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Michael Tracey wasn’t around today, so I went solo. I start by discussing this video of Pam Bondi claiming that Trump has saved 258 million lives, a day after she put the number at 119 million. We can chalk this up to stupidity, but there’s actually something more complex going on. The nation is now living under a regime that operates in a space where it knows that it’s completely unrestrained regarding what it can say and still hold on to its base of support. I discuss how there is no incentive for anyone in the administration like Vance to push back on the craziness. If I were advising him in terms of his political future, I’d say he should just glue his lips to Trump’s ass for the next four years.

This serves as a launching pad to discuss the future of the conservative movement. I explain why Vance will likely be the 2028 nominee, why Trump won’t go away, and why we’re in a terrible equilibrium where there isn’t anyone with the tools or motivation to fix things. The problem at its core is the Republican base, by which I partly mean the voters, but much more so the influencer class – the Loomers and Posobiecs of the world with massive followings and their audiences, which are simply insane people who will demand Trump-like qualities from any politician they might support. In the second half of the podcast, I take some questions from the audience, including on whether I’m worried about a left-wing populist faction hijacking the Democratic Party in the same way that MAGA took over the right.