Does Conservative Mean Whatever Donald Trump Says It Means?

The NPR Politics Podcast

NPR

Politics, Daily News, News

4.5 • 24.9K Ratings

🗓️ 27 January 2023

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

After extracting a slew of concessions from Kevin McCarthy during the Speaker vote saga, conservative House Republicans are now flexing their muscles in a fight over the U.S. debt. But what does the "conservative" label mean right now? New research suggests that many politically-active voters use it to mean most similar to Donald Trump.

This episode: White House correspondent Scott Detrow, congressional reporter Barbara Sprunt, congressional correspondent Claudia Grisales, and political correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben.

This episode was produced by Elena Moore and Casey Morell. It was edited by Eric McDaniel. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi. Research and fact-checking by Devin Speak.

Unlock access to this and other bonus content by supporting The NPR Politics Podcast+. Sign up via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Connect:
Email the show at [email protected]
Join the NPR Politics Podcast Facebook Group.
Subscribe to the NPR Politics Newsletter.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, this is Christina and I'm currently road tripping home with our newest family member
0:05.2	8-week-old Golden Retriever Maple.
0:07.6	This podcast was recorded at.
0:09.6	Congratulations, it is 1237 Eastern on Friday, January 27th.
0:15.0	Things may have changed by the time you hear it, but I'll still be wondering how I went from barely liking animals to a full-blown dog person in a matter of moments.
0:24.0	Enjoy the show!
0:25.5	Oh, wow.
0:30.3	It's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Scott Detro. I cover the White House.
0:33.8	I'm Barbara Sprint. I cover Congress.
0:36.1	I'm Claudia D. Sonnes. I also cover Congress.
0:39.1	I want to start before the news that it just occurred to me that for a wide variety of reasons, this is the first politics podcast I've been a part of.
0:48.1	Where everyone in the podcast is in the same room since we all did a podcast together in Las Vegas just before the Nevada caucuses.
0:58.1	Wow.
0:59.1	Which is wild.
1:00.1	It is so wild.
1:01.1	As I process that, we're going to talk about a big news story, a story that is going to dominate all of our lives for the next few months and that is the debt ceiling.
1:09.1	And you, yes you, listening to your phone who's thinking, oh no, a debt ceiling conversation.
1:13.1	It's important. Here's why. We are going to talk about it a lot over the next few months.
1:17.1	It is one of those stories that sometimes can feel incremental or can feel like there's a lot of empty threats, but this is true.
1:23.1	This is real. It could also very quickly have profound effects on the economy and all of our day to day lives.
1:29.1	Let's start with that. Barbara, the US is probably a few months from that inflection point moment, but it's a major theme in Congress right now.
1:36.6	Remind us what the stakes are.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

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

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