THE DAILY BLAST with Greg Sargent Greg Sargent
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- News
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Every weekday, The New Republic’s Greg Sargent brings you a fresh way of thinking about the biggest political stories of the moment, offered up in an entertaining, information-packed conversation with a leading lawmaker, journalist, or newsmaker. We go deep into the stories behind the headlines leading TNR and other news outlets—while making it fun and fast.
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Michael Cohen’s Testimony Exposes the Ugly Lunacy of the Trump “Cult”
On Tuesday, when Michael Cohen testified against Donald Trump, the former president’s lawyers reminded jurors that Cohen was once slavishly devoted to Trump and used to lie relentlessly on his behalf—before Cohen turned on him. Cohen responded by admitting it: Yes, he was once a member of the Trump “cult.” Which is apt: Again and again, Trump’s own lawyers have seemingly designed their strategy around flattering Trump as much as serving his legal needs. We talked to Ankush Khardori, a former federal prosecutor and senior writer for Politico Magazine, who explained how Trump’s lawyers are making serious mistakes that are rooted in his demand for absolute devotion.
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Alarmed By Trump’s Scary New Polling Lead? Listen To Biden’s Data Guy.
This week, The New York Times released new polls that sent shock waves through the Democratic establishment, finding Donald Trump leading in all six key swing states, in some cases by startling margins. While President Biden has fared better in other recent polls, the bottom line is that he is trailing in all the swing-state polling averages. So we talked to Jefrey Pollack, a top pollster for the Biden campaign, who laid out why he thinks it’s premature to read too much into these polls, and why the current data set, in his view, actually shows a hidden path to reelection for the president.
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Biden Is Quietly Winning the War On Crime—After Trump Epically Lost It
Donald Trump constantly claims that crime is out of control. In reality, it’s substantially down under Biden, after soaring during the pandemic that Trump catastrophically botched as president. Now the Democratic group Third Way is releasing a new study finding that this year, congressional Democrats secured substantially more funding for public safety projects across the country than Republicans did. We talked to Jim Kessler of Third Way, who explains how Democrats can go on offense on the issue and beat back Trump’s relentless lies about it.
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Stormy Daniels’s Brutal Mockery of Trump Makes Conviction More Likely
On Thursday, Stormy Daniels faced tough cross examination from Donald Trump’s attorneys in his hush money trial in Manhattan. By most accounts, she responded with humor and harsh mockery directed at Trump, which helped parry their assaults on her credibility. The ridicule, however, could serve another purpose: It could help convince the jury that Trump had a clear motive for committing crimes related to the hush-money scheme. We talked to former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade, who explains how Daniels’s testimony may have damaged Trump more deeply than it first appears.
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“Warning Sign” For Trump As Anti-MAGA Vote Surges In Indiana Primary
In the Indiana GOP primary on Tuesday night, Donald Trump lost 22 percent of GOP primary voters to Nikki Haley. That’s surprising, since Haley ended her campaign two months ago. So it’s clearly a trend: A sizable bloc of Republican voters in GOP primaries has resisted Trump again and again. We chatted with David Drucker, a senior writer at The Dispatch and author of a new piece about the Indiana outcome, about whether President Biden can poach these voters away from Trump and why it’s a warning sign for MAGA in November.
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Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Rage At Mike Johnson Is Suddenly Fizzling Out
This week, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is deciding whether to call a snap vote to oust Mike Johnson as House Speaker. She has a list of demands, and if they aren’t met, she will pull the trigger. If so, Democrats seem prepared to save Johnson. Which raises some questions: Can Democrats leverage anything in exchange for protecting Johnson? Are Greene and MAGA losing power inside the House GOP? We talked to Representative Ted Lieu, the Number 4 in the House Democratic leadership, about how Democrats should proceed—and where all this is heading next.
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Customer Reviews
Opening music too abrasive
Love the content though.
Love the show!
Great show for daily listening! Good topics and guests, and Greg is a good interviewer. I do have to skip over the opening music because it’s just so harsh on the ears in the morning.
Excellent
Quick hit with excellent guests.