Politix

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm Even some of Donald Trump’s own voters were shocked to see he summarily demolished part of the White House, surprising many Democrats who had convinced themselves Trump is teflon and people don’t care about his corruption or vulgarity. In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss: * The long history of politicians not doing stuff like this, fearing political backlash; * Whether this episode suggests swing voters can be moved by symbols and appeals to American greatness, or whether this, too, is a distraction from the issues that really matter; * What other corruption scandals Democrats might drag into the partisan fray, now that the middle of the country is wising up to Trump’s let-them-eat-cake greed, at the expense of normal citizens. Then, for paid subscribers, if Trump’s recent political troubles stem from shocking images of the East Wing reduced to rubble, what else in politics is an artifact of media effects? Are Democrats lucky that Trump is so venal and lawless, because Americans would otherwise be highly supportive of how he governs? Or does he mostly get a pass on corruption (because Democrats want to focus on issues) while Republicans invest billions of dollars to define Democrats as out-of-touch wackos? Further reading: * Brian on a Democratic-friendly way to make Trump pay for his corruption, now that it’s breaking through. * Matt: It’s all about policy, including (maybe particularly?) immigration. * A nerd-off between Biden alums who think their biggest mistake was not creating enough winning ideological conflict and outside strategists who think Democrats earned their toxic unpopularity fair and square.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm More than seven million Americans marched peacefully in the streets. Republicans are palpably spooked about it. And courage is proving contagious: In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss: * How Trump’s king-like abuses are, for the first time in a decade, becoming hard to distinguish from kitchen-table issues; * Whether, given the galvanizing power of No Kings, Democrats should pivot to the theme (away from health care) and make a national scandal of Trump’s demolition of the White House to build a palace ballroom; * The importance of message amplification in getting people to care about anything when their day-to-day lives are unaffected by political scandal. Then, the Democratic establishment comes for Graham Platner with…some pretty explosive opposition research. How much grace does he deserve? What does he need to do to earn it? And how is it that people make decisions about what is sincere and insincere when it comes out of the mouth of a politician. All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed. Further reading: * Halina Bennet’s report from No Kings DC. * Brian’s piece, from December 6, 2024: The New Gilded Age Will Be Streamed. * Seth Masket on the political class’s over-interpretation of gaffes. * Graham Platner responds to the oppo dump on Crooked Media.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm The government shutdown just crossed the two-week mark. If you take Donald Trump and his people at their word, it doesn’t seem like it’s about to reopen. But they are also huge bluffers. In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss: * Has Trump hit upon a (legally dubious) way to keep the government “shut down” indefinitely? * Which signs suggest he’s digging in and which suggest he’s bluffing? * Are we about to test, once and for all, whether anti-authoritarian politics are more compelling and more galvanizing than cost-of-living politics? Then, Republicans are desperate to shrink down and smear No Kings protesters en masse. Can this be interpreted as a sign of weakness? Is it a cunning, if ill-intended attempt to tip the country into civil unrest? How close to 1.000 does a non-violent resistance movement have to bat to keep the majority of the public on its side? All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed. Further reading: * Brian on the median experience of tyranny. * Matt argues the authoritarian menace has arrived. * Brian makes the case that if the current equilibrium devolves into violence, we’ve seen enough to blame Trump. * Erica Chenoweth on civil resistance.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm As anticipated in last week’s episode, the government did indeed shut down, and as of this recording Congress remains at an impasse. At the same time Donald Trump and Stephen Miller are trying harder than ever to foment street violence in blue cities and maybe even martial law. In this episode, Brian and Matt discuss: * How the GOP’s ongoing Epstein coverup is prolonging the shutdown and making it likelier that they “lose.” * The esoteric Beltway metaphysics of who gets blamed for government shutdowns. * Why Democrats are winning the battle of public opinion despite Beltway consensus that they are to blame. Then, would it really be “winning” the shutdown to force Republicans to renew Affordable Care Act subsidies, without securing any new constraints on Trump’s abuses of power? Would Democrats shut down the government again to have another fight centered more closely on Trump’s authoritarian abuses? Is the dictatorial overreach bad enough now that Democrats should simply withhold their votes under any feasible set of concessions? And which prominent Democrats are doing resistance politics most effectively. All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed. Further reading: * Matt argues that “authentic” politicians are mostly just acting. * Brian argues that “non-sequitur politics” are a bad basis for fighting fascism. * Bharat Ramamurti imagines how Democrats could force Trump closer to compliance with constitutional rule.