Trump Accidentally Sabotages GOP’s 2026 Strategy in Two Crazed Tirades

THE DAILY BLAST with Greg Sargent

The New Republic

News, Politics

4.4 • 800 Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2026

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In recent days, President Trump has angrily demanded that Republicans pass the SAVE Act, a massive voter suppression measure that already passed the House but almost certainly can’t pass the Senate. In one tirade on Truth Social, he threatened not to sign anything else until Senate Republicans get it done. That echoed a second rant demanding the same. After we recorded this episode, Trump gave a speech doubling down on this demand. But a funny thing is happening: This is trampling all over the midterm messaging of Republicans, who badly want to appear focused on the economy. We talked to veteran Congressional scholar Norman Ornstein. He explains why the SAVE ACT is such a heinous piece of voter suppression, why it’s probably doomed in the Senate despite Trump's pressure, and how his demand has trapped Republicans, given their cultlike thrall to him. Ornstein also walks us through the nightmare scenarios in which Trump and/or Republicans could conceivably steal the midterms. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

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.
0:34.2	President Trump has been demanding that congressional Republicans pass the SAVE Act, which is a massive voter suppression measure.
0:39.0	In several angry rants, he's demanded that they do this rather than doing anything else. But a funny thing is happening. Trump's order to Republicans is actually trampling
0:45.0	on the GOP's midterm message. Republicans badly want to appear really, really focused on costs on
0:51.9	the economy, and a new poll shows they're in a big hole in the midterms.
0:56.2	Yet Republicans are still totally enthralled to Trump.
0:59.7	So now what do they do?
1:01.5	Few people are better at explaining what's really going on among House Republicans than congressional scholar Norm Ornstein,
1:08.3	so we're asking him to decode the latest madness for us. Norm, good to have
1:12.8	you on. Always good, great. So let's start with Trump. He erupted on truth social, demanding that
1:19.7	Republicans pull out all the procedural stops to pass the SAVE Act. First, very briefly, Norm,
1:25.7	what's in the SAFE Act?
1:33.0	Let's say, Greg, to start with, that every Republican out there talking point is,
1:40.1	this is about voter ID, which is supported by 90% of Americans. That's not what the SAVE Act is about. The first thing it's about is proof of citizenship before you can register to vote,
1:47.2	much less vote. And you have to go physically now, even if you're registered, to a voting office
1:53.1	to re-register with a passport, a passport card, or a birth certificate. And to get a passport or passport card if you don't have one,
2:04.0	you need not just any birth certificate, an embossed birth certificate, all of which are costly.
2:10.4	That's bad enough, but then it gets much worse, because the SAVE Act requires every state to hand over all of its sensitive voter
2:21.7	information to the Department of Homeland Security, and that includes a lot of stuff people
2:28.1	don't want shared, which then will cooperate with the Social Security Administration and the IRS, which is adjud
2:37.0	to Americans. But they also require the states then to use a program in the Department
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

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

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