On this episode of The Chuck ToddCast, Chuck Todd is joined by Marc Caputo, Senior White House Reporter for Axios.Chuck begins by breaking down how the personnel guardrails that existed during Donald Trump’s first term are now gone—and why a potential second Trump administration would look dramatically different from the first.He and Marc then explore which Trump official is most likely to take the blame for the administration’s disastrous tariff rollout, and outline three key factors that led Trump to temporarily reverse course with a 90-day delay.They also explain why Trump can no longer credibly pin economic challenges on President Biden, and why his plan to boost domestic manufacturing may fall short. The conversation turns to Trump’s use of executive orders to target whistleblowers and critics, and who might be managing his so-called “enemies list.”Finally, they assess which members of Trump’s inner circle are gaining or losing favor with the president, and preview a looming controversy that could shake up the Florida governor’s race.Timeline:0:00 Introduction2:00 Trump 1.0 was NOT a blueprint for Trump 2.04:40 This is a brand new style of governing6:22 Was there insider trading based on Trump’s tweet?8:28 The market and rich people are serving as a guardrail10:00 Anti-american sentiment will affect American businesses11:30 Marc Caputo joins the show12:55 The “dear leader” quality to the administration17:37 Howard Lutnick the likely fall guy for tariffs?18:36 Three factors caused Trump to change course on tariffs23:07 Trump 1.0 was completely different compared to Trump 2.027:50 Does the administration regret that they didn’t pass the tax cut first?29:22 Trump gave up the ability to blame Biden for the economy30:00 Manufacturing plants take years to build31:15 Trump working through an “enemies list”?35:05 Revenge agenda is a slippery slope37:00 Is RJK Jr. being reeled in by the White House?39:56 Trump changes his mind constantly43:31 What is Elon Musk’s current standing within the administration?45:46 Is Rubio’s stock rising or falling?48:09 The administration is using AI to monitor social media feeds50:30 Scandal looming over the Florida governor’s race52:55 Chuck’s final thoughts
Full Episode
Hello there. Happy Friday here at the Chuck Todd cast. This is a bit of a bonus episode. I don't always not always going to drop four in a week, but this has been one of those weeks. And I know in the Trump era, there's always one of those weeks. And that's always a word of warning sometimes. Right. Just when you think, oh, my God, can it get any crazier?
Something else will happen and it will get crazier. But I do think trying to understand the most important thing on the on the Trump tariff pullback, right, that we all know he blinked.
I think it's important to figure out how he got there, because understanding how he got there will then tell us, I think, give us at least a better idea of how to be prepared for what is still going to be an uncertain economic climate for at least the next three months, probably
possibly if it's as if it's as tumultuous as it still looks, we're looking at, you know, what's going to be just a tumultuous 18 months until the voters decide if they want to have a say here on the direction of our economy. But the fact of the matter is, while while Trump sort of stopped what was turning into
the beginnings of a Republican revolt on this and certainly a major donor revolt on his policies. He has staved that off. But it's not as if he can go back and slapdash this on and hope that he's you know, that the same thing won't happen again. So my guest today is Mark Caputo.
And I think Mark Caputo, of all the Trump beat writers, probably has the best insight on how this version of Trump world operates. And I say this version because I said it in the previous update and I'll say it again, which is the biggest mis the biggest. mistake everybody has made with Trump 2.0 is assuming Trump 1.0 was a blueprint or a model.
I think it is pretty clear now Trump 1.0 was the Mike Pence presidency, because it was Mike Pence and Reince Priebus who built that cabinet, who built that staff, who built that team. I'd probably throw Jared Kushner in there as sort of the third guy in here that Kushner
Priebus and Pence were stabilizing forces for conventional economic thinking, conventional national security thinking and conventional day to day governance of the larger entity that is the federal government. And it's pretty clear that by the time Trump got to the end of his first term, He knew exactly what happened, right?
He went through four national security advisors because he didn't like any of them. He went through four chiefs of staff until he got the most compliant one in Mark Meadows, right? And so when he built Trump 2.0, he made sure he wasn't going to have somebody that wasn't essentially loyal to his vision, loyal to his ideas.
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