Trump's Four Big Wins the Left Ignores, Plus Dem Identity Crisis, with Michael Smerconish, Emily Jashinsky, and Rich Lowry

Next Up with Mark Halperin

MK Media

News, Daily News, Politics

4.8 • 846 Ratings

🗓️ 29 July 2025

⏱️ 77 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Mark Halperin opens today’s show with his new signature reported monologue on the implications of the Democrats’ refusal to acknowledge the major accomplishments of the Trump presidency. He explains why these wins are still shaping the political landscape, and how the left’s continued denial of what’s ruined the party’s brand could cost them in the midterms and heading into 2028. Then, Rich Lowry and Emily Jashinsky join to break down the latest culture war flashpoints—from the viral backlash to Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle ad to the bizarre trend of branding denim ads as fascist. The panel unpacks what these online meltdowns reveal about Gen Z, media influence, and the risks Democrats face by letting social media outrage steer their message. Also, Michael Smerconish joins the show and examines the Democratic Party’s deepening identity crisis. He and Mark explore why the party struggles to define itself beyond opposition to Trump, how cultural fear has replaced moral clarity, and what it will take to rebuild a broader, more coherent coalition before 2028.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome in Nexters at home and abroad. Thank you for joining. I'm Mark Kaepern, editor-in-chief of the live
0:07.1	interactive video platform two-way and your guide to everything that is next up on the program today.
0:12.7	Two great talkers, Rich Lowry, the editor of the National Review and Emily Jasinski,
0:17.7	host of the after-party here on the MK Media Network, and then the one, the only,
0:23.6	Michael Smirkanish, a truly great talker, will join us here, very excited.
0:28.3	And then starting off in a moment, my reported monologue today, because I've been talking a lot
0:33.2	to Democrats to try to figure out what is wrong with their brand.
0:36.2	Poll after poll shows the same thing, the Democratic Party at a low point.
0:41.1	And I'm wondering whose fault that is.
0:43.4	Why is the party of such a low approval ratings?
0:45.8	Is it Joe Biden's fault?
0:47.3	Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, someone else.
0:49.8	I'm amazed that so few people in the press, including people who love the Democrats, and so
0:54.6	few Democrats are talking about why the party is in that position. Why are the poll numbers
1:00.1	for the party so bad? If this were the Republican Party and their brand were down so low,
1:05.7	you can bet the media would be analyzing historically in terms of policy, in terms of current
1:10.7	practices, why the numbers
1:12.4	are so bad. And to start to answer this question, you have to figure out how far back
1:17.4	should we go on this, right? Does this go back to Bill Clinton, to Barack Obama? Is it a more
1:22.4	recent phenomenon? What is the trajectory here? And then the other question I think you have to answer
1:27.3	is,
1:28.1	is this because of Donald Trump? Is it more the Democrats' own doing or is it because of Donald
	...

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