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm Donald Trump has crossed an important redline: He ordered his administration to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey, fired the prosecutor who told him he had no case, and installed a lackey who did as ordered. In this episode: * What distinguishes the (weak, losing) Comey indictment from past abuses of prosecutorial power? * Why Comey shouldn’t try to get the charges dismissed on selective prosecution grounds, and should instead demand a speedy trial. * If Trump thinks his revenge tour was “litigated in the election, might a humiliating defeat at the Comey trial be the beginning of the DOJ’s new role as tip of the spear of Trump’s retribution campaign? Then, on the eve of the government shutdown, Brian and Matt look ahead to likely end games. Has the Democrats’ confused posture in the standoff doomed them, or can they reorient everyone in the party to make arguments they can really commit to long-term? Will the public’s presumptive sense that Republicans are to blame for government shutdowns insulate Democrats from backlash? And, as long as they’re keeping the House shuttered to prevent votes on releasing the Epstein files, will Republicans be able to exploit their advantages in this fight? All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed. Further reading: * Brian argues that if Democrats want a big fight over health care, there are ways to engineer one without shoving it into a fight over the annual budget. * Matt argues Hillary Clinton should have demanded here day in court during Trump 1.0 because the email scandal was bullshit. * Brendan Nyhan on the Comey prosecution precedent. * Josh Marshall on the power dynamics of the shutdown fight.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm With the firing (and then unfiring) of Jimmy Kimmel, the right-wing crackdown in the name of Charlie Kirk seems to have bumped up against real limits. In light of the week’s developments, we discuss: * The schisms within MAGA that were on display at the Kirk memorial; * How those schisms fused with resistance backlash, forcing ABC and Disney to rethink their decision to take Kimmel off the air; * Whether this is a sign that society as a whole has reached the limits of authoritarian abuses it’s willing to tolerate. Then, Brian and Matt zoom out to ask whether public rejection of a free-speech crackdown can help form the basis of big-tent Democratic unity, from Zohran Mamdani in New York through (maybe!) Geoff Duncan in Georgia. Is Duncan the best candidate in the Georgia Dem gubernatorial primary? Should Democrats back him for the abstract value of proving the party welcomes heterodox voices? And what does progressive uneasiness with Duncan, like establishment Dem uneasiness with Mamdani, tell us about the meaning of solidarity? All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed. Further reading: * Brian thinks the Kirk crackdown moved Democrats closer to an appropriate fighting posture. * Matt on the crackdown as classic overreach; * Jessica Valenti on why abortion represents the least productive grounds on which Democrats might moderate. * Geoff Duncan explains his conversion to Greg Sargent.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm Donald Trump and several of his top officials have promised to unleash a partisan crackdown in Charlie Kirk’s honor, even as the notion that Kirk’s assassin was in league with the institutional left becomes more far fetched. In light of the week’s developments, we discuss: * Our personal reactions to the Kirk murder, and the contours of the overall public response; * What we know about the GOP plan to use it as a pretext to crack down on political dissent; * The differences between using free speech and believing in free speech; the related differences between good-faith debate and propaganda. Then, is MAGA’s seamless fusion of partisan propaganda with state functions actually a source of political power for the GOP? Between Trump’s sinking poll numbers on issue after issue, public rejection of his immigration crackdown, and spiraling, trollish foreign policy, is there any reason to believe Americans won’t reject a speech crackdown, too? And if the administration is embarking on a losing abuse of power (even if only to generate yet more propaganda) is there any good reason why Democrats shouldn’t fight them by seizing the mantle of free speech? All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed. Further reading: * Matt’s extremely conflicted take on the looming government shutdown. * Brian on the GOP’s recursive cycle of abusing power to generate propaganda to justify further abuses of power, and how to respond; * The extensive fallout of the propaganda-driven Hyundai factory raid.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm Another government shutdown looms, and, thus, so do more angsty struggle sessions over what Democrats should do, and what effective opposition looks like. In this episode, we discuss: * How does mounting bad news for Donald Trump—bad jobs numbers, defeats in court, and revelations about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein—affect the politics of a shutdown? * Who’s got the better bead on how Democrats should proceed, Matt, Brian, or Ezra Klein? * Why there’s a hidden danger in Democrats’ inclination to demand extraneous concessions—like renewed funding for Obamacare. Then, how might the lessons of a [knocks on wood] successful shutdown fight help ameliorate ongoing fight between different factions of the Democratic Party, including progressives and abundists? Can they find common ground over their shared interest in making the Democratic Party more responsive and faster moving? Or are progressives too suspicious of strange bedfellows to ever support policy-making coalitions with Republicans and business interests? All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed. Further reading: * Brian’s shutdown piece. * Ezra’s shutdown piece * Matt’s shutdown piece. * Brian’s response to both. * How to understand recent data revisions. * Brian’s abundance flowchart for an intra-Democratic truce .

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm This week, we indulge all the speculation and look ahead to politics if and after Donald Trump dies in office. For instance: * Is a movement that claims the mantle of making America “healthy” sustainable in a world where the obese 79 year old president croaks after his health secretary takes vaccines off the shelf? * Does JD Vance have the juice required to consolidate all the pro-Trump factions (many of which hate each other)? * What becomes of Democratic politics? Can the emerging anti-Trump politics of Democratic presidential hopefuls work against a post-Trump GOP? Then, what’s all this got to do with Democratic propaganda? We discuss a recently unearthed progressive effort to subsidize Democrat-friendly viral content creators, which has already driven bitter recriminations across the online left. Is the problem here message or medium? Would anyone be complaining if the people involved had agreed to be open and transparent about their partnership? Or is subsidizing heavy-on-politics content an altogether mistaken concept? All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed. Further reading: * Brian on the cursed establishment effort to fend off Graham Platner. * Matt also wants to let Graham Platner cook. * Paige Cognetti will run against Rob Bresnahan in a key Pennsylvania bellwether.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm This week, a close look at two troubling authoritarian provocations from the Trump administration: Friday’s dawn FBI raid of John Bolton’s house in Maryland, and Monday’s purported firing of Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. We discuss: * How Matt managed to leave his microphone in Maine. * What Trump seemingly hopes to accomplish by making an example out of Bolton. * Whether opposing the retributive prosecution of a crank like Bolton represents a good test of how to build a unified front against fascism. * Also, what the fuck is going on with Trump’s bruises and cankles? Then, do the Bolton and Cook abuses provide the broad left any openings to peel off Republicans who might see Trump’s consolidation of power as a threat to their own ambitions. If he’ll go after a stalwart Republican like Bolton, why wouldn’t he go after certain Republican presidential candidates? If overlook Trump’s harassment of Cook, what leg will they have to stand on when 2029 Democrats purge Republicans from government, mine their federal records, and have a big fat precedent to point to. All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed. Further reading: * Matt on the economic downside of personalist autocracies like the one Trump is building. * Brian makes the case against liberal rectitude politics, which make it so hard for the whole, unified party to stand up for itself. * HEADLINE: Trump, 79, Smears Right Hand in Makeup Amid Cankles Cover-Up.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm Donald Trump’s federal occupation of the capital continues, but the context has worsened. It now unfolds alongside Trump’s seemingly related efforts to: 1) gerrymander as many red states as possible; 2) unconstitutionally void and rerun the Census in a manner that would benefit Republicans; and 3) assert unconstitutional control over the time, place, and manner of elections. In this episode we’ll discuss: * To what extent is Trump’s desire to subjugate the residents of blue cities related to his long-established desire to cheat in elections. * Are Democrats outmatched in the gerrymandering arms race? * Have the opinion makers who discounted Trump’s threat to the 2020 election reverted to complacency once again? Why is Trump acting so spooked about the midterms? And what is to be done? Should congressional Democrats resist these power grabs during the government shutdown fight? Should Democratic governors send their own national guard troops to DC to magnify the contradictions? What kinds of resistance tactics from DC residents would work best to either deescalate the situation, or make it blow back against Trump? All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed. Further reading: * Brian says it’s gut check time for Senate Democrats: Will they take Trump’s abuses of power head on when the government-funding deadline nears? * Matt: Let’s fix the gerrymandering problem with proportional representation. * Via National Security Counselors, Should Wes Moore (or someone) send blue state national guardsmen to DC? * No comment….

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm Donald Trump has commandeered Washington DC’s police force and deployed federal agents and national guardsmen to patrol DC streets, on plainly pretextual grounds. In this episode we’ll discuss: * What makes this affront to DC sovereignty unusually offensive; * Trump’s stated reasons for seizing power, and how to see through them; * What, if anything, elected Democrats should say and do to defend district residents Then, behind the paywall, there’s good reason to suspect Trump hopes his DC invasion will distract us from less flattering news. So we’re not going to let him! We discuss the latest indications that Trump has damaged the economy, the steps that can be taken in the event Trump tries to fabricate economic data, and the most recent developments in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed. Further reading: * Matt on the actual policy obstacles to more effective policing in DC. * Brian on why DC residents are perfectly right to be frustrated with national Democrats for leaving us vulnerable to this unwelcome takeover. * Trump’s hackish nominee to oversee government economic data wants to stop releasing government economic data.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm This week, we’re reassessing both the resiliency of the economy, and the health of U.S. democracy. Why? Because recent data suggests Donald Trump’s reactionary policy blitz (global tariffs, mass deportation) has caused the economy to seize up; and Trump has responded by trying to kill the messengers. In this episode you’ll hear all about: * What the recent jobs numbers actually say, and how do they gel with other recent data; * Sydney Sweeney; * Why data pointing to a slowdown, if not a contraction, fits the facts of Trump’s erratic agenda; * The bull and the bear theories of the case: Could the economy somehow continue growing despite all this? Would Trump be freaking out like this if he thought the economy was firing on all cylinders? Then, behind the paywall, is a recession the sort of thing Trump could even theoretically bullshit his way out of? Or would reality break through? What would a “recession coverup” attempt actually look like, given the complexity of the data? And what’s Trump likely to do if and when his excuses and lies stop selling? All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed. Further reading: * Brian on why Trump’s reaction to the jobs report is of a piece with broader signs that he and his administration are spiraling. * Matt notes Argentina’s recent economic successes are attributable to Javier Milei’s decision to abandon an unworkable agenda. * Dean Baker breaks down why the jobs news is so bad.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm Donald Trump is trying desperately to bury the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. In this episode, Matt and Brian explore all the distractions Trump has attempted—implicitly and explicitly—to knock the Epstein files out of the news, why Trump is so desperate and why are his usual tactics failing. * Should we at this point suspect this is a coverup of damning evidence of Trump’s conduct specifically? * If the story is just that Epstein conspiracy theories are all bunk, why bother with distractions or incriminating claims (like that Hillary Clinton and James Comey forged the Epstein files)? * With Trump finally on the hind foot, why are elite institutions like Columbia University going out of their way to surrender to Trump’s threats? Then, behind the paywall, do the new tariff “agreements” Trump has struck with Japan and the E.U. count as distractions from the Epstein scandal, or are they on their own track? What’s in the deals? How much harm will they do to American importers and consumers? And how meaningful can they be if they’re as illegal as they seem? All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed. Further reading: * Matt on repairing the tax code after Trump. * Brian argues we the discourse should shift from whether Trump is engaged in an Epstein coverup, to grappling with the truly dark things Trump is covering up, and what the consequences should be. * Philip Bump debunks Trump’s main Epstein distraction.