What Gets Ignored By the Partisans, Plus Sen. Ted Cruz on Two Different Tariff Paths Ahead for Trump
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What is the purpose and focus of the debut episode of Next Up with Mark Halperin?
Welcome to my debut episode. Thank you for joining. It's also the hundredth day of the Trump administration and the first day of the rest of our lives together. Grateful to you for being part of NextUp. The show will come out now on Tuesdays and Thursdays. You can watch it on YouTube or listen to it on any podcast platform you prefer. This will be a program that will bring you my best reporting and analysis. Also great guests today. We have Texas Senator Ted Cruz, a round table conversation that I hope you'll find to be a little bit different than what you see on cable and elsewhere. I'm booking some of the smartest people I know today, Emma Jo Morris and Mark Caputo. And as always, super interested in trying to tell you what's really going on, as I said, through my reporting and my analysis and the folks we bring to you. So grateful to you for being a part of this first episode and hope you'll join us every Tuesday and Thursday right here. 100th day is, as people like to point out, an artificial construct. But there's lots going on in this administration.
It has been historic. And of course, it started well before the president took office from Election Day through the transition. And people generally see a tipping point from a period where he was active and and was dominating the conversation and getting a lot done. People now, I think, are seeing something different. The terrorists are part of it. Signalgate's part of it. People I talk to every day can look at this administration as has been true of almost anything connected to Donald Trump in different ways. And I'm lucky, fortunate, I get to talk every day, literally every day, including on the weekends, with smart people who think the Trump administration, flaws and all, is off to a fast start and is revolutionizing America and the world in really important and positive ways. And I talk to really smart people who think this is a disaster.
What are the challenges of truth and polarization in the Trump administration's first 100 days?
And that the first hundred days have illustrated not just the limits of Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, but their doom. Um, and it's a disconcerting thing for me because my role is not to pick between those two sides, but to try to understand it and to explain it and hopefully to bridge between the two sides as best I can. And it's particularly confusing because as I said, I'm talking about, and two smart people, not dumb people, but smart people. And. What I generally find is that we're having what the country western star called trouble with the truth. That's to me a big part of the polarization, a big part of the failure to have any consensus. President's poll numbers are down, but they're not through the floor.
And he continues to dominate not just the Republican Party, but Washington and the national and international conversation. Doesn't seem particularly hampered by his declined poll numbers, although Democrats say that foreshadows doom in the midterms next year. When I talk about truth, a story that continues to be so emotional for both sides is the question of this man who was deported, who here illegally, to El Salvador, Abrego Garcia. We still don't know if he's a gang member, right? Now, There are some MAGA people who say to me, of course he's a gang member and evidence has been presented that case. But it's true, as people on the left will say, he's never been convicted. I don't quite understand the left's celebration of him. I don't quite understand the right's cavalier attitude towards the mistake that was made in sending him to El Salvador where he was put in a prison. The one country, his home country, that the American system had said he shouldn't be sent to.
But it's that not knowing the truth about whether he was a gang member. I've not had time to do a lot of original reporting on that. But from what's been reported, it's not clear. That's frustrating to me. And that's true about a lot of things having to do with the Trump agenda where there's fights. But what really bothers me more is both sides' denial of truth. Both sides' denial of truth.
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Chapters
9 chapters
1
What is the purpose and focus of the debut episode of Next Up with Mark Halperin?
0:08–1:54
2
What are the challenges of truth and polarization in the Trump administration's first 100 days?
1:54–7:09
3
What is the controversy surrounding Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's position?
7:09–11:13
4
How do partisans on both sides deny or distort the truth regarding polls and media coverage?
11:13–14:35
5
How did the media cover-up of Joe Biden's mental acuity decline affect press credibility?
14:35–18:13
6
What are Senator Ted Cruz's views on Trump's tariff paths and their economic impact?
18:13–25:41
7
What spending cuts and policy priorities does Senator Cruz advocate for in reconciliation?
25:41–30:20
8
How does Senator Cruz balance family life with his political and media career?
30:20–33:26
9
Who does Senator Cruz consider the most formidable 2028 Democratic presidential contenders?
33:26–57:49
Speakers
9 identifiedMore from Next Up with Mark Halperin
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Why the 2028 White House Race Just Completely Changed
What We REALLY Learned From Trump's Midterm Convention
Charlie Kirk: A Special Friend & Generational Inspiration
9/11: Modern America's Most Important Day
Why Republicans May Have Already Lost the Midterms