The Chuck ToddCast

Chuck Todd reads the tea leaves on a building Democratic wave: primary turnout is up 35% over 2022 while Republican turnout is down 4%, and Todd argues voter behavior is a far better predictor than polling — though it's a tea leaf, not a guarantee. He then digs into an underappreciated dynamic that could decide Senate control: governor's races make the weather. Texas, Chuck argues, is now more plausible for Democrats than Iowa. And South Carolina, which Republicans never expected to worry about, just got more expensive after Ralph Norman told supporters to write him in rather than back Darline Graham. The second half is a five-alarm fire at the Pentagon. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned this week over Hegseth blocking Army modernization by firing the generals leading it — the latest in a purge that has left the Army without a chief of staff for months and cut four-star positions from ten to five, all during an active war. Chuck’s read is that this is a deliberate gutting and argues the fired and recently resigned generals have an obligation to speak up, because silence doesn't protect the institution. He closes with what he calls the cancer in American politics — the House — using Jared Golden's lobster fishing bill as the perfect illustration: Golden had to vote for a Republican rule just to get a floor vote on his own legislation, then got accused by leadership of a breach of trust for representing his constituents. That's the disease, Chuck argues, and Democrats will inherit every bit of it. Finally, Chuck updates his ToddCast Top 5 list of senate seats most likely to flip, answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment, and previews week 1 in college football.   Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.    Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.   For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /  *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd's introduction 04:15 A Democratic wave is building… but how big? 06:15 Dem turnout up 35% from 2022, GOP turnout down 4% 08:30 A tea leaf, not a guarantee — and why behavior beats polling 11:15 New Hampshire primaries preview 13:15 Senate control may be decided by governor races in MI, TX and IA 14:30 Ramaswamy is the wrong avatar for a Republican to win Ohio 16:45 Republicans didn't think they'd have to worry about South Carolina 17:30 Ralph Norman tells supporters to write him in rather than back Graham 22:15 Governor's races make the weather and drag Senate candidates along 26:00 Ticket splitting hasn't disappeared since 2010, but it's less common 27:15 Breaking down the penalty for various candidate sins 30:00 Ken Paxton needs Abbott to win big — and Abbott's trending down 33:15 Todd Akin's voters fled to the Libertarians in 2012 35:00 El-Sayed's penalty isn't scandal, it's ideological — 2-3 points 36:00 Jocelyn Benson is running the best campaign of the cycle 38:45 Iowa hasn't split a governor/senate race since 1998 41:45 Texas looks more plausible for Democrats than Iowa 43:45 Problems at the Pentagon should be a five-alarm fire 45:30 Hegseth forced out the leaders modernizing the Army 47:45 Hollowing out the military during an active war 48:45 Hegseth wants the Pentagon to be a reality show about himself 52:00 Assets needed to deter Russia & China are being removed 54:15 Military leaders must be able to disagree with civilian leadership 57:00 An obligation to warn the country if the military is being weakened 59:45 The House of Representatives is the cancer in our political system 1:03:30 The Jared Golden lobster bill saga 1:06:30 Golden voted for a GOP rule to get a vote on his own bill 1:09:45 Leadership accused him of breaching trust… by representing their voters 1:13:00 If Democrats win the House, they inherit all of this dysfunction 1:18:00 The House is the cancer we have to cure first  1:20:30 ToddCast Top 5 senate seats most likely to flip 1:21:00 #1 North Carolina 1:21:45 #2 Alaska 1:22:15 #3 Texas 1:23:45 #4 Ohio 1:25:30 #5 Tie between Maine & Michigan 1:27:30 Ask Chuck 1:27:45 Could the Bradley effect be in play in the Texas senate race? 1:30:00 Should congress be doing more to protect the mail-in vote? 1:33:00 Thoughts on proposal to add 12 at large senators? 1:35:15 College football preview 1:40:30 Column on Lane Kiffin being the “bad boy” of college football See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd reads the tea leaves on a building Democratic wave: primary turnout is up 35% over 2022 while Republican turnout is down 4%, and Todd argues voter behavior is a far better predictor than polling — though it's a tea leaf, not a guarantee. He then digs into an underappreciated dynamic that could decide Senate control: governor's races make the weather. Texas, Chuck argues, is now more plausible for Democrats than Iowa. And South Carolina, which Republicans never expected to worry about, just got more expensive after Ralph Norman told supporters to write him in rather than back Darline Graham. The second half is a five-alarm fire at the Pentagon. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned this week over Hegseth blocking Army modernization by firing the generals leading it — the latest in a purge that has left the Army without a chief of staff for months and cut four-star positions from ten to five, all during an active war. Chuck’s read is that this is a deliberate gutting and argues the fired and recently resigned generals have an obligation to speak up, because silence doesn't protect the institution. He closes with what he calls the cancer in American politics — the House — using Jared Golden's lobster fishing bill as the perfect illustration: Golden had to vote for a Republican rule just to get a floor vote on his own legislation, then got accused by leadership of a breach of trust for representing his constituents. That's the disease, Chuck argues, and Democrats will inherit every bit of it. Documentarian Brian Knappenberger joins the Chuck Toddcast to discuss Turning Point: Generation 9/11, out on Netflix September 2nd — a film built around a striking fact: more than half of Americans were either born after 2001 or were too young to remember it. Knappenberger's aim was to bring that generation into the moment, capturing not just the attack but the fear and uncertainty that followed, including the attacks everyone braced for that never came. He points to a news clip in the film where 63% of Americans said they'd trade freedom for security, and to the AUMF passed almost immediately with Barbara Lee as the lone no vote. He and Chuck revisit the genuine moment of global unity — the only time NATO's Article 5 has ever been triggered — and Bush's real effort to reassure American Muslims, progress on Islamophobia that Knappenberger argues has since been squandered. The back half is a hard-nosed accounting. Driving the Taliban out was a success; the Iraq war took America's eye off the ball; intelligence agencies genuinely do communicate better now. But al-Qaeda was only a few hundred people who exploited a vulnerability, and the domino effect produced ISIS, something far larger. Knappenberger talks about interviewing kids who lost parents that day — including a pilot's daughter still trolled online by a Truther movement that social media made possible — and about Marines at Abbey Gate, many not yet alive on 9/11, expressing real conflict about what it was all for. Chuck’s question hangs over it: after 25 years of Pentagon budgets, what exactly did we get? And with no meaningful congressional oversight of the Iran war, the founders' decision that a king shouldn't declare wars feels less like history than a warning. Knappenberger's hope is simple — that we remember the fear well enough not to repeat the mistakes it produced. Finally, Chuck updates his ToddCast Top 5 list of senate seats most likely to flip, answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment, and previews week 1 in college football. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.  Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /  *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd's introduction 04:15 A Democratic wave is building… but how big? 06:15 Dem turnout up 35% from 2022, GOP turnout down 4% 08:30 A tea leaf, not a guarantee — and why behavior beats polling 11:15 New Hampshire primaries preview 13:15 Senate control may be decided by governor races in MI, TX and IA 14:30 Ramaswamy is the wrong avatar for a Republican to win Ohio 16:45 Republicans didn't think they'd have to worry about South Carolina 17:30 Ralph Norman tells supporters to write him in rather than back Graham 22:15 Governor's races make the weather and drag Senate candidates along 26:00 Ticket splitting hasn't disappeared since 2010, but it's less common 27:15 Breaking down the penalty for various candidate sins 30:00 Ken Paxton needs Abbott to win big — and Abbott's trending down 33:15 Todd Akin's voters fled to the Libertarians in 2012 35:00 El-Sayed's penalty isn't scandal, it's ideological — 2-3 points 36:00 Jocelyn Benson is running the best campaign of the cycle 38:45 Iowa hasn't split a governor/senate race since 1998 41:45 Texas looks more plausible for Democrats than Iowa 43:45 Problems at the Pentagon should be a five-alarm fire 45:30 Hegseth forced out the leaders modernizing the Army 47:45 Hollowing out the military during an active war 48:45 Hegseth wants the Pentagon to be a reality show about himself 52:00 Assets needed to deter Russia & China are being removed 54:15 Military leaders must be able to disagree with civilian leadership 57:00 An obligation to warn the country if the military is being weakened 59:45 The House of Representatives is the cancer in our political system 1:03:30 The Jared Golden lobster bill saga 1:06:30 Golden voted for a GOP rule to get a vote on his own bill 1:09:45 Leadership accused him of breaching trust… by representing their voters 1:13:00 If Democrats win the House, they inherit all of this dysfunction 1:18:00 The House is the cancer we have to cure first  1:22:45 Brian Knappenberger joins The Chuck ToddCast 1:25:15 Many Americans are too young to remember 9/11 well 1:27:15 9/11 is moving from a lived memory into history 1:30:45 Wanted to capture the fear and uncertainty of that period in time 1:34:45 Want the next generation not to fall into the same trap of fear & suspicion 1:39:45 The rally around the flag effect after the attacks 1:42:30 There was a real moment of unity worldwide before the divisiveness 1:43:00 The only time Article V of NATO was triggered was from 9/11 1:47:15 Pre-Trump the country had made real progress on Islamaphobia 1:48:00 Talked to a lot of kids who lost parents on 9/11 for the doc 1:49:15 Social media emerged after 9/11 and the “Truther” movement came with it 1:51:15 Driving the Taliban out of Afghanistan was a positive 1:51:45 We took our eye off the ball with the Iraq war 1:54:45 Have we sufficiently answered why Bin Laden attacked us 1:59:00 The real damage was the divisiveness and attrition of two wars 2:00:00 Al-Qaeda was only a few hundred people, exploited a vulnerability 2:01:15 The domino effect created ISIS, which is much larger than Al-Qaeda 2:06:00 Marines at Abbey Gate express feeling conflicted 2:08:30 25 years of Pentagon budgets has gotten us…what? 2:10:45 There seems to be no congressional oversight with the Iran war 2:11:15 What other Turning Point projects do you have in the works? 2:12:45 Ukraine war is a weird blend of history and modern technology 2:15:45 9/11 changed our perception of ourselves and our vulnerabilities 2:20:00 ToddCast Top 5 senate seats most likely to flip 2:20:30 #1 North Carolina 2:21:15 #2 Alaska 2:21:45 #3 Texas 2:23:15 #4 Ohio 2:25:00 #5 Tie between Maine & Michigan 2:27:00 Ask Chuck 2:27:15 Could the Bradley effect be in play in the Texas senate race? 2:29:30 Should congress be doing more to protect the mail-in vote? 2:32:30 Thoughts on proposal to add 12 at large senators? 2:34:45 College football preview 2:40:00 Column on Lane Kiffin being the “bad boy” of college football See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Documentarian Brian Knappenberger joins the Chuck Toddcast to discuss Turning Point: Generation 9/11, out on Netflix September 2nd — a film built around a striking fact: more than half of Americans were either born after 2001 or were too young to remember it. Knappenberger's aim was to bring that generation into the moment, capturing not just the attack but the fear and uncertainty that followed, including the attacks everyone braced for that never came. He points to a news clip in the film where 63% of Americans said they'd trade freedom for security, and to the AUMF passed almost immediately with Barbara Lee as the lone no vote. He and Chuck revisit the genuine moment of global unity — the only time NATO's Article 5 has ever been triggered — and Bush's real effort to reassure American Muslims, progress on Islamophobia that Knappenberger argues has since been squandered. The back half is a hard-nosed accounting. Driving the Taliban out was a success; the Iraq war took America's eye off the ball; intelligence agencies genuinely do communicate better now. But al-Qaeda was only a few hundred people who exploited a vulnerability, and the domino effect produced ISIS, something far larger. Knappenberger talks about interviewing kids who lost parents that day — including a pilot's daughter still trolled online by a Truther movement that social media made possible — and about Marines at Abbey Gate, many not yet alive on 9/11, expressing real conflict about what it was all for. Chuck’s question hangs over it: after 25 years of Pentagon budgets, what exactly did we get? And with no meaningful congressional oversight of the Iran war, the founders' decision that a king shouldn't declare wars feels less like history than a warning. Knappenberger's hope is simple — that we remember the fear well enough not to repeat the mistakes it produced. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.  Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /  *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Brian Knappenberger joins The Chuck ToddCast 02:30 Many Americans are too young to remember 9/11 well 04:30 9/11 is moving from a lived memory into history 08:00 Wanted to capture the fear and uncertainty of that period in time 12:00 Want the next generation not to fall into the same trap of fear & suspicion 17:00 The rally around the flag effect after the attacks 19:45 There was a real moment of unity worldwide before the divisiveness  20:15 The only time Article V of NATO was triggered was from 9/11 24:30 Pre-Trump the country had made real progress on Islamaphobia 25:15 Talked to a lot of kids who lost parents on 9/11 for the doc 26:30 Social media emerged after 9/11 and the “Truther” movement came with it 28:30 Driving the Taliban out of Afghanistan was a positive 29:00 We took our eye off the ball with the Iraq war 32:00 Have we sufficiently answered why Bin Laden attacked us 36:15 The real damage was the divisiveness and attrition of two wars 37:15 Al-Qaeda was only a few hundred people, exploited a vulnerability 38:30 The domino effect created ISIS, which is much larger than Al-Qaeda 43:15 Marines at Abbey Gate express feeling conflicted 45:45 25 years of Pentagon budgets has gotten us…what? 48:00 There seems to be no congressional oversight with the Iran war 48:30 What other Turning Point projects do you have in the works? 50:00 Ukraine war is a weird blend of history and modern technology 53:00 9/11 changed our perception of ourselves and our vulnerabilities See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Introducing Quiet Thoughts on Living with Chronic Migraine from Michelle Douglas and Caitlyn Eiffert from The Head Start: Embracing the Journey. Follow the show: The Head Start: Embracing the Journey There’s something different about a voice note. It’s not polished. It’s not rehearsed. It’s just one person trying to put words around something that’s hard to explain. In this special episode, Nora McInerny steps away from the traditional interview format to hear directly from Michelle Douglas and Caitlyn Eiffert through personal voice notes. Together, they reflect on the long road to diagnosis, the challenge of living with a seemingly invisible disease, and what it means to finally feel believed. Along the way, Dr. Christopher Rhyne offers insight into the common threads in their stories and why validation, self-advocacy, and finding the right care can change the course of a Chronic Migraine journey. Click here for Product Information, including Boxed Warning and Medication Guide, or visit https://abbv.ie/prescribing_info   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. DISCLAIMER: Please note, this is an independent podcast episode not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in conjunction with the host podcast feed or any of its media entities. The views and opinions expressed in this episode are solely those of the creators and guests. For any concerns, please reach out to [email protected].

Inside ten weeks to the midterms, Chuck Todd and Chris Cillizza start with the race Republicans have suddenly woken up to: Texas. With Talarico sitting on $21.5 million to Paxton's $1.75 million, Cornyn refusing to raise money in-state, and John Kennedy telling Fox News flatly that the Senate doesn't have the money budgeted for Texas, the guys argue the GOP's comfort blanket — that this is a Paxton problem, not a party problem — is wrong. Chuck's bet: no Republican on the Texas statewide ticket breaks 55%. From there they turn to the issue that's moved faster than either expected, data centers, framed by Trump's Monday Truth Social post declaring that communities rejecting them "want to end up being backwards and poor" and urging the country to "let Data Reign." Chuck and Chris place it in the rare category of issues voters force onto politicians rather than the reverse — the opioid crisis being the last one — and track the fallout from Wisconsin, where Tom Tiffany is already hitting David Crowley on it, to Shapiro and Hochul reversing course, to the blue-collar trade unions now cutting the other way. The heart of the episode is a long strategic read of the map. The Atlantic reported Trump wants to deploy MAGA Inc's roughly $400 million on ads touting his own second term, telling voters to "pretend I'm on the ballot" — and Chuck makes the counterintuitive case that it may be defensible where the fight actually is, even as they debate whether it gooses MAGA turnout or hands independents another reason to break left. They walk the four-seat path through North Carolina, Maine, Ohio, and Alaska, why Michigan is the state that keeps Democrats up at night, and what Abdul El-Sayed's ongoing Hasan Piker problem is costing him thirty days after the primary. Chris picks Texas as the GOP's nightmare on sheer cost; Chuck picks Iowa, where three House seats, a Senate seat, and a governorship all sit on the table. Plus: the 2028er welcome in both red and blue America (it's not who you'd guess), Trump's demand that the FCC punish Kristen Welker over a single mild remark, a blistering segment on Pete Hegseth and a munitions shortage nobody in Congress seems to be asking about, and the Nats' blown ninth-inning lead as a season in miniature. Timeline: 00:00 Inside ten weeks — and a college football appetizer 01:00 Why college football has become prime political ad real estate 02:00 The ads they spotted: anti-Whatley in NC, anti-Talarico in Texas 03:00 Republicans wake up to a real race a real money problem in Texas 04:00 The cash disparity — $21.5M for Talarico, $1.75M for Paxton 05:00 The Texas governor's race  06:00 A one-party state can't blame a party that doesn't exist 07:00 Is Paxton the problem, or is it the environment? 08:00 Trump's data center post: "let Data Reign" 10:00 Reid Wilson called data centers the sleeper issue six weeks ago 11:00 Washington is only discovering what voters have said for months 12:00 David Wallace-Wells & data centers as a vessel for tech frustration 13:00 Wisconsin: Tiffany already attacking Crowley on data centers 14:00 Big tech is the new big Pharma  15:00 The counter-trend: blue-collar trade unions saying these are jobs 16:00 Why is Trump this pro-data-center in an anti-data-center moment? 19:00 The Atlantic: Trump wants to spend the $400M and run his own campaign 20:00 "Pretend I am on the ballot" 21:00 Wave-year history: Clinton in '00, Bush in '06, Obama in '10 and '14 22:00 Where Trump can't go: Ohio, North Carolina, Maine, Michigan 23:00 The four-seat path — North Carolina, Maine, Ohio, Alaska 24:00 The fifth state problem: Iowa, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, Montana 25:00 The Darline Graham rescue mission and what it proved 26:00 Democratic gains are a given — the question is wave or tsunami 27:00 This election is about the cost of living  28:00 Cook's toss-ups always break in one direction 31:00 What if Republicans win New Hampshire and Democrats win Texas? 34:00 The state that keeps Democrats up at night 35:00 El-Sayed is still doing cleanup thirty days after the primary 37:00 The libertarian-candidate play red-state Democrats aren't running 38:00 The Hasan Piker problem 39:00 The Detroit synagogue comment and the apology he did make 42:00 The Trump-and-white-supremacists parallel 43:00 Alaska as the wild card: ranked choice, two Sullivans, Peltola 45:00 Josh Turek is a very hard candidate to attack 47:00 Rob Sand deserves 30% of the buzz Ossoff is getting 49:00 The Obama-in-'06 comparison and the asses-in-seats metric 50:00 Newsom went to Michigan and couldn't find anyone to campaign with 52:00 Trump demands the FCC punish Kristen Welker 54:00 What the meltdown says about how fragile he is 57:00 The Maggie Haberman attack, 48 hours apart 58:00 Hegseth gets the worst week in Washington 59:00 Sean Parnell, the influencer hires & a very online secretary 1:00:00 The cabinet primary: Lutnick, RFK Jr., Gabbard 1:02:00 Are we really out of munitions after one excursion against Iran? 1:03:00 Lake Ontario gets more coverage than troops without weapons 1:05:00 The Nats blow a 2-0 ninth-inning lead to the Marlins 1:07:00 No bullpen help at the deadline, and here we are 1:07:00 Becoming Statler and Waldorf 1:08:00 Tuesday night live: the Massachusetts primary See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd argues the entire 2026 election is collapsing into a single issue — prices — and that every other story is just a contributing factor. The problem for Republicans is that the economy is going to get worse, not better: price pressure is building across the food supply, the Iran war has disrupted fuel and fertilizer, JP Morgan is warning food inflation could hit 5% by 2027, and Kevin Warsh is going to be forced to raise rates, which will infuriate a president who Chuck argues is focused mainly on his own financial interests and could produce genuinely 1970s-like conditions. Chuck brings back reporting from a visit to the Black Locust Livestock cattle ranch to explain why beef prices can't be fixed by turning a dial: raising cattle is a years-long process, the American herd is historically small, only four companies process the country's beef and capacity is shrinking, and importing more is a short-term patch that damages domestic supply long term. It's the pattern of the whole administration — solving a price problem today by making it worse tomorrow, while the cost of producing food rises because of decisions Trump himself made. Underneath it all sits the number that explains the mood of the country: corporate pre-tax profits are at their highest share since just after World War II while workers take home the smallest share since the 1950s. There is no economic boom for most Americans, Washington keeps misreading the anger, and Trump's own voters are getting hit hardest at the pump. The war, Chuck argues, isn't just making life expensive — it's making America vulnerable. Defense leaders are warning Hegseth the Iran campaign is unsustainable: barely a quarter of the Navy's destroyer fleet is ready to deploy, advanced munitions stocks are largely burned through, and equipment and personnel are worn out, meaning fighting this war has left the country less capable of fighting the next one. China is the clear winner of Trump's second term, and Chuck’s real worry is Putin testing NATO while looking at an American president desperate for any win. Then there's Venezuela, where Trump has announced the U.S. has seized the country's oil reserves — a move Chuck calls British-empire-style imperialism and highway robbery at gunpoint, asking the obvious question: if Putin did this to a neighbor, what would we call it? The standard shouldn't change because we're the ones doing it, the windfall ought to benefit Venezuelans, and it's worth asking who's actually negotiating this and who stands to profit. It's exactly why two-thirds of South America resents the United States, and why Trump's imperial turn will only compound a credibility problem that's already severe. Chuck closes somewhere more personal: his old high school, Miami's Killian, is down from 3,000 students to 400. The kids didn't disappear — school choice killed the ambition to attend. Big public high schools once defined their communities and forced people to know each other; we traded that for choice and specialization without ever asking what a public school is actually for. We didn't try to fix public education, Chuck argues. We empowered people to escape it — and in doing so gutted one of the real sources of American strength. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the assassination of President William McKinley and the striking parallels between modern America, and America in 1901. He also answers listeners’ questions in the Ask Chuck segment. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.  Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /  *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.    Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 04:30 With return of college football, comes a ton of political advertising 05:00 Football attracts a wide array of potential voters 06:30 Pro-Paxton ad in Texas made China the central theme, blamed Talarico 07:30 GOP has controlled Texas for decades, blaming Talarico is ridiculous 10:00 Dems dismiss the ad as ridiculous, but some people will believe it 12:15 Massachusetts primaries coming up on Tuesday, Sept 1st 14:15 The electorate will be voting on one issue… prices & affordability 15:00 Every other issue is a contributing factor to the price issues 15:45 The problem for Republicans is the economy will get worse, not better 16:30 Price pressures are building across the food supply 16:45 Iran war is causing major issues with the fuel & fertilizer supply 18:00 JP Morgan warns food inflation could reach 5% by 2027 18:30 Kevin Warsh will be forced to raise rates, Trump will be furious 19:00 Trump is only worried about his own personal financial interest 19:45 Fed raising rates to combat inflation will create 1970’s like conditions 20:15 Went to the Black Locust Livestock cattle ranch for Noosphere interview 21:45 Beef prices can’t just be adjusted with the turn of a dial 22:15 Raising cattle is a long term process & our beef herd is historically small 23:00 Trump knows beef prices are hurting him & wanted to import more 24:15 Importing is a short term solution, hurts the long term domestic supply 25:00 Only 4 companies process American beef & we’re losing capacity 25:30 How we can lower beef prices and boost domestic production 26:30 Trump tries to solve price issues in the short term, makes it worse long term 27:00 The price to produce food is rising because of decisions Trump made 27:45 Corporate pre-tax profits are at highest share since aftermath of WW2 28:15 Workers are getting lowest take home share of profits since 1950s 29:00 This is why voters across the spectrum are so pissed off at the system 29:30 There’s no economic boom for most Americans 30:15 Washington continues to misunderstand the anger of the voters 30:45 Trump voters are getting hardest hit by higher gas prices 32:30 Iran war isn’t just making things expensive, it’s making us more vulnerable 33:00 Defense leaders warning Hegseth the Iran war is unsustainable 33:45 Hegseth has put America in more danger than it’s been in since Cold War 34:15 Barely 1/4th of the Navy’s destroyer fleet is ready to deploy 34:45 We’ve burned through most of our advanced munitions 35:15 We’ve worn out our military equipment and personnel 36:00 Fighting this war has made us less capable of fighting the next war 36:30 China has been the biggest winner of Trump’s second term 37:00 What are we no longer willing to do because of the Iran war? 38:00 We’ve spent all this money on the military… and we’re tapped out? 38:30 We should be incredibly concerned about Putin testing NATO 39:15 Putin sees an American president desperate for a win 40:00 Trump announced that we’ve seized Venezuela’s oil reserves 40:45 This feels like British empire style imperialism 42:00 If Putin had done this to another country… what would we call it? 42:30 The standards shouldn’t be different because WE are doing it 43:30 Who is doing this negotiation and who stands to benefit? 44:30 Shouldn’t the windfall from Venezuelan oil benefit Venezuelans? 45:00 Trump is taking Venezuela’s oil at gunpoint, it’s highway robbery 46:00 This is why 2/3rd’s of South America hates the United States 46:30 Trump wants to make America and empire… and the world will hate us 48:00 This compounds America’s credibility problem globally 49:00 The world is only going to hate America & Americans more due to Trump 51:00 Chuck’s high school, Killian is down to 400 students from 3,000 51:45 The kids didn’t disappear, school choice killed ambition to attend there 53:00 Big successful public high schools defined their communities 54:30 Connection between community and schools has broken down 55:00 School choice creates communities not based in their neighborhood 56:00 We haven’t asked “What do we want a public school to do for a community?” 56:45 A public school is central to creating a local community 57:30 We trade choice and specialization, for a community that isn’t forced to interact 59:00 Killian’s community is still a good one, but the character changed 1:00:15 What exactly is public education for? Is it purely for kids' education? 1:01:00 The public school system was a source of our power… and we’ve gutted it 1:01:30 We didn’t try to fix public ed, we tried to empower people to escape it 1:03:45 We created more choices, but did we make education better? 1:05:45 We lost a place where we were forced to get to know each other 1:09:00 ToddCast Time Machine - The Assassination of William McKinley 1:09:30 Of all presidential assassinations, Americans know the least about this one 1:1

Chuck Todd argues the entire 2026 election is collapsing into a single issue — prices — and that every other story is just a contributing factor. The problem for Republicans is that the economy is going to get worse, not better: price pressure is building across the food supply, the Iran war has disrupted fuel and fertilizer, JP Morgan is warning food inflation could hit 5% by 2027, and Kevin Warsh is going to be forced to raise rates, which will infuriate a president who Chuck argues is focused mainly on his own financial interests and could produce genuinely 1970s-like conditions. Chuck brings back reporting from a visit to the Black Locust Livestock cattle ranch to explain why beef prices can't be fixed by turning a dial: raising cattle is a years-long process, the American herd is historically small, only four companies process the country's beef and capacity is shrinking, and importing more is a short-term patch that damages domestic supply long term. It's the pattern of the whole administration — solving a price problem today by making it worse tomorrow, while the cost of producing food rises because of decisions Trump himself made. Underneath it all sits the number that explains the mood of the country: corporate pre-tax profits are at their highest share since just after World War II while workers take home the smallest share since the 1950s. There is no economic boom for most Americans, Washington keeps misreading the anger, and Trump's own voters are getting hit hardest at the pump. The war, Chuck argues, isn't just making life expensive — it's making America vulnerable. Defense leaders are warning Hegseth the Iran campaign is unsustainable: barely a quarter of the Navy's destroyer fleet is ready to deploy, advanced munitions stocks are largely burned through, and equipment and personnel are worn out, meaning fighting this war has left the country less capable of fighting the next one. China is the clear winner of Trump's second term, and Chuck’s real worry is Putin testing NATO while looking at an American president desperate for any win. Then there's Venezuela, where Trump has announced the U.S. has seized the country's oil reserves — a move Chuck calls British-empire-style imperialism and highway robbery at gunpoint, asking the obvious question: if Putin did this to a neighbor, what would we call it? The standard shouldn't change because we're the ones doing it, the windfall ought to benefit Venezuelans, and it's worth asking who's actually negotiating this and who stands to profit. It's exactly why two-thirds of South America resents the United States, and why Trump's imperial turn will only compound a credibility problem that's already severe. Chuck closes somewhere more personal: his old high school, Miami's Killian, is down from 3,000 students to 400. The kids didn't disappear — school choice killed the ambition to attend. Big public high schools once defined their communities and forced people to know each other; we traded that for choice and specialization without ever asking what a public school is actually for. We didn't try to fix public education, Chuck argues. We empowered people to escape it — and in doing so gutted one of the real sources of American strength.   Then, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine joins the Chuck Toddcast in his final months in office and, freed from ever facing voters again, says exactly what he thinks. The headline is his reversal on capital punishment: DeWine helped write Ohio's death penalty statute as a state senator in 1981 and defended it as attorney general, but in June he called on the legislature to abolish it, saying the moral justification he once had simply no longer exists. He walks Chuck through the practical case — roughly 20 years on average from sentencing to execution, a process that structurally cannot be sped up — and the harder question a Republican has to answer about whether you can be both pro-life and pro-death penalty. That flows into a broader argument about criminal justice that DeWine says has been driven by emotion rather than logic: truly violent offenders are a small percentage of the prison population and those are the people who need to be removed from society, but it's in society's direct self-interest to educate and rehabilitate everyone else. He's equally out of step with his party on immigration, arguing America needs legal immigrants, that we've been educating them and then failing to keep them, that Ohio's economic gains have come from immigrants, and that they're critical to caring for an aging population. On Springfield, DeWine is direct: the Haitian population created real challenges for the community, but they work hard, and it is not in America's interest to deport people who are here and working. The conversation turns to the economy and the state's political future. DeWine calls the Canada trade war a genuine problem for Ohio — Canada is a major customer — and argues the country needs a real balance between domestic manufacturing and importing rather than a grudge match. On the data center boom reshaping Ohio politics, he says tech companies have an obligation to invest in the communities they move into, notes the technology has improved and no longer requires as much water, and makes the case that nuclear power is what will actually have to underwrite the buildout. He and Chuck get into whether there's a genuine divide between the two factions of the Ohio GOP, and DeWine offers a thoughtful answer about how the nationalization of politics has flattened the local distinctions that once existed inside both parties — and how that nationalization is now in everyone's face every single day. He takes ownership of the COVID shutdown decisions (the buck stopped with him), assesses whether Ohio is genuinely back to purple status with both the governor and Senate races going down to the wire, weighs in on whether the state is in good hands with either Vivek Ramaswamy or Amy Acton — and, of course, whether this is finally Joe Burrow's year. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the assassination of President William McKinley and the striking parallels between modern America, and America in 1901. He also answers listeners’ questions in the Ask Chuck segment. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.    Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.   For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /  *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.    Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 04:30 With return of college football, comes a ton of political advertising 05:00 Football attracts a wide array of potential voters 06:30 Pro-Paxton ad in Texas made China the central theme, blamed Talarico 07:30 GOP has controlled Texas for decades, blaming Talarico is ridiculous 10:00 Dems dismiss the ad as ridiculous, but some people will believe it 12:15 Massachusetts primaries coming up on Tuesday, Sept 1st 14:15 The electorate will be voting on one issue… prices & affordability 15:00 Every other issue is a contributing factor to the price issues 15:45 The problem for Republicans is the economy will get worse, not better 16:30 Price pressures are building across the food supply 16:45 Iran war is causing major issues with the fuel & fertilizer supply 18:00 JP Morgan warns food inflation could reach 5% by 2027 18:30 Kevin Warsh will be forced to raise rates, Trump will be furious 19:00 Trump is only worried about his own personal financial interest 19:45 Fed raising rates to combat inflation will create 1970’s like conditions 20:15 Went to the Black Locust Livestock cattle ranch for Noosphere interview 21:45 Beef prices can’t just be adjusted with the turn of a dial 22:15 Raising cattle is a long term process & our beef herd is historically small 23:00 Trump knows beef prices are hurting him & wanted to import more 24:15 Importing is a short term solution, hurts the long term domestic supply 25:00 Only 4 companies process American beef & we’re losing capacity 25:30 How we can lower beef prices and boost domestic production 26:30 Trump tries to solve price issues in the short term, makes it worse long term 27:00 The price to produce food is rising because of decisions Trump made 27:45 Corporate pre-tax profits are at highest share since aftermath of WW2 28:15 Workers are getting lowest take home share of profits since 1950s 29:00 This is why voters across the spectrum are so pissed off at the system 29:30 There’s no economic boom for most Americans 30:15 Washington continues to misunderstand the anger of the voters 30:45 Trump voters are getting hardest hit by higher gas prices 32:30 Iran war isn’t just maki

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine joins the Chuck Toddcast in his final months in office and, freed from ever facing voters again, says exactly what he thinks. The headline is his reversal on capital punishment: DeWine helped write Ohio's death penalty statute as a state senator in 1981 and defended it as attorney general, but in June he called on the legislature to abolish it, saying the moral justification he once had simply no longer exists. He walks Chuck through the practical case — roughly 20 years on average from sentencing to execution, a process that structurally cannot be sped up — and the harder question a Republican has to answer about whether you can be both pro-life and pro-death penalty. That flows into a broader argument about criminal justice that DeWine says has been driven by emotion rather than logic: truly violent offenders are a small percentage of the prison population and those are the people who need to be removed from society, but it's in society's direct self-interest to educate and rehabilitate everyone else. He's equally out of step with his party on immigration, arguing America needs legal immigrants, that we've been educating them and then failing to keep them, that Ohio's economic gains have come from immigrants, and that they're critical to caring for an aging population. On Springfield, DeWine is direct: the Haitian population created real challenges for the community, but they work hard, and it is not in America's interest to deport people who are here and working. The conversation turns to the economy and the state's political future. DeWine calls the Canada trade war a genuine problem for Ohio — Canada is a major customer — and argues the country needs a real balance between domestic manufacturing and importing rather than a grudge match. On the data center boom reshaping Ohio politics, he says tech companies have an obligation to invest in the communities they move into, notes the technology has improved and no longer requires as much water, and makes the case that nuclear power is what will actually have to underwrite the buildout. He and Chuck get into whether there's a genuine divide between the two factions of the Ohio GOP, and DeWine offers a thoughtful answer about how the nationalization of politics has flattened the local distinctions that once existed inside both parties — and how that nationalization is now in everyone's face every single day. He takes ownership of the COVID shutdown decisions (the buck stopped with him), assesses whether Ohio is genuinely back to purple status with both the governor and Senate races going down to the wire, weighs in on whether the state is in good hands with either Vivek Ramaswamy or Amy Acton — and, of course, whether this is finally Joe Burrow's year. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.    Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.   For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /  *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.    Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Governor Mike DeWine joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:15 More comfortable speaking out since not running for office 02:30 Mike’s argument against the death penalty 03:00 It takes 20 years on average from adjudication to execution 03:30 Death penalty process is not able to be sped up 05:00 We need to have legal immigrants admitted to America 06:15 We were educating immigrants, then not having them stay 07:00 Ohio’s economic increases have come from immigrants 07:30 Immigrants are critical to caring for our aging population 08:15 Can you be pro-life and pro-death penalty? 10:00 Putting an emphasis on rehabilitating prisoners 11:15 It’s in the self-interest of society to educate inmates 12:30 Emotion rather than logic & nuance drives the crime debate 13:30 Truly violent criminals are a very small percentage of the population 14:00 Violent criminals are the ones you have to get out of society 15:15 America goes through pro-immigration and anti-immigration phases 16:00 We need people who want to work  16:30 Haitians in Springfield created challenges, but they work hard 17:30 It’s not in our interest to deport people who are here and working 18:45 Haiti is a major challenge 21:45 Canada trade war is a problem, they’re a major customer for Ohio 23:30 Need a balance between manufacturing here and importing 25:45 Is there a divide in Ohio GOP between the two factions? 28:30 There used to be major distinctions within the parties 29:30 Nationalization of politics has stymied local distinctions within parties 30:30 The nationalization is now in everyone’s face everyday 33:00 Tech companies need to invest in communities where they put data centers 33:45 The data center tech is getting better, don’t have to use as much water 34:45 Need to invest in nuclear power in order to power the data center boom 35:30 Is Ohio in good hands with Ramaswamy or Acton as governor? 37:15 Shutdown decisions during COVID were the governor's choice. Buck stops with him 38:15 Is Ohio back to purple state status? 39:30 The governor and senate races will go down to the wire 40:00 Will this finally be Joe Burrow’s year? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd digs into Darline Graham's 52-48 runoff win over Ralph Norman in South Carolina — a result that snapped Trump's ugly endorsement streak but only barely, and only because Trump personally recruited her, endorsed her, flew to Myrtle Beach for a rally, and dropped more than $800,000 in MAGA Inc. money on a race his PAC had sat out all cycle elsewhere. Chuck's read is that Trump clearly still moves Republican primary voters, but that a four-point squeaker for an appointed newcomer carrying one of the most recognizable names in state politics is not the show of strength the White House wanted. Graham inherited Lindsey's negatives with voters without inheriting his positives, remains an amateur candidate prone to gaffes, and may be dragged down further by resentment over how she got the seat in the first place. Against her is Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician with a real organization raising real money — and while no Democrat has won a Senate race in South Carolina since 1998, Chuck asks the honest question about a favorable environment: what's Andrews' actual ceiling, and can 48% be a winning number in a state where the Supreme Court gutting the Voting Rights Act has produced a surge in Black turnout? If the blue wave turns into a tsunami, South Carolina lands on the map. A Graham loss in this environment would be a genuine disaster for Trump. That leads into the broader strategic picture, where Chuck reports Trump met with advisors about how to deploy his enormous war chest — with the advisors trying to keep the midterms from becoming a referendum on him, and Trump insisting MAGA Inc. spend on ads touting his record. It's a plan built on turning out voters who show up only for Trump, which could either backfire badly or, Chuck concedes, prevent a tsunami. The deeper problem is that Trump is being told what he wants to hear: he thinks the economy is great, voters emphatically don't, and charts are meaningless to people staring at their grocery bills. Unlike Obama, who inherited a mess, Trump's central problems — the tariffs and the Iran war — were his own choices, which is why blaming Joe Biden won't land with any credibility. Chuck also notes that conservative media has spent the week obsessing over the WNBA, a classic look-over-here tactic from outlets that can't discuss the cost of living, and observes something genuinely changed about Trump's second-term psychology: more countries and institutions are willing to push back, and people simply aren't as afraid of him anymore. He is appalled by the reported plan to tear down the Kennedy Center — calling it disgusting to want your name on someone else's tombstone, noting the Kennedy Center was doing fine, and marveling that the Justice Department put any of this in writing. He  closes with his argument that America no longer has two functional parties: Democrats are paralyzed, the GOP is owned by Trump, both are held together only by fear of the other side's extremes, nearly half the public identifies with neither, and state law now protects the duopoly from competition. We demand more choice everywhere else in life. His pitch: stop protecting the two parties, let them divorce, and let voters build something that actually looks like the country. Then, former Trump White House Communications Director and author of the upcoming book All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump, Anthony Scaramucci joins the Chuck Toddcast, picking up a conversation the two started in Abu Dhabi just before the Iran war — back when the gulf states were considered one of the safest places on earth. They discuss why America's military industrial complex is badly out of step with modern warfare, and that the circuit running between defense contractors and Washington is why nobody fixes it. He walks through Iran's mosaic defense doctrine and its decentralized command structure, the damage Iranian strikes did to U.S. naval logistics in the Gulf — reporting has traced the USS Abraham Lincoln's resupply crisis back to the destruction of the Navy's main Bahrain hub, which forced operations out to Diego Garcia — and the Pentagon's response to that story, which was to go after the press rather than answer for any of it. Hegseth's Pentagon fired Stars and Stripes publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin, and reporter Lara Korte, citing insubordination months after the department had already forced out the paper's congressionally mandated ombudsman, who sued over it. Firing the journalists at a publication created specifically to give troops independent information is, as Scaramucci frames it, exactly the instinct of an institution that can't withstand scrutiny. The structural problem underneath: a defense industry consolidated down to five giant companies that function like a cartel, operating in a post-Citizens United Washington where corporations reliably get what they want and lobbyists will smother any real reform. We spent enormous sums, he argues, to get embarrassed by Iran — and the countries hosting American bases are quietly concluding it isn't worth it, which means new defense pacts are going to form without the United States in them. From there the conversation widens into competition with China and the fracturing of the western alliance. Scaramucci argues China can plan for the long term in ways America simply doesn't, and that the Pentagon still can't pass an audit with nobody ever held accountable — but he's not a declinist: America's freedoms remain a real advantage over Beijing if the country gets its act together, which is precisely the argument in the op-ed on press freedom that started his rift with Trump, and precisely what the Stars and Stripes firings put at risk. He calls Mark Carney the leader of the western world now, credits Carney with understanding that Trump wants to sever the U.S. from the west, and offers the episode's sharpest line: if Trump were a Putin agent, he'd be getting an A+. On the collapsed Canada trade talks, Scaramucci thinks the dispute gets resolved within a couple of weeks, but he's clear that the Carney path — standing up to Trump directly — is not a path Democrats can simply copy. New coalitions have formed since 2016, and he doesn't see a coalition builder anywhere in the current Democratic Party; Gavin Newsom has been pilloried by conservative media for a decade, and the person capable of assembling something genuinely new may have to come from outside politics altogether. Finally, Chuck presents his ToddCast Top 5 list of 2028 GOP presidential candidates and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.  “Pre-order All The Wrong Moves now https://www.scaramucci.net/books   Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.   For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /  *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.    Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 05:30 Darline Graham wins South Carolina runoff w/Trump’s endorsement 06:00 Trump clearly has influence over GOP primary voters 06:45 The race was a test of Trump’s political strength & she barely won 08:15 Darline inherited Lindsey’s negatives with voters, but not the positives 09:15 It took Trump & his operation to get Graham over the finish line 09:45 May not be a path for Annie Andrews to win, but can make it close 10:30 In favorable environment for Dems, what is the ceiling for Andrews? 11:30 Can 48% be a winning number for Annie Andrews? 12:00 Graham is still an amateur candidate, prone to gaffes 13:15 SCOTUS gutting the Voting Rights Act has led to surge in black vote 14:30 Some voters may be turned off by Graham being appointed 15:30 Andrews has a strong organization & is raising real money 16:15 If the blue wave is a tsunami… South Carolina may be on the map 17:15 Trump desperately needed a Darline Graham 19:15 Candidates who ran as Trump candidates are pivoting for the general 21:00 A Graham loss in this environment would be a disaster for Trump 22:00 Trump met with advisors to discuss how to use his giant war chest 22:30 Advisors don’t want the midterms to be a referendum on Trump 23:15 Trump wants MAGA Inc to spend on ads touting his record 24:15 Trump is out of touch, told what he wants to hear  25:45 Trump thinks the economy is great, the voters certainly don’t 27:00 Economic charts are meaningless when costs are so high 27:45 Trump is not meeting voters where they are 28:15 While Obama inherited a mess, the problems now are caused by Trump 29:00 The tariffs and Iran war were Trump’s choices 30:00 Playing the “blame Joe Biden” card won’t land with credibility 31:00 The senate map is still pretty friendly territory for Republicans 31:30 Tru

Former Trump White House Communications Director and author of the upcoming book All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump, Anthony Scaramucci joins the Chuck Toddcast, picking up a conversation the two started in Abu Dhabi just before the Iran war — back when the gulf states were considered one of the safest places on earth. They discuss why America's military industrial complex is badly out of step with modern warfare, and that the circuit running between defense contractors and Washington is why nobody fixes it. He walks through Iran's mosaic defense doctrine and its decentralized command structure, the damage Iranian strikes did to U.S. naval logistics in the Gulf — reporting has traced the USS Abraham Lincoln's resupply crisis back to the destruction of the Navy's main Bahrain hub, which forced operations out to Diego Garcia — and the Pentagon's response to that story, which was to go after the press rather than answer for any of it. Hegseth's Pentagon fired Stars and Stripes publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin, and reporter Lara Korte, citing insubordination months after the department had already forced out the paper's congressionally mandated ombudsman, who sued over it. Firing the journalists at a publication created specifically to give troops independent information is, as Scaramucci frames it, exactly the instinct of an institution that can't withstand scrutiny. The structural problem underneath: a defense industry consolidated down to five giant companies that function like a cartel, operating in a post-Citizens United Washington where corporations reliably get what they want and lobbyists will smother any real reform. We spent enormous sums, he argues, to get embarrassed by Iran — and the countries hosting American bases are quietly concluding it isn't worth it, which means new defense pacts are going to form without the United States in them. From there the conversation widens into competition with China and the fracturing of the western alliance. Scaramucci argues China can plan for the long term in ways America simply doesn't, and that the Pentagon still can't pass an audit with nobody ever held accountable — but he's not a declinist: America's freedoms remain a real advantage over Beijing if the country gets its act together, which is precisely the argument in the op-ed on press freedom that started his rift with Trump, and precisely what the Stars and Stripes firings put at risk. He calls Mark Carney the leader of the western world now, credits Carney with understanding that Trump wants to sever the U.S. from the west, and offers the episode's sharpest line: if Trump were a Putin agent, he'd be getting an A+. On the collapsed Canada trade talks, Scaramucci thinks the dispute gets resolved within a couple of weeks, but he's clear that the Carney path — standing up to Trump directly — is not a path Democrats can simply copy. New coalitions have formed since 2016, and he doesn't see a coalition builder anywhere in the current Democratic Party; Gavin Newsom has been pilloried by conservative media for a decade, and the person capable of assembling something genuinely new may have to come from outside politics altogether. “Pre-order All The Wrong Moves now https://www.scaramucci.net/books Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /  *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.    Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Anthony Scaramucci joins The Chuck ToddCast 00:45 Last time seeing each other was in Abu Dhabi right before Iran war 02:15 Abu Dhabi was one of the safest places in the world pre-war 03:45 How much damage has been done to U.S. & gulf state alliance? 04:15 Our military industrial complex is out of step with modern warfare 05:00 There’s a circuit between defense contractors and D.C. 05:30 Iran will end up closer to their Sunni neighbors after the war 06:15 Iran’s mosaic defense doctrine created decentralized leadership 07:00 Our naval supply depots have been decimated by Iran 08:00 Hegseth’s response was to fire reporters who reported the story 10:30 Defense industry has been consolidated down to 5 big companies 11:30 Those 5 companies act like a monopoly cartel 12:15 Since Citizen’s United, corporations get what they want from D.C. 13:45 We’ve spent huge sums of money to get embarrassed by Iran 15:15 Countries that hosted U.S. bases finding out it’s not worth it 16:00 New defense pacts will be formed without the U.S. involved 17:00 The lobbyists will get in the way of any attempts at reform 19:15 China is able to plan for the long term in a way the U.S. doesn’t 20:15 Anthony’s rift with Trump began was op-ed about importance of free press 20:45 Our freedoms are advantage over China if we get our act together 22:15 China has some advantages over us, but we also have our advantages 23:00 Pentagon can’t pass an audit, but nobody holds them accountable 23:30 Mark Carney is now the leader of the western world now 24:00 Carney understands Trump wants to sever the U.S. from the west 24:30 If Trump was a Putin agent… he would get an A+ 26:15 The Canada trade deal stalled over dual language packaging 28:00 Trade dispute will likely get resolved in the next couple weeks 29:15 The Carney path is not a path for the Democrats 30:30 New coalitions have been formed since the 2016 election 31:15 Don’t see a coalition builder in the current Democratic party 32:00 Gavin Newsom has been pilloried by conservative media for a decade 33:00 Someone from outside of politics could potentially build a coalition See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd and J.A. Adande pick up in Part 2 of Alabama football with Bear Bryant’s final chapter and follow the Crimson Tide through decades of dominance, decline and an eventual return to the top. They explore Alabama’s complicated integration story, Bryant’s reinvention of the program with the wishbone offense, and the championships that cemented his place as a college football icon. Then, after Bryant’s death, Alabama begins a turbulent search for the coach who could live up to the impossible standard he left behind. That journey eventually leads to Nick Saban. From the Drew Brees decision that could have changed Saban’s future to the philosophy he developed alongside Bill Belichick, the arrival of Lane Kiffin and the offensive transformation that extended Alabama’s dynasty, Chuck and J.R. break down how Saban built the defining college football program of the modern era. Plus, the Kick Six, the legendary 1992 championship team, Alabama’s greatest players and coaches, and the difficult question facing the Crimson Tide today: What happens after a legend leaves? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After last week's Democratic field audit, Chuck Todd and Chris Cillizza turn to the 2028 Republicans — and find a race the markets treat as a two-man affair between JD Vance and Marco Rubio, and one that Chuck thinks is far softer than that looks. His case: no sitting vice president has been denied his party's nomination in the modern era, but Vance sits below 50% in the markets and may be the weakest heir apparent in either man's lifetime, a candidate who has never won anything without Trump carrying him. They dig into why Rubio has kept his hands remarkably clean on the Iran debacle while Vance has ended up owning it, and why Chuck thinks Rubio takes a break, makes money, and waits for 2032. From there they build out the rest of the field: the near-certainty of a Trump family candidate, Sarah Huckabee Sanders as the likeliest VP pick, Joe Lombardo as the pragmatist the party should be building around, Nikki Haley's underrated path, why Tucker Carlson's contrarianism has no Buchanan-style through line, the class of cabinet officials convinced they can do this — and a genuine, surprising case for Rand Paul as the one candidate who could credibly run against Trump's tariffs and Iran war without being an anti-Trumper. The second half is a brutal accounting of Trump's August. With Canada moving to retaliate after the administration began enforcing 50% tariffs on a slate of Canadian goods and Mark Carney declaring his country "at war," and a temporary waiver on tariffs for 300,000 metric tons of imported ground beef drawing pushback from ranchers, Chuck argues Trump has become the single most effective partner Chuck Schumer has — turning Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota into live races and making life impossible for Collins, Rogers, Hinson, and Husted. They walk through the Arkansas poll showing Tom Cotton in a real race, why they think Republicans have already wasted their financial advantage, and Trump's insistence he deserves a perfect grade on the economy. Then they preview Tuesday's high-stakes South Carolina runoff between Darline Graham and Ralph Norman — a race Trump has personally invested in, with a striking stat about appointed senators in the South — before closing on the Nats' collapse and a hard look at how the front office handled CJ Abrams. Timeline: 00:00 Last week was the Democrats — today it's the 2028 Republican field 00:40 The markets read it as a two-man race: Vance 47%, Rubio 20% 00:57 Who else clears 3%: Tucker, Trump Sr., DeSantis, Don Jr. 01:35 History says the sitting VP gets it  02:51 Vance reminds Chuck of Kamala Harris 03:19 A frontrunner with no positive track record to point to 04:05 Vance probably isn't even a senator without Trump 04:51 How much of Vance's weakness is actually Trump's decline? 06:26 If Trump loses the House and Senate, the field blows open 07:28 Why a Trump family candidacy isn't a 0% proposition 08:03 Ivanka as heir apparent? The Don Jr. vs. Eric assumption 08:44 Rubio: does he run, or take the VP slot? 10:07 Hegseth as McNamara, and Vance owning a war he questioned 10:48 How has Rubio kept his hands this clean? 12:42 The one cabinet member with no visible pay-for-play story 13:13 Chuck's prediction: Rubio sits it out, runs in 2032 14:21 Who else? A Hawley or Cotton as Trumpism 2.0 14:48 Sarah Huckabee Sanders as the most likely VP pick 15:24 Youngkin's problem, and the Huntsman-Kasich empathy lane 16:17 Spencer Cox and the never-Trump ceiling 17:59 How the war with Canada gutted the Las Vegas economy 19:30 Can a Jim Banks run against Vance?  20:42 Brian Kemp passed on the Senate to look at 2028 21:24 What do Republican primary voters even want after a wipeout? 22:11 Are we underwriting Nikki Haley? 23:45 What to make of Tucker Carlson's ten-point plan 25:37 MTG, Massie & the America First lane 27:12 Why Never Trumpers overrate his constituency 28:40 The cabinet members who all think they'll be president 30:09 The Portnoy/Cuban outsider slot 31:19 The one advantage — Vance runs the RNC's fundraising operation 34:06 The real problem for Rand Paul: he isn't likable 35:02 Tariffs and Iran — Trump's two great failures, and Paul opposed both 36:27 Under 1% on the board: the dark-horse buy 36:51 To Trump: a trade war with Canada, and more sanctions on Iran 38:20 The beef decision and what it does to midwest states 39:05 Why the Canada fight hits Vegas and Orlando hardest 40:21 Has Trump found a floor lower than Bush's? 41:41 The Arkansas poll putting Tom Cotton in a real race 42:03 Reading the methodology honestly  43:18 Donald Trump has declared war on rural America 44:55 Trump says he deserves 100% on the economy 46:22 Republicans wasted their financial advantage 47:59 Tuesday night preview: the Graham-Norman runoff 48:40 Trump calls in, rallies in Myrtle Beach t 50:16 Appointed senators survive at 44% in the South vs. 81% elsewhere 52:26 Trump's endorsement record & why he wants to reassert dominance 53:27 What a Graham loss would mean for Hinson and Husted 54:41 Why Collins doesn't want Trump in Maine 57:02 Vance as a cipher — from near-primary-loss to vice president 59:37 What has JD Vance actually done? 1:00:45 The Nats get swept by the Marlins  1:05:04 How you actually screw up a team 1:06:23 Where this front office is genuinely excellent 1:07:48 It's still a people business, just like politics See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with the collapse of U.S.-Canada trade talks, where Mark Carney walked away after last-minute American demands — chiefly on mid- and heavy-duty truck tariffs — and declared the U.S. can't be trusted as a partner. Asked about the tone of his remarks, Carney's answer was blunt: you are at war when you get attacked. Chuck notes the whole western world is quietly cheering him on even as individual European leaders push back while the EU took its deal, and argues the real problem is that this administration isn't negotiating with one voice. The fallout lands squarely on Senate battlegrounds, forcing Susan Collins to speak out against her own party's trade war. Then there's beef: Trump's move to let in 300,000 metric tons of tariff-free ground beef drew immediate fire from cattle groups and Republicans including Ashley Hinson and Tim Sheehy, and Chuck argues it's a tacit admission that the tariff regime is raising prices. Battleground states account for two-thirds of American cattle ranching, Iowa becomes the bellwether, and Trump is single-handedly making safe races competitive — while Scott Bessent defends the indefensible, calling tariff refunds corporate welfare and arguing the country needs fewer jobs because of deportations, all as the national debt clears $40 trillion. Then Chuck highlights that polling between July 4th and Labor Day is largely wasted money, the August electorate isn't the November electorate, polling has gotten cheaper and worse, and polling averages deserve real skepticism. Arkansas is the case study — five Senate polls, four poorly done, and the one that got everyone's attention showing Tom Cotton in trouble had bad methodology. Chuck’s landing: don't buy the poll, but Cotton may be in some trouble anyway, because he's an old-school hawk who championed war with Iran in a state where Trump commands more personal loyalty than he does. He won't lose, but the margin could surprise. Chuck also flags red flags in Byron Donalds' northern Florida margins, argues the USS Abraham Lincoln reporting exposed a credibility crisis at a Pentagon where Hegseth treats accurate reporting as a personal threat, and warns it'll take decades for either the Pentagon or DOJ to recover. Plus: an NRSC memo declaring data center politics toxic, Mike Rogers keeping AIPAC out of Michigan while El-Sayed argues outside money shouldn't buy the state's politics, and Hakeem Jeffries meeting privately with Jared Kushner — which Chuck defends outright, because communication isn't betrayal even when the base wants confrontation. He closes on the question underneath the ToddCast's Lakers special report: with private credit over $1.5 trillion and life insurers holding roughly $900 billion of it, is Mark Walter an outlier or the canary in the coal mine? Chuck’s answer is that he isn't an outlier at all — this is how the machine works now, in a corner of finance where no single regulator can see the whole picture and where the real worry may be inflated valuations. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit Harry Truman nationalizing the railroad system… and why emergency presidential powers need to be taken back by congress. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.  Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /  *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.    Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 03:00 Noosphere interview this week is on China shock 2.0 05:00 Dynastic this week is on Alabama football 07:00 A couple shout outs from Chuck 11:00 Trade talks between U.S. and Canada collapse 11:30 Mark Carney says the US can’t be trusted as a partner 12:30 Carney says U.S. fired the first shot in trade war with Canada 13:45 Carney doesn’t want Canada subservient to U.S. & will diversify  15:00 European leaders are individually pushing back, but EU took the deal 16:00 The whole western world is cheering on Mark Carney 18:00 We were close to a trade deal, then U.S. added new demands 19:00 Howard Lutnick got involved and created new problems 20:15 The Trump administration isn’t negotiating with one voice 21:15 All the senate battleground races are impacted by Canada trade war 22:30 These aren’t trivial trade relationships with Canada 23:00 Susan Collins is being forced to speak out against trade war 24:30 Trump is now creating a fight with the beef & cattle industry 25:15 Importing cheap foreign beef is admission tariff regime hurts consumers 26:00 Trump will hurt American cattle producers by importing beef 26:45 Battleground states account for 2/3rds of cattle ranching 27:45 This could make uncompetitive elections very competitive 28:15 Iowa will be the bellwether for Trump’s policies impacting ag states 29:15 Trump is actively hurting Republicans in ag heavy states 30:00 Scott Bessent is forced to say the stupidest things to defend Trump 30:30 Bessent is now saying tariff refunds are corporate welfare 31:30 Bessent says we don’t need as many jobs due to deportations 32:15 Bessent is trying to manipulate the bond market prior to midterms 33:15 National debt surpassed 40 trillion dollars, both sides point fingers 34:00 We’re going to have to deal with the debt sooner rather than later 35:00 It’s a waste of money to poll between July 4th and Labor Day 35:45 The electorate in August isn’t the same as the electorate in November 37:00 Polling has gotten cheaper… and worse 38:00 Be wary of indiscriminate polling averages 40:00 Arkansas has had 5 senate polls and 4 were poorly done 41:00 Arkansas poll got everyone’s attention, showed Cotton in trouble 42:30 The methodology of the poll was bad & limited 43:45 Don’t buy the poll, but Tom Cotton actually may be in trouble 44:30 Cotton is an old-school hawk, a champion of war with Iran 45:00 Trump has more personal loyalty in Arkansas than Cotton 45:45 Cotton won’t lose, but the margin may be surprisingly close 47:15 Examination of Bryon Donald's margins showed red flags 47:45 Donalds didn’t perform well in northern Florida counties 48:30 Base voters were motivated enough to go vote against him 49:00 USS Abraham Lincoln has revealed a credibility problem with DoD 49:30 Stars & Stripes was created to give troops access to independent info 50:00 Hegseth viewed accurate reporting as a threat to himself 50:30 Hegseth more worried about a presidential run than the troops 51:15 Can’t trust either the Justice Department or the Pentagon 52:00 It will take decades for either institution to regain credibility 53:30 NRSC put out memo saying data center politics are toxic 54:15 Messaging is to “let communities decide” 54:45 Data centers are the beginning of backlash against tech & AI 55:30 Mark Zuckerberg is only tech CEO who understands the backlash 56:00 Mike Rodgers doesn’t want AIPAC publicly involved in Michigan race 56:45 El-Sayed’s argument is outside interests shouldn’t purchase MI politics 57:30 Plenty of American jews support Israel, but not Netanyahu’s government 58:30 Hakeem Jeffries met privately with Jared Kushner 59:00 This meeting shows the Trump WH preparing for Speaker Jeffries 59:30 Jeffries in impossible position, base wants confrontation with Trump 1:00:30 Jeffries and Kushner SHOULD be talking, communication isn’t betrayal 1:01:45 Is Mark Walter an outlier, or the canary in the coal mine? 1:02:15 After financial crisis, government cracked down on banks 1:02:45 US private credit is now over $1.5 trillion dollar 1:03:30 Life insurance companies have become banks for the ultra wealthy 1:04:30 LIfe insurance companies can operate very differently 1:05:45 You can’t just pull your money out of a life insurance company 1:07:00 The incentives between investment firm & policyholder may not align 1:08:15 Life insurance companies hold $900B in private credit debt 1:08:45 Mark Walter isn’t an outlier, this is how the machine works 1:09:30 If a life insurance company fails, your money can be frozen 1:10:30 There are caps on policyholder protection  1:11:00 Executive Life failed when the junk bond market crashed 1:11:45 Executive Life bonds were bought by Leon Black, who founded Apollo 1:12:15 Insurance isn’t regulated by one agency, it’s multiple agencies and states 1:13:30 Regulators can’t get the picture of the entire machine, just pieces of it 1:14:15 Finance regulators have been siloed off from each other 1:15:45 The real worry here could be inflated valuations 1:20:00 ToddCast Time Machine - 1950, Truman seizes the nation’s railroads 1:20:45 Priva

Chuck Todd opens with the collapse of U.S.-Canada trade talks, where Mark Carney walked away after last-minute American demands — chiefly on mid- and heavy-duty truck tariffs — and declared the U.S. can't be trusted as a partner. Asked about the tone of his remarks, Carney's answer was blunt: you are at war when you get attacked. Chuck notes the whole western world is quietly cheering him on even as individual European leaders push back while the EU took its deal, and argues the real problem is that this administration isn't negotiating with one voice. The fallout lands squarely on Senate battlegrounds, forcing Susan Collins to speak out against her own party's trade war. Then there's beef: Trump's move to let in 300,000 metric tons of tariff-free ground beef drew immediate fire from cattle groups and Republicans including Ashley Hinson and Tim Sheehy, and Chuck argues it's a tacit admission that the tariff regime is raising prices. Battleground states account for two-thirds of American cattle ranching, Iowa becomes the bellwether, and Trump is single-handedly making safe races competitive — while Scott Bessent defends the indefensible, calling tariff refunds corporate welfare and arguing the country needs fewer jobs because of deportations, all as the national debt clears $40 trillion. Then Chuck highlights that polling between July 4th and Labor Day is largely wasted money, the August electorate isn't the November electorate, polling has gotten cheaper and worse, and polling averages deserve real skepticism. Arkansas is the case study — five Senate polls, four poorly done, and the one that got everyone's attention showing Tom Cotton in trouble had bad methodology. Chuck’s landing: don't buy the poll, but Cotton may be in some trouble anyway, because he's an old-school hawk who championed war with Iran in a state where Trump commands more personal loyalty than he does. He won't lose, but the margin could surprise. Chuck also flags red flags in Byron Donalds' northern Florida margins, argues the USS Abraham Lincoln reporting exposed a credibility crisis at a Pentagon where Hegseth treats accurate reporting as a personal threat, and warns it'll take decades for either the Pentagon or DOJ to recover. Plus: an NRSC memo declaring data center politics toxic, Mike Rogers keeping AIPAC out of Michigan while El-Sayed argues outside money shouldn't buy the state's politics, and Hakeem Jeffries meeting privately with Jared Kushner — which Chuck defends outright, because communication isn't betrayal even when the base wants confrontation. He closes on the question underneath the ToddCast's Lakers special report: with private credit over $1.5 trillion and life insurers holding roughly $900 billion of it, is Mark Walter an outlier or the canary in the coal mine? Chuck’s answer is that he isn't an outlier at all — this is how the machine works now, in a corner of finance where no single regulator can see the whole picture and where the real worry may be inflated valuations. Then, former Ohio Governor and presidential candidate John Kasich joins the Chuck Toddcast for a wide-ranging conversation that keeps returning to one uncomfortable diagnosis: Americans say they want the political middle and then retreat to their partisan corners the moment it counts. Kasich's read on this cycle is bracing coming from a Republican — the democratic socialists are talking about things voters actually care about, while moderate Democrats have stayed conspicuously quiet, which is exactly why the left has struck a nerve. On the data center backlash, Kasich has a straightforward answer — make them provide their own power — and points out that Ohio ratepayers are already footing higher bills for facilities located in Virginia. He's blunt that politicians are beholden to special interests before they're even sworn in, supports public financing of elections, and warns that neither the center-right nor center-left is producing genuinely interesting solutions to anything, least of all a national debt he says is going to hurt everybody if it isn't addressed. Kasich also addresses recent concerns with the Pentagon, where he brings real budget-committee experience to a question few politicians take seriously: what exactly are we getting for a defense budget this size? He argues Pentagon leadership is deeply resistant to change, that America isn't developing new systems and technology well, that only about 1% of defense dollars go toward new systems, and that we simply don't need this many nuclear weapons — one alone, as he puts it, will ruin your day. He uses the B-2 bomber, built with parts manufactured across a strategically chosen array of states, to explain why reform is so brutally hard, while insisting it remains possible with the right political leadership. From there the conversation widens into Kasich's argument that moderates have historically been the bulwark against the extremes, that outside forces are often what actually force change , and that people outside both parties are about to turn hard on the tech companies. He wonders aloud whether a backlash to private equity could become a genuine threat to capitalism itself — pointing to private equity buying up youth sports to raise prices, and to firms that can effectively choose which regulators they deal with. Kasich closes with Ohio: whether the state is genuinely purple again or just having a bad Republican year, why he thinks it drifts back toward swing status over time, why the Senate race is too close to call, and whether Amy Acton or Vivek Ramaswamy faces the harder barrier to winning the governorship. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit Harry Truman nationalizing the railroad system… and why emergency presidential powers need to be taken back by congress. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.    Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.   For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /  *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 03:00 Noosphere interview this week is on China shock 2.0 05:00 Dynastic this week is on Alabama football 07:00 A couple shout outs from Chuck 11:00 Trade talks between U.S. and Canada collapse 11:30 Mark Carney says the US can’t be trusted as a partner 12:30 Carney says U.S. fired the first shot in trade war with Canada 13:45 Carney doesn’t want Canada subservient to U.S. & will diversify  15:00 European leaders are individually pushing back, but EU took the deal 16:00 The whole western world is cheering on Mark Carney 18:00 We were close to a trade deal, then U.S. added new demands 19:00 Howard Lutnick got involved and created new problems 20:15 The Trump administration isn’t negotiating with one voice 21:15 All the senate battleground races are impacted by Canada trade war 22:30 These aren’t trivial trade relationships with Canada 23:00 Susan Collins is being forced to speak out against trade war 24:30 Trump is now creating a fight with the beef & cattle industry 25:15 Importing cheap foreign beef is admission tariff regime hurts consumers 26:00 Trump will hurt American cattle producers by importing beef 26:45 Battleground states account for 2/3rds of cattle ranching 27:45 This could make uncompetitive elections very competitive 28:15 Iowa will be the bellwether for Trump’s policies impacting ag states 29:15 Trump is actively hurting Republicans in ag heavy states 30:00 Scott Bessent is forced to say the stupidest things to defend Trump 30:30 Bessent is now saying tariff refunds are corporate welfare 31:30 Bessent says we don’t need as many jobs due to deportations 32:15 Bessent is trying to manipulate the bond market prior to midterms 33:15 National debt surpassed 40 trillion dollars, both sides point fingers 34:00 We’re going to have to deal with the debt sooner rather than later 35:00 It’s a waste of money to poll between July 4th and Labor Day 35:45 The electorate in August isn’t the same as the electorate in November 37:00 Polling has gotten cheaper… and worse 38:00 Be wary of indiscriminate polling averages 40:00 Arkansas has had 5 senate polls and 4 were poorly done 41:00 Arkansas poll got everyone’s attention, showed Cotton in trouble 42:30 The methodology of the poll was bad & limited 43:45 Don’t buy the poll, but Tom Cotton actually may be in trouble 44:30 Cotton is an old-school hawk, a champion of war with Iran 45:00 Trump has more personal loyalty in Arkansas than Cotton 45:45 Cotton won’t lose, but the margin may be surprisingly close 47:15 Examination o

Former Ohio Governor and presidential candidate John Kasich joins the Chuck Toddcast for a wide-ranging conversation that keeps returning to one uncomfortable diagnosis: Americans say they want the political middle and then retreat to their partisan corners the moment it counts. Kasich's read on this cycle is bracing coming from a Republican — the democratic socialists are talking about things voters actually care about, while moderate Democrats have stayed conspicuously quiet, which is exactly why the left has struck a nerve. On the data center backlash, Kasich has a straightforward answer — make them provide their own power — and points out that Ohio ratepayers are already footing higher bills for facilities located in Virginia. He's blunt that politicians are beholden to special interests before they're even sworn in, supports public financing of elections, and warns that neither the center-right nor center-left is producing genuinely interesting solutions to anything, least of all a national debt he says is going to hurt everybody if it isn't addressed. Kasich also addresses recent concerns with the Pentagon, where he brings real budget-committee experience to a question few politicians take seriously: what exactly are we getting for a defense budget this size? He argues Pentagon leadership is deeply resistant to change, that America isn't developing new systems and technology well, that only about 1% of defense dollars go toward new systems, and that we simply don't need this many nuclear weapons — one alone, as he puts it, will ruin your day. He uses the B-2 bomber, built with parts manufactured across a strategically chosen array of states, to explain why reform is so brutally hard, while insisting it remains possible with the right political leadership. From there the conversation widens into Kasich's argument that moderates have historically been the bulwark against the extremes, that outside forces are often what actually force change , and that people outside both parties are about to turn hard on the tech companies. He wonders aloud whether a backlash to private equity could become a genuine threat to capitalism itself — pointing to private equity buying up youth sports to raise prices, and to firms that can effectively choose which regulators they deal with. Kasich closes with Ohio: whether the state is genuinely purple again or just having a bad Republican year, why he thinks it drifts back toward swing status over time, why the Senate race is too close to call, and whether Amy Acton or Vivek Ramaswamy faces the harder barrier to winning the governorship. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.    For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /  *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 John Kasich joins the Chuck ToddCast 02:15 People say they want the middle, then retreat to partisan corners 03:30 Voters keep rejecting the party in power 05:45 It took six presidential elections to get beyond Lincoln 06:45 Democratic socialists are talking about things voters care about 07:30 Moderate Dems are staying quiet while socialists have struck a nerve 11:00 Rent control doesn’t work, but sounds appealing to voters in NYC 12:00 The healthcare system doesn’t keep us healthy, only treats the sick 13:30 Healthcare and education have atrophied over the years 15:00 Competition drives change in education, teachers union doesn’t want change 16:15 How would you handle the public backlash to data centers and big tech? 16:45 Data centers should be forced to provide their own power 17:15 Customers in Ohio are paying higher rates for data centers in Virginia 18:30 Politicians are beholden to special interests before they’re sworn in 18:45 Support public financing for elections 20:00 The center right & left aren’t coming up with interesting solutions 21:30 If we don’t fix the national debt it’s going to hurt everybody 23:00 What are we getting from our massive military budget? 23:45 Pentagon leaders are highly resistant to change 25:30 We aren’t developing new systems & tech well 26:00 Only 1% of the defense dollars go to new systems 27:00 Don’t need this many nukes, one alone will ruin your day 27:45 Trying to change the Pentagon is incredibly difficult 28:15 B2 bomber was built with parts all manufactured in different states 29:30 It is possible for the Pentagon to be reformed with right political leadership 32:00 Moderates have served as the bulwark against the extremes 32:45 Who are leaders from the past who electrified the country? 35:00 Bill Clinton isn’t a budget balancer without Ross Perot 36:30 Ralph Nader also forced change from the outside 38:00 People outside the parties will start turning on the tech companies 39:45 Could backlash to private equity become a threat to capitalism? 40:15 Private equity is now buying up youth sports to raise prices? 43:15 Ohio went from #47 to #1 by hiring smart business investors 44:45 Private equity can pick the regulators they want to deal with 46:30 Is Ohio purple again or is this just a bad year for Republicans? 47:00 Over time, Ohio will naturally drift back to swing status 48:00 Ohio senate is too close to call  50:30 Harder barrier to break: Amy Acton or Vivek Ramaswamy? 51:45 Ramaswamy will run into friction with Ohio voters due to his race 53:15 Would still bet that Ramaswamy will win 54:30 There’s a formula to what makes a good leader 56:00 Rural communities are being devastated by drugs & homelessness 56:45 There is abject poverty in appalachia 57:45 What young leaders have impressed you in the past couple years? 1:00:15 Predictions for Miami’s upcoming football season 1:02:00 Check out the John Kasich Show on SiriusXM See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd closes the book on primary season with Florida — and leads with the stunning upset that ended it. State Rep. Angie Nixon, a Jacksonville former union organizer and Democratic Socialists of America member, beat Alex Vindman with 56% of the vote despite being outraised roughly 16-to-1, and will now face appointed Republican Sen. Ashley Moody in November for the final two years of Marco Rubio's old seat. Chuck’s read is that this wasn't a movement election so much as a performance gap: Vindman ran like the presumptive nominee, hoarded his money for a general election he never reached, and got flatly outworked with primary voters. He's curious what Vindman does with that war chest, and notes Vindman's whole profile felt like first-term Trump resistance in a cycle that's moved on. Elsewhere in Florida: Debbie Wasserman Schultz won in a majority-Black district, Cory Mills lost his primary, Republican turnout meaningfully outpaced Democratic turnout in Florida, and Chuck thinks it's improbable but not impossible for David Jolly to beat Byron Donalds in the governor's race. But the bigger story is national, and it's about turnout as a tea leaf. More Trump-endorsed candidates went down, part of a trend Chuck argues shows Trump's relevance melting away as his approval drops — and that he's actively making things harder for his own party. Democrats cast 57% of primary ballots nationally, up from 54% in 2018, with the biggest jump in Alabama and double-digit increases across multiple states. Chuck is careful with the caveat: primary turnout is a thermometer, not a crystal ball — it tells you where your floor is, not your ceiling. Texas Democratic turnout rose even with marquee Republican races on the ballot, Kansas Republican turnout cratered (though Democrats still have work to do there), and Florida Democrats hemorrhaged voters to no-party affiliation — meaning you can see something real happening in Texas that simply isn't happening in Florida. His bottom line: Democrats will win more votes in November, and history says they win the midterms. The open question is whether they can take both chambers.  Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the 72 year struggle of the women’s suffrage movement before achieving the ratification of the 19th amendment, presents his ToddCast Top 5 list of Democratic Presidential hopefuls who will work the hardest to win the nomination and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.  Upgrade your everyday. Go to https://Quince.com/CHUCK for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /  *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.    Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 01:30 Don’t miss the Toddcast Special Report on the Lakers sale 06:30 Primary season is basically wrapped up after Florida 07:45 Raw primary turnout is a good tealeaf to read ahead of midterms 09:00 Democratic voters have been more enthusiastic w/ higher turnout 09:30 Alex Vindman loses Florida senate primary to Angie Nixon 10:30 Vindman ran his race like he was the presumptive nominee 11:00 Nixon just outworked Vindman with primary voters 11:30 Vindman hoarded his money for the general 12:30 This wasn’t a movement election, Nixon just performed 13:15 The importance of the African-American vote in Dem primaries 15:15 Need to live in Florida for more than a couple years to run successfully 15:45 Most of the carpetbagger candidates lost their primaries 16:30 Will be interesting to see what Vindman does with his war chest 18:00 Voters care if you are of/from their community 20:00 Vindman felt like first-term Trump resistance 21:00 It’s improbable but not impossible for David Jolly to beat Byron Donalds 22:15 Florida Republican turnout was much higher than Dems 23:45 Debbie Wasserman Schultz won in majority black district 24:45 Cory Mills loses his primary 25:30 More Trump endorsed candidates lost their primaries 27:15 Trump backed candidates losing has become a trend 27:45 Trump is going out of his way to make it harder for Republicans 28:30 Trump’s relevance is melting away as his approval drops 31:45 Democratic electorate is expanding in most competitive states 32:15 Primary turnout is a thermometer, not a crystal ball 32:45 Turnout tells you where your floor is, not the ceiling 34:30 Democrats outperformed their primary edge in the general in 2018 36:00 Democrats cast 57% of primary ballots, compared to 54% in ‘18 37:00 Biggest jump in Dem turnout was in Alabama 37:45 Multiple states with Democrat turnout up double digits  39:45 Alabama’s governor race may be very competitive 42:30 Texas Dem turnout was higher even with marquee GOP races 43:45 Florida Dems lost voters to a no party affiliation 44:30 You can see something happening in Texas, not in Florida 45:30 Republican turnout was way down in Kansas 47:15 Dems probably still have more work to do in Kansas 48:00 Dems will win more votes in November,48:45 History says Dems win the midterms, but can they win both chambers? 52:15 ToddCast Time Machine moved due to Lakers deep dive special 53:45 The movement for women’s suffrage took 72 years 54:15 Movement started in Seneca Falls, NY with the “Declaration of Sentiments” 55:15 100 people sign that declaration. 68 women and 32 men 56:15 Women could work for wages & have no control over the money 57:00 The movement fractured over disagreement about the 15th amendment 58:00 Susan B. Anthony votes illegally and is arrested in 1872 58:30 Women’s suffrage amendment keeps being introduced and failing for 40 years 59:15 The people who started the movement die, and new leaders emerge 1:00:30 In 1919 congress passes the 19th Amendment, need 36 states to ratify 1:01:00 Tennessee becomes the final state needed to ratify 1:01:30 Vote keeps ending up tied in the Tennessee statehouse 1:02:30 Ratification passes the house 50-46 1:03:45 Women couldn’t immediately vote everywhere after passage 1:05:00 Charlotte Woodward was only signatory that lived to see 19th amendment 1:05:45 Woodward lived long enough to see it, but was too old/sick to vote herself 1:06:45 A political movement often requires one generation to build it for the next one 1:07:45 After Trump, America will need a hard fought reform movement 1:09:30 America eventually gets it right, after exhausting other paths 1:10:45 ToddCast Top 5 candidates working the hardest to win 1:11:15 #1 AOC 1:13:30 #2 Pete Buttigieg 1:13:45 #3 Kamala Harris 1:14:00 #4 Mark Kelly + #5 Gavin Newsom 1:15:45 Jon Ossoff didn’t need to make his Natalie comment 1:17:45 Andy Beshear + Rahm Emmanuel don’t scare red state Dems 1:23:00 Ask Chuck 1:24:00 Can Dems actually bring accountability to Trump if they take congress? 1:31:30 Why were outsider Dem candidates so competitive in MI and WI? 1:35:15 Why can Trump do whatever he wants unchecked? 1:40:45 How should newsrooms cover the Natalie Harp story?? 1:46:00 How do we hold politicians to account for upholding the constitution despite religion? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd closes the book on primary season with Florida — and leads with the stunning upset that ended it. State Rep. Angie Nixon, a Jacksonville former union organizer and Democratic Socialists of America member, beat Alex Vindman with 56% of the vote despite being outraised roughly 16-to-1, and will now face appointed Republican Sen. Ashley Moody in November for the final two years of Marco Rubio's old seat. Chuck’s read is that this wasn't a movement election so much as a performance gap: Vindman ran like the presumptive nominee, hoarded his money for a general election he never reached, and got flatly outworked with primary voters. He's curious what Vindman does with that war chest, and notes Vindman's whole profile felt like first-term Trump resistance in a cycle that's moved on. Elsewhere in Florida: Debbie Wasserman Schultz won in a majority-Black district, Cory Mills lost his primary, Republican turnout meaningfully outpaced Democratic turnout in Florida, and Chuck thinks it's improbable but not impossible for David Jolly to beat Byron Donalds in the governor's race. But the bigger story is national, and it's about turnout as a tea leaf. More Trump-endorsed candidates went down, part of a trend Chuck argues shows Trump's relevance melting away as his approval drops — and that he's actively making things harder for his own party. Democrats cast 57% of primary ballots nationally, up from 54% in 2018, with the biggest jump in Alabama and double-digit increases across multiple states. Chuck is careful with the caveat: primary turnout is a thermometer, not a crystal ball — it tells you where your floor is, not your ceiling. Texas Democratic turnout rose even with marquee Republican races on the ballot, Kansas Republican turnout cratered (though Democrats still have work to do there), and Florida Democrats hemorrhaged voters to no-party affiliation — meaning you can see something real happening in Texas that simply isn't happening in Florida. His bottom line: Democrats will win more votes in November, and history says they win the midterms. The open question is whether they can take both chambers.  Then, filmmaker and author Greg Mitchell joins the Chuck Toddcast to discuss Woody Guthrie and the Ghost of Tom Joad Today, his new PBS documentary narrated by Rosanne Cash and featuring music from Bruce Springsteen, which traces the bond Guthrie forged with John Steinbeck during a campaign to ease the suffering of migrants in California — and argues those 1930s conflicts have unmistakable echoes in the present. Mitchell, a Depression-era obsessive who has written extensively about American politics since the 1930s, explains how he began seeing the connections between Guthrie and Steinbeck and why he refused to make a straight biopic: he wanted a film with current ramifications, which is why it closes with Springsteen's "The Ghost of Tom Joad" set against images of immigrants surrounded by federal agents and protesters holding signs quoting Guthrie. He and Chuck get into the story behind "This Land Is Your Land" (which wasn't the song's original title), the mechanics of securing the rights to the music and the story, his conversation with Tom Morello about the Springsteen song, and how seeing the migrant work camps firsthand fundamentally transformed Guthrie as an artist. Mitchell notes that Steinbeck was denounced as a communist for his trouble, that the majority of California's agricultural workforce eventually became Mexican and Filipino, and that Tom Joad was always meant to be a political character — which is exactly why he keeps getting resurrected. The conversation broadens into a genuinely fun argument about protest music and whether great art requires great despair. Mitchell traces the lineage from Guthrie to Dylan (whom Guthrie mentored) to Springsteen, and notes that Guthrie has had a moment of renewed relevance over the past year as his music finds new audiences at No Kings and anti-ICE protests. He and Chuck walk through the iterations of protest music across the decades — The Clash and Blondie as deeply political acts, Springsteen's own evolution from apolitical rock star to a man now delivering angry speeches from the concert stage, and Jesse Welles finding real modern success in the form. They debate whether a fictional account can land harder than a true story, whether The Grapes of Wrath would even be a bestseller if published today, and what Tom Joad would make of contemporary America — with Mitchell arguing that the collapse of organized labor would genuinely shock both Joad and Guthrie. The episode closes on a pointed political note: Mitchell contends that Trump's corruption so far exceeds anything Nixon did that Nixon himself would be considered a lefty by modern standards. The film is streaming now on PBS.org and the PBS app. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the 72 year struggle of the women’s suffrage movement before achieving the ratification of the 19th amendment, presents his ToddCast Top 5 list of Democratic Presidential hopefuls who will work the hardest to win the nomination and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.    Upgrade your everyday. Go to https://Quince.com/CHUCK for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /  *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.    Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 01:30 Don’t miss the Toddcast Special Report on the Lakers sale 06:30 Primary season is basically wrapped up after Florida 07:45 Raw primary turnout is a good tealeaf to read ahead of midterms 09:00 Democratic voters have been more enthusiastic w/ higher turnout 09:30 Alex Vindman loses Florida senate primary to Angie Nixon 10:30 Vindman ran his race like he was the presumptive nominee 11:00 Nixon just outworked Vindman with primary voters 11:30 Vindman hoarded his money for the general 12:30 This wasn’t a movement election, Nixon just performed 13:15 The importance of the African-American vote in Dem primaries 15:15 Need to live in Florida for more than a couple years to run successfully 15:45 Most of the carpetbagger candidates lost their primaries 16:30 Will be interesting to see what Vindman does with his war chest 18:00 Voters care if you are of/from their community 20:00 Vindman felt like first-term Trump resistance 21:00 It’s improbable but not impossible for David Jolly to beat Byron Donalds 22:15 Florida Republican turnout was much higher than Dems 23:45 Debbie Wasserman Schultz won in majority black district 24:45 Cory Mills loses his primary 25:30 More Trump endorsed candidates lost their primaries 27:15 Trump backed candidates losing has become a trend 27:45 Trump is going out of his way to make it harder for Republicans 28:30 Trump’s relevance is melting away as his approval drops 31:45 Democratic electorate is expanding in most competitive states 32:15 Primary turnout is a thermometer, not a crystal ball 32:45 Turnout tells you where your floor is, not the ceiling 34:30 Democrats outperformed their primary edge in the general in 2018 36:00 Democrats cast 57% of primary ballots, compared to 54% in ‘18 37:00 Biggest jump in Dem turnout was in Alabama 37:45 Multiple states with Democrat turnout up double digits  39:45 Alabama’s governor race may be very competitive 42:30 Texas Dem turnout was higher even with marquee GOP races 43:45 Florida Dems lost voters to a no party affiliation 44:30 You can see something happening in Texas, not in Florida 45:30 Republican turnout was way down in Kansas 47:15 Dems probably still have more work to do in Kansas 48:00 Dems will win more votes in November,48:45 History says Dems win the midterms, but can they win both chambers? 56:30 Greg Mitchell joins the Chuck ToddCast 58:00 Making an appearance in Woody Guthrie and the Ghost of Tom Joad Today 1:00:15 Chose the subject because he’s obsessed with the Depression era 1:01:15 Started seeing connections between Woody Guthrie and John Steinbeck 1:03:30 Was it difficult to get the rights for the music/story? 1:05:30 Creating protest songs like This Land Is Your Land 1:06:45 Discussing the Ghost of Tom Joad with Tom Morello 1:08:30 Tom Joad was an inspiration for Springsteen 1:09:30 Woody has always remained relevant. Songs have been covered 1:10:45 Tom Joad was meant to be political in Grapes of Wrath 1:12:30 Seeing migrant work camps deeply affected Woody Guthrie 1:14:15 Majority of agricultural workers became Mexicans & Philipinos 1:15:30 Steinbeck was denounced as a communist 1:16:15 “This land is your land” could be the national anthem 1:17:30 Do we need times of great despair to produce great art? 1:19:45 There have been iterations o

