The Daily Blast: Trump-GOP Panic over ICE Grows as MAGA Goes Off Rails: “Race Traitor!”

The DSR Network

Chris Cotnoir

Government

4.5 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 30 January 2026

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

President Trump and the GOP are in a growing panic over ICE. Trump’s advisers are sinking into recriminations. Republican officials are publicly admitting that his immigration agenda “seems to be not working” and that the GOP is “losing” the political battle over it. Others are suggesting that Alex Pretti’s killing was “murder” and that it’s time to “recalibrate.” Yet MAGA figures are pulling in the other direction. Media Matters has a good roundup: Many are urging Trump to escalate, with white supremacist Nick Fuentes labeling Pretti a “race traitor.” MAGA doesn’t want to let the GOP even appear to moderate. We talked to Jennifer Rubin, editor-in-chief of The Contrarian, who has a new piece urging Democrats to seize this moment. We discuss how MAGA’s white nationalism has landed “moderate” Republicans in a trap, why this provides an opening to divide the Trump coalition, and what Democrats can do to demonstrate that they side with the American people against Trump-MAGA’s violent lawlessness. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the Daily Blast from the New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network.
0:16.4	I'm your host, Greg Sargent.
0:30.5	There's been a shift in media coverage of Donald Trump and ICE.
0:35.5	What's happening now is being treated as a real political crisis for the president.
0:40.0	He's treating it like one. He just demoted border patrol chief Gregory Bovino and basically put him in a box, and Republicans are admitting to reporters
0:45.8	that they're in real trouble. Yet, meanwhile, MAGA media figures are not just demanding
0:51.4	that Trump continue on his current course, they're demanding that
0:55.0	he escalate the cruelty and brutality and carry out more atrocities against Americans.
1:01.5	It's now very clear that the Trump coalition is getting badly splintered by these ice horrors.
1:07.5	So how should Dems exploit this moment? We're checking in with Jen Rubin, editor-in chief of the contrarian, who has a new piece arguing that Dems have a very rare opportunity that they mustn't squander.
1:18.6	Jen, good to see you.
1:20.6	Good to see you, too.
1:22.6	So here's a sampling of headlines on Trump and immigration right now.
1:26.6	Politico. The GOP is losing one of its best
1:30.1	issues. New York Times. On immigration, the GOP finds itself in a shocking place on defense. CNN.
1:39.9	Trump is scared of the politics of ice, and it's showing.
1:49.9	Jen, not long ago, we were still being told that Trump and the GOP are strong on immigration and that Democrats don't dare engage on it.
1:52.6	Funny how quickly this turned around, isn't it?
1:55.0	It really is.
1:56.2	You and I, a lifetime ago, which was, I think last summer when they were invading Los Angeles,
2:03.1	told them that this was not a popular thing. People don't like brutality. They don't like
2:09.4	these extreme measures. People may have voted to get rid of the, quote, worst of the worst,
	...

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