Donald Trump Vs. Reality Itself
Slate News
Slate Podcasts
4.5 • 6K Ratings
🗓️ 7 August 2025
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Donald Trump’s never been all that committed to the truth. But experts are warning that by firing the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and appointing loyalists across the judiciary, he’s taken his war on facts to another level. How long can he attempt to remake reality before the truth—someday, eventually, but inevitably—hits back?
Guest: David A Graham, staff writer at the Atlantic.
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Podcast production by Ethan Oberman, Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Abby's just woken up. It's 731 and she's forgotten to ring the doctor. There's no point |
| 0:05.5 | ringing now. She needs to get to work, but she's not worried. She's got an HSBC Premier bank account |
| 0:10.5 | with access to digital GP appointments plus two second opinions a year should she need them. |
| 0:15.1 | Everything's premier when your bank account is. Search HSBC Premier, HSBC UK, opening up a world of opportunity. |
| 0:22.4 | The doctor will see you now. |
| 0:24.6 | Apply with £100,000 annual income or £100,000 savings or investments with HSBC UK or Premier |
| 0:29.3 | status abroad. |
| 0:36.5 | I have three young kids, 10, 8, and 2 years old. |
| 0:40.3 | And one of the big things I've learned since becoming a parent is that little kids lie. |
| 0:47.3 | Not sometimes, like all the time. |
| 0:51.3 | And they're usually not even very smart about it. |
| 0:53.3 | It's like everyday things. I'll ask |
| 0:55.4 | one of them, did you clean your room? And they'll say yes. And then I'll walk into the bedroom. |
| 0:59.7 | And it hasn't been cleaned. So, okay. When stuff like that happens, I'm like, do you think |
| 1:07.0 | I'm dumb? Do you think this is going to work out for you? And I've been feeling that a lot lately, not just in my personal life, but working on this |
| 1:15.1 | show, covering the news, especially out of Washington. |
| 1:18.8 | If you hadn't been paying attention, last week there were a lot of these moments where |
| 1:22.9 | I was just like, really? |
| 1:25.8 | I talked to David Graham from the Atlantic about the recent whirlwind of gas lighting coming from the White House. |
| 1:31.7 | Last Thursday, we saw this story first on the Washington Post about the Smithsonian removing references to Trump's two impeachments. |
| 1:39.1 | The exhibit, which was last updated in 2008, looks at presidential impeachments over history. |
| 1:45.5 | The following day, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced that it would shut down. |
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