The Muckrake Political Podcast

Co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman open on Trump's first big move after the midterm wipeout: Susie Wiles is out and Stephen Miller is White House chief of staff. Nick notes the country just voted against everything Miller represents, and Jared explains why Miller will ride Trump as far as he can before the post-Trump right cuts him loose. They also play the 60 Minutes clip where Trump tells Ross Douthat his deportation policy might have been too tough, which Jared reads less as a change of heart than a message from the donors who still need cheap labor. Then it's Thomas Massie's eight articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth, which may have enough Republican votes to pass the House. Nick walks through the charges and Jared explains why so many Republicans would happily throw Hegseth overboard to get the MAGA stink off themselves. The back half is Todd Blanche admitting Trump ordered him to investigate Democrats, which Nick calls bragging rather than confessing, and the case for taking the attorney general out of the president's hands entirely. They close on Trump trying to hire Dana White as press secretary and Jared's Miss Havisham theory of a president disintegrating in real time. Support the show by signing up to our Patreon to hear the full Weekender episode each Friday as well as special Live Shows and access to our community discord: http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast

This is a preview of The Weekender. Sign up for our Patreon and get access to the full episode each Friday as well as special Live Shows and access to our community discord: http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast Co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman take stock of the Democratic landslide and the fight that broke out inside the party about twelve hours later. Chuck Schumer announced he'll be reelected majority leader, and a growing bloc of senators, including Chris Van Hollen and the new class that just flipped the map, immediately said otherwise. Jared explains why that counts as an internal party coup and how listeners can push it along. Then it's JD Vance's long post blaming the Iran war, which Jared reads as the opening move of a post-Trump far right that is already sharpening its knives.

Jared and Nick go live with Muckrake's election night coverage Tuesday, November 3 at 10pm Eastern. Join them for results, reaction, and analysis you won't get on cable news by becoming a patron at http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast, which also gets you the full Weekender episode each Friday and access to our community discord. Co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman open the midterm preview on Haley Stevens, who lost the Michigan primary to Abdul El-Sayed and then endorsed Republican Mike Rogers from a church parking lot two days before the election. Jared reads it as the Democratic leadership's power struggle with its own left wing rather than one woman's breakdown, and wonders what plum job turns up for her in a few months. Nick figures AIPAC simply called in its marker, and notes El-Sayed has raised a fortune off the stunt. Then they work through the Senate races that will decide the night: Michigan, Maine, Texas, Ohio, Kansas, Alaska, Iowa, and South Carolina. Jared is nervous about El-Sayed and a coin flip on James Talarico, but confident about Sherrod Brown and surprisingly bullish on a Democrat in Kansas, thanks in part to Roger Marshall's closing ad about his own patients' debt collections. They close on why the polls can't be trusted, what Todd Blanche and ICE might do on election day, and the scenario that hurts Nick's soul: Democrats reach 51 and John Fetterman announces he's an independent... or worse.

This is a preview of The Weekender. Sign up for our Patreon and get access to the full episode each Friday as well as special Live Shows and access to our community discord: http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast Co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman open on Flavio Bolsonaro, who lost to Lula on Sunday and landed in Miami on Wednesday aboard a private jet the Trump administration helped arrange. He left Brazil in defiance of a Supreme Court order to surrender his passports, and the money laundering probe chasing him reportedly runs through JD Vance's Rockbridge Network. Then it's Israel's deadlocked election and a Wired report on ICE running COINTELPRO-style surveillance against its critics.

Co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman open on the Vanity Fair excerpt from Matthew Cole's new book, which claims Dutch intelligence spent months watching Jared Kushner's hacked iPhone. What they allegedly saw was Kushner logging into a Gulf-funded account holding hundreds of millions of dollars. Jared calls Kushner what he is, an intelligence asset, and asks why the same handful of countries show up every time a Trump official gets bought. Then it's the report that the US, Russia, and China want Viktor Orban running the United Nations, and the boys game out whether France or the UK will be the veto that stops it. Lula's comeback win in Brazil over Flavio Bolsonaro gets a look as a preview of midterm fuckery, since the losing side is already refusing to accept the results. They close on Israel's election and the growing drumbeat of a renewed war with Iran, with the military told to prepare for 90 days without civilian power and British officials telling people to stock up on food and water. Support the show by signing up to our Patreon to hear the full Weekender episode each Friday as well as special Live Shows and access to our community discord: http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast