The Latest

We're joined this week by Reed Galen, co-founder of The Lincoln Project, to talk about the monumental news out of Texas and the Supreme Court early Thursday morning. The Supreme Court essentially let Roe v. Wade get undermined. What do the Democrats do to recover lost ground and serve their constituents? Is it time to pack the courts? What do you do when you're trying to play chess and, as Reed puts it, the other party is eating the pieces? And, Joe and Reed address the question that's been eating away at progressives: how do you convince voters they need to vote Democratic when Democrats are in power everywhere and this can still happen? One place Democrats are not in power is Florida, where COVID cases continue to pace the nation and Republican anti-governance is on full display. How can we organize to defeat the DeSantis, Abbotts, and other right-wing extremists putting their citizens in danger? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe Biden has hit the roughest patch of his young presidency, combating the crisis in Afghanistan and very worrisome trends with COVID. Joe and Alex give their take on what's moving Biden's approval ratings and how they look in context. Plus, despite the FDA approving the Pfizer vaccine, Trump-lite governors in Florida and Texas continue to put their own citizens in danger with anti-mask and anti-vaccine policies. Mask mandates are overwhelmingly popular nationally -- how is it a smart move politically for GOP'ers to position against them? Finally, some listener questions, and hopefully the last-ever discussion of the absurd Arizona election audit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congressman Seth Moulton, Marine & member of the House Armed Services Committee, joins the pod to talk the situation in Afghanistan, what we need to be doing right now to save lives, and how you can help. Read Rep. Moulton's statement here: https://moulton.house.gov/press-releases/moulton-statement-on-the-situation-in-afghanistan This David Rohde piece in the New Yorker stood out to us: https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/trying-and-failing-to-save-the-family-of-the-afghan-who-saved-me Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First, a look at some races that are flying under the radar -- governor's races. Governors of course have a massive impact on local politics -- just look at Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott -- but they also have a critical role in certifying elections. DeSantis (Florida), Evers (Wisconsin), and Georgia (Kemp) are all up in 2022 -- Joe wants to make sure Democrats are focused on these elections too (in addition to holding the House and Senate). Thanks to Jennifer Rubin, whose Washington Post op-ed got us thinking about this. Then, despite the trends for midterm elections historically, Joe is optimistic about the Senate map in 2022. There are vulnerable Republicans across the country and several high-profile retirements. Joe and Alex dive in to the key races and the places in which Democrats are actually on the offensive, and one very important swing race. Lastly, we address some listener questions (keep sending them to thattrippishow@gmail.com), including one about why Joe is willing to join Republicans at The Lincoln Project given the damage done by their party to the political system. CNN piece on the Senate: https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/11/politics/2022-senate-race-rankings-august/index.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this special episode, Joe and Alex are joined by Norm Ornstein, Contributing Editor at the Atlantic and emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Norm gives his take on the rise of authoritarianism in mainstream Republicans, and how this time feels different even from the McCarthy era. Will congressional and party leadership be able to turn things around? How do you negotiate with a party in which the majority of members believe the election was stolen? And what if the Republicans drive so many moderates away that the GOP ceases to function? Wouldn't that be good for the Democrats? Well... not really. How many elections will it take to convince the Republicans to change course? What should be done about the filibuster? And what is possible when there is fundamental disagreement about the very existence of government? Buy Norm's book here: https://www.amazon.com/One-Nation-After-Trump-Disillusioned-ebook/dp/B06XW24YY6 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tucker Carlson is fighting for democracy ... in Hungary. Tucker met with Hungary's Prime Minister to discuss, among other things, how he built a wall, changed the judiciary, and rode anti-immigrant and anti-democracy waves to change the trajectory of a nation in short order. How revealing is this for the desires of the American Right? When will dalliances with authoritarianism become doctrine? Then, Trump scored a special election win in Ohio, but Joe and Alex are skeptical about what it actually means. But they draw some more insight from the Democratic result, where a moderate outpaced a more left-leaning candidate. How affirming is that for the Biden way of doing things? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Supreme Court's reputation as an apolitical body has been permanently changed. How did we get here? Jackie Calmes from the LA Times has studied the changes in Supreme Court politics that hit a new low during the Trump presidency. Despite two impeachments and a single term, Trump and the Republicans managed to reshape the Court for decades -- and it's possible Democrats have underestimated and under-organized around the impact of the GOP's stranglehold on the judicial system. Jackie, Joe and Alex talk about the change in political strategy when it comes to appointing justices, how the Brett Kavanaugh nomination process completely missed another massive scandal, and how we recover from a climate where the Supreme Court is viewed by Republicans as the surest way to extend its minority rule. Jackie's new book, Dissent: The Radicalization of the Republican Party and Its Capture of the Court, is available here: https://www.amazon.com/Dissent-Radicalization-Republican-Party-Capture/dp/1538700794 Follow Jackie on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/jackiekcalmes?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After 6 months, President Biden did what Trump couldn't do in 4 years -- got an infrastructure bill through the Senate. A large bipartisan majority coming together for substantive change? What is going on? Alex and Joe unpack the progress made -- and not made -- to make big strides on infrastructure. Plus, Nancy Pelosi stopped the Jan. 6 commission from turning into a Jim Jordan-imbued circus, but the Republicans did their best to sink it. What will come of this investigation, and will it move the needle for voters? And will Joe Manchin finally backing voting rights measures mean it can get through the Senate? Also, a look at a TX state-wide election that Trump endorsed and lost. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Political risk... What is it? World-renowned defender of democracy Trygve Olson joins Joe this week to discuss his ideas on the risks of economic fallout faced by political action. In this episode, Joe and Trygve lay out the bigger implications we face if the U.S. doesn't denounce and fight the autocratic movement from the right. Trygve explains the American "fraud democracy" in comparison to other historically authoritarian governments and how ultimately, this could lead to our economic and political downfall. To stop the collapse of our democratic system, Joe warns that citizens, Washington, and corporate America can't get comfortable with this being the "new normal." As Trygve states, engagement is required to be part of the solution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe Biden called it. Democracy vs. autocracy. Sound familiar? Now it's on all of us to keep spreading the word. Joe and Alex talk about Biden's Philadelphia speech ("Have you no shame?") and how it reset the battlefield for everything we've been fighting for. Then they hit on the latest in Texas and the heroic protest staged by Democratic lawmakers, why the corporate pressure campaigns are so critical, and your role to play in this fight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe announced this week that he'll be joining the Lincoln Project to help elect Democrats to fight the autocratic movement on the right. Steve Schmidt returns to talk to Joe about the cause and how if Democrats don't defeat Republicans, "we lose the country." He explains why the media, corporations and the public at large don't understand the stakes of allowing power to return to authoritarians. Joe and Steve talk next about the plans for The Lincoln Project and anti-authoritarianism in America in general. They name two huge companies that are still writing checks to pro-insurrectionists, and their plans to foment rebellion among employees. Plus: How do you defeat a movement that believes they're living in an occupied country with an illegitimate president? Do we really have to win decades of elections just to withstand authoritarianism? Read Joe's editorial in USA Today about why he's joining The Lincoln Project here: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2021/07/06/stop-trump-authoritarianism-joe-trippi-lincoln-project/7814381002/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan Gillmor, co-founder of Arizona State's News Co/Lab, is an expert on civil literacy and the role of journalism in our changing world. He joins the show to discuss the many changes to journalistic norms in the past few years and how to navigate a path forward. How should journalists cover politicians who intentionally and, sometimes dangerously, lie without consequence? What do former guardians of truth and once-trusted establishments still do their job when they're dismissed summarily by significant portions of the populace? And why was it so hard for journalists to just say, "Trump lied," instead of, as Dan says, using every other word in the thesaurus? Read the blog post Dan and Joe discuss here: https://medium.com/@dangillmor/dear-journalists-please-declare-independence-from-business-as-usual-fe8d3681f932  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jon Macks has spent most of his career writing for comedians like Jay Leno and Chris Rock. But before he was writing jokes for The Tonight Show and The Academy Awards, he started out working in politics with Joe. Jon joins the show to discuss whether it's possible to lampoon people like Donald Trump or Marjorie Taylor Greene, how comedy writing and political speech writing flex a lot of the same muscles, and whether the backlash to Jimmy Fallon and SNL giving Trump the usual political treatment was justified. Plus, Macks talks about prepping presidential candidates, including Joe Biden, for big debates. How do you prepare for Donald Trump? Finally, how has "cancel culture" affected the process of writing comedy? Are we better or worse off? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe is joined by Atlantic Senior Editor and CNN correspondent Ron Brownstein (@RonBrownstein) this week. The Republicans enjoy a structural advantage in the Senate, but that's amplified even more by the age and racial makeup of the American electorate at large. Ron explains why the Trump movement and the Nixon movements are similar, and what that means for the future of elections in the country. Also, Ron is a bit more bullish about the potential for Democrats to outperform expectations in the 2022 midterms. He explains why, and he and Joe get into the strategy needed for Democratic campaigns to motivate people to vote for good candidates, but also to sound the alarm about the rise of authoritarianism. Then, a discussion about President Biden's unique temperament, which does not lend itself to the urgent/hair-on-fire moment we're in with the Republican Party. Biden's popularity is likely because of his place as a vestige of politics long gone, but is his calming temperament actually a disadvantage politically when it comes to the urgency of the moment? Buy Ron's book, Rock Me On The Water, here: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/rock-me-on-the-water-ronald-brownstein Check out Ron's analysis of 2022 here: https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/22/politics/democrats-2022-turnout-congress/index.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ezra Klein, author of Why We're Polarized and NYT podcaster and columnist, joins Joe and Alex for a fascinating discussion about polarization, how the two parties relate to each other, why disengaged voters are being pushed even further away, and what happens from here. Plus, Ezra dissects the unique importance of Joe Manchin, how rare he is in today's political climate, and how his strategy on key issues will create massive policy and procedural implications. Buy Ezra's book, Why We're Polarized, now available in paperback here. Read Ezra's column on Joe Manchin here: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/17/opinion/joe-manchin-filibuster-voting-rights.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steve Schmidt, former Republican and co-founder of The Lincoln Project, joins Joe for a striking conversation about what's propelling the authoritarian movement forward in our country and how we can fight it. The conversation touches on the composition of the authoritarian movement, how to view the importance of the 2022 elections, the power of Fox and the right-wing propaganda machines, the likelihood of future violence in American politics, and more. This is a must-listen for anyone thinking about how we can stop authoritarianism before it takes over, and the scope and urgency of the fight ahead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A voicemail from a listener this past week got Joe thinking: instead of focusing on working together and Democrats winning elections, how can we focus on anything but the very real threat of authoritarianism? Joe argues bipartisanship can't work right now, because there is only room for one "party" in America right now -- an anti-authoritarian, pro-democracy party. Joe suggests all of us need to take a stand against anti-democracy, from corporations to media to politicians, and accept that there is only one functioning political party at the moment. By framing today's politics in terms of the usual business in Washington, we're all missing the point. Joe argues we have to understand the big problem in front of us, and that until we deal with the black mold in our country, everything else comes second. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

National Security expert Max Boot joins Joe and Alex to talk about the staggering danger of the GOP's grasp of authoritarianism, and the impact of swing Democrat Joe Manchin backing away from voting rights legislation. They touch on the dangers of the poisonous conservative media ecosystem, how difficult it is to bridge the conversation between Americans of differing beliefs, the danger of failing to imagine worst-case scenarios, and what the biggest threat to the United States is. Plus, the story of military hero Edward Landsdale, and what unity and patriotism even looks like in the Trump era. Buy Max's latest book, The Road Not Taken, here: https://www.amazon.com/Road-Not-Taken-Lansdale-American/dp/0871409410 Max's book, The Corrosion of Conservatism, is available here: https://www.amazon.com/Corrosion-Conservatism-Why-Left-Right/dp/1631495674 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Perhaps no one is more qualified to examine the current state of American politics than a political observer who happens to be a psychotherapist. Nick Carmody joins Joe and Alex to discuss how right-wing politicians and influencers have preyed on fears and misperception to heighten paranoia and the pervasive sense of danger on the right. He explains why the two sides in American politics are unable to communicate, and why QAnon is more religion than political ideology. Plus -- is there more to the story than politics and the media? What is really going on here? And what do we do about all this? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices