Norm Ornstein on Another Chaotic Week in DC

The Al Franken Podcast

Government, Progressive, Politics, Senate, Liberal, Senator, Minnesota, Franken, News, Saturday Night Live, Comedy, Snl

4.6 • 7.7K Ratings

🗓️ 5 October 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Chaos has ensued across the federal government as we face another shutdown. We're joined by political scientist, an emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and friend of the show, Norm Ornstein, to make sense of it all.

What is this shutdown all about? Healthcare. With Republicans in charge of the House, the Senate, the Presidency, AND the Supreme Court, can they dodge the blame? Meanwhile, Trump and OMB Director (and Project 2025 author) Russell Vought will use this moment to further gut the federal government. What kind of long term damage could this cause?

Also this week, Trump proposed a deal to end the war in Gaza. Norm walks us through the terms and what comes next. Could peace be on the horizon?

Plus, Norm breaks down the bizarre address from Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth to the top military generals. This entire stunt cost millions of dollars, but did it accomplish anything?

Listen to Norm's podcast "Words Matter" with fellow friend of the show David Rothkopf: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dsrs-words-matter/id1420216970

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Building a coffee business?
0:02.0	Serving the best Americano in town is up to you.
0:04.0	But winning back time and growing your business, leave that to sum up.
0:07.0	Take orders and payments anywhere with the new SumUp terminal.
0:10.0	Turn occasional customers into regulars with a free loyalty program.
0:13.0	And with the SumUp point of sale system, you'll always know when you're running low on your best-selling blends.
0:18.0	Visit sumup.co.uk to learn more.
0:20.0	Hey, your bestselling plans. Visit sumup.co.uk to learn more.
0:29.8	Hey everybody, we got a great one today. And this time, this time I mean it.
0:36.7	Norm Ornstein is my guest. If you've listened to this podcast over the years, you know Norm,
0:46.8	political scientist and emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a good friend of the show and of the host.
0:52.8	We recorded this on Friday morning and the show drops on Sunday. So it's very possible that the government shut down is over
0:57.8	because both sides realize how damaging this is to the country
1:02.8	and came to a compromise, restoring the ACA subsidies,
1:09.5	so the 24 million Americans won't see a doubling of their health care
1:15.5	premiums, or probably not. Republicans don't care about that. Norm and I discuss the shutdown and
1:24.1	the fact that this isn't just about health care premiums, but about the
1:29.0	autocratic regime Americans are already under.
1:33.5	Trump and OMB head Russell vote are, they're sick.
1:37.2	It seems they are intent on punishing blue states, canceling $8 billion in funding for renewable energy projects in 16
1:49.5	almost all blue states and $18 billion from New Jersey and New York for crucial infrastructure
1:58.5	projects. I don't remember Democratic administration is doing that sort of thing during
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

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

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