Advertise on podcast: THE DAILY BLAST with Greg Sargent

Donald Trump’s war on Iran was a big cause of the GOP electoral drubbing, and Pete Hegseth is in trouble. Trump told ABC News that he “has every intention” of keeping the Defense Secretary. But then came the twist. Trump said: “I get these calls” from people taking aim at Hegseth, adding: “I don’t know why.” And Trump admitted it would be easier to get a replacement confirmed before Democrats take over the Senate, a hint that he’s seriously thinking of dumping him. This is exactly how Trump talks when he’s getting rid of someone. Meanwhile, story after story reports that the GOP knives are out for Hegseth in a serious way. We talked to Representative Adam Smith, the next head of the Armed Services Committee. Smith discusses why it’s 50-50 that Trump will remove Hegseth and what a disaster he’s been. Smith also explains how Democrats will seek to defund the war if necessary and details how they’ll investigate Trump’s illegal Caribbean boat strikes and bombing of a girls’ school in Iran.  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 fired quite a warning shot at JD Vance as the epic scale of GOP losses sank in. Asked about Vance and the political way forward, Trump employed his best mob-speak and declared that in 2028, maybe “a lot of people” will run for president, adding of Vance: “Maybe he won’t run.” Translation: If you distance yourself from me, your presidential ambitions are dead and others should feel free to run instead. This comes as Vance just posted a long statement blaming GOP losses squarely on the war. That’s a clear bid by Vance to repair relations with MAGA voters alienated by Trump by (subtly) getting distance from him. Meanwhile, Republicans are angrily pointing fingers squarely at Trump, with one declaring that he’s “optimistic for the future because Trump’s going to be gone in two years.” The infighting is growing truly vicious. We talked to international relations professor Nicholas Grossman, author of a good piece discussing the centrality of Trump’s war to GOP losses. We discuss Trump’s shivving of Vance, how Vance is trying to salvage his 2028 ambitions by hitching himself to the Tucker Carlson wing of MAGA, and why the GOP crackup will get much worse. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a stunning series of outcomes, Democrats won control of the House and Senate on Tuesday. They’re projected to take control of at least 244 House seats, per NBC, and as of now, they’ve flipped Senate seats in South Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Iowa, Kansas, and North Carolina, with Maine likely following. That means they’ll control at least 53 seats. But what also makes these results stunning is how Democrats captured a lot of new territory in places they’ve long struggled to reach. They made huge inroads into the South, won a Senate seat in the Great Plains, and reached deep into the parts of the Midwest that we all thought Trump had turned permanently red. We talked to New Republic editor Michael Tomasky about all of it. We discuss how Trump brought his party to this disastrous moment, how these Democratic gains will alter our political geography, what this all portends for JD Vance, how a new Democratic Party may be coming into being, and how it will handle a severely diminished Trump next year.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Charlie Cook has been doing election forecasting since Ronald Reagan’s 1984 reelection campaign. The founder of the Cook Political Report, an institution in D.C., he recently retired from his life’s work and now writes an informative newsletter called “Charlie Cook Politics.” And he’s been declaring that he hasn’t ever seen an election quite like this one. So, now that Election Day is finally upon us, we talked to Cook about all of it. He explains why he largely believes those astounding New York Times polls showing Democrats leading in seven key Senate races, how many Senate and House seats he expects them to win, and why the election will be partly decided by disaffected GOP voters. We also discuss how Trump’s unpopularity is making this midterm so unique, probe Cook’s concept of a “red undertow” in this election, and dig into whether Democrats have a new opportunity to repair relations with rural and small-town America. Cook also details why he expects the GOP to get an “ass-whupping.”  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 erupted in a deranged rant at a reporter who dared to ask why he’d cancelled several of his rallies (which he then reinstated). Trump sputtered at being pressed on his fitness and viciously insulted the reporter’s appearance. “You are disgusting,” Trump snapped. “You look like hell.” This comes as Republicans are leaking word that his rallies hurt more than help in swing areas, meaning he’s totally toxic in non-deep-red America. Meanwhile, other Republicans are letting it be known that they’re looking ahead to a post-Trump world, with some bracing for Trump to blame them if they lose big. Still others are leaking word that the election could be “brutal.” That’s all pretty embarrassing given his frequent claim his rallies are saving them. We talked to Salon’s Amanda Marcotte about why Republicans seem to think his rallies have lost their juice. We also discuss what his ebbing powers portend for a post-Trump GOP, why the Senate is still on a knife’s edge, and how MAGA seems disoriented these days in the culture wars over gender. 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 is in a dark mood about the midterms, reports The New York Times in an epic piece. Numerous administration insiders confide that he’s raging at naysayers and negative press. And they’re also leaking that he’s “increasingly cloistered” with “acolytes” like Natalie Harp, as the Times puts it, adding this: "As the elections approach, Mr. Trump is feasting on a media diet of fawning press coverage, disparaging clips about his perceived enemies, and helpings of flattering photos and 'A.I. slop,' as one official put it." That extraordinary passage shows how his aides are placating his anger. Yet new CNN polls show Democrats with leads in the key Senate races that will determine control. So we talked to political scientist Tom Schaller, author of a good piece for the Public Notice Substack on MAGA culture. We discuss whether those CNN polls are right, why Trump is convinced his influence over GOP voters will save the party, how a big Democratic night could break Trump-MAGA cultural power, and how that could allow Democrats to expand their coalition in coming years.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After Vivek Ramaswamy ran that vile ad attacking Amy Acton in the Ohio gubernatorial race, Donald Trump aggressively defended it. That sent out a command to MAGA to get behind the ad. But now Republicans just leaked an internal poll to Axios showing that the ad is backfiring in humiliating fashion: It is making voters more likely to pick Acton over Ramaswamy rather than less. On top of that, Republicans fear this could hurt the party in the Ohio Senate race, too. That’s striking, because if Democrats win that contest, they’re a lot more likely to win the Senate. We talked to New Republic senior editor Alex Shephard, author of a good piece on the ad fiasco. We discuss how the backlash to the ad caught Trump-MAGA off guard, how this saga shows Trumpian politics to be running out of gas, and why the Senate map looks very promising for Democrats. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a remarkable move, Fox News just shifted numerous House races toward Democrats. Fox finds them pulling even or favored in really Trumpy places like Kentucky’s 6th district and North Carolina’s 11th district. Fox also shifted the Ohio Senate race to “Lean Democratic.” In both cases Fox cited recent polling—including its own—as the justification. These bombshell incursions into deep red territory made Trump’s tirade at a Texas rally Tuesday look truly delusional. Trump bizarrely suggested his Iran war is a stupendous success that’s making our country “an absolute fortune.” He even weirdly implied his juvenile changing of geographic names—like “Lake America” and the “Gulf of America”—shows genuine American success and dominance. Trump really believes these things have broad appeal! We talked to Michael Cohen, who wrote well on the ongoing GOP retreat for his Truth and Consequences Substack. We discuss how these tirades explain the GOP’s struggles, the deeper reasons Democrats are able to contest such red territory, and what to expect in the final stretch. 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 is stewing about elections big time. He raged at Senator Lisa Murkowski for opposing his dumb effort to rig the Alaska Senate race, fumed over imagined voter-fraud in the upcoming midterms, and seethed that the right’s huge loss in Brazil was “rigged.” It’s no accident that this unraveling comes as the early-voting data looks so dubious for the GOP that even some MAGA data analysts seem rattled by it. One leading MAGA figure admitted she’s refraining from posting the early-vote numbers because they’ll hurt the right’s “morale.” Another acknowledged that the electorate looks far too nonwhite for the GOP and urged Republicans to “step it up.” A third fretted that Trump’s campaigning is backfiring. We talked to Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg, who closely tracks early voting at his Hopium Chronicles Substack. He walks us through the massively encouraging signs in the data for Democrats, details what we can conclude from it and what we can’t, talks about why the Senate could still stay Republican, and ponders how Democrats should close this out.  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 seethed wildly at NBC reporter Monica Alba after she asked him tough questions about his support for that vile ad attacking Ohio gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton for supposedly lying about her past. Alba pointed out that Acton’s childhood involved “serious sexual abuse allegations,” prompting Trump to bark “quiet!” at Alba, rage that she’s being “fresh,” and belittle her as a “horrible little reporter.” It’s notable that Alba is relatively young given her level of success, because Trump is always most vicious towards young female reporters. This all comes as even Fox News figures are growing very uncomfortable with the ad and Trump’s backing of it, as Media Matters documents. We talked to Nicole Hemmer, historian of the right-wing media and the conservative movement. We discuss how Trump uses young female reporters as foils, how he and MAGA are deploying open misogyny as a Hail Mary in the midterms, how this is rooted in older right-wing formulations, and how he’s still trapped in the cultural moment of 2024.