Best of the Daily Blast: Trump Press Sec Seethes as Fresh Polls Show Him Losing Shutdown Badly

The DSR Network

Chris Cotnoir

Government

4.5 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 4 January 2026

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Original air date: October 6, 2025 Things are not okay in the White House. Numerous new national polls show President Trump and the GOP ⁠taking far more blame⁠ for the government shutdown than Democrats. One polling analyst ⁠flatly declared⁠ that the gap has reached double digits. Meanwhile, at a media briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt ⁠twice lost her temper⁠ ⁠under tough questioning⁠. Notably, what angered her was the spectacle of reporters punching holes in the leading White House arguments in the shutdown standoff. Why is this happening, given that many pundits predicted Democrats are in the weaker position? We talked to ⁠Salon’s Amanda Marcotte⁠, a sharp observer of MAGA follies. She explains why the Trump-GOP talking points are failing, why Democrats have fresh incentives to hold firm, and what all this reveals about the deepening fissures in the Trump coalition. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's the holiday season, which means it's time for celebration and reflection on the passing of another year.
0:08.7	To celebrate here at the DSR Network, we're bringing you some of our absolute best episodes from the past year as we celebrate the end of 2025.
0:18.6	We hope you enjoy.
0:31.0	Music of 2025. We hope you enjoy. This is the Daily Blast from the New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network.
0:37.1	I'm your host, Greg Sargent.
0:43.3	As of now, most indications are that President Trump is losing the political battle over the
0:52.5	government shutdown that started last week.
0:55.3	Three national polls show Trump and the GOP taking substantially more blame for it than Democrats.
1:01.5	The White House is attempting several lines of attack. One, that Democrats are shutting down the
1:06.5	government to deliver health care to undocumented immigrants, which is a lie. And two, if Democrats continue
1:13.1	with this, the White House will use all its power to punish democratic states and constituencies,
1:18.8	which is depraved. At a media briefing, press secretary Caroline Levitt lost her temper
1:24.5	precisely because she was questioned about both of those. All of this goes
1:29.7	completely counter to what our wisest pundits predicted. Why is it happening? We're puzzling through all
1:36.1	of this today with Salons Amanda Marcotte, who's always good at ski-wearing MAGA. Amanda, great to have you on,
1:42.1	as always. Thanks for having me. So Trump posted video of his
1:47.3	Office of Management and Budget Chief Russell vote in the role of the Grim Reaper. This refers
1:52.8	to vote using the shutdown to inflict big spending cuts designed to hurt Democratic states
1:58.2	and cuts to the workforces that agencies Democrats like.
2:02.1	A reporter asked Caroline Leavitt about the Grim Reaper imagery. Here's her answer.
2:07.1	The president likes to have a little fun every down and then, and I think both things can be
2:10.6	true at the same time. The Democrats have given the administration this opportunity, and we don't
	...

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