Podcast
Kagro in the Morning
Hosted by David Waldman · EN
News, politics and commentary from former Daily Kos Contributing Editor David Waldman
92episodes
Episodes
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Kagro in the Morning - June 15, 2026
2d ago01:56:16Tap to summarizeDavid Waldman and Greg Dworkin whoop it up for one thing or the other on today's KITM. Winning! The Knicks win and New York couldn't be happier. Losing! Trump's name comes off the Kennedy center. Trump hides his shame under a tarp while the scheming and rigging continue without pause. Winning!? The US declares victory and high tails it before the many Taco Tuesdays to follow. Pete Hegseth occasionally let Iran win so that the victory would be twice as sweet. It's hard to count the number of losers at the UFC thing Sunday. From airline pilots to US service members. As everything, there was only intended to be one winner. Abraham Lincoln suspended Habeas Corpus during the civil war, so why can't Stephen Miller do it to win an argument or two? Maggie Haberman has another house payment, so we get another news flash. Maybe she was just doing her job. I can't believe this is a news story! Extra-fat butter makes your baked potatoes out of this world!
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Kagro in the Morning - June 12, 2026
5d ago01:56:28Tap to summarizeDavid Waldman presents Kagro in the Morning, the best investment for your entertainment dollar… or dollars if you're rolling in it. Elon Musk, for instance, could pay several dollars for one of our episodes and hardly feel it. Ah, well, he's done so much for us already. There's the World Cup, if you'd want to see it, or are allowed to see it. Then there's the Idiocracy 250 Gladiator Jamboree this Sunday. It's not a good investment, but then again, you've already paid for it, so a 30 pack of Bud Light might be the only investment you need to make it enjoyable. Even in DC, however, the best sights remain the ones that you can see for free. Bill Pulte has some free time, so tourists can catch him promenading Tulsi Gabbard on her Walk of Atonement along the National Mall. New nominee Jay Clayton will be just as bad as Bill, but is less known going in, so he might be able to get away with more for a while. Trump is willing to forget that he was ever impeached, if we all agree to never speak of it again. Months, and weeks, and days, after its complete obliteration, Iran still has enough energy to bend Donald K. Trump over and art of the deal his brains out, leaving a strong memorandum of understanding on the nightstand on their way out. Once he's done with his Iran excursion, Donald is thinking that he might swing by and overthrow the District of Columbia... and Los Angeles… blue states… Ohio… Heck, make it everybody.
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Kagro in the Morning - June 11, 2026
6d ago01:56:48Tap to summarizeNo description available
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Kagro in the Morning - June 10, 2026
1w ago01:56:36Tap to summarizeOn today's KITM, we bring in David Waldman, who brings in Greg Dworkin, who brings in the latest primary updates and some news summaries, which is perfect, exactly what we needed them to do. There are a bunch of important elections this month, with some big ones yesterday. Going anti-Trump is working out well for Dems, not so much for Gops. Nancy Mace does hate the Trans but was not a true believer in hushing up the Epstein files, so she doesn't even get a participation trophy. Nothing to be too proud of there. Lindsey Graham still had to spend the kind of money some spend on a reflecting pool just to stay in office. On the other hand, Graham Platner ran the gauntlet and came out unscathed even without Kellyanne Conway's approval. Mike Johnson knows that he's never smelled anything like this around Trump. A yearslong effort to woo Trump culminates with the World Cup. Why? Sending Donald cash usually results in a quick turnaround. Donald K. Trump might be getting sick of winning, but he wants to see his arch before he gets too sick. Trump's arch could become taller than the Statue of Liberty, the same way Trump Tower became taller than the World Trade Center.
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Kagro in the Morning - June 9, 2026
1w ago01:57:12Tap to summarizeDavid Waldman fit a KITM into his Tuesday schedule, and ours! Everybody saw this coming. The New York Knicks won 13 times in a row, then Donald K. Trump touched their winning streak, and it died. Trump was greeted by boos. He was booed while he was there. He was booed as he was leaving. Trump heard "cheering", because he's an idiot or he thinks you are, or both. Trump was a deluded liar on Meet the Press. Are all Gops deluded liars? Are all MAGA? JD Vance and Mike Johnson are here to lie to the deluded. Omar Artan was set to be the first Somali to referee at the World Cup, but won't now, because he is Somali… It says it right there on his papers. Black Americans are moving back to southern states, which is why southern whites are in such a hurry to block them. Virginia was the first southern state to pass an assault weapons ban, which its rural counties won't enforce. JD Vance wants Tim Walz investigated for fraud. Trump wants to transfer billions in Iranian assets to Jared Kushner. Trump says he will not nominate Bill Pulte to be permanent intelligence chief. That's ok, John Thune will handle it. Todd Blanche loves Donald so much that he'll handle anything for him.
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Kagro in the Morning - June 8, 2026
1w ago01:56:23Tap to summarizeDavid Waldman and Greg Dworkin recall the weekend and envision the week on today's KITM. Donald K. Trump burned through 11 layers of makeup before doddering off the set of Hee Haw/Meet the Press on Sunday. Facts do anger Trump but will never stop him. Donald makes it about himself. If he can make America's 250th anniversary all about him, why not some basketball game? If the game can't be played, Trump can stand in the center of the court and bask… in whatever they want to bask him in. It doesn't matter as long as he's being basked. Scott Pelley was at CBS supervising the editing of videos to make ICE protesters look like rioters, when Bari Weiss came along and tried to make him cross his ethical line. Brendan Carr can tell you it is the boss who always draws the ethical lines. Often it is the boss who erases the ethical lines. Anywhere the Trump Supreme Court draws a line, at that moment it is exactly where that line should go. If there was a Purcell principle for Secretaries of State, it was just violated in Texas. Meanwhile, Ken Paxton's defense lawyer endorses James Talarico.
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Kagro in the Morning - June 5, 2026
2w ago01:56:27Tap to summarizeDavid Waldman's house is on the blink. The basement wiring is frayed, the ceiling skylight is plastered over, and some guy is running around with a chainsaw. Yet, David remained focused on delivering a KITM in the quality that you've come to expect. Donald K. Trump says Bill Pulte won't be his nominee for director of national intelligence… well, not his "permanent" choice, whatever that means. Gops aren't voting for Bill, which means a lot more. Trump's Jan 6 slush fund is dead, dead, dead, but might be feeling better soon. The Senate passed a reconciliation bill without driving a stake through its heart. Now, the SAVE act, that's pretty much dead. So, Trump's description of the War Powers Resolution should be expected to be "wrong, misleading in a way in which it is true, but irrelevant"... and it is all of those things. But what is the War Powers Resolution, and what really sets it apart from your regular run-of-the-mill war powers resolutions? David knows and tells!
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Kagro in the Morning - June 4, 2026
2w ago01:56:40Tap to summarizeDavid Waldman and Greg Dworkin ponder and elucidate the world's mysteries and conundrums on today's KITM, and probably their off hours as well. As polls go, Donald K. Trump is the loserest. While Trump loses, folks prefer Sherrod Brown even more. Not just in comparison to Trump, but to the palooka he's running against, too. Zohran's Mamdanimentum mounts even after election. People now publicly cheer his political ads! It's Zohran vs Donald at Knicks' Game 3 at Madison Square Garden! Momentum always seems to be heading in the opposite direction of Graham Platner, but he presses on. The Trump Supreme Court gives Alabama a chance to use a map already found to be unconstitutional, which wouldn't seem like something SCOTUS would do, until you remember that they aren't SCOTUS anymore. The Gop House voted for a resolution to end the Iran war, which everyone knows that we won through obliteration ages ago, like Viet Nam. Meanwhile, the Senate voted to finally consider funding immigration enforcement agencies, following their decision to pretend that Trump has given up on his Jan 6 slush fund.
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Kagro in the Morning - June 3, 2026
2w ago01:56:28Tap to summarizeIt's one of those Wednesdays after one of those Tuesdays. David Waldman would be delighted to have Greg Dworkin haul in his Raft O' Stories™ anytime, but June's Tuesdays are looking to be extra special. In New Jersey, Adam Hamawy won a 12-candidate Democratic primary and might face ex-Independent ex-Libertarian ex-Independent ex-Libertarian Republican Gregg Mele, a perpetual underdog despite his catchy slogan. California is still counting their many votes, but the name to know gubernatorially is Xavier Becerra. The thing to know in Iowa is that Donald K. Trump is a fat loser and will continue to be both for the foreseeable future. Trump is a cartoon villain who is finally beginning to lose in cartoonish ways. Sadly, this villain lives in the real world with us. The guy that Trump has picked to take over the Department of National Intelligence, Bill Pulte, seems to have entered from a darker, yet more funny, unreality, again, unfortunately all too real. Scott Pelley died with his boots on, fighting for the life of 60 Minutes. Will his CBS comrades fight or hide? Meanwhile, the Trump Supreme Court rules from the shadows again, throwing another election, this time to Alabama.
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Kagro in the Morning - June 2, 2026
2w ago01:56:42Tap to summarizeA true necessity in these trying times: a genuinely comfortable and durable t-shirt. And I know where you can get them! [Ed. note: No I don't! That one appears to be sold out!] In semi-good news today, there is evidence that Trump has been temporarily stymied in the establishment of his stolen $2 billion slush fund. Some are taking that to mean that he's reversing course. But wiser heads aren't so sure. In yet another policy reversal, Trump announces that he's become "bored" by the stalemated Iran "negotiations." This is a minor deviation from his earlier declaration that he could never find the topic boring, and anyway he never gets bored by anything. The dumbest story to actually break during today's show: We're getting an even worse [Acting] Director of National Intelligence. On the upside, he's actually terrible at framing people. What's wrong with Todd Blanche? Everything. Specifically, these 10 terrible things. Remember them, in case there's ever an opportunity to hold him accountable for them. Did pervy dilettante Paolo Zampolli actually introduce Melania to Trump? The pervy dilettante's ex-wife says that's just a cover story. Not that it's important or anything. How awesome are AI tech support chatbots? They're so awesome that if you ask them to give you access to someone else's high profile Instagram account, they can do it! Now that's service! Longtime listeners may remember that ages ago, I applied for Congressional Radio & TV gallery credentials on behalf of Daily Kos. The application was rejected on the basis that Daily Kos was "too partisan," as there were frequently found in its content… links to ActBlue pages [dramatic music]! So naturally, you won't believe the list of conservative partisans who now hold those credentials. Or will you?
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