Just when you thought Donald Trump couldn’t get any worse, new revelations prove Trump was even worse than we thought, according to hosts Molly Jong-Fast and Andy Levy on the latest episode of The New Abnormal podcast.
It’s been a big week in Trump news, from the disclosure that a special master is just not an expense he wants to cover, to the report from a forthcoming book by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman that Trump repeatedly told aides in the days following his 2020 election loss that he would remain in the White House.
“If you look back on it, it seems like clearly something that doesn’t sound very surprising,” Jong-Fast says in response.
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“Trump would have toyed with the idea of just never leaving, like just staying there forever, like going to Disney World and refusing to go home with your parents when the trip was over, I think is a good example.”
“We are continually learning that Trump was even worse than we thought. I would feel a little better if Trump weren’t still the de facto head of the Republican Party.”
Levy agrees and warns that the more the system allows Trump to push the line, the harder it will get to pull him—and others after him—back in.
“Once you get away with something, then a couple weeks later, you go a little further and it doesn’t seem like that much, because, well, you already did this,” Levy says.
“That’s why all these things matter. And that’s why it pisses me off to no end when people say, ‘Putting Trump on trial, charging Trump, will be bad for the country.’ No. Every time you do this, you make it easier for the next person to go even further.”
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Also on the podcast, Michael Tomasky, editor of The New Republic as well as Democracy Journal and author of the new book The Middle Out: The Rise of Progressive Economics and a Return to Shared Prosperity, talks about how the Democrats can shape their message around progressive politics to win. (Tomasky is also a former special correspondent and editor at The Daily Beast.)
“I think Democrats can do better in places like that [West Virginia] with an economic program that says to middle-class and working-class people, ‘Look, we’re firmly on your side.’’’
Tomasky says Democrats “just have to do a better job of explaining to people what they’re about,” by explaining to people that they historically have been much better stewards of the economy that Republicans have.
“Job creation, deficit reductions, stock market performance, median household income. Those four key measures, Democrats just wipe the floor with Republicans, but nobody knows. They’ve gotta do a better job of broadcasting that.”
Then, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) talks about her re-election bid and her wacky opponent, Adam Laxalt.
“[The Republicans] are already putting millions of dollars into this race, I want to say about 50 million to defeat me,” Sen. Masto says.
“They are doing everything that they can to elevate who I believe is a right-wing, radical opponent. Quite honestly, he follows Trump’s lead every step of the way. And there’s a big contrast between the two of us for the state of Nevada.
“My opponent, Adam, just every comment he makes, everything he talks about is for his own political game. And it is contrary to what Nevadans want in the state.”
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