THE DAILY BLAST with Greg Sargent

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