Chuck begins by weighing in on a new Pew Research poll showing a significant drop in President Donald Trump’s approval rating since his inauguration. He highlights the erosion of support among non-voters as a potential warning sign for the president. Chuck also shares his concerns about the administration’s apparent deference to Russia in the latest Ukraine peace agreement.Next, he’s joined by Jon Tester and Maritsa Georgiou to discuss their new podcast, the underrepresentation of middle America in the media, and why members of Congress should spend more time outside the Washington, D.C. bubble.They explore the loss of trust in national media due to the decline of strong local journalism, Congress’s tendency to cede power to the executive branch, the corrupting influence of dark money in politics, and the urgent need for campaign finance reform.The conversation wraps with a discussion about the TV show Yellowstone and its impact—both positive and negative—on their home state of Montana.Finally, Chuck closes out the show by answering a few listener questions in the "Ask Chuck" segment.Timeline:0:00 Introduction2:25 New Pew Research poll released on Trump’s first 100 days3:45 Not surprising Trump’s approval has dropped4:15 Non-voters souring on Trump quickly6:15 Incompetency is defining his first 100 days7:30 Erratic decision making doesn’t inspire confidence9:15 Low information voters are a good barometer10:15 Republican party still has a higher favorability ratings than the Democratic party14:00 Trump is tarnishing the country’s reputation16:15 Trump needs to make some trade deals and put points on the board17:45 The United States government is taking Russia’s side against Ukraine20:40 Jon Tester and Maritsa Georgiou join the show! 21:10 Why start a podcast? 23:10 Most rewarding part? 25:25 Need more voices in media from all over the country, not just the coasts 27:55 The state of local news in Montana 29:10 "The middle" is underrepresented in media 30:40 Where the media is located can warp the perspective 33:10 If Congress convened in places other than DC, things would be very different 34:10 Politicians pit urban vs rural against one another 34:55 Journalists are pulled to the big markets 36:40 Local media was a character reference for the national media 37:55 Without local reporters, important stories can't reach the national media 39:10 There are no more local reporters telling communities what DC is doing for them 41:25 Why has Congress been willing to cede power to the executive? 43:40 Congress has rolled over in the 21st century due to campaign finance 44:40 Dark money's influence on Montana politics 47:05 Money has skewed the system* 48:40 Local news stations run on two year budgets due to election spending 49:40 Campaign finance reform efforts always result in loopholes 50:40 Campaign finance isn't a voting issue53:10 Media has to be an educator 54:55 Voters of both parties are worried about money in politics55:55 Congress needs a NASCAR rule for disclosing donors 56:55 Why is fixing campaign finance so hard? 57:40 Candidates have limits, donors do not 58:40 Most members of Congress have good motivations individually, collectively they become irrational 1:00:20 Senator Lisa Murkowski's comments about fear of retaliation1:02:40 Founders would be appalled by what's happening in DC 1:03:55 Media needs to listen and rebuild trust 1:04:40 The media needs to stand with the AP 1:05:30 Montana's star turn in pop culture due to Taylor Sheridan 1:07:40 What is Sen. Tester watching on TV? 1:10:20 Montana has been "discovered" by the wealthy1:10:50 Chuck’s thoughts on the interview1:11:25 Ask Chuck1:11:55 If you were in charge of the DNC, what changes would you like to see improve their brand?1:13:30 The Democrats haven’t tried to be a 50 state party, they need to go on a listening tour1:17:25 If elections were held a week earlier in 1976 and 2016, would Ford and Clinton have won?(Timestamps vary based on advertisements)
Chapter 1: What is the main topic of this episode?
Hello there. It's Chuck Todd. Another episode of the Chuck Todd cast. Got an interesting and fun one for you today. Fun interview with Maritza Giorgio and John Tester. Maritza is a longtime journalist based out of Montana. And she and John Tester started their own podcast earlier this year, as she jokes. They both were looking for work after the election.
And both being Montanans and knowing each other for a while, they've started a fascinating new podcast that tries to you know, take advantage of the fact that too much of political coverage is based out of DC or New York and not enough everywhere else. Well, they're both based in Montana, different parts of Montana, as you'll learn.
Chapter 2: What does the new Pew Research poll reveal about Trump's approval ratings?
Um, but it allowed for a fascinating conversation on the future of independent media, media, the future of the democracy, the future of the democratic party, given we have John Tester there. So, uh, I think you're going to enjoy the conversation. So I urge you to stick around. Um, But look, I am I'm coming to you middle of the week here.
Washington is beginning this weird situation over the next 72 hours. It's becomes it's some people call it nerd prom. It's White House Correspondents Weekend. There's all sorts of people coming to town, all sorts of entities throwing parties. So one thing is for sure, gossip will be sort of lots of gossip out there. But I'm not here to tell you about the White House correspondents gossip.
I'll just tell you this about the dinner. The older I get, the less interested I am in the dinner. Of course, when you're young and new to Washington, you can't wait to get invited to these parties and you're always trying to sneak in. And then, of course, you hit a certain age that that literally it's like the old I think it's a I think it's an old tradition.
It's an old I want to say it's a Groucho Marx expression. I don't know if it is or not, but it's something like if you're inviting me to the party, it must not be good anymore. And it's like now that I'm invited to these things, you don't want to go when you couldn't be invited. You couldn't wait to go. It kind of is the attitude I have.
And I think it's we've discussed this side of you guys, hopefully. remember the conversation Tara Palmieri and I had about this and just sort of how, how this whole weekend has gotten messed up in, in so many ways. But, uh, it is worth noting that you're gonna see, and so you'll probably see a lot of one source gossip making the rounds over the next 72 hours about this or that.
But I wanna kick things off today with sort of a bit of a report card for Donald Trump, because the first decent poll, and let me just put this out there, decent poll, meaning for me, it means it's a poll that I'm gonna care about the cross tabs and care about. The Pew Research Center brought out their, they're the first one out of the gates
At least the first legitimate pollster out of the gates with a with a hundred day check in. Yes, we're not quite at 100 days, but they're essentially there. It's coming up and this will be the first of a lot of polls. The big headline is that Donald Trump's already dropped from. At the start of his presidency, they had him at 47%. He's now sitting at 40%. So that's a pretty low approval.
It's a lower approval rating than any president at this point in time in their term since they've been polling. Bill Clinton was close to being this low. He had a really rough start. He's one of those. His approval rating got better as his first term went along and got stronger going into the second term until he ran into a personal scandal.
So the only person that he's rivaling right now, Donald Trump, that is, with a low first hundred days approval rating is himself, essentially, in 2017. He sat there and had a first lower. A few things about the crosstabs, what you see in this poll. I'm not surprised by the 40.
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Chapter 3: How is local journalism being affected in America?
Chapter 4: Why is there a need for more voices in media?
If it's really about bringing manufacturing to America, then he's got to be able to sustain essentially a rough transition. But he doesn't have – he knows he doesn't really have the political capital to do that and somehow convince Congress to pass his tax cut and somehow to do these other things. So he's in a tough spot. The voters are noticing.
And like I said, to me, the real canary in the coal mine is how non-voters perceive him. That doesn't mean those people are going to show up to the polls. but what it tells you is what has made it through to low information voters, to people that aren't tuning in. Low information doesn't mean, by the way, you hear expressions like that, that doesn't mean dumb voters or anything.
It means busy people, okay? Low information about politics, sometimes following politics is a luxury. Trust me, I know this and I appreciate you downloading and listening and maintaining. By the way, like and subscribe, tell all your friends to like and subscribe. Did I tell you about liking and subscribing?
But it just, what it tells me is people that are living their own lives, what they're hearing, what they're feeling and what they're seeing is not good. Like I said, that 31%, that sort of, I'd look at it as sort of, that's the worst case scenario. Like I said, I still think his base is in a place that would keep him at least in the mid thirties, but he's in a tough spot.
But there's one more wrinkle to this poll that I think is quite important. And that wrinkle is which party has a higher favorable rating right now, the Republican Party or the Democratic Party? Now, I just gave you a litany of things. Donald Trump, everything he's touching has a majority of voters not liking what he's doing, even, frankly, on immigration, although that's basically 50-50.
But on everything else, people think the cuts are too much, too willy-nilly, the Doge cuts. They don't like his foreign policy. This is a, you know... The country is still more in favor of Ukraine than Russia, unlike where the president is sitting right now on trying to strong arm Ukraine. His economic policies are unpopular. So you'd think this would bleed into the Republican Party. It doesn't.
The Republican Party still now has a higher favorable rating than the Democratic Party. So all of this disaster that has really been and this is arguably as bad of a first hundred days. Bill Clinton had a pretty bad first hundred days. But this is a much worse first hundred days because it was self-inflicted. Bill Clinton had a plan. The plan didn't go well.
this doesn't feel like this team had a plan. They had a plan when it came to cutting the government. They had a plan when it came to going after the, you know, doing the grievance thing, going after the law firms, going after the universities, trying to go after the media. So they had all these sort of what I'd call retribution plans. But to actually run the country,
outside of Homeland Security and the border, that doesn't look like they really know what they're doing at the Pentagon, at the State Department. I mean, the way they cut AID was a mess.
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Chapter 5: What is the impact of dark money in politics?
Can they promise that this is a country that does want tighter borders? We've we've always been you know, it's interesting. I don't think America is a nativist country, but we're a bit we're a bit nationalist. Right. Where we are. We are sort of we want it's not necessarily American first. Right. But we want to be American. We want to make sure we're the we're a little bit ahead of everybody.
Right. It's this weird line. So I think that in some cases, that's why they the ideas that Trump throws out there are ones that the public. Well, all right. If he could do that, that would be good. But his inability to execute is clearly his Achilles heel.
And the question is, at what point do congressional Republicans realize that Trump's taken them down, right, that this is going to drag them down and drag them down? And if he continues to try to manage the stock market like a political problem, all right, let's see if I can goose the markets this way, all because he thinks he can deal with the markets as a news cycle.
Well, as you learned from Mark Zandi, you know, unless these tariff deals start coming in and there's not one yet. Right. There's there is, I guess, a concept of a memo of understanding with India. There's a concept of an idea of a plan with Japan. But he needs some points on the board and he needs points on the board quickly. Ironically, the market's desperate for it.
If he can show that he actually knows how to make one of these trade deals. I do think the markets will reward him. But these are hard and complicated and these tariffs aren't going to go away until these deals are done. And that's that's what's going to I think that's what's going to impact his political ratings even further.
You know, it is interesting to me that the Walmart and Target folks, when they met with the president, used the visual of empty shelves by July. If this if this trade war with China doesn't deescalate. One thing about Donald Trump is he understands visuals. He knows this is a guy who is essentially has tried to turn perceptions into reality.
So he understands how quickly perceptions can become reality. He is somebody that tries to create false realities. So when you have somebody who's that good at that, they're aware of how powerful empty shelves. You know who has empty shelves? Russia, right? Communist countries, Cuba, North Korea. If America has empty shelves, That's a terrible look.
One more thing before I get to the interview with Jon Tester and his podcast partner in crime, Maritza Giorgio. A little thing about what's going on with Ukraine, and we'll see. Look, I'm timestamping this Wednesday evening. You never know what's going to happen by the time you hear this 12 hours later when this video podcast and audio podcast drops. But
It's you know, I know we've said this before, but the idea that the United States of America is essentially taking Russia's asks and making them our asks and strong arming Ukraine here is just it's whiplash. It's really hard to fully wrap your head around that the United States of America is government is essentially pro-Russia right now on this. It's funny how the negotiations are going.
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Chapter 6: How has the concentration of power shifted in Washington?
Chapter 7: Why is campaign finance reform important?
You know, it is interesting to me that the Walmart and Target folks, when they met with the president, used the visual of empty shelves by July. If this if this trade war with China doesn't deescalate. One thing about Donald Trump is he understands visuals. He knows this is a guy who is essentially has tried to turn perceptions into reality.
So he understands how quickly perceptions can become reality. He is somebody that tries to create false realities. So when you have somebody who's that good at that, they're aware of how powerful empty shelves. You know who has empty shelves? Russia, right? Communist countries, Cuba, North Korea. If America has empty shelves, That's a terrible look.
One more thing before I get to the interview with Jon Tester and his podcast partner in crime, Maritza Giorgio. A little thing about what's going on with Ukraine, and we'll see. Look, I'm timestamping this Wednesday evening. You never know what's going to happen by the time you hear this 12 hours later when this video podcast and audio podcast drops. But
It's you know, I know we've said this before, but the idea that the United States of America is essentially taking Russia's asks and making them our asks and strong arming Ukraine here is just it's whiplash. It's really hard to fully wrap your head around that the United States of America is government is essentially pro-Russia right now on this. It's funny how the negotiations are going.
So one of the sticking points, obviously a big one, is giving up sovereignty, right? And so it's in the idea that Ukraine would have to you know, recognize Russia's sovereignty over Crimea? Well, apparently Donald Trump has said, no, no, no, no. Ukraine doesn't have to recognize Russia's sovereignty over Crimea. It's just the United States that plans to do it.
And as if that somehow that technicality is supposed to be reassuring to the Ukrainians, don't worry, you don't have to recognize that Russia, that Crimea belongs to Russia. Just we will. And the Europeans don't have to do this. Just we will. It's a.
It's a weird thing to draw a line on and it's a weird distinction because unfortunately or fortunately, however you want to look at it, once the United States does recognize some countries hold on land, other countries usually follow suit. Now, it didn't work with Gulf of America. Right.
I think the only entity in the world that's going to call it Gulf of America are essentially Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump. But. If we're the ones recognizing Russia's hold on Crimea, a lot of other countries will likely do that, too. So I'm going to... Pause right here. By the way, I got a special treat for you this week. We're going to have an extra pod this week.
Thank you.
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Chapter 8: How does the media influence public trust?
And if it, you know, it's one of these things that if it bombs, it bombs and we'll figure out something else. But if it works and it goes and it's valuable and people think it's a good source of information and we can get good people on, It's worthwhile to do. So that's pretty much why we did it.
Besides that, it's turned out to be a lot of fun, you know, and an opportunity to actually deliver some information, get some opinions from folks that we trust. And it's been solid. It's been good. It's been fun.
Marita, what do you like best about it? Right. I mean, I've got, you know, I, I, my whole, the way I evangelize on it is I just was done with the five to 10 minute interview. And, you know, look, John and I have done plenty of those five to 10 minute interviews before. And it's, it's one topic if you're lucky or it's the, then there's always the, Hey, I got to ask this question.
Cause it's in the news. Maybe he'll make news and Chuck Schumer will be pissed off or whatever it is. Right. Like, I know what I enjoy now is the longer conversation where you can have a little bit of that fun, but at the same time, get some context. What's been the most rewarding part of it for you so far?
And I don't have somebody in my ear saying, no, no, cut, cut. We don't have time. I'll say one more, one more. I mean, ask anybody who's ever worked with me, whether it's on my former show when we were doing live interviews or out in the field, I'm always trying to, you know,
stretch the interview longer because I always have more questions to ask and John will see this, you know, when we're going through and I'll send him a list of all my questions. And I think I probably get about, I don't know, a fifth of the questions I always want to ask, but I think you're absolutely right. Especially right now.
so many people consume news by just reading headlines or blurbs and they don't actually fully understand things like the context of things and why it matters and the history of it and so to be able to have guests on and actually dig in and and there's no there's no time limit and we can say go as long as you want if it's long or you know goes a little bit like god made editors yeah we can we can cut it down but i mean it might get to we had an interview
I guess it was earlier this week. It feels like a few weeks ago. But with this, you know, economist from the University of Michigan, Justin Wolfers, who also goes by Fed Lasso sometimes. And he was fabulous. That's funny.
Fed Lasso. Look, as a dad over 50, I like a good dad pun.
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