgs collectively join together to resist things like his press ban—which has now been blocked in court—it can actually work. We talked to Paul Waldman, author of a good piece on Trump's diminishing stature. We discuss the ways Trump's power is a media creation, why this saga shows we need more collective institutional resistance to him, and what that might look like as he keeps shrinking. (After we recorded, Trump banned just CNN more narrowly, excluding it from Air Force One, but it's unclear whether that will last.) Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Iowa radio host Steve Deace just unleashed an extraordinary social media screed. He confided that GOP pollsters have informed House Republicans that GOP +15 districts are now straight toss-ups, and GOP +10 districts are now “underwater.” He said he regrets this deeply—he badly wants Donald Trump to succeed—but critically, he also declared bluntly that Trump and his Iran war are fully to blame for this fiasco. In a serious humiliation for Trump, he sharply criticized the war's rationale and warned that this is “risking what's left of the Trump presidency.” Ouch! This state of play is confirmed by Trump's own super PAC, which is sinking money into deep red Iowa districts. So we talked to Iowa Democratic Party chair Rita Hart. She discusses whether the landscape is as bad as Deace says, why Trumpy areas are turning on the president, and how to convert this moment into durable gains in rural America.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Out of the three news organizations that Donald Trump has banned from the White House, he reserves special fury for CNN. He erupted at reporter Kaitlan Collins, posting that she's an “unhappy person” and a “SLEAZEBAG” who suffers from a “TRUMP addiction.” He also tried to humiliate Collins in person at the United Nations. And he posted a video mocking CNN reporters in truly dumb and juvenile terms. This comes as legal experts have picked apart the White House's case for the ban. It now rests partly on specious claims about national security, and the details are monumentally absurd. We talked to New Republic staff writer Timothy Noah, who has written well on this saga. We discuss why the White House legal case is so weak, how Trump's ongoing diminishment is encouraging institutional resistance to him, why his decline will worsen, and why people should stop treating him as invincible. (After we recorded, a judge seemed skeptical of the White House's arguments.)  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The polling just keeps getting worse for the GOP. A new Reuters survey finds Donald Trump's approval at 32 percent—the worst in Reuters polling of both his terms. He's at only 73 percent among Republicans, and on cost-of-living he's at an astonishing 17 percent, both potential disasters for the GOP. This comes as a CNN poll finds voters souring on the war in unheard-of numbers. Meanwhile, panicky GOP leaks are turning into a flood: GOP operatives tell Politico that the races in North Carolina and Georgia are rapidly slipping away. Others privately admit they're badly on defense in red states and districts. One GOP operative candidly declares: “The bottom is beginning to fall out.” Is it really this bad? We talked to Morgan Jackson, the veteran North Carolina Democratic operative on Roy Cooper's Senate campaign. He explains why Trump's collapse with independents is an underappreciated story, why what's happening in North Carolina and Georgia could have major long-term political consequences, and why he still expects North Carolina to be very, very close. 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 efforts to ban news organizations from the White House are backfiring. Trump said straight out that he barred them because their coverage displeased him, and when the outlets sued on Monday, they cited his own words as proof that he'd retaliated against their reporting. That's likely to work. And other news outlets sided with them, suspending pooled coverage and resulting in Trump getting less TV attention. Meanwhile, Axios reports that Trump advisers confide that they fear he's feeling “powerless” as his losses pile up and a likely midterm defeat approaches. He's retreating “to his worst impulses” and this “helps explain” his press ban, per Axios: Because Trump feels his power slipping away, he “lashed out” at these organizations and banned them. That's surely correct, and it's humiliating. We talked to Kristy Parker, counsel at Protect Democracy. She explains why Trump's ban probably won't survive the courts, why his lashing out at moments of feeling powerless makes him so dangerous, and why she's cautiously optimistic about our system holding.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A striking new poll finds Democrat Mary Peltola leading GOP Senator Dan Sullivan by 46-41 in the Alaska Senate race. This is big news: Because quality polling of Alaska is so rare, it's a real indicator that a Senate majority is now truly gettable for Democrats. The poll also finds Trump badly underwater and absolutely tanking with independents—in Alaska! The kicker? The survey was done for AARP by Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio, along with Democratic pollster John Anzalone, so Republicans will take it very seriously. Indeed, GOP panic is worsening: Republicans are privately talking about pulling money out of the Georgia Senate race. Other GOP operatives warn that the party is bleeding Latinos. One GOP strategist expressed the state of play by sending a poop emoji to a Huffpost reporter. And GOP Representative Nancy Mace said: “The midterms are going to be a f--king bloodbath.” We talked to John Anzalone, the Democratic pollster on the Alaska survey. He explains what the numbers really show about Trump's collapse, why he thinks Texas is “real,” and what he still fears could 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

Fox News is having profound trouble coping with the spate of terrible stories hitting Donald Trump. Lately the network has been mostly avoiding discussion of the Iran debacle. Fox largely ignored the report of a Russian oligarch funding Don Jr.'s wedding. It didn't appear to cover Karl Rove's highly newsworthy warning about racism in the GOP. Meanwhile, a new Fox poll just delivered crushing news to Trump and the GOP: It finds that 63% say Trump made the economy worse; Democrats are substantially leading the GOP on most major issues and in the generic ballot; Democrats are benefiting from a big enthusiasm edge; and much more. Fox often downplays its own polling when it's bad for Trump, but this time, it seems to be breaking through into the coverage. As Matt Gertz of Media Matters details on this episode, Fox is really in crisis mode amid Trump's mounting failures and cratering public standing. Gertz takes us inside how Fox deals with bad news for Trump, discusses how Trump-MAGA propaganda functions, and anticipates what's coming on the right if a big midterm loss badly diminishes him.  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 once again stepped up his threats to entirely wipe out Iran, but it somehow isn't forcing Iran to make the deal he wants. The emptiness of the threats is embarrassing enough. But now, CBS News has published a series of extraordinary photographs of American bases and equipment abroad badly damaged by Iranian attacks. These pictures were leaked by anonymous U.S. service-members who did this because the truth about Trump's war is being suppressed. As one put it: “This is major damage to our bases that hasn't been communicated to the American public.” Given the tight controls that Trump and Pete Hegseth have tried to impose on their war propaganda, this is even more humiliating for them. We talked to international relations expert Nicholas Grossman. We discuss all the ways that Trump's Iran quagmire is deepening, why those photos tell a deeply unnerving story about our nation, what's wrong with Trump's conception of “strength,” and why MAGA's theory of war and power is leading us into catastrophe. 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 wild fury at the Supreme Court after it blocked his scheme to corrupt vote-by-mail. But in his bizarrely unhinged tirade was a key tell: He called the ruling a “big loss for Republicans.” In effect, he openly admitted he's angry because he won't be able to rig the midterms—and because his party is more likely to lose them badly. This comes as a New York Times poll finds Democrats leading by nearly nine points in the generic ballot matchup. This is the gold-standard survey and it shows Democrats with a widening lead. It also shows Democrats suddenly leading on the economy and on immigration and finds his approval lower than any president heading into a midterm since George W. Bush before the 2006 Democratic blowout. As a Times analysis concludes, a “blue wave may be building.” Taken all together, it's arguably his worst polling news of the cycle. We talked to Democratic strategist Caitlin Legacki, a veteran of midterms. We discuss the Times poll's hidden findings, why Texas may not be a pipe dream, why the polls might soon start to tighten, and why that shouldn't freak you out.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After AI scientists and executives called for a slowdown in unrestrained AI development, Donald Trump unleashed a series of crazed tirades to the contrary. He raged that the only oversight AI needs is a “STRONG AND SMART PRESIDENT,” which seemed to refer to him. He seethed that all such warnings are a “HOAX” and suggested it's all a scam being perpetrated by America's enemies. What's striking about all this is how it unintentionally sabotages the GOP's midterm strategy. Vulnerable Republicans have been calling for a vote on restraining AI data-center costs and others have pushed other regulatory ideas. Yet the leader of the Republican Party is saying none of this is needed. We talked to MS NOW's James Downie, author of a new piece on the GOP's midterm struggles. We discuss why Trump is badly undermining a core GOP strategic aim, how Trump has revealed himself as a conventional anti-regulatory plutocrat, and why Democrats, for their part, should place him right at the center of the story they're telling about AI's future. 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 raged at a reporter who asked about his “midterm convention” offer to send $5,000 to voters if the GOP holds Congress. He snapped at her repeatedly, called her “the worst,” and even leaned in and glowered menacingly in her face. What makes this significant is her question: Why, she asked, do you need to pay voters to turn out if your economic policies are the smashing success you claim? This captures the core absurdity of the moment, and Trump has absolutely no answer for it. It's no accident that this comes as the preliminary ratings for his first-night speech viewership on Fox News were a scant 2.5 million, even less than a Sean Hannity episode. The Times opined: “No Trump bump.” Mediaite called it a “dud.” We talked to New Republic senior editor Alex Shephard, author of a good piece on Trump's political weakness. We discuss new data that shows the enthusiasm gap favoring Democrats, why those bad convention ratings are so humiliating for Trump in a deeper sense, how Trump-MAGA's hold on the culture is vanishing, and the profound contradictions at the heart of MAGA's Trump-worship.  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 tailspinned again in the polls. In a new Quinnipiac survey, his overall approval is at 33 percent and he plummeted to a record low on the economy. Meanwhile, a CNN analysis finds that on the same issue, Trump is an astounding 52 points underwater with independents. That's the context for Trump's fake-promise to send $5,000 to every American if the GOP keeps Congress. Many critics dismantled the idea. But even Fox News is gently mocking it: One anchor pointed out that he's made empty promises of cash before. Bret Baier noted that it would cost $1.3 trillion. And Laura Ingraham pressed Trump: Why not send people the money now? That gets to the heart of this idiotic effort to use federal money to rig the elections. We talked to political scientist Tom Schaller, author of a good piece for the Public Notice Substack on Trump's inflation disaster. We discuss why the polls look much worse than in 2018, how Trump's policies created this disaster for the GOP, and why Trump's magical reality-bending powers might be finally running out. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After Canada's reciprocal tariffs kicked in this week, Donald Trump spiraled on social media. He posted a deranged map suggesting he wants to annex all of Canada. He posted a demented visual of himself domineering over Canada's prime minister. And he posted an unhinged rant attacking Canada with convoluted threats. Now, Republican strategists tell The Hill in a baffled tone that they're worried the trade war has become a big liability in the midterms. That comes as Republicans like Susan Collins and Kansas's two GOP Senators have appeared at a loss to explain Trump's approach. In short, even Republicans are flummoxed by Trump's motives here. We talked to Vox's Zack Beauchamp, who has reported deeply on the roots of Trump's trade-warring. We discuss how unmoored Trump is from basic trade realities, how Canadians see the situation, what it means that even working people oppose his tariffs, and why it all gives Democrats an opening to restate the case against MAGA nationalism. 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 unleashed a barrage of angry, unhinged threats over the last few days. He posted a map of all of North America—including Canada and Mexico—under conquest by the United States. He angrily threatened to cut off all U.S. sales of Canadian aerospace company Bombardier, even though it employs many U.S. workers and its supply chains are deeply entangled in U.S. communities. He crossed out the “Mexico” in New Mexico and replaced it with “America.” And he snarled that gas prices will drop below $2 after we “WIN” against Iran, even though he simply cannot get it to do his bidding right now. In all these cases, Trump is threatening things that are never, ever going to happen. The calculation that his voters will be satisfied by this—even as he's failing them so badly across the board—reveals his seething contempt for them with great clarity. We talked to Salon's Amanda Marcotte, who writes well about MAGA psychology. We discuss why Trump genuinely thinks this stuff will sate MAGA, how this reveals his profoundly dim view of his supporters, why it was a catastrophe that the media overinterpreted 2024, and what it means that the culture has moved well beyond Trump and MAGA. 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 tailspinning continues. A CNN analysis finds that Trump has a lower approval rating than any of his predecessors going into midterms in this millennium. That's worse than Joe Biden in 2022, Barack Obama in 2014 and 2010, and even George W. Bush in 2006. Meanwhile, Trump says he'll campaign heavily this fall, but humiliatingly, Republicans are leaking to Politico that they don't want him anywhere near them on the trail. And The Washington Post reports that amid GOP fears of his toxicity, he's running ads about himself and his super PAC may hoard its funds. Why? Because his team fears its fundraising ability may dry up after the midterms—meaning they anticipate a big loss. We talked to veteran political handicapper Charlie Cook about his new piece digging into the GOP “nightmare,” why Trump's unpopularity may be historically unique, and why that's making conventional midterm patterns unusually bad for the GOP.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Original air date: April 3, 2026 During Donald Trump's speech on Iran this week, he revealed too much. In a line that sounded partly ad-libbed, he declared that the Strait of Hormuz “will open up naturally. It will just open up naturally.” This should be read as a straight-up admission that Trump has no idea how to fix the colossal mess he's made, and that he's just washing his hands of it entirely. That's utterly damning. Meanwhile, Politico reports that Republicans privately fear the speech did nothing to help them politically; as one put it: “What the hell did he just say?” Those things are related: The worse this war gets, the more it will hurt Republicans in the midterms. We talked to foreign policy writer and podcaster David Rothkopf, author of a good piece about the speech. We discuss Trump's implicit admission of failure, the deeper reasons this is developing into such a fiasco, why it's a trap for Republicans, and what the post-Trump Democratic Party should look like.  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 erupted at MAGA allies for opposing his war. In one tirade, he attacked Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly and others as “FAKE MAGA.” In another, he slammed them as “Low IQ.” Similarly, his pollster, John McLaughlin, claimed the MAGA base “doesn't consider” those critics “conservative” anymore. So disagreeing with Trump intrinsically makes you non-MAGA? This reveals Trump believes MAGA is whatever he says it is at any given moment—that Trump and his pollster really do view MAGA as a cult. We've written about this dynamic before, but decided it was worth a pod episode. So we talked to New Republic staff writer Perry Bacon, author of a great piece on Trump and the global right. We discuss why Trump's international and domestic allies are deserting him, how his excommunication of top MAGA figures is shrinking the movement, why Trump believes he can control the minds of his voters, and why all this could hurt GOP chances of holding the Senate.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Original air date: January 30, 2026 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

Original air date: April 17, 2026 In today's episode, George Conway argues that as improbable as it might seem right now, congressional Republicans will ultimately decide they have no choice but to remove Donald Trump from office before his term ends. Conway, the former GOP lawyer-turned-Trump-critic, is running for Congress as a Democrat. One of his ads is a montage of all the horrors that Trump has unleashed, followed by Conway's promise to be a different kind of Congressman in response. In our conversation, Conway explains why he thinks Republicans will eventually decide Trump has to go and talks about how he'll push for impeachment immediately if elected. Conway also lays out an accountability agenda that includes impeaching many cabinet officials, criminal referrals for high-level Trump administration officials, and extensive other reforms designed to prevent anything like this from ever happening again.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Original air date: April 29, 2026 In today's episode, economist Paul Krugman lays out an expansive case that Donald Trump holds a losing hand in the war with Iran. Krugman argues that Trump can't seem to admit that the Strait of Hormuz problem has cornered him. Krugman also details why the situation could get worse, if Iran continues holding out and constraints on oil supply drive the global economy into recession. As Krugman puts it, this will keep getting uglier for Trump until he “swallows his pride” and accepts that he doesn't hold the cards. This builds on the ⁠piece Krugman posted on his Substack⁠ arguing that time is on Iran's side. Gas prices just ⁠hit a new high⁠, and Republicans ⁠quietly fear⁠ their midterm prospects are darkening due to what Trump has unleashed. Krugman takes us through these dynamics, notes that Trump is obsessing over his ballroom in search of a win, and explains why this all could tailspin further for the GOP. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Original air date: August 13, 2026 By now you've heard that when Donald Trump left the NATO summit in Turkey last month, he was clandestinely transferred from Air Force One to an alternative plane to avert a credible Iranian threat. It appears many of his cabinet members were left on Air Force One. Now new leaks make the story look darker: It turns out Trump brought several of the aides who are personally closest to him on the safe alternative flight. This, even as he left numerous journalists on the original plane, which effectively turned them into a decoy that might have been targeted. None were informed of the operation. It all perfectly captures Trump's contempt for the media, so we talked to Margaret Sullivan, author of the excellent press-critiquing Substack “American Crisis.” She explains why this saga is so irregular, why the media faces a moment of uncommon challenges, and why journalists often won't directly confront authoritarianism, even when it gravely threatens their own institution. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Donald Trump aggressively highlighted a long screed from a MAGA influencer that sharply criticized the GOP for failing in all kinds of ways. This is aimed like a laser at depressing the Trump base. Making this matter more, Trump keeps saying stuff like this himself: He recently declared that his voters are not angry at him, they are angry at Republicans. Translation: Trump voters should hold the GOP accountable for failing him. This directly undercuts the GOP midterm strategy of campaigning on...the achievements of the GOP Congress. Note that Mike Johnson keeps attempting that strategy, only to see Trump undercut it again and again. We think this could actually matter, and to parse out why, we talked to Jennifer Rubin, editor-in-chief of The Contrarian. We discuss why Trump's attacks on the GOP really could make a huge difference in hard demographic terms, why Trump's political project requires him to keep doing this, and what Democrats must do now to avoid overconfidence and close out strong.  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 reportedly instructing advisers to spend big on midterm ads...about himself. Sources leak to The Atlantic that Trump advisers are telling him the real reason the polls look so bad is that voters are unaware of his many stupendous successes. He is apparently so unwilling to accept the reality facing Republicans that he's nixing their efforts to make their races more local—and less about him. All this comes as Republicans openly fear Trump's trade war with Canada will hurt their chances. That Trump is going haywire with his anti-Canada mania—even as the GOP begs him not to, and even as he plans new ads about himself—all constitutes a new level of unraveling. We talked to Mona Charen, who's been arguing at The Bulwark that Republicans badly need Trump to stay away from them. We discuss how Trump's autocratic nature bars advisers from telling him the truth, why Republicans aren't permitted to seek distance from him, and what some remarkable new polling reveals about Trump-MAGA weakness.  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 rage at Canada is growing more unhinged. He just posted a deranged threat to rename Lake Ontario with the phrase “Lake America.” But it gets worse: He also intimated that the U.S. won't be “doing much business with Ontario any longer.” That would be seismic, but here's the thing: Trump appears to actually want this outcome. That's why he's plunged us into a trade war with our ally. But it's backfiring: Canada just released its list of American products that will face retaliatory tariffs, and it appears aimed at harming local economies in ways that will hurt GOP incumbents and candidates. We previously reported this would create problems for Republicans. Now that it's happening, we recorded an episode about it with Democratic strategist Christina Reynolds, a veteran of midterms. We discuss why the trade war could have outsized impact in the Midwest, how this might badly hurt GOP chances, what the Midwest's political transformation reveals about the decline of Trumpism, and how Democrats can seize this moment going forward. 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, Donald Trump unveiled a new “plan” to curb beef prices by suspending tariffs on huge amounts of beef imports, while claiming the beef will be sold to the U.S. at a big discount. But he wouldn't say which countries will be importing the beef or how he secured that commitment. In this, Trump accidentally revealed that his tariffs actually do raise consumer prices, debunking his own claim that other countries pay the tariffs. This, even as he just escalated his tariffs on another front by expanding his trade war with Canada, which will hit Trump country hard. We think all this shows new levels of contempt for his own voters. So we talked to Paul Krugman, whose Substack is excellent at demystifying such matters. He explains why Trump's beef plan is a scam, what it reveals about Trump's disdain for MAGA, and why this trade war with Canada is such a terrible idea. Krugman also discusses how it all discredits MAGA economics and whether liberals can use Trump's world-historical failures to shift the economic argument more fundamentally. 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 handling of the Natalie Harp mess has backfired big time. The Atlantic reports that Trump's own anger is why Trumpworld exploded so vehemently after Senator Jon Ossoff highighted their closeness. As the media focused on Harp, Trump grew “furious,” which led aides to “take their cues” from him, leading to more lashing out, but this “backfired spectacularly,” prompting more attention—and more leaks. The New York Times reported that some advisers think her sway is “poisonous,” and even that she's provided him with the ugliest social media content that he posts, such as the image of the Obamas as apes. We talked to Democratic operative Greg Greene, who held this job under Obama and wrote about it for The New Republic. We discuss the deeper problems with this arrangement, why the latest disclosures are so unnerving, and what it all says about the Cult of Trump—and about Trumpworld's profound contempt for our constitutional order.  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 issued a crazed, rambling tirade, vowing to hit Iran with the “MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN” while threatening “TREMENDOUS” economic consequences to any country that helps Iran. News organizations are struggling to divine what he means and what it's supposed to accomplish. Regardless, it shows just how stuck Trump is in this quagmire. Meanwhile, Marjorie Taylor Greene offered her own extended prediction that the GOP is facing a brutal midterm because Trump's broken promises on Iran have effectively shattered the MAGA coalition. Greene's statement is a remarkable moment, so we talked to New Republic contributing editor Virginia Heffernan, who's been writing well about MAGA's crackup. We discuss the deeper meaning of Greene's stand, the hidden fissures splintering MAGA, why this threatens the GOP's midterm hopes, and why even a crushing Democratic victory won't get us out of the woods just yet.  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 approval rating just hit an abysmal low of 33-64 in Reuters polling. That's only one survey, but Trump also just hit a new low of 37-59 in New York Times polling averages, which suggests he's likely in the mid-30s and may be trending toward the Reuters number. This comes as Democrats appear to have flipped a state legislative district in western Pennsylvania that Trump won in 2024 by 18 points. Though that race hasn't been called yet, either way it's an 18-point shift, a very good omen. Meanwhile, a CNN analysis finds Trump badly bleeding Hispanic men, a demographic he carried in 2024, another sign his coalition is imploding. We talked about all of it with Michael Cohen, author of a new piece on GOP extremism for his Substack, Truth and Consequences. We discuss what the Pennsylvania swing portends, why a Democratic Senate majority is now at least possible, why Trump losing Latinos is a huge deal, and what it means that Democrats are voting as if Trump is on the ballot this fall.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The White House and MAGA exploded in fury after Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff pointed out during a speech that Donald Trump loves to “travel with Natalie” on the presidential jet. “Natalie,” of course, is Natalie Harp, the young aide whom Trump relies on heavily for emotional support and basically controls information flows to him. Yet despite all the fake MAGA outrage, Semafor reports that in fact, Trump's own aides are “unnerved” by their closeness. That shows Ossoff is forcing a much-needed conversation over Trump's sunsetting and the informational bubble he resides in daily. We talked to Paul Waldman, who wrote about this saga on his Substack, The Cross Section. We discuss how Ossoff stripped bare the realities of Trump's sunsetting, why this is what actually got MAGA so furious, why this shows Democrats should make the midterms about Trump, and what it all says about how Democrats should fight the information wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 60-day deadline for a deal between Donald Trump and Iran has passed, and he's in a lather over it. First Trump raged to Fox News of his displeasure with Oman's negotiations with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz. “If Oman gets in the way, we'll bomb the s--t out of them,” he fumed nonsensically. Then, under questioning over foreign policy, he erupted at a female journalist, repeatedly instructing her to “be quiet, be quiet, be quiet” in a vile and abusive tone. Meanwhile, officials leaked their pessimism about the war to Politico, saying things like “we never should have started this war” and revealingly admitting they have no idea what “winning” over Iran even means anymore. Translation: He lost. We talked to former Defense Department official Ariane Tabatabi. She explains the current standoff, why Trump's rage at Oman is so absurd, how his megalomaniacal belief in his own limitless strength and power has backfired, and what might happen if Iran drags this out through the midterms.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At a rally the other day, Donald Trump handed Democrats the perfect soundbite. “For you to pay a tiny little bit more for your gasoline,” Trump seethed, “just remember” it's to deprive Iran of a nuclear weapon. He said higher prices are “okay,” and that “I will never apologize.” Trump's angry sneering tone on the words “tiny little bit more” projected deep contempt for all who dare object to hardship imposed on them by his needless war, and the moment produced harsh media coverage. Separately, Trump curtly brushed off concerns among military families over long deployments and bad conditions on the U.S.S. Lincoln. We talked about all this with MS NOW's Steve Benen, author of an interesting piece on Trump's refusal to ever admit error. We discuss how Trump's lifelong penchant for faking expertise is catching up with him, how Democrats can exploit this new self-own, and why political conditions suddenly resemble those that brought down George W. Bush in his second term.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Intriguingly, Fox News has lately been hitting Donald Trump with terrible polling news. In recent days, Fox has found Democrats slightly ahead in Senate races in Maine, Texas, and Iowa, and up by a lot in North Carolina. Critically, Trump's own favorability numbers are very bad in all those states, even though he won three of them, two by double digits. In all four, his numbers among independents are shockingly awful. Meanwhile, on the Iran war—which is central to why his standing is cratering—Trump aides are privately feeding him hopium. The Atlantic reports that they're showing him data on Iran's economy, which supposedly illustrates that if he does nothing and bides his time, Iran will surrender any day now. Doing nothing is the smart play, sir! Yet as Democratic strategist Caitlin Legacki argues in this episode, Trump's inaction on Iran is a big albatross for GOP Senate candidates. Legacki explains why Iran is central to the battle for the Senate, why those Fox polls should give Democrats grounds for cautious optimism, and what could still go wrong for them.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By now you've heard that when Donald Trump left the NATO summit in Turkey last month, he was clandestinely transferred from Air Force One to an alternative plane to avert a credible Iranian threat. It appears many of his cabinet members were left on Air Force One. Now new leaks make the story look darker: It turns out Trump brought several of the aides who are personally closest to him on the safe alternative flight. This, even as he left numerous journalists on the original plane, which effectively turned them into a decoy that might have been targeted. None were informed of the operation. It all perfectly captures Trump's contempt for the media, so we talked to Margaret Sullivan, author of the excellent press-critiquing Substack “American Crisis.” She explains why this saga is so irregular, why the media faces a moment of uncommon challenges, and why journalists often won't directly confront authoritarianism, even when it gravely threatens their own institution.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While interviewing Donald Trump, a MAGA media personality urged Trump to consider declaring a national emergency to seize control of our elecctions. Trump's response was ugly. “Let me just say that stranger things have happened,” Trump said. “I'll leave it at that.” In other words, Trump wants it understood that declaring a national emergency absolutely is being considered. This comes as Politico reports that Republicans are privately bracing to face Trump's “wrath,” now that the Senate has gone on recess without passing the voter suppression legislation he wants. Republicans fear he'll erupt at them anew over this in coming days. In short, Trump is intensifying his search for ways to rig the midterms or steal them outright. So we talked to Professor Rick Hasen, the author of the excellent Election Law Blog. He explains what's wrong with Trump's “national emergency” threat, how it signals genuine intent to delegitimize our elections, what election-theft options Trump has that really should worry us, and what ordinary voters can do—right now—to prepare for the worst. Listen to this episode here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a fascinating new analysis, CNN's Harry Enten calculates that Donald Trump's net approval on the economy is 33 points underwater. That's a shocking 42-point swing from during the 2018 midterms, when Trump was in positive territory. On top of that, Enten notes that in the most recent CNN poll, Trump's net approval on inflation is 50 points underwater, and that this hasn't been rivaled by any other president. Meanwhile, Republican pollsters and strategists tell The Wall Street Journal that they fear that under Trump, the GOP has thrown away its traditional advantage on the economy. And they suggest time is running out to turn that around. We talked to New Republic senior editor Alex Shephard, who has been arguing well that Trump's unpopularity is the story of our politics. We discuss why the bottom fell out so quickly for Trump, what the punditry still gets wrong about 2024, and why Democrats won't make a big case that on the economy, their party tends to be far better than the GOP ever is. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://dsrnetwork.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In an interview with Punchbowl News, Donald Trump said straight out that his voters just might not show up for GOP candidates this fall. That's a striking admission of one of the thorniest problems the GOP faces. But it gets worse. Trump also declared that “a lot” of his voters are “not angry at me,” but “are very angry at Republicans.” That will likely be read by his supporters as a declaration that Republicans are failing Trump, and as encouragement to stay home. Meanwhile, polling shows MAGA voters turning against his war in large numbers. And MS NOW interviewed Trump voters and found them deeply disappointed with his second term. In short, MAGA is cracking up. We talked to Shripal Shah, who runs ad expenditures for the Dem-aligned House Majority PAC. We discuss whether Trump voters are gettable by Democrats, whether the current Democratic lead in the generic House matchup is enough, and how big a challenge the tattered Dem brand really poses.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A striking new Washington Post report reveals that Donald Trump privately raged at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, demanding to know why he'd been caught off guard by depleted munitions stockpiles. Yet these leaks actually reveal his own serious screw-ups: Trump wrongly concluded that the munitions situation had been fixed, showing that the commander in chief utterly failed to keep track of the impact his decision to go to war was having on the U.S. military. Meanwhile, other leaks suggest that Trump is feeling privately humiliated by his failure to defeat Iran, which freshly exposes just how deep his miscalculations have been all along. We talked to Salon's Amanda Marcotte, a skillful interpreter of MAGA pathologies. She explains why authoritarian regimes rely on slavish loyalists like Hegseth, discusses why voters' rejection of Trump is so important to salvaging the American experiment, and deciphers a conundrum known as “the MAGA paradox.”  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Democrats just nominated left-wing populist Abdul El-Sayed in the Michigan Senate race. Yet his victory was razor close, suggesting he faces big challenges ahead. What's his theory of the case? In his victory speech and in remarks to reporters, El-Sayed offered clues. He described Trumpism as a fusion of the “worst” of neoconservatism and of MAGA, an apt description of the horrors Trump has created. He cast his GOP opponent as a Trump bootlicker, essentially saying this is what Trump demands of his party. And he juxtaposed Trumpism with the ethnic diversity of his coalition and with the immigrant heritage of himself and his children, an effective indictment of Trumpian white-nationalism. Is this enough? We talked to Ron Brownstein, senior political analyst at CNN and columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. We discuss El-Sayed's many challenges in the general, how he absolutely can assemble a winning coalition, and what he's learned from Barack Obama's understanding of American politics.  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 been raging at Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for Washington, DC, because she dropped those high-profile prosecutions for alleged vandalism of his Reflecting Pool renovation. That pressure is corrupt on its own. But new leaks are making it look even worse. CBS News reports that Pirro actually carried a box of evidence to the White House showing that the facts simply didn't support those prosecutions. The meeting got “heated,” per CBS, seemingly meaning Trump wanted prosecutions in spite of what the facts and the law said. Meanwhile, we just learned this fiasco triggered private “tirades” from Trump, further underscoring his quest for lawless prosecutions. We talked to former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade, author of The Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government. She walks us through just how deeply irregular this presidential conduct truly is, discusses what has been lost at DOJ, and reflects on how a Democratic House and/or Senate can rein in all this madness next year. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Monday, CNN analyst Harry Enten flagged a truly surprising finding in a Fox News poll that had eluded our attention: Trump's approval is nine points underwater in Texas, which he won by 14 points in 2024. That's not all: The Fox poll, which shows Democrat James Talarico up by three points, finds Trump's approval at an astounding 18 percent among independents in Texas, with 50 percent disapproving strongly. That's remarkable, especially given how key independents are in the Texas Senate race. All this comes as Trump unleashed a long tirade claiming “my REAL poll numbers” are “the best they have ever been.” Trump also bizarrely listed a long litany of accomplishments that were, well, entirely made up, showing he has zero intention to help his party by recalibrating. We talked to Democratic strategist Sawyer Hackett, who knows Texas and has worked on midterms. He explains why Trump's standing with Texas independents is “absolutely shocking,” what the path to victory there looks like, where Talarico still must improve, and how numbers like these could open up other red states 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

Donald Trump unleashed an epic tirade at Senator John Cornyn for blocking his IRS lawsuit settlement slush fund, which would let Trump reward allies and grants the Trumps a form of tax immunity. Cornyn is holding up the nomination of Todd Blanche as attorney general until it's killed. Trump gloated that he'd endorsed Cornyn's victorious primary opponent and seethed that the American people want him to have this corrupt fund. In response, another foe, Senator Thom Tillis, landed a hard blow, asserting that Trump's rage over the fund is exactly why it must be killed. Humiliatingly, Tillis treated Trump like a toddler who must be told, “no.” Plus, a defeat would show that Trump's license to corrupt DOJ is not limitless. (Underscoring this humiliation, after we recorded Trump petulantly exploded again, saying he absolutely will have his fund.) We talked to New Republic staff writer Emma Janssen, author of our great new politics newsletter all about Democrats, The TNR Blue Book, which you should subscribe to, folks! We discuss her installment on how Dems are exploiting these splits, the deeper reasons for them, and how they reveal Trump's diminishing power more broadly.  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 and his dutiful Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr, have been targeting a number of ABC's broadcast licenses, and ABC just challenged this hard in a new filing. In an interesting move, ABC cited Trump's own social media postings and remarks at speeches to show that he is corruptly trying to censor the network as punishment for its content and viewpoints, in violation of the First Amendment. Amusingly, in those examples, Trump blurted right out in public that he does in fact want the FCC to punish ABC precisely because of its speech. Now this has become a weapon against Trump. We talked to law professor Leah Litman, author of a good book about the Supreme Court. She explains why Trump's public bullying of ABC should undermine his case, walks us through the legal ins-and-outs here, details why ABC might prevail, and discusses how open, explicit corruption is intrinsic to his political project. 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 suddenly bumping up against limits in many areas at once. Top aides just leaked to The Atlantic that he's “frustrated” with his inability to force Iran's hand with his increasingly deranged threats. In the case of Trump's bogus efforts to prosecute James Comey, we just learned that he personally demanded briefings in real time about interrogations of him. That reveals in deeply humiliating fashion his extraordinary personal involvement in the case and makes it more likely it'll get tossed. His acting DNI chief Bill Pulte is boasting about firing “deep state” denizens even though this may not have actually happened. To make sense of all this, we talked to Talking Points Memo editor-at-large David Kurtz, author of the excellent “Morning Memo” newsletter. We discuss the legal ins-and-outs of these new developments, why there's some cause for optimism that Trump is being meaningfully constrained, how our institutions are nonetheless on a knife's edge, and what the endgame of Trump's attempted authoritarian takeover might look like. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Fox News, Donald Trump threatened to bomb all of Iran's bridges and all of its power plants. Making this worse, Trump declared that his threat could leave all of Iran's 91 million people without power. That may be the first time Trump has explicitly said this threat could apply to Iran's entire population, which would constitute an extraordinary atrocity. Though Trump presented this as something he'd be reluctant to do, the key is he still confirmed it's under consideration. Meanwhile, many MAGA figures are very upset about Trump's new meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, fearing it portends an escalation: As Steve Bannon put it, this is a “disaster for America First.” MAGA doesn't care much about Iranians, but Trump's escalation threats do rattle them for other reasons. We talked to former State Department official Emily Horne, author of the Spin Class Substack. We discuss the humanitarian horrors Trump is actually hinting at, what MAGA pressure on Trump means, and why the logic of the trap ensnaring Trump could lead to a terrible ending. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andrew and Tristan Tate, two major “manosphere” influencers, were recently arrested in Miami and now face charges of rape and sex trafficking in Britain. The White House now says Donald Trump will not intervene in their extradition, a turnaround for two top MAGA figures who are close to Trump's inner circle and helped him win young men in 2024. Worse, many MAGA figures are following Trump and deserting the Tates. Still, MAGA is cracking over this: Tucker Carlson and several other figures are expressing sharp skepticism of the charges, treating the Tates as martyrs and raging at the charges as “politically driven.” As Guardian columnist Moira Donegan and I conclude in this episode, their dissent is significant: It's clearly speaking to a sizable chunk of MAGA that actively lionizes the violent misogyny that the Tates represent. We discuss the deeper causes of MAGA's divisions over the Tates, why the MAGA vision of masculinity is imploding, how Democrats got spooked by 2024 into overreading Trump's successes with young men, and how they can speak to this constituency more effectively. 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 hit a trifecta, throwing away the traditional GOP edge on the economy, immigration, and national security. The latest polls show Democrats are leading Republicans on the economy by a comfortable nine points, have hit near-parity with the GOP on immigration, and lead on foreign policy, even as Trump has sunk into the 20s on the Iran war, all shockers. These polls show it's all driven by Trump's collapsing approval on all three. Yet Trump just unleashed a huge new wave of tariffs. His GOP allies are leaking their deep dismay to Politico: One suggests this worsens the affordability problem and cannot be spun favorably by GOP candidates. Another says this is a “bad conversation for Republicans.” We talked to Democratic strategist Andrew Bates. He explains what all this looks like on the ground in difficult House races, what obstacles still remain, and why it remains hard for Democrats to win rural voters who are unhappy with Trump.  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 at Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Wednesday, demanding that he hurry up and pass the SAVE Act, the horrific voter suppression that Trump thinks will save the GOP. This comes as the House is passing funding to reward states that adopt its provisions. The idea is Senate Republicans can pass those via reconciliation. Thune says the votes aren't there, but Trump went nuclear on him and the White House joined the fray, so pressure is growing. This comes as a Fox News poll finds the GOP seven points behind in the House ballot matchup, and falling far behind Democrats on the economy, to boot. Other new polls are showing further GOP deterioration. We talked to Ari Berman, the great voting rights reporter for Mother Jones. He walks us through how Trump's plot would really work, the obstacles it faces, why Trump really might attempt to seize ballot boxes, and what would  happen next.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Politico reports that Republicans now think they're seriously doomed in the midterms. One GOP operative offers this truly astonishing quote about Donald Trump's effect on the party: “We're preparing for the bottom to fall out.” Republicans are fretting that Democrats have a real chance of winning Senate and House races in states and districts that Trump won by double digits. Another Trump ally laments that he won't admit he lost the Iran war and is caught in a “classic escalation trap” with no way out. In short, Republicans think Trump is in collapse. And yet...we don't think Democrats are close to putting this away. So we talked to Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg. He argues that the GOP panic is in sync with what public polls do show about the Senate races and discusses other problems the GOP faces (like the coming reinstatement of Trump's tariffs). He also ponders what could still go wrong, urging Democrats to address potential pitfalls—their too-small lead in the generic ballot matchup and their lack of a concrete agenda to close out the home stretch.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices