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. 

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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