326: The Ides of September with Ron Brownstein

Politics War Room with James Carville & Al Hunt

Politicon

News, News Commentary, Politics, National, Government

4.6 • 3.8K Ratings

🗓️ 4 September 2025

⏱️ 79 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

James and Al lay out the state of the country as we get further away from the 2024 election, weigh the impact of the potential government shutdown, and investigate the implications of the ongoing Epstein scandal. Then, they welcome esteemed journalist Ron Brownstein to game out how the Democrats can revitalize the party, explain the need for centrism, and how to stop the progress of authoritarianism under Trump. They also discuss how Democrats can move beyond the hot topics on social media to win voters by focusing on the issues that impact voters in their everyday lives.

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Ron Brownstein: Twitter | The Atlantic | National Journal | Author of “Rock Me On The Water”

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to Politics World Room with James Carville, and I'm Al Hunt.
0:14.7	This week, our guest is the maestro of political journalists and the friend of the show, Ron
0:20.5	Brownstein. Remember, we love
0:22.7	taking your questions, so write to Politics World Room at gmail.com for next week's show. We're going to
0:28.5	get to as many as we can, but don't forget to tell us where you're from. You also can get text
0:33.5	updates about what's next, Politicon, and Politics World Room, by shining up at Politicon.com.
0:40.4	So tell your friends about us, remind them to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or
0:46.3	wherever you get your podcast. And please check out the links to our sponsors, Green Chef and Beam,
0:53.3	in our episode show notes. We thank you for supporting these sponsors
0:56.9	because it really helps make this podcast happen. Hey, James, beware the eyes of September.
1:05.3	You know, we talk about the November four elections as we should this year's, but before that, this month is a political
1:12.3	legislative Super Bowl. Government shutdown could happen September 30th, unless some kind of a deal
1:19.1	is made. What should the Democrats do? Supreme Court may take up a whole lot of issues.
1:24.6	Trump's authority to send armed forces into American cities, slapped down by a California
1:31.0	judge, whether to uphold an appeals court decision that nixed his Trump tariffs, whether he can
1:36.7	use a rationale to control the supposedly independent Federal Reserve. And the Jeffrey Epstein
1:43.8	saga scandal continues.
1:46.9	I just watched Rokana, a Democrat and Republican Tom Massey,
1:52.1	accompanied by right-wing Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green,
1:56.2	with about a dozen of those survivors or their lawyers on the steps of the Capitol. It is incredible.
2:02.6	What they're saying is, you know, release the documents, Donald Trump, vow, you're not going to
2:08.2	pardon this criminal, Jeline Maxwell, who was, who was just as bad in many ways as Jeffrey Epstein.
	...

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