THE DAILY BLAST with Greg Sargent

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Trump’s Mental State Just Got Visibly Worse. Will the Media Say So? Sep 06, 2024

Show notes

During an event billed as a speech about the economy, Donald Trump was addled and confused, rambled incoherently, and launched into strange non sequiturs. Yet The New York Times’s initial news story made the event sound far more normal than it was. Is the press doing an adequate job of analyzing Trump’s deteriorating mental state? We think the answer is an emphatic “no.” We talked to former reporter Meredith Shiner—author of a recent piece for The New Republic about the successes of GOP media ref-working—who explained why the press largely fails to scrutinize Trump’s mental unfitness for the presidency.

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Trump’s Ugly New Rant on Arlington Fiasco Shows Dark Side of MAGA Rage Sep 05, 2024

Show notes

In a rant on Sean Hannity’s radio show, Donald Trump floated a new absurdity about his campaign’s use of Arlington National Cemetery as a political setting. He declared that there had been no conflict whatsoever there, even though the Army flatly confirmed that an employee had been shoved aside by Trump’s campaign goons. We think this turn in the story exposes something dark about MAGA. So we talked to David Kurtz, the executive editor of Talking Points memo and author of several good pieces on the scandal, who explains what it reveals about the role of bullying and violence in MAGA politics.

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GOPers Suddenly Admit to New Reason for Alarm About Trump vs. Harris Sep 04, 2024

Show notes

In a striking piece, Politico reports that many GOP operatives are alarmed about a new dynamic in the presidential race. It’s that the surge in enthusiasm among Democrats for Kamala Harris’s candidacy is driving a big disparity in fundraising between the parties, leaving GOP Senate and House candidates underfunded and in danger. As Politico puts it: “Panic is starting to set in.” To gauge how serious this is, we talked to veteran organizer Leah Greenberg, co-founder of the progressive group Indivisible, about whether on-the-ground enthusiasm and organizing strength constitute a hidden advantage for Democrats that the media is missing.

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Trump’s Wildly Unhinged New Ramblings on Fox News Unmask the True MAGA Sep 03, 2024

Show notes

Over the weekend, Donald Trump did a long, bizarre Fox News interview, flatly declaring he had a “right” to interfere in the last presidential election. He also mused that “God” may have chosen Trump to fix our “sick” country,” and seethed about an “enemy within” that’s out to get him. It’s unhinged stuff that gets at a bigger story: Trump’s feeding of his MAGA audience’s various pathologies has been getting darker and uglier. We talked to writer Anne Lutz Fernandez—author of a good new piece at The Unpopulist website about MAGA—who helps us decode how Trump is communicating to the increasingly radicalized elements of the MAGA movement these days.

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Trump’s Sordid Scandal at Arlington Takes a Dark and Disturbing Turn Aug 30, 2024

Show notes

By now you’ve heard that Donald Trump’s campaign aides had a physical confrontation with an official at Arlington National Cemetery who tried to prevent them from filming in a restricted area, which apparently violated the law. This scandal worsened Thursday when the Army sharply rebuked his campaign. Democratic Senators are getting involved, which could bring a fuller accounting. We talked to political scientist Jonathan Bernstein—author of a good new piece about this saga—who details howTeam Trump’s actions are now signaling a larger deterioration of the rule of law and democracy.

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Brutal New Ad Rips Trump As Crazed, Corrupt Dictator Seeking “Revenge” Aug 29, 2024

Show notes

Kamala Harris’s campaign just released a harsh new ad attacking Donald Trump, Project 2025, and his threat to prosecute enemies for “revenge.” Notably, the ad frontally goes after Trump’s naked corruption with real force. Which raises a question: Why aren’t we seeing more discussion of Trump’s corruption in this campaign? We talked to David Sirota, editor-in-chief of The Lever and narrator of Master Plan, an ambitious new podcast about 50 years of corruption in Washington. Sirota explains how Trump and Project 2025 represent the culmination of that long and sordid history.

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Bad News for Trump: Surprise Data Shows Pro-Kamala Surge In New Voters Aug 28, 2024

Show notes

It’s often said that Kamala Harris’s entry into the race has transformed this campaign. But does this also mean that Harris has a real chance at changing the composition of the electorate, by bringing more low-propensity Democratic voters into the process? A new analysis finds striking surges in voter registration among Dem-leaning voter groups during the week of July 21st, after President Biden left the race and endorsed Harris. We talked to the author of that analysis’ author, Tom Bonier of the Democratic firm TargetSmart, about why he’s optimistic—but also realistic—about Harris’s chances.

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James Carville: Trump Is In Deep Trouble—and He Knows It Aug 27, 2024

Show notes

Donald Trump keeps throwing his own advisers under the bus. The latest example: The battle between the campaigns over the upcoming debate. First Trump’s campaign insisted mics must be muted for the candidate who isn’t speaking. Then Trump himself said he’s just fine with unmuted mics throughout. We think this gets at a larger dynamic: With Trump still struggling with Kamala Harris’s surge, Trump clearly doubts that his own advisers have any idea how to fight back. We talked to veteran Democratic strategist James Carville, who explained how all signs indicate Trump thinks he’s in trouble—and what could still go wrong for Harris.

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Raging Trump Privately Reveals It: He Knows He’s In Danger of Losing Aug 26, 2024

Show notes

Over the weekend, Politico reported that Donald Trump has privately suggested to advisers that he knows he’s in danger of losing without dramatic changes to his campaign. Trump also raged over reports that he called in to Fox News during Kamala Harris’s convention speech to deliver an on-air response, whining that Fox had called him instead. We think Trump is rattled because the aura of his inevitable victory has been shattered. We talked to global affairs expert Asha Rangappa—author of a good new piece on her Substack about the sources of Harris’s momentum—who explains why the puncturing of that aura is critical to defeating authoritarians like Trump. Listen to this episode here.

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How Kamala Wins: Inside the Secret Strategy Causing Trump to Shrink Aug 23, 2024

Show notes

At the Democratic convention in Chicago, many of the speakers—from Barack and Michelle Obama to Tim Walz—have warned Democrats not to get complacent about a Kamala Harris victory. Yet something subtle is also going on here. Democrats are keeping complacency at bay—without letting Donald Trump balloon into a psychologically frightening figure in their minds. Democrats are going into this election with the correct level of guarded confidence. We talked to Brian Beutler, who has a good piece on all this coming out Friday on his Substack, about the careful balance Democrats are striking—and why it may be the key to shrinking Trump into a diminished figure.

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