Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm Dan Pfeiffer. John is out of town today, so I am delighted to have with me the one and only Alex Wagner. Alex, thanks for doing this.
Oh, what a thrill, Dan. I love when John goes out of town.
It is a thrill. People are cheering that you were here instead of John.
We want John to be able to travel at a moment's notice. It's a big country that needs a lot of John Favreau, so I'm happy to be a pale, pale imitation of him.
Not at all. An improvement, many would say. OK, we've got a lot to talk about on today's show. Pete Hegseth is on the Hill trying to defend a war nobody wants. Trump is laser focused on his grudges and perceived enemies like Jimmy Kimmel and Jim Comey.
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Chapter 2: How does the Iowa Senate candidate view the upcoming primary?
Trump is also trying to take down Jimmy Kimmel again. As we talked about on Tuesday's show, the White House is pretending to be big mad about a joke Kimmel made days before the Correspondents Center about Melania being an expectant widow. The FCC has now launched an early review of all of ABC's broadcast licenses.
They said this was part of a longer-running anti-DEI investigation, but the context is pretty clear. And the White House communication director did tweet that Kimmel is a, quote, shit human being and that ABC needs to fire him immediately and he should be shunned for the rest of his life. Alex, what is going on here with the FCC? Is this a real threat?
Well, I mean, yeah, it's a real threat insofar as Disney's going to have to comply. The FCC can do this, right? It's difficult. It's an unusual process, but they can absolutely do this. And they can make life expensive and challenging for people Disney and its affiliates as they seek to gum up the works and throw sand in the machinery.
And it is, I think, an escalatory move from the last time the FCC took on ABC and Jimmy Kimmel, which was just to pull them off the air. And I don't think it's a good development in terms of our democracy and the First Amendment and the freedom of the press and freedom of speech. So, I mean, I think it's definitely problematic. I think Though this time is a little bit different.
First of all, Disney, I think, learned its lesson when everybody, a lot of people who are Disney Plus subscribers started canceling their subscriptions, outraged over Disney. pulling Kimmel off the air for a week or however long it was.
And I think also these networks are understanding that if you allow an administration to terrorize you based on a whatever joke said on one of your broadcast networks, that is both the end of television and comedy. And neither of those things is good for business if you're a broadcast network or an entertainment network.
So I think there's more, I would hope there's more fight in Disney's belly this time around. And I think an early indicator of the changed dynamics is the posture of the National Association of Broadcasters, which released a statement on, I think it was Wednesday, saying effectively what the FCC is doing here is bad.
And if it wants to do this to Disney, ABC, then we're all, you know, that equally affects us.
So, you know, an opening salvo against Disney is an opening salvo against all of us, which I think is, you know, it's a hopeful sign that corporate America has learned some lessons since 2025 when everybody was taking the knee to Donald Trump and his winged monkeys as they sought to terrorize them and encourage them to be, you know, pledge allegiance to Disney. Donald Trump.
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Chapter 3: What recent Supreme Court decision impacts the Voting Rights Act?
you may not. If you're someone who does not have Jimmy Kimmel's clout, I mean, Jimmy Kimmel's basically known as the mayor of Hollywood, he's so popular, then it could cause you to think twice before you say certain things or do certain things.
Or it could cause the executives at smaller networks or maybe networks who have more in front of Trump, like at Paramount, who have more stake in what the Trump administration does than ABC does to take it, kill a story. The thing is, We know about the jokes that happen or the stories that happen or the comments that happen that then get some response.
What we don't know about are the stories and the jokes that don't happen because people are afraid of the response. And that is ultimately what Benincar is trying to do here.
Can I say, though, I think there is one reality that corporate America is particularly and increasingly acutely aware of, which is the House is likely to change hands. And the Senate could change hands. And 2028 isn't that far off if you're a corporate executive who looks at things in multi-year forecasts. And the reality is that Paramount is a great example. They have so alienated themselves.
from the party that is likely to take power, at least in the legislative branch in the coming year, that they have some work to do. And the more they make these arrangements with the Trump administration, the more they do the bidding, the more they're going to have to go to the Hill and testify as to how this isn't a corrupt practice.
You know, and I think that they're going to have to, I think they understand that there's going to be a call for some accountability on this, which I do think is why you have, for example, you know, Paramount has done every, bent over backwards for this administration, but Nora O'Donnell,
who is on CBS, who is, which, you know, as part of 60 Minutes, has asked Trump some probably of the toughest questions that any journalist has asked him in the last month relating to his role in the Epstein files in the wake of the White House correspondent's shooting.
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Chapter 4: How is Trump's political strategy affecting his enemies?
So I think, or attempted shooting. I mean, I just think, I'm not like a corporate stooge here, Dan.
I'm not suggesting that. Despite this long defense of corporate America.
My story defense of the C-suite. But I do think there are financial realities that are going to come into play here. And Trump is a lame duck, not just politically speaking, but in terms of business. At some point, he becomes dead weight.
And these kinds of fights are only going to... I mean, I think you can only wage them on Trump's behalf for so long before you're actually putting yourself in harm's way.
Yeah, I think that's true. I think hopefully people are beginning to realize that. We're going to get to an exception on this later in the podcast when it comes to the Amazon Corporation. But if you even take the Nora O'Donnell report, like the Nora O'Donnell, she did a good job. She asked the tough questions. That was an uncomfortable situation to be in, and she persevered through it.
But there is a report today that CBS really edited out a bunch of sort of Trump nonsense. You know, there was that the term everyone was using back in the day was like sane washing to make them sound more normal. And but there's apparently a lot, according to this one report, a lot of stuff that would have been not good for Trump that did not get in that.
You know, is that because that was a legitimate journalistic decision about how to fit this interview into this? you know, the allotted chunk. Is it because they have already been sued by Trump for various issues?
I look forward to this exact thing. When will Kamala Harris sue CBS for whatever? Thirty eight million dollars because it's deemed election interference in the twenty twenty eight election. I digress.
Honestly, that would be one of the best things she has done since the election. It would be very popular.
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Chapter 5: What are the implications of redistricting for the midterms?
Like, well, how do you beat that?
Yeah.
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There's also been a lot of back and forth lately about Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. The DOJ recently dropped its bogus investigation into him over the renovation of the Fed building. Not only is Powell not going to trial, he's rewarding Trump's effort by sticking around the building longer. Let's take a listen.
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Chapter 6: What challenges do farmers face in Trump's America?
with Hegseth I think is meaningful. And it's also a different side of the Democratic Party, right? Like we just, the tent is so big, but you know, you can be, I don't know. I think it's a good moment for Democrats when that is the sort of juxtaposition.
Everyone has been – Trump ran as the no wars president. He's been very, very sensitive to the political costs of these wars. So there has been this question, why did this happen? And Ashley Parker and Mike Scheer of The Atlantic had an incredible piece this week called The YOLO Presidency. that kind of answers the question. And they quote someone close to Trump saying this.
He's been talking recently about how he is the most powerful person to ever live. He wants to be remembered as the one who did things that others couldn't do because of his sheer power and force of will. This includes Iran. According to sources in the story, Trump doesn't care about losing the House. He only slightly worries about losing the Senate because it would mean a longer impeachment trial.
What did you think of this piece?
It's like, I think my favorite piece that I read this week, it's so, it is full bonkers. You mentioned that Trump is his full self when he's talking about ballroom renovations. He's his full self when he is in like home reno mode. He is, according to this reporting, walking around gluing challenge coins, those military commemorative coins.
He's gluing challenge coins to the doors of the White House, to various offices in the administration in the White House, like an old grandpa. just like dusting off his fishing rods to put on display in the garage.
I mean, it's literally the idea that Trump just has forsaken political reality and doesn't give a shit about the midterms or the legislative branch, and instead thinks of himself as a man who has embarked on a great mission, a la Alexander the Great, Napoleon, and Julius Caesar. Those are the three great men mentioned in this piece.
Like, first of all, I guarantee you that Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, and Napoleon Bonaparte could get the motherfucking Strait of Hormuz open, okay? They're like the greatest military tacticians in world history.
The idea that Trump puts himself on that level is both deluded and dangerous, and it should inform our thinking about any kind of quote-unquote strategy that comes from this White House, right? It is a cult. It is no longer, you know, he's not the head of a party.
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