Liberation Ruining The Nation
Politix
Politix
4.6 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 9 April 2025
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Last week, in one fell swoop, Donald Trump wiped out trillions of dollars in wealth, upended all of our trade relations, and poised the U.S. for a lengthy recession and higher prices. His big money backers are in freakout mode. He’s made himself politically vulnerable in dramatic fashion, but also undermined the foundations of the American age.
In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss life with (and after?) Trump’s tariffs:
* How the fuck did Trump’s billionaire backers get this so catastrophically wrong?
* Is Trump looking for an offramp, where he “negotiates” away these tariffs in exchange for symbolic victories, or are they here to stay?
* How does uncertainty around that question exacerbate damage to the economy economic?
Then, behind the paywall, where, if anywhere, do we go from here? Are Democrats handling the situation optimally, in both legislative and messaging contexts? Would it even matter all that much if Congress revoked presidential tariff authority, now that the whole world sees us as erratic and untrustworthy? Is there a path back to an American-led global economic order, or are we just permanently poorer?
All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed.
Further reading:
* Brian on what it would look like to really reverse America’s Trump-induced collapse.
* Matt’s 29 thoughts on Liberation Day™️.
* Josh Marshall on how all power is unitary.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is part of the reason why when things happen outside this trade, tariff, whatever realm, |
| 0:05.8 | and Democrats don't react or they have a mealy-mouthed reaction. I'm like, if you're not willing |
| 0:09.7 | to be bold on this issue now, you don't actually believe, like snatching people up off the streets |
| 0:15.9 | and sending them to El Salvador, like Democrats are being much better on tariffs than there on |
| 0:20.4 | that question. |
| 0:21.1 | Do you really think that in 22 months, people are going to be like scrutinizing what you said |
| 0:25.9 | about snatching people up off the streets and that you're actually going to be on the wrong |
| 0:29.0 | side of that issue? |
| 0:34.3 | Hey, everyone, you're listening to a free preview of the politics podcast. It's Liberation |
| 0:39.3 | Week here at politics. So we're going to talk through Donald Trump's fun new global trade war. |
| 0:45.7 | What's happening? What to expect under various scenarios? Is there any going back? And how are |
| 0:52.1 | Democrats doing as Donald Trump's big money backers head for the hills? |
| 0:56.8 | We'll try to answer those and other questions this week. |
| 0:59.5 | So if you want to hear the whole conversation, just go to politics.fm and upgrade your |
| 1:03.6 | subscription. |
| 1:09.1 | Hey, everyone. |
| 1:09.8 | Welcome to the politics podcast. I'm Brian Boiler. |
| 1:12.0 | I'm Matthew Glacius. |
| 1:13.5 | So this week, I guess we're doing it. We're touching the hot stove. |
| 1:17.5 | We're liberated. |
| 1:19.3 | Except for that hand, which has been on the hot stove for like almost a week. |
| 1:24.2 | Like, skin's all melted, boiling. |
... |
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