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm The new Superman is a critical hit and box-office smash—despite conspicuous Republican efforts to discourage people from seeing it. It’s the GOP vs. truth, justice, and the American way! In this episode, Matt and Brian explore all the reasons the modern right might have been put off by this movie, and Superman’s longer-running themes: * To what extent are right-wing critics really just evincing old, philosophical conservative misgivings about liberal empathy and compassion? * Are today’s Republicans really upset to learn that Superman is pro-immigrant (as he has been for almost 90 years, or is that just a red herring? * Or is it really just that this particular adaptation is an unsubtle send up of several recent, high-profile, right-wing corruption scandals (though not, unfortunately, the Jeffrey Epstein scandal)? Then, behind the paywall, in a recent interview, Hunter Biden of all people challenged Democrats to appeal to people’s better natures, rather than appeasing their prejudices—just like a certain superhero… The younger Biden’s broader judgment aside, his comments raise pretty profound questions for the party as it wrestles with how to broaden its appeal in the Trump era. Should Democrats be Superman to Trump’s Lex Luthor? How far will uncut virtue get them? And who’s the best avatar for Democrats to broadcast empathy across the board: Another old white guy with cultural roots in white working class America? Or a next-generation Obama-like figure who leans on respectability politics to appeal to cultural conservatives? All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed. Further reading: * Brian on why Republicans are right to dislike the new Superman (because it rightly depicts their political values in an unflattering light). * Matt argues Democrats should just throw Joe Biden under the bus. * The Hunter Biden interview. * The canonical Matt Bors cartoon.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm The race is on between Donald Trump, who’s desperately trying to put down the raging scandal surrounding his Jeffrey Epstein lies (whatever they happen to be) and Democrats who are finally engaged, and trying to pry the truth loose. Who’s gonna win? In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss: * How has the Epstein scandal developed over the past week? * Why have Democrats been uninterested in all matters Epstein, both recently and over many years of right-wing conspiracy theories? * What’s the likeliest explanation of why Trump is behaving so desperately now? Then, behind the paywall, we tackle a bunch of pressing questions: what have Democrats done thus far to move the story forward? What more could they do? Will the files be released, or will the story fizzle? Could “the Epstein files” be the thing that finally creates real, lasting political problems for Trump? And what would it say about America if this—rather than matters of major civic significance, like COVID failures and the insurrection—becomes the thing that finally brings Trump low? All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed. Further reading: * Matt wrote, “I’m not deeply invested in any theory about Epstein, but I always thought Democrats blew it by not pushing for some oversight here,” way back in 2021. * Brian on how the Epstein saga illustrates the need for Democrats to get outside their comfort zones, and how they might use this opportunity to wage war on the entire right-wing bad-faith media complex. * The 2002 Epstein profile that started it all: “‘I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy,’ Trump booms from a speakerphone. ‘He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.’” * Julie Brown, the reporter who broke the real Epstein trafficking scandal, weighs in with The Bulwark.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm The Trump administration suddenly wants you to stop asking questions about Jeffrey Epstein. Case closed. Nothing to see here. That client list we promised to release? It doesn’t exist. In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss: * What is the Jeffrey Epstein conspiracy theory, and why has it persisted so long? * Why are Epstein’s old, wide-ranging associations distinct from all the other rich guys who hobnob with politicians and powerbrokers? * How should Democrats react to Trump administration efforts to sweep this under the rug, after dangling it so conspicuously. Then, behind the paywall, Zohran Mamdani and the shortcomings of institutional diversity efforts: the perspective of two white, Jewish, latinos who’ve grappled with a few box-checking exercises themselves. What’s wrong with the assumption that Mamdani must have been trying to game the affirmative-action system? Zooming out, are institutions that request demographic data (universities, employers) doing so for the right reasons? Is there a better way to recruit, or to take account of applicants who’ve had a rough go in a country with plenty of racial discrimination, than asking them to approximate their ethnic identities? All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed. Further reading: * From Brian’s archives: Call MAGA’s Jeffrey Epstein bluff. * Matt: Yes DOGE failed, and it matters. * Nothing fishy about this!

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm Minutes after recording this episode, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) provided the decisive vote for GOP legislation to kick 15-20 million people off their health insurance and give rich people a trillion dollar tax cut, along with many other horrors. Now it’s back to the House, where hope, which springs eternal, goes to die! In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss: * What more could have been done to stop this? * By whom? * Given GOP margins and Donald Trump’s warlord-like control over the GOP, would it have made any difference? Then, behind the paywall, could Zorhan Mamdani kill this bill … by endorsing it? And, more seriously, what does his victory in the New York mayoral primary mean for Democrats post-2024? Is there anything Democrats in more conservative places can learn from a primary in a very blue city? Can the Democratic Party be a genuinely big tent, where centrists abide progressives (even self-avowed socialists) and progressives give red-state Democrats room to run on cultural issues? All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed. Further reading: * Matt on the sewer socialists Mamdani can (and hopefully will?) learn from. * Brian on whether Republicans’ continued obsession with “starving the beast” will return us to the era of New Deal politics. * Matt, again, on the moderate-left synthesis: The view that an obsessive focus on cost-of-living issues is a winning move across factions. * Brian, again, on the hard truths progressive and moderate leaders should tell their fellow travelers, for the sake of unifying against right-wing extremism.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm Welcome to hell, because we’ve reached the hot war phase of the second Trump presidency. Or have we? In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss: * What has actually happened, both since 2018, and just in the past couple weeks, and why it’s so unlikely to have left the U.S. and the world better off. * Is there any upside to Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu using and playing each other in a way that undermines both of their political goals? * What’s the least worst and worst worst possible near-medium term outlook? Then, behind the paywall, how opponents of Trump and his war can balance political and substantive objections? Is it possible to oppose/criticize/mock Trump for his spastic, failed policy without driving him toward further hostilities? Is that even a consideration Democrats should heed? What about the fact that Trump and his administration lied to justify the attacks? That the strikes were illegal? That they may lead to American civilian deaths? All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed. Further reading: * Brian on how Trump’s evolution from shitty president who posts a lot to shitty president who wields dictatorial power should bring an end to the Democratic tick of brushing off all of his outrages as “distractions.” * Matt’s 21 thoughts on Trump’s Iran war. * Chris Murphy: 8 Things You Should Know About Trump's Strikes on Iran.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm Donald Trump may not always chicken out, but his on again/off again, advance-retreat dance does seem to insulate him from lasting blowback. It seems the only way to drag Trump’s popularity down low enough to really hem him in is for his supporters to find out the hard way. In this episode, Matt and Brian tackle the questions: * Does the hyperbolic claim that “Trump Always Chickens Out” serve to insulate him from public backlash, while also perversely encouraging him to prove his haters wrong? * Would we be better off if he stopped chickening out? * Does defeating Trump (in Congress, the courts, etc.) weaken him, or does it protect him from his own unsustainable policies? * If we’re all accelerationists now, where would failure (or catastrophic success) undermine Trump most? Economic mismanagement? Medicaid cuts? Mass deportation? War? Then, behind the paywall, some considered thoughts on how the Trump opposition would respond if Trump didn’t chicken out. What can Democrats as a whole learn from the handful of leaders (most recently Alex Padilla and Tina Smith) who’ve drawn attention to their causes in productive ways? Are Democratic political fortunes best served if Trump’s Medicaid cuts fail, or if they succeed? And how, in this hothouse environment, can progressives and moderates align to help Democrats recruit viable Senate candidate in red states? Further reading: * Matt argues you’re not really alarmed about the slide into autocracy if you aren’t willing to make ideological sacrifices to help Democrats win the Senate. * Brian’s schema for when to try to stop Trump, and when to let him step in it. * Noah Wyle helps get the word out about looming Medicaid cuts. (Paging George Clooney, Jimmy Kimmel…)