Blaming Trump After Butler Backfired, Shooter’s Missing Motive, Plus Epstein and Other Conspiracies

Next Up with Mark Halperin

MK Media

News, Daily News, Politics

4.8 • 846 Ratings

🗓️ 8 July 2025

⏱️ 77 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Mark Halperin kicks off today’s show with a hard look at the political and media fallout still unfolding as the one-year anniversary of the Trump assassination attempt draws near. In his reported monologue, Mark dissects how key Democrats and corporate media figures blamed Trump for the attempt on his own life—and how that narrative helped ignite the media credibility crisis now reaching a breaking point. And one year later, a central question remains: Who was the would-be assassin, and why do we still know almost nothing about him? Journalist Salena Zito joins Mark to discuss her explosive new book, “Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination Attempt of Donald Trump and the Fight for America’s Heartland.” She recounts the moment the shots rang out in front of her, the chaos that followed, and how one small town became the unlikely epicenter of a national political shift. Plus, Emily Jashinsky and Dan Turrentine on Elon Musk’s third-party playbook, the media’s quiet retreat from the Epstein story, and what America’s appetite for conspiracy theories says about where the country is headed.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, welcome back. It's Next Up. I'm Mark Cowper. Did you miss me? I missed you. We were off for a week for summer break, but now we are back ready to roll and rock with you and our great guest for today, as well as my reported monologue on the attempted assassination of President Trump. Glad for you to be part of next up. Appreciate you being here. Like,
0:21.8	subscribe, et cetera, et cetera. Be part of this community, which we're still in the process of naming.
0:26.5	We'll get to that later. Grateful to you for staying with us throughout the summer.
0:32.6	I am the editor-in-chief of the two-way live platform and the host of this program here on the
0:38.2	MK Media Network and couldn't be happier to have our guests today join us. A couple of folks
0:44.8	will join us in the next segment, Emily Jashinsky, the host of After Party with Emily
0:49.1	Jashinsky here on the MK Media Network, Megan Kelly's great new network growing fast. And in Turrentine,
0:55.2	my colleague on two ways, part of both the morning meeting and a group chat there that'll talk to
0:59.4	us about everything going on in the news, including what is going on with Elon Musk and what is
1:05.2	going on with the investigation or no investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. They'll be here. And then a little
1:10.5	later, we'll be joined by
1:11.4	really one of the most extraordinary reporters I've known in my career. Selina Zito is the author of
1:15.9	the new book Butler, the untold story of the near assassination of Donald Trump in the fight for
1:20.4	America's heartland. She has long been recognized as one of the best chroniclers of not just Donald
1:25.5	Trump, but of the Trump movement. And she has home court advantage.
1:28.7	She lives in Pennsylvania.
1:30.1	And Pennsylvania has, I think, been for the full 10 years of Trump on the national stage,
1:34.5	been central to understanding the MAGA movement and why Donald Trump went two for three in
1:40.6	his presidential elections.
1:42.4	All of that coming up.
1:43.9	But first, here is what I think is important to think about. And it relates to Salient. two for three in his presidential elections. All of that coming up.
1:47.4	But first, here is what I think is important to think about.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 3 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from MK Media, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of MK Media and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.