Chapter 1: What recent political developments have led to a Republican revolt against Trump?
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Chapter 2: How has Trump's endorsement of Ken Paxton affected Texas Senate dynamics?
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Chapter 3: What issues did the DNC's 2024 autopsy reveal about party strategy?
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I'm Dan Pfeiffer.
On today's show, we're going to talk about how Donald Trump's revenge tour is backfiring in a way that just about everybody could have predicted. With everything from his ballroom funding to his insurrectionist slush fund now in jeopardy.
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Chapter 4: What insights did the New York Times poll provide on Democratic voter sentiments?
We'll also talk about how Trump may have made things even worse for his party. with his endorsement of Ken Paxton over John Cornyn in Texas. And then just to prove that Republicans aren't the only ones stepping on rakes, we'll talk about the long-awaited release of the 2024 DNC autopsy and whether Ken Martin's job as DNC chair is in jeopardy.
We'll also talk about new results from this week's New York Times poll focused on what Democratic voters want from the Democratic Party. Then you'll hear Tommy's interview with California gubernatorial candidate Matt Mahan. And finally... We'll explore the question none of us thought we'd have to ask. Is Donald Trump going to skip his son's wedding? Tune in to find out.
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Chapter 5: How does Matt Mahan plan to address homelessness and housing as a gubernatorial candidate?
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It seems like just yesterday, because it was, that the White House warned us to never again doubt Donald Trump's political power. And certain journalists proclaimed an incredible few weeks for the president's political operation. This is all because Trump's handpicked primary challengers defeated Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy. and Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massey.
Well, 24 hours later, here's a text from a Republican senator to Punchbowl News. Quote, our majority is melting down before our eyes. So what happened? What happened?
Chapter 6: What challenges are California voters facing regarding housing and cost of living?
Well, the Senate was supposed to be voting on Trump's bill to fund ICE, but then he also demanded $1 billion for his ballroom and And he announced that he's stealing $2 billion from taxpayers so that he can potentially hand out cash payments to January 6th rioters who almost killed police officers and basically anyone else he thinks has been mistreated by the justice system. Uh,
Neither of these things sat very well with some Republicans, including people like Bill Cassidy, whose career Trump just ended. And after a reportedly tense meeting about the insurrectionist slush fund with acting Attorney General Todd Blanch, where some Republicans proposed restrictions on the slush fund.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune canceled the vote entirely and told everyone to go home until June. Here's Blanche and J.D. Vance earlier in the week refusing to rule out taxpayer-funded payouts for violent insurrectionists.
You know who never ever gets an ounce of sympathy when it comes to that disproportionate sentencing is people who voted for Donald Trump and participated in the January 6th protest.
Will individuals who assaulted Capitol Hill police officers be eligible for this fund?
Well, as it makes plain, anybody is... Just let me know if they're eligible for the fund. As was made plain yesterday, anybody in this country is eligible to apply.
You're not going to submit this proposal to any federal judge or independent? There is no judge. Any independent authority?
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Chapter 7: What are the implications of Trump's proposed ballroom funding?
What does that mean, an independent authority? It means not somebody who's getting to pick five of the members who is the president's former personal attorney. That would be somebody who would be independent. I'm the acting attorney general, okay? The fact that I used to be President Trump's lawyer is just a fact, but I'm the acting attorney general.
So don't say the president's former personal lawyer will do something. The acting attorney general will do something. Mr. Attorney General, you are acting today like the president's personal attorney. And that's the whole problem.
That's the good shit right there.
It's the good shit. What a fucking whiner. So after Senate Republicans were in revolt and the majority was melting down, Trump was asked about it in the Oval on Thursday. Here's what he said. Are you losing control of the Senate?
Chapter 8: How does the conversation around AI and technology impact voters in California?
I don't know. I really don't know. I can tell you I only do what's right. I don't need money for the ballroom. You know, I'm making a gift of the ballroom. This is the biggest misreporting that I've ever seen.
OK, well, we'll dig into that in a little bit. An incredible week for Trump's political operation, Dan.
It's an incredible, truly unbelievable.
Let's start with the slush fund. You and I talked about this on last Friday's episode. And we talked about how Trump potentially settling the IRS lawsuit by personally pocketing billions in taxpayer dollars was maybe the worst political move we could imagine. And then they did the slush fund right as we were finishing the recording. So we only briefly got to talk about it. Yeah.
What do you think? What do you think about the political move of, instead of Trump just pocketing the cash, deciding to put it in a fund with no accountability whatsoever so they can secretly pay out whoever they'd like?
Look, these brilliant fucking geniuses in the Trump political team, the same ones who spent $20 million to defeat a Republican congressman in a district that Trump won by 35 points, really figured this one out. So instead of giving billions of dollars to one criminal...
They're going to give $1.776 billion, which is so clever, to an untold number of criminals, many of whom committed violent offenses, assaulting the Capitol and assaulting police officers. It is a move so bad that even Republican senators can figure out that it's bad politically.
Just so ā I mean ā Part of this is it's such a politically bad move that I've been shocked by it. I've been laughing about it because how could you be so stupid? It's fun watching the Republicans freak out about this and everything fall apart.
But NPR did a story about it where they started going through some of the potential January 6th convicted felons or people who were going to be on trial until Trump pardoned them. to talk about how this would play out. This guy, Jake Lang, he admitted to using a bat to attack police. He was on trial for assault when Trump pardoned him.
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