Nobody Wants To Fight Trump

Democratic leaders have been delivered a thrashing from the left this primary season. So naturally, the lesson they took from it is that they should…fund Trump’s crooked government before the election he’s trying to steal?

In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss:

• The deal Democrats struck with Susan Collins to avoid a pre-midterms government shutdown;

• What Democrats could have demanded that might have won back respect from their voters while either a) making the election more secure, or drawing national attention to the GOP’s intent to cheat;

• Why establishment Democrats didn’t want this fight; but neither, apparently, did leaders of the left-insurgent faction.

Then, if after all this, there’s such little appetite in the party for procedural hardball, should we have any hope at all? Would a Democratic trifecta in 2029 simply not make any structural changes to U.S. democracy? If so, would progressives be better off trying to work with GOP extremists now to abolish the filibuster while Republicans are still in power? Will a mainline figure emerge who unites the party, holds Republicans accountable, and leads the country back to normalish politics? Or is it horseshoes all the way down?

Answers are available in full to listeners and viewers on YouTube. Check out our new channel, or upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed.

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Further reading:

• WE HAVE A YOUTUBE PAGE NOW! You can watch this episode in full there, and we’ll be rolling out new subscription options over the coming weeks. Hit like, subscribe, and all the other buttons.

• Brian on Democrats squandering their last pre-election chance to fight Trump.

• Matt’s plan to swap voter ID for filibuster abolition.

• Carlos Odio and Rachel Stein on the rightward lean of unmobilized Latino voters.