In recent days, Donald Trump’s spinners have worked hard to build up images of his supposed political invincibility.?But what if it’s all smoke and mirrors? In an important new piece, Politico?reports that behind the scenes,?many?Republicans are suddenly feeling quite uncertain about Trump’s chances. We talked to?Never Trump conservative Mona Charen, an editor and columnist at The Bulwark who?has written shrewdly?about the GOP tendency to overestimate Biden’s weaknesses, about what’s really driving these sudden new doubts?and whether the race is really turning in Biden’s favor.
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At two speeches over the weekend, Donald Trump?ramped up the dangerous language?about migrants, floating the idea of Ultimate Fighting Championship matches between migrants and native born Americans. This comes as Trump and MAGA are escalating their?propaganda tactic of highlighting isolated?murders to smear migrants as dangerous criminals.?We talked to Brian Beutler, who argues regularly?on his Substack?that this sort of shameless, degenerate politics is itself a big story, about how the press should cover the Trump-MAGA demonization of migrants as a major scandal in its own right.?
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This week, Donald Trump?raged?at a Fox News poll finding behind, and?lashed out?at Fox for featuring a guest who dared criticize him. Trump regularly unloads on Fox when it doesn’t follow his script, which is remarkable, given that Fox is usually committed to deceiving its viewers on his behalf. Both Trump and Fox draw on a long history, in which grift and scams have been deeply intertwined with the American right for over a half century. We talked to journalist Joe Conason, author of a?new book?called: “The Longest Con: How Grifters, Swindlers and Frauds Hijacked American Conservatism,” about the place of the tortured Trump-Fox relationship in that long, ugly story.?
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Any day now, the Supreme Court will rule on Donald Trump’s demand for immunity from prosecution for alleged insurrection-related crimes. Depending on how the court rules, it’s still possible Trump’s trial will begin before the election. But what if the damage is already done? Veteran labor strategist Michael Podhorzer has an?important new piece on his Substack?arguing that the MAGA-friendy justices and the court have already interfered in the election by delaying the trial to the degree it has?and that this is about to get worse. We talked to Podhorzer about why he thinks the court is pushing our country into a deep crisis.?
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MAGA deception seems to have gone nuclear. Fox News’s Sean Hannity is floating?strange new theories?about President Biden’s upcoming debate with Donald Trump. Republicans?dishonestly doctored?numerous videos to make Biden look befuddled and senile. And we learned that the Sinclair media apparatus is?blaring out?all that deception to huge audiences. We talked to well-known writer and podcaster Thom Hartmann, author of a?New Republic?piece, “From the Border to Bump Stocks, the MAGA Lie Machine Is Heating Up,” about whether we’re approaching a point of no return that will make this election like no other.?
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This week, Politico?released a new poll?with some pretty big surprises: A larger-than-expected percentage of Americans say Donald Trump’s criminal conviction in Manhattan makes them less likely to vote for him. The finding is even more striking among independents. The poll also took the innovative step of trying to gauge?how important?Trump’s conviction is to voters. And the answer is: Pretty important! We talked to Ankush Khardori, a senior writer for Politico Magazine who oversaw this poll, who walked us through its findings, what they mean, and whether Trump’s pressure on Republicans to protect him from the law will backfire on the GOP in November.?
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