Mamdani's win and the future of Trump's war powers, tax bill
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 26 June 2025
⏱️ 27 minutes
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Summary
Mamdani’s primary win in New York excited progressives as the Democratic Party tries to find its footing after its 2024 losses. Host Colby Itkowitz talks with national enterprise reporter Sarah Ellison about whether Mamdani’s victory could be a road map for the party. They also talk with senior congressional reporter Paul Kane about whether the Senate will pass Trump’s big tax bill and how congressional Republicans have continued to cede power to the executive branch.
Today’s show was produced by Laura Benshoff. It was edited by Lucy Perkins and Reena Flores. It was mixed by Sean Carter. Thanks also to Arjun Singh.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I keep having the same thought ever since Tuesday's mayoral primary in New York City. |
| 0:07.7 | I mean, we all know it came down to these two candidates, and one of them was former governor Andrew Cuomo. |
| 0:13.3 | He was trying to resurrect his political career, and he failed big time. |
| 0:19.6 | I mean, has any politician had as much of a spectacular fall from grace |
| 0:24.1 | as Cuomo has? Wow. Well, there's a, the only other one that I can think of right there in New York |
| 0:33.8 | would be Anthony Wiener. Of course. You know. |
| 0:42.7 | Anthony Weiner is probably the best example, but Cuomo has done it multiple times. |
| 0:48.0 | And don't forget, he ran for governor in 2002 and flamed out spectacularly. |
| 0:52.2 | So he really does keep rising, falling, rising, falling. |
| 1:00.9 | From the Newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post Reports. |
| 1:07.5 | I'm Colby Iquowitz. It's Thursday, June 26. I'm joined this week by Paul Kane, senior congressional correspondent here at The Post. Hey, P.K. |
| 1:10.5 | Hey, Colby. And we're also here with Sarah Ellison, the post reporter that was covering the New York's |
| 1:15.3 | mayor race this week. Hey, Sarah. Hi. I'm so excited to have you both on the show today. |
| 1:24.2 | Sarah, you're joining us from New York, which is awesome because I want to talk to you about |
| 1:29.0 | Zoran Mondani. He's the young Democratic socialist who defeated Cuomo in the city's Democratic |
| 1:36.0 | primary for mayor this week. And I've been thinking, like, Democrats are obviously still |
| 1:41.5 | grappling with how to rebuild after their 2024 losses. And so, you know, New York Democrats, Democrats nationally can't ignore that in this election, voters seem to have rejected establishment politics and endorsed generational change and I guess progressive ideas. |
| 1:59.3 | Later in the show, we're going to tap your expertise, PK. You are up on |
| 2:02.9 | Capitol Hill right now and will help us break down a couple of the newsy pieces of legislation that are |
| 2:07.0 | floating around Congress. One is about the president's war powers in light of last weekend strikes in Iran. |
| 2:13.3 | And we'll also discuss President Trump's big tax bill, which could come up for a vote in the Senate later this week. So I'm very excited, P.K., for you to bring us up to speed on all of that. |
| 2:22.5 | Happy to be here. So let's start with this Mom Donnie upset. So, Sarah, you've been covering this race. What was your first thought when Cuomo conceded so early on Tuesday night? |
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