4.4 • 645 Ratings
🗓️ 1 July 2024
⏱️ 26 minutes
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0:00.0 | Welcome to Current Affairs. My name is Nathan Robinson. I am the editor in chief of current affairs magazine. And I am joined today by Washington Post National Political Reporter Isaac Arnsdorf. He is the author of the new book, Finish What We Started, the MAGA Movements, Ground War to End Democracy. |
0:46.2 | Isaac Arndstorf, thank you for joining us on current affairs today. |
0:50.0 | Thanks so much for having me. |
0:51.7 | Okay, let's see. Where do we start? |
0:53.3 | Well, when you say, finish what we started, what is it that they started? |
0:58.2 | Well, the title reference comes from a speech that Trump made at CPAC in 2023, where he debuted |
1:07.1 | this retribution message that he basically ran on throughout the primary. |
1:12.1 | So, you know, it's about picking up where they left off on January 6th and taking back |
1:17.1 | the White House and their definition of the country. |
1:20.7 | Now, I think the most crucial word in what you just said was they, because one of the things |
1:26.4 | that is totally fascinating and different about |
1:28.8 | your book is that your book is not really a book about Trump. Your book is about the movement |
1:34.9 | behind Trump. You know, Trump enters in. He's a peripheral character. I mean, he's behind |
1:40.4 | all of this. But you went from the surface level, the level of media and image, |
1:47.5 | down to the ground level, to the bottom level, and to look at what is behind this man? |
1:53.5 | What is the MAGA movement? So let me ask you, what is it that you're focusing on here? |
1:59.6 | Yeah, I mean, I just felt like we've read books and heard stories about Trump before and |
2:04.3 | politicians and operatives and what we were missing. |
2:07.4 | Like, what people would ask me when I came back from the road is like, why do people believe |
2:11.9 | this? |
2:12.4 | And that was much more challenging and interesting of a mystery for me. |
2:17.4 | And I started doing some reporting. The reporting that became this book. That was much more challenging and interesting of a mystery for me. |
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