THE DAILY BLAST with Greg Sargent

Donald Trump’s use of state power to persecute his enemies is escalating. The Justice Department indicted James Comey for allegedly threatening Trump with a social media post of seashells spelling “86 47.” Officials are also threatening to punish more media companies for angering the despot. The Comey case is already backfiring: Now that the details have been released, legal experts have mercilessly picked it apart from numerous angles. Even Fox News is quoting experts dismantling it. And Trump himself made it look even more absurd by claiming he knows “86” means “kill” because he saw it...in a gangster movie. When these efforts fizzle, the MAGA base will see the mighty Trump failing once again. We talked to former Federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade, author of The Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government. She explains the deep flaws in the Comey indictment, how Trump’s prosecutors are committing flagrant violations themselves, and what accountability for Trump’s accomplices could look like later.

Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today’s episode, economist Paul Krugman lays out an expansive case that Donald Trump holds a losing hand in the war with Iran. Krugman argues that Trump can’t seem to admit that the Strait of Hormuz problem has cornered him. Krugman also details why the situation could get worse, if Iran continues holding out and constraints on oil supply drive the global economy into recession. As Krugman puts it, this will keep getting uglier for Trump until he “swallows his pride” and accepts that he doesn’t hold the cards. This builds on the piece Krugman posted on his Substack arguing that time is on Iran’s side. Gas prices just hit a new high, and Republicans quietly fear their midterm prospects are darkening due to what Trump has unleashed. Krugman takes us through these dynamics, notes that Trump is obsessing over his ballroom in search of a win, and explains why this all could tailspin further for the GOP. 

Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Republicans are blaming Democratic rhetoric for inciting the alleged assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. To that end, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt unleashed tirades at journalists that were soaked in MAGA derangement. One cultishly lionized Trump as a “fearless president” for standing up to “bullets” while absurdly accusing the media and Democrats of “11 years” of “hateful” and “violent” speech about Trump. The other tore into Democrats and the media for daring to point out that Trump poses an “existential threat to democracy,” as if that’s not rooted in his actual conduct, which it is. Yet if anything, the media has not sufficiently conveyed the threat Trump poses. We talked about this disconnect with Matt Gertz of Media Matters, who’s been writing well about the absurdity of inviting Trump to the press dinner.  We discuss the danger Trump poses for press freedom, why the media struggles to report on the threat despite being a target, why time is running out to get this right, and how Democrats should proceed now.

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 has been losing like crazy. The Strait of Hormuz remains closed. The Supreme Court struck down his tariffs and his birthright citizenship arguments tanked. He's losing the redistricting wars. And the Justice Department dropped its prosecution of Fed chair (and Trump nemesis) Jerome Powell amid cringeworthy circumstances. The latter is humiliating: DOJ insiders are now leaking that they’re really ramping up the prosecution of his enemies now, by golly! But those prosecutions will likely keep failing—as they already have—and all this reveals is desperation to show MAGA that this appalling corruption will ultimately bear fruit. White House spin on this is embarrassingly geared towards lifting the ailing despot’s spirits. We talked to Zeteo reporter Asawin Suebsaeng. We discuss why MAGA-world can’t permit any acknowledgement of Trumpian fallibility, why Trump’s authoritarianism and incompetence go hand in hand, and why Republicans will pay an electoral price for helping sustain the cult of Trump. 

Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new Fox News poll contains crushing findings for Donald Trump. His approval on the economy is at 34 percent with 66 percent disapproving. On inflation, those numbers are even worse, at 28-72. Importantly, the poll also finds Democrats with the advantage on the economy for the first time in years—a milestone. Meanwhile, Trump advisers are feverishly trying to hatch a new midterm strategy. And top GOP senators tell Politico that Trumpworld is bracing for more purges of senior officials, with one senator confiding about Trump: “He’s in a bad mood, so he’s letting a lot of them go.” We talked to G. Elliott Morris, author of the great Strength in Numbers Substack, who just released his own poll. He explains what all the numbers are really telling us, why Trump has long been weaker than the punditry allows, and what must happen now for Democrats to win the House and Senate. 

Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices