Summary
Just six weeks into his presidency, Donald Trump has dragged the country to the brink of recession. He’s become unpopular, lost the public’s trust to handle the economy, and hollowed out the government in risky ways. So in his first speech to Congress, Trump: blamed all of it on Joe Biden, subjected Democrats to a torrent of abuse, lied about Social Security (among many other things), and redoubled his commitment to tariffs, even if they cause “disturbance.”
In this free post-address episode, Matt and Brian discuss:
* Was this speech worse (that is, more dishonest, defamatory, etc.) than his first-term State of the Union addresses?
* Does his dishonest and degrading style simply make him less popular, or is there a method to it?
* What’s the endgame of seeding a bunch of lies about Social Security—a program he’s promised never to cut, and doesn’t have the votes to cut anyhow?
* Would Democrats have served themselves better by boycotting the speech or having another party-wide plan to convey their contempt for and total lack of confidence in Trump?
Plus: Elon Musk, Elissa Slotkin. William McKinley
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm torn because part of me, like, wants Trump to drive the economy off the cliff with insane tariffs. |
| 0:09.0 | Like, that could be American democracy's best shot. |
| 0:17.1 | Hey, everyone. |
| 0:18.1 | Welcome to the politics podcast. |
| 0:19.6 | I'm Brian Boiler. |
| 0:20.7 | I'm Matthew Iglesias. |
| 0:21.5 | I guess I should have called it a special, free. Special edition. |
| 0:27.4 | Not state of the joint address to Congress. |
| 0:31.0 | Hailing the new golden age. |
| 0:33.6 | Hoo-hoo. |
| 0:34.9 | That was a journey. |
| 0:38.3 | So, you know, they didn't send out prepared remarks, which made it impossible, really, to do a responsible professional prep job. |
| 0:52.6 | I mean, it did make me actually watch the whole speech so that I could talk about |
| 0:56.7 | it with some degree of integrity. |
| 1:00.6 | But also, I wasn't sure how insane it was going to be until I watched it. |
| 1:07.8 | And so I don't really know what to say. |
| 1:11.5 | Like, I can't, it's been long enough since he did one of these that I can't, I can't think |
| 1:19.2 | of it or contrasted in my mind with the state of the unions he gave in his first term, |
| 1:24.9 | which I remember feeling like were, you know, |
| 1:28.2 | horrible shit shows too. |
| 1:31.1 | But they also weren't like, they also weren't against this backdrop of like, maybe I |
| 1:36.6 | won't listen to court orders and maybe I'm just going to like ignore Congress. |
... |
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