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In dense and convoluted remarks, Donald Trump defended that disgusting ad in the Ohio gubernatorial race. The ad from Republican Vivek Ramaswamy featured the mother of Democrat Amy Acton calling her a liar. But it quickly emerged that Acton was apparently raped by her step-father, the mother’s husband. The move backfired spectacularly, as numerous Republicans, including Ohio governor Mike DeWine strongly condemned the ad and GOP panic over the race erupted. Even MAGA appears divided. We talked to Jim Swift, a senior editor at The Bulwark, who wrote a good piece on this fiasco. We discuss the deeper reasons Ramaswamy decided this ad would energize the MAGA base, how it could cost Republicans the Ohio gubernatorial and Senate contests, and what this ugly saga says about the depravity of Late-Stage MAGA and the growing mainstream backlash to it.  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 unleashed a panicky string of posts—see here, here, here, and here—in which he frantically urged Republicans to vote by mail early. Amusingly, this comes after he told Republicans for months that mail-balloting is fraudulent to pass his SAVE America Act. Now that his efforts to nix vote-by-mail have flopped, he’s prodding Republicans to adopt it—effectively admitting his attacks on vote-by-mail were a scam to help him rig the election. Mail voting is an essential piece of pre-election-day voting, so his “fraud” nonsense could be discouraging GOP early voting, too. So what does the data say? To find out, we talked to Michael McDonald, who tracks the early vote at the UF Election Lab and on his Substack. He explains why the data suggests Democrats and independents are far more energized than Republicans, what we can extrapolate from it about the election, and how Trump screwed himself on early-vote-by-mail. We also discuss the latest New York Times poll showing Democrats leading by 11 points and Trump at a new low, which suggests the bottom is falling out for him.  Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With less than two weeks until Election Day, the Michigan Senate race is more or less on a knife’s edge. Amid all this, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has had some hugely viral moments lately, tangling with a MAGA plant over a question about the Muslim Brotherhood and battling with JD Vance over the vice president’s vile attacks on him. We think El-Sayed is developing an interesting way of doing politics that seems attuned to the information wars of the Trump era. Will it work in a swingy state that’s coming down to the wire? We talked to El-Sayed about the state of the race, the affordability crisis, his high-profile viral battles, and how it all reflects his deeper theory of politics in the Trump-MAGA era. 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 just sank to an abysmal 33-66 in the new Washington Post poll, a record low in Post polling. The survey also finds Democrats leading in the battle for the House by eight points. Meanwhile, the new NBC poll also finds Trump below 35 percent and puts the Democratic lead at 10 points. The polling averages also suggest a Democratic lead pressing double digits. Small wonder that Republicans are leaking to Politico that they blame this debacle squarely on Trump. One says Trump is clueless about what “voters care about,” adding: “It’s insane.” Others are sharply criticizing Trump’s super PAC  operatives, revealing that they’re trying to shift blame onto Republicans and away from Trump himself. That’s deeply embarrassing given Trump’s constant claim that he’s giving Republicans a huge lift. We talked to Madison Andrus of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. She discusses how wide the map is getting, what the role of Trump’s unpopularity is in putting deep red areas in play, and why Democrats are bullish about pulling off a sweep of House districts in South Texas. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In recent days, Donald Trump has exploded over James Talarico’s Senate candidacy in Texas. In a long, tortured tirade, Trump repeatedly called him “James TalaFREAKO” and raged at Karl Rove for supposedly wanting Ken Paxton to lose. He even ordered Fox to stop airing Rove. In another tirade, he fumed that Paxton is the “greatest attorney general” in Texas’s history and angrily wondered why Talarico hasn’t been defeated already. Meanwhile, in a striking exchange, a Fox anchor and a GOP Congressman appeared rattled as they wondered aloud why Texans appear prepared to vote for Talarico despite him obviously being a woke leftist whackjob. Translation: Why, oh why, aren’t MAGA-GOP smears working? We talked to Texas-based Democratic strategist Nancy Zdunkewicz. She explains the deeper reasons why attacks on Talarico aren’t sticking, walks through the state of play in the race’s final days, and grapples with whether the tightening polls amid the GOP’s avalanche of home-stretch spending should worry Democrats. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices