Trump deals FATAL BLOW to his OWN party with MAJOR MISTAKE

I'm joined now by the host of Runaway. Country, Alex Wagner. Alex, thanks for. joining me. >> Thank you for having me, my friend. It's. great to be here. >> So, we have just watched as the. Republicans finally had the ability to. rein in Trump in Congress with this. unpopular war, something that's been. weighing not just Trump's approval. ratings down, but the rest of the. party's approval ratings down with this. War Powers Resolution. And instead of. using their own autonomy to rein him in, they decided to give him control and and. block this vote. And so, I'm just. curious what your thoughts are as we as.

we watched the Republicans kind of say, "You know what? We we could have used. our authority to rein Trump in, but. instead we decided to to give him full. full rein here. And so, we own this as. much as he does.". >> I just you know, I I got to say the the. the the What is it? The gelding? That's. the term I've been using. The castration. of Republican power. really to me reached its apex in and. around this because this is also the. same week that the Cook Political Report. moved four key Senate races towards the.

Democratic side of the ledger. And you. could argue that the only reason. Republicans pledge undying fealty and. loyalty to Donald Trump is because. they're concerned that he's the reason. they remain in power. But literally. everything Trump is doing right now is. endangering their prospects of getting. reelected to say nothing of control of. Congress, right? Like if you see I mean. forget about the moral question, right? Like should we even be engaged in. slaughtering thousands of Iranians and. Lebanese? Like should we should we be.

doing this all in America's name with no. particular achievements. viable at the end of all of this? Tactically and strategically the gas. prices that are not going to come down. for at least several weeks if not. months, could energy shortages, the fuel. shortages that are affecting almost. every sector of the global economy. All. of this is not good news for any. Republican strategically. They were. given an opportunity to say, "No, we don't agree with this." And they. didn't take it. Like, to me that That to.

me that distills the essence of the. modern-day Republican Party. It's not. simply the naked pursuit of power. It's. a cowardice that knows no basement, right? Like, they are so terrified of. him that they'll seed not only their. independent governing authority, they. will seed their election prospects and. the ability to remain in power just so. that Trump doesn't get mad at them. That. is some wild Brian. >> It is and it and it The part that.

doesn't make sense to me is like, okay, and and you brought and you had just. alluded to this was. the reason that they're so eager to hug. him is because they don't want, you. know, a mean tweet, God forbid, or a. primary challenger, God forbid, to. emerge from his ire. But, if hugging. Trump in and of itself is what's. dragging them down, then then then like, what is the rationale for continuing to. do it? >> I don't know. I mean, I think Look, I. think Does someone need I actually keep. meaning to look this up but like, when.

is the last Republican primary for 2028? Because I I guess. the thinking is they got to get through. primary season and once they do that, maybe they can have a little more they. can establish a little bit more daylight. between them and the executive branch. But, I am I'm like, don't hold your. breath on that. >> Right. And it's and it's also so. transparent what they would be trying to. do. Okay, so you get through the entire. primary process where you become the. general election nominee and only then. do you suddenly realize that, hey, maybe. the. maybe the war that I helped green-light.

wasn't a good idea. Maybe the gas prices. that surged as the result of me. contracting every ounce of my autonomy. over to Trump isn't a good idea. I mean, like, everything you can trace back to. their own unwillingness to speak up when. they actually had the opportunity to do. so. >> Totally. I mean, I think that they think. they're going to Like, they have I mean, I will say they have managed to wipe. their hands of any of the sort of or. they have tried to wipe their hands and. wipe their feet, as it were, of any of. the most negative stinky that this. Trump administration has thrown at the. American public. I don't think they can.

do this on on on the war in Iran. I. really don't. And I And I mean that. because, you know, again, I'm not a CNBC. analyst and I don't follow the market, and nor am I a petroleum engineer. But. it seems to me that the effects of this. war are going to be long-lasting, and. the ultimate idiocy with which Trump has. conducted himself, we're going to end up. with a harder-line regime in place than. it there was at the beginning. Iran is. going to retain some control of a body. of water that it had no claim to before. the start of this war. And in the. meantime, you know, the Philippines is.

on a four-day work week. Like, people. Jet fuel prices are rising. Gas is going. to be over $4 a barrel a gallon for the. next at least into Memorial Day. Like, those are tangible effects of this that. the American public is not, I think, easily going to forget in addition to. the moral stain. I mean, I just go back. to the bombing of that girl's school. And like, God, I hope when Congress like. gets its balls back, we can have some. real investigation into the war crimes. perpetrated in our name by Hegseth and.

his minions. >> On that point, do you think the. Democrats have. a willingness to do that? And I ask. because like first of all, we saw Biden. come into office kind of with this idea. that that his presidency would be a. return to normalcy, and it was enough to. get him elected, but clearly not enough. to keep him in office. I mean, that. gave, you know, gave rise to to Trump. 2.0, which was even more lawless than. before. And I think a lot of that. lawlessness was born out of the fact. that that there were no repercussions. for anything that these Republicans had.

done. I mean, even Trump himself for. inciting an insurrection, Merrick Garland wasn't even willing to. look into that for 2 years, and only. only then did he deign to appoint a. special counsel, at which point Trump. had enough time to to kind of wiggle out. of any, you know, any. charges because there was just enough. delay tactics to to get him to the. presidency. >> and announce he was running for office. again, so it became impossible to. actually really follow anyway. But look, I think we have seen there is some.

evidence that Democrats have much more. of much more gumption this time around. Number one, I think the government. shutdowns are indicative of a party. that's like we're going to use every. lever we have to stand on principle. And. so far those two principles those two. principles are are real ones, right? The. cost of health care which affects 23 of. the cost of Obamacare, I know you. covered this like 23 million Americans. know what it's like to have health care. cost skyrocket. I interviewed someone on. my show whose health care cost were. going from $100 a month to $860 a month. I mean that's just not tenable. Yeah.

Right? Wild wild fluctuations, right? And then the other piece was ICE. You. know, I I do think we talk about signal. moments in administrations and at the. same time we also talk about the way in. which there's so many controversies and. there's so many bad sagas in the Trump. years that it they becomes you know, blurred together. But I do think the. slaughter the murder of Alex Preddy and. Renee Nicole Good sticks in the mind of. people and the fact that Democrats took. a stand and said we are not going to. fund the Department of Homeland Security.

which remains unfunded until we see some. significant meaningful reforms to ICE. That's that's. the American public we all lived through. that moment. And we all saw the. senseless killing of of Americans on the. streets by a group of militarized you. know, I ICE goons and CPB goons. That's going to come back up. Like. that's. they may have figured out a way to make. these arrests and deportations less. public, but there is still horrible.

stuff happening in these detention. centers. ICE is still doing something. very wicked to the American public and I. think that Democrats the fact that they. took a principled stand and were ready. to pay a political cost in the name of. reform is indicative of a party that is. going to fight differently if and when. they get power back. I also think like. the minute you trot a Trump. administration official onto the hill. and ask some tough questions of him or. her, I see you Kristi Noem, they're like. out. You know what I mean? Like bring.

Pete like if when that Democrats have. control of the oversight committee like. bring Pete Hegseth in and ask him to. explain why he needed to explode. fishermen in the Caribbean. >> Yeah, I mean that's where we got the the. infamous uh the Dow is at 50,000 moment. from Pam Bondi. Like these people crack. under It it really show I mean it shows. why they were why they were hired. It's. not because of their competence, it's. because they were going to you know heap. um heap undying fealty onto Donald. Trump. Like that's why they're there and.

so. >> say about the Dow when they were being. asked about ICE arrests. I mean it's. just the level of mendacity is but it's. just it's it's artless mendacity. It's. so transparent. And the bit that you're. right, the minute they have to open. their mouths and answer a tough. question, not only do they embarrass. themselves, they embarrass Trump. And so. what I think you could see in the. interim between 2026 and 2028 is a real. the heat applied to the cabinet in a way. that it certainly isn't being right now. >> You know, the really jaded part of me. um sees a lot of this stuff happening.

and and in the moment it feels like. okay, nobody could ever um look away. from or forget what just happened here. as it relates to ICE, as it relates to. these immigrant deportations, as it. relates to um the suspension of habeas. corpus. Like every moment of the Trump. era, like every month has its thing, right? And it all feels like like there. is no way he can he can escape. accountability for all of this. People. are so angry about all of this. And and. so like the really jaded part of me is. like well, you know, with the speed with.

which this news cycle moves, I I do worry that people are going to. forget about what happened with ICE, uh. going to forget what happened with the. Epstein files, what happened with the Iran war just. because like, you know, days pass and. there's a reversion to the mean and and. you know, and and their their. media ecosystem is such a well-oiled. machine of just being able to spew out. propaganda. So like, I'm just curious. what your thoughts are on that. Do you. think a lot of this stuff um sticks or.

do you think that there is a reversion. to the mean where where, you know, what. felt like. uh like. a hurricane in one moment, you know, kind of just filters away into nothing. the next. >> So, I we began this week with a victory. um. uh or an election in Hungary that I. think was instructive. I mean, Hungary. is the size of New Jersey, so like let's. not draw too many parallels, but Viktor. Orbán's an autocrat who's ruled with. like a very interesting grip on the.

country's media and its economy, its. healthcare system, and has done a. job. And for a long time, you know, he this. was a 16-year reign. >> Yeah. >> He could get away with it. Um but what happened was his stewardship. of the economy and the education system. and the healthcare system in Hungary was. so abysmal. that people who would have stuck with. him and let the other traumas and. degradations of democracy slide by began. to get restive and they began to get. angry and that I think is.

and they voted him out of office. It was. a perfect storm of years of corruption, years of mismanagement, and and and then. a a practical lived reality that was so. subpar that his time was up. And I think. you're seeing a faster evolution on that. front here in the United States, right? Trump has grossly mismanaged the. economy. The affordability question has. gotten worse, not better since he's. gotten into office and then on top of. that, you lay on the Iraq the Iran war. in Iran, you lay you lay the deaths and. the chaos sown by ICE.

I do think on their own each one of. these things wouldn't necessarily be. enough, but I think the lived experience. of Americans right now is so tangibly. not better. That's why you're seeing. this hemorrhaging among Latino men, among the white working class. You know, these are these are coalitions that were. essential in bringing Trump back into. office and they are not with him. Even. the stuff with Pope Leo, you saw. Catholic bishops standing up to Trump. You saw Christian podcasters standing up. to Trump. That's not just cuz they were.

outraged by him picking a war with the. Catholic Church. It's because Trump's. weak. It's because he hasn't made their. lives better. And now every sort of one. of these things is the straw that has a. potential to break the camel's back. So. I think, you know, in in in in. we were talking about singular kind of. events, yeah, maybe it wouldn't be. enough. Maybe it would be we would. revert to the mean, but I do think. because you're talking about an everyday. experience in the lives of Americans. that is worse under Trump, that these.

things hit harder and they have the. potential to really move people that. otherwise would not be in consideration. for either staying home or voting for a. Democrat. >> What's really striking is watching these. right-wing podcasters, and these are. people who've built their identities. around their blind fealty to Trump. And. even those people are speaking out. I. mean, we had a pretty. pretty obvious example just about a week. and a half ago. where Alex Jones, Tucker Carlson, Megan. Kelly, um. uh. I don't know if I'm forgetting one more,

but in any case, we had a bunch of. people who had come out who had come out. against Trump. And, you know, I'm I. wonder if there's something instructive. in there because these podcasters are. obviously going to their careers are. going to outlast Trump's presidency. And. I wonder if they're now seeing the. writing on the wall in terms of how, I. don't know, like like how much of a. failed experiment MAGA was and they're. kind of skating to where the puck is. going as opposed to where it is right. now and recognizing that like okay if. they want to have some survival beyond.

the Trump years they're going to have to. go to where the people are and if and if. they're seeing that people are upset. because Trump's lied about everything he. promised when he was coming to office. whether it was. lowering costs or no new foreign wars or. releasing the Epstein files or bringing. inflation down or protecting earned. benefits whatever it may be that he's. failed on all of those things it's. inevitable that he's going to continue. purging his own supporters that these. people um want to make sure that they're. there to pick up those right-wing.

audiences even in the aftermath of Trump. like it's actually the people who are. just blind devotees to Trump who are. going to not have much of a half-life. because you know once Trump is out and. he's remembered for it being as poor a. leader as he is right now like those. people are are going to look pretty. ridiculous in the aftermath of Trump. 2.0. >> Yeah well it's it's. I there's an interview that John Allen. from NBC News did with a woman at a gas. station and she's like I voted for him.

three times I'm an you know what. I'm talking about right? >> yes I'm the idiot. >> I'm the idiot sorry she said idiot not. my. >> I I I actually can't now I can't I know. I I actually do think she said. yeah. >> you're right. >> Well whatever yeah. >> Uh. first of all I think we you know it's. much like um when you get try and get. someone out of a cult it's very hard to. you people have to come to it on their. own and like I think part of the reason. the polling has been sort of un up until. now Trump's been very resilient in the.

polls is because. you ask a MAGA supporter Claire. McCaskill told me this and I fully. believe this you ask a MAGA supporter if. they still support Trump and it's an. indictment of their own choice and so. there's a natural reluctance to say yeah. I I don't support him anymore because. you're implicated. But we're we're. getting beyond that point people are. really I think just like this woman at. the gas station she's like yep I'm a. idiot but it's a it's a it's the. same way that like there's a tacit. understanding that there is going to be. a life beyond Trump. And that and and. tacit understanding that if you can save.

your like if you can save your rep now, try to.". A, I think Tucker Carlson might be. running for president or some higher. office at some point, which should send. chills down everybody's spine, but I. think that could have partially. something to do with it. I think Meghan. Kelly likes to um insert herself as. irrelevant by being sort of counter to. the prevailing White House narrative. I. think she likes I think she thinks she. exerts some extra power, so I think that. there's a personal gain for her in in. that criticism, but I genuinely also.

think both of those two people are um. undying and unyielding opportunists who. understand exactly the thing that you. say, which is we are going to need to. carry this audience with us after Trump. And the best way of doing that is a. separating ourselves from Trump and what. we see as quite obviously his worst. mistakes and retaining credibility as. conservative voices. So, yeah, I think. that's a huge calculation in all of. this. >> And and by the way, like it's not just. them who see the writing on the wall.

You can tell that Vance does too because. Vance keeps planting these stories. He. did it in Politico first, then he did it. in the New York Times just about a week. ago where he keeps where he and his team. keep leaking like a faucet this idea. that he is the lone skeptic in the room. as it relates to Iran. They're engaged. in this Iran war right now. And so when. you have the vice president, the number. two in this administration leaking to. these reporters that he is against the. war that the administration is right now. fighting, like that that's the writing.

on the wall. That shows how how deeply. unpopular this thing is that he's. already running away from the thing that. is happening in real time. But the. problem for Vance, of course, is going. to be. you know, he like those headlines, Vance. lone skeptic in the room, those. headlines are not going to be enough to. give him the plausibility to the. plausible deniability that he needs, especially when you have somebody like. Tucker Carlson who right now can see the. writing on the wall. He's not in the. situation room. He's not plagued by by. um the albatross around his neck that.

is, you know, being the vice president. of an administration that's fighting. this war. Uh and by the way, not not you. know, he doesn't have the ability to run. away from Trump because Trump will just. destroy him. Um Tucker Carlson can. And. so, if there is a situation in 2028. where, you know, Tucker Carlson, God. forbid, um decides that he's going to. run for president, like that's a leg up. that he has on J.D. Vance because he's. going to be able to run against him. >> And Marco Rubio, yeah, he's going to. hammer these people. >> You're so right about the leaks. Like. the New York Times had like an inside.

the situation room when Trump made the. decision to go to war with Iran. And the. two people that come out as like the. skeptics in all this, the kind of. semi-reasonable minds in the room are. Marco Rubio and J.D. Vance, which is. like the biggest tell that the the. information that was leaked to the press. came from J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio, who are as you say, conspicuously mum on. this war or at least have com- more. complicated contorted positions on it. Cuz they know they're going to have to. run on it. But you're right, like I just.

Uh first of all, I think Trump's going. to issue blanket pardons for anybody. that was in the administration because. many of them could be tried for war. crimes or criminal be criminal. corruption. But B, like washing yourself. of the stink is going to be really hard. I mean, the the the the the poor. choices, the corruption, the criminality. is so profound. It really makes Trump. one look like child's play. And I think. Democrats are going to be way more. tenacious than they were the first time. around. And I would assume that any. Democrat who gets a nomination in 2028.

is going to assure the American public. that there will be a full accounting of. what was done in the previous four. years. Well, you know, the interesting thing. about about that is like um as it. relates to to poor choices and you have. you have J.D. Vance who's not able to. distance himself from Trump. Like there. was a moment where a reporter even asked. about about his past comments on on. foreign adventurism and and like how can. you how can you how can you have that. position in the past but then hold hold.

uh, you know, be part of an. administration that's engaging in. exactly that behavior right now and he. was like I see what you're trying to do. This is just another gotcha by by the. media and so he's falling into this trap. that that by the way. Kamala Harris fell into, you know, on. The View when they asked what would you. what would you do to this what how would. you differentiate yourself from Biden? What would you do differently? And she. wasn't able to answer that question and. that was such a bad moment for her. during this past campaign and and now. J.D. Vance is doing the exact same thing. and it's so interesting because like all. of we we have so many instances where.

where everything that kind of um, caught. up the Democrats in the lead up to 2024. is what the Republicans are contending. with right now and and and they should. know better because they. exploited it. They or worse. I mean like. we we have the we have the the high. prices. Now prices are obviously surging. under this administration. We have um, we have an inability of the government. to recognize what like economic pain. people are contending with by pointing. to these macroeconomic metrics like the.

stock market. I mean like this is. exactly what Trump exploited in the lead. up to the 2024 election and they're just. doing it. They've learned no lessons. >> No. Well, but they you know, like let me. just say. you know, I. it is complicated to criticize the. president whom you serve for any vice. president, right? Who's currently in. office and that was certainly part of. Kamala Harris's problem. But J.D. Vance. is like literally on a leash. I mean. like the strange patriarchal dynamic.

between him and Trump is like pretty. unique in American politics. >> they they literally call him daddy. Like. they're like daddy. >> Exactly. They call him daddy. They call. >> This is not an Alex Cooper plug. They. call him Daddy. You know, like. the the and so you would imagine and I. think the same is true for Marco Rubio. They both I I'm sure part of the deal to. get them in the cabinet was to promise. them that they would be the inheritor of. the mega throne. Now they have to have a. succession style battle to figure out. who's going to get Trump's endorsement. in 2028, but you know, these are two.

people who are both terrified and. intrigued by the president they serve. and even more so than most. administration officials. So their. inability to answer and distance. themselves from the policies that. they've helped enact is going to be a. massive liability for them as they. launch presidential campaigns in 2028. I. mean, I will relish the question and. answer process on all of it because. there are no good answers. They are the. worst apologists for the worst most. corrupt administration in American.

history. >> And and that's like the the part that I. actually can't wrap my head around is. like you have all of these people who. are, you know, you would assume that. they're political animals, right? Like. these members of Congress, these. administration officials, these. senators, they all know what they're. doing. They all can see the writing on. the wall. And I mean I mean this brings. us back to the very first topic that we. were talking about here, but that that. is the part that I have trouble. reconciling is like you all. everything that you do is for your own. political survival and yet you are right. now tying your hitching your wagon. to an administration that is only.

dimming your own electoral prospects, especially like. even in these seats that would otherwise. be safe. I mean, we were talking about. the the 2026 midterms that are coming. up. I mean, the Democrats have have a. better according to the prediction. markets have a better chance of taking. the Senate than even the Republicans do. And that means inherently that Democrats. right are favored to win in like Ohio. and Alaska and Texas and and. North Carolina. I mean, it's it's just.

like this is a. And so to see these things happening in. real time, to see Mar-a-Lago now. represented by a Democrat in the state. legislature, to see these swings in. in you know, the South South Texas among. Latino communities by like 40 to 50. points is should be a blinking red light. to people whose vision you know, is. otherwise clouded by their blind. allegiance to to the god king. >> The sun king. Yeah, I think you know,

being part of Trump's Republican Party. requires some certain suspension of. disbelief, right? You don't have You. have to believe that the laws of. political gravity don't apply to him, which is why he can get away with most. the that he has done or promised. And so I think that's at play here, right? Like Oh, this would hurt anyone. else, but it's not going to hurt Trump. and therefore it's not going to hurt us. But the miscalculation they're making I. think is the American people see through. it. I think that. the lived reality for Americans is way. worse now than it was eight years ago.

And Trump is weaker and more adult as a. character and people see that. You know, the American public sees this person who. does not really look to be in command of. the country that he's supposed to be. leading. And I think that that has. really eroded confidence and given an. opportunity for people who would. otherwise not be critical of him, who. are not in politics to say this guy is. up. So I think the pressure. points are much more significant for. these Republicans. I think their earlier. calculations about Trump's ability to.

withstand a certain amount of political. chaos that would otherwise fell anyone. else. I think that calculation is wrong. And I think. the time for comeuppance is now. And. like they really underestimate they look. at what happened in 2022 and the fact. that Republicans came back, Trump came. back from those midterms and won in 2024. and they assume the same is going to be. true that these special elections, off-year elections are are harbingers of. what's to come but one-offs and. anomalies. And I think that's the wrong calculation.

to make. I think what we're seeing, to. your point, is uniform disavowal of what. the Republican brand has to offer, and I. think that it's going to be very. pronounced in November. >> Well, that is the perfect place to leave. off. For everybody who is watching and. listening right now, highly, highly, highly recommend that you subscribe to. Runaway Country, both anywhere you get. your podcast, as well as on YouTube. So, I'm going to put those links right here. on the screen and also in the post. description. If you're listening on the. podcast, I'll throw it into the show. notes. Alex, as always, it is a pleasure. talking to. >> Brian, you're the best. Thank you for.

having me on the pod. Thanks for the. plug. Please come back to Runaway. Country whenever your schedule allows, my friend.