Politix

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmMany people are asking: Has Donald Trump finally, completely lost his mind?In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss:* The importance of getting your flu shot.* Why this latest episode, complete with rambling missives to allied heads of state, feels more like madness than Trump’s other bad ideas, driven by graft, vengeance, or whatever else. * How his assault on Minneapolis is crystalizing the madness (or at least the bad faith) for the re...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmWe’ll give Donald Trump this month: Thanks to his efforts, political discourse has moved on (for now) from health care and the Epstein coverup. But … not to anything particularly helpful for him.In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss:* What on Earth did Donald Trump think he was doing by ordering a campaign of legal harassment against Fed Chairman Jay Powell* Is there a pattern that explains why Trump’s rich sycophants censor themselves in som...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmGotta hand it to Donald Trump, he got the Epstein Files and the January 6 anniversary off the front page, and all it took was a wee little war, plus a threat to conquer the whole hemisphereIn this episode, Matt and Brian discuss:* WTF?* How has this destabilized the globe?* Can the damage be undone?* What’s the right political response, and who in the Democratic Party has risen to the mo...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmIt’s that time of year again. Self-indulgent mailbag time. Thanks to all who sent questions, and apologies to those who didn’t get answers.In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss:* Whether Gavin Newsom is doomed to become yesterday’s news;* Why there’s never been a better time to tax rich people;* How (and if) liberals can coexist politically with authoritarians in a two-party democracy.* What, if anything, the Biden pe...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmDonald Trump suddenly faces defections in Congress, from right-wing influencers, and even from his own White House chief of staff.In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss:* Susie Wiles’s…intemperate comments to Vanity Fair about all the incompetents and cynics in the Trump administration; * The challenge of passing the cult following from Trump to JD Vance (or anyone else for that matter).* Why Republican disarray has spread beyond health care.Then...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmDonald Trump is suddenly mired in a huge war-crimes scandal, complicating his desire to launch an actual war (also illegal) against Venezuela. In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss:* All the things that make the circumstances surrounding the order to murder shipwreck survivors so strange and suspicious; * How it all gels with Trump’s broader, corrupt foreign policy;* Whether the so-called Seditious Six Democrats, who first elevated the issue of illegal orders, laid a...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmBrian is adventuring in South America, so Matt is joined by Lakshya Jain of The Argument and Split Ticket to talk about his Wins Above Replacement calculations, which politicians are good at winning, and what we know about them. In the episode, Matt and Lakshya discuss:* The importance of “downballot lag” in assessing candidate quality.* Why AOC and Ritchie Torres are both overrated by their fans. * While highly viral members of congress tend to u...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmDonald Trump has lost his grip, and it’s making him prone to a variety of political errors, some of which we enjoy with pure schadenfreude, others of which could cause tremendous collateral damage. In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss:* What if anything makes Marjorie Taylor Greene’s early exit from the House of Representatives different from past Trump purges?* Why did he blow up his party’s big plan to make Zohran Mamdani the fa...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmDonald Trump’s Epstein coverup has faltered. Jeffrey Epstein’s estate has produced tens of thousands of emails implicating scads of U.S. elites, Trump foremost among them, but including famed economist Larry Summers and other prominent Democrats. Meanwhile, Congress has now voted overwhelmingly to compel the Justice Department to release its Epstein case files.In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss:* What do the recent disclosures actually reveal?* What the fuck Larry Summers?! And, also...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmAfter notching huge victories in last week’s off-year elections, Senate Democrats were overcome by a failure of nerve, and agreed to reopen the government without restoring anyone’s health insurance or securing any legal mechanism to rein in Donald Trump’s lawlessnessIn this episode, Matt and Brian discuss:* What the fuck?* Why did the standoff end the way it did?* How could the eight capitulators plus Chuck Schumer have engineered a better...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmIt was a night of blowout victories in elections for Democrats and Democratic causes across the country, significantly surpassing the party’s most optimistic expectations. In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss:* What, if anything, do the margins, and the nature of the sweep, tell us about the politics today;* How compatible are these results with a Democratic Senate victory in 2026?* Why “Democrats should moderate” and “Democrats need to fight harder” takesters both had good nights.</p...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmEven some of Donald Trump’s own voters were shocked to see he summarily demolished part of the White House, surprising many Democrats who had convinced themselves Trump is teflon and people don’t care about his corruption or vulgarity. In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss:* The long history of politicians not doing stuff like this, fearing political backlash;* Whether this episode suggests swing voters can be moved by symbols and appeals to American greatness, or whet...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmMore than seven million Americans marched peacefully in the streets. Republicans are palpably spooked about it. And courage is proving contagious: In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss: * How Trump’s king-like abuses are, for the first time in a decade, becoming hard to distinguish from kitchen-table issues;* Whether, given the galvanizing power of No Kings, Democrats should pivot to the theme (away from health care) and make a national scandal of Trump’s demolition of the Whit...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmThe government shutdown just crossed the two-week mark. If you take Donald Trump and his people at their word, it doesn’t seem like it’s about to reopen. But they are also huge bluffers. In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss: * Has Trump hit upon a (legally dubious) way to keep the government “shut down” indefinitely?* Which signs suggest he’s digging in and which suggest he’s bluffing?* Are we about to test, once and for...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmAs anticipated in last week’s episode, the government did indeed shut down, and as of this recording Congress remains at an impasse. At the same time Donald Trump and Stephen Miller are trying harder than ever to foment street violence in blue cities and maybe even martial law. In this episode, Brian and Matt discuss: * How the GOP’s ongoing Epstein coverup is prolonging the shutdown and making it likelier that they “lose.”* The esoteric Beltway metaphys...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmDonald Trump has crossed an important redline: He ordered his administration to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey, fired the prosecutor who told him he had no case, and installed a lackey who did as ordered. In this episode: * What distinguishes the (weak, losing) Comey indictment from past abuses of prosecutorial power?* Why Comey shouldn’t try to get the charges dismissed on selective prosecution grounds, and should instead demand a speedy trial.* If Trump th...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmWith the firing (and then unfiring) of Jimmy Kimmel, the right-wing crackdown in the name of Charlie Kirk seems to have bumped up against real limits. In light of the week’s developments, we discuss:* The schisms within MAGA that were on display at the Kirk memorial;* How those schisms fused with resistance backlash, forcing ABC and Disney to rethink their decision to take Kimmel off the air;* Whether this is a sign th...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmDonald Trump and several of his top officials have promised to unleash a partisan crackdown in Charlie Kirk’s honor, even as the notion that Kirk’s assassin was in league with the institutional left becomes more far fetched. In light of the week’s developments, we discuss:* Our personal reactions to the Kirk murder, and the contours of the overall public response;* What we know about the GOP plan to use it as a pretex...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmAnother government shutdown looms, and, thus, so do more angsty struggle sessions over what Democrats should do, and what effective opposition looks like. In this episode, we discuss:* How does mounting bad news for Donald Trump—bad jobs numbers, defeats in court, and revelations about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein—affect the politics of a shutdown?* Who’s got the better bead on how Democrats should proceed, Matt, Brian, or Ezra Klein? * Why there’s a hidden...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmThis week, we indulge all the speculation and look ahead to politics if and after Donald Trump dies in office. For instance:* Is a movement that claims the mantle of making America “healthy” sustainable in a world where the obese 79 year old president croaks after his health secretary takes vaccines off the shelf?* Does JD Vance have the juice required to consolidate all the pro-Trump factions (many of which hate each other)?* What becomes of Demo...