THE DAILY BLAST with Greg Sargent

This week, Politico released a new poll with some pretty big surprises: A larger-than-expected percentage of Americans say Donald Trump’s criminal conviction in Manhattan makes them less likely to vote for him. The finding is even more striking among independents. The poll also took the innovative step of trying to gauge how important Trump’s conviction is to voters. And the answer is: Pretty important! We talked to Ankush Khardori, a senior writer for Politico Magazine who oversaw this poll, who walked us through its findings, what they mean, and whether Trump’s pressure on Republicans to protect him from the law will backfire on the GOP in November. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Dr. Anthony Fauci’s new book comes out, and it contains a disturbing chapter about Donald Trump’s ignorance, explosive rage and megalomania during the coronavirus pandemic. We think this should be covered as a loud, clanging alarm bell about the dangers of a second Trump term. So we talked to New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, who has written a series of columns on voter amnesia about Trump’s 2020 performance, about the horrors unleashed on the country by his unfitness for the presidency—and why recent events suggest he’s gotten much worse. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New reports are emerging about Donald Trump’s tightening grip on the GOP, and the upshot is this: It’s crazier and more dangerous than you thought. First we learned that Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson privately schemed over how to sabotage ongoing prosecutions of Trump. Then Trump met with Republicans and reportedly unleashed numerous strange rants, calling the Justice Department “dirty no good bastards” and spinning out a wild tale about Nancy Pelosi’s daughter. We talked with A.B. Stoddard, a columnist at The Bulwark and shrewd observer of GOP politics, and she trenchantly explained why this moment is very much not a drill. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An influential group called the True Texas Project is hosting a conference in July that will actively promote Christian Nationalism and the racist great replacement theory, the Texas Tribune reports. The group, which subscribes to the idea of a “war on white America,” has ties to many Texas GOP officials, the report says, including Senator Ted Cruz and Attorney General Ken Paxton, a major supporter of Donald Trump. We talked to Sarah Posner, author of several books on the religious right, who sheds much-needed light on this ugly tangle far right ideologies—and how they’re being mainstreamed at the highest levels of Republican power. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump is now leveling his authoritarian threats right out in the open. He appears supremely confident that none of it will alienate swing voters. Now NBC News reports that the Biden campaign hopes to draw out this side of Trump at their upcoming debate—but if Trump doesn’t see these things as liabilities, he may advertise them all over again when voters are paying attention. We talked to Slate legal writer Dahlia Lithwick, author of an excellent new piece outlining how Trump is running on an overt promise of authoritarianism, about whether voters will awaken to the threat he poses—and how this could cause his confidence to blow up in his face. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the wake of Donald Trump’s criminal conviction, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Republicans are ramping up with sordid new efforts to use their congressional powers to protect Trump from other ongoing prosecutions. This gives Democrats an opening to hammer Republicans for aiding and abetting Trump’s nonstop quest to place himself above the law. Yet some Democrats seem reluctant to engage this fight. We talked to California Representative Eric Swalwell, who breaks down the absurdity of the GOP’s various tactics—and how Democrats can go on offense against them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some Republicans are reportedly worried that Donald Trump’s ongoing public attacks on his criminal conviction show that he’s overly focused on lathering up his base, and refuses to grasp that the verdict will likely alienate swing voters. We think this highlights a deeper truth about Trump and the MAGA movement itself: They cannot acknowledge that such Trump-centrict obsessions might be unpopular with the broader electorate, as this would constitute showing weakness. We talked to Washington Post reporter Isaac Arnsdorf, author of an excellent new book called Finish What We Started: The MAGA Movement’s Ground War to End Democracy, who helped us unravel this tangle of MAGA pathologies. Listen to this episode here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A judge just ordered longtime Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon to surrender to prison on July 1st after his conviction for defying the Jan. 6th committee’s subpoena. Not surprisingly, Trump and MAGA have already exploded in rage. Making this worse, Bannon is one of the leading pro-Trump figures calling on Trump to jail Democrats without cause if he wins the White House—and Bannon’s jail time will only fuel that mania. We talked to Eric Columbus, a lawyer who represented the Jan. 6th committee, about the alarming signals this sends about the perils of a second Trump presidency. Listen to this episode here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal published a dodgy hit piece about President Biden’s age. Then something unusual happened: Democratic lawmakers went nuclear on the piece, going on record to forcefully undermine its core assertions. This deserves some discussion: Could Dems better “work the refs” the way Republicans do? When liberals do criticize coverage, why do newsroom leaders shrug it off? Why do editors insult our intelligence with phony justifications for the overemphasis on Biden’s age? We chatted with Aaron Rupar, a shrewd media observer and author of the “Public Notice" Substack, about the deeper problems with the press this episode reveals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

MAGA loyalists have been relentlessly pushing a silly talking point: The American people are in full scale revolt against the criminal conviction of Donald Trump. Guess what? The polls are telling a different story, finding majority support for the verdict. One of these, from the progressive firm Data for Progress, finds that this is also true among swing voters. We chatted with Data for Progress’s executive director, Danielle Deiseroth, about what all these numbers are really telling us, most (though not all) of it good news. Listen to this episode here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the wake of Donald Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, Republican anger at the verdict is getting darker, with GOP leaders talking about holding hearings and even defunding other prosecutions of Trump. But Democrats are not engaging this debate nearly as intensively, and appear divided over how to proceed. This is puzzling: The furious GOP defense of Trump is deranged and reckless, and would almost certainly be deeply unpopular—if voters are made to understand it. We talked to veteran Democratic strategist Celinda Lake, who suggested ways the party might find a stronger and more unified posture in this battle going forward. Listen to this episode here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The other day on CNN, prominent Never Trump lawyer George Conway did something you rarely see in Washington. He dressed down a GOP commentator for lying his ass off about Donald Trump—and then, right on the air, he asked why CNN was paying this Republican to spread lies on Trump’s behalf. We think this episode illustrates a deep problem with the media’s handling of pro-Trump propaganda. So we chatted with Conway about why he unloaded—and in the process, he revealed some interesting things about the network. Listen to this episode here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Earlier this week, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito refused to recuse himself from hearing Jan. 6-related cases amid controversy over an upside-down U.S. flag outside Alito’s home that’s associated with Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” effort. Then, on Thursday, Chief Justice John Roberts denied Democrats’ demand for a meeting, adding to the imperiousness around the conservative justices and making the Alito scandal look worse. We talked to Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, about what he called the “omerta” code for right wing justices—and whether it’s time for hearings into the Alito mess. Listen to this episode here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump recently said he’s “looking at” imposing restrictions on contraception if he is elected president, and even promised a concrete policy. Then he quickly walked it back. But certain constituencies on the right have not given up—far from it. We chatted with Politico reporter Alice Miranda Ollstein, co-author of a great new piece detailing the blueprint that Trump’s MAGA allies are developing for him to restrict birth control through executive action, about how far this could get if he regains the White House. It isn’t pretty. Listen to this episode here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Tuesday, Judge Aileen Cannon temporarily denied special counsel Jack Smith’s latest request for a gag order on Donald Trump’s lie that the FBI was set to use lethal force on Trump at Mar-a-Lago. In keeping with a shady pattern of favoritism to Trump, Cannon said No, but she may feel pressure to grant the gag order later, lest Smith seek her removal. We talked to legal scholar Matthew Seligman, who has done great work road-mapping Trump’s legal travails, about why Cannon’s move may not help Trump in the long run—and why it’s premature to assume he won’t face a federal criminal trial before the election. Listen to this episode here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump and his media propagandists have been preposterously suggesting the FBI under President Biden was set to use “lethal force” against Trump when it searched Mar-a-Lago. This fabrication was summoned into existence by Fox News and the right wing media. We talked with media reporter Brian Stelter, author of a great new piece on Trump in The New Republic’s “American Fascism” issue, who put all this in its larger context, explaining what the right wing media has become under Trump, and how he will bully non-compliant media outlets if reelected president. Listen to this episode here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Thursday, Donald Trump tweeted that Vladimir Putin will release Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter detained in Russia, after the election—“for me,” meaning for Trump. In other words, elect Trump president, and Putin will release him. We think this saga gets at a larger story about Trump’s approach to politics and foreign policy. So we talked to Nicholas Grossman, a professor of international relations who writes about Trump’s Putinist inclinations. He explains how Trump may be sabotaging U.S foreign policy to help himself politically, while aligning himself with the world’s autocrats and dictators. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trump and MAGA Republicans are floating the crackpot idea that President Biden’s FBI was ready to target Trump with lethal force when it searched Mar-a-Lago. This is based on a wildly absurd reading of FBI policy, but beyond this, we think this saga says something larger about the fascistic politics of Trump and his MAGA allies. We talked to Federico Finchelstein, an expert on fascist movements and author of a new piece in The New Republic’s issue on “American Fascism,” who explains why Trump is best seen as a “wannabe fascist.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Monday, the prosecution rested its case in Donald Trump’s hush money trial in Manhattan. This comes after Trump’s defense team concluded their efforts to destroy former Trump fixer Michael Cohen’s credibility as one of the chief witnesses against Trump. So has the prosecution proven its case? We talked to New York Law School professor Rebecca Roiphe, who has prosecuted cases like these in New York, about why she thinks a conviction is now likely—even as it still remains very possible that Trump could beat the rap. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The GOP’s embrace of Donald Trump’s authoritarianism is growing more blatant. Republicans have joined him in attacking his criminal trials as illegitimate. Those angling to be his running mate say they wouldn’t have certified his 2020 loss. And many Republicans are echoing his refusal to say he’ll respect the 2024 outcome. We talked to Tom Nichols, a leading Never Trump conservative and staff writer at The Atlantic about why he is now arguing that his former party’s support for Trump has driven it into the abyss. Listen to this episode here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, dropped a bomb: She announced a donation of another $8 million to his campaign. That’s substantially more than her initial $2 million, and suggests much more is coming. Which is a reminder: It’s still very plausible that RFK Jr. will get on the ballot in many of the swing states that will decide the election. We talked to veteran Democratic strategist Stephanie Schriock, who explains why Shanahan’s wealth suggests it’s time to take the RFK Jr. spoiler threat very, very seriously. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Earlier this month, Donald Trump refused to commit to accepting the outcome of the 2024 election, shamelessly declaring he’d only do so “if everything’s honest.” Translation: He’ll only treat the outcome as valid if he wins. Infuriatingly, Trump has crucial backing for this project: Fox News and other MAGA propaganda outlets are already laying the groundwork to treat the outcome as illegitimate, should he lose. We talked to Matt Gertz of Media Matters, author of a new piece detailing how these right wing media figures are “warning” that Democrats intend to steal the election, and why that could produce another Jan. 6th or worse. Listen to this episode here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Tuesday, when Michael Cohen testified against Donald Trump, the former president’s lawyers reminded jurors that Cohen was once slavishly devoted to Trump and used to lie relentlessly on his behalf—before Cohen turned on him. Cohen responded by admitting it: Yes, he was once a member of the Trump “cult.” Which is apt: Again and again, Trump’s own lawyers have seemingly designed their strategy around flattering Trump as much as serving his legal needs. We talked to Ankush Khardori, a former federal prosecutor and senior writer for Politico Magazine, who explained how Trump’s lawyers are making serious mistakes that are rooted in his demand for absolute devotion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, The New York Times released new polls that sent shock waves through the Democratic establishment, finding Donald Trump leading in all six key swing states, in some cases by startling margins. While President Biden has fared better in other recent polls, the bottom line is that he is trailing in all the swing-state polling averages. So we talked to Jefrey Pollack, a top pollster for the Biden campaign, who laid out why he thinks it’s premature to read too much into these polls, and why the current data set, in his view, actually shows a hidden path to reelection for the president. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump constantly claims that crime is out of control. In reality, it’s substantially down under Biden, after soaring during the pandemic that Trump catastrophically botched as president. Now the Democratic group Third Way is releasing a new study finding that this year, congressional Democrats secured substantially more funding for public safety projects across the country than Republicans did. We talked to Jim Kessler of Third Way, who explains how Democrats can go on offense on the issue and beat back Trump’s relentless lies about it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Thursday, Stormy Daniels faced tough cross examination from Donald Trump’s attorneys in his hush money trial in Manhattan. By most accounts, she responded with humor and harsh mockery directed at Trump, which helped parry their assaults on her credibility. The ridicule, however, could serve another purpose: It could help convince the jury that Trump had a clear motive for committing crimes related to the hush-money scheme. We talked to former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade, who explains how Daniels’s testimony may have damaged Trump more deeply than it first appears. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the Indiana GOP primary on Tuesday night, Donald Trump lost 22 percent of GOP primary voters to Nikki Haley. That’s surprising, since Haley ended her campaign two months ago. So it’s clearly a trend: A sizable bloc of Republican voters in GOP primaries has resisted Trump again and again. We chatted with David Drucker, a senior writer at The Dispatch and author of a new piece about the Indiana outcome, about whether President Biden can poach these voters away from Trump and why it’s a warning sign for MAGA in November. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is deciding whether to call a snap vote to oust Mike Johnson as House Speaker. She has a list of demands, and if they aren’t met, she will pull the trigger. If so, Democrats seem prepared to save Johnson. Which raises some questions: Can Democrats leverage anything in exchange for protecting Johnson? Are Greene and MAGA losing power inside the House GOP? We talked to Representative Ted Lieu, the Number 4 in the House Democratic leadership, about how Democrats should proceed—and where all this is heading next. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump’s hush-money trial in Manhattan has already served up some extraordinary moments. On Friday, former Trump aide Hope Hicks’s tearful testimony undermined the defense that Trump’s legal team will attempt to mount. On Monday, new evidence tied the payments to mistress Stormy Daniels tightly to Trump, and he was again held in contempt for attacking jurors, this time threatened with jail. We talked to Kim Wehle, a professor of law and former assistant U.S. attorney, about why these developments signal still more damning revelations ahead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his much-discussed Time interview, Donald Trump threatened to use the military to carry out mass deportations in a second term. The proposals he offered are appalling on their face. But beyond that, by regularly using vicious tropes about undocumented immigrants and other domestic enemies within, Trump is trying to acclimate voters to the ugliest forms of authoritarian, dehumanizing language. We talked to Maria Teresa Kumar, the president of Voto Latino, about a new effort she’s launching with other Hispanic leaders to alert voters to the grave threat Trump poses—before it’s too late. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Unexpectedly, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been making a huge number of appearances all over right wing media of late. Trump advisers are loudly warning that this threatens to take voters from him, helping President Biden. But we’re skeptical: It’s still more likely that in the end RFK hurts Biden more than Trump. And there are cynical reasons why right wing media sources might be boosting RFK Jr. right now. We chatted with Matt Bennett, a co-founder of the Democratic group Third Way and a shrewd observer of U.S. party politics, about the true RFK effect, how RFK is functioning as a stalking horse for Trump, and what MAGA media might be doing to help along the scam. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new consensus is settling in among political analysts: Donald Trump’s poll numbers look unexpectedly formidable in states like Arizona and Georgia, which means President Biden’s most likely path to victory requires winning Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. And yet Trump will almost certainly lose if he can’t win one of those three. That’s why Democrats can stop Trump if they beat him in Wisconsin. We talked to Ben Wikler, the chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, who explains how years of painstaking organizing is laying the groundwork to defeat Trump by thwarting his designs, first and foremost, in the Badger State. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a new interview, Donald Trump gave away the game: If he wins the White House, he’d be fine with anti-choice crackdowns in red states going to horrific extremes. Trump vowed (unconvincingly) to leave abortion to the states, but when pressed, he suggested he’d be okay with prosecutions of women who get abortions and even with states monitoring their pregnancies. In addition to revealing what Roe v. Wade’s demise has wrought, that could give Democrats a boost in this fall’s state-level elections. We talked Arizona state senator Eva Burch about how the future of reproductive rights will raise the stakes in these contests—and about her own personal and emotional experiences with the issue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Recently Elon Musk triggered outrage by promoting a vicious speech by a Dutch activist that pushed virulent white nationalist ideologies. Musk added that Europe is threatened by “population collapse” that could lead to “dead civilizations.” What often gets lost amid such controversies is that Musk is pushing ideas that are part of a genuine political movement shaped around long term demographic anxieties. We chatted with reporter Gaby Del Valle, author of a great new Politico piece about the first ever “Natal Conference,” in Austin, Tx., and the far-right movement to get (some) people to have more babies, who helped place Musk’s talk about low birth rates in a global political context. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the weekend, a CNN interview with former attorney general Bill Barr went viral after Barr performed a spectacular on-air capitulation to Donald Trump. The former president had posted an unhinged rant that mercilessly belittled Barr, yet Barr affirmed his endorsement of Trump and downplayed the threat he poses, including a bizarre aside about Trump talking about “executing” rivals. We chatted with Amanda Carpenter, the prominent Never Trumper and an editor at Protect Democracy, about what this whole saga says about today’s GOP and its broader capitulation to MAGA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new Politico report has exposed deep tensions between The New York Times and the White House. President Biden’s team believes The Times isn’t adequately capturing the threat Donald Trump poses to democracy, while The Times responds that Team Biden is out to micromanage the paper of record’s coverage. We think this debate is badly muddled and in need of some major clarifications. So we chatted with Substacker Brian Beutler, a frequent media critic, about today’s flawed conventions of political reporting, why they aren’t meeting the challenge of this moment, and what’s needed to change them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Now that the House has passed military aid to Ukraine, MAGA personalities like Donald Trump Jr. and Tucker Carlson have joined Marjorie Taylor Greene in attacking House Speaker Mike Johnson as a traitor to the cause. Yet this isn’t just typical right wing ranting. It reveals very specific expectations of what Donald Trump would do to our international alliances if he wins back the White House. We talked to A.B. Stoddard, columnist at The Bulwark and author of a new piece digging into these dynamics, about what this MAGA vision for the world really looks like—and why a second Trump term would be so dangerous. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New polls this week offered something of a surprise: They show Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential run pulling more support from Donald Trump than from President Biden. And even some Republicans are publicly insisting that they fear the same. One person who is deeply skeptical of this reading is veteran Democratic strategist and podcaster Joe Trippi. We chatted with Trippi about his grand theory of the election, why he thinks the only threat RFK poses is to Biden, and how Trump and Republicans are attempting to disguise all of it with a clever bait-and-switch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Now that Mike Johnson allowed Ukraine aid to pass the House on a broad bipartisan basis, an enraged Marjorie Taylor Greene is ramping up her threats to oust the Speaker. But a funny thing has happened: For many reasons, Greene’s efforts could end up accomplishing little for the MAGA right, even as they do more to endanger GOP control of the House. We chatted with Democratic Representative Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, a shrewd observer of all these dynamics, about the possibilities of more coalition governing, the future of MAGA in the House, and the threat posed by the ticking time bomb otherwise known as MTG. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, arguments begin in Donald Trump’s hush money trial in Manhattan, and he’s raging over the unfairness of it all. Amazingly, some are rushing to insist the trial won’t pose a serious problem for his presidential chances. But progressive political strategist Anat Shenker-Osorio disagrees: She writes in a new piece for Slate that due to some hidden public opinion dynamics, the case is already damaging him. So we chatted with Shenker-Osorio about why the trial and Trump’s impulsive conduct at it is so alienating to voters outside the MAGA bubble—and why this dynamic will only get worse. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At a fundraiser with oil and gas industry executives last week, Donald Trump reportedly ranted angrily about, of all things, wind power. “I hate wind,” Trump told the executives. That may seem like a joke, but it gets at a deadly serious topic: If Trump wins this fall, he’d very likely try to repeal President Biden’s climate policies. We chatted with David Roberts, author of a great energy Substack called “Volts,” about Trump’s prospects for success at that project, about its potential consequences for the world, and about an intriguing concept known as “petro-masculinity.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kari Lake, a diehard MAGA Republican who’s running for Senate in Arizona, told a rally this week that it’s time for supporters of her and Donald Trump to “put on the armor of God and maybe strap on a Glock just in case.” There you have it: God and Glock, side by side. We talked to Elizabeth Neumann, a Homeland Security counterterrorism official during Trump’s presidency and author of a new book about Christian extremism, about how MAGA rhetoric normalizes political violence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here on the podcast we’ve repeatedly argued that Mike Johnson might ultimately allow a vote on military aid to Ukraine, even if it might get him ousted as speaker by MAGA forces in the House. Thankfully, this now looks real: The House GOP leadership is preparing to move forward with Ukraine aid as part of a broader set of bills—and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is furious. We talked to Democratic Representative Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, a former U.S. Navy Pilot and member of the Armed Services Committee, who helped us unravel why Johnson is doing this now, its prospects for success, and the true extent of Russian influence over MAGA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential run is inspiring new fears among Democrats that he will help Donald Trump win the White House again. Meanwhile, Kennedy’s campaign is now expressing confidence that he’ll appear on the ballot in all the key swing states and beyond. So it’s notable that the Kennedy clan is taking urgent new steps to mobilize in response—against their own family member’s candidacy. We chatted with Jill Lawrence, a veteran journalist and author of a new piece for The Bulwark on this dynamic, who explains the remarkable role the Kennedys are poised to play in stopping RFK Jr. from serving as pro-Trump spoiler. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With jury selection in Donald Trump’s hush money trial beginning this week in New York, some have dismisses the case as weak. Yet Trump, who is accused of falsifying business records to conceal payoffs over his alleged affair with Stormy Daniels, is not acting as if he’s out of the woods. Dave Aronberg, a prosecutor in Florida who writes for Meidas Touch News, has argued that it’s not necessarily a weak case at all. We chatted with Aronberg about what to expect from the trial and how surprise evidence could emerge that badly complicates Trump’s defense. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has been hit by a lot of bad news lately. His former vice president declined to endorse him. His legal travails are getting worse. And some states are lurching to new extremes on abortion, making it impossible for Trump to shrug off responsibility for the end of Roe v. Wade. Yet as Media Matters has documented, Fox News appears to be dramatically downplaying a lot of these stories. We talked to Media Matters news director John Whitehouse about Fox’s evolution into a pro-Trump propaganda network and what that says about today’s right wing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Wednesday, Donald Trump declared that he won’t sign a national abortion ban if elected president, a clear sign he recognizes the issue poses a severe threat to his prospects. But this week, the Arizona State Supreme Court upheld an 1864 law banning almost all abortions, demonstrating that Trump will be forced to answer for every extremist lurch in the states from now until the election. We chatted with Elvia Diaz, the editorial page editor of The Arizona Republic, who explains how deeply personal this issue is for millions of women and why that’s a serious problem for Trump and the GOP in Arizona and beyond. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At a recent fundraiser, Donald Trump promised big tax cuts to some of the richest donors in the country. He also suggested he wants more immigrants from countries like Norway—hint, hint—while blasting Latin American migrants as criminals and worse. This corrupt bargain—offer huge giveaways to wealthy elites so they embrace far right governance—is an old story. In today’s episode, Harvard professor Daniel Ziblatt—who studies what happens when conservative elites ally with authoritarian movements—explains why it’s extraordinarily reckless for corporate leaders to calculate they can work with Trump despite his promise of a lawless second term. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Mike Johnson finally appears set to decide whether to hold a House vote on funding military aid to Ukraine. If so, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has threatened to try to oust him as Speaker. Yet something funny has happened: A lot of House Republicans want to vote on Ukraine aid. Is there any chance it might pass? How will Donald Trump react? We talked to Julia Ioffe, a journalist for Puck and a leading voice on Russia-U.S. relations, who shed light on the brutal road ahead for Ukraine and explained how the MAGA-Putin alliance really works. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s a new trend: GOP legislatures are advancing bills that place onerous new kinds of restrictions on public and school libraries in states like Idaho, Alabama, Georgia and others. On the front lines of taking on this trend is Emily Drabinski, the president of the American Library Association, who also grew up in Idaho and is openly gay. So we invited Drabinski on to the show to shed light on what it takes to battle the book banners targeting LGBTQ materials in states like her own, and what sort of toll this is taking on communities across the country. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices