Trump Is a Weak and Failing President—Finally, Dems Are Acting Like It

THE DAILY BLAST with Greg Sargent

The New Republic

News, Politics

4.4 • 800 Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2026

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Donald Trump’s losses are mounting. His border czar just announced a large drawdown of federal agents in Minnesota after protests turned public opinion. Job creation during Trump’s first year was worse than previously known. The country is losing manufacturing jobs. Trump is a weak and failing president—and there are now signs that Democrats are acting like it. But couldn’t they do more to seize the moment? Yes! The New Republic has a special issue online right now that’s full of pieces laying out the way forward. Today’s guest is TNR editor Michael Tomasky, author of the lead piece explaining how Democrats can become more aggressive and effective. We discuss the true nature of Trump’s weakness, why Democrats face a crossroads rivaling the New Deal and Civil Rights eras, and how that offers them uncommon challenges and opportunities. We also discuss Emily Cooke’s writeup of our poll of rank-and-file Democrats, as well as pieces by Alex Shephard, Perry Bacon, and your faithful podcast host. 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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1:16.6	I'm your host, Greg Sargent.
1:26.9	Suddenly, the losses for Donald Trump are piling up on many fronts at once.
1:31.9	His border czar just announced the drawdown of federal agents in Minnesota after protests
1:37.2	there turned public opinion. Job creation during Trump's first year was more abysmal than we thought.
1:46.3	The country is losing manufacturing jobs, and new polls show that the public now says Joe Biden did a better job than Trump is doing,
1:53.0	which is the ultimate humiliation. Trump is a weak and failing president, and critically, there are
1:59.6	now signs that Democrats are really acting like
2:02.2	it, but there's more for Democrats to be done on this front. And the New Republic has a special
2:07.6	issue out right now that is chock full of great new pieces laying out how Democrats can mount a
2:13.3	more effective and aggressive opposition. We're talking about all this with Michael Tamaski,
	...

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