THE DAILY BLAST with Greg Sargent

Over the weekend, the news broke that President Donald Trump is accepting a luxury jet from the country of Qatar for presidential travel. This extraordinarily brazen act may well violate the Emoluments Clause, which bars foreign gifts to officials unless expressly authorized by Congress. It comes even as Trump is embarking on a Mideast trip to countries that are the sites of Trump-branded projects, and Trump-aligned businesses are scooping in huge sums from foreign governments via crypto. We talked about all this with Representative Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. He powerfully explains why Trump’s latest move is an “outrageous abuse” of the Constitution, how his corruption has grown to “epic” and unprecedented proportions, and the concrete moves Democrats will make now in response to pressure Republicans over this fiasco. Listen to this episode here. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In her most recent media briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt went full North Korea with a number of worshipful monologues about Trump. Yet at around the same time, another journalist’s criticism of Trump caused him to explode in a wild, triggered fury that undercut the image Leavitt tried to project of a leader who is strong, calm, and in command of events. We think this tension is a regular, deeper feature of Trumpism. So we talked to Salon’s Amanda Marcotte, who knows how to read MAGA pathologies—particularly male ones—like nobody else. She discusses the “MAGA aesthetic,” the gap between Trump’s feeble-mindedness and the picture of strength portrayed by his sycophants, and the larger purpose all this serves as propaganda for the MAGA masses. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Right after the news broke that Robert Francis Prevost was elected as the new Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, the internet produced lots of evidence that he has promoted articles critical of JD Vance and Donald Trump, and even expressed sympathy for George Floyd. That prompted MAGA figures to erupt in anger. They attacked the new Pope as anti-Trump pro-open borders, a Marxist, and soft on thugs and drug dealers, as Media Matters documented. We talked to the excellent political theorist Matt McManus, who was raised in the church and regularly wrestles with the intellectual roots of today’s right wing, including in his 2023 book, The Political Right and Equality. He explains what Vance gets wrong about Catholic teaching, why it’s so inimical to Trumpism, and how today’s pro-Trump influencers and “post-liberal” Catholic intellectuals alike are refusing to reckon with what MAGA has truly become. Listen to this episode here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump erupted on Truth Social this week when it became clear that MAGA loyalist and insurrectionist Ed Martin’s nomination for U.S. Attorney for Washington D.C. is in trouble. Trump even called GOP Senators to demand their support. But then GOP Senator Thom Tillis announced his opposition, leading even staunch Trump loyalists to concede he might not survive. MAGA personalities lashed out in response. Lost in this saga has been the basic reason we don’t want a MAGA-brained January Sixer in such a crucial law enforcement role in the first place. We talked to former prosecutor Kristy Parker, counsel at Protect Democracy. She explains why this position is so critical to the legal order, why Martin has no business in it, and why she has cautious optimism that Trump’s assault on the rule of law might ultimately get repelled. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thanks to President Trump’s policies, a confluence of events is set to absolutely clobber rural America. First there’s Trump’s trade war. On Tuesday, Trump unleashed a bizarre set of ramblings that indicated he’s fine with letting it drag on forever, our exporters be damned. Meanwhile, there are new signs that farmers in Trump country are already getting hammered. The House GOP’s planned cuts to Medicaid will likely pose a massive problem for rural hospitals. And big GOP cuts to food stamps will also inflict pain on rural areas. We talked to Matt Hildreth, executive director of RuralOrganizing.org and a veteran Democratic operative in rural areas. He explains why the perfect storm of policies bearing down on rural America is unusual, and reflects on whether his party will be able to translate this into real gains—or whether this will once again prove a chimera. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump is angry at longtime GOP strategist Karl Rove. That’s because Rove delivered Trump a stern on-air warning about his sliding approval ratings. What caught our attention, though, is what Rove said about immigration in particular. Rove suggested that Trump is in trouble on what’s supposed to be his best issue, and offered a striking explanation for it that surely got under Trump’s skin. This comes as Trump also delivered another diatribe about the Supreme Court for suggesting he does not have absolute power to deport millions with zero due process, suggesting he and Stephen Miller will cling to their deeply unpopular course of action no matter what. We talked to Lakshya Jain, co-founder of the Split Ticket election site, who explains how Trump is rapidly losing his onetime advantage on immigration, why this is such a momentous shift, and how Democrats can capitalize. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Trump has recently been erupting at Fox News over its new poll finding him with 55 percent disapproval. Trump described Fox’s pollster as “Trump hating” and demanded that the firm be “investigated.” Stephen Miller subsequently called for the pollster’s firing. Guess what: Fox News has gotten the message. As Trump’s poll numbers for other news organizations have steadily worsened, Fox personalities have begun going to great lengths to deny what the numbers clearly show. This highlights a problem that is trending toward a fiasco for MAGA: As Trump’s tariffs and other policies take their toll on Trump voters and everyone else, his approval will slide further, forcing Fox News to deceive the network’s own viewers about what they themselves increasingly are experiencing from Trump’s presidency. We talked to Matt Gertz of Media Matters, who has been chronicling Fox’s poll denial. He explains what Trump’s anger at Fox means for the network, how Fox personalities are coping, and why all these dynamics will get much worse. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Big news: A federal judge just ruled that President Donald Trump’s renditions under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act are illegal. It’s a crucial moment in the battle against Trump’s lawlessness. Meanwhile, Stephen Miller ranted wildly at the media for daring to ask hard questions about the wrongfully-deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia, falsely stating as fact that he’s an “MS-13 terrorist” and raging at the very idea that migrants he labels “terrorists” should get due process. It’s a clear sign of Miller’s certainty that he can label anyone a “terrorist” by fiat and that the administration can get away with literally anything. We talked to the great legal commentator Leah Litman, author of Lawless, a new book about the Supreme Court. She explains why the ruling suggests the courts may not give Trump the deference he’d hoped for as commander in chief to reinvent reality to carry out his illegal renditions—and why Miller’s project may be in the process of seriously overreaching. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We just learned that President Donald Trump’s economy contracted in the first quarter. Trump unloaded twice over this bad news, attempting to blame Joe Biden for it. Meanwhile, some of Trump’s aides went full North Korea, bowing down before him and offering adulation in shockingly abject terms. So how long do Trump’s advisers think they can keep him in a protective cocoon, shielding him from the realities of his disastrous reign? We talked to New Republic senior editor Alex Shephard, who has a good new piece arguing that Trump’s unpopularity will only get worse, due to basic structural facts about his presidency. He explains why the sycophancy of Trump’s aides is only working against him—and why insulating him against outside facts will only get harder and more damaging. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After the news broke that Amazon might publicly clarify the costs that President Trump’s tariffs are imposing on its products, Trump instructed his White House press secretary to publicly threaten the company. Trump also called Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to express his displeasure, and one adviser told CNN that “he was pissed.” Amazon immediately shelved the plan, and Trump openly gloated about Bezos bending the knee, an unnerving signal of more autocratic bullying ahead. Meanwhile, a new PRRI poll sheds fascinating light on public opinion about Trump’s authoritarianism, with a majority now seeing him as a “dangerous dictator.” We talked to Melissa Deckman, the CEO of PRRI, who explains what the new data really tells us about the public’s revulsion at Trump’s abuses of power—and why episodes like this one are only exacerbating it. Listen to this episode here. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump is growing angrier over polls that keep showing him tanking. On Monday, he raged that polls sponsored by media outlets are “COMPROMISED AND CORRUPT.” He even quoted one of his own pollsters saying that surveys from The New York Times and The Washington Post are “FAKE POLLS,” something his pollster clearly hatched to calm his anger. So to what degree are the people around Trump simply lying to him about his disastrous reign? They’re deceiving him about the state of public opinion, and Stephen Miller is plainly seducing Trump into believing the Supreme Court sided with him on the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case, when it didn’t. We talked to journalist Michael Cohen, author of a new piece for his Truth and Consequences Substack about this problem. He explains how we know Trump’s aides are keeping him in a state of delusion, and why that’s heading to an alarming place. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the weekend, President Trump raged on Truth Social at judges who are ruling that Trump must follow the law in the case of wrongfully-deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia and others illegally deported to prisons in El Salvador. Trump again threatened to dispense with due process for migrants. Yet this comes even as Trump admitted in a new interview that he’s open to bringing Abrego Garcia back and retrying him for deportation through lawful channels. For Trump to acknowledge he has this option while nonetheless threatening to end due process for Abrego Garcia and other migrants is a dark development. All this comes as two new polls show Trump badly losing the war of public opinion over all these illegal renditions. We talked to Chris Newman, a lawyer for the Abrego Garcia family, who powerfully explains how Trump is importing Bukele-style authoritarianism into the United States, why this is alienating the American people, and why Trump will ultimately lose in court. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump just made some new public statements about the Russia-Ukraine war, and they were thoroughly unimpressive. At one point, he seemed to get angry at Vladimir Putin over a massive new Russian attack on Ukraine, calling on Putin to “STOP.” But then in remarks to reporters, he openly suggested that he doesn’t expect Russia to make any serious concessions at all in the quest for peace. This striking public admission badly undercuts Trump’s “master dealmaker” mystique, and wrecks the illusion he’s cultivated that he expects genuine concessions from both sides. We talked to Ben Burgis, a columnist at Jacobin and a podcaster who has a good new piece for MSNBC.com analyzing Trump’s negotiating strategy. Burgis explains why Trump’s approach is likely to be counterproductive at best—and why it could produce catastrophic long-term results. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Suddenly, President Donald Trump appears to be retreating or getting knocked back on multiple fronts. Trump is considering whether to slash his tariffs on China. Elon Musk is stepping back from the administration. Federal scientists are admitting the Measles outbreak is worse than previously acknowledged. And the leaks about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are intensifying. All this comes as a new poll finds broad public opposition to Trump’s abuses of power—revealing a surprise weakness in an area that savvy observers assured us voters don’t care about. We talked to Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg, author of The Hopium Chronicles, who has been urging his party to make Trump’s weakness central to their understanding of this fraught moment. Rosenberg explains why Trump is caught in a vicious downward cycle, where the opposition is successfully mobilizing, and how to coax Democrats to fight back harder. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Tuesday, largely due to President Trump’s tariffs, the International Monetary Fund downgraded its projections for economic growth in a big way. Meanwhile, we’re already starting to see layoffs. All that comes as new polls show Trump cratering on the economy. Trump is now shifting blame to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell for the tariff fallout. But those attacks are only rattling markets and investors more, backfiring on Trump. We talked to one of the best economic commentators out there, Washington Post columnist Heather Long, author of a new piece on how Trump’s “tariff madness” is likely to drive us into a recession. She explains why the prognosis is so grim—and why Trump is in a bind with no easy way out. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Trump’s defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, is imploding again. We just learned that he shared still more highly sensitive data on a private signal chat. A GOP Congressman just basically called for his resignation. And a former chief Pentagon official who is a Trump supporter himself also tore into Hegseth’s tenure, calling it a “full-blown meltdown.” That triggered a furious response from Donald Trump Jr., who declared this turncoat critic “exiled” from the Trump movement. Other MAGA figures raged at Hegseth’s critics as well. We talked to Juliette Kayyem, a former national security official under Barack Obama. She takes us through this latest scandal and explains why the profoundly unfit Hegseth will become a much, much bigger problem for Trump—with no easy way out for the president. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump’s case for leaving Kilmar Abrego Garcia to rot in an El Salvadoran prison continues to collapse. In bizarre, rambling remarks to reporters in which Trump talked about Abrego Garcia’s alleged ties to MS-13, Trump revealed the profound weakness of his own arguments. In particularly ugly fashion, Trump basically admitted he knows little about the supposed evidence linking him to the gang—even though this notion is central to the rationale for refusing to bring him back. Today's guest has done deep research into MS-13: Eric Hershberg, a professor of government at American University and a leading contributor to a major report on the gang. He takes us inside this organization—and explains how implausible the case tying Abrego Garcia to it truly is. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In an extraordinary escalation of President Trump’s rage at Harvard University, the administration just threatened to block Harvard from receiving foreign students if the university doesn’t provide extensive information on students to the government. Trump also erupted at Harvard on Truth Social, making all kinds of other threats. On another front, GOP Senator Lisa Murkowski openly admitted to a sense of widespread terror of retaliation: “We are all afraid.” We talked to Jeffrey Sachs of Acadia University, a shrewd observer of authoritarianism. He walks us through the details of Trump’s new threat toward Harvard, how it can be challenged, the true nature of Trump allies’ long-term game plan, and whether our institutions will crumble in the face of it all. 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 illegal deportations are running into more trouble. A federal judge just declared there’s probable cause to find the administration in criminal contempt over the removal of Venezuelans to El Salvador. Meanwhile, a Democratic Senator went to El Salvador to check on Kilmar Abrego Garcia and got a shocking response. And a new polling analysis has a warning for Trump: On immigration, he’s significantly weaker than he appears. We think all this has the makings of a fiasco for Trump: He is heading toward defying the courts on this issue, in a way that could provoke a large backlash. We talked to New Republic staff writer Melissa Gira Grant, author of a good piece on Trump’s use of spectacle on immigration. She deciphers the new ruling, why it’s pushing us toward a crisis, and how Democrats can try to make it all backfire 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

Harvard University has declared that enough is enough, and it’s now openly refusing to buckle to Trump’s command for subservience on multiple fronts. In response, Trump erupted on Truth Social like a petty tinpot dictator, raging that Harvard should lose its tax exempt status and worse. We think this reveals a hidden weakness: Trump and MAGA know that if institutions don’t capitulate to them, and band together to overcome their collective action problem, the Trump-MAGA assault could very well falter. If there’s some way out of our disastrous mess, it partly involves major institutions doing exactly this, in a concerted, sustained way. We talked to Jonathan Friedman, the managing director of the free expression program at PEN America, about the real nature of Harvard’s pushback, the prospects for more institutions following suit, and the potential for a real united front of resistance to disarm MAGA. 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, Donald Trump met with El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, and in an act of true infamy, the two authoritarian leaders collectively agreed that wrongfully deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia will not be returned to the United States. And in a series of vile rants, Trump clearly telegraphed his intention to defy the Supreme Court, which has directed the administration to facilitate his return. We talked to Asawin Suebsaeng, a senior political reporter at Rolling Stone magazine and an adjunct journalism professor at the University of Cincinnati, who has been reporting on the Trump team’s plans to ramp up the lawless deportations and defy the high court. He explains what he’s learned about Trump’s true long-term intentions, which he terms “horrifying.” Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After President Trump raged for weeks at law firms he regards as personal enemies, a number of them just surrendered to him like falling dominoes. That Trump boasted about this on social media so conspicuously represents a dark turn: He’s warning anyone mulling resistance that it’s time to capitulate. Meanwhile, Alina Habba, a loyal Trump henchwoman who is now interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, launched investigations into the state’s governor and attorney general, lodging a dark threat of more to come for those who won’t do Trump’s bidding. We talked to law professor Leah Litman, author of Lawless, a new book about the Supreme Court. She reflects on whether our institutions are folding in the face of Trump’s escalating abuses, which she calls “terrifying,” and what must happen now to prevent the destruction of the rule of law in America. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After President Trump’s supposed tariff “pause,” we still have a 10 percent tariff on most global imports, the trade war with China is intensifying, and markets have plunged again. Fox News figures are aggressively spinning the “pause” as sheer brilliance, propping up Trump’s own posture that he’s got everything running according to plan. Then a Fox correspondent told the truth: Trump got spooked by the bond markets. This shattered Trump’s illusion of command. Meanwhile, his cabinet members are slathering him with desperate flattery, even as Trump voters in focus groups are getting antsy and MAGA personalities are balking. We talked to historian Nicole Hemmer, the author of books on the right wing media and on conservative politics. She explains the deeper reasons for the right’s extraordinary turn toward Trump sycophancy—and why the tensions inside MAGA will worsen. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump’s tariff chaos continues. He just announced a big reversal: For 90 days, the reciprocal tariffs will come down, but a universal 10 percent tariff will remain, and he’s hiking tariffs on China into the stratosphere. Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson just moved to prevent the House from voting on whether to rein in Trump’s assertion of unilateral authority to impose the tariffs—a clear abuse of power. This, plus the House GOP gearing up to cut Medicaid by hundreds of billions of dollars, gives Democrats major political openings. Will they capitalize? We talked to Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, who explains what Trump’s reversal says about his political weakness, why Democrats can seriously contest red-leaning districts next year, and how the party should prosecute the case against Trump’s dictatorial abuses of power. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The fate of dozens of Venezuelans deported by the Trump administration to a maximum security prison in El Salvador remains in doubt. So does the fate of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who administration officials admit was removed in error, even as they refuse to return him to the United States. The Supreme Court just issued rulings on these cases, putting a hold on a lower court’s order to reverse Abrego Garcia’s removal, and allowing the deportations of Venezuelans to resume for now. In that second one, Sonia Sotomayor issued a powerful dissent, and buried in it is an alarming warning. We talked to American Immigration Council senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, who expertly demystifies these rulings for us—and explains how Sotomayor laid bare the alarming stakes we face at this fraught moment. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the chaos grows around President Trump’s tariffs, the Mad King is now raging wildly in many directions. He erupted over China’s reciprocal tariffs, threatening dark retribution. He exploded at Republicans, because a handful of them are now moving to reign in his power, which he’s not taking well. Faced with this turmoil, Trump insists the tariffs are already getting results. But the arguments don’t add up. Between this and the cracks now showing in GOP support for him, it’s clear that this will get harder for him to hold together. We talked to Kathryn Anne Edwards, an economist and commentator who has a new piece arguing that the coming recession will be entirely a creation of Trump’s policies. She digs into the deeper incoherence underlying all of this madness—and explains why Trump and the GOP won’t be able to paper it over forever. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump has more support in rural America than any U.S. politician in decades, and farmers remain overwhelmingly loyal to him. Yet with Trump’s tariffs unleashing a trade war and China striking back with retaliatory tariffs, farmers and their representatives have declared again and again and again that this will be absolutely brutal for them. As one put it, if farmers don’t get a government bailout, they will face “a disaster.” Another says farmers are “shocked.” Meanwhile, nearly a third of Republicans fear Trump’s tariffs will have a negative impact, and fewer than half say Trump’s policies are making them better off. We talked to Tom Schaller, the co-author of the book White Rural Rage, who explains why farmers are set to get screwed so badly, what all this says about the nature of rural support for Trump, and how Democrats should capitalize. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After President Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on imports from all over the globe, prompting the markets to implode, he took a question about it on Thursday. He ranted and rambled delusionally about how everything is just great, bizarrely likened the country to a patient that had just undergone surgery without grasping why his metaphor is the opposite of reassuring, and spouted more nonsense about money pouring into our country. On top of all that, his imposition of the tariffs is likely an enormous and grotesque abuse of power. And because of this, the prospects for stopping them are not wholly nonexistent. We talked to congressional scholar Norm Ornstein, who walks us through how Congress can act, what Democrats can do to pressure Republicans to join in doing just that, and why Trump’s engaged in “horrifying folly.” Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After Democrats scored a huge victory in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, a contest that revolved heavily around Elon Musk’s involvement, Trumpworld is turning on their favorite billionaire. In a striking turn of events, Politico reports that Trump has informed members of his inner circle that Musk will soon be moving on from his multi-faceted role. What’s more, as Musk’s departure looms, White House loyalists and outside allies are now dishing that they view Musk as unpredictable and a major political liability. But what happened in Wisconsin isn’t just about Musk the person. It’s about the public backlash to the Trump-Musk alliance in government—and what it’s doing to the country. We spoke to Wisconsin Representative Mark Pocan about what he saw unfold during this race, what it says about the deep unpopularity of the Trump-Musk agenda, and what now lies ahead. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By now you may have heard that the Trump administration deported a Maryland man to a Salvadoran prison in “error.” The administration is refusing to bring him back, and this case has extremely dark implications. JD Vance and press secretary Karoline Leavitt both mounted defenses of this that were both weirdly angry, and quickly went off the rails. Meanwhile, MAGA-friendly media have gone into justificatory overdrive. Here’s the real story: They’re all fine with “accidental” deportations, because they want immigrants to fear they’re going to be next. We talked to veteran immigration advocate Douglas Rivlin, who explains why it’s so appalling that the administration is washing its hands of any responsibility to rectify this “error,” and why it vaults us into new frontiers of lawlessness. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump is set to announce that he’ll impose sweeping new global tariffs on imports, and Congressional Republicans are already scrambling wildly to try to shield their states and districts from the fallout. Meanwhile, a Fox News poll finds that Trump is sliding on the economy, with the public turning against tariffs in particular. And an Associated Press survey also has terrible news for Trump on this front. Notably, all these negative consequences kicked in well before the tariffs have even started. We talked to Jared Bernstein, former chair of President Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers and now a visiting scholar at Stanford, who has a new piece on his Substack predicting the consequences could be dire. He explains why the tariffs are so wrongheaded—and why they’re likely to cause major backlash against Trump and his party. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump’s own allies are beginning to turn on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Politico reports. White House and Pentagon insiders are increasingly questioning Hegseth’s judgment, and see him as the culprit in the disastrous news that Trump’s top advisers discussed war plans in an insecure chat. Yet there’s little indication that Trumpworld is ready for the next Hegseth fiasco, even as Trump allies clearly are bracing for his tenure to get worse. We talked to Jennifer Rubin, co-founder and editor in chief of The Contrarian Substack, who explains how this scandal is revealing the sheer arrogace and untouchability that’s consumed Trump and his team, and why this will grow more politically untenable for them. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By now you may have heard that President Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained a foreign student at Tufts under shocking circumstances, for an unnervingly thin rationale. This is only the latest in an escalating trend, in which numerous students are being targeted for removal based in many cases on what appear to be their political associations and viewpoints. In a stunning turn on Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated straight out that the administration is hoping to do this hundreds of times. We think this is a watershed moment: Rubio is not only confirming the scope and reach of Trump’s targeting of foreign students, but he’s also leaving no doubt that he’s occupying a central role in all of it. We talked to Shev Dalal-Dheini, a top official with the American Immigration Lawyers Association. She decodes the legal complexities behind this whole saga—and explains why these removals should unsettle all of us. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s day three of the scandal in which President Trump’s top advisers accidentally allowed a journalist for The Atlantic onto a highly sensitive discussion of a military operation. The latest: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth offered an incredibly weak defense of this travesty. Atlantic journalist Jeffrey Goldberg revealed most of the text chain, which contained lots of operational detail. And Trump is reportedly frustrated over this story, and his top allies are deeply exasperated by his team’s handling of it. We talked to Vox’s Zack Beauchamp, author of a new piece on the scandal’s undercurrents, about the deeper meaning of all these developments: What they say about the failures of right wing populist and MAGA governance, and about the deeper schisms inside MAGA ideology. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the scandal worsens around the news that President Trump’s top national security officials allowed a journalist onto a highly sensitive text chat about war plans, Fox News figures are wildly denying that anything is amiss. Yet under questioning from Senate Democrats, numerous senior administration figures all but admitted that something deeply amiss really had happened, with Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard turning in the most disastrous performance. We talked to Rosa Brooks, an expert in national security law, who explains what these latest turns in the saga really reveal about the woeful dereliction of Trump and his advisers—and why we desperately need accountability for it, accountability that Republicans will never deliver. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By now you may have heard that President Trump’s top officials discussed war plans on Signal, and that the group chat actually included Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic. After Goldberg published his explosive findings, Democrats called for an investigation, and even the occasional Republican weighed in. But when Trump himself was asked about this, he claimed not to know anything about it. What struck us is what Trump didn’t say: he failed to say that he’s going to get to the bottom of this mess, and that it should have never happened. We talked to veteran national security lawyer Bradley Moss, who unravels why this was such a serious breach, what laws may have been broken, and how Trump’s rambling, vacuous response made this scandal even worse, in a very meaningful way. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Faced with President Trump’s shakedown, the Paul Weiss law firm agreed to a “deal” with Trump that sure looks like a ransom payment. Trump then told reporters that firms like these have the option to make similar “deals” to avoid getting targeted—a straight-up extortion threat right in public. We keep hearing that voters don’t care about this kind of thing. But the White House’s top political adviser is warning that Democratic anger could be a big problem in the midterms—and Trump’s lawlessness is a key driver of it. We talked to New Republic editor Michael Tomasky, who’s been arguing that we’re actually facing multiple constitutional crises and that Democrats must find their footing in this moment. He explains what all this says about Trump’s escalating lawlessness, how Democrats can harness public anger over it, and why real heroics are needed to resist it. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Trump is furious with a federal judge who is trying to block his ludicrous deportations of migrants under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. Trump and his allies are demanding the judge’s impeachment. But this has Republicans privately in a big panic. They know they won’t have the votes to impeach the judge, and they dread Trump’s escalating pressure. Meanwhile, evidence is mounting that the Trump administration has violated the judge’s order. And Trump’s attorney general suggested on Fox News that the deportations might continue, even in defiance of the court. In short, this confrontation will intensify, and Republicans will go along with Trump. We unraveled all this with Liz Dye, a legal writer who has a good new piece for the Public Notice Substack on this battle. She explains just how lawless Trump’s conduct has gotten, and why this case is headed in a “terrifying” direction. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s growing harder to shrug off President Trump’s deranged threats toward Canada. In a new Fox News interview, Trump snarled angrily that Canada is “meant” to be a 51st state, explicitly speaking the language of imperialism. Meanwhile, Trump is adopting a very credulous line toward Vladimir Putin in the Russia-Ukraine peace talks. This comes as a surprising new poll shows that American opinion is shifting against a soft line on Russia, even as other polling shows public rejection of Trump’s anti-Canada stance. We talked to The Bulwark’s William Saletan, who has a good piece arguing that Trump’s views of Canada and Ukraine are connected. He explains how Trump is now adopting the same view of Canada that Putin has of Ukraine, and argues that the public may be turning against Trump on both fronts. 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’s Maria Bartiromo has suddenly emerged as a leading voice sounding loud alarms about President Trump’s tariffs and the devastating impact they could have on the economy—even though she works for a MAGA propaganda network. On Tuesday, Bartiromo lost patience with a Trump official, and walked through all the reasons why business leaders are unhappy with Trump’s tariff threats. Other Fox personalities have followed suit. Meanwhile, a new NBC poll finds terrible numbers for Trump on the economy. Yet he’s forging ahead with his tariffs and rarely bothers talking about the economy anymore. We talked to Media Matters’ Matt Gertz, a close observer of Fox coverage, about the deeper reasons for Fox’s discontent—and why it’s all a sign that Trump’s project is more fragile than you might think. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Trump’s lawlessness is escalating. First he angrily tweeted that his predecessor’s pardons of January 6 committee members are invalid, while threatening to prosecute them. Meanwhile, the Trump administration appears to have violated a court order in deporting some Venezuelans. And his border czar flatly declared that the administration is set to ignore what judges say. At Monday’s briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt spun madly about all this, but her lack of clarity strongly hinted that Trump is on the precipice of a new level of lawbreaking. We talked to legal scholar Matthew Seligman, a skilled decoder of complicated legal messes. He explains why Trump’s latest moves are “chilling”—and why Leavitt’s ambiguity is only cause to anticipate more lawlessness, not less. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Trump’s anger at Canada has darkened: He’s kept up the menacing threats even after it’s become clear Canadians take them seriously. Indeed, Canada’s foreign minister just openly declared that Canadians are “anxious.” Meanwhile, even some Republicans are growing unnerved. Some tell NBC News he appears deadly serious—and that they’re flummoxed by his failure to explain what he really wants from our ally. We keep hearing Americans don’t care about such things. But what if that’s wrong? We talked to Brian Beutler, author of the Off Message Substack. He explains how this standoff is an area where Democrats can graphically demonstrate how degenerate Trump and his GOP have truly become. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elon Musk is suddenly facing lots of bad news. A judge just ordered the Trump administration to reinstate thousands of federal workers in their jobs, a big blow to Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Meanwhile, two new polls show approval of Musk cratering—and importantly, that large majorities are turning against Musk’s mission of gutting the government. What if the mobilization against Musk and Tesla is working? We talked to writer Paul Waldman, who has a good new piece on his Substack arguing that the campaign against Tesla is good for America. He explains why the backlash against Musk is revealing some heartening things about public opinion—and why that portends stiffening resistance to the Trump-Musk project. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At a presser on Wednesday, President Donald Trump seemed unusually angry. He ripped into Chuck Schumer, calling him Palestinian. He seethed with anger at Canada, and taunted the Canadians over his tariff threats. And he snapped at three different reporters. All this comes as a new CNN poll finds Trump’s approval deeper underwater amid very broad public rejection of his tariffs. Trump is trapped in an unusual dynamic: He’s clearly taking a beating over his tariff threats right now. But he’s also gotten it into his head that the tariffs are what make him appear strong and formidable. So it’s hard for him to back out of them. We talked to Salon’s Amanda Marcotte, a skilled interpreter of MAGA psychology, about the roots of Trump’s anger and the political trap he’s landed himself in. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Trump administration just arrested and is moving to deport Mahmoud Khalil for being a suspected terrorist sympathizer, even though he has a green card and a U.S. citizen wife. And at Tuesday’s media briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt dropped an ominous hint, suggesting that this effort is only just beginning. She even suggested pressure on universities to hand over such students is about to intensify in a big way. Meanwhile, Trump is planning to require all noncitizens aged 14 or over to register with the government. His broader aim: to spread a kind of reactionary terror designed to get immigrants to self-deport. We talked to Representative Pramila Jayapal about a new bill she’s introducing that could challenge some of these Trump efforts—and about the broader goals of Trump’s campaign, which she calls “terrifying.” Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Trump is on the defensive. The Dow fell nearly 1,000 points after Trump admitted that couldn’t rule out a recession. This comes after more turmoil in the markets stemming from his erratic flip flops on tariffs. Meanwhile, Trump’s agency heads are raging at Elon Musk over the cuts he’s inflicting on their agencies. The opposition has awakened: House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries is whipping opposition to the continuing resolution temporarily funding the government. But will Senate Democrats step up and oppose the CR? We talked to former Congressman Tom Malinowski, who’s been urging Democrats to stand strong against Trump, about why the government shutdown fight is a critical opportunity for Democrats to draw a hard line against the Trump-Musk reign of destruction. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The rift between Elon Musk and Republicans is about to get worse. The New York Times reports that in an extraordinary Oval Office meeting, President Trump’s senior agency heads fought bitterly with Musk. They are angry with him because they themselves know the cuts by his so-called Department of Government Efficiency will produce all kinds of fiascoes at their agencies. Tellingly, they expressly don’t want to take the blame for what Musk is unleashing! We talked to New Republic staff writer Kate Aronoff, who has a good new piece about some of DOGE’s hidden impacts. She explains why all this reveals deep schisms inside the administration that will only get worse for Trump. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As President Trump’s administration gears up to cut Social Security, The Washington Post reports that a top official at the Social Security Administration privately admitted that Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency is in charge of the cutting. The official also allowed that DOGE will “make mistakes.” Cuts to Social Security historically face major political blowback. So do Trump’s political team and the GOP really believe turning over Social Security to Musk’s marauders is a good idea? Do they think their disinformation powers are so formidable that they can overcome this, too? We talked to Tracey Gronniger, a managing director with the advocacy group Justice in Aging, who explains why these cuts could be so damaging—and how bad the political backlash is likely to get. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his speech to Congress, President Trump kept lying about his tariffs, falsely claiming that Canada is letting huge amounts of fentanyl into our country and suggesting the trade wars will only get worse. Then press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters directly that if Canada wants to avoid tariffs in the future, it should become the 51st U.S. state. She said it: Trump’s tariffs are really about getting Canada to submit to his will. Newsflash: It’s not okay for the American president to lie relentlessly about our allies and threaten them with economic Armageddon to bend them to his deranged, passing whims. We talked to Rolling Stone senior political reporter Asawin Suebsaeng, who’s been forcefully making that argument. He explains why Trump’s vile bullying of our allies deserves to be taken much more seriously, as a clear sign of Trump’s very real imperialist intentions. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After President Donald Trump’s tariffs went into effect, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau offered an extraordinary, heartfelt plea to the American people. He said: “Your government has chosen to do this, to you.” This comes as anxiety is rising among Republicans about the tariffs. Yet even as they’re expressing trepidation, they’re also feeling forced to keep defending the tariffs, because criticizing Trump is a death sentence. We talked to columnist EJ Dionne, author of a new piece illustrating the unpopularity of Trump’s tariffs. He discusses the position Trump has placed Republicans in, how badly the tariffs will hurt their own voters, and why they will never, ever say what Trudeau just did. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices