Podcast
Kagro in the Morning
Hosted by David Waldman · EN
News, politics and commentary from Daily Kos Contributing Editor David Waldman
74episodes
Episodes
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Kagro in the Morning - May 20, 2026
1w ago01:57:04Tap to summarizeIt's Wednesday, and unless you're Louisianan or something weird like that, that means election follow up. And election follow up means Greg Dworkin. And Greg Dworkin means pundits get abbreviated and rounded up. This morning, everyone's attention was diverted to The Slush Fund. Everyone was talking about it. Even the big time pols, who are supposed to be talking about such things, but often seem to take days to do so. Not this time! Even Josh Shapiro is on it. Republicans are on it, too. Some of them are hinting that they'll run away from it (i.e., the elected ones), while others (the trolling operatives) are already claiming they've formally applied for a payoff, as unlikely as that is to be true. By the way, does the name in the story ring a bell? He was supposed to have turned over a new leaf in life, but it turns out it's just the same leaf over and over. But after that, it was that elections thing I previously mentioned. They happened in Kentucky, where Thomas Massie found out (though he surely saw it coming) that keeping your 2024 campaign promises that were also Donald Trump's 2024 campaign promises gets you kicked out by Donald Trump in 2026. They also happened in Georgia, where Republicans also found out that preventing Donald Trump from fulfilling 2020 campaign promises didn't help, either. Georgia also reelected nominally Republican state Supreme Court Justices on the 2026 equivalent of the butterfly ballot. Anyhoo... Trump's backing got lots of crazy nutbars through their primaries, but getting through November is another story. This story, to be precise. And they've got data for that. After all that, pretty soon we'll get to see if it's the same story all over again, but in Texas. And keep in mind, Republicans who lose their jobs during Trump's "retribution tour" are now free to do as they please. (Unless they're threatened with murder or whatever.) But they still have to choose to show up to do it. On the Democratic side of the ledger, Jared Polis is pretty sure that eventually, everyone's gonna see his Tina Peters commutation as rainbows and unicorns. But right now, people see it as... well, there could be a horse involved. I guess. Israeli and American war "planners" may have given the reins over to the other end of the horse as well, when they hatched this scheme to bomb Mahmoud "I'm a Dinner Jacket" Ahmadinejad out of "jail" and into the presidency of Iran. It did not work, possibly on account of the bomb.
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Kagro in the Morning - May 19, 2026
1w ago01:57:12Tap to summarizeI had such a lovely little summary all written for you! But WordPress frightened and confused me, and now it has been overwritten. Ah, well. This is a list of the stories we used in today's show. If you don't know why we used them, you may never know, for I am not going to tell you, it seems. I did try. But then I un-tried. This is Trump's fault. https://bsky.app/profile/rparloff.bsky.social/post/3mm7esvdyt223 (This is a rundown of why the "settlement" is bullshit.) https://bsky.app/profile/chip.bsky.social/post/3mm7ef5w4e22i (Is there a 14th Amendment problem with the "settlement?" Is there, indeed, a 14th Amendment?) https://bsky.app/profile/paulwaldman.bsky.social/post/3mm6dd46yqc2b (This is the story of one of several child molesters that it is supposed that Trump will pay with his "settlement" fund.) https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3mm7kq6zxj723 (This is Todd Blanche saying he will go ahead and pay him.) https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/san-diego-mosque-shooting-victims-islam-center-suspects-what-know-rcna345805 (The tragic news from out of San Diego.) https://bsky.app/profile/proptermalone.bsky.social/post/3mm6dtafhkk22 (The tragic "response" from "Homeland Security.") https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/16/business/media/influencers-political-financing-disclosure.html?unlocked_article_code=1.jFA.g0Ia.o7Z55fKtu3Sy&smid=nytcore-ios-share (Influencer payola! "Both sides!" But twenty paragraphs before actually mentioning the main Republican example!) https://bsky.app/profile/beyerstein.bsky.social/post/3mm5vszkuxk2h (That Republican example's previous history of smear jobs that appear nowhere at all in the Times story, for some reason.) https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/05/09/ben-shapiro-daily-wire-maga-media/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzc4Mjk5MjAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzc5NjgxNTk5LCJpYXQiOjE3NzgyOTkyMDAsImp0aSI6ImUwYjNmMTZiLTFkMGUtNDc2Zi1iZGE3LWI1N2M3ZDE5OGVkYiIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS90ZWNobm9s (The saga of Ben Shapiro's Daily Wire possibly collapsing under the weight of its own hubris, and also lots of other people's hubris.)
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Kagro in the Morning - May 18, 2026
1w ago01:56:22Tap to summarizeThey let Trump back into the country, so it's Chaos Time again! Greg Dworkin came armed with the usual roundup. As we mentioned last week, we've moved from Special Election season straight into primary season. And we had one over the weekend. Who has primaries on the weekends? Smart people Weirdos! Like Louisianans! But there's more to come on Tuesday, and they're reading the early vote ballot selection tea leaves. Even when it's just a primary, it means something when the ratio of ballots selected shifts toward Democrats every single time. And Georgians have more than usual at stake in what will be, on Tuesday, a final and determinative general (but "non-partisan") election for their Supreme Court, concurrent with primaries for everything else. All of this takes place in the context of record, floor-shattering lows for Trump's own polling. He's losing ground with his base. He's losing ground with his coalition. He's losing ground on his issues. But there are still enough Republican primary voters to turn things his way in these early contests. Not that that doesn't cost him ground, too. Because yes, small though the number may be, recoverable Republicans are in fact changing their minds. The combination–mathematically–has got to be enough. So, about that weekend Chaos I mentioned: Jared Polis has done the dumb thing, and though defenses are being offered, it remains dumb. Also generally chaotic: we may soon be adding motor oil shortages to skyrocketing gas prices. And Kash Patel turns out to have probably literally pissed on the graves of our Pearl Harbor dead, thus proving that there is no bridge too far. Further proof: Trump is ordering the Treasury to fill a sack with taxpayer money and hand it over to him. And though that's pretty chaotic, it is actually OK, because he is demanding a patriotic number of dollars. U-S-A! We also caught up on some pre-weekend Chaos. First, the slow-leaking of Trump's humiliation in China, where he accomplished nothing. Second, more public lands shenanigans. By which I mean the ultra-wealthy grabbing still more public things from out of your hands, in order–mostly–to not even really put them in their own, private hands. They just own them in case they remember at some point that they actually have them, and might like to use them. (or not!) Instead of you.
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Kagro in the Morning - May 15, 2026
2w ago01:56:40Tap to summarizeThere's always room for a little more travelogue, right? Even when we're not traveling? Don't forget to choose your side in the In-N-Out vs. Culver's war kinetic action excursion! In other travel news, they opted not to sedate the president for his return trip to China. So you can anticipate a full day of Aaron Rupar clips of him damaging national security and the international geopolitical order. Well, if we're not traveloguing all day, then why not start the day instead with some lighthearted accusations of international espionage? It's yet another case of Billionaire Brainrot, as some guy who should have better things to do sets out in earnest to attack... some regular, normal people. Well, some Democrats from Utah, anyway. Why? Because AI profits, of course. Hey, remember when Republicans were just out to "relitigate Watergate?" And then the relitigators had their children's faces eat by leopards? No? Well, never mind, because as usual, we're way beyond that now. This is just the latest entry (but a good one that's worth your time) in the "revolutionary moment" discourse, there's another new data point that drives the theme home in a different way: 50 years after the unifying moment of the entire nation being captivated by the TV miniseries adapted from Roots, Knox County, TN (where a statue of the author Alex Haley stands today) is now banning the book from its school libraries. zOMFG. This may require a brief suspension of disbelief, but I do think we have a contender for Trump's most nakedly corrupt move so far. It was previously a different version of today's story, but the alleged diminution in value from $10 billion to a mere $1.7 billion didn't make it any less corrupt, in the end. (Nor does it preclude ratcheting the corruption back up to $10 billion, or indeed any other figure he'd like to imagine.) Yes, it's the Trump-sues-himself-and-then-orders-himself-to-settle-with-himself case. Only now it involves using the case to "fund" a sort of "victims' compensation fund," where the "victims" are anybody he'd like to give cash to. Oh, you wanna hear about more corruption? OK, fine. Them Duke Trump boys are miraculously always getting in just in time on investments that pay off big when their dad's government make decisions about major contract awards mere days after they buy in to the recipients of those contracts! And this time, they're doing it with a big play in Kazakh tungsten. Which I guess means dad won't be freeing up any Chinese tungsten on his trip. And some people are wondering whether the fact that deals like this always seem to involve defense contracts is the reason why they won't cut Whisky Pete Hic-seth loose. You want a story about dad's own corrupt stock plays? Well, I have one. Does it play into this week's GINA trip? Duh! Of course! His attention span isn't long enough to sustain anything else, you know. What about cronyism, though? Isn't there a corrupt cronyism story today? Yes, but it involves a connection to the other nation of 1 billion-plus, not the one he was visiting. But what about corruption, cronyism and pointless jingoism? Can we get a trifecta? Yes we can, to borrow and completely unfairly tar a perfectly good catchphrase. How about by "committing" to 250 pardons for America's 250th birthday? Definitely going to be corrupt (and crony-licious), because Trump. And by God, 250 of them really is pointlessly jingoistic. We've done it!
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Kagro in the Morning - May 14, 2026
2w ago01:56:46Tap to summarizeDavid Waldman is fighting a cold while fighting the good fight, hell, you got something to fight, he'll fight it. No beef with Greg Dworkin though. That guy is cool. Donald K. Trump is in 'GINA with his most trusted advisors: money. Listening to Xi Jinping talking Thucydides makes a much more restful naptime than listening to Lil' Marco LuLu Rubio. The Trump Iranian war rages because Fetterman is more MAGA than Murkowski. Meanwhile, Ukraine and Denmark make winning wars more accessible for the budget conscious. Generic Democrats are breaking away from generic Republicans in generic ballots, which is great news, as many Democrats are pretty generic. Listen, if people want someone who believes in causes that they will fight for, Hareem Jeffries will look into that, sure. The Trump Counterterrorism Strategy makes protesters Antifa and Antifa terrorists, while LGBT and Q are qualified from birth.
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Kagro in the Morning - May 13, 2026
2w ago01:56:41Tap to summarizeDavid Waldman welcomes back Greg Dworkin for all the laughs and links: Samuel Alito cited "fudged data", some say "lied", in order to gut voting rights, as if Trump's Supreme Court needed to lie to gut voting rights. Tennessee won't stop with eliminating voting rights for blacks, any rights will do. Now they did it! Dems are angry now, just watch them do… something! Voters are voting Democratic because there is no way it could be worse. In fact, in Nebraska, they voted Dem Cindy Burbank in (over the fake Dem William Forbes) because she promised to drop out to strengthen the Independent candidate Dan Osborn against the Republican Pete Ricketts. In Connecticut, they are voting out the 14-term incumbent, John B. Larson, to put in the "do something" candidate, Luke Bronin. The Donald K. Trump Iran war continues. The only thing Trump hates more than Iranians are Americans. He doesn't hate Iran that much. After all, he destroyed more US missiles than Iranian ones. Does Donald hate the press or women more? Trump is in China on behalf of world peace and has been so busy with plans to cut the world into pieces that he didn't talk to the press for the 20-hour trip over there. There will be plenty of CEOs to talk with, so Xi Jinping might just let Trum nap. Chinese Communist spy and former Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang probably could have used a ride back to China, after she pled guilty to acting as an illegal foreign agent.
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Kagro in the Morning - May 12, 2026
2w ago01:56:57Tap to summarizeDay Two back at home didn't feel any more organized to me than Day One, but it was more like a regular show than the past month's worth have been, anyway. I'll take it! The show being as much for me as it is for you, I found myself playing catch-up on the air with the background of the Virginia redistricting situation. We've all heard what happened in the Virginia Supreme Court, but… did it make sense? Would Dems really not be fighting back with all they had? And what did they have? There was at least one pretty seriously hardball suggestion floated, but it seemed to unnerve them, or worry them that Republicans would take revenge. Only they already have. But maybe it's not too let for Dems to do nothing, but in a good way. We also spent a moment catching up on the travelogue portion of the show. We were still on the road over the weekend, you know, making quick visits to two additional National Parks on the way home: New River Gorge and Shenandoah. Which was as good a reminder as any that all public lands–not just the famous or even lesser-known National Parks–are under attack and in need of your defense. Meanwhile, the collapse of American international leadership continues apace. The hantavirus outbreak is the first time in decades that the world couldn't turn to American leadership in matters of disease control and public health, thanks to Trump. But you and I (and the rest of the world) know the problem runs much, much deeper than that. In a classic sign of imperial decay, America has turned pirate. And Talk Like a Pirate Day isn't until September! Meanwhile, as Trump heads to China, they already consider American decline an open secret. I'm sure this visit will go great.
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Kagro in the Morning - May 11, 2026
2w ago01:56:35Tap to summarizeDavid Waldman returns to KITM World Headquarters from his Great American Road Trip, sponsored by Boeing, Toyota, Shell, Royal Caribbean, United Airlines, Google, and Enterprise… No, wait, that was Sean Duffy, who took 7 months paid time off from Porn Hub to make the kind of TV show that only Kristi Noem and Kash Patel could have come up with. The national debt is outgrowing the G.D.P. Putting a lien on Donald K. Trump's ballroom and arch won't be enough to address his spendthrift ways, and the usual cost prevention method of killing the poor and weak is never as effective as expected. People are sick of all of the defeating we're doing in Iran; we might not be able to stand much more. Orange is the new MAGA, as a presidential pardon won't keep Michele Fiore out of prison or help Tina Peters escape hers. Ghislaine Maxwell is a different story. In fact, fellow inmates can stay in prison longer by just talking about her.
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Kagro in the Morning - May 8, 2026
3w ago01:36:40Tap to summarizeDavid Waldman is coming home! That's good, because the place has been falling apart without him. The Waldmans still have some tourism left in them though. They stopped at Lambert's Cafe (The Home of THROWED ROLLS!) to get their fill of hog jowls and fried chicken. I have catched some rolls there myself and recommend it. Later they stopped at Uranus, which I hear is a quite popular destination, although I personally have never had the pleasure of a visit. Chief Justice of the Trump Supreme Court, John Roberts asserts that his Supreme Court is not political. Giggling right-wing partisans wholeheartedly agree. Democrats who prefer to wait until all hope is lost feel that time might soon be approaching. Who would guess that Alligator Alcatraz would be a bad idea? Probably anyone who considered why its namesake closed. Rudy Giuliani is still "alive". Cigar aficionado Giuliani, 81, remains in poor health because of a noun, a verb, and 9/11. A Secret Service agent at a Trump event followed a woman up to her room, took off all of his clothes, and masturbated in the hallway. Even in the Kash Patel era, this is considered "unprofessional". Donald K. Trump had his "Military" force Apple to stop his iPhone from autocorrecting Melania's name to "Melody". He directed his motorcade to drive through the National Mall reflecting pool. Oh, and he kills a lot of people, too. What can you do about all of this? You can do many, many things. But you could begin with sending a letter to Congress for better treatment of public lands and federal employees or sending this letter demanding to stop further NPS staffing cuts and restore their staff!
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Kagro in the Morning - May 7, 2026
3w ago01:41:57Tap to summarizeToday on his travels, David Waldman sighted a Scissortail Flycatcher, a Wilson's Phalarope, a Lesser Yellowlegs, a quite rare Joan Jett Blakk, and several interesting news stories that he would like to share. Donald K. Trump tacoed on his Iran war, then he tacoed on the taco, while threatening to taco his taco-taco. Stephen Colbert hates one of the tacos, so does Hugh Hewitt. Polymarket loves all the tacos. France is betting things are going to get worse. Chief Justice John Roberts says the Trump Supreme Court isn't being political; you are being political. Sam Alito says he isn't being political; it's Ketanji Brown Jackson. Neil Gorsuch says he isn't being political; it's the other 8 justices. Gops say… thank you. Trump is dumping toxic waste into a public golf course, as he exclusively dumps bodies into his. The judge isn't going to go all "Amy Poehler" about it. Gops determine that raising the price of Trump's ballroom to a billion dollars should secure them the House in the midterms. Oh well, YOLO, if they're going to crash and burn, they might as well aim to make a big hole.
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