Podcast
THE DAILY BLAST with Greg Sargent
Hosted by Greg Sargent · EN
Every weekday, The New Republic’s Greg Sargent brings you a fresh way of thinking about the biggest political stories of the moment, offered up in an entertaining, information-packed conversation with a leading lawmaker, journalist, or newsmaker. We go deep into the stories behind the headlines leading TNR and other news outlets—while making it fun and fast.
101episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
The Daily Blast: Trump Rages at Fresh Iran Setbacks as GOP Midterm Panic Grows: “Bleak”
1w ago00:21:36Tap to summarizeDonald Trump lost his temper with a reporter on Tuesday after she pressed him on why Iran is continuing to fight. In barely-concealed anger, he ripped her organization as “fake” and insisted Iran “desperately” wants to make a deal. But of course, that only revealed the line of questioning to be absolutely correct: Iran is not desperate, and he really does not know how to force Iran’s hand or get out of this disaster. Meanwhile, Politico reports that GOP anxiety is growing about how the Iran war will hurt the party in the midterms. Politico sums up the GOP attitude with the word “bleak,” noting that Republicans are “distressed” about the war’s political impact, with one calling this a “quagmire.” We talked to former State Department official Marie Harf. We discuss the deeper reasons Trump is so stuck, what Iran has come to understand about Trump, how Republicans screwed themselves by giving Trump a blank check, and why only a Democratic Congress might be able to extricate us from this fiasco. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Trump Hits Record-Breaking Low in Polls, Shocking Analyst: “Horrible!”
1w ago00:24:08Tap to summarizeDonald Trump is cratering in several new polls: They have his approval at an average of 22 points underwater. That’s just abysmal. Indeed, as CNN’s Harry Enten notes in a striking on-air analysis, it’s a “record” and “the worst this century,” worse than both George W. Bush and Barack Obama at similar points in their second terms, which produced midterm wipeouts. And Enten points out that Trump is 45 points underwater with independents, also a new record. Enten concludes: “These are horrible numbers!” And yet there are numerous signs that Democrats are not converting this into quite the midterm edge they need. So we talked to veteran Democratic strategist Christina Reynolds. We discuss why the Democratic advantage is insufficient as of now, what’s really making that happen, how to turn it around, and why Trump’s awful numbers will likely prove impossible for the GOP to outrun in the end. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Trump’s Plot to Rig Midterms Gets So Unhinged that Even Fox Is Rattled
1w ago00:25:21Tap to summarizeDuring his prime-time speech dissembling endlessly about our elections, Donald Trump raged at news organizations for refusing to carry him live. Then his Homeland Security secretary also smeared the media, a sign Trump’s fury continues to deepen. We think this means Trump fully expects news organizations to help him amplify his lies about our elections to sow distrust in them. As we discuss in this episode, his speech revealed that he’s plainly mulling an effort to rig the midterms, and sowing that distrust is key to it. A funny thing, though: Fox News explicitly declined to endorse his claims and refrained from carrying his DHS secretary. And according to Fox sources, insiders were dismayed to hear Trump obsessing over our elections, thought it was bad politics for the GOP, and even worried it was bad for business given post-2020 litigation against Fox. We talked to Harvard political scientist Ryan Enos, who explains how Trump is telegraphing an authoritarian plot to corrupt the elections, why the assaults on the media are central to that, and what we must see in response from Democrats and the American people. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Best of the Daily Blast: Trump Spirals into Crazed Fury after Harvard Humiliates Him Very Badly
2w ago00:21:14Tap to summarizeOriginal air date: February 2, 2026 With the Daily Blast on break this week, join us as we revisit some of our top episodes of 2026! After The New York Times reported that President Trump has backtracked on a major demand he’d made on Harvard University, he spiraled out of control in three wild tirades. He angrily insisted on a correction from the Times, and levied unhinged new threats against Harvard, demanding a new billion-dollar extortion payment while calling for the university’s criminal prosecution. Harvard officials clearly leaked word of Trump’s backtracking to humiliate him at a moment of political weakness. It worked: Trump appeared panicked and weak as he fired off half-cocked threats. Which raises a question: Why don’t more institutions grasp that standing firm against Trump is the only way? We talked to Ryan Enos, a Harvard political scientist who has long argued for a strong stand. He explains the internal politics at Harvard leading to its current posture, why this fight’s outcome has broader significance amid our slide into authoritarianism, and what the prospects are for Harvard holding firm. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Best of the Daily Blast: Why Trump Will Be Removed from Office Sooner Than You Think
2w ago00:27:21Tap to summarizeOriginal air date: April 17, 2026 With the Daily Blast on break this week, join us as we revisit some of our top episodes of 2026! In today’s episode, George Conway argues that as improbable as it might seem right now, congressional Republicans will ultimately decide they have no choice but to remove Donald Trump from office before his term ends. Conway, the former GOP lawyer-turned-Trump-critic, is running for Congress as a Democrat. One of his ads is a montage of all the horrors that Trump has unleashed, followed by Conway’s promise to be a different kind of Congressman in response. In our conversation, Conway explains why he thinks Republicans will eventually decide Trump has to go and talks about how he’ll push for impeachment immediately if elected. Conway also lays out an accountability agenda that includes impeaching many cabinet officials, criminal referrals for high-level Trump administration officials, and extensive other reforms designed to prevent anything like this from ever happening again. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Best of the Daily Blast: Trump Epstein Mess Worsens as MAGA Cracks Up: “He Lame-Ducked Himself”
2w ago00:23:31Tap to summarizeOriginal air date: June 1, 2026 With the Daily Blast on break this week, join us as we revisit some of our top episodes of 2026! Former attorney general Pam Bondi testified behind closed doors Friday about the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. She effectively let it be known that Todd Blanche, now acting AG, has been responsible for this debacle, creating a new inquiry for Democrats to pursue that will be fraught for Trump. Bondi also went mum on how Trump instructed her to handle the Epstein files, basically declining to back Trump’s spin that he was pro-transparency, raising still more questions for Democrats to pursue. Meanwhile, Trump’s sinking approval, Iran debacle, ballroom and slush fund are fracturing Trumpworld and the GOP: One Republican told The Atlantic that he has “lame-ducked himself.” We talked to historian Nicole Hemmer, author of several books about the right. We discuss why the Epstein scandal continues to fracture the MAGA movement, the deeper reasons for Trump’s weakening hold on the GOP, and why MAGA will go into deep turmoil once Trump passes from the scene. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Best of the Daily Blast: Krugman: Trump’s Unnerving Mental Breakdown Signals Nation in Decline
2w ago00:28:42Tap to summarizeOriginal air date: June 22, 2026 With the Daily Blast on break this week, join us as we revisit some of our top episodes of 2026! Donald Trump’s war with Iran is making it clear this presidency could have much worse long-term consequences than we expected. Yet Trump is spending his nights indulging his crazed obsessions. In one early-morning tirade, he raged about “fools” who criticize his Iran fiasco, calling them “bad people” and “stupid.” In another, he fulminated at length about his ballroom. He’s posting updates on the gilding of statues and images of himself on international magazine covers. The gap between the gravity of the moment on one side and his trivial megalomania on the other is jarring. We talked to economist Paul Krugman, who has been writing really well on his Substack about both sides of this divide. He goes big-picture, detailing the signs that we’re a country in decline, why other countries are looking toward a post-American world, and why it’s shocking that we put up with his worsening megalomania and nonstop desecration of our republic. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Texas ICE Killing Takes Damning Turn as Even MAGA Judges Abandon Trump
3w ago00:21:02Tap to summarizeBig developments on the immigration front: First, ICE killed a 52-year-old undocumented immigrant in Texas this week. ICE’s account was already suspect. But now a representative for the man’s family says that the three other men driving with him—who are likely witnesses to the killing—are getting pressured to self-deport in a potential effort to silence them. That’s utterly damning. Second, Politico reports that a key piece of Trump’s deportation agenda—detentions without bond—has now lost in court a staggering 15,000 times. And get this: A majority of Trump-appointed judges who have considered the policy have rejected it. These things are related: The mounting lawlessness on many fronts is alienating even Trump judges. We talked to New Republic staff writer Melissa Gira Grant, author of a good piece on the Texas shooting. We discuss why it’s essential to focus on this one killing, why Trump judges turning against him constitute a vulnerability for his agenda, and why the American people can’t get complacent, now that he’s trying to deport huge numbers a lot more quietly. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →A Danish Journo’s Viral Takedown of Trump Caps Off Epic NATO Meltdown
3w ago00:21:41Tap to summarizeAt the NATO summit on Wednesday, Donald Trump lashed out wildly at, well, everyone in sight. He threatened more war with Iran. He angrily vowed to cut off all trade with Spain. He hinted again at stealing Greenland. There were many other pratfalls. Amid all this, a Danish journalist had an extraordinary confrontation with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, asking him point blank: What does sitting next to Trump and praising him while he viciously attacks allies, threatens to take whole countries by conquest, and unleashes wildly destructive trade wars do to your “self-respect”? In an understated way, it was a crushing takedown of Trump, treating him as a ludicrous, sidelined figure while essentially saying: All that matters is how the rest of us react to this lunatic. We talked to foreign policy expert Elizabeth Saunders. She explains how deep and lasting Trump’s damage to the alliance will be, how our NATO allies are quietly managing Trump with flattery until he’s gone, and how they’re even trying to “de-Americanize”—that is, move on into the future without us. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Trump’s Rage over Midterm Woes Badly Unnerves GOPers: “He’s a Bully”
3w ago00:21:20Tap to summarizeFor weeks, Donald Trump’s fury has been growing at Republicans for failing to pass voter suppression legislation, demanding that they end the filibuster to do so. In a late-night tirade, he urged them to attach the SAVE Act to a must-pass defense spending bill, a dramatic move that reveals his deep frustration with them. As everybody knows, Trump sees restricting voting as the only way to stave off a midterm calamity. Meanwhile, in a striking piece, NBC News reports that Trump’s angry pressure has left Senate Republicans at wit’s end. They privately fear Trump is laying the groundwork to pin a midterm fiasco on their failure to pass something. They also blame Trump for letting this obsession take his focus off costs. One GOP Senator even tells NBC: “He’s a bully, and he’s f------ things up as fast as he can.” We talked to congressional scholar Norm Ornstein. He walks us through the details of the GOP predicament, decodes the real reason Republicans aren’t nixing the filibuster, and explains why it’s premature to rule out passage of the SAVE Act, offering a road map to what’s next. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →