What Does It Mean To Be A Republican Or A Democrat In The Trump Era?

The NPR Politics Podcast

NPR

Politics, News, Daily News

4.5 • 24.9K Ratings

🗓️ 25 November 2025

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The lines between what the Republican and Democratic parties believe have blurred since President Trump first became candidate Trump in 2015. We discuss how the parties — and their supporters — have shifted, and where they go from here.

This episode: political correspondent Ashley Lopez, congressional correspondent Barbara Sprunt, and senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith.

This podcast was produced by Casey Morell and edited by Rachel Baye.

Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Jamie here with my husband. Patrick. We're riding in an Amtrak sleeper on the Hudson on our way to Arizona because we finally found the time to schedule our honeymoon two and a half years after our wedding.
0:14.3	This podcast was recorded at. 106 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, November 25th, 2025.
0:25.9	Things may have changed by the time you've heard this, but we'll still be enjoying our delayed.
0:27.5	Not due to Amtrak.
0:28.3	Honeywood.
0:30.1	All aboard.
0:31.1	Okay.
0:32.8	Here's the show.
0:37.3	I love that. That's awesome.
0:38.0	Enjoy.
0:40.2	Joe Biden approved honeymoon.
0:42.1	Yeah, totally.
0:43.4	Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast.
0:45.7	I'm Ashley Lopez.
0:46.7	I cover politics.
0:47.7	I'm Barbara Sprint.
0:48.5	I cover Congress.
0:49.4	And I'm Tamara Keith.
0:50.1	I cover the White House.
0:51.7	And today on the show, we're taking a moment to go deep on this question.
0:55.8	What do the two main political parties actually represent now? Democrats and Republicans have
1:00.4	historically at least had different ideas of what government should do and how they should
	...

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