Filmmaker and author Greg Mitchell joins the Chuck Toddcast to discuss Woody Guthrie and the Ghost of Tom Joad Today, his new PBS documentary narrated by Rosanne Cash and featuring music from Bruce Springsteen, which traces the bond Guthrie forged with John Steinbeck during a campaign to ease the suffering of migrants in California — and argues those 1930s conflicts have unmistakable echoes in the present. Mitchell, a Depression-era obsessive who has written extensively about American politics since the 1930s, explains how he began seeing the connections between Guthrie and Steinbeck and why he refused to make a straight biopic: he wanted a film with current ramifications, which is why it closes with Springsteen's "The Ghost of Tom Joad" set against images of immigrants surrounded by federal agents and protesters holding signs quoting Guthrie. He and Chuck get into the story behind "This Land Is Your Land" (which wasn't the song's original title), the mechanics of securing the rights to the music and the story, his conversation with Tom Morello about the Springsteen song, and how seeing the migrant work camps firsthand fundamentally transformed Guthrie as an artist. Mitchell notes that Steinbeck was denounced as a communist for his trouble, that the majority of California's agricultural workforce eventually became Mexican and Filipino, and that Tom Joad was always meant to be a political character — which is exactly why he keeps getting resurrected. The conversation broadens into a genuinely fun argument about protest music and whether great art requires great despair. Mitchell traces the lineage from Guthrie to Dylan (whom Guthrie mentored) to Springsteen, and notes that Guthrie has had a moment of renewed relevance over the past year as his music finds new audiences at No Kings and anti-ICE protests. He and Chuck walk through the iterations of protest music across the decades — The Clash and Blondie as deeply political acts, Springsteen's own evolution from apolitical rock star to a man now delivering angry speeches from the concert stage, and Jesse Welles finding real modern success in the form. They debate whether a fictional account can land harder than a true story, whether The Grapes of Wrath would even be a bestseller if published today, and what Tom Joad would make of contemporary America — with Mitchell arguing that the collapse of organized labor would genuinely shock both Joad and Guthrie. The episode closes on a pointed political note: Mitchell contends that Trump's corruption so far exceeds anything Nixon did, and that Nixon himself would be considered a lefty by modern standards. The film is streaming now on PBS.org and the PBS app.   Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.    For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /  *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.    Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Greg Mitchell joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:30 Making an appearance in Woody Guthrie and the Ghost of Tom Joad Today  03:45 Chose the subject because he’s obsessed with the Depression era 04:45 Started seeing connections between Woody Guthrie and John Steinbeck 07:00 Was it difficult to get the rights for the music/story? 09:00 Creating protest songs like This Land Is Your Land 10:15 Discussing the Ghost of Tom Joad with Tom Morello 12:00 Tom Joad was an inspiration for Springsteen 13:00 Woody has always remained relevant. Songs have been covered 14:15 Tom Joad was meant to be political in Grapes of Wrath 16:00 Seeing migrant work camps deeply affected Woody Guthrie 17:45 Majority of agricultural workers became Mexicans & Philipinos 19:00 Steinbeck was denounced as a communist 19:45 “This land is your land” could be the national anthem 21:00 Do we need times of great despair to produce great art? 23:15 There have been iterations of protest music over the decades 24:15 Jesse Wells has found modern success with protest music 24:45 Bruce Springsteen & Tom Morello have produced new protest music 26:00 Groups like The Clash and Blondie were very political 26:45 Springsteen started as apolitical, then evolved to become political 28:30 Springsteen now gives angry speeches during his concerts 30:30 Can a fictional account land harder than a true story? 33:00 Is Guthrie to Dylan to Springsteen the lineage of protest music? 34:00 Guthrie was Bob Dylan’s mentor 35:30 Would Grapes of Wrath be a best seller if it came out today? 36:15 Film is available at PBS and the PBS app 36:30 What would Tom Joad feel if he was in modern America? 37:15 The fall of unions would shock Guthrie and Joad 38:15 Trump’s corruption so far exceeds anything done by Nixon 40:00 Nixon would be considered a “lefty” by modern standards See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd and J.A. Adande explore the origins of the Crimson Tide and the remarkable rise of Bear Bryant. From Alabama’s early Rose Bowl triumphs and the beginnings of the Crimson Tide name to Bryant’s near-departure for the Miami Dolphins, they trace the moments that helped turn Alabama into the standard of college football. They also examine one of the most complicated chapters in the program’s history: integration, Bear Bryant’s role in a changing South, and Alabama’s landmark 1970 matchup with USC. It’s the story of how football became inseparable from Alabama—and how the foundation was laid for one of the greatest dynasties in sports history. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With under 80 days to the midterms, Chuck Todd and Chris Cillizza pause the horse race for a full "where are we now" audit of the 2028 Democratic field — prompted, Chris admits, by listener pushback that they'd been too dismissive of Gavin Newsom. Using the Kalshi and Polymarket odds as a starting point rather than gospel, they work through a top tier of AOC, Newsom, and Jon Ossoff. Chuck's central thesis is that AOC could become a magnetic force on the scale of Trump in 2016 or Obama in 2008 — a candidacy the entire field gets measured against, potentially freezing out half the governors and senators eyeing a run. He maps how she could be the frontrunner while playing underdog in South Carolina, and why the new calendar's crowded first state may actually cushion her. On Newsom, Chuck is blunt: the prediction markets are artificially inflating him, the attention economy is doing the work, and a California governor with a mixed record has no obvious state to win. They also make the case that Kamala Harris ultimately doesn't run — and that not running is the smarter play for 2032. The back half turns to the field's second tier and its long shots: whether Mark Kelly has the hunger and the issue to go with the biography (Chuck's dream ticket: Kelly and Warnock, order randomized), why John Glenn and Bill Bradley are the cautionary tales for résumé candidates, whether Ossoff can realistically jump straight from an $87 million Senate race into a billion-dollar presidential campaign, and a genuine dark-horse case for Rahm Emanuel built on the party's underinvestment in rural Black voters. They preview Tuesday's Florida primary — Byron Donalds's real ceiling, why Chuck thinks the general could land inside five points, the Mel Martinez precedent, and Corey Mills, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and Alex Vindman. Then the tone shifts hard: an angry, unsparing exchange about the expired US-Iran memorandum, the Strait of Hormuz, conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, and Pete Hegseth's fitness for the job. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Under 80 days out — and a full 2028 Democratic audit 01:06 Why Chuck thinks JD Vance will divide the right  02:08 The prediction markets as one data point, not the whole story 02:55 Reading Polymarket and Kalshi: AOC, Newsom, Ossoff at the top 05:12 Could AOC suck up all the oxygen the way Trump did in '16? 06:15 The egg-freezing story as proof of her magnetic pull 06:42 Skeptical Newsom can play in Michigan, Iowa, South Carolina 07:30 The impossible position for Newsom 08:16 AOC's advantage — no long record to defend 09:38 Could egg-freezing access become an issue she champions? 10:01 How her presence could paralyze half the field before it starts 10:57 Where does that leave Pritzker? Or Ossoff? 11:59 The formalized DNC calendar 13:37 Nevada, Michigan and the Culinary Union question 14:42 Why a crowded South Carolina helps the progressive lane 15:13 What 2020 looked like when South Carolina came fourth 15:49 Newsom's real problem: where does he actually win? 16:59 Harris's East Coast headquarters lesson 17:22 Advice: put your HQ in Michigan, not San Francisco 19:42 The counterargument: no gatekeepers left, and the hustler wins 20:10 Ossoff, Buttigieg & who's actually willing to burn the boats 21:08 Newsom one-on-one vs. Newsom in a big room 22:08 Would a swing-state Democrat invite Newsom to campaign?  23:04 Harris analysis: you don't buy in Malibu if you're running 24:06 The Dan Quayle risk if she runs under these circumstances 25:01 Newsom and Harris can't both run  26:20 Mark Kelly in Iowa & the quote that reads like a stump speech 27:15 Chuck's lab-built ticket: an astronaut and a pastor 27:50 Will the Democratic base accept Kelly? 29:30 Is Kelly too pro-business for this version of the party? 30:45 How Trump's attacks on Kelly may have helped him 31:33 The real gap: Kelly has no signature issue 32:03 AOC is the change candidate — inside the party and outside it 33:09 Biographies don't win the presidency 33:30 The cautionary tales: John Glenn and Bill Bradley 35:08 The charisma gap — and Kelly's habit of yelling to show energy 35:55 Scanning the long shots on the board 36:55 If not AOC, then Ro Khanna 37:16 Pritzker at 1% — the governor who could reach the left 37:46 Chuck's real dark horse: Rahm Emanuel 39:32 Democrats' rural problem isn't just rural whites 39:59 The left will never accept him 42:07 Not a cycle for an insider — but maybe for an ideas guy 42:27 The Wisconsin lesson: Crowley won against something 42:50 To Florida: Tuesday's primary and Tuesday night's live stream 43:35 Jolly-Donalds could land inside five points 44:01 Why Florida isn't as noncompetitive as people assume 44:44 Could DeSantis win a third term?  45:24 What's Donalds's real number?  46:16 The Mel Martinez precedent 48:29 Why Chuck thinks Jerry Demings had the better shot at Donalds 49:56 The 2018 what-if: Bernie, Soros, Gillum and DeSantis 50:43 Credit to DeSantis for saying what Trump never does 51:48 Debbie Wasserman Schultz in a majority-Black district 52:38 The Vindman question — and the residency problem 54:23 The US-Iran memorandum expires with no deal 55:46 A $1.5 trillion budget and a carrier crew that can't get fed 56:11 Testosterone tests and push-up contests while the Lincoln goes short 56:33 Operationally a disaster — and where's the audit? 57:57 Damaging the last institution still standing 59:51 The Nats get swept by the Mets  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd unloads on newly confirmed Attorney General Todd Blanche for appearing at a political rally alongside Trump — a line past attorneys general knew better than to cross — and for openly stating that the Justice Department won't be independent of the White House. Chuck argues Republicans are making the DOJ far more nakedly partisan than any prior administration, that the senators who voted to confirm Blanche should be ashamed of themselves, and that Blanche is essentially telling the country in advance that the institution won't hold. He turns to the horror stories surfacing about morale and conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, where Trump's response was that the deployment hasn't gone on nearly long enough — proof, Chuck argues, that neither Trump nor Hegseth is even pretending to care about the people they've deployed, and that America was taken into a war it was never prepared to fight. After years of record military budgets producing bad results, Chuck’s question is simple and furious: what the hell have we been paying for? He identifies a clear leadership problem at the Pentagon, then pivots to what he sees as the coming Republican civil war over JD Vance, who now says he wants to end the dollar's status as the world's reserve currency and who views America's alliances as liabilities rather than strengths — positions Vance will have to actually sell on the merits, because he doesn't have Trump's charisma to carry them, and positions that could drive a meaningful number of Republicans out of a Vance-led party altogether. Chuck closes with a genuinely provocative question about the missing anti-war movement: where are the protests over Iran? He wonders aloud whether the Gaza demonstrations were ever really an anti-war movement at all, whether they were as organically American-driven as they appeared, and argues the silence around Iran is revealing in ways nobody on either side seems eager to examine — before previewing Tuesday's Florida primaries.  Politico politics bureau chief and senior political columnist Jonathan Martin joins the Chuck Toddcast for a reporter's-eye tour of the 2028 landscape, starting from an observation both men keep circling: the governing wing of each party is badly out of step with its own voters. Martin walks through the Democratic field with real granularity. Pete Buttigieg carries genuine Biden baggage and is fundamentally a creature of institutions — he isn't going to burn the house down, which is precisely why the left will never trust his establishment credentials, and why Martin wonders aloud whether his future might be more as an advisor than a candidate. On AOC, Martin's read is that the entire question is simply whether she runs: if she does, she's the lead car in the progressive lane and could clear it outright, and she'd be formidable in a crowded field. He notes it's no accident she reemerged right after El-Sayed's Michigan win, that she's been careful and disciplined about picking her spots during the primaries, and that she more than held her own speaking at Ebenezer Baptist church — which matters enormously given the Democratic calendar was explicitly designed to stymie progressives by putting South Carolina first. Martin isn't at all convinced Jon Ossoff runs, even though Ossoff checks every box on the list of things Democrats have historically wanted, and he thinks Abdul El-Sayed could be a genuinely formidable presidential candidate. The overarching question, as Martin frames it, is whether Democrats vote with their head or their heart in 2028 — a decision the November midterms will shape more than anything else. On the Republican side, they point out Vance simply wasn't a good candidate when he ran for Senate and needed both Trump and Peter Thiel to drag him over the finish line, that Rubio's presidential campaigns always ran into whoever's "turn" it was, and that the fastest way to lose in this environment is to be seen as one of the donor candidates. Vance's real challenge, Martin argues, is the Tucker Carlson model — and the open question of who carries that banner in 2028. He and Chuck agree the far left is currently stronger than the far right within their respective parties, and that insurgencies are a natural feature of the party out of power. Nothing, Martin says flatly, gets better for Republicans between now and the midterms; the Iranians want to humiliate Trump and Jimmy Carter him, and they're timing their moves to the American political calendar. They agree Democrats are either picking up two Senate seats or six with very little in between, and predict Greg Abbott will have to spend real money to win in Texas. Plus: why in-person interviews still beat remote ones, the disappearance of the old guard of Tennessee Republican politics, how Buttigieg's sexuality might factor into a national campaign, why online small-dollar money means Democrats no longer need to court only big donors — and whether UVA can actually contend in football this year. Finally, he answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.   Upgrade your everyday. Go to https://Quince.com/CHUCK for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.  For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /  *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.    Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 04:30 Shout out to ReCenter Indiana 07:30 Todd Blanche appeared at political rally with Trump, now as AG 08:00 Past Attorneys General knew better than to act so partisan 08:30 Blanche says DOJ won’t be independent of the White House 09:15 Republicans are making DOJ far more partisan than prior admins 10:15 Senators who confirmed Blanche should be ashamed of themselves 11:15 Blanche is telling us that the institution of the DOJ won’t hold 12:00 Horror stories surface about morale & conditions on USS Abraham Lincoln 12:30 Trump says deployment hasn’t gone on nearly long enough 13:00 Trump and Hegseth didn’t even pretend to care about these soldiers 13:45 Clearly we were taken into a war that we weren’t prepared for 14:15 We keep passing record military budgets & getting bad results 15:00 What the hell have we been paying for?    15:30 We have a clear leadership problem at the Pentagon 16:45 The coming civil war inside the Republican party over JD Vance 17:15 Vance says he wants to end the dollar as the reserve currency 17:45 Vance views alliances as liabilities rather than strengths 18:15 Vance doesn’t have Trump’s charisma, will have to sell his argument 18:45 Many Republicans might leave a Vance Republican party 19:30 Where are the protests and the anti-war movement over Iran? 20:30 Was Gaza actually an anti-war movement?  21:00 Were Gaza protests not as American driven as we thought? 22:15 The lack of protest over Iran is revealing 23:15 Preview of Florida primary elections on Tuesday 28:00 Jonathan Martin joins The Chuck ToddCast 29:30 Why in-person interviews are so much better than remote 31:30 The old guard of GOP politics in Tennessee are gone 33:30 The governing wing of each party aren’t agreeing with the voters 34:15 How does Pete Buttigieg navigate carrying “Biden baggage”? 34:45 Pete is a creature of the institutions, he won’t burn down the house 35:30 The left won’t ever trust Pete’s establishment credentials 36:30 How Pete’s sexuality could affect a presidential run 37:30 Is his future more in an advisor role than an elected official? 40:00 If AOC runs in 2028, she’ll be the lead car in the progressive lane 41:30 The question surrounding AOC is “will she or won’t she run” 42:00 The presidential campaign will be shaped by November midterms 42:30 Do the Dems go with their head or their heart in 28? 44:45 Insurgencies happen in this environment for party out of power 46:15 Nothing gets better between now and the midterms for Republicans 47:45 The Iranians want to humiliate Trump and “Jimmy Carter” him 48:45 Besides Vance, Rubio and Youngkin, who else might run for the GOP? 49:30 Who carries the Tucker Carlson banner in ‘28? 51:45 Vance was not a good candidate when he ran for senate 52:30 Vance needed Trump & Peter Thiel to get him over the finish line 53:30 Rubio’s campaigns were challenging the person whose turn it was 54:45 You don’t want to be seen as one of the “donor candidates” 55:30 Vance’s biggest challenge will be of the Tucker model 56:00 The far left is stronger than the far right 59:00 Democrats primary calendar designed to stymie progressives 1:00:00 Impact of South Carolina going first 1:01:30 AOC would clear progressive lane & be formidable in crowded field 1:02:30 Not at all convinced that Jon Ossoff runs in ‘28 1:03:00 Democrats have a type, and Ossoff checks all those boxe

Politico politics bureau chief and senior political columnist Jonathan Martin joins the Chuck Toddcast for a reporter's-eye tour of the 2028 landscape, starting from an observation both men keep circling: the governing wing of each party is badly out of step with its own voters. Martin walks through the Democratic field with real granularity. Pete Buttigieg carries genuine Biden baggage and is fundamentally a creature of institutions — he isn't going to burn the house down, which is precisely why the left will never trust his establishment credentials, and why Martin wonders aloud whether his future might be more as an advisor than a candidate. On AOC, Martin's read is that the entire question is simply whether she runs: if she does, she's the lead car in the progressive lane and could clear it outright, and she'd be formidable in a crowded field. He notes it's no accident she reemerged right after El-Sayed's Michigan win, that she's been careful and disciplined about picking her spots during the primaries, and that she more than held her own speaking at Ebenezer Baptist church — which matters enormously given the Democratic calendar was explicitly designed to stymie progressives by putting South Carolina first. Martin isn't at all convinced Jon Ossoff runs, even though Ossoff checks every box on the list of things Democrats have historically wanted, and he thinks Abdul El-Sayed could be a genuinely formidable presidential candidate. The overarching question, as Martin frames it, is whether Democrats vote with their head or their heart in 2028 — a decision the November midterms will shape more than anything else. On the Republican side, they point out Vance simply wasn't a good candidate when he ran for Senate and needed both Trump and Peter Thiel to drag him over the finish line, that Rubio's presidential campaigns always ran into whoever's "turn" it was, and that the fastest way to lose in this environment is to be seen as one of the donor candidates. Vance's real challenge, Martin argues, is the Tucker Carlson model — and the open question of who carries that banner in 2028. He and Chuck agree the far left is currently stronger than the far right within their respective parties, and that insurgencies are a natural feature of the party out of power. Nothing, Martin says flatly, gets better for Republicans between now and the midterms; the Iranians want to humiliate Trump and Jimmy Carter him, and they're timing their moves to the American political calendar. They agree Democrats are either picking up two Senate seats or six with very little in between, and predict Greg Abbott will have to spend real money to win in Texas. Plus: why in-person interviews still beat remote ones, the disappearance of the old guard of Tennessee Republican politics, how Buttigieg's sexuality might factor into a national campaign, why online small-dollar money means Democrats no longer need to court only big donors — and whether UVA can actually contend in football this year.   Upgrade your everyday. Go to https://Quince.com/CHUCK for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.  For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /  *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Jonathan Martin joins The Chuck ToddCast 01:30 Why in-person interviews are so much better than remote 03:30 The old guard of GOP politics in Tennessee are gone 05:30 The governing wing of each party aren’t agreeing with the voters 06:15 How does Pete Buttigieg navigate carrying “Biden baggage”? 06:45 Pete is a creature of the institutions, he won’t burn down the house 07:30 The left won’t ever trust Pete’s establishment credentials 08:30 How Pete’s sexuality could affect a presidential run 09:30 Is his future more in an advisor role than an elected official? 12:00 If AOC runs in 2028, she’ll be the lead car in the progressive lane 13:30 The question surrounding AOC is “will she or won’t she run” 14:00 The presidential campaign will be shaped by November midterms 14:30 Do the Dems go with their head or their heart in 28? 16:45 Insurgencies happen in this environment for party out of power 18:15 Nothing gets better between now and the midterms for Republicans 19:45 The Iranians want to humiliate Trump and “Jimmy Carter” him 20:45 Besides Vance, Rubio and Youngkin, who else might run for the GOP? 21:30 Who carries the Tucker Carlson banner in ‘28? 23:45 Vance was not a good candidate when he ran for senate 24:30 Vance needed Trump & Peter Thiel to get him over the finish line 25:30 Rubio’s campaigns were challenging the person whose turn it was 26:45 You don’t want to be seen as one of the “donor candidates” 27:30 Vance’s biggest challenge will be of the Tucker model 28:00 The far left is stronger than the far right 31:00 Democrats primary calendar designed to stymie progressives 32:00 Impact of South Carolina going first 33:30 AOC would clear progressive lane & be formidable in crowded field 34:30 Not at all convinced that Jon Ossoff runs in ‘28 35:00 Democrats have a type, and Ossoff checks all those boxes 36:15 Abdul El-Sayed could be formidable as a presidential candidate 37:00 AOC could emerge from South Carolina in a strong position 37:30 AOC held her own speaking at Ebenezer Baptist church 38:15 Not an accident AOC reemerged after El-Sayed’s win 40:15 AOC has been smart and careful to pick her spots during primaries 41:30 What will keep prominent Dems from running? 42:00 There’s lots of Dem donor money online, don’t need only big $ donors 43:30 Dems are either picking up two senate seats… or six 44:30 How cemented is the red/blue map? 47:00 Kansas could be ‘06 Indiana but Dem hasn’t won senate seat since 30s 48:15 Voters don’t like the public school funding cuts for vouchers 49:30 Greg Abbott will have to spend big to win his race 50:00 Will UVA be a contender in football? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What started as a simple sports question: why did Mark Walter sell the Los Angeles Lakers after just 14 months? — turned into something else entirely. In Part 1 of this two-part ToddCast Special Report, Chuck Todd pulls the thread from a record $12.5 billion franchise sale to the life insurance companies, private credit vehicles, and obscure Delaware LLCs sitting underneath one of the least understood transformations in American finance since 2008. The facts on the record: Walter's Delaware Life Insurance Co. and Clear Spring Life and Annuity Co. received grand jury subpoenas from Manhattan prosecutors in February, disclosed in June 26 regulatory filings, with a parallel SEC review, following earlier inquiries into Guggenheim's $362 billion money management arm. After receiving the subpoenas, both insurers conducted internal reviews, found reporting errors, and revised earlier disclosures — with Delaware Life disclosing an additional $16 billion in private credit assets linked to affiliated entities beyond what had previously been reported. Chuck is emphatic about what that does not mean: no money disappeared, no loans were declared bad, and a disclosure change is not a financial loss. No charges have been announced against the companies or any individuals, Group 1001 says it is cooperating fully with federal authorities and that its financial position remains strong, and the filings did not state that assets were improperly managed or that investors suffered losses. From there, Chuck builds the machine from the ground up in plain English — a retiree in Indiana buying an annuity, an insurer that has to earn enough to keep that promise, a post-2008 world where banks got safer and the risky lending simply moved somewhere with no public market attached to it. He traces Walter's career from asset-backed securitization in the 1990s through the 2012 Dodgers purchase (and the question Andrew Ross Sorkin asked at the time about where the money came from), through the corporate genealogy of Guggenheim, Delaware Life, Clear Spring, and Group 1001, to insurance filings showing hundreds of millions in debt tied to the Dodgers' regional sports network and ticket revenue. He credits the reporting he's leaning on throughout — Katie Baker at The Ringer, independent researcher Nick Nemeth at Mispriced Assets, plus Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal, and the Financial Times — and he is scrupulous about the line between what the public record establishes and what it simply cannot. The core question isn't whether anyone broke the law; investigators with subpoena power will answer that. It's whether we understand this system well enough to know what happens when it comes under stress — because when the assets underneath an institution's balance sheet can't be continuously tested in a public market, how much confidence should any of us have in the numbers? Part 2 continues the story.  Timeline: 00:00 Why did Mark Walter sell the Lakers? Pulling the thread 00:30 This stopped being a basketball story 00:45 A record $12.5B sale — and why the seller is the story, not the buyers 01:15 Walter took control just 14 months earlier at a $10B valuation 01:30 The thread led to life insurance companies 02:00 A financial market that's grown enormously since the last crisis 02:30 Things that rhyme with 2008 — and things that rhyme with Enron 02:45 Executive Life: the insurer that failed three decades ago 03:15 Three different historical examples — not the same thing 03:45 Not saying another 2008 is coming 04:00 "A sneaking suspicion we may be looking at the beginning of something very bad" 04:15 The questions public filings simply cannot answer 05:15 Why some answers only exist in depositions 05:30 Why the federal investigation matters — subpoena power 06:00 The rule for this episode: what we know vs. what we don't 06:30 The central question about measuring financial strength 07:15 Why this should be a five-alarm fire for regulators 07:45 An enormous market built around things that are private by definition 08:15 Credit where it's due: The Ringer, Mispriced Assets, WSJ, Bloomberg, FT 09:15 Connecting dots vs. building a case 10:00 We made banks safer after 2008 — the money went somewhere else 11:00 Even if it's all legal, the larger question remains 11:45 A simple rule: when someone tells you "it's complicated" 12:15 Complexity as a feature, not a bug 13:00 The innocent explanation: a $2.5B gain in 14 months 13:30 Iger and Kushner were already exploring an NBA expansion team 13:45 Why buy the Lakers instead of building from scratch 14:45 What "valued at $10 billion" does and doesn't mean 15:30 We don't know how much cash Walter personally receives 15:45 Why sell at all? Walter collects teams, he doesn't flip them 16:30 Why only the Lakers? He's keeping the Dodgers 17:15 February grand jury subpoenas and the parallel SEC review 17:30 The disclosure change inside the insurers' filings 18:15 A disclosure change is not a financial loss 19:30 Nobody's been charged; companies say they're cooperating 20:00 Reporting on liquidity — and the precision that question requires 21:00 Why the timing is a legitimate reporting question 21:15 Keeping two separate sports stories separate 21:45 The FIFA deal collapsed roughly 10 days before the Lakers deal 22:15 What the timing does and does not establish 23:00 The political question: Josh Kushner, Jared Kushner, the executive branch 23:45 The pattern is context — it is not evidence 24:00 No evidence of a quid pro quo 24:45 Why the question stays on the shelf 25:15 What does "billionaire" actually mean? 26:00 Who is Mark Walter? Cedar Rapids, a concrete plant, and anonymity 27:15 "I'm nothing special. I'm just the king of common sense." 27:45 Why the low profile matters to this story 28:30 Liberty Hampshire and asset-backed securitization 29:30 Meeting the Guggenheims and building Guggenheim Partners 30:45 Wealth vs. commanding capital that isn't yours 31:45 2012: buying the Dodgers, and the Frank McCourt cautionary tale 33:00 Baseball wanted the exact opposite of McCourt 33:45 Andrew Ross Sorkin's question: where's the rest of the money? 34:15 Insurance company capital in the Dodgers financing 35:15 How does retirement money end up near a baseball team? 36:30 Following the money: a hypothetical retiree in Indiana 37:15 The annuity bargain and what insurers do with the money 38:15 How 2008 scrambled the insurance business 39:00 Low rates and the hunt for yield 39:45 Chuck's Widget Company and the loan the bank won't make 41:00 Money always finds a way — the lesson from campaign finance 41:45 What private credit actually is 42:15 The genuine advantages of private credit 43:00 Stickier capital — and why runs still happen 43:45 Private credit isn't inherently bad. What happens when it gets big? 44:15 No public market means no continuous price check 45:15 What replaces the market as the check on valuation? 46:00 Two sides looking for each other 47:00 Multiplying one retiree's $100,000 by hundreds of thousands 47:45 What happens when the same person owns both sides? 48:30 This is an entire industry, not one man's invention 49:15 Guggenheim's move into insurance and the roots of Group 1001 50:30 The ecosystem: asset management, insurance, private credit 51:00 Why the corporate structure is so hard to follow 51:30 Sportsnet LA and American Media Productions 52:00 Roughly $587M of that debt held by the two insurers, per filings 52:30 Dodgers Tickets LLC and slicing up a franchise 53:00 Is the Dodgers one entity or many? 53:30 Asset-backed securitization, applied to a baseball team 54:30 Is lending against Dodgers TV revenue inherently bad? 55:00 The brother analogy: conflicts and other people's money 55:30 February: subpoenas to Delaware Life and Clear Spring 56:15 The assets were always on the books — the question is characterization 56:30 General interrogatory 13.2 and the original 3% answer 57:00 The revised figure: roughly $16.4B described as dependent on affiliates 57:30 Three separate questions the public record can't resolve 58:15 What the internal reviews concluded 58:45 Comparing that figure to Delaware Life's reported capital and surplus 59:15 What the number does NOT mean 59:45 Concentration, governance, and disclosure 1:00:30 The questions that actually matter 1:01:00 Why the opacity itself is part of the story 1:01:15 Someone looked at the individual borrowers, one by one 1:02:00 Nick Nemeth and the Mispriced Assets research 1:03:15 Why independent research matters in the new media world 1:03:45 Roughly 230 holdings with striking similarities 1:04:00 The names: Verdant Hills, Pines, Iroquois, Yellow Creek 1:04:30 Special purpose vehicles — what's inside the box? 1:05:00 The legitimate reasons to use an LLC 1:05:30 How structure can change regulatory treatment 1:06:15 Does the legal wrapper describe the economic risk underneath? 1:06:45 Does that explain 230 vehicles? We don't know. 1:07:15 The echo of the mortgage crisis 1:08:00 Formation dates, filing numbers, and same-day funding 1:08:45 Roughly 44% of positions held by both insurers, purchased the same day 1:09:15 Innocent explanations exist — but this looks like a system 1:09:30 The questions only investigators can answer 1:10:00 Identification numbers and why outsiders can't check a price 1:10:45 A sophisticated process may exist — but it isn't a public market 1:11:15 What's a private note worth this morning? 1:11:30 Carried at or near purchase price: the concern raised 1:12:00 The great irony: the Lakers are the easy thing to value 1:12:30 Who owns these investments — and who was promised what See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Part 2 of this ToddCast Special Report, Chuck Todd picks up the thread where Part 1 left it: if an insurance company's capital cushion is determined by how risky its investments are judged to be, then who is doing the judging? The answer leads to private letter ratings — a corner of finance almost no one outside it has heard of, and one that has exploded in size. Wall Street Journal reporting by Shane Shiflett and Heather Gillers assembled data on nearly 18,000 privately rated instruments held by U.S. insurers, and the growth curve is the number to remember: roughly $47 billion in 2018 to roughly $480 billion seven years later, with one estimate putting total private credit in insurance portfolios near $1 trillion. Much of that grading runs through firms most people have never heard of, and Chuck focuses on Egan-Jones, which privately graded roughly $40 billion of debt held by U.S. insurers, faces a 2024 lawsuit from two former executives alleging they were fired after raising conflict-of-interest concerns and that the firm pressured staff to inflate ratings, has drawn SEC questions about its reliability, and in January was removed by Bermuda regulators from their list of recognized ratings providers — all of which Egan-Jones forcefully denies, saying it stands behind the integrity and independence of its work. Chuck is careful throughout about what this does and does not establish: agencies can legitimately disagree, private raters often see borrower information outsiders never will, and none of it means any particular rating is wrong. It means the ratings deserve scrutiny, because if the grade helps set the size of the rainy day fund, being wrong about the grade means being wrong about the cushion. From there the episode widens out. Chuck walks through what a clean audit opinion actually certifies versus what people assume it certifies, revisits Executive Life — the insurer that reached for yield in junk bonds in the 1980s and was eventually seized — as a more instructive warning than Enron or 2008, and is direct that this is not a story about an insurer on the brink: Group 1001 says it is cooperating fully and that its financial position remains sound, Delaware Life reported roughly $69 billion in assets as of March and Clear Spring roughly $16 billion, and no charges have been announced against the companies or any individuals. AM Best has affirmed both companies' A- (Excellent) financial strength ratings while revising their outlooks to negative following the reclassification of private credit investments from unaffiliated to affiliated. Complicated private assets are not insolvency; related-party exposure is not insolvency; a federal investigation is not insolvency. The question Chuck is actually chasing is structural — whether a system split across fifty state insurance departments, the SEC, the Fed, offshore reinsurance regulators, and private ratings firms can assemble the whole machine fast enough when one piece breaks, and whether the real lesson of the post-2008 era is that we made the banks safer without ever asking where the behavior would go. He lays out three ways this ends, six specific questions he'd chase with subpoena power he doesn't have, and — unusually — the exact evidence that would bring him back in six months to say the warning lights looked worse than the engine. Because capitalism doesn't run on money alone. It runs on people believing that a price means what it says, that a rating means something, and that somebody understands the risk underneath a promise made to a retiree thirty years out.  Timeline: 00:00 Recapping Part 1: inside Mark Walter's world of structured finance00:30 Who looked inside the box and decided how safe it was?01:00 Why the risk grade determines the size of an insurer's cushion01:30 Credit rating agencies as the report card for debt02:00 A better grade can mean less capital sitting behind it02:15 The special purpose vehicle, the note, and the rating02:45 Does the grade on the box accurately reflect what's inside?03:15 WSJ data on nearly 18,000 privately rated investments03:30 From $47 billion in 2018 to $480 billion seven years later03:45 One estimate puts private credit near $1 trillion in insurance portfolios04:15 What "privately rated" actually means04:30 Private letter ratings and what the public can't see05:00 Why the quality and independence of the rating matters so much05:15 Egan-Jones — and the Arthur Andersen flashback05:45 The ratings agencies you know, and the one you don't06:00 Roughly $40 billion of insurer-held debt privately rated by Egan-Jones06:15 Egan-Jones also rated the Dodgers TV network debt06:30 Following the chain from annuity customer to capital cushion06:45 Who pays the ratings agencies? The inherent tension07:15 The Journal's comparison: roughly one grade higher on average07:45 Egan-Jones strongly disputes the Journal's analysis08:00 Former executives' lawsuit alleging pressure to inflate ratings08:15 Egan-Jones denies it; the SEC has examined its processes08:30 Bermuda removed Egan-Jones as a recognized ratings provider08:45 Allianz's response: requiring a second rating09:15 This doesn't mean the ratings are wrong — it means scrutiny09:30 Enter the auditor: KPMG and the clean opinions10:00 What an audit opinion addresses — and what it doesn't10:30 The right question to ask about a clean opinion11:00 Executive Life: the more useful historical warning11:30 Junk bonds, Michael Milken, and the reach for yield12:00 How Executive Life ended — and why it isn't the same thing12:15 The evidence that cuts against the scariest version of this story12:30 Delaware Life's reported assets, capital, and surplus12:45 Financial strength ratings and what "A-" actually means13:00 The more recent caution from the ratings agencies13:30 This is not an insurer on the verge of seizure13:45 The real question: confidence in conventional measures of strength14:00 Why asset quality matters when you're backing promises14:30 The safety net: state guaranty associations14:45 And who ultimately pays for that safety net15:00 Accumulating echoes: Executive Life, Enron, and 200815:45 The warning lights of 202616:15 Not a crisis — but a reason to ask better questions16:30 Can regulators adapt as fast as the system is changing?17:00 What regulators are actually doing right now17:30 This is not asleep-at-the-switch17:45 The structural problem: nobody sees the whole machine18:15 Fifty states, fifty insurance departments18:45 Why we regulate different financial businesses differently19:00 Assembling the machine when each regulator holds one piece19:45 Finance moves at the speed of a term sheet20:15 Regulation moves at the speed of rulemaking20:45 Understanding regulatory arbitrage21:00 Same television, different rules21:45 Most regulatory arbitrage is perfectly legal22:00 But risk doesn't change just because the address does22:15 Why regulators are reconsidering what qualifies as a bond22:30 Show me what's inside the box, not the wrapping paper23:00 The rules are being rewritten — but the money is already there23:30 The mistake Washington may have made after 200824:00 You can't pass a law eliminating the desire to make money24:45 The campaign finance parallel25:00 We regulated the scene of the accident25:30 We get very good at preventing the last financial crisis26:00 Incentives work: if banks pull back, somebody else lends26:15 Maybe the behavior simply migrated27:15 The systemic stress test Chuck doesn't think we can pass27:45 Why the investigation is useful regardless of the outcome28:00 Looking through the legal boxes to the economics underneath28:30 Where the central argument lands29:15 What happens when something goes wrong? The honest answer29:30 The strongest case that nothing catastrophic happens30:00 Why private credit isn't structured like a bank run30:15 Longer-term liabilities and patient money30:45 Three ways this story could end31:00 Possibility one: Walter is the problem31:15 Possibility two: an extreme example of a manageable problem31:45 Possibility three: Walter is the X-ray32:00 What we do — and don't — have evidence of32:30 Being careful not to invent the next 200832:45 Where pressure could actually come from33:15 When patient money becomes less patient33:30 Other sources of insurance funding under stress33:45 Borrowing, credit lines, and reinsurance triggers34:00 Who else made a promise based on that valuation?34:15 Being fair to Delaware Life and Clear Spring34:45 The narrower question: how much stress can the cushions absorb?35:15 Back to the Lakers one last time35:45 Why you sell the thing you can sell36:00 What Chuck is and isn't ready to say36:30 If I had subpoena power: the reporting roadmap37:00 What open-source reporting can and can't do37:30 One: open the boxes and show the underlying assets37:45 Two: did the structure change the regulatory treatment?38:15 Schedule D vs. Schedule BA — show us the math38:30 Three: who graded the box, and on what information?38:45 Four: why did 3% become something vastly larger?39:00 Who made that judgment, and what changed after the subpoenas?39:30 Five: did the Lakers money actually matter?39:45 Six: how much stress can these insurers absorb?40:15 What we know, and what we don't40:30 The final test: what would make Chuck say he was too worried40:45 Show me the marks hold up41:15 "I'd love to make that podcast"41:30 What this story already tells us41:45 Coming back to Josh Kushner and the timing42:00 No evidence of a quid pro quo42:15 Why the political question is the smaller question42:45 The more consequential story43:00 The full thread: Lakers to Walter to Dodgers to private credit43:30 What we have and haven't established43:45 We reinforced the part of the house that burned down44:15 Every private equity firm wanted its own insurance company44:30 "Money always finds a way"45:00 The failure was assuming we'd solved the behavior45:15 Why this matters well beyond Wal

Chuck Todd unpacks David Crowley's astonishing photo-finish win over Francesca Hong in Wisconsin — a race Crowley dropped out of, re-entered with Tony Evers' backing, and then won by roughly 3,200 votes — and argues national Democrats are far more relieved than they'll ever admit. Had Hong won, she'd have become a face of the party while being forced to spend the fall answering for past statements about defunding police, abolishing prisons, and canceling Thanksgiving rather than talking about the economy, handing Republicans an absurdly easy story to tell. Chuck credits Tony Evers for refusing to fence-sit and mounting what amounted to an emergency rescue operation, while noting Crowley isn't remotely "establishment" — he came from genuinely modest roots and ran a campaign largely defined by what he wasn't. Chuck identifies Hong's central unforced error as nationalizing her race in the closing weeks, a fundraising-driven instinct in an era where media appearances increasingly function as fundraising appeals, forgetting that the national online audience and the local electorate are not the same people. Mamdani stayed disciplined and won; Hong drifted into boutique cultural debates and lost. But Chuck cautions against reading this as a repudiation of the left: Peggy Flanagan won in Minnesota, progressives are doing better this cycle than they have in years, and the 2027 House will be younger and slightly further left. The real structural lesson is that progressives struggle in higher-turnout and open primaries, still face a persistent obstacle with African American primary voters, and — most tellingly — keep getting rejected by the working-class voters they orient their entire message toward, which is more than a messaging glitch. Abdul El-Sayed emerges a quiet winner here, now much harder to lump in with the DSA, and Chuck notes that neither AOC nor Bernie ever endorsed Hong. The rest of the monologue is a run of results that keep pointing the same direction. Trump-endorsed candidates keep losing primaries: Mike Lindell was trounced in Minnesota, Darline Graham didn't clear a third of the vote and is no lock in her runoff, and Chuck's read is that Trump's grip is measurably slipping. Fourteen-term Congressman John Larson lost his primary, part of the highest incumbent-loss rate since 1970 — in a genuine wave, Chuck says, the House could see north of 25% turnover. On Iran, he echoes Chris Christie's warning that this war turns Trump into Jimmy Carter: Iran has issued a list of demands that amounts to an "F you" ransom note, is openly watching the American election calendar and timing its moves accordingly, and — just as in 1980 — the humiliation itself is the point. All of it, Chuck notes, was Trump's own choice. He closes somewhere unexpected: giving Mark Zuckerberg genuine credit. In his 6,500-word manifesto, Zuckerberg argued that the real danger of AI is the concentration of power, writing that hoping an absolute power will benevolently provide for humanity has historically never ended well — and committing Meta to a review process before models go public. Chuck notes the argument is being made by a deeply self-interested party and that the important parts got buried in what was really a debate with Sam Altman, but he singles out one thing worth emulating: Meta funneling data center tax revenue back into teacher bonuses and job training. Communities hosting this infrastructure have to win too, and he hopes more tech CEOs adopt that philosophy. Finally, Chuck reveals his ToddCast Top 5 list of biggest non-presidential primary upsets, which David Crowley’s win taking the top spot. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment and weighs in on the highly suspicious sale of the Los Angeles Lakers to Jared Kushner’s brother.   Thanks to our sponsors: Upgrade your everyday. Go to https://Quince.com/CHUCK for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.  For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 04:00 Unpacking David Crowley’s win over Francesca Hong in WI 04:45 Crowley got out, then back in to the race… yet still won 05:45 If Hong had won, she would have become a face of the Dem party 06:15 Hong had past statements that would have been problematic 07:15 She would have been forced to talk about Thanksgiving, not economics 08:15 Her win would have been an easy story for Republicans to tell 08:45 Abdul El-Sayed is a winner here, harder to be lumped in with DSA 10:00 National Democrats are more relieved than they will admit 11:00 Independents don’t want either party to let extremes take over 12:00 Democrats can make the distinction between themselves & socialism 13:30 The progressives didn’t blow it, Peggy Flannagan won in Minnesota 15:00 African-American primary voters remain an obstacle for progressives 16:30 Progressives gear toward working class voters, yet are rejected by them 17:30 Not winning working class voters is more than a messaging glitch 18:30 Structure of the primary has major impact on success of progressives 19:15 Progressives run into trouble in higher turnout primaries 20:30 Open primaries result in less extremist nominees 21:15 Hong’s big unforced error was campaigning nationally in final weeks 22:00 Nationalizing your race is about fundraising 22:45 Media appearances increasingly function as fundraising appearances 23:30 National online audience & local electorate aren’t the same people 24:15 Mamdani had a disciplined message & succeeded, Hong didn’t 25:00 Ideological candidates can win when the electorate agrees with them 26:00 Ideological movements forget they can sound weird to the normies 26:30 The establishment was dangerously close to screwing this up 28:15 The establishment side of the race was a chaotic mess 29:15 Tony Evers had to mount an emergency rescue operation for Crowley 30:30 David Crowley isn’t very “establishment”, came from modest roots 31:30 Tony Evers deserves credit for putting his capital behind Crowley 32:30 Notable AOC, Sanders and top progressives didn’t endorse Hong 33:45 Getting into boutique cultural debates ends up being a problem 34:30 In Michigan & Wisconsin, the campaigns that physically showed up won 36:15 If Crowley wins & El-Sayed loses, there will be a clear lesson for Dems 38:15 Tony Evers didn’t fence sit, he picked a side and it worked 40:00 Flannagan’s win dispels idea of total repudiation of progressives 42:00 Flannagan had establishment credentials while being progressive 42:30 Progressives aren’t running the table, but are doing better this cycle 43:15 The Democratic house in ‘27 will be younger & slightly further left 44:30 Crowley’s campaign was largely about what he wasn’t 46:00 There could be multiple demographic “first” Democratic governors 47:45 Could these new primary winners end up on a presidential ticket? 49:45 Progressives are doing better, but haven’t won control of the Dem party 50:45 Democrats can blunt the narrative that the socialists are taking over 51:15 Trump endorsed candidates keep losing their primaries 51:45 Mike Lindell was trounced in Minnesota primary 52:45 Trump endorsed Darline Graham didn’t get 1/3rd of the vote 53:15 Graham isn’t a shoo-in in the runoff 55:30 Trump’s endorsement isn’t a guaranteed win, his grip is slipping 57:00 14-term congressman John Larson loses his primary 57:45 Most incumbents have lost reelection this year since 1970 58:15 In a wave election, could see over 25% turnover of the House 59:30 Chris Christie says Iran war will turn Trump into Jimmy Carter 1:00:00 Iran is humiliating Trump, and it was all Trump’s choice 1:00:30 Iran issues list of demands, basically an “F You” ransom note 1:01:30 Iran are watching the American election calendar & acting accordingly 1:02:15 In 1980, the humiliation of Carter was the point, Iran sent a message 1:03:30 Mark Zuckerberg deserves credit for something he said 1:04:15 Zuckerberg argued that AI driven concentration of power is the danger 1:04:45 He says there’s no benevolent superintelligence held by one company 1:05:15 Committed to a review board to sign off on models before going public 1:05:45 At least the argument is being made… even if by a self-interested party 1:06:30 Revenue from Meta data centers has been paid to teachers & job training  1:07:15 Meta reinvesting in communities with data centers is the right model 1:08:00 The manifesto was a debate with Sam Altman, buried the important things 1:09:15 Hope more tech CEO’s share his philosophy. Communities have to win too 1:15:00 ToddCast Top 5 biggest non-presidential primary upsets 1:17:00 #5

Chuck Todd unpacks David Crowley's astonishing photo-finish win over Francesca Hong in Wisconsin — a race Crowley dropped out of, re-entered with Tony Evers' backing, and then won by roughly 3,200 votes — and argues national Democrats are far more relieved than they'll ever admit. Had Hong won, she'd have become a face of the party while being forced to spend the fall answering for past statements about defunding police, abolishing prisons, and canceling Thanksgiving rather than talking about the economy, handing Republicans an absurdly easy story to tell. Chuck credits Tony Evers for refusing to fence-sit and mounting what amounted to an emergency rescue operation, while noting Crowley isn't remotely "establishment" — he came from genuinely modest roots and ran a campaign largely defined by what he wasn't. Chuck identifies Hong's central unforced error as nationalizing her race in the closing weeks, a fundraising-driven instinct in an era where media appearances increasingly function as fundraising appeals, forgetting that the national online audience and the local electorate are not the same people. Mamdani stayed disciplined and won; Hong drifted into boutique cultural debates and lost. But Chuck cautions against reading this as a repudiation of the left: Peggy Flanagan won in Minnesota, progressives are doing better this cycle than they have in years, and the 2027 House will be younger and slightly further left. The real structural lesson is that progressives struggle in higher-turnout and open primaries, still face a persistent obstacle with African American primary voters, and — most tellingly — keep getting rejected by the working-class voters they orient their entire message toward, which is more than a messaging glitch. Abdul El-Sayed emerges a quiet winner here, now much harder to lump in with the DSA, and Chuck notes that neither AOC nor Bernie ever endorsed Hong. The rest of the monologue is a run of results that keep pointing the same direction. Trump-endorsed candidates keep losing primaries: Mike Lindell was trounced in Minnesota, Darline Graham didn't clear a third of the vote and is no lock in her runoff, and Chuck's read is that Trump's grip is measurably slipping. Fourteen-term Congressman John Larson lost his primary, part of the highest incumbent-loss rate since 1970 — in a genuine wave, Chuck says, the House could see north of 25% turnover. On Iran, he echoes Chris Christie's warning that this war turns Trump into Jimmy Carter: Iran has issued a list of demands that amounts to an "F you" ransom note, is openly watching the American election calendar and timing its moves accordingly, and — just as in 1980 — the humiliation itself is the point. All of it, Chuck notes, was Trump's own choice. He closes somewhere unexpected: giving Mark Zuckerberg genuine credit. In his 6,500-word manifesto, Zuckerberg argued that the real danger of AI is the concentration of power, writing that hoping an absolute power will benevolently provide for humanity has historically never ended well — and committing Meta to a review process before models go public. Chuck notes the argument is being made by a deeply self-interested party and that the important parts got buried in what was really a debate with Sam Altman, but he singles out one thing worth emulating: Meta funneling data center tax revenue back into teacher bonuses and job training. Communities hosting this infrastructure have to win too, and he hopes more tech CEOs adopt that philosophy. Then, Ben Wikler, the former Wisconsin Democratic Party chair and author of the new book This Is the Plan joins the Chuck Toddcast to argue that Democrats keep making the same category error: they keep winning change elections and then failing to deliver change, because they're trying to fix policy without first fixing the system that determines who gets to make policy. Wikler's framing is memorable and a little cheeky — you have to win the ring of power and then cast it into Mount Doom — but his point is serious. When the right wins power, it immediately restructures the system to entrench itself; Democrats win and then govern as though the rules are fixed. His plan runs through the state level, where free and fair elections are actually secured, and demands ending the filibuster and reforming the Supreme Court, including term limits for justices, because campaign finance reform is impossible without a Court willing to allow it. Wikler argues America is in the greatest period of political instability in its history, that inequality now exceeds the Gilded Age, that gerrymandering has left millions of people without a meaningful vote, and that both party bases increasingly want to fight more than they want to win — while swing and non-voters have simply given up on the system itself. He rejects the tired rebuilders-versus-renovators binary: FDR's Social Security pitch was a huge swing, incrementalism was the only path to Obamacare, and the actual art of politics is starting from values and vision and then figuring out what can pass. The conversation gets specific about Wisconsin and about trust. Wikler pushes back on the idea that Francesca Hong is too "Madison" for a statewide race, notes she's spent years traveling and listening across the state, and calls Tom Tiffany an election denier who is genuinely beatable in a cycle where affordability is the central issue. He and Chuck work through the puzzle of why Tony Evers' calm, steady approach succeeded where Biden's didn't — Evers came out forcefully against Dobbs, and, more fundamentally, you have to convince a majority of voters that government can actually work, which means doing what you said you'd do and then relentlessly telling people you did it. Wikler points to pandemic relief as the cautionary tale: those programs dramatically improved life for lower-income voters, the child tax credit cut child poverty in half, and then it all expired and Democrats got punished for the loss rather than credited for the gain — with an extension that had bipartisan support dying anyway, because the filibuster exists largely to deprive the other side of a win. He credits Ken Martin for investing in state parties, argues Democrats don't need a 50-state strategy so much as fifty different state strategies since the coalition looks different everywhere, and concedes that Trump has been the most successful Republican of this era, spawning an army of mini-mes modeling themselves on him. And yes, Chuck asks the obvious question — why not run for Senate yourself?  Finally, Chuck reveals his ToddCast Top 5 list of biggest non-presidential primary upsets, which David Crowley’s win taking the top spot. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment and weighs in on the highly suspicious sale of the Los Angeles Lakers to Jared Kushner’s brother.   Thanks to our sponsors: Upgrade your everyday. Go to https://Quince.com/CHUCK for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.  For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.    Timeline: 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 04:00 Unpacking David Crowley’s win over Francesca Hong in WI 04:45 Crowley got out, then back in to the race… yet still won 05:45 If Hong had won, she would have become a face of the Dem party 06:15 Hong had past statements that would have been problematic 07:15 She would have been forced to talk about Thanksgiving, not economics 08:15 Her win would have been an easy story for Republicans to tell 08:45 Abdul El-Sayed is a winner here, harder to be lumped in with DSA 10:00 National Democrats are more relieved than they will admit 11:00 Independents don’t want either party to let extremes take over 12:00 Democrats can make the distinction between themselves & socialism 13:30 The progressives didn’t blow it, Peggy Flannagan won in Minnesota 15:00 African-American primary voters remain an obstacle for progressives 16:30 Progressives gear toward working class voters, yet are rejected by them 17:30 Not winning working class voters is more than a messaging glitch 18:30 Structure of the primary has major impact on success of progressives 19:15 Progressives run into trouble in higher turnout primaries 20:30 Open primaries result in less extremist nominees 21:15 Hong’s big unforced error was campaigning nationally in final weeks 22:00 Nationalizing your race is about fundraising 22:45 Media appearances increasingly function as fundraising appearances 23:30 National online audience & local electorate aren’t the same people 24:15 Mamdani had a disciplined message & succeeded, Hong didn’t 25:00 Ideological candidates can win when the electorate agrees with them 26:00 Ideological movements forget they can sound weird to the normies 26:30 The

Ben Wikler, the former Wisconsin Democratic Party chair and author of the new book This Is the Plan joins the Chuck Toddcast to argue that Democrats keep making the same category error: they keep winning change elections and then failing to deliver change, because they're trying to fix policy without first fixing the system that determines who gets to make policy. Wikler's framing is memorable and a little cheeky — you have to win the ring of power and then cast it into Mount Doom — but his point is serious. When the right wins power, it immediately restructures the system to entrench itself; Democrats win and then govern as though the rules are fixed. His plan runs through the state level, where free and fair elections are actually secured, and demands ending the filibuster and reforming the Supreme Court, including term limits for justices, because campaign finance reform is impossible without a Court willing to allow it. Wikler argues America is in the greatest period of political instability in its history, that inequality now exceeds the Gilded Age, that gerrymandering has left millions of people without a meaningful vote, and that both party bases increasingly want to fight more than they want to win — while swing and non-voters have simply given up on the system itself. He rejects the tired rebuilders-versus-renovators binary: FDR's Social Security pitch was a huge swing, incrementalism was the only path to Obamacare, and the actual art of politics is starting from values and vision and then figuring out what can pass. The conversation gets specific about Wisconsin and about trust. Wikler pushes back on the idea that Francesca Hong is too "Madison" for a statewide race, notes she's spent years traveling and listening across the state, and calls Tom Tiffany an election denier who is genuinely beatable in a cycle where affordability is the central issue. He and Chuck work through the puzzle of why Tony Evers' calm, steady approach succeeded where Biden's didn't — Evers came out forcefully against Dobbs, and, more fundamentally, you have to convince a majority of voters that government can actually work, which means doing what you said you'd do and then relentlessly telling people you did it. Wikler points to pandemic relief as the cautionary tale: those programs dramatically improved life for lower-income voters, the child tax credit cut child poverty in half, and then it all expired and Democrats got punished for the loss rather than credited for the gain — with an extension that had bipartisan support dying anyway, because the filibuster exists largely to deprive the other side of a win. He credits Ken Martin for investing in state parties, argues Democrats don't need a 50-state strategy so much as fifty different state strategies since the coalition looks different everywhere, and concedes that Trump has been the most successful Republican of this era, spawning an army of mini-mes modeling themselves on him. And yes, Chuck asks the obvious question — why not run for Senate yourself?    Thanks to the sponsors of The Chuck ToddCast: Upgrade your everyday. Go to https://Quince.com/CHUCK for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.  For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.    Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Ben Wikler joins The Chuck ToddCast 01:00 Ben’s new book is “This Is The Plan” 01:15 What is the plan? 01:45 To get political change we need, we need to change the system 02:30 To secure free & fair elections, need to win at the state level 03:00 We need an end to the filibuster and Supreme Court reform 03:45 There’s no one office or candidate to get us out of this mess 05:45 We need to win the ring of power, then cast it into Mount Doom 06:15 When the right wins power, they immediately change systems 07:15 We keep having change elections, then not getting change 09:30 We’re in the greatest period of political instability in American history 12:30 Both party bases want to fight more than want to win 13:30 We’re so gerrymandered, people don’t really get a vote 15:00 Swing/Non voters have given up on the system itself 19:30 Are rebuilders or renovators going to win the argument? 20:00 FDR’s social security pitch was a big swing 22:30 Incrimentalism was the only way to pass Obamacare 23:15 The art of politics is values/vision, then figure out what can actually pass 24:15 A party should be able to change laws, then face the voters 25:30 Need to reform the Supreme Court to reform campaign finance laws 26:15 Advocate for term limits for Supreme Court justices in the book 26:45 Inequality is now worse than it was during the Gilded Age 28:00 Is Francesca Hong too “Madison” of a candidate for Wisconsin gov? 28:45 Hong has been traveling the state & listening for years 29:45 Wisconsin Dem gov primary has been topsy turvy 30:45 Tom Tiffany is an election denier & beatable candidate 32:00 Affordability is the central issue this election cycle 34:45 Why did “calming the waters” work for Tony Evers, but not Joe Biden? 35:30 Evers came out very strongly against Dobbs 36:15 You have to convince a majority of the public that government works 38:15 Trust is earned by doing what you say you’ll do, then highlighting it 39:45 Pandemic relief had a massive positive effect on lower income voters 40:15 Those programs stopped, and voters punished Dems for it 41:00 Child tax credit cut child poverty in half, great accomplishment for Dems 41:30 There was bipartisan support for extended tax credit, still didn’t get done 42:00 Filibuster is used to deprive the other side from getting a win 44:30 Politicians can lay out a succession plan, but voters get their say 46:00 Politicians are limited in setting out a succession plan 47:30 How big should the Democratic tent be?  48:30 The coalition looks different in different states 50:00 Donald Trump has been the most successful GOP politician of this era 50:45 Every Republican politician looks to Trump as the model 51:15 Trump has created an army of “mini-mes” 53:00 What Ken Martin is doing right: Building state parties 55:45 Democrats don’t need a 50 state strategy, they need 50 state strategies 56:45 You build a local brand through your actions over time 57:30 When did you first think about running for office? 59:30 Support Tammy Baldwin’s bill to provide live Packers games 1:01:00 Most excited about Jordan Love in the upcoming season 1:02:15 Why wouldn’t you run for the senate? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With 84 days to the midterms and a six-state primary night ahead, Chuck Todd and Chris Cillizza open on Chuck's least-hedged read of the cycle: Democrats haven't had a good summer, but Republicans have had a worse one, and every macro trend points to something in the neighborhood of 30 House seats and six or seven Senate seats. The only thing holding him back from calling it a pasting is the Democratic brand problem — and they dig into the polling behind it, including why Hillary Clinton's warning that the socialism-and-communism attack could land is worth taking seriously. That leads to the sharpest segment of the episode: whether Abdul El-Sayed needs to give a version of the Kennedy "I don't work for the Pope" or Obama race speech about being a Muslim American, why the traditional consultant advice to ignore it is wrong, and where he'd give it. They then flip the question to the other side, asking whether Josh Shapiro, Jon Ossoff, Rahm Emanuel, or JB Pritzker will face a parallel demand to publicly separate loyalty to the Constitution from loyalty to Israel. The back half is a clinic in reading political spin. Tim Scott's claim that Republicans will hold 54 Senate seats prompts a broader riff on why partisans now get punished for telling the truth, and why both the political industry and the media have built incentives against saying what's obvious. They break down AOC's remarkable weekend — announcing she's freezing her eggs, then telling Jon Karl she hasn't ruled out 2028 — and what it signals about staking a claim to the progressive lane before El-Sayed can. Chuck makes the case that parenthood is a real asset in presidential politics, and they assess whether Ossoff, now climbing the prediction markets, has the hunger and stamina for it, plus why Shapiro sometimes reads as a try-hard. They close with a genuinely angry exchange about Bill Cassidy's Blanche vote, the threats reshaping how senators vote, and a Nats-and-Reds baseball detour. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 84 days out and a six-state primary night ahead 00:45 Previewing the primaries 01:37 Republicans had a worse summer than Democrats 02:49 Trump makes it harder. Congress did nothing to earn reelection 03:14 Why the macro says 30 House seats and 6-7 Senate seats 04:02 Does the nominee even matter in an environment this bad? 05:14 Hillary Clinton's warning about the socialism-communism attack 06:14 In wave years, the losing party always thinks it's found a lifeline 06:45 Where the communism attack could actually work  08:27 Did "Comrade Kamala" actually help Trump in 2024? 09:42 The attack only lands if a seed has already been planted 10:47 The mailbag question: Islamophobia in the Michigan race 11:11 Using El-Sayed's full name isn't even a dog whistle 12:10 Should El-Sayed give an Islam speech? 12:55 Why the consultant advice — stay on affordability — is wrong here 14:13 The Obama-and-Reverend-Wright precedent 15:45 Mike Rogers, Hassan Piker & a false attribution in circulation 17:24 Jackie Robinson, Kennedy, and breaking barriers 20:15 The flip side: will a Jewish candidate face the same demand? 22:10 The line each of them may have to draw on Netanyahu 23:02 Fever swamp vs. what voters actually care about 23:33 The insulting premise, and the Catholic parallel from the 1950s 25:05 Tim Scott tells Manu Raju Republicans will have 54 seats 26:51 Why partisans now get punished for telling the truth 28:49 Scott on Paxton, and what you're required to say out loud 30:42 Why they do the live streams — no election-night patty cake 31:47 The rare politicians who still say it plainly 32:41 AOC announces she's freezing her eggs 33:26 AOC says she's open to 2028 34:45 The El-Sayed factor: a swing-state progressive with more juice 36:23 Chuck's argument: you're a stronger candidate if you're a parent 37:52 Bush, Obama, Biden & families as political assets 38:51 Even Trump's kids softened him in 2016 41:08 The Howard Stern statistic about listeners who hate you 41:24 Ossoff passes Newsom in the Kalshi and Polymarket 2028 odds 42:10 Why Ossoff clearly has the ambition 44:08 Ossoff and Pritzker could bridge the party's divide 45:17 Pritzker's own money and his own record 46:07 Does Mark Kelly have the hunger? Does Wes Moore? 47:47 Where Shapiro crosses from wanting it to trying too hard 48:28 Des Moines in November, and why nobody likes a try-hard 49:18 Cassidy & Blanche  50:40 The part that doesn't get reported: threats to families 51:21 You signed up to put the public ahead of yourself 53:15 Trump tells Punchbowl the voters are angry at Republicans, not him 53:46 Will he actually spend the super PAC money?  54:04 The truth-serum question: would Trump rather be replaced by a Democrat? 54:20 Nats sweep the Reds 55:32 What is wrong with the Cincinnati Reds? 57:42 The Nats' 34-year-old analytics manager See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with the Greenland oil expedition, an episode so strange it borders on parody: an American oil company drilling in defiance of another country's laws, with Trump's blessing, and — the detail that breaks the brain — Dr. Phil hired to document the whole thing. It's a fitting overture for a week in which the Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as Attorney General 50-49 at four in the morning before fleeing town for recess, with only Collins and Murkowski defecting. Chuck admits he was wrong; he never thought Blanche would actually get there. What galls him is the surrender it represents. Bill Cassidy's rationale — that Trump "needs someone to tell him no" — is laughable given that Blanche has said outright that the rule of law belongs to Trump and the DOJ won't be independent. John Cornyn's shrug that "there's nothing we can do to rein in the president" is, Chuck argues, the confession of a coward: senators possess the authority and simply refuse to use it, giving away what little leverage they had. The debate has now been reduced to whether the Attorney General is the people's lawyer or the president's. Then takes on the question of why Democratic voters keep rewarding progressives whose politics they don't actually share, and his answer is that half the Democratic electorate did not suddenly become socialist — they're furious about 2024, and specifically about leadership deciding the nominee for them. They didn't dislike Harris; they wanted a choice, and they'd watched the establishment coalesce around Biden in 2020 to produce a presidency that ended with Trump's return. Progressives are the only Democrats willing to say the party screwed up, and voters will give you enormous latitude on the cure if they trust your diagnosis. Chuck illustrates it with a Washington Post story about the Conn brass instrument factory in Ohio, bought by Trump-supporting, tariff-championing investor John Paulson and now closing as production moves offshore — where the disillusioned employees don't plan to vote at all, because they feel the system has failed them for decades. He believes the opening in American politics right now isn't centrism, it's breaking up an establishment that voters believe is more worried about losing donors than losing their votes. He wonders aloud whether the answer is a military leader — he's intrigued by retired General Chris Donahue, essentially Captain America on paper, pushed out by Trump and Hegseth, with credibility across the aisle. Americans are exhausted by being told the other half of the country is the bad guy, they're desperate for honesty and a reboot of a captured government, and the space is wide open for someone to fill it. But Chuck’s closing caution matters: the system is badly screwed up, and that still isn't a reason to burn it all down. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit two different but related events: the signing of the Social Security Act by FDR, and Richard Nixon announcing price and wage controls to combat inflation. Chuck argues that America has always flirted with socialism even if we call it by another name. He also answers listeners questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.  Upgrade your everyday. Go to https://Quince.com/CHUCK for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.  For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 00:30 Trump’s crazy Greenland oil adventure  01:15 Trump is just ignoring the laws of another country 01:45 Craziest detail is oil company hired Dr. Phil to document the expedition 02:15 Trump has gone out of his way to alienate European allies 02:45 Oprah gave us Dr. Oz & Dr. Phil… which is not a good thing 06:45 U.S. senate leaves town for recess after passing funding bill 07:15 Todd Blanche is now the confirmed AG for the United States 08:00 Republicans passed none of the things they said are priorities 09:00 GOP has a trifecta and still can’t get anything done 10:00 Was wrong about Blanche, didn’t think he’d actually get confirmed 10:45 Confirmed 50-49, not surprising Collins & Murkowski defected 11:45 Cassidy’s rationale was “Trump needs someone to tell him no” 12:15 Cassidy’s rationale is laughable 13:15 Even Bill Barr had a line he wouldn’t cross with Trump 14:45 The senate gave away what little leverage they have with Trump 16:00 John Cornyn says “there’s nothing we can do to rein in the president” 16:30 These Republicans are cowards, won’t exercise their authority* 17:00 These senators need to do their job 18:00 Blanche said the rule of law belongs to Trump, DOJ won’t be independent 19:00 Debate is now if AG is the people’s lawyer or the president’s lawyer 19:45 If he were alive, Trump would have nominated Roy Cohn 20:30 You don’t want presidents deciding who gets investigated 21:30 Trump got involved with Reflecting Pool vandal case THIS WEEK 22:30 Trump’s entire life has been about wearing people down 23:15 Republicans have politicized DOJ more than any previous admin 23:45 MAGA’s premise is that two wrongs do make a right 24:15 Does anybody in congress understand the constitution? 25:30 Confirming Blanche will cause more public distrust in DOJ 26:30 Founders never wanted the president to determine rule of law 27:00 Senate didn’t get crypto or college sports bill passed before recess 27:45 Republicans claim SAVE act is existential, didn’t pass it 28:45 Why do voters entertain progressives that don’t align with them? 29:15 Half the democratic electorate didn’t suddenly become socialist 30:30 Democratic voters are pissed off, think party messed up in 2024 31:00 Voters are mad leadership decided who the ‘24 nominee would be 31:30 Voters didn’t dislike Harris, but they wanted a choice 32:30 In 2020, the establishment coalesced around Biden 33:15 Biden’s presidency was a failure since it resulted in Trump returning 34:00 Progressives are the only Dems saying the party screwed up 35:30 Like Trump, the progressives are saying leadership is full of shit 36:15 Voters will give you latitude on the cure if they trust your diagnosis 37:00 WaPo story about Conn factory closing & private equity 38:00 Factory is in Ohio, been making brass instruments 38:45 Factory is closing and laying off all the employees 39:30 Conn was bought by John Paulson, Trump supporter who supports tariffs 40:30 Paulson is moving production offshore after arguing against it 42:00 Plant employees were completely disillusioned with politics 43:00 Employees feel like the system has left them down for decades, won’t vote 44:30 Romney’s loss was due to millions of white voters sitting out entirely 45:15 Trump’s appeal brought those voters back into the electorate 47:15 Voters reward candidates that can diagnose & call out their problems 48:00 Trump proved politically dormant voters can be reactivated 48:30 There’s always a third destination for voters… the couch 49:00 If the two parties don’t reform themselves, they risk being replaced 50:15 The opening isn’t centrism, it’s breaking up the establishment 51:15 Politics requires huge amounts of money, results in capture 52:15 Voters believe reps are more worried about losing donors than their vote 53:00 Competence and morality are not the same thing in politics 53:45 Leaders need to admit that they screwed everything up 54:30 Americans are desperate for a reset & are embracing revolutionaries 55:00 A military leader might be exactly what we need in next president 55:45 Intrigued by retired general Chris Donahue & his resume 56:45 Donahue is basically Captain America & was forced out by Trump & Hegseth 58:15 Someone like Donahue could have the credibility across the aisle 59:30 Politics won’t acknowledge failure if they think it helps the other side 1:00:00 Americans are desperate for honesty & morality in politics 1:01:15 It’s exhausting being told the other half of America is the bad guys 1:03:15 Voters want to preserve the Republic, but don’t trust the leadership 1:04:00 Voters want a reboot, and a government that isn’t captured 1:05:00 The political space is waiting for someone to fill this vacuum 1:06:00 The system is screwed up, but we shouldn’t burn it all down 1:11:00 ToddCast Time Machine - Where America embraces socialism 1:12:30 Socialist policies have come from presidents of both parties 1:13:45 FDR signs the Social Security Act - Nixon announces price & wage controls 1:14:45 Americans worry about prosperity, not ideological consistency 1:17:15 Capitalism was being questioned after the Great Depression 1:17:45 FDR wanted to repair, not replace capitalism 1:18:30 Social Security starte

Chuck Todd opens with the Greenland oil expedition, an episode so strange it borders on parody: an American oil company drilling in defiance of another country's laws, with Trump's blessing, and — the detail that breaks the brain — Dr. Phil hired to document the whole thing. It's a fitting overture for a week in which the Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as Attorney General 50-49 at four in the morning before fleeing town for recess, with only Collins and Murkowski defecting. Chuck admits he was wrong; he never thought Blanche would actually get there. What galls him is the surrender it represents. Bill Cassidy's rationale — that Trump "needs someone to tell him no" — is laughable given that Blanche has said outright that the rule of law belongs to Trump and the DOJ won't be independent. John Cornyn's shrug that "there's nothing we can do to rein in the president" is, Chuck argues, the confession of a coward: senators possess the authority and simply refuse to use it, giving away what little leverage they had. The debate has now been reduced to whether the Attorney General is the people's lawyer or the president's. Then takes on the question of why Democratic voters keep rewarding progressives whose politics they don't actually share, and his answer is that half the Democratic electorate did not suddenly become socialist — they're furious about 2024, and specifically about leadership deciding the nominee for them. They didn't dislike Harris; they wanted a choice, and they'd watched the establishment coalesce around Biden in 2020 to produce a presidency that ended with Trump's return. Progressives are the only Democrats willing to say the party screwed up, and voters will give you enormous latitude on the cure if they trust your diagnosis. Chuck illustrates it with a Washington Post story about the Conn brass instrument factory in Ohio, bought by Trump-supporting, tariff-championing investor John Paulson and now closing as production moves offshore — where the disillusioned employees don't plan to vote at all, because they feel the system has failed them for decades. He believes the opening in American politics right now isn't centrism, it's breaking up an establishment that voters believe is more worried about losing donors than losing their votes. He wonders aloud whether the answer is a military leader — he's intrigued by retired General Chris Donahue, essentially Captain America on paper, pushed out by Trump and Hegseth, with credibility across the aisle. Americans are exhausted by being told the other half of the country is the bad guy, they're desperate for honesty and a reboot of a captured government, and the space is wide open for someone to fill it. But Chuck’s closing caution matters: the system is badly screwed up, and that still isn't a reason to burn it all down. Then, Oscar-nominated documentarian Rory Kennedy joins the Chuck Toddcast to discuss Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing, her Netflix follow-up to 2022's Downfall premiering August 19th — a film built around the death of whistleblower John Barnett and the current and former employees who came forward after it. Kennedy's central finding is damning in its simplicity: at the end of Downfall, Boeing swore it had learned its lesson and changed its ways. It hadn't. More incidents followed, whistleblowers reached out to tell her conditions had actually gotten worse, and she says she believes Boeing bears responsibility for Barnett's death. Kennedy walks Chuck through the structural rot she sees behind the headlines — a near-total lack of competition, a revolving door between the FAA and the company it's supposed to regulate, a McDonnell Douglas merger that reoriented the entire culture around quarterly earnings instead of engineering excellence, and the decision to leave Seattle in search of a non-union workforce — which matters enormously, she notes, because unions are what give workers real whistleblower protection. Boeing is simultaneously one of the most heavily subsidized companies in American history and, right now, one that isn't being held accountable in any meaningful way. Kennedy is unusually direct about the practical takeaway: she won't fly on a 737 MAX and actively chooses flights on other aircraft, pointing out the counterintuitive reality that older model planes are often the safer bet — a consumer shift that has hit budget airlines hardest. She and Chuck get into the incidents that never made national news, including oxygen masks that failed to work, and she's blunt that the Trump administration hasn't provided anything resembling adequate regulatory oversight while families of the 346 crash victims are still fighting to hold the company responsible. Kennedy sees this fall's elections as a genuine chance to put people in place who care about the flying public, and reflects candidly on how she's feeling about American politics generally — that this administration is making choices that are hurting a lot of people. There's also a lovely detour into Ethel, her documentary about her mother, which she says holds a special place in her heart, plus a look at what she's working on next. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit two different but related events: the signing of the Social Security Act by FDR, and Richard Nixon announcing price and wage controls to combat inflation. Chuck argues that America has always flirted with socialism even if we call it by another name. He also answers listeners questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.  Upgrade your everyday. Go to https://Quince.com/CHUCK for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.    Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.    For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.    Timeline: 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 00:30 Trump’s crazy Greenland oil adventure  01:15 Trump is just ignoring the laws of another country 01:45 Craziest detail is oil company hired Dr. Phil to document the expedition 02:15 Trump has gone out of his way to alienate European allies 02:45 Oprah gave us Dr. Oz & Dr. Phil… which is not a good thing 06:45 U.S. senate leaves town for recess after passing funding bill 07:15 Todd Blanche is now the confirmed AG for the United States 08:00 Republicans passed none of the things they said are priorities 09:00 GOP has a trifecta and still can’t get anything done 10:00 Was wrong about Blanche, didn’t think he’d actually get confirmed 10:45 Confirmed 50-49, not surprising Collins & Murkowski defected 11:45 Cassidy’s rationale was “Trump needs someone to tell him no” 12:15 Cassidy’s rationale is laughable 13:15 Even Bill Barr had a line he wouldn’t cross with Trump 14:45 The senate gave away what little leverage they have with Trump 16:00 John Cornyn says “there’s nothing we can do to rein in the president” 16:30 These Republicans are cowards, won’t exercise their authority* 17:00 These senators need to do their job 18:00 Blanche said the rule of law belongs to Trump, DOJ won’t be independent 19:00 Debate is now if AG is the people’s lawyer or the president’s lawyer 19:45 If he were alive, Trump would have nominated Roy Cohn 20:30 You don’t want presidents deciding who gets investigated 21:30 Trump got involved with Reflecting Pool vandal case THIS WEEK 22:30 Trump’s entire life has been about wearing people down 23:15 Republicans have politicized DOJ more than any previous admin 23:45 MAGA’s premise is that two wrongs do make a right 24:15 Does anybody in congress understand the constitution? 25:30 Confirming Blanche will cause more public distrust in DOJ 26:30 Founders never wanted the president to determine rule of law 27:00 Senate didn’t get crypto or college sports bill passed before recess 27:45 Republicans claim SAVE act is existential, didn’t pass it 28:45 Why do voters entertain progressives that don’t align with them? 29:15 Half the democratic electorate didn’t suddenly become socialist 30:30 Democratic voters are pissed off, think party messed up in 2024 31:00 Voters are mad leadership decided who the ‘24 nominee would be 31:30 Voters didn’t dislike Harris, but they wanted a choice 32:30 In 2020, the establishment coalesced around Biden 33:15 Biden’s presidency was a failure since it resulted in Trump returning 34:00 Progressives are the only Dems saying the party screwed up 35:30 Like Trump, the progressives are saying leadership is full of shit 36:15 Voters will give you latitude on the cure if they trust your diagnosis 37:00 WaPo story about Conn factory closing & private equity 38:00 Factory is in Ohio, been making brass instruments 38:45 Factory is closing and laying off all the employees 39:30 Conn was bought by John Paulson, Trump supporter who supports tariffs 40:30 Paulson is moving product

Oscar-nominated documentarian Rory Kennedy joins the Chuck Toddcast to discuss Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing, her Netflix follow-up to 2022's Downfall premiering August 19th — a film built around the death of whistleblower John Barnett and the current and former employees who came forward after it. Kennedy's central finding is damning in its simplicity: at the end of Downfall, Boeing swore it had learned its lesson and changed its ways. It hadn't. More incidents followed, whistleblowers reached out to tell her conditions had actually gotten worse, and she says she believes Boeing bears responsibility for Barnett's death. Kennedy walks Chuck through the structural rot she sees behind the headlines — a near-total lack of competition, a revolving door between the FAA and the company it's supposed to regulate, a McDonnell Douglas merger that reoriented the entire culture around quarterly earnings instead of engineering excellence, and the decision to leave Seattle in search of a non-union workforce — which matters enormously, she notes, because unions are what give workers real whistleblower protection. Boeing is simultaneously one of the most heavily subsidized companies in American history and, right now, one that isn't being held accountable in any meaningful way. Kennedy is unusually direct about the practical takeaway: she won't fly on a 737 MAX and actively chooses flights on other aircraft, pointing out the counterintuitive reality that older model planes are often the safer bet — a consumer shift that has hit budget airlines hardest. She and Chuck get into the incidents that never made national news, including oxygen masks that failed to work, and she's blunt that the Trump administration hasn't provided anything resembling adequate regulatory oversight while families of the 346 crash victims are still fighting to hold the company responsible. Kennedy sees this fall's elections as a genuine chance to put people in place who care about the flying public, and reflects candidly on how she's feeling about American politics generally — that this administration is making choices that are hurting a lot of people. There's also a lovely detour into Ethel, her documentary about her mother, which she says holds a special place in her heart, plus a look at what she's working on next. Upgrade your everyday. Go to https://Quince.com/CHUCK for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.    Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.    For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.    Timeline: 00:00 Rory Kennedy (Freefall) joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:30 Documentary “Ethel” about her mother holds special place in her heart 02:30 It became evident that Boeing knew about faulty systems on 737 MAX 03:15 Boeing swore they’d change, then more incidents happened 04:15 Believe Boeing is responsible for whistleblower John Barnett’s death 06:15 Lack of competition is one of the reasons Boeing has been sloppy 07:15 There’s a revolving door between the FAA and Boeing 09:00 Are Boeing’s problems coming from a single source, or multiple? 10:45 Boeing has long been a foundational American company 11:30 Parts for Boeing planes come from all over the world 13:00 Whistleblowers reached out to say problems had gotten worse 14:00 Right now, Boeing isn’t being held accountable 14:30 Haven’t seen Boeing make significant changes 16:15 Focus on profits and quarterly earnings outweighed safety 17:00 Boeing is one of the most subsidized companies in US history 18:00 McDonell-Douglas merger has contributed to Boeing’s downfall 20:30 Wouldn’t fly on a 737 Max and choose flights on other planes 23:00 Consumers choosing not to fly on the 737 Max hurt budget airlines 24:00 Older model planes are actually safer 25:30 Decision to leave Seattle was to find a non-union workforce 26:45 Unions protect workers, give them whistleblower protection 28:00 Airbus is a better run company than Boeing 29:30 Boeing and Airbus are the only two options  31:45 The Trump administration hasn’t provided proper regulation for Boeing 32:15 Families of crash victims are still trying to hold Boeing responsible 35:15 Elections this fall could put people in place who care about the public 36:45 Incidents where the oxygen masks weren’t working 38:30 How are you feeling about politics these days? 39:00 Administration is making choices that are hurting a lot of people 40:30 What projects do you have coming up next? 43:00 Had a screening at Boeing with top executives See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd breaks down a primary night that scrambled the Senate map, starting in Michigan where Abdul El-Sayed edged Rep. Haley Stevens by roughly 20,000 votes — overcoming a nearly 8-to-1 spending disadvantage in what became the most expensive Senate primary in American history. He argues the narrow margin was actually the best thing that could have happened to El-Sayed, and while Michigan is now a harder general election for Democrats against Mike Rogers, El-Sayed can absolutely win it. The most fascinating data point buried in the results: El-Sayed carried Grand Rapids and Kent County, a place that was solidly Republican for decades, evidence that there's a growing white progressive vote reshaping the Midwest. He pushes back on the sloppy way analysts label party factions, preferring "movement" versus "governing" factions to the usual progressive-moderate shorthand, notes that electability is always situational, and cautions that money makes races competitive without guaranteeing wins. He flags that Wisconsin is now the next big test, where nobody should assume Francesca Hong runs away with it. He also spotlights results that flew under the radar: pastor Adam Hamilton beat ten other Democrats to become nominee Republicans will struggle to caricature against Roger Marshall, meaning Kansas joins Iowa as a genuine pickup opportunity in a cycle where Trump's tariffs have wrecked agricultural states. Republicans, meanwhile, leaned into Islamophobia against El-Sayed on day one, which Chuck suspects could badly boomerang. He argues the GOP would love to be rid of Max Miller, whose personal issues could drag down Bernie Moreno, though even replacing him may cost the GOP three to five points — and closes on the surreal spectacle of a president losing an increasingly global war while obsessing over his reflecting pool: Jeanine Pirro thought she could say one thing publicly and another in court, Trump says she "choked" when really she choked on reality, and Chuck’s read is that Trump wanted a headline more than a case, may be lashing out precisely because he's lost control of everything else, is desperate to get out of Iran, and might find that handing over the Strait is the least humiliating option left — all while his grip on his own voters keeps weakening.  Finally Chuck presents his ToddCast Top 5 most vulnerable Democratic seats… and couldn’t make it to 5. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.  Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.  Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /*Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.    Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 04:45 Review of Tuesday’s primary results 05:30 Michigan now harder for Dems in general, but El-Sayed can win 06:30 Wisconsin primary will be next big test of divide in Democratic party 08:45 Almost losing was the best thing that could have happened to El-Sayed 09:30 Republicans don’t have many senate pickup opportunities 11:30 El-Sayed’s winning margin will be less than 20k votes13:00 El-Sayed won the race in Grand Rapids 14:15 Kent county was solidly Republican for decades 16:30 The moderate/Gerald Ford Republicans aren’t voting for the GOP 17:30 There’s a growing white, progressive vote 19:45 In 2016 many people voted for Bernie out of protest for Clinton 20:30 Fascinating that Grand Rapids became a progressive stronghold 23:00 Analysts have a hard time characterizing factions inside parties 23:45 Prefer the label of “movement” vs. “governing” factions 24:45 Electability depends on the state and the situation 25:15 Money makes races more competitive, doesn’t guarantee victory 27:30 Progressives will need a crowded primary in 2028 to win 29:15 Don’t assume Francesca Hong will run away in Dem primary in WI 31:45 Big questions loom over Wisconsin primary 33:15 Some big results in Kansas flew under the radar 34:45 Founders didn’t want judges to be elected & subject to voters 35:15 Kansas rejected elections for state Supreme Court 36:30 On day one, Republicans leaned into Islamophobia against El-Sayed 37:00 The Islamophobia could boomerang on Republicans 37:45 Dems keep putting more senate seats in play, Kansas is now one 38:15 Adam Hamilton is pastor of huge church in Kansas\ 39:00 Hamilton has been a bridge builder, and beat 10 other Dems 39:45 Republicans will have a hard time making a caricature of Hamilton 40:30 Hamilton will have an unusual constituency going into the race 41:30 Roger Marshall has never had a stress test in a general election 43:00 Trump’s tariffs have caused huge problems in agriculture states 44:30 Iowa and Kansas are real pickup chances for Democrats 46:00 Missouri voters sent a message on the issue of taxes 46:45 Trump has long wanted to scrap income taxes 47:30 Voters reject a high sales tax replacing income tax 49:00 Tax credits for the KC Chiefs stadium was a political loser 49:30 Voters don’t like subsidizing rich people 50:00 More stories of Republican men behaving badly 50:15 Republicans would love to get rid of Max Miller 50:45 Trump always sides with the accused over the women 51:30 Max Miller has serious personal issues 52:45 Miller could have hurt Bernie Moreno politically 53:45 Multiple disgraced former members of congress in same race in Florida 55:00 Even if Miller is replaced, the party could face a 3-5 point penalty 55:45 Iran war is going sideways & Trump is worried about Reflecting Pool 56:30 Jeanine Pirro thought she could say one thing in public & another in court 57:15 Trump says she “choked”... she choked on reality 58:00 Trump doesn’t care the facts didn’t meet the case, wanted a headline 58:30 Maybe he’s angry because he’s lost control of everything else, like Iran 59:30 Trump is desperate to get out of the war 1:00:30 Chance of the war going global is uncomfortably high 1:01:30 Trump handing over the Strait might be least humiliating option 1:02:00 Reflecting pool may be the thing Trump feels he has control over 1:02:45 Trump’s grip on his voters has weakened 1:08:00 ToddCast Top 5 Vulnerable Democratic Held Seats 1:10:45 #1 Kansas governor 1:12:15 #2 Michigan senate 1:14:00 #3 Oregon governor 1:15:15 #4 Wisconsin governor 1:16:45 #5 None - There aren’t that many vulnerable Dem seats 1:19:45 Ask Chuck 1:20:00 Is presidential health the only thing an administration can hide? 1:23:30 Thoughts on the World Cup & sportsmanship displayed? 1:25:00 Thoughts on the Fauci hearings? 1:32:00 Do bipartisan letters to the White House actually work? 1:34:30 Has politics discouraged a better investigation into the Butler shooting? 1:38:45 Does growing physical separation between public & leaders heighten their bubble? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd breaks down a primary night that scrambled the Senate map, starting in Michigan where Abdul El-Sayed edged Rep. Haley Stevens by roughly 20,000 votes — overcoming a nearly 8-to-1 spending disadvantage in what became the most expensive Senate primary in American history. He argues the narrow margin was actually the best thing that could have happened to El-Sayed, and while Michigan is now a harder general election for Democrats against Mike Rogers, El-Sayed can absolutely win it. The most fascinating data point buried in the results: El-Sayed carried Grand Rapids and Kent County, a place that was solidly Republican for decades, evidence that there's a growing white progressive vote reshaping the Midwest. He pushes back on the sloppy way analysts label party factions, preferring "movement" versus "governing" factions to the usual progressive-moderate shorthand, notes that electability is always situational, and cautions that money makes races competitive without guaranteeing wins. He flags that Wisconsin is now the next big test, where nobody should assume Francesca Hong runs away with it. He also spotlights results that flew under the radar: pastor Adam Hamilton beat ten other Democrats to become nominee Republicans will struggle to caricature against Roger Marshall, meaning Kansas joins Iowa as a genuine pickup opportunity in a cycle where Trump's tariffs have wrecked agricultural states. Republicans, meanwhile, leaned into Islamophobia against El-Sayed on day one, which Chuck suspects could badly boomerang. He argues the GOP would love to be rid of Max Miller, whose personal issues could drag down Bernie Moreno, though even replacing him may cost the GOP three to five points — and closes on the surreal spectacle of a president losing an increasingly global war while obsessing over his reflecting pool: Jeanine Pirro thought she could say one thing publicly and another in court, Trump says she "choked" when really she choked on reality, and Chuck’s read is that Trump wanted a headline more than a case, may be lashing out precisely because he's lost control of everything else, is desperate to get out of Iran, and might find that handing over the Strait is the least humiliating option left — all while his grip on his own voters keeps weakening.  Then, writer-director Michael Russell Gunn joins the Chuck Toddcast to discuss The Brink of War, his feature debut about the 1986 Reykjavík Summit, hitting theaters August 14th with Jeff Daniels as Reagan, Jared Harris as Gorbachev, and J.K. Simmons as George Shultz. The film's origin story is its own remarkable piece of history: Gunn interviewed Shultz before his death in 2021, and Shultz handed him the declassified summit transcripts that became the script — the first scene between Reagan and Gorbachev is verbatim from that record. Gunn's argument for why this story matters right now is simple and pointed: these were two men with every reason to hate each other who sat in a room and tried to build a better world, at a moment when Americans have gotten very good at yelling and very bad at talking. He walks Chuck through what most people get wrong about Reykjavík — that Gorbachev was far younger than memory suggests, with no personal recollection of World War II (he brought the last WWII-era Soviet general with him to Iceland), that adversaries are always more politically divided internally than we perceive from the outside, and that the summit is simultaneously remembered as a triumph and a failure because a deal to eliminate every nuclear weapon on earth collapsed over a single word. Gunn notes that Americans instinctively read everything through game theory — winners and losers — while the Soviets understood the talks as one point on a longer arc, which is why Gorbachev rushed to a press conference to declare the whole thing a success. The conversation also works as a genuinely useful look inside how difficult political history gets made in Hollywood. Gunn explains that he assembled the actors and script first and only then went to a studio, that Simmons was hunting for a real challenge and nailed Shultz's accent on the first take, and that Daniels prepared by looping an hour of Reagan interviews through his headphones while biking around Chelsea, Michigan. He talks about the nervousness surrounding the idea of putting the two leaders alone in a room, the enormous goodwill Reagan carried into Reykjavík, and the fact that the whole world genuinely waited on that weekend with bated breath. Gunn is candid about the projects that didn't happen (he wanted to make a film about the Nunn-Lugar amendment and couldn't get it off the ground), the tradeoffs between film and limited series as formats, and why audiences have proven far hungrier for true history than the industry assumes. He and Chuck close on career advice — how Gunn broke in, why you have to "prove it" before anyone green-lights your dream project, and his observation that the things you don't get can end up mattering just as much as the things you do. And for anyone tempted to write off Reykjavík as a failure: the summit paved the way for the INF Treaty a year later, and the world's nuclear arsenals have since come down roughly 90%. Finally Chuck presents his ToddCast Top 5 most vulnerable Democratic seats… and couldn’t make it to 5. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.  Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.  Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /*Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.    Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 04:45 Review of Tuesday’s primary results 05:30 Michigan now harder for Dems in general, but El-Sayed can win 06:30 Wisconsin primary will be next big test of divide in Democratic party 08:45 Almost losing was the best thing that could have happened to El-Sayed 09:30 Republicans don’t have many senate pickup opportunities 11:30 El-Sayed’s winning margin will be less than 20k votes13:00 El-Sayed won the race in Grand Rapids 14:15 Kent county was solidly Republican for decades 16:30 The moderate/Gerald Ford Republicans aren’t voting for the GOP 17:30 There’s a growing white, progressive vote 19:45 In 2016 many people voted for Bernie out of protest for Clinton 20:30 Fascinating that Grand Rapids became a progressive stronghold 23:00 Analysts have a hard time characterizing factions inside parties 23:45 Prefer the label of “movement” vs. “governing” factions 24:45 Electability depends on the state and the situation 25:15 Money makes races more competitive, doesn’t guarantee victory 27:30 Progressives will need a crowded primary in 2028 to win 29:15 Don’t assume Francesca Hong will run away in Dem primary in WI 31:45 Big questions loom over Wisconsin primary 33:15 Some big results in Kansas flew under the radar 34:45 Founders didn’t want judges to be elected & subject to voters 35:15 Kansas rejected elections for state Supreme Court 36:30 On day one, Republicans leaned into Islamophobia against El-Sayed 37:00 The Islamophobia could boomerang on Republicans 37:45 Dems keep putting more senate seats in play, Kansas is now one 38:15 Adam Hamilton is pastor of huge church in Kansas\ 39:00 Hamilton has been a bridge builder, and beat 10 other Dems 39:45 Republicans will have a hard time making a caricature of Hamilton 40:30 Hamilton will have an unusual constituency going into the race 41:30 Roger Marshall has never had a stress test in a general election 43:00 Trump’s tariffs have caused huge problems in agriculture states 44:30 Iowa and Kansas are real pickup chances for Democrats 46:00 Missouri voters sent a message on the issue of taxes 46:45 Trump has long wanted to scrap income taxes 47:30 Voters reject a high sales tax replacing income tax 49:00 Tax credits for the KC Chiefs stadium was a political loser 49:30 Voters don’t like subsidizing rich people 50:00 More stories of Republican men behaving badly 50:15 Republicans would love to get rid of Max Miller 50:45 Trump always sides with the accused over the women 51:30 Max Miller has serious personal issues 52:45 Miller could have hurt Bernie Moreno politically 53:45 Multiple disgraced former members of congress in same race in Florida 55:00 Even if Miller is replaced, the party could face a 3-5 point penalty 55:45 Iran war is going sideways & Trump is worried about Reflecting Pool 56:30 Jeanine Pirro thought she could say one thing in public & another in court 57:15 Trump says she “choked”... she

Writer-director Michael Russell Gunn joins the Chuck Toddcast to discuss The Brink of War, his feature debut about the 1986 Reykjavík Summit, hitting theaters August 14th with Jeff Daniels as Reagan, Jared Harris as Gorbachev, and J.K. Simmons as George Shultz. The film's origin story is its own remarkable piece of history: Gunn interviewed Shultz before his death in 2021, and Shultz handed him the declassified summit transcripts that became the script — the first scene between Reagan and Gorbachev is verbatim from that record. Gunn's argument for why this story matters right now is simple and pointed: these were two men with every reason to hate each other who sat in a room and tried to build a better world, at a moment when Americans have gotten very good at yelling and very bad at talking. He walks Chuck through what most people get wrong about Reykjavík — that Gorbachev was far younger than memory suggests, with no personal recollection of World War II (he brought the last WWII-era Soviet general with him to Iceland), that adversaries are always more politically divided internally than we perceive from the outside, and that the summit is simultaneously remembered as a triumph and a failure because a deal to eliminate every nuclear weapon on earth collapsed over a single word. Gunn notes that Americans instinctively read everything through game theory — winners and losers — while the Soviets understood the talks as one point on a longer arc, which is why Gorbachev rushed to a press conference to declare the whole thing a success. The conversation also works as a genuinely useful look inside how difficult political history gets made in Hollywood. Gunn explains that he assembled the actors and script first and only then went to a studio, that Simmons was hunting for a real challenge and nailed Shultz's accent on the first take, and that Daniels prepared by looping an hour of Reagan interviews through his headphones while biking around Chelsea, Michigan. He talks about the nervousness surrounding the idea of putting the two leaders alone in a room, the enormous goodwill Reagan carried into Reykjavík, and the fact that the whole world genuinely waited on that weekend with bated breath. Gunn is candid about the projects that didn't happen (he wanted to make a film about the Nunn-Lugar amendment and couldn't get it off the ground), the tradeoffs between film and limited series as formats, and why audiences have proven far hungrier for true history than the industry assumes. He and Chuck close on career advice — how Gunn broke in, why you have to "prove it" before anyone green-lights your dream project, and his observation that the things you don't get can end up mattering just as much as the things you do. And for anyone tempted to write off Reykjavík as a failure: the summit paved the way for the INF Treaty a year later, and the world's nuclear arsenals have since come down roughly 90%. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.    Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.   For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /*Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Michael Russell Gunn (The Brink of War) joins the Chuck ToddCast 02:30 How much time should elapse before telling a historical story? 04:45 How strong was Gorbachev viewed at the time of the summits? 05:30 We were saved by junior people/officers during the Cold War 06:00 We came very close to nuclear armageddon 07:30 Gorbachev is remembered as older than he actually was 08:30 Gorbachev didn’t have any memory of World War 2 09:30 Gorbachev brought last WW2 era general to Reykjavik 11:15 Adversaries are more politically divided than we perceive them 12:00 Reykjavik is considered both a success and a failure 12:30 There was a deal to get rid of every nuke, one word tanked it 13:00 Gorbachev rushed to a press conference to declare conference “great” 13:45 Reagan and Gorbachev built a relationship and some trust 14:15 This was one of the greatest diplomatic achievements in history 15:00 Americans view everything in a game theory context, winners & losers 15:30 Soviets viewed talks as one point in an arc 16:00 Transcripts of the meeting helped in creating the movie 18:00 Wanted to create a movie about the Nunn-Lugar amendment, but couldn’t 19:30 Visual of Reagan sitting across from Gorbachev was powerful 20:45 First scene between Reagan and Gorbachev was verbatim from transcript 22:30 There was something profound about their willingness to engage 24:15 There was nervousness about having them alone in a room 25:45 Reagan carried immense goodwill from Americans into Reykjavik 27:45 The whole world was waiting/waiting the summit with bated breath 28:30 How close were we to getting rid of nuclear weapons? 29:30 We did end up reducing nuclear arsenals by 90% 30:00 How did Jeff Daniels prepare to play Reagan? 31:45 Difficulty getting mainstream actors to participate in political history? 32:30 How’d you pull off getting a difficult topic approved and made? 33:15 Got the actors and script first, then went to the studio 34:00 JK Simmons was looking for a real challenge 35:15 George Shultz is an unsung hero of American history 36:00 JK Simmons nailed Shultz's accent on the first take 37:45 You’re given more breadth in film, but not more time to produce it 40:30 What is the better format to tell a story? Movie, limited series etc 43:00 Audiences have proven to be hungry for true history stories 45:15 What’s your dream project? 46:30 Need to “prove it” in order to get your dream project approved 49:15 Career advice? How did you break in and succeed in the business? 50:45 Things you don’t get can be just as important as what you do get See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd and Chris Cillizza burn the midnight oil for a rare Wednesday drop, breaking down a Michigan Senate primary that became the most expensive Democratic Senate primary contest in U.S. history and a genuine proxy war over the party's future. With Abdul El-Sayed leading Haley Stevens by a far narrower margin than the polling suggested, the guys unpack why Michigan is so hard to poll, why Black voters are routinely under-sampled in primary surveys, and what it says that the Whitmer-and-labor-backed machine kept this close — a double-digit El-Sayed win, Chuck argues, would have been a genuine indictment of the establishment. They then game out the general: why Republicans will now dump money into Michigan they'd never have spent against Stevens, why an Islamophobic campaign against El-Sayed could backfire spectacularly, and why the stakes for the progressive movement in 2028 are enormous either way. Plus: how the county-by-county map becomes a strategic document for every 2028 campaign now that Michigan sits in the early window. From there they widen the lens to the sleeper races nobody's watching — Kansas, where megachurch pastor Adam Hamilton emerged from a crowded Democratic field and will face Republican incumbent Roger Marshall in November, plus South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa, where tariffs, deportations, and the ag economy have made supposedly safe seats interesting. They dig into the ugly Max Miller saga in Ohio ahead of the ballot deadline, why Trump's refusal to push him out is grimly consistent, and the human cost to a family caught in the middle. Then it's a bracing riff on whether Trump actually wants any Republican not named Trump to win in 2028, bearish takes on Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris, a Chuck rant about why abolishing the Senate and packing the Court is magical thinking, and a closing lament about the Nats' fire sale. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 A swing state picks its most liberal Senate nominee ever  00:41 Why Michigan polling is almost always wrong 00:59 The under-polled Black vote and why this race stayed close 01:48 Stevens had the machine — labor, Whitmer, and Wayne County 02:11 Double-digit El-Sayed win is an indictment of the establishment 03:18 The Bernie problem 05:18 Republicans will now spend far more against El-Sayed 05:44 Big money got rejected 06:29 Mike Rogers has never been a great fundraiser 07:16 This is now the only real Republican pickup opportunity 08:16 Maine goes regional — and why Collins is in big trouble 09:20 A loss is a body blow to the progressive movement 13:57 Why they held the episode until Wednesday 14:22 To Kansas: Adam Hamilton, wins the Democratic primary 15:15 Cook moves the race to Likely Republican  16:36 School funding, Johnson County & the issue also lifting Rob Sand 17:49 From anti-Brownback coalition to an actual Democratic Party 18:35 Why South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas are all suddenly live   19:16 Is MAGA angry enough at Thune to punish Rounds? 20:13 Tariffs and deportations have hammered the ag economy 20:38 Nebraska's hard ceiling vs. Kansas's higher ceiling 22:26 Which is closer in November — Kansas or Nebraska? 23:29 Why the Islamophobia play could backfire  24:29 Republicans' $300M advantage and where they'll actually spend it 27:27 Governing wing vs. movement wing 28:02 Why AOC engaged in Michigan but never for Graham Platner 29:03 The nationalization test: Talarico-Paxton or El-Sayed-Rogers? 32:41 The Max Miller deadline 33:38 Why the orchestrated exit didn't happen 34:00 Bernie Moreno, his daughter, and the family at the center of it 36:31 Why this is arguably bigger than the Platner story 38:52 Trump doesn't close the deal 39:53 Trump never accepts assault allegations as disqualifying 40:15 Trump puts himself before the party, always 41:06 Will he actually spend the MAGA Inc. money? 41:52 Trump doesn't want Vance or Rubio to win in 2028 43:41 Don Jr.'s changing online behavior — and what it might signal 45:05 Guilfoyle, Newsom & the weirdest political fact in America 45:31 Bearish on Gavin Newsom 47:38 Harris on abolishing the Electoral College and packing the Court 48:09 Changing the rules because you can't win under them 49:20 Why the Senate exists as a check on extremism 51:33 Both parties crashed this car 51:56 Why Schumer's anti-corruption bills are useless political theater 53:52 Congress was supposed to be the anti-corruption bureau 54:08 The Nats fire sale 55:26 Great franchises try to win now AND later 55:48 Manfred, the Dodgers & the coming salary-cap fight See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with the Iran war's arrival on American soil: hackers have hit water systems across multiple states in one of the most serious cyberattacks on U.S. water infrastructure in years and investigators probing an Iranian link. Trump's response tells you everything about the presidency in its current state — he didn't blame the attacker, he blamed the victim, using the hack as an occasion to attack Minnesota Democrats. Chuck’s question hangs over the whole segment: was Trump briefed on the Iranian connection and went after Minnesota anyway? Either way, the first instinct was to find a Democrat to blame, which Chuck calls a kind of polarization disease that leaves a president caring more about his narrative than about American citizens drinking the water. It fits a pattern the episode keeps circling: Jeanine Pirro presented false evidence to a grand jury blaming a former Olympian for damage to the White House reflecting pool, dropped the case when Interior produced documents proving otherwise, and Trump publicly disagreed with dropping it because he still insists it was vandals. Chuck argues negative information never reaches Trump, and people who bring him bad news don't last long — which is how you end up with a president insisting affordability is a Democratic scam Then, Chuck highlights a Wall Street Journal piece that lays out Trump's corruption — roughly $800 million raised through what amounts to an advertised pay-to-play scheme. Anti-corruption is a devastating midterm message sitting right there for Democrats to pick up… then Chuck Schumer rolled out a bill that Chuck calls a piece of garbage: it wouldn't even cover the conduct in the WSJ story, it's likely unconstitutional because it names individuals, and — most absurdly — it creates a new anti-corruption agency inside the executive branch, meaning a corrupt president would appoint its director and seven board members and, per the Supreme Court, could fire them at will. Congress can already do every bit of the oversight the agency would perform and Schumer's answer to executive corruption is to hand the executive more power and write Congress out of its own job. He closes on Michigan and Wisconsin as the clearest signals of where the Democratic Party is headed — Abdul El-Sayed running a movement inside a Senate race with the explicit goal of changing the party, DSA-endorsed Francesca Wong leading in Wisconsin while the establishment fails to coordinate against her — and on the DSA's new call to abolish the Senate, which Senate Democrats pushed back on without ever defending the institution. Chuck defends it himself: the Senate is a feature, not a bug, a brake on political extremism, and the right response to losing an argument is to win it rather than rewrite the rules.  Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit Watergate and Richard Nixon’s resignation, and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.    Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.   For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /*Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 06:15 The Iran war has become a global conflict 06:45 Once again Trump issues threats, then walks them back 08:15 War is one of biggest strategic mistakes in decades 09:00 Increased gas prices have cost households additional $560 10:30 CISA warns that Iranian hackers are targeting water infrastructure 11:15 Iran could cause unreliability to the American water supply 13:00 Trump used hacking attacks to blame Minnesota Democrats 13:45 Trump didn’t blame the attacker, he blamed the victim 15:30 Jeanine Pirro blamed former Olympian for damage to reflecting pool 16:00 Dept. of Interior had documents proving otherwise, Pirro dropped case 17:00 Pirro presented false evidence to a grand jury 18:30 Trump publicly disagreed with Pirro dropping case, says it was vandals 19:30 Trump’s staff is shielding him from the truth 21:00 Trump’s lack of understanding reality is terrible for him 21:30 Trump’s low approval is a midterm disaster in the making 23:00 Stephanie Grisham says 85% of negative info is kept from Trump 24:15 People who bring Trump bad news don’t last very long 25:30 Republicans aren’t campaigning like things are going well 26:00 Ken Paxton puts out an affordability agenda, looks like a Dem proposal 27:15 Trump still saying affordability is scam made up by Democrats 28:15 Trump can’t understand the reality of the situation 28:45 Was Trump briefed on Iran hack… then attacked Minnesota anyway? 30:00 Trump’s first instinct was to find a Democrat to blame 30:45 Trump is demented with polarization disease 31:15 Trump cares more about his narrative than American citizens 32:15 Trump is bragging about his grifting an Americans are tired of it 33:15 Anti-Corruption is a massively effective midterm strategy 33:45 Chuck Schumer rolls out a stinker of an anti-corruption bill 34:45 WSJ publishes airtight piece about Trump’s overt corruption 35:45 There’s no buffer or plausible deniability for Trump in the corruption story 36:45 Trump is basically advertising that government is a pay to play scheme 37:45 There’s a list of presidential promises for favors that have been bought 38:15 Trump has raised $800m in pay for play schemes with little accounting 39:00 There is no law outlawing a president from raising unlimited money 39:30 Trump is now the biggest alligator in the swamp 40:15 Schumer’s bill is a piece of garbage, why many senators didn’t sign on 41:45 Jamie Raskin is performing oversight, Schumer wants agency to do it for him 42:30 The bill wouldn’t even cover the corruption outlined by the WSJ story 44:00 The bill is unconstitutional because it names individuals 45:00 Laws can target behavior, not individuals. It’d be thrown out in court 45:45 The agency Schumer proposed would live in the executive branch 46:15 Agency to stop a corrupt president would be staffed by the president?? 47:15 SCOTUS says president can fire the heads of exec branch agencies 48:45 If bill passed, Trump would pick agency head and 7 members of board 49:15 Congress can perform all the oversight the proposed agency would do 50:30 Congress could stop all this corruption if it wanted to 52:00 Schumer’s idea is to hand more power to the executive branch??? 54:30 The plan from congress is to write themselves out of oversight? 57:00 Schumer’s bill will never see the light of day 57:45 Michigan & Wisconsin will show where the Democratic party is headed 59:30 Abdul El-Sayed made clear his goal is to change the Democratic party 1:00:15 His campaign is a movement inside a senate race 1:01:00 Francesca Wong in Wisconsin is frontrunner & endorsed by DSA 1:01:45 Establishment hasn’t coordinated well to stop Wong 1:02:15 Movement politicians are usually right about the future, wrong about present 1:03:30 Sometimes the movement comes first, sometimes the coalition does 1:04:00 DSA has become a force, and is now calling for abolishing the senate 1:05:00 Senate democrats pushed back, but didn’t defend the senate 1:05:45 The senate is a feature, not a bug 1:06:30 The senate is a brake on political extremism 1:07:15 The response is to win the argument, not rewrite the rules 1:08:00 Movement nominees are easier to defeat than governing ones 1:13:30 Toddcast Time Machine - The five days that ended Richard Nixon 1:14:00 Nixon resigned 52 years ago, this week 1:14:45 Why is Nixon the only president that paid a price for his corruption? 1:15:45 We tell the story of Watergate backwards and start with resignation 1:17:00 The June arrests weren’t the beginning of Watergate 1:18:45 We don’t know what Nixon’s operation learned before the arrests 1:20:30 We never got full answer on the missing 18 minutes 1:21:15 Supreme Court stayed in session during summer to oversee Watergate 1:21:45 Smoking gun tape goes public six days after the break-in 1:22:30 Nixon needed 34 votes in the senate to survive, only had 16 1:23:15 Impeachment in the house was a foregone conclusion 1:23:45 Senators didn’t demand he resign, just showed Nixon the numbers 1:27:00 How different would history have looked had Nixon survived? 1:27:45 Ask Chuck 1:28:00 Is presidency becoming more powerful in a way that could outlast Trump 1:31:00 Can the U.S. government create a true unbiased media source? 1:34:45 Would mandatory voting create better political participation? 1:39:15 Would Illinois make for a better early primary state? 1:41:00 Why not hold every primary on the same day? 1:43:15 Pe

Chuck Todd opens with the Iran war's arrival on American soil: hackers have hit water systems across multiple states in one of the most serious cyberattacks on U.S. water infrastructure in years and investigators probing an Iranian link. Trump's response tells you everything about the presidency in its current state — he didn't blame the attacker, he blamed the victim, using the hack as an occasion to attack Minnesota Democrats. Chuck’s question hangs over the whole segment: was Trump briefed on the Iranian connection and went after Minnesota anyway? Either way, the first instinct was to find a Democrat to blame, which Chuck calls a kind of polarization disease that leaves a president caring more about his narrative than about American citizens drinking the water. It fits a pattern the episode keeps circling: Jeanine Pirro presented false evidence to a grand jury blaming a former Olympian for damage to the White House reflecting pool, dropped the case when Interior produced documents proving otherwise, and Trump publicly disagreed with dropping it because he still insists it was vandals. Chuck argues negative information never reaches Trump, and people who bring him bad news don't last long — which is how you end up with a president insisting affordability is a Democratic scam Then, Chuck highlights a Wall Street Journal piece that lays out Trump's corruption — roughly $800 million raised through what amounts to an advertised pay-to-play scheme. Anti-corruption is a devastating midterm message sitting right there for Democrats to pick up… then Chuck Schumer rolled out a bill that Chuck calls a piece of garbage: it wouldn't even cover the conduct in the WSJ story, it's likely unconstitutional because it names individuals, and — most absurdly — it creates a new anti-corruption agency inside the executive branch, meaning a corrupt president would appoint its director and seven board members and, per the Supreme Court, could fire them at will. Congress can already do every bit of the oversight the agency would perform and Schumer's answer to executive corruption is to hand the executive more power and write Congress out of its own job. He closes on Michigan and Wisconsin as the clearest signals of where the Democratic Party is headed — Abdul El-Sayed running a movement inside a Senate race with the explicit goal of changing the party, DSA-endorsed Francesca Wong leading in Wisconsin while the establishment fails to coordinate against her — and on the DSA's new call to abolish the Senate, which Senate Democrats pushed back on without ever defending the institution. Chuck defends it himself: the Senate is a feature, not a bug, a brake on political extremism, and the right response to losing an argument is to win it rather than rewrite the rules.  Then, Dr. Brian King — the former director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, who was placed on administrative leave in April 2025 as part of the mass HHS layoffs joins the Chuck Toddcast to explain what happens to public health when the agency charged with protecting it gets deliberately dismantled. King walks through the extraordinary progress America made reducing cigarette smoking over decades, and how quickly that's being unwound: the tobacco industry donated millions to Trump's PAC, executives pressured the White House directly, and the payoff has been regulatory capture and mounting pressure on the FDA to bring flavored products back to market. He's clear-eyed rather than absolutist on the science — combustible products are far and away the most harmful, nicotine itself is highly addictive but isn't what's killing people, though it's genuinely not risk-free for the adolescent brain — and he walks Chuck through the comparison to caffeine, the data on whether vaping serves as a gateway back into smoking, and what's actually known about nicotine pouches, where youth usage isn't high but stubbornly isn't declining either. The industry, meanwhile, is spending roughly a million dollars an hour advertising its products while fighting every government action to reduce smoking. The conversation turns to what actually works and what's being abandoned. King argues the two most effective interventions available are reducing nicotine levels in cigarettes and banning menthol, credits Congress for getting the Tobacco Control Act right, and stresses that Congress — not the FDA acting alone — has to be the one to regulate tobacco, which is precisely why sidelining the agency is so damaging. He and Chuck get into the questions nobody in Washington wants to answer: why are cigarettes legal at all, how are sugary alcoholic beverages not treated in the same category, and where did the money from the 1998 master settlement actually go. King is pointed that the MAHA movement, for all its rhetoric about chronic disease, has done nothing prominent on tobacco, and that the FDA is now actively undermining both the science and the law it was built to enforce. His closing warning is the bleakest note of the episode: America is in a public health apocalypse that will take decades to repair, it will be enormously hard to recruit a next generation into the field, the entire world will be harmed by the collapse of American public health infrastructure — and the impacts are only just beginning to show up. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit Watergate and Richard Nixon’s resignation, and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.  Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /*Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.    Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 06:15 The Iran war has become a global conflict 06:45 Once again Trump issues threats, then walks them back 08:15 War is one of biggest strategic mistakes in decades 09:00 Increased gas prices have cost households additional $560 10:30 CISA warns that Iranian hackers are targeting water infrastructure 11:15 Iran could cause unreliability to the American water supply 13:00 Trump used hacking attacks to blame Minnesota Democrats 13:45 Trump didn’t blame the attacker, he blamed the victim 15:30 Jeanine Pirro blamed former Olympian for damage to reflecting pool 16:00 Dept. of Interior had documents proving otherwise, Pirro dropped case 17:00 Pirro presented false evidence to a grand jury 18:30 Trump publicly disagreed with Pirro dropping case, says it was vandals 19:30 Trump’s staff is shielding him from the truth 21:00 Trump’s lack of understanding reality is terrible for him 21:30 Trump’s low approval is a midterm disaster in the making 23:00 Stephanie Grisham says 85% of negative info is kept from Trump 24:15 People who bring Trump bad news don’t last very long 25:30 Republicans aren’t campaigning like things are going well 26:00 Ken Paxton puts out an affordability agenda, looks like a Dem proposal 27:15 Trump still saying affordability is scam made up by Democrats 28:15 Trump can’t understand the reality of the situation 28:45 Was Trump briefed on Iran hack… then attacked Minnesota anyway? 30:00 Trump’s first instinct was to find a Democrat to blame 30:45 Trump is demented with polarization disease 31:15 Trump cares more about his narrative than American citizens 32:15 Trump is bragging about his grifting an Americans are tired of it 33:15 Anti-Corruption is a massively effective midterm strategy 33:45 Chuck Schumer rolls out a stinker of an anti-corruption bill 34:45 WSJ publishes airtight piece about Trump’s overt corruption 35:45 There’s no buffer or plausible deniability for Trump in the corruption story 36:45 Trump is basically advertising that government is a pay to play scheme 37:45 There’s a list of presidential promises for favors that have been bought 38:15 Trump has raised $800m in pay for play schemes with little accounting 39:00 There is no law outlawing a president from raising unlimited money 39:30 Trump is now the biggest alligator in the swamp 40:15 Schumer’s bill is a piece of garbage, why many senators didn’t sign on 41:45 Jamie Raskin is performing oversight, Schumer wants agency to do it for him 42:30 The bill wouldn’t even cover the corruption outlined by the WSJ story 44:00 The bill is unconstitutional because it names individuals 45:00 Laws can target behavior, not individuals. It’d be thrown out in court 45:45 The agency Schumer proposed would live in the executive branch 46:15 Agency to stop a corrupt president would be staffed by the president?? 47:15 SCOTUS says president can fire the heads of exec branch agencies 48:45 If bi

Dr. Brian King — the former director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, who was placed on administrative leave in April 2025 as part of the mass HHS layoffs joins the Chuck Toddcast to explain what happens to public health when the agency charged with protecting it gets deliberately dismantled. King walks through the extraordinary progress America made reducing cigarette smoking over decades, and how quickly that's being unwound: the tobacco industry donated millions to Trump's PAC, executives pressured the White House directly, and the payoff has been regulatory capture and mounting pressure on the FDA to bring flavored products back to market. He's clear-eyed rather than absolutist on the science — combustible products are far and away the most harmful, nicotine itself is highly addictive but isn't what's killing people, though it's genuinely not risk-free for the adolescent brain — and he walks Chuck through the comparison to caffeine, the data on whether vaping serves as a gateway back into smoking, and what's actually known about nicotine pouches, where youth usage isn't high but stubbornly isn't declining either. The industry, meanwhile, is spending roughly a million dollars an hour advertising its products while fighting every government action to reduce smoking. The conversation turns to what actually works and what's being abandoned. King argues the two most effective interventions available are reducing nicotine levels in cigarettes and banning menthol, credits Congress for getting the Tobacco Control Act right, and stresses that Congress — not the FDA acting alone — has to be the one to regulate tobacco, which is precisely why sidelining the agency is so damaging. He and Chuck get into the questions nobody in Washington wants to answer: why are cigarettes legal at all, how are sugary alcoholic beverages not treated in the same category, and where did the money from the 1998 master settlement actually go. King is pointed that the MAHA movement, for all its rhetoric about chronic disease, has done nothing prominent on tobacco, and that the FDA is now actively undermining both the science and the law it was built to enforce. His closing warning is the bleakest note of the episode: America is in a public health apocalypse that will take decades to repair, it will be enormously hard to recruit a next generation into the field, the entire world will be harmed by the collapse of American public health infrastructure — and the impacts are only just beginning to show up. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.    Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.   For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /*Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.    Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Brian King (FDA center on tobacco) joins the Chuck ToddCast 03:45 We made incredible progress reducing cigarette smoking 04:15 Tobacco companies donated and received regulatory capture 05:00 Flavored vapes appeal more to kids & are problematic 06:30 Trump was pressured by executives from tobacco industry 07:15 There were multimillion dollar donations to Trump’s PAC 08:45 What’s the actual health data on nicotine outside of smoking? 09:15 Combustible products are the most harmful 09:45 Nicotine is highly addictive but isn’t causing the harm and deaths 10:30 Nicotine can harm the adolescent brain, it’s not risk free 11:15 Comparing nicotine vs. caffeine 13:00 Vaping typically isn’t a gateway back into smoking 14:15 There’s been pressure on FDA to bring back flavored products 16:45 $1M dollars an hour is being spent advertising tobacco products  17:30 Industry has been fighting all government action to reduce smoking 19:00 The FDA has been sidelined in the fight against smoking 19:30 Why are cigarettes even legal at all? 21:00 Tobacco farmers have transitioned to other crops in other countries 23:00 Reducing nicotine levels is highly effective  23:30 Outlawing menthol is also highly effective 25:15 Congress got it right with the Tobacco Control Act 27:00 How are sugary alcoholic beverages not in the same category? 28:00 What is age gating technology and how does it work? 30:00 Do we have good data on usage for people under 18? 32:30 Nicotine pouch usage isn’t high amongst kids, but isn’t going down 33:00 What is the data about health impacts from pouches? 34:30 Nicotine has a strong stimulant effect, helps with attention 35:15 Settlement in ‘98 required tobacco companies to pay costs in perpetuity 35:45 States have diverted those funds to other purposes 36:45 Did the tobacco industry actually take a hit from the settlement? 37:30 If still at FDA, what changes would you implement? 38:00 FDA has been undermining the science and the law 39:00 Effectiveness of banning indoor smoking 40:15 Should preventing underage addictions be the north star? 42:30 Congress has to regulate tobacco, FDA can’t do it on its own 43:15 MAHA hasn’t done anything prominent on tobacco 45:30 Is there litigation that could be pursued here? 46:45 We’re in a public health apocalypse, will take decades to repair 47:30 It will be hard to recruit people into public health 49:15 The entire world will be harmed by collapse of American public health 51:00 The impacts are just beginning to show up, will get worse See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd and J.A. Adande sit down with longtime ESPN broadcasters Patrick McEnroe and Chris McKendry to go behind the scenes of Wimbledon. From Patrick's firsthand experience competing at the Championships to Chris's years anchoring ESPN's coverage, they share stories and insights you won't hear during the broadcast. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd argues Republicans and the White House are frantically trying to manufacture headlines about the past precisely because the actual news of the present is terrible for the GOP, and because the very issues that got Trump elected are the ones he's now ignoring. Democrats are winning heading into the midterms, TChuck says; the only real question is by how much, which is exactly why Republicans are so desperate to feed their base culture-war red meat as a distraction. But the story Chuck argues is being dangerously underplayed is the Iran war, which is no longer a regional conflict at all: close to thirty countries have been directly involved, multiple nations have been hit, and the Iran and Ukraine wars have effectively merged through shared supply chains — Russia has launched thousands of Iranian-made drones at Ukraine, improved and manufactured them, and is now shipping them back to Iran, while Ukrainian air defense teams have been redeployed to the Middle East and the American stockpile of interceptor missiles has been so massively depleted that commanders are rationing them. He calls the war the dumbest mistake a president has made in decades, while rising oil prices help both Iran and Russia.. It's not World War III, he cautions, but it's genuinely hard to see how it ends, and Congress should be singularly focused on it and simply isn't. He then pivots to what he calls a politics of AI that hasn't been invented yet, where the public is way ahead of the politicians: 72% of Americans have used AI in the past three months and like it, but the vast majority don't trust big tech or the AI companies, and the fierce backlash against data centers is really the manifestation of a deeper anger ever since tech companies stopped trying to improve lives and started maximizing engagement. The public isn't rejecting AI, he argues, it's rejecting the technologists, and Trump has planted himself firmly on the side of the tech companies over the public. He closes by lamenting that political energy is being spent on Fauci rather than pandemic preparedness — before quick hits on Todd Achilles getting a one-on-one race in Idaho, Seth Bodnar leading in Montana if the Democrat can be coaxed into dropping out, and the question hanging over Michigan: if Abdul El-Sayed loses, will it have been because of Mamdani's Israel speech?  Finally, Chuck presents his ToddCast Top 5 Independents/Independent minded leaders who could reshape the U.S. Senate and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.    Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.   For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /*Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 02:45 Republicans & WH are trying to manufacture the headlines 03:15 Attacking Fauci, going after Smithsonian, relitigating 2020 election 04:00 These stories are about yesterday, modern headlines are bad for GOP 04:30 The issues that got Trump elected are the issues he’s ignoring 05:30 Dems are winning heading into midterms, question is by how much 07:00 Republicans are desperate to distract their base  07:45 They believe the culture war red meat will turn out their base 08:45 The Iran war is being underplayed 09:45 There have been close to thirty countries directly involved in the war 10:45 Multiple countries have been hit directly during the war 11:30 This is not a regional war 12:00 Multiple countries have been directly involved in kinetic action 13:30 Multiple countries also involved in, or hosted peace talks 15:00 The Ukraine & Iran wars have merged through supply chains 15:45 Nervous that this conflict could go global 16:15 Russia has launched thousands of Iranian made drones at Ukraine 16:45 Russia improved & manufactured drones, now shipping them back to Iran 17:30 Ukraine air defence teams have been sent to the middle east 18:45 American stockpile of air defense missiles has been massively depleted 19:30 Military commanders are having to ration interceptor missiles 20:00 This war was the dumbest mistake a president has made in decades 21:15 Both conflicts are eating from the same plate 21:45 War caused a rise in oil prices, which helped both Iran and Russia 22:15 Beijing hasn’t been a bystander in these conflicts 23:15 Decapitation strikes have been proven not to work 24:00 Everyone is learning the same lessons, including America’s adversaries 24:45 This is not World War 3, but it’s hard to see how this war ends 25:45 Congress should be singularly focused on this war, and it isn’t 27:00 This started as an Iran/Israel dispute, now the world has been dragged in 28:15 The politics of AI hasn’t been invented yet, public is ahead of politicians 29:15 72% of Americans have used AI in the past three months & like using it 29:45 Vast majority of Americans don’t trust big tech or the AI companies 31:00 There’s a disconnect on AI between politicians the American public 31:45 Backlash against data centers is the manifestation of anger at big tech 32:45 Politicians want to manage backlash, not understand what’s behind it 35:00 Seeing political banners against data centers flying over Pensacola beach 37:15 The politicians are trying to play catch up on the politics of AI 37:45 Americans didn’t always distrust big tech 38:45 Tech companies stopped trying to improve lives, now maximize engagement 40:15 Americans feel we’re being optimized, not served by big tech 41:15 Protecting kids from tech is now an issue with massive bipartisan support 42:45 The public isn’t rejecting AI, they’re rejecting the technologists 44:30 Trump sides with the tech companies over the public 45:45 Politicians are captured by, or afraid of big tech cash in politics 48:00 Frustrating that political energy is spent on Fauci, not pandemic preparedness 48:30 Fauci became a vessel for every frustration about COVID 49:00 Fauci had one job, tell the public what the medical risks were 50:30 We had 2,000 Americans dying a day 51:30 We have to remember the conditions under which decisions were made 52:00 Rand Paul released thousands of pages of Fauci’s pandemic era journals 52:30 Pleading the 5th makes people look guiltier than they are 53:15 We learned Fauci loves media attention, but so does Rand Paul 54:15 Relitigating the origins of Covid doesn’t help prepare for the next pandemic 55:15 Rand Paul is undermining his own credibility by attacking Fauci 55:45 Todd Achilles will get a 1 on 1 race in Idaho 56:30 Seth Bodnar leading in Montana in 1 on 1, but Dem resisting dropping out 57:45 If El-Sayed loses in Michigan… was it because of Mamdani’s Israel speech? 1:01:30 ToddCast Top 5 Independents who could shape the senate 1:02:00 #5 Todd Achilles 1:04:30 #4 Dan Osborne 1:06:45 #3 Seth Bodnar 1:08:00 #2 Lisa Murkowski 1:09:00 #1 John Fetterman 1:11:45 Ask Chuck 1:12:45 Correction for answer on the last pod 1:15:00 Why haven’t we heard much about the people who tried to kill Trump? 1:22:15 Can Trump take the Qatari jet that’s had taxpayer $ spent on it? 1:25:30 What motivates those closest to Trump? Do they believe what they’re saying? 1:29:00 Can you explain the history of the term “lobbyist”? 1:34:15 Thoughts on the funding model of the BBC? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd argues Republicans and the White House are frantically trying to manufacture headlines about the past precisely because the actual news of the present is terrible for the GOP, and because the very issues that got Trump elected are the ones he's now ignoring. Democrats are winning heading into the midterms, TChuck says; the only real question is by how much, which is exactly why Republicans are so desperate to feed their base culture-war red meat as a distraction. But the story Chuck argues is being dangerously underplayed is the Iran war, which is no longer a regional conflict at all: close to thirty countries have been directly involved, multiple nations have been hit, and the Iran and Ukraine wars have effectively merged through shared supply chains — Russia has launched thousands of Iranian-made drones at Ukraine, improved and manufactured them, and is now shipping them back to Iran, while Ukrainian air defense teams have been redeployed to the Middle East and the American stockpile of interceptor missiles has been so massively depleted that commanders are rationing them. He calls the war the dumbest mistake a president has made in decades, while rising oil prices help both Iran and Russia.. It's not World War III, he cautions, but it's genuinely hard to see how it ends, and Congress should be singularly focused on it and simply isn't. He then pivots to what he calls a politics of AI that hasn't been invented yet, where the public is way ahead of the politicians: 72% of Americans have used AI in the past three months and like it, but the vast majority don't trust big tech or the AI companies, and the fierce backlash against data centers is really the manifestation of a deeper anger ever since tech companies stopped trying to improve lives and started maximizing engagement. The public isn't rejecting AI, he argues, it's rejecting the technologists, and Trump has planted himself firmly on the side of the tech companies over the public. He closes by lamenting that political energy is being spent on Fauci rather than pandemic preparedness — before quick hits on Todd Achilles getting a one-on-one race in Idaho, Seth Bodnar leading in Montana if the Democrat can be coaxed into dropping out, and the question hanging over Michigan: if Abdul El-Sayed loses, will it have been because of Mamdani's Israel speech?  Then, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear — the popular two-term Democrat in a deep-red state and a name increasingly floated for 2028 — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a wide-ranging conversation that opens with Kentucky's famous Fancy Farm Picnic and the increasingly countercultural idea that political disagreement shouldn't make people enemies. Beshear turns pointed on Mitch McConnell, who he says has been absent for six weeks without speaking to him, arguing that McConnell has a fundamental duty to level with the people of Kentucky about his condition.. Beshear notes the governor has no authority to declare a vacancy, calls on John Thune to help put the concerns to rest, and observes pointedly that if the situation were reversed, McConnell would be ruthlessly tactical about it — and that the right should arguably be angrier, since it's one fewer vote for the GOP agenda. Beshear reflects at length and with real emotion on the COVID years, which he calls the war of our time with a higher casualty rate than most Americans appreciate, credits Kentucky's expanded Medicaid with keeping the state from running out of hospital beds, and warning that Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" will close 35 hospitals in Kentucky alone. He's sharply critical of Rand Paul for dragging Fauci into character-assassination hearings while staying conspicuously silent on McConnell, and reminds listeners it was Trump who ordered governors to shut down the economy, not Fauci. The conversation turns to Beshear's political philosophy and the road ahead for Democrats. He rejects the "moderate" label in favor of "pragmatic," arguing that the constant battle to label everyone misses how much more complicated reality actually is. Beshear makes the case that Democrats don't win by becoming a Democratic version of McConnell or Trump, that the party needs to be the party of making the economy work again, and that it should champion structural reforms like campaign finance amendments, outlawing gerrymandering, and directly electing the president. He's visibly frustrated with Democrats who blame other Democrats when Republicans are the ones doing the damage — there's no time for "woulda-couldas," he argues, when Trump and the GOP are inflicting this much harm. As a leader in the Democratic Governors Association, Beshear lays out where he sees real opportunity: big resources heading into Georgia, the critical importance of Katie Hobbs winning in Arizona to ensure a fair 2028 election, and the DGA's willingness to spend anywhere it can win. He addresses the data center backlash as fundamentally rooted in anxiety about AI and big tech's failure to talk to the communities it moves into, and stays characteristically coy about his own 2028 ambitions. Finally, Chuck presents his ToddCast Top 5 Independents/Independent minded leaders who could reshape the U.S. Senate and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.    Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.   For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /*Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 02:45 Republicans & WH are trying to manufacture the headlines 03:15 Attacking Fauci, going after Smithsonian, relitigating 2020 election 04:00 These stories are about yesterday, modern headlines are bad for GOP 04:30 The issues that got Trump elected are the issues he’s ignoring 05:30 Dems are winning heading into midterms, question is by how much 07:00 Republicans are desperate to distract their base  07:45 They believe the culture war red meat will turn out their base 08:45 The Iran war is being underplayed 09:45 There have been close to thirty countries directly involved in the war 10:45 Multiple countries have been hit directly during the war 11:30 This is not a regional war 12:00 Multiple countries have been directly involved in kinetic action 13:30 Multiple countries also involved in, or hosted peace talks 15:00 The Ukraine & Iran wars have merged through supply chains 15:45 Nervous that this conflict could go global 16:15 Russia has launched thousands of Iranian made drones at Ukraine 16:45 Russia improved & manufactured drones, now shipping them back to Iran 17:30 Ukraine air defence teams have been sent to the middle east 18:45 American stockpile of air defense missiles has been massively depleted 19:30 Military commanders are having to ration interceptor missiles 20:00 This war was the dumbest mistake a president has made in decades 21:15 Both conflicts are eating from the same plate 21:45 War caused a rise in oil prices, which helped both Iran and Russia 22:15 Beijing hasn’t been a bystander in these conflicts 23:15 Decapitation strikes have been proven not to work 24:00 Everyone is learning the same lessons, including America’s adversaries 24:45 This is not World War 3, but it’s hard to see how this war ends 25:45 Congress should be singularly focused on this war, and it isn’t 27:00 This started as an Iran/Israel dispute, now the world has been dragged in 28:15 The politics of AI hasn’t been invented yet, public is ahead of politicians 29:15 72% of Americans have used AI in the past three months & like using it 29:45 Vast majority of Americans don’t trust big tech or the AI companies 31:00 There’s a disconnect on AI between politicians the American public 31:45 Backlash against data centers is the manifestation of anger at big tech 32:45 Politicians want to manage backlash, not understand what’s behind it 35:00 Seeing political banners against data centers flying over Pensacola beach 37:15 The politicians are trying to play catch up on the politics of AI 37:45 Americans didn’t always distrust big tech 38:45 Tech companies stopped trying to improve lives, now maximize engagement 40:15 Americans feel we’re being optimized, not served by big tech 41:15 Protecting kids from tech is now an issue with massive bipartisan support 42:45 The public isn’t rejecting AI, they’re rejecting the technologists 44:30 Trump sides with the tech companies over the public 45:45 Politicians are captured by, or afraid of big tech cash in politics 48:00 Frustrating that political energy is spent on Fauci, not pandemic preparedness 48:30 Fauci became a vessel for every frustration about CO

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear — the popular two-term Democrat in a deep-red state and a name increasingly floated for 2028 — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a wide-ranging conversation that opens with Kentucky's famous Fancy Farm Picnic and the increasingly countercultural idea that political disagreement shouldn't make people enemies. Beshear turns pointed on Mitch McConnell, who he says has been absent for six weeks without speaking to him, arguing that McConnell has a fundamental duty to level with the people of Kentucky about his condition.. Beshear notes the governor has no authority to declare a vacancy, calls on John Thune to help put the concerns to rest, and observes pointedly that if the situation were reversed, McConnell would be ruthlessly tactical about it — and that the right should arguably be angrier, since it's one fewer vote for the GOP agenda. Beshear reflects at length and with real emotion on the COVID years, which he calls the war of our time with a higher casualty rate than most Americans appreciate, credits Kentucky's expanded Medicaid with keeping the state from running out of hospital beds, and warning that Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" will close 35 hospitals in Kentucky alone. He's sharply critical of Rand Paul for dragging Fauci into character-assassination hearings while staying conspicuously silent on McConnell, and reminds listeners it was Trump who ordered governors to shut down the economy, not Fauci. The conversation turns to Beshear's political philosophy and the road ahead for Democrats. He rejects the "moderate" label in favor of "pragmatic," arguing that the constant battle to label everyone misses how much more complicated reality actually is. Beshear makes the case that Democrats don't win by becoming a Democratic version of McConnell or Trump, that the party needs to be the party of making the economy work again, and that it should champion structural reforms like campaign finance amendments, outlawing gerrymandering, and directly electing the president. He's visibly frustrated with Democrats who blame other Democrats when Republicans are the ones doing the damage — there's no time for "woulda-couldas," he argues, when Trump and the GOP are inflicting this much harm. As a leader in the Democratic Governors Association, Beshear lays out where he sees real opportunity: big resources heading into Georgia, the critical importance of Katie Hobbs winning in Arizona to ensure a fair 2028 election, and the DGA's willingness to spend anywhere it can win. He addresses the data center backlash as fundamentally rooted in anxiety about AI and big tech's failure to talk to the communities it moves into, and stays characteristically coy about his own 2028 ambitions. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.    Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.   For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /*Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Governor Andy Beshear joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:15 Kentucky’s Fancy Farm Picnic & its role in politics 02:30 Picnic brings politicians from both sides of the aisle together 03:00 Having different political beliefs shouldn’t make you an “enemy” 03:30 Not attending the picnic to attend his son's final travel baseball game 05:15 Haven’t spoken to Mitch McConnell, he’s been absent six week 05:45 McConnell has a duty to level with the people of Kentucky 06:30 The governor doesn’t have authority to declare a vacancy 07:00 John Thune should help put the concerns to rest 08:45 The harm is that the senator refuses to level with his constituents 09:15 If situation was reversed, McConnell would be ruthlessly tactical 09:45 There’s one less vote for GOP agenda, the right should be more mad 10:45 Social media helps create a misinformation vacuum about McConnell 12:15 Democrats don’t win by being a Democratic version of McConnell or Trump 13:00 If he had to miss a week as governor, he’d feel obligated to inform the public 13:45 Lack of video of McConnell makes the public think he can’t do it 14:30 McConnell tried to beat him three straight times and failed 15:00 McConnell may end up tarnishing his legacy due to unexplained absence 15:45 Rand Paul dragged Fauci into a hearing, but mum on McConnell 16:30 Fauci hearings are just an exercise in character assassination 17:45 This feels like a personal vendetta from Paul against Fauci 18:30 Mike Pence set up a competent experienced team during COVID 19:00 Trump ordered the governors to shut down the economy, not Fauci 19:30 Vaccine was the fastest remedy created in human history 21:15 Made pandemic decisions based on what would save the most lives 21:45 Remember the death toll in Kentucky vividly 22:45 COVID was ultimate test of the parable of the good samaritan 23:30 COVID was the war of our time, with an even higher casualty rate 24:00 Teachers & educators needed to be in the first batch of vaccinations 25:30 Kentucky didn’t run out of hospital beds due to expanded Medicaid 26:00 Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill will close 35 hospitals in Kentucky 27:00 Doesn’t consider himself a “moderate”, but instead he’s “pragmatic” 27:45 Can be both pro-business and pro-worker 28:15 There’s a battle to label everyone, but reality is more complicated 28:45 How big should the Democratic tent be? 29:45 There’s space to do things that both sides agree on 30:15 Why are Democratic activists so mad at the establishment? 31:00 Democrats need to be the party of making the economy work again 31:30 Need amendments for campaign finance & outlawing gerrymandering 32:15 The president should be directly elected 32:45 Dems blame others Dems when Republicans are doing something wrong 33:30 Can’t do “woulda couldas” when Trump & GOP are doing so much damage 35:00 What’s the pitch in Wisconsin gubernatorial if both candidates are outsiders? 35:45 Joe Biden won on the idea of him being the most electable 36:15 Trump’s policies are hitting everyday Americans harder 37:00 Governor’s association plan to put big resources into Georgia 37:30 Believe that Democrats will flip the governor’s mansion in GA 38:00 Katie Hobbs has to win to ensure a fair election in Arizona in ‘28 40:15 Trump inspired Canadian boycotts that have hit the economy hard 41:30 Winner of the Wisconsin primary will come out stronger 42:00 Jocelyn Benson is a great candidate for Michigan 42:45 Amy Acton can win regardless of the senate race 43:15 Correlation between governor and senate races 46:00 Can Dems pull off gubernatorial upsets in Texas or Florida? 46:30 DGA will spend resources wherever they can win 47:45 Focused on winning gubernatorial races, then will ponder run in ‘28 48:30 Important to declare presidential candidacy early? 49:15 Dems primary calendar will produce candidate that can win everywhere 50:15 Do you consider Kentucky a southern state? 51:00 Could Israel splinter the party and make elections unwinnable? 51:45 Will Doug Jones get DGA help? 53:15 Data center backlash comes from concern about AI  54:00 Big tech isn’t talking to the communities where they put data centers 54:30 Tech should be paying for their electricity & fair share of taxes 57:00 We need rational leaders, don’t know where AI/tech is going 58:15 Any effort to get an NBA franchise in Kentucky? 1:00:00 Favorite NBA team See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd and Chris Cillizza dig into the biggest structural story of the 2028 race: the DNC's proposed new Democratic nominating calendar, which would open in South Carolina and run through Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Michigan, and Virginia. The guys make the case that a calendar starting in the least progressive early state and ending in another one looks engineered to stop a Bernie- or AOC-style insurgent — then debate who it actually helps. Chris sees a raised bar and a no-backup-plan trap for Kamala Harris; Chuck argues the map is a dream scenario for Wes Moore, with three heavily African-American states and two big military populations, while making the counterintuitive case that a splintered field could still let a progressive win South Carolina on a McCain-in-2008-style plurality. Along the way they weigh Buttigieg's veterans play, Mark Kelly's underrated prospects, Pritzker's self-funding edge, and why they'd have picked Arizona over Nevada. From there they turn to an idea from Chuck's wife for reinventing the White House Correspondents' Dinner — hand the South Lawn to reporters and their families once a year, and keep the president and the TV cameras out of it — before tackling the deepening mystery around Mitch McConnell's health and monthslong public silence, and why the conspiracy theories collapse the moment you ask what the upside would be. Then it's on to the stakes of next week's Michigan Senate primary between Abdul El-Sayed and Haley Stevens, which both sides are treating as the first existential fight over the Democratic Party's identity, and how Zohran Mamdani may have reshaped it. They close, as always, with the Nats: the looming trade deadline, why Foster Griffin is expendable but CJ Abrams isn't, and the case for building a brand around the team's young Black stars. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 The DNC's proposed 2028 Democratic nominating calendar 01:00 The six-state lineup  01:42 Why South Carolina and Virginia matter most 02:56 Going first means six months of attention, not a week 03:52 Is South Carolina good for Kamala Harris? 04:54 Win the Black vote, win South Carolina 06:32 The Black vote isn't a monolith  07:51 The calendar is a dream scenario built for Wes Moore 08:34 Is Jon Ossoff the real winner? The neighbor-state theory 10:45 A map that looks designed to stop a Bernie or AOC insurgency 12:24 The progressive math — how 15% could be enough 13:04 A four-state path for the left: fourth, first, second, first 14:41 South Carolina as a race-ender i 15:23 The McCain lesson: 42% as a loss in 2000, 33% as a win in 2008 17:43 Southern Super Tuesday was built to stop liberals  20:08 Use the primary calendar to build the party 21:52 South Carolina's growth & the rural Black voters Democrats ignore 23:00 Why start where you can't win in November? 25:26 Why it's actually a good map for Pete Buttigieg 27:53 Why the expensive states favor self-funder JB Pritzker 30:21 Michigan gets its own week — just as the Israel issue splits the party 31:24 Why Nevada was picked for the interest groups 32:10 White House Correspondents' Dinner and why it felt so off 35:13 The pitch: hand over the South Lawn to the press corps  36:18 Keep the cameras and the president out 38:16 Trump will always make it about himself  40:13 The Mitch McConnell timeline 41:20 A proof-of-life photo — but not a proof-of-speech one 43:03 McConnell has always been intensely private  45:23 The most important Democratic primary in the country 45:49 Why Abdul El-Sayed is all but running for president 46:56 Mamdani's "arrest Netanyahu" speech reshaped the movement 48:24 Gary Peters, Whitmer & the raised stakes 50:00 The morning-after narratives already written for either outcome 53:36 El-Sayed's real problem: little traction in the Black community 54:00 To the Nats: the trade deadline is the biggest day  54:52 Trade Foster Griffin — but don't you dare trade CJ Abrams 57:03 The case for building a DC brand around Abrams & James Wood See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd delivers a masterclass on the single most underappreciated force in presidential politics: the primary calendar, which he argues reveals exactly what kind of nominee a party actually wants long before a single vote is cast. He explains that the Democratic decision to put South Carolina first is by design a test of Black support and viability in the South — and one that's deliberately engineered to hurt progressives, who have consistently gotten thumped in South Carolina primaries. He believes that Democrats have badly underinvested in South Carolina and Mississippi, meaning a little TLC could plausibly turn South Carolina into a genuine swing state. The calendar's practical effect, he argues, is that it sets up well for Wes Moore (if he runs) and is nearly as favorable for Pete Buttigieg, while raising the stakes for Kamala Harris to the point that if she doesn't win South Carolina, she's essentially finished. He is sharp on the flaws of the rest of the early window — Nevada isn't the test Democrats claim because the culinary union shapes everything and Arizona would better measure the Latino vote, Michigan is theoretically ideal but is getting torn apart over Israel in ways that could hurt Democrats in a general, and Virginia (now the last stop before Super Tuesday) reliably serves as a bulwark for moderates because it's a center-left rather than hard-left blue state — and he lays out what the ideal calendar would look like for progressives and for MAGA respectively. He's blunt that Ken Martin's leadership of the DNC has been a major problem, questioning whether Democrats really want him refereeing the nomination fight when the party's money troubles are a reflection on Martin himself. He then turns to Trump backing down on Iran yet again — halting strikes less than 12 hours after issuing fresh threats — calling the entire Iran adventure easily the dumbest thing a president has done this century, especially now that an administration once committed to non-proliferation appears to be helping the Saudis with nuclear technology. He notes Democrats nominated Troy Jackson to replace Graham Platner, making the Maine Senate seat winnable again even as Trump has made the races in both Maine and Michigan harder, and closes with a run of telling contrasts: the White House openly bragging that it added tariffs to help big tech, data centers emerging as the top issue for voters in many states, Trump calling LeBron James a racist from the Oval Office while Obama quietly reached out to offer Caitlin Clark advice and comfort — a perfect encapsulation, He argues, of one leader who wants to divide and another trying to turn the temperature down. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the ratification of the 14th amendment at a time when the idea of birthright citizenship is being called into question, and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.    Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.   For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /*Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 02:30 A primary calendar shows the type of nominee a party wants 03:15 The calendar dictates where candidates spend their time 04:15 The first state on the calendar is massively important 05:00 The Democratic nominee will have to survive South Carolina 05:30 Iowa has gone first for decades 07:15 First in the calendar matters more than anything else 07:45 South Carolina is a test for black support & viability in the south 08:30 South Carolina going first is designed to hurt the viability of progressives 09:15 Going first created robust state parties in Iowa & New Hampshire 10:00 Democrats have underinvested in South Carolina & Mississippi 13:15 Strong state organizations create future candidates & elected reps 14:45 With more TLC, Democrats should be able to make SC a swing state 15:45 South Carolina will determine which candidates are viable 17:15 Progressives have gotten thumped in SC primaries 18:15 Calendar is designed to make life harder for progressives 19:45 The calendar doesn’t always produce the intended candidate 22:00 20% in a crowded field could be enough to win or take 2nd 24:00 If Kamala Harris doesn’t win South Carolina she’s basically out 24:45 On paper, this is a huge boost for Wes Moore if he runs 26:00 Whoever is in 1st place this far out is a measurement of name ID 26:30 New Hampshire Dems are upset about not being first 28:30 Nevada is not the test that Democrats claim it is 29:00 The culinary union shapes the entire state’s politics in Nevada 30:00 The DNC wanted states that could produce same-night results 31:30 Nevada isn’t a good test of the latino vote, Arizona would be better 32:45 In theory, Michigan is a good state to test, but it’s getting divided over Israel 33:30 Israel could get so divisive it could hurt Dems in a general election 34:15 Virginia is now the last state of the early window before Super Tuesday 34:45 Virginia tends to serve as a bulwark for the moderate candidates 36:00 Virginia is a blue state, but it’s a center-left state 37:15 More than any candidate, the table is set for Wes Moore 37:45 The calendar is also good for Pete Buttigieg 39:15 What the best primary calendar would look like for progressives 41:00 What the best MAGA primary calendar would look like 44:00 The calendar dictates who candidates must become during campaign 45:45 Super Tuesday was created to balance out the early base voters 47:30 Legislature control also dictated the creation of this Dem primary calendar 49:15 Ken Martin’s leadership at the DNC has been major problem 50:00 Do Dems want Martin serving as the referee for the nomination fight? 50:45 Martin is clearly not in the right headspace to lead the DNC 51:45 The DNC’s money problems are a reflection on Martin, not the party 52:45 Trump bloviated & issued more threats to Iran & he’s backing down again 53:45 Less than 12 hours after making threats, he halted strikes 54:45 Trump is completely out of ideas on Iran 55:45 Iran is easily the dumbest thing a president has done this century 56:30 For years the goal was non-proliferation, now we’re helping the Saudis? 58:15 If we’re helping Saudis with nuke technology, who are we to tell others no? 59:00 Trump’s personal financial gain may have accelerated this 59:30 Dems nominate Troy Jackson to replace Graham Platner 1:00:00 Maine senate is once again a very winnable race for Democrats 1:01:15 Trump has made the races in Michigan and Maine much harder 1:02:15 Trump has no idea what’s going on in American politics, can’t read a room 1:03:00 White House bragged that they added tariffs to help big tech 1:04:15 Data centers are the biggest issue for voters in many states 1:05:45 Trump calls LeBron James a racist at oval office press conference 1:06:45 Obama reached out to give Caitlin Clark advice & words of comfort 1:08:00 Trump showed he wants to divide, Obama tried to turn temperature down 1:09:15 Mrs. Todd’s suggestion for changing the White House Correspondents’ Dinner 1:16:00 ToddCast Time Machine - July 28th, 1968 1:16:30 This was the day William Seward certified the 14th Amendment 1:17:15 Some states tried to rescind their certification 1:17:45 Congress declared the amendment ratified 1:18:30 “Who gets to be an American?” was a question the founders left open 1:19:15 Birthright citizenship was an open question at the time 1:19:45 Dred Scott was one of the worst SCOTUS decisions of all time 1:20:30 States tried to reassemble the structures of slavery after the war 1:21:00 Abolishing slavery and securing freedom were two different things 1:21:45 Citizenship couldn’t rest on a law, it had to be in the constitution 1:22:30 Trump vs. Barbara ended with SCOTUS upholding birthright citizenship 1:23:30 The case of Won Kim Ark became foundation of this summer’s ruling 1:24:30 Congress addressed Native American citizenship in 1924 via statute 1:26:30 Someone from anywhere could become an American 1:27:15 Every generation has found new ways to fall short of the American promise 1:28:15 Certification of the 14th amendment is what makes America different  1:29:00 Ask Chuck 1:29:15 Have you seen anything to suggest Trump has a religious faith? 1:32:30 Goal of NDAA integrating more between the U.S. & Israeli militaries? 1:37:30 If a president were convicted and removed via impeachment… What happens next? 1:41:00 Recommendations for political books? 1:46:00 Has the kind of voter fraud cited by Republicans ever changed an outcome?

Chuck Todd delivers a masterclass on the single most underappreciated force in presidential politics: the primary calendar, which he argues reveals exactly what kind of nominee a party actually wants long before a single vote is cast. He explains that the Democratic decision to put South Carolina first is by design a test of Black support and viability in the South — and one that's deliberately engineered to hurt progressives, who have consistently gotten thumped in South Carolina primaries. He believes that Democrats have badly underinvested in South Carolina and Mississippi, meaning a little TLC could plausibly turn South Carolina into a genuine swing state. The calendar's practical effect, he argues, is that it sets up well for Wes Moore (if he runs) and is nearly as favorable for Pete Buttigieg, while raising the stakes for Kamala Harris to the point that if she doesn't win South Carolina, she's essentially finished. He is sharp on the flaws of the rest of the early window — Nevada isn't the test Democrats claim because the culinary union shapes everything and Arizona would better measure the Latino vote, Michigan is theoretically ideal but is getting torn apart over Israel in ways that could hurt Democrats in a general, and Virginia (now the last stop before Super Tuesday) reliably serves as a bulwark for moderates because it's a center-left rather than hard-left blue state — and he lays out what the ideal calendar would look like for progressives and for MAGA respectively. He's blunt that Ken Martin's leadership of the DNC has been a major problem, questioning whether Democrats really want him refereeing the nomination fight when the party's money troubles are a reflection on Martin himself. He then turns to Trump backing down on Iran yet again — halting strikes less than 12 hours after issuing fresh threats — calling the entire Iran adventure easily the dumbest thing a president has done this century, especially now that an administration once committed to non-proliferation appears to be helping the Saudis with nuclear technology. He notes Democrats nominated Troy Jackson to replace Graham Platner, making the Maine Senate seat winnable again even as Trump has made the races in both Maine and Michigan harder, and closes with a run of telling contrasts: the White House openly bragging that it added tariffs to help big tech, data centers emerging as the top issue for voters in many states, Trump calling LeBron James a racist from the Oval Office while Obama quietly reached out to offer Caitlin Clark advice and comfort — a perfect encapsulation, He argues, of one leader who wants to divide and another trying to turn the temperature down. Then, sports business reporter John Ourand — who shares an origin story with Chuck Todd at Sports Business Daily — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a deep dive into the money reshaping professional and college sports. Ourand walks through the sale of the Seattle Seahawks as a signal that the era of family-owned NFL franchises is ending, explaining how team valuations have roughly doubled in just three years thanks to new tax advantages and the simple fact that NFL ownership has become the ultimate status club for the ultra-wealthy. He and Chuck dig into whether these eye-popping valuations constitute a bubble — the NFL alone signed $110 billion in media deals over two years — and whether the sports media "middle class" could be facing a real reckoning even as streamers thrive with smaller game packages. Ourand offers a fascinating look at how leagues are navigating their relationship with the networks and production companies that broadcast them (the NFL is deliberately careful not to hurt the legacy networks it depends on), and defends the enduring value of investigative sports journalism, pointing to Pablo Torre's Clippers reporting as a reminder that nobody, including executives at ESPN, wants to be remembered as the person who killed real journalism at the network. The conversation turns to how sports and politics are increasingly colliding. Ourand contrasts Michael Jordan's studied political neutrality with the modern reality of athletes and leagues getting pulled into culture war fights whether they want to or not, noting the UFC fight at the White House pulled huge ratings and that Trump's involvement in overturning a disputed red card call may have actually boosted viewership. He praises Caitlin Clark for navigating the culture wars more gracefully than almost anyone in sports today, draws a compelling parallel between Clark and Larry Bird, and argues the WNBA under commissioner Kathy Engelbert isn't doing nearly enough to capitalize on the attention Clark has generated — in part because leagues remain skittish about race and sexuality debates they'd rather avoid entirely. Ourand closes with a detailed look at the messy economics of college sports, explaining how the biggest programs are effectively subsidizing smaller ones, why a real collective bargaining structure may eventually be inevitable, and why the sport's true power brokers could soon demand a much larger share of the revenue pie for themselves. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the ratification of the 14th amendment at a time when the idea of birthright citizenship is being called into question, and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.  Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /*Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.    Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 02:30 A primary calendar shows the type of nominee a party wants 03:15 The calendar dictates where candidates spend their time 04:15 The first state on the calendar is massively important 05:00 The Democratic nominee will have to survive South Carolina 05:30 Iowa has gone first for decades 07:15 First in the calendar matters more than anything else 07:45 South Carolina is a test for black support & viability in the south 08:30 South Carolina going first is designed to hurt the viability of progressives 09:15 Going first created robust state parties in Iowa & New Hampshire 10:00 Democrats have underinvested in South Carolina & Mississippi 13:15 Strong state organizations create future candidates & elected reps 14:45 With more TLC, Democrats should be able to make SC a swing state 15:45 South Carolina will determine which candidates are viable 17:15 Progressives have gotten thumped in SC primaries 18:15 Calendar is designed to make life harder for progressives 19:45 The calendar doesn’t always produce the intended candidate 22:00 20% in a crowded field could be enough to win or take 2nd 24:00 If Kamala Harris doesn’t win South Carolina she’s basically out 24:45 On paper, this is a huge boost for Wes Moore if he runs 26:00 Whoever is in 1st place this far out is a measurement of name ID 26:30 New Hampshire Dems are upset about not being first 28:30 Nevada is not the test that Democrats claim it is 29:00 The culinary union shapes the entire state’s politics in Nevada 30:00 The DNC wanted states that could produce same-night results 31:30 Nevada isn’t a good test of the latino vote, Arizona would be better 32:45 In theory, Michigan is a good state to test, but it’s getting divided over Israel 33:30 Israel could get so divisive it could hurt Dems in a general election 34:15 Virginia is now the last state of the early window before Super Tuesday 34:45 Virginia tends to serve as a bulwark for the moderate candidates 36:00 Virginia is a blue state, but it’s a center-left state 37:15 More than any candidate, the table is set for Wes Moore 37:45 The calendar is also good for Pete Buttigieg 39:15 What the best primary calendar would look like for progressives 41:00 What the best MAGA primary calendar would look like 44:00 The calendar dictates who candidates must become during campaign 45:45 Super Tuesday was created to balance out the early base voters 47:30 Legislature control also dictated the creation of this Dem primary calendar 49:15 Ken Martin’s leadership at the DNC has been major problem 50:00 Do Dems want Martin serving as the referee for the nomination fight? 50:45 Martin is clearly not in the right headspace to lead the DNC 51:45 The DNC’s money problems are a reflection on Martin, not the party 52:45 Trump bloviated & issued more threats to Iran & he’s backing down again 53:45 Less than 12 hours after making threats, he halted strikes 54:45 Trump is completely out of ideas on Iran 55:45 Iran is easily the dumbest thing a president has done this century 56:30 For years the go

Sports business reporter John Ourand — who shares an origin story with Chuck Todd at Sports Business Daily — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a deep dive into the money reshaping professional and college sports. Ourand walks through the sale of the Seattle Seahawks as a signal that the era of family-owned NFL franchises is ending, explaining how team valuations have roughly doubled in just three years thanks to new tax advantages and the simple fact that NFL ownership has become the ultimate status club for the ultra-wealthy. He and Chuck dig into whether these eye-popping valuations constitute a bubble — the NFL alone signed $110 billion in media deals over two years — and whether the sports media "middle class" could be facing a real reckoning even as streamers thrive with smaller game packages. Ourand offers a fascinating look at how leagues are navigating their relationship with the networks and production companies that broadcast them (the NFL is deliberately careful not to hurt the legacy networks it depends on), and defends the enduring value of investigative sports journalism, pointing to Pablo Torre's Clippers reporting as a reminder that nobody, including executives at ESPN, wants to be remembered as the person who killed real journalism at the network. The conversation turns to how sports and politics are increasingly colliding. Ourand contrasts Michael Jordan's studied political neutrality with the modern reality of athletes and leagues getting pulled into culture war fights whether they want to or not, noting the UFC fight at the White House pulled huge ratings and that Trump's involvement in overturning a disputed red card call may have actually boosted viewership. He praises Caitlin Clark for navigating the culture wars more gracefully than almost anyone in sports today, draws a compelling parallel between Clark and Larry Bird, and argues the WNBA under commissioner Kathy Engelbert isn't doing nearly enough to capitalize on the attention Clark has generated — in part because leagues remain skittish about race and sexuality debates they'd rather avoid entirely. Ourand closes with a detailed look at the messy economics of college sports, explaining how the biggest programs are effectively subsidizing smaller ones, why a real collective bargaining structure may eventually be inevitable, and why the sport's true power brokers could soon demand a much larger share of the revenue pie for themselves. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.  Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /*Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 John Ourand joins the Chuck ToddCast 02:00 Chuck & John’s shared origins at Sports Business Daily 04:30 Who are the new owners of the Seattle Seahawks? 05:15 We are ending the era of the family owned teams 06:15 How did NFL teams double in value in 3 years? 07:15 NFL ownership is a club rich people want to be in 08:00 There are new tax advantages to owning franchises 10:15 Are sports franchise valuations a bubble that could burst? 12:00 The NFL signed $110B in deals in 2 years 12:30 The middle class of sports rights might face a reckoning soon 13:00 The PGA Tour may have cause for concern for media rights 15:30 Streamers are doing just fine with limited packages of games 16:00 If Amazon gave up their rights, the stock price probably goes up 17:45 The NFL conscious of not hurting the business of legacy networks 19:45 Will the leagues move broadcast production in-house? 22:00 Leagues more likely to partner with large production companies 24:30 There’s still a market for investigative sports journalists 27:30 Nobody wants to be the executive that kills journalism at ESPN 28:15 Reporters at ESPN are aware of where the third rail is 29:15 Pablo Torre’s scoop on the Clippers was a journalist’s dream 31:30 How are leagues/players interacting with politics? 32:45 Michael Jordan stayed out of the political fray 34:45 The UFC fight at the White House had huge ratings 35:15 Trump’s involvement in overturning red card possibly boosted ratings 37:30 Caitlin Clark has been great at avoiding be pulled into the culture wars 38:15 Parallels between Larry Bird & Caitlin Clark  40:30 The WNBA isn’t doing enough to capitalize on Clark’s popularity 42:45 Leagues are afraid of race & sexuality debates  43:30 Is Kathy Engelbert the right commissioner for the WNBA? 46:45 How would collective bargaining be organized in college sports? 50:00 The biggest college programs are subsidizing the smaller ones 52:30 Could big programs demand a bigger share of the revenue? 57:45 Where you can find John’s work See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With almost 100 days until the midterms, Chuck Todd delivers a data-driven check-in on a midterm race that's barely moved in months — except in one crucial direction: Trump's approval went permanently underwater on Liberation Day and has been steadily eroding ever since. He walks through the map in granular detail: Democrats are heavy favorites for the House, likely picking up 15-20 seats even after redistricting wars ultimately cut in Republicans' favor. On the Senate side, Democrats have had the better year, with the map expanding to make Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska genuinely gettable in a wave election, and forcing the GOP to spend big just to hold Texas. He notes presidential approval and even more so approval within a president's own party serving as the two biggest predictors of midterm outcomes. He warns that if the war further tanks the global economy, ordinary Americans will feel it directly, making Trump's own behavior the single biggest wildcard of the entire cycle. He then pivots to the newly passed Protect College Sports Act, walking through why nearly every stakeholder except the SEC and Big Ten support it, why it functions like a de facto collective bargaining agreement without an actual union. He closes with a trio of sharp items: the year's measles outbreak has already surpassed all of 2025's cases combined, with Chuck arguing nobody bears more responsibility for undermining the vaccine than RFK Jr.; Zohran Mamdani calling Netanyahu a war criminal while conceding he has no authority to arrest him, a comment that risks complicating the affordability-focused, "get shit done" movement Mamdani has actually been building; and a notable Oregon lawsuit challenging closed primaries on First Amendment grounds, arguing that voting shouldn't require joining a private club and that independents shouldn't be locked out of the process.  Finally, he presents his ToddCast Top 5 list of governor’s seats most likely to flip in the midterms, and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.  Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /*Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 06:00 Almost 100 days until the midterm elections 06:30 Not much movement in the midterms in the past few months 07:15 Trump’s approval went underwater permanently on Liberation Day 08:30 Trump’s approval has slowly eroded since that day 09:45 Trump keeps announcing new tariffs & tax increases on Americans 10:45 Democrats are heavy favorites to win the House 11:45 Redistricting wars eventually ended up helping Republicans 12:30 Realistically Dems pick up 15-20 seats 14:15 On the senate side, Dems have bad the better year, expanded map 14:45 GOP has gone from clear favorites to small favorites for senate 16:30 Trump has made things much easier for Dems to win the senate 17:00 ICE killing in Maine turned the page on the Platner debacle 18:00 In multiple states, Dems are in better shape now than six weeks ago 18:30 Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska are gettable for Dems in a wave year 19:30 Republicans will have to spend big to defend Texas 21:15 Average gain for out party in a midterm is 4 seats 21:45 Could Fetterman and Murkowski end up switching caucuses? 22:30 Knocking off incumbents is harder than winning an open seat 24:00 GOP feels like the rise of DSA gave them something to run against 26:15 Republicans feel they have to make the Democrat unacceptable 27:30 A few Republicans will survive because of their opponent 29:15 The base is still with the GOP, women & independents are not 30:15 Persuadable voters don’t like election denialism & the Iran war 31:00 Biggest predictor of a midterm election is presidential job approval 32:45 Another big predictor is approval within a president’s own party 34:00 Clinton & Bush were able to have historic overperformance 35:30 Obama had a mixed bag between 2010 and 2014 36:15 Trump is under 80% approval amongst Republicans 37:00 Republicans still have a fairly high floor despite Trump’s troubles 37:45 The Iran war has the potential to crater Trump’s approval 38:45 Dems now have a better chance to win both chambers 39:15 Trump’s behavior is a massive wildcard for the midterms 40:45 If the war tanks the global economy, Americans will feel it 42:30 Congress set to pass bill to put regulations on college sports 43:15 Almost every interested party is in favor except SEC & Big Ten 44:00 What the Protect College Sports Act does 46:00 The bill locks in a revenue share & shuts down booster collectives 46:30 The bill would require a pay cut for the biggest schools 47:15 The bill looks a lot like a collective bargaining agreement 48:15 No industry has cap on pay without a labor union… except this 49:00 The courts are likely to strike this down 50:30 This legislation is begging for legal challenges 51:30 In any other industry this would be a “company union” which was outlawed 53:00 They could fix transfer portal & eligibility and punt on the compensation 53:30 College athletes are now professionals & should be treated like it 54:30 This bill fixes nothing and just tries to jam the players 55:30 The SEC is throwing a temper tantrum over this bill 57:00 College football’s superpower is its geography, it lives everywhere 58:00 Revenue sharing is why the NFL is such a juggernaut 59:00 We’ve had more measles cases this year than all of 2025 59:30 RFK Jr. bears responsibility for this outbreak 1:00:00 Nobody has undermined the measles vaccine more than RFK 1:00:45 These outbreaks will eventually extract a political price 1:01:30 Don’t be shocked when RFK faces civil litigation 1:02:00 Mamdani gives a speech calling Netanyahu a war criminal 1:02:30 Mamdani concluded he didn’t have authority to arrest Bibi 1:03:00 Mamdani ran on affordability, not Israel & foreign policy 1:03:30 Mamdani wants to create a movement, not just govern NYC 1:04:15 Mamdani’s project a real “get shit done” competence so far 1:05:15 Is Mamdani teeing up an eventual senate run? 1:06:00 Mamdani may have made his political project just a bit harder 1:07:00 Lawsuit in Oregon is challenging closed primaries 1:07:30 Participation in elections shouldn’t require joining a club 1:08:00 1st amendment protects you from having to associate 1:08:30 Independents shouldn’t be locked out of primaries 01:13:30 ToddCast Top 5 Governor’s seats most likely to change parties 01:14:00 #5 Oregon 01:15:00 #4 Ohio 01:16:15 #3 Wisconsin 01:18:15 #2 Kansas 01:19:00 #1 Iowa 01:20:00 Ask Chuck 01:20:15 Love for Chuck’s creaky chair 01:21:30 What is your favorite political term that nobody knows its origin? 01:23:30 How was JFK’s appointment of his brother viewed at the time? 01:26:00 Dems chances of winning statewide in Iowa, Ohio and Florida? 01:27:15 Could Talarico generate any coattail effect for Dems in Texas? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With almost 100 days until the midterms, Chuck Todd delivers a data-driven check-in on a midterm race that's barely moved in months — except in one crucial direction: Trump's approval went permanently underwater on Liberation Day and has been steadily eroding ever since. He walks through the map in granular detail: Democrats are heavy favorites for the House, likely picking up 15-20 seats even after redistricting wars ultimately cut in Republicans' favor. On the Senate side, Democrats have had the better year, with the map expanding to make Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska genuinely gettable in a wave election, and forcing the GOP to spend big just to hold Texas. He notes presidential approval and even more so approval within a president's own party serving as the two biggest predictors of midterm outcomes. He warns that if the war further tanks the global economy, ordinary Americans will feel it directly, making Trump's own behavior the single biggest wildcard of the entire cycle. He then pivots to the newly passed Protect College Sports Act, walking through why nearly every stakeholder except the SEC and Big Ten support it, why it functions like a de facto collective bargaining agreement without an actual union. He closes with a trio of sharp items: the year's measles outbreak has already surpassed all of 2025's cases combined, with Chuck arguing nobody bears more responsibility for undermining the vaccine than RFK Jr.; Zohran Mamdani calling Netanyahu a war criminal while conceding he has no authority to arrest him, a comment that risks complicating the affordability-focused, "get shit done" movement Mamdani has actually been building; and a notable Oregon lawsuit challenging closed primaries on First Amendment grounds, arguing that voting shouldn't require joining a private club and that independents shouldn't be locked out of the process.  Then, Neera Tanden — president and CEO of the Center for American Progress and a longtime Democratic policy hand — joins the Chuck Toddcast for an unusually candid reckoning with where the party went wrong and what it actually needs to do next. Tanden doesn't soften the verdict: Democrats' one job in 2024 was to keep Trump out of office, and they failed, in part because the establishment let the Biden campaign go on far too long and has consequently lost credibility it hasn't earned back. She argues that in an era where every election is close, Democrats shouldn't be satisfied chasing narrow wins — the actual goal should be a decisive Electoral College victory built around a genuine 60% coalition, especially now that even longtime Trump supporters are starting to break away. Tanden is refreshingly specific on policy: she defends incrementalism as the proven Democratic playbook, argues entrenched Washington interests can block even a clear majority's will, and wants Democrats to build their economic message explicitly around working-class anxieties.They discuss the sharp moral case for the estate tax while cautioning that a wealth tax is nearly impossible to administer fairly year to year and would almost certainly be struck down by this Supreme Court. The conversation turns to the internal Democratic civil war and the road to 2026 and beyond. Tanden argues there's no rise of the DSA without Trump's return, frames the Michigan Senate primary as the real petri-dish test for the left, and is blunt that Democrats in swing states need to remember they're in swing states. She calls for a real, honest autopsy of 2024, and lays out her vision for a Democratic trifecta in 2027: pass bills that directly address the cost of living, investigate the administration's corruption and recognize that Trump's entire contract with his base rests on the promise that he can never lose.  Finally, he presents his ToddCast Top 5 list of governor’s seats most likely to flip in the midterms, and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.  Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /*Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 06:00 Almost 100 days until the midterm elections 06:30 Not much movement in the midterms in the past few months 07:15 Trump’s approval went underwater permanently on Liberation Day 08:30 Trump’s approval has slowly eroded since that day 09:45 Trump keeps announcing new tariffs & tax increases on Americans 10:45 Democrats are heavy favorites to win the House 11:45 Redistricting wars eventually ended up helping Republicans 12:30 Realistically Dems pick up 15-20 seats 14:15 On the senate side, Dems have bad the better year, expanded map 14:45 GOP has gone from clear favorites to small favorites for senate 16:30 Trump has made things much easier for Dems to win the senate 17:00 ICE killing in Maine turned the page on the Platner debacle 18:00 In multiple states, Dems are in better shape now than six weeks ago 18:30 Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska are gettable for Dems in a wave year 19:30 Republicans will have to spend big to defend Texas 21:15 Average gain for out party in a midterm is 4 seats 21:45 Could Fetterman and Murkowski end up switching caucuses? 22:30 Knocking off incumbents is harder than winning an open seat 24:00 GOP feels like the rise of DSA gave them something to run against 26:15 Republicans feel they have to make the Democrat unacceptable 27:30 A few Republicans will survive because of their opponent 29:15 The base is still with the GOP, women & independents are not 30:15 Persuadable voters don’t like election denialism & the Iran war 31:00 Biggest predictor of a midterm election is presidential job approval 32:45 Another big predictor is approval within a president’s own party 34:00 Clinton & Bush were able to have historic overperformance 35:30 Obama had a mixed bag between 2010 and 2014 36:15 Trump is under 80% approval amongst Republicans 37:00 Republicans still have a fairly high floor despite Trump’s troubles 37:45 The Iran war has the potential to crater Trump’s approval 38:45 Dems now have a better chance to win both chambers 39:15 Trump’s behavior is a massive wildcard for the midterms 40:45 If the war tanks the global economy, Americans will feel it 42:30 Congress set to pass bill to put regulations on college sports 43:15 Almost every interested party is in favor except SEC & Big Ten 44:00 What the Protect College Sports Act does 46:00 The bill locks in a revenue share & shuts down booster collectives 46:30 The bill would require a pay cut for the biggest schools 47:15 The bill looks a lot like a collective bargaining agreement 48:15 No industry has cap on pay without a labor union… except this 49:00 The courts are likely to strike this down 50:30 This legislation is begging for legal challenges 51:30 In any other industry this would be a “company union” which was outlawed 53:00 They could fix transfer portal & eligibility and punt on the compensation 53:30 College athletes are now professionals & should be treated like it 54:30 This bill fixes nothing and just tries to jam the players 55:30 The SEC is throwing a temper tantrum over this bill 57:00 College football’s superpower is its geography, it lives everywhere 58:00 Revenue sharing is why the NFL is such a juggernaut 59:00 We’ve had more measles cases this year than all of 2025 59:30 RFK Jr. bears responsibility for this outbreak 1:00:00 Nobody has undermined the measles vaccine more than RFK 1:00:45 These outbreaks will eventually extract a political price 1:01:30 Don’t be shocked when RFK faces civil litigation 1:02:00 Mamdani gives a speech calling Netanyahu a war criminal 1:02:30 Mamdani concluded he didn’t have authority to arrest Bibi 1:03:00 Mamdani ran on affordability, not Israel & foreign policy 1:03:30 Mamdani wants to create a movement, not just govern NYC 1:04:15 Mamdani’s project a real “get shit done” competence so far 1:05:15 Is Mamdani teeing up an eventual senate run? 1:06:00 Mamdani may have made his political project just a bit harder 1:07:00 Lawsuit in Oregon is challenging closed primaries 1:07:30 Participation in elections shouldn’t require joining a club 1:08:00 1st amendment protects you from having to associate 1:08:30 Independents shouldn’t be locked out of primaries 01:14:00 Neera Tanden joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:15:00 Developing ideas for the country’s biggest problems 01:16:30 Democrats have real anger with the Trump administration 01:17:30 Democrats job was to keep Trump out of office & they failed 01:19:00 Pelosi thought Biden would lose and chose to act, but too

Neera Tanden — president and CEO of the Center for American Progress and a longtime Democratic policy hand — joins the Chuck Toddcast for an unusually candid reckoning with where the party went wrong and what it actually needs to do next. Tanden doesn't soften the verdict: Democrats' one job in 2024 was to keep Trump out of office, and they failed, in part because the establishment let the Biden campaign go on far too long and has consequently lost credibility it hasn't earned back. She argues that in an era where every election is close, Democrats shouldn't be satisfied chasing narrow wins — the actual goal should be a decisive Electoral College victory built around a genuine 60% coalition, especially now that even longtime Trump supporters are starting to break away. Tanden is refreshingly specific on policy: she defends incrementalism as the proven Democratic playbook (the ACA and Biden's Medicare drug price negotiations both succeeded that way, while Medicare for All keeps stalling because people are fundamentally change-averse), argues entrenched Washington interests can block even a clear majority's will, and wants Democrats to build their economic message explicitly around working-class anxieties.They discuss the sharp moral case for the estate tax while cautioning that a wealth tax is nearly impossible to administer fairly year to year and would almost certainly be struck down by this Supreme Court. The conversation turns to the internal Democratic civil war and the road to 2026 and beyond. Tanden argues there's no rise of the DSA without Trump's return, frames the Michigan Senate primary as the real petri-dish test for the left, and is blunt that Democrats in swing states need to remember they're in swing states. She calls for a real, honest autopsy of 2024, and lays out her vision for a Democratic trifecta in 2027: pass bills that directly address the cost of living, investigate the administration's corruption and recognize that Trump's entire contract with his base rests on the promise that he can never lose.  Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.  Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /*Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.    Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Neera Tanden joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:00 Developing ideas for the country’s biggest problems 02:30 Democrats have real anger with the Trump administration 03:30 Democrats job was to keep Trump out of office & they failed 05:00 Pelosi thought Biden would lose and chose to act, but too late 06:00 The establishment allowed the Biden campaign to go on too long 06:30 The establishment has less credibility than in the past 07:15 Longtime Trump supporters are starting to break away from him 08:30 Every election is close, never enough for repudiation 09:15 Goal should be a large scale electoral college victory 11:00 The opportunity to build a 60% coalition 13:00 The problems America faces seem to big for incrementalism 15:45 The success of the ACA came via incrementalism 16:30 Medicare drug price negotiation was a huge win for Biden 17:30 Problem with Medicare-for-all is people are changing averse 18:30 Entrenched interests in Washington can stop a majority  21:30 Dems should organize messaging to include more working class people 22:00 Why do we have a trillionaire when people are struggling with basics? 22:45 Working class people are more sensitive to crime issues 24:00 People are worried about the wealthy having too much power 25:30 Inheritance tax would help prevent oligarchy 27:00 People are pessimistic their kids won’t do better than them 27:30 It feels like the social contract has been eroded in America 29:00 If you believe in merit, you should believe in the estate tax 30:00 A wealth tax is hard to evaluate year to year 30:45 Supreme Court unlikely to find wealth tax constitutional 31:45 State wealth taxes are not a good idea 33:30 Democracy is undermined when there’s an economic nobility 35:00 Attitudes toward inequality were different in the 90s, every group doing better 37:15 There’s no rise of the DSA without the return of Trump 38:00 Michigan primary will be the petri dish test for the left 39:45 Democrats in swing states need to remember they’re swing states 40:30 Liberals in Texas thought Talarico was more electable 42:30 Progressives winning in blue cities isn’t that big of an issue 43:15 DSA needs to be cognizant that they would struggle in swing states 45:00 Democratic leadership has stayed the same 46:15 Democrats needs to do a real autopsy on 24 47:00 Harris being on the ticket saved the Democrats 4 senate seats 49:00 If Dems win both chambers, how should they spend 2027? 49:45 Dems should pass bills that address the cost of living 50:15 The administration’s corruption needs to be investigated 51:30 SCOTUS basically gave Trump a pass for illegality, Dems can’t do much 52:45 Republicans are starting to break, but they tolerate the intolerable 55:15 Trump’s contract with his base is that he can’t lose 56:30 Which under the radar senate race do you find most fascinating? 57:45 Amy Acton in Ohio will be the canary in the coalmine See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With just 105 days until the 2026 midterms, Chuck Todd and Chris Cillizza use their last Super Tuesday before the sub-100-day mark to take stock of what they think they know. The headline: with Trump's approval stuck below 40, gas back over $4, an Iran conflict reigniting, and an ICE controversy dominating the news, nearly every fundamental points toward Republicans losing both chambers — and the guys argue the only thing standing between Democrats and a monster year is the Democrats themselves. They dig deep into the polling weeds, unpacking why the generic ballot has quietly become more of a party-ID number, why you can't compare it across cycles anymore, why independents are breaking hard left, and what to make of the model giving Democrats a 62% shot at the House while Republicans hold a 59% edge in the Senate. From there it's onto the races reshaping the map: South Carolina, where Trump ally Russell Frye jumps into the special and Lindsey Graham's appointed sister surprises everyone by running for a full term — a rare bit of GOP pragmatism that hands John Thune a much-needed win — and Maine, where Troy Jackson is set to be coronated at the Democratic convention and the ICE story has erased Susan Collins's post-Platner breathing room. Chuck and Chris also weigh the stalled Todd Blanche confirmation, the $400 million Qatari plane suddenly deemed too unsafe to fly, and why character and temperament remain the whole ballgame. Then they close on LeBron's looming decision — Heat, Cavs, or Sixers — and Chuck plugs the summer slate across the "Chuck Todd expanded universe." Timeline: 00:00 105 days out from the midterms 02:07 Why August, not July, is when politics really kicks off 03:01 Why campaigns no longer wait for Labor Day to run their hits 04:34 Trump's approval is stuck below 40 a recipe for losing both chambers 05:44 ICE story erases whatever Collins got from the Platner disaster 06:49 Democrats are more motivated 07:23 Arizona Republicans line up to nominate a candidate who can't win 08:08 Trump's primetime speech relitigating 2020 09:26 GOP candidates on the trail are running as far from Trump as possible 10:50 Trump is too lazy to be a dictator 11:54 On 2020, Trump is on an island — even his own party won't follow 14:14 The history: 20 of the last 22 midterms punish the president's party 15:05 The generic ballot vs. 2018 and 2010, for reference 15:51 Why the generic ballot is now really a party-ID number 17:31 Trust the trend lines, not the raw numbers 19:59 The StateNavigate Georgia poll that floored them 20:49 Why Democrats peak in summer polling  22:19 A smarter "informed ballot" experiment using Google search results 24:36 Democrats 62% to win the House, Republicans 59% to hold the Senate 25:20 Why the Senate number is lower than it should be  26:54 Iowa as the 50-yard line for a wave 27:42 The daunting Senate map for Dems 30:04 Why the 62% House number surprised Chris 31:52 The one thing that changed all summer — a possible new forever war 32:56 The math favors the GOP: Democrats are playing a road game 34:18 No swing districts left, and a country sorted to the bone 36:03 South Carolina: Trump ally Russell Frye jumps into the special 36:56 Graham's appointed sister surprises by running for a full term 37:30 A rare case of Trump and the GOP doing the pragmatic thing 41:13 Troy Jackson set for a coronation 42:53 The stalled Todd Blanche confirmation & the $1.8B slush fund 43:15 Why the ICE story is a real problem for Collins 44:02 Ambition as a drug — Homan, Bovino, Noem & the $50k question 45:09 The Odyssey movie and how online discourse isn't real life 47:07 The $400M Qatari plane is suddenly too unsafe to fly 48:07 Character and temperament as the whole ballgame 50:20 Quotes that aged badly 52:05 Trump as Grover Cleveland  53:34 LeBron's decision: Heat, Cavs, or Sixers 56:20 Miami and Denver as the best physical fits for a 40-year-old LeBron 57:34 The Hall of Fame "five rings table" and the chase for a fifth title 1:00:17 What the prediction markets say  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with a story that seems small and turns out to be a perfect miniature of everything wrong with this Pentagon: a Blue Angels flyover at Pensacola Beach came in too low, the pilot who made the honest mistake felt terrible about it — and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, without bothering to establish a single fact about what happened, seized the moment to gloat and own the libs. Chuck calls Hegseth an absolute clown and a fake soldier, argues the incident is a window into a Pentagon where the boss cares more about winning an online argument than about the safety of the people he commands, and where the entire "military testosterone" discourse — Hegseth's fixation on creating "supertrooper" fighting men is both dumb and genuinely dangerous. His verdict: a great American military culture is being actively degraded. He extends the same argument to ICE, where the violence has been entirely predictable — the officer involved in the latest shooting had enormous red flags in his background, and the agency appears to have no meaningful vetting process at all. He also explains why, contrary to much of the commentary, he wasn't alarmed by Trump's primetime election-denial address: it was a nothingburger. Trump has no evidence, which is why he keeps turning to cranks — his endorsement of Mike Lindell tells you everything — and there's no policy response attached to his own foreign-interference allegations, since China has faced no sanction whatsoever for what Trump claims it did. He argues American elections are extraordinarily hard to overturn precisely because the system is decentralized, that Trump is too lazy to become a Putin or a Mao… A more disciplined president would frighten Chuck far more. Chuck sees a forever war taking shape in Iran: the strategy amounts to throwing kinetic weight at the problem and hoping the regime collapses, while Iran fights the asymmetric war it always planned, targeting Gulf states and now civilian survival infrastructure — hitting desalination plants could trigger a crisis lasting years — and nobody in Washington actually knows how to win. He closes with a genuinely important profile of Undersecretary Elbridge Colby, the intellectual architect of the new right's foreign policy and a favorite of JD Vance, whose vision of American retreat from its allies would effectively be the policy of a President Vance: Colby has trashed Mark Carney's "middle power" strategy and declared that no country is entitled to the American defense industry — which,  notes, misses that buying military hardware is a 30-year bet on trusting an ally, and middle powers who conclude they can be coerced by Washington will simply take their money somewhere else. Quick hits on a messy Wisconsin governor's race (Tony Evers built no infrastructure and left no obvious heir in one of the country's most misunderstood swing states) and Tuesday's Arizona primary round things out. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to draw parallels between the arguments in modern American politics to the argument between Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev in the infamous “kitchen debate” and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.    Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.   For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /*Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 02:15 Pensacola Beach is the home of the Blue Angels 03:15 Low flyover from Blue Angels generated massive controversy 03:45 Hegseth has allowed unsafe flyovers in the past 04:15 Hegseth’s leadership at the Pentagon has been awful 05:00 Hegseth used the flyover to try to “own the libs” 05:45 The low flyover at the beach was an honest mistake by the pilot 07:30 Online discourse about flyover was both sides trying to prove their point 08:30 Hegseth didn’t even bother to figure out the facts about the incident 09:00 The pilot felt terrible about the mistake, while Hegseth gloated 11:00 Why Chuck isn’t alarmed by Trump’s election denial primetime speech 11:45 Trump has tested constitutional boundaries unlike any other president 13:30 Trump’s endorsement of Mike Lindell says everything 14:00 Trump doesn’t have evidence of fraud, he turns to election denial cranks 15:15 Trump’s speech was a big fat nothingburger 16:30 Trump wanted government to interfere in the 2020 election 17:30 There’s no policy response to Trump’s allegations about foreign interference 18:30 China hasn’t received any sanction or response to allegations 20:00 Trump has lackeys cherry pick facts to try to sew mistrust in elections 22:00 It is extraordinarily difficult to overturn an American election 22:45 The electoral system is decentralized making it harder to meddle with 23:30 A president more disciplined than Trump would be a bigger worry 24:30 We need to repair structural weaknesses in the democracy 25:15 Trump is too lazy to become a dictator like Putin or Mao 26:00 Trump has his sycophants… but they all fear jail too 27:15 Trump wants other people to risk themselves to keep him in power 28:30 We’re on the road to a “forever war” in Iran 29:00 The plan is just to throw kinetic weight & hope the regime collapses 29:45 Iran’s whole strategy is asymmetric, targeting Gulf states 30:15 Iran is now targeting civilian survival infrastructure 30:45 Hitting desalination plants could create a yearslong crisis 31:30 Administration keeps doubling down on the same strategy 33:30 Nobody in Washington knows how to win the war 34:30 Pete Hegseth is an absolute clown… a fake soldier 35:00 The military testosterone discourse is both dumb and dangerous 36:00 Undersecretary Elbridge Colby has a big role in shaping policy 37:30 Colby wants America to retreat from the world & our allies 38:30 Colby has been embraced by JD Vance & the new right 39:15 Colby’s policies would be those of a President JD Vance 40:30 Allies realize they can be coerced by America 42:30 Colby trashed the “middle power” strategy of Mark Carney 43:00 Colby says nobody is entitled to the U.S. military industry 44:00 Buying military hardware is a 30 year bet on trusting an ally 45:00 Middle powers will look elsewhere to buy their military equipment 46:15 Hegseth wants to create testosterone driven “supertroopers” 47:00 Women aren’t being offered a similar screening 48:00 Jesse Watters comments on testosterone were beyond awful 48:30 Most watched cable host was making sexual assault jokes 49:15 Military has had a longstanding issue with sexual assault 50:00 Young men are marketed testosterone from influencers & now government 51:00 Taking outside testosterone shuts down natural production of it 51:45 Taking testosterone has major negative side effects 53:00 Our great military culture is being destroyed by Trump 53:30 The violence from ICE officers has been entirely predictable 54:15 DHS under Trump never deserves the benefit of the doubt 55:15 Officer involved in shooting had massive red flags in his background 56:00 ICE doesn’t appear to have any vetting process for recruits 1:00:00 Wisconsin governor’s race has become a political mess 1:01:00 Tony Evers didn’t build a strong infrastructure around him 1:01:30 Evers didn’t set up an obvious heir in the Democratic party 1:03:00 The party establishment hasn’t responded to all parts of the base 1:03:45 Wisconsin is one of the most misunderstood swing states 1:05:00 Democrats in Wisconsin have to make the political center comfortable 1:07:30 Arizona primary coming up on Tuesday 01:13:15 ToddCast Time Machine July 24, 1959   01:13:45 Nixon and Krushchev host the “Kitchen Debate”   01:14:45 The countries were showing off their way of life - Capitalism vs Communism   01:15:30 Soviets set up a display in New York to show off their society   01:16:15 Khrushchev believed history would belong to the communists   01:16:45 The answer to the Soviet display was a model of an American home   01:17:30 The argument was that a middle class worker could afford that home   01:18:00 America showed it offered equality of opportunity, not outcome   01:18:45 Krushchev and Nixon debated knowing the world would hear it   01:19:45 Krushchev didn’t believe Americans actually lived that well   01:20:15 Nixon argued that competition inspired innovation and growth   01:21:45 Market capitalism proved to be the more dynamic economic system   01:22:15 There are echoes of the Kitchen Debate in modern American discourse   01:23:45 The Soviet Union disappeared, the debate hasn’t 

Chuck Todd opens with a story that seems small and turns out to be a perfect miniature of everything wrong with this Pentagon: a Blue Angels flyover at Pensacola Beach came in too low, the pilot who made the honest mistake felt terrible about it — and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, without bothering to establish a single fact about what happened, seized the moment to gloat and own the libs. Chuck calls Hegseth an absolute clown and a fake soldier, argues the incident is a window into a Pentagon where the boss cares more about winning an online argument than about the safety of the people he commands, and where the entire "military testosterone" discourse — Hegseth's fixation on creating "supertrooper" fighting men is both dumb and genuinely dangerous. His verdict: a great American military culture is being actively degraded. He extends the same argument to ICE, where the violence has been entirely predictable — the officer involved in the latest shooting had enormous red flags in his background, and the agency appears to have no meaningful vetting process at all. He also explains why, contrary to much of the commentary, he wasn't alarmed by Trump's primetime election-denial address: it was a nothingburger. Trump has no evidence, which is why he keeps turning to cranks — his endorsement of Mike Lindell tells you everything — and there's no policy response attached to his own foreign-interference allegations, since China has faced no sanction whatsoever for what Trump claims it did. He argues American elections are extraordinarily hard to overturn precisely because the system is decentralized, that Trump is too lazy to become a Putin or a Mao… A more disciplined president would frighten Chuck far more. Chuck sees a forever war taking shape in Iran: the strategy amounts to throwing kinetic weight at the problem and hoping the regime collapses, while Iran fights the asymmetric war it always planned, targeting Gulf states and now civilian survival infrastructure — hitting desalination plants could trigger a crisis lasting years — and nobody in Washington actually knows how to win. He closes with a genuinely important profile of Undersecretary Elbridge Colby, the intellectual architect of the new right's foreign policy and a favorite of JD Vance, whose vision of American retreat from its allies would effectively be the policy of a President Vance: Colby has trashed Mark Carney's "middle power" strategy and declared that no country is entitled to the American defense industry — which,  notes, misses that buying military hardware is a 30-year bet on trusting an ally, and middle powers who conclude they can be coerced by Washington will simply take their money somewhere else. Quick hits on a messy Wisconsin governor's race (Tony Evers built no infrastructure and left no obvious heir in one of the country's most misunderstood swing states) and Tuesday's Arizona primary round things out. Then, bestselling novelist Daniel Silva — creator of the Gabriel Allon series — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a conversation that starts with the craft of spy fiction and quickly becomes something closer to a threat assessment. Silva's newest plot turns on drones, and he's blunt that this isn't speculative: he believes it's a matter of time before a drone carries out an assassination or a mass-casualty attack. He talks about the strange responsibility of writing a fictional event that could plausibly happen next month, why he deliberately withholds visual detail so readers build the scene themselves, and what he learned reporting out how modern kidnappings and ransom negotiations actually work. The darker current running underneath is his read on American intelligence: the FBI is no longer the same place, the U.S. is jettisoning allies and hollowing out its agencies, and Silva poses the question a novelist is uniquely positioned to ask — if you're the GRU right now, where would you most want an asset placed? He notes that the best assets often don't know they're assets, that NATO held a crisis meeting about Trump, and that this is precisely the moment to be putting the screws to a vulnerable Putin, since Ukraine has victory in sight and isn't desperate for any deal. The conversation turns personal when Chuck asks how Silva handles Israel's collapsing global reputation in a series built around an Israeli intelligence officer. Silva says the shift was entirely foreseeable, that he has no interest in writing about Gaza, and that what saddens him most is the "fortress Israel" mindset — a country founded on European-style socialist ideals now convinced it can go it alone, siloed from the world, while antisemitism surges globally in a way he warns only ever needs the right set of circumstances to reignite. He and Chuck range across the forces reshaping the century: giant corporations approaching the power of nation-states, a new generation of the ultra-wealthy who simply don't believe in philanthropy, AI's capacity to wipe out the knowledge economy, and Silva's conviction that the next great political crisis may be a climate-driven natural disaster — noting that the last major El Niño produced famines that killed millions, that today's migration patterns are already climate-driven, and that people are dying right now as a direct result of cutting humanitarian aid. He's unsparing on writing and AI), amused and appalled that Trump has turned the National Mall into a mess with a reflecting pool gone "Kermit green," and closes on the question every prolific novelist gets asked and rarely answers honestly: does he ever actually rest? Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to draw parallels between the arguments in modern American politics to the argument between Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev in the infamous “kitchen debate” and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.  Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /*Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 02:15 Pensacola Beach is the home of the Blue Angels 03:15 Low flyover from Blue Angels generated massive controversy 03:45 Hegseth has allowed unsafe flyovers in the past 04:15 Hegseth’s leadership at the Pentagon has been awful 05:00 Hegseth used the flyover to try to “own the libs” 05:45 The low flyover at the beach was an honest mistake by the pilot 07:30 Online discourse about flyover was both sides trying to prove their point 08:30 Hegseth didn’t even bother to figure out the facts about the incident 09:00 The pilot felt terrible about the mistake, while Hegseth gloated 11:00 Why Chuck isn’t alarmed by Trump’s election denial primetime speech 11:45 Trump has tested constitutional boundaries unlike any other president 13:30 Trump’s endorsement of Mike Lindell says everything 14:00 Trump doesn’t have evidence of fraud, he turns to election denial cranks 15:15 Trump’s speech was a big fat nothingburger 16:30 Trump wanted government to interfere in the 2020 election 17:30 There’s no policy response to Trump’s allegations about foreign interference 18:30 China hasn’t received any sanction or response to allegations 20:00 Trump has lackeys cherry pick facts to try to sew mistrust in elections 22:00 It is extraordinarily difficult to overturn an American election 22:45 The electoral system is decentralized making it harder to meddle with 23:30 A president more disciplined than Trump would be a bigger worry 24:30 We need to repair structural weaknesses in the democracy 25:15 Trump is too lazy to become a dictator like Putin or Mao 26:00 Trump has his sycophants… but they all fear jail too 27:15 Trump wants other people to risk themselves to keep him in power 28:30 We’re on the road to a “forever war” in Iran 29:00 The plan is just to throw kinetic weight & hope the regime collapses 29:45 Iran’s whole strategy is asymmetric, targeting Gulf states 30:15 Iran is now targeting civilian survival infrastructure 30:45 Hitting desalination plants could create a yearslong crisis 31:30 Administration keeps doubling down on the same strategy 33:30 Nobody in Washington knows how to win the war 34:30 Pete Hegseth is an absolute clown… a fake soldier 35:00 The military testosterone discourse is both dumb and dangerous 36:00 Undersecretary Elbridge Colby has a big role in shaping policy 37:30 Colby wants America to retreat from the world & our allies 38:30 Colby has been embraced by JD Vance & the new right 39:15 Colby’s policies would be those of a President JD Vance 40:30 Allies realize they

Bestselling novelist Daniel Silva — creator of the Gabriel Allon series — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a conversation that starts with the craft of spy fiction and quickly becomes something closer to a threat assessment. Silva's newest plot turns on drones, and he's blunt that this isn't speculative: he believes it's a matter of time before a drone carries out an assassination or a mass-casualty attack. He talks about the strange responsibility of writing a fictional event that could plausibly happen next month, why he deliberately withholds visual detail so readers build the scene themselves, and what he learned reporting out how modern kidnappings and ransom negotiations actually work. The darker current running underneath is his read on American intelligence: the FBI is no longer the same place, the U.S. is jettisoning allies and hollowing out its agencies, and Silva poses the question a novelist is uniquely positioned to ask — if you're the GRU right now, where would you most want an asset placed? He notes that the best assets often don't know they're assets, that NATO held a crisis meeting about Trump, and that this is precisely the moment to be putting the screws to a vulnerable Putin, since Ukraine has victory in sight and isn't desperate for any deal. The conversation turns personal when Chuck asks how Silva handles Israel's collapsing global reputation in a series built around an Israeli intelligence officer. Silva says the shift was entirely foreseeable, that he has no interest in writing about Gaza, and that what saddens him most is the "fortress Israel" mindset — a country founded on European-style socialist ideals now convinced it can go it alone, siloed from the world, while antisemitism surges globally in a way he warns only ever needs the right set of circumstances to reignite. He and Chuck range across the forces reshaping the century: giant corporations approaching the power of nation-states, a new generation of the ultra-wealthy who simply don't believe in philanthropy, AI's capacity to wipe out the knowledge economy, and Silva's conviction that the next great political crisis may be a climate-driven natural disaster — noting that the last major El Niño produced famines that killed millions, that today's migration patterns are already climate-driven, and that people are dying right now as a direct result of cutting humanitarian aid. He's unsparing on writing and AI), amused and appalled that Trump has turned the National Mall into a mess with a reflecting pool gone "Kermit green," and closes on the question every prolific novelist gets asked and rarely answers honestly: does he ever actually rest? Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.  Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /*Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Daniel Silva joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:00 Gabriel Allon is ageless 02:45 How much do you put yourself into Gabriel Allon? 03:30 Gabriel’s character allows Daniel to pursue things he’s interested in 05:15 Potentially creating a spin-off series 06:30 Vibe of the book series is European art 07:15 How did you learn about modern kidnappings and negotiations 09:15 Not writing with great visual detail to allow readers to imagine it 10:15 We are going to have a major incident triggered by drones 11:15 Ukraine has become the drone specialists of the world 12:00 Drones will eventually carry out an assassination or mass casualty event 13:15 Any trepidation creating a fictional event that could actually happen? 14:15 There was an emergency drone incident in Copenhagen 14:45 Europeans are already very nervous about impacts of drones 15:30 There are cameras everywhere in modern society 16:45 The level of criminality & corruption in the world is staggering 18:00 The current FBI is no longer the same place 18:45 We are jettising allies and destroying our intelligence agencies 19:30 If you are the GRU… where would you want an asset to be? 20:30 There are different types of intelligence assets 21:00 Some of the best assets don’t realize they are assets 22:15 Crisis meeting held at NATO headquarters about Trump  25:30 We should be putting the screws to Putin right now, he’s vulnerable 26:15 Ukraine has victory in sight, they aren’t desperate for a deal 27:00 How do you tackle Israel’s reputation in the world in the books? 29:30 The changes to Israel’s reputation were foreseeable 30:00 Don’t want to write about the war in Gaza 31:00 Is all hope for a two state solution gone? 33:45 There’s a “fortress Israel” mindset, they think they can do it alone 34:15 Is Gabriel Allon still a zionist? 35:00 Israel was founded with tenets of European style socialism 36:00 It’s sad seeing Israel becoming so siloed from the world 37:30 There’s been a major resurgence of antisemitism 39:15 It only takes the right set of circumstances to reignite antisemitism 40:30 Giant corporations are becoming as powerful as nation states 42:00 The new generation of ultra wealthy don’t believe in philanthropy 42:45 AI has the ability to wipe out the knowledge economy 44:00 The next great political crisis might be a climate driven natural disaster 44:45 The last great El Nino created massive famine, killing millions 45:30 The current migration patterns are climate driven 46:00 People are dying as a direct result of cutting humanitarian aid 49:30 Trump has turned the national mall into a mess 50:15 The reflecting pool is now “Kermit green” 51:30 If you could write your next book about anything, what would it be? 52:30 Don’t think he could write non-fiction, too many novels to write 54:15 If you use AI to do your writing, then that isn’t writing 57:30 Anthropic CEO gave a reasoned answer to AI military applications 58:00 Could have an AI version of yourself that lives forever 59:15 Do you ever take a rest from writing? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with the news that Trump is planning a primetime address to push election denialism, and uses it as a lens to examine how thoroughly fealty to the 2020 fraud lie has become the price of admission in Trump's Washington. He argues Todd Blanche should have no place in the Department of Justice, that he failed his test under questioning from John Cornyn, and that the weaponization fund could become the red line that finally moves Collins, Tillis, and Cornyn — because an inability to confirm Blanche would be a clear sign of Trump's weakening grip on the GOP. He points to the surreal spectacle of Jay Clayton refusing to answer Jon Ossoff's simple question of who won the 2020 election, looking like a ridiculous sycophant in the process, and to Trump endorsing MyPillow's Mike Lindell — the single biggest election conspiracy theorist in the country, a man who's lost every court case and been forced to pay $5 million over his false claims. He reminds listeners that it was Trump's own appointees who ran election security in 2020, that every major election denier from Giuliani on down has been forced to retract in court, and that Georgia's full hand recount matched the machines exactly — the only real constant in Trumpworld is that any outcome Trump dislikes gets branded fraud.  He then turns to the mounting deaths during ICE encounters, arguing the violence isn't an anomaly but an entirely predictable consequence of an agency whose culture has been deliberately reshaped: DHS recruited candidates with violent psychological profiles using white nationalist slogans, imposed quotas that put officers under enormous stress, and pushed them into vehicle stops that former officials admit ICE has no experience conducting. In two fatal shootings the men killed weren't even the targets, witnesses have disputed the DHS account, there's no body cam footage, and Chuck argues DHS has zero credibility, even as Trump clearly wants the theater and the violent confrontations. On Iran, Chuck is blunt that having less leverage than before the war started is simply what losing a war looks like: the administration badly underestimated Iran's willingness to close the Strait of Hormuz, Iran deliberately decentralized its regime to survive decapitation strikes, and after three failed military strategies in five months, Trump has spent the entire war negotiating against himself — meaning the best America can now hope for is a managed stalemate, because Iran can't beat the U.S. military, it just has to wait out an increasingly impatient Trump. He closes on a lighter note with the House passing a bill to make daylight saving time permanent, offering the contrarian reminder that the public always wants permanent DST until they actually get it — kids forced to go to school in pitch darkness, and the simple reality that what's good for you in the evening is bad for someone else in the morning.  Finally, Chuck presents his ToddCast Top 5 list of professional athletes best positioned to run for political office and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. From the opening whistle to the final kick. Bet on a match and get bonus bets for every goal scored at Fanduel.com  Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order.   For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /*Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 03:00 Trump planning primetime address to push election denialism 04:15 Todd Blanche should have no place in the Department of Justice 05:00 Blanche failed the test when questioned by John Cornyn 05:30 Weaponization fund could be the red line for Collins, Tillis and Cornyn 07:00 Inability to confirm Blanche would show Trump’s weakening grip on GOP 08:15 John Ossoff asked simple question Jay Clayton wouldn’t answer 09:00 Clayton refused to answer “who won the 2020 election?” 09:30 You must agree with election denialism to work for Trump 10:30 Clayton looked like a ridiculous sycophant 12:00 Administration convinced deportations will help in midterms 12:30 Trump is completely misreading the situation, but nobody will tell him 13:15 Trump gives his endorsement to Mike Lindell from MyPillow 13:45 Trump supporting biggest election conspiracy theorist in the country* 14:30 Lindell was forced to pay $5 million due to his false claims 15:15 Lindell has lost every time his claims ended up in court 15:45 Lindell is a lunatic 16:45 The only constant for Trump is “it’s fraud” if he doesn’t get his way 17:30 It was Trump appointees who ran election security in 2020 18:15 The election fraud claims from Trumpworld kept changing  19:15 Guliani was forced to refute his election denial in court 20:00 Every election denier has had to retract in a court of law 21:15 Georgia conducted a full recount and it matched the machines 23:00 Multiple deaths have occurred during encounters with ICE 24:00 In the two shootings the men killed were not the targets of the operation 24:45 Witnesses have challenged DHS account & there’s no body cam footage 25:15 DHS has no credibility, can’t trust their account of events 26:00 ICE announced they have paused most vehicle stops nationwide 28:00 Trump wants the theater with ICE, he wants violent confrontations* 29:30 The violence isn’t an anomaly, it’s entirely predictable 30:00 DHS’s recruiting for ICE has changed the culture of the organization 31:00 ICE targeted candidates with a violent psychological profile 32:15 ICE used white nationalist slogans in recruitment ads 34:00 The culture of ICE promotes violent confrontation 34:45 Administration’s quotas has put officers under stress 36:45 Former ICE officials admit the agency doesn’t have experience for vehicle stops 37:30 Tragedy isn’t a risk under these circumstances… it’s a guarantee 38:15 Federal law enforcement has turned into a theater of dominance 39:00 ICE set itself up for a war… and we’re seeing the consequences 39:45 Iran has more leverage than before the war… that’s called losing 40:15 Houthis may close another chokepoint 41:15 The U.S. military always knew the Strait of Hormuz was the ballgame 41:45 Administration underestimated Iran’s willingness to close the Strait 42:30 Iran set up the regime to be decentralized in case of decapitation strikes 43:15 We’ve tried 3 major military strategies in 5 months & none worked 44:30 Trump has negotiated against himself for the entire war 46:00 This has now become a fight over leverage 47:00 Every week the war grinds on, the more unpopular it becomes 47:30 Iran can’t beat the U.S. military, they just need to wait out Trump 48:15 The best we can hope for is a managed stalemate 48:45 House passed a bill to make daylight savings time permanent 49:45 The public always wants permanent daylight savings, until they get it 50:15 Kids are forced to get to school in the dark, results in deaths 51:30 What’s good for you in the evening is bad for someone else in the morning 57:00 ToddCast Top 5 American athletes that could transition to politics 1:01:00 #5 Travis Kelce 1:02:15 #4 Paul Skenes  1:03:15 #3 Patrick Mahomes 1:04:00 #2 Steph Curry 1:05:00 #1 Caitlin Clark 1:08:15 Ask Chuck 1:08:30 Favorite old 40s and 50s films? 1:14:45 Your work made a real difference in my life 1:16:15 Are there any states where a congressperson could do what Farage did in UK? 1:19:45 Why don’t presidential campaigns create buzz around VP selection? 1:24:15 What signs would show us we’re turning the corner on this divisive era? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with the news that Trump is planning a primetime address to push election denialism, and uses it as a lens to examine how thoroughly fealty to the 2020 fraud lie has become the price of admission in Trump's Washington. He argues Todd Blanche should have no place in the Department of Justice, that he failed his test under questioning from John Cornyn, and that the weaponization fund could become the red line that finally moves Collins, Tillis, and Cornyn — because an inability to confirm Blanche would be a clear sign of Trump's weakening grip on the GOP. He points to the surreal spectacle of Jay Clayton refusing to answer Jon Ossoff's simple question of who won the 2020 election, looking like a ridiculous sycophant in the process, and to Trump endorsing MyPillow's Mike Lindell — the single biggest election conspiracy theorist in the country, a man who's lost every court case and been forced to pay $5 million over his false claims. He reminds listeners that it was Trump's own appointees who ran election security in 2020, that every major election denier from Giuliani on down has been forced to retract in court, and that Georgia's full hand recount matched the machines exactly — the only real constant in Trumpworld is that any outcome Trump dislikes gets branded fraud.  He then turns to the mounting deaths during ICE encounters, arguing the violence isn't an anomaly but an entirely predictable consequence of an agency whose culture has been deliberately reshaped: DHS recruited candidates with violent psychological profiles using white nationalist slogans, imposed quotas that put officers under enormous stress, and pushed them into vehicle stops that former officials admit ICE has no experience conducting. In two fatal shootings the men killed weren't even the targets, witnesses have disputed the DHS account, there's no body cam footage, and Chuck argues DHS has zero credibility, even as Trump clearly wants the theater and the violent confrontations. On Iran, Chuck is blunt that having less leverage than before the war started is simply what losing a war looks like: the administration badly underestimated Iran's willingness to close the Strait of Hormuz, Iran deliberately decentralized its regime to survive decapitation strikes, and after three failed military strategies in five months, Trump has spent the entire war negotiating against himself — meaning the best America can now hope for is a managed stalemate, because Iran can't beat the U.S. military, it just has to wait out an increasingly impatient Trump. He closes on a lighter note with the House passing a bill to make daylight saving time permanent, offering the contrarian reminder that the public always wants permanent DST until they actually get it — kids forced to go to school in pitch darkness, and the simple reality that what's good for you in the evening is bad for someone else in the morning.  Then, John Opdycke — founder and president of Open Primaries, one of the leading organizations pushing to end closed partisan primaries — joins the Chuck Toddcast to make the case that the exclusion of independent voters is one of the great overlooked scandals of American democracy. Opdycke walks through the byzantine patchwork of voter and party registration rules that vary wildly by state, explains why so many independents sit out partisan primaries entirely, and argues that after 30 years of closed primaries the cumulative effect has been a system where the parties function as both the umpires and the players — a structure that simply doesn't work. He makes the bipartisan argument that tax dollars shouldn't fund the private nominating contests of what are essentially private organizations, and is pointedly critical of Democrats for actively fighting open primary initiatives.He notes that policies with 80% public support routinely fail to pass because voters don't actually have a meaningful say. The conversation turns tactical and forward-looking, with Opdycke offering a sober assessment of the broader reform landscape and its persistent failures. He argues the ranked-choice voting movement has made serious tactical errors, that the party in power always fights ranked choice voting, and that the modern reform and independent movement suffers from a fundamental lack of a compelling public face — as well as from philanthropic funders who attach outcome expectations that distort the work. Opdycke is candid that third parties fare poorly in nearly every electoral system, that Ross Perot's Reform Party is now essentially a shell, and that the American people still don't trust the reform movement — but he sees real opportunity in specific fights, particularly mobilizing Florida's independents to change the law and pursuing top-two systems that would genuinely open the door to competition. He notes the striking statistic that 10,000 people per week are changing their voter registration, laments the general lack of curiosity (and polling) about who swing voters actually are, and argues there's meaningful left-right overlap among libertarians that reformers could tap. They explore whether the redistricting wars could create a backlash against the two-party system, why there are only about 25 competitive House districts left, and why several states are now actually moving back toward closed primaries. They close with a clear-eyed take on 2028: the reform movement needs a credible presidential candidate, and with 2028 shaping up to be a wild and unpredictable year, the opening for that kind of disruption may be wider than it's been in decades. Finally, Chuck presents his ToddCast Top 5 list of professional athletes best positioned to run for political office and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. From the opening whistle to the final kick. Bet on a match and get bonus bets for every goal scored at Fanduel.com  Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /*Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 03:00 Trump planning primetime address to push election denialism 04:15 Todd Blanche should have no place in the Department of Justice 05:00 Blanche failed the test when questioned by John Cornyn 05:30 Weaponization fund could be the red line for Collins, Tillis and Cornyn 07:00 Inability to confirm Blanche would show Trump’s weakening grip on GOP 08:15 John Ossoff asked simple question Jay Clayton wouldn’t answer 09:00 Clayton refused to answer “who won the 2020 election?” 09:30 You must agree with election denialism to work for Trump 10:30 Clayton looked like a ridiculous sycophant 12:00 Administration convinced deportations will help in midterms 12:30 Trump is completely misreading the situation, but nobody will tell him 13:15 Trump gives his endorsement to Mike Lindell from MyPillow 13:45 Trump supporting biggest election conspiracy theorist in the country* 14:30 Lindell was forced to pay $5 million due to his false claims 15:15 Lindell has lost every time his claims ended up in court 15:45 Lindell is a lunatic 16:45 The only constant for Trump is “it’s fraud” if he doesn’t get his way 17:30 It was Trump appointees who ran election security in 2020 18:15 The election fraud claims from Trumpworld kept changing  19:15 Guliani was forced to refute his election denial in court 20:00 Every election denier has had to retract in a court of law 21:15 Georgia conducted a full recount and it matched the machines 23:00 Multiple deaths have occurred during encounters with ICE 24:00 In the two shootings the men killed were not the targets of the operation 24:45 Witnesses have challenged DHS account & there’s no body cam footage 25:15 DHS has no credibility, can’t trust their account of events 26:00 ICE announced they have paused most vehicle stops nationwide 28:00 Trump wants the theater with ICE, he wants violent confrontations* 29:30 The violence isn’t an anomaly, it’s entirely predictable 30:00 DHS’s recruiting for ICE has changed the culture of the organization 31:00 ICE targeted candidates with a violent psychological profile 32:15 ICE used white nationalist slogans in recruitment ads 34:00 The culture of ICE promotes violent confrontation 34:45 Administration’s quotas has put officers under stress 36:45 Former ICE officials admit the agency doesn’t have experience for vehicle stops 37:30 Tragedy isn’t a risk under these circumstances… it’s a guarantee 38:15

John Opdycke — founder and president of Open Primaries, one of the leading organizations pushing to end closed partisan primaries — joins the Chuck Toddcast to make the case that the exclusion of independent voters is one of the great overlooked scandals of American democracy. Opdycke walks through the byzantine patchwork of voter and party registration rules that vary wildly by state, explains why so many independents sit out partisan primaries entirely, and argues that after 30 years of closed primaries the cumulative effect has been a system where the parties function as both the umpires and the players — a structure that simply doesn't work. He makes the bipartisan argument that tax dollars shouldn't fund the private nominating contests of what are essentially private organizations, and is pointedly critical of Democrats for actively fighting open primary initiatives.He notes that policies with 80% public support routinely fail to pass because voters don't actually have a meaningful say. The conversation turns tactical and forward-looking, with Opdycke offering a sober assessment of the broader reform landscape and its persistent failures. He argues the ranked-choice voting movement has made serious tactical errors, that the party in power always fights ranked choice voting, and that the modern reform and independent movement suffers from a fundamental lack of a compelling public face — as well as from philanthropic funders who attach outcome expectations that distort the work. Opdycke is candid that third parties fare poorly in nearly every electoral system, that Ross Perot's Reform Party is now essentially a shell, and that the American people still don't trust the reform movement — but he sees real opportunity in specific fights, particularly mobilizing Florida's independents to change the law and pursuing top-two systems that would genuinely open the door to competition. He notes the striking statistic that 10,000 people per week are changing their voter registration, laments the general lack of curiosity (and polling) about who swing voters actually are, and argues there's meaningful left-right overlap among libertarians that reformers could tap. They explore whether the redistricting wars could create a backlash against the two-party system, why there are only about 25 competitive House districts left, and why several states are now actually moving back toward closed primaries. They close with a clear-eyed take on 2028: the reform movement needs a credible presidential candidate, and with 2028 shaping up to be a wild and unpredictable year, the opening for that kind of disruption may be wider than it's been in decades. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order.   Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 John Opdycke joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:45 Voter & party registration rules vary greatly by state 03:00 Why do so many independents sit out partisan primaries? 05:30 NYC Democratic party actively fought open primary initiative 07:00 There have been cumulative effects of 30 years of closed primaries 08:15 Voter apathy across the board for voting in primaries 09:00 Independents showing strong support for Open Primaries 10:45 Parties have every right to choose their candidates 11:15 Parties now are both the umpires and the players, it doesn’t work 13:00 There’s bipartisan arguments for not using tax dollars for private orgs 14:15 Why are Democrats fighting against open primaries? 16:15 Ross Perot’s Reform Party is basically a shell at this point 19:00 Independent voters are incorrectly understood as in the middle 19:30 Independents are moderate in temperament, not ideology 21:15 Politics post-Clinton/Gingrich designed to keep independents down 22:15 The modern reform/independent movement lacks a face 23:15 Philanthropic funders come with expectations of outcomes 24:15 Ranked choice voting movement has made serious tactical errors 26:30 Party in power always fights ranked choice voting 28:00 Exclusion of independent voters is a Jim Crow level violation of rights 28:30 Policies with 80% support don’t pass, voters don’t have a say 30:00 Third parties don’t do well in almost any electoral system 31:15 Swing voters are ignored until October 31:45 Which states offer best opportunities for a third party? 32:30 Independents require the Democrat to drop out in senate races 36:00 Could the redistricting wars create backlash to the two party system? 36:45 There’s only 25 competitive house district 37:30 Leaders in several states now looking to go back to closed primaries 38:45 The American people don’t trust the Reform movement 40:45 Mobilizing independents in Florida to change the law 43:15 There’s left-right overlap amongst the libertarians 44:45 There’s a lack of curiosity about independent/swing voters 46:45 10,000 people per week change their voter registration 47:30 We need a flood of polling and research about independent voters 48:45 What does success look like for Open Primaries this year? 51:45 A top two system would open up the door to competition 53:15 There are fewer “generic” candidates, much more variance 55:45 The Reform movement needs a presidential candidate in ‘28 59:30 Perot had to scare both parties to get them to make reforms 1:01:00 Have to creative in ‘28, it will be a wild year in politics See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chris Cillizza and Chuck Todd open on a jolting weekend in politics: the sudden death of Lindsey Graham and the frantic — and faintly unseemly — scramble to replace him. Rather than relitigate Graham through the usual partisan lens, the guys argue that his loss, alongside the coming departures of Cornyn, Tillis, Cassidy, Durbin and others, amounts to a gutting of the Senate's dealmaking center, and they lay out their favorite framework for understanding him: the difference between "ideologues" and "politicians," and why the politicians are the ones who actually get things passed. They break down the near-term fallout for Trump, who just lost his most effective back-channel to skeptical senators and to Ukraine, and handicap the wide-open South Carolina race — from Henry McMaster's likely caretaker appointment to a crowded August primary featuring Pamela Evette, Nancy Mace, and a possible Trey Gowdy compromise play. From there it's on to two health stories the news cycle nearly buried — the mystery around Mitch McConnell's fall, pneumonia and rehab stay, and Trump's latest Walter Reed cognitive test — before a deep dive into Maine, where Susan Collins suddenly has no opponent after Graham Platner's exit and seven Democrats will fight it out at a 600-person nominating convention. Chuck and Chris debate whether Collins is now more or less vulnerable, take a spirited detour through New England blue bloods and Platner's "oyster farmer" branding, and skewer the knives-out world of political consultants. Then they close personal and sporty: their National Journal origin story, and a nerdy back-and-forth on the reinvented Home Run Derby, All-Star nostalgia, a World Baseball Classic pitch, and the Nats' latest heartbreak. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Welcome to Super Tuesdays  01:29 Lindsey Graham dies Saturday night of an aortic rupture 02:01 When death hits mid-campaign, everything accelerates  03:59 The "humans vs. aliens" acting analogy, applied to politicians 04:43 Ideologues vs. politicians — and why Graham was the latter 05:42 Democratic senators genuinely liked working with Graham 06:21 The real story: the gutting of the Senate's dealmaking center 11:33 Graham would've been a Democrat if he'd grown up in Oregon 14:26 Near-term fallout — Graham was Thune & Trump's whisperer 14:59 Why Todd Blanche's confirmation just got harder 16:14 Zelensky lost his best Trump whisperer, too 17:30 Republicans have functionally lost control of the Senate 19:37 An open South Carolina Senate seat comes once a generation 22:09 South Carolina's factional GOP sets up a free-for-all 24:43 A full six-year term raises the stakes  29:06 Could Trey Gowdy be the compromise candidate? 31:02 What is going on with Mitch McConnell? 35:45 The buried health story: Trump's new Walter Reed cognitive test 36:36 Should cognitive tests be mandatory for presidents over 75? 38:26 On Graham, Trump can only make it about himself 39:32 The Butler anniversary crowd-size claim 40:32 To Maine: Collins is the most vulnerable Republican  41:02 Handicapping the seven-Democrat nominating convention 45:07 Is Susan Collins more or less vulnerable than a month ago? 47:13 Why the right Democratic nominee could actually beat her 51:15 Platner's privilege & the "oyster farmer" brand 51:39 The knives-out world of nepo-baby campaign consultants 51:56 Chuck & Chris's National Journal origin story 54:35 Why "he's a farmer, not a politician" branding is hypnotic nonsense 56:20 To sports: the reinvented, 20-swing Home Run Derby 56:41 The Nats blow three leads  58:04 Empty-nesting & the streaming shows worth your night 59:42 All-Star nostalgia in the age of the MLB app and interleague play 1:02:42 A pitch for a two-week WBC break every July 1:04:25 The Futures Game & Nats prospect Eli Willits 1:05:06 Wrap-up: subscribe to Super Tuesdays See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd devotes much of this episode to a rich, personal reflection on the death of Senator Lindsey Graham at 71 — a figure who can only be understood if you separate the ideologues from the pure politicians, because Graham was unambiguously the latter. Graham always wanted to be in the middle of the Republican Party, treated his Senate seat as something as precious to him as a spouse, and was a genuine political creature who could nonetheless work with everyone, partnering with both Trump and Obama across his career. Chuck shares personal memories — interviewing Graham alongside John McCain, the two of them giving outsized attention to the Steele Dossier; Graham losing his parents in his 20s and raising his 13-year-old sister; even reassuring Chuck’s own wife about her worries over Trump — and argues that Graham, for all his capitulations, actually served as one of the few moderating forces on Trump. He  lays out the very real political fallout: Todd Blanche's confirmation as Attorney General is now in serious jeopardy, Graham leaves a massive vacuum in the GOP conference, and his South Carolina seat could actually be competitive for Democrat Annie Andrews if the Republican primary lurches far enough to the right. From there Chuck draws a series of parallels between American and British politics — Labour returning to power on a promise of competence and stability, Nigel Farage (like Trump) trying to convert political fame into personal wealth, and the satirical candidate "Count Binface" holding up a mirror to a political culture that has become pure theater — musing, only half-jokingly, that America could use its own Count Binface. Chuck closes on a sober note about the U.S.-Israel relationship, which he believes is heading for a real retreat: he recalls how close the region came to a two-state peace two decades ago, how the collapse of that moment allowed radicalism to escalate on both sides until each could argue the other doesn't want peace, and points to Rahm Emanuel's recent speech in Israel — warning that Israel must articulate a vision for what comes after the war or risk isolating itself from younger and moderate Americans — as the sound of someone trying to save a political center that vanishes the moment people conclude moderates don't have answers.  Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to break down the messy build up and coalitions involved in the Spanish civil war, and what lessons modern America can take from it. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment and make a proposal for a change to the baseball Hall of Fame. From the opening whistle to the final kick. Bet on a match and get bonus bets for every goal scored at Fanduel.com  Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 04:15 Senator Lindsey Graham dead at 71 04:45 Reactions to Graham are filtered through one’s personal politics 05:30 There are ideologues and there are politicians. Graham was the latter 06:45 Graham always wanted to be in the middle of the Republican party 09:00 Graham’s senate seat was as important to him as a spouse 11:15 Certain people are just political creatures, like Graham and Cruz 12:45 Graham was able to work with everyone on both sides of the aisle 13:30 Graham worked with both Trump and Obama 15:30 Conspiracy theories are swirling about Graham’s death 16:15 There needs to be a thorough autopsy to put conspiracies to rest 17:30 Chuck interviewed Graham & McCain, they mentioned the Steele Dossier 18:15 Graham and McCain gave the most attention to the Dossier 20:30 Graham’s parents died in his 20s, he raised his 13 year old sister 22:30 Chuck had Graham as a dark horse candidate for 2008 23:15 Graham was aware of the rumors and never addressed them directly 24:30 The real world impact on politics from Graham’s passing  25:00 Todd Blanche’s confirmation is now in serious jeopardy 25:30 Graham leaves a massive vacuum in the GOP conference 28:00 Graham kept Trump from fully going down the fascist road 29:15 Unlike Trump, Graham sees Putin as a threat & backed Ukraine 31:15 Impact on the South Carolina elections 32:00 There will be lots of Republicans looking to jump into the primary 33:15 If primary goes super right-wing, Democrat Annie Andrews has a shot 35:15 Graham reassured Chuck’s wife after expressing worries about Trump 37:45 Graham knew if he had gone hard on Trump, he’d lose his senate seat 38:45 There are parallels between U.S. and U.K politics 39:45 Labour came back into power promising competence and stability 40:45 Nigel Farage, like Trump… is trying to turn political fame into wealth 42:30 “Count Binface” has been challenging Farage as a satirical candidate 43:30 The man who made UK politics theatrical, now facing a theatrical challenge 44:00 The U.S. could really use a “Count Binface” to hold up a mirror 45:15 What if we accepted the premise of politics as entertainment? 46:00 Should we host a political reality show on an island 47:15 Governing experience has become a liability in American politics 48:00 Media rewards performance more than competency  50:15 There is going to be a retreat in the American-Israeli partnership 50:45  20 years ago we were very close to peace & two state solution 52:45 When moderation & compromise fail, radicalism takes its place 54:00 There was a serious chance for peace two decades ago 54:30 After both sides walked away, the radicalism escalated 56:15 The extremes can now argue the other side doesn’t want peace 57:00 Rahm Emmanuel travels to Israel to give speech 58:00 Rahm says Israel must provide vision for what comes after war 59:15 Rahm warns Israel risks isolating itself from younger & moderate Americans 1:00:45 Rahm sounds like someone trying to save the political center 1:02:00 Moderation disappears when it feels like moderates don’t have answers 01:12:00 ToddCast Time Machine - July 17th, 1936   01:12:30 Start of the Spanish civil war   01:13:15 Why does Spain’s civil war stand out in history?   01:14:30 The war wasn’t simply a fight between left and right   01:15:00 1930s Spain had every divide imaginable   01:16:00 Political violence became common, political center got smaller   01:16:45 The left wing coalition that won was barely united at all   01:17:45 Military units in Morocco revolted, then coup spread to Spain   01:18:30 Franco eventually united a fascist coalition with military command   01:19:15 The left’s internal divisions became one of Franco’s advantages   01:20:30 Civilians became part of the battlefield and were targeted   01:22:00 George Orwell’s writing came directly from his experiences in Spain   01:23:15 The fascist wing won the war and Franco ruled until 1975   01:24:00 Pluralism only emerged after decades of authoritarian rule   01:25:30 The transition out of authoritarianism came from exhaustion, not agreement   01:27:00 Sharing power with opponents is preferable to violence   01:28:15 Book recommendations for learning more about the Spanish civil war   01:29:15 Ask Chuck   01:29:30 How can we get back to lasting governance and progress?   01:35:00 Could Trump run as VP or speaker then ascend back to the presidency?   01:38:15 Why do prominent political interviews not have aggressive follow ups?   01:44:45 Who was the best pitcher of this generation that’s retiring?  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd devotes much of this episode to a rich, personal reflection on the death of Senator Lindsey Graham at 71 — a figure who can only be understood if you separate the ideologues from the pure politicians, because Graham was unambiguously the latter. Graham always wanted to be in the middle of the Republican Party, treated his Senate seat as something as precious to him as a spouse, and was a genuine political creature who could nonetheless work with everyone, partnering with both Trump and Obama across his career. Chuck shares personal memories — interviewing Graham alongside John McCain, the two of them giving outsized attention to the Steele Dossier; Graham losing his parents in his 20s and raising his 13-year-old sister; even reassuring Chuck’s own wife about her worries over Trump — and argues that Graham, for all his capitulations, actually served as one of the few moderating forces on Trump. He  lays out the very real political fallout: Todd Blanche's confirmation as Attorney General is now in serious jeopardy, Graham leaves a massive vacuum in the GOP conference, and his South Carolina seat could actually be competitive for Democrat Annie Andrews if the Republican primary lurches far enough to the right. From there Chuck draws a series of parallels between American and British politics — Labour returning to power on a promise of competence and stability, Nigel Farage (like Trump) trying to convert political fame into personal wealth, and the satirical candidate "Count Binface" holding up a mirror to a political culture that has become pure theater — musing, only half-jokingly, that America could use its own Count Binface. Chuck closes on a sober note about the U.S.-Israel relationship, which he believes is heading for a real retreat: he recalls how close the region came to a two-state peace two decades ago, how the collapse of that moment allowed radicalism to escalate on both sides until each could argue the other doesn't want peace, and points to Rahm Emanuel's recent speech in Israel — warning that Israel must articulate a vision for what comes after the war or risk isolating itself from younger and moderate Americans — as the sound of someone trying to save a political center that vanishes the moment people conclude moderates don't have answers.  Then, John Morgan — founder of Morgan & Morgan, one of the largest personal injury firms in the country & author of "Life is Luck: Lessons From a Paperboy and How to Improve Your Luck"  joins the Chuck Toddcast for a wide-ranging conversation about civil litigation, the failures of government regulation, and his plan to launch a third party in Florida. Morgan makes the case that civil litigation has grown precisely because government has failed to regulate — social media is a genuine threat to human wellbeing (especially for children), monopolies are squeezing consumers, and processed foods, he argues, are the new tobacco: extremely harmful and ripe for legal reckoning. He offers a candid, colorful assessment of his former firm member RFK Jr. — "smart and crazy," a man who falls down some rabbit holes but also champions legitimate causes — and walks through the thorny reality that vaccine makers enjoy total indemnity while sovereign immunity exists in some form in all 50 states. Morgan is refreshingly honest about the ethics of his own industry, arguing that ads gloating about settlement numbers are a mistake because the real goal of a settlement is to give someone back something they lost, not to celebrate a payday. The heart of the conversation is Morgan's plan to launch a new third party in Florida called "Common Ground," rooted in his conviction that the two-party system itself is what's fundamentally broken in America. Morgan argues that moderates should function as the tiebreakers in a polarized system — that picking up just a few seats could turn an uncommitted moderate bloc into a genuine fulcrum of power in Congress — and explains why he'd rather build something new than partner with the existing Forward Party. He handicaps Florida's political landscape with an insider's candor: Byron Donalds likely wins the governorship but it'll be close, the Charlie Crist party-switch playbook never worked, and he's genuinely unsure whether voters can find David Jolly credible after his own party change.. Morgan laments that too many people now enter politics for the pension and salary rather than public service, criticizes DeSantis for appointing cronies as university presidents, and argues age limits are overdue because government should be about the future and very few politicians remain effective past 70. Along the way he explains why he thinks Texas Democrats fielded a more viable ticket than Florida's (James Talarico, he says, simply has "it"), why Andy Beshear won in Kentucky, why charter schools are about money rather than choice, and why DeSantis's property tax proposal could become a Brexit-style case study in voters making decisions that make no sense once the consequences arrive. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to break down the messy build up and coalitions involved in the Spanish civil war, and what lessons modern America can take from it. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment and make a proposal for a change to the baseball Hall of Fame. Get John Morgan's book here: https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Life-is-Luck/dp/B0H2K52H4G/ref=sr_1_1?crid=LF7S7OGAT46F&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.CaRKVB4mHJGTS0bVFd7ONcU6YfsmpGl_tDncLiWRzCNecvHPOVtdrMbXsFl_LNyLxyW8nLRxXL3j5wdKGrHq7hSKazupgR14cC3u74xjkQpTUw2_xdJsVkC21K2kobaEZpdGZJsOkB5HdKgNBvyzjcb0eh8sdqhprrTbUo_1Fss.iLY1CiUpIpHB0Z1TbM0GJH2COy5EqaDcd3D_ItY0mfg&dib_tag=se&keywords=John+Morgan+life+is+luck&qid=1784135091&s=books&sprefix=john+morgan+life+is+luck%2Cstripbooks%2C177&sr=1-1 From the opening whistle to the final kick. Bet on a match and get bonus bets for every goal scored at Fanduel.com    Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.    Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.    Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order.   Timeline: 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 04:15 Senator Lindsey Graham dead at 71 04:45 Reactions to Graham are filtered through one’s personal politics 05:30 There are ideologues and there are politicians. Graham was the latter 06:45 Graham always wanted to be in the middle of the Republican party 09:00 Graham’s senate seat was as important to him as a spouse 11:15 Certain people are just political creatures, like Graham and Cruz 12:45 Graham was able to work with everyone on both sides of the aisle 13:30 Graham worked with both Trump and Obama 15:30 Conspiracy theories are swirling about Graham’s death 16:15 There needs to be a thorough autopsy to put conspiracies to rest 17:30 Chuck interviewed Graham & McCain, they mentioned the Steele Dossier 18:15 Graham and McCain gave the most attention to the Dossier 20:30 Graham’s parents died in his 20s, he raised his 13 year old sister 22:30 Chuck had Graham as a dark horse candidate for 2008 23:15 Graham was aware of the rumors and never addressed them directly 24:30 The real world impact on politics from Graham’s passing  25:00 Todd Blanche’s confirmation is now in serious jeopardy 25:30 Graham leaves a massive vacuum in the GOP conference 28:00 Graham kept Trump from fully going down the fascist road 29:15 Unlike Trump, Graham sees Putin as a threat & backed Ukraine 31:15 Impact on the South Carolina elections 32:00 There will be lots of Republicans looking to jump into the primary 33:15 If primary goes super right-wing, Democrat Annie Andrews has a shot 35:15 Graham reassured Chuck’s wife after expressing worries about Trump 37:45 Graham knew if he had gone hard on Trump, he’d lose his senate seat 38:45 There are parallels between U.S. and U.K politics 39:45 Labour came back into power promising competence and stability 40:45 Nigel Farage, like Trump… is trying to turn political fame into wealth 42:30 “Count Binface” has been challenging Farage as a satirical candidate 43:30 The man who made UK politics theatrical, now facing a theatrical challenge 44:00 The U.S. could really use a “Count Binface” to hold up a mirror 45:15 What if we accepted the premise of politics as entertainment? 46:00 Should we host a political reality show on an island 47:15 Governing experience has become a liability in American politics 48:00 Media rewards performance more than competency  50:15 There is going to be a retreat in the American-Israeli partnership 50:45  20 years ago we were very close to peace & two state solution 52:45 When moderation & compromise fail, radicalism takes its place 54:00 There was a serious chance for peace two decades ago 54:30 After both sides walked away, the radicalism escalated 56:15 The extremes can now argue the other side doesn’t want peace 57:00 Rahm Emmanuel travels to Israel to give speech 58:00 Rahm says Israel must provide vision for what comes after war 59:15 Rahm warns Israel risks isolating itself from younger & moderate Americans 1:00:45 Rahm sounds like someone trying to save the political center 1:02:00 Moderation disappears when it feels like moderates don’t have answers 01:12:30 John Morgan joins the Chuck ToddCast   01:13:15 What is most difficult about nationalizing a law firm?   01:14:15 When screening for good lawyers, it’s obvious who stands out   01:15:30 Lawsuits always seem frivolous until it happens to you   01:16:15 Ads that gloat about settlement numbers are a mistake   01:17:00 The goal of settlements is to give back something that was los

John Morgan — founder of Morgan & Morgan, one of the largest personal injury firms in the country & author of "Life is Luck: Lessons From a Paperboy and How to Improve Your Luck" joins the Chuck Toddcast for a wide-ranging conversation about civil litigation, the failures of government regulation, and his plan to launch a third party in Florida. Morgan makes the case that civil litigation has grown precisely because government has failed to regulate — social media is a genuine threat to human wellbeing (especially for children), monopolies are squeezing consumers, and processed foods, he argues, are the new tobacco: extremely harmful and ripe for legal reckoning. He offers a candid, colorful assessment of his former firm member RFK Jr. — "smart and crazy," a man who falls down some rabbit holes but also champions legitimate causes — and walks through the thorny reality that vaccine makers enjoy total indemnity while sovereign immunity exists in some form in all 50 states. Morgan is refreshingly honest about the ethics of his own industry, arguing that ads gloating about settlement numbers are a mistake because the real goal of a settlement is to give someone back something they lost, not to celebrate a payday. The heart of the conversation is Morgan's plan to launch a new third party in Florida called "Common Ground," rooted in his conviction that the two-party system itself is what's fundamentally broken in America. Morgan argues that moderates should function as the tiebreakers in a polarized system — that picking up just a few seats could turn an uncommitted moderate bloc into a genuine fulcrum of power in Congress — and explains why he'd rather build something new than partner with the existing Forward Party. He handicaps Florida's political landscape with an insider's candor: Byron Donalds likely wins the governorship but it'll be close, the Charlie Crist party-switch playbook never worked, and he's genuinely unsure whether voters can find David Jolly credible after his own party change.. Morgan laments that too many people now enter politics for the pension and salary rather than public service, criticizes DeSantis for appointing cronies as university presidents, and argues age limits are overdue because government should be about the future and very few politicians remain effective past 70. Along the way he explains why he thinks Texas Democrats fielded a more viable ticket than Florida's (James Talarico, he says, simply has "it"), why Andy Beshear won in Kentucky, why charter schools are about money rather than choice, and why DeSantis's property tax proposal could become a Brexit-style case study in voters making decisions that make no sense once the consequences arrive. Get John's book here https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Life-is-Luck/dp/B0H2K52H4G/ref=sr_1_1?crid=LF7S7OGAT46F&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.CaRKVB4mHJGTS0bVFd7ONcU6YfsmpGl_tDncLiWRzCNecvHPOVtdrMbXsFl_LNyLxyW8nLRxXL3j5wdKGrHq7hSKazupgR14cC3u74xjkQpTUw2_xdJsVkC21K2kobaEZpdGZJsOkB5HdKgNBvyzjcb0eh8sdqhprrTbUo_1Fss.iLY1CiUpIpHB0Z1TbM0GJH2COy5EqaDcd3D_ItY0mfg&dib_tag=se&keywords=John+Morgan+life+is+luck&qid=1784135091&s=books&sprefix=john+morgan+life+is+luck%2Cstripbooks%2C177&sr=1-1 Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: 00:00 John Morgan joins the Chuck ToddCast 00:45 What is most difficult about nationalizing a law firm? 01:45 When screening for good lawyers, it’s obvious who stands out 03:00 Lawsuits always seem frivolous until it happens to you 03:45 Ads that gloat about settlement numbers are a mistake 04:15 The goal of settlements is to give back something that was lost 05:00 Thoughts on private equity using civil litigation to hedge? 06:15 Involvement in cases against big tech companies 06:45 Social media is a threat to human wellbeing, especially children 08:30 Civil litigation has grown as government has failed to regulate 10:00 Monopolies are squeezing consumers 10:30 Processed foods are like tobacco, extremely harmful 11:00 RFK Jr. was a member of the firm, he’s smart and crazy 12:15 RFK falls down some BS rabbit holes but also has good causes 12:45 Vaccine makers have total indemnity 13:30 Sovereign immunity exists in some fashion in all 50 states 14:00 What’s your process for vetting science? 15:30 Will be launching a third party in Florida - The Common Ground 17:30 Other wealthy people have considered starting third parties  20:00 The two party system is what is broken in the country 20:30 Why not partner with the Forward Party? 22:00 Moderates should be the tiebreakers 23:30 A few uncommitted moderates could be a swing vote in congress 24:15 All you need to do is pick up a few seats to act as a fulcrum 25:45 It’s likely that Donalds wins in Florida, but it will be close 26:30 Why didn’t the Charlie Crist move work for Florida Democrats? 27:45 Can voters find David Jolly credible after changing parties? 29:30 More people are getting into politics for a pension & salary 30:30 People are going into politics for the wrong reasons 31:45 DeSantis appointed his cronies to be university presidents 32:30 Still deciding on whether to support Donalds or Jolly 34:00 Vindman doesn’t have a chance at winning 35:00 Texas Dem ticket is more liberal, why is it more viable than Florida’s? 35:45 James Talarico is very formidable, he has “it” 38:00 Andy Beshear won because Bevin turned on public school teachers 38:45 Charter schools aren’t about choice, they’re about money 39:30 Parental involvement is the best indicator of school performance 40:45 How would you message against DeSantis’s property tax proposal? 41:45 Americans are less interested in “us” and more interested in “me” 42:15 Implementing the property tax proposal will be like Brexit 44:30 Voters can make decisions that make no sense 45:15 Had the itch to run for office, but unlikely to do it 45:45 Government is for the future, should be age limits for elected officials 47:00 Very few elder politicians remain effective past 70 years old See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd reflects on the death of Senator Lindsey Graham at 71, offering a candid assessment of one of the most complex and consequential figures in modern Republican politics. Todd argues that Graham was never really an ideologue — he was a man who wanted to be in the middle of everything, whose true north was international affairs, and who ultimately pivoted to Trump as a means of political survival because he loved his Senate seat more than almost anything. Todd breaks down the very real chaos Graham's death could unleash: it may complicate or even sink Todd Blanche's confirmation as Attorney General, and it's certain to trigger a crowded scramble of South Carolina Republicans racing to replace him.  Timeline: 00:00 Senator Lindsey Graham dead at 71 00:45 Everyone had their theory for Graham’s motivations 02:00 Graham wasn’t an ideologue, wanted to be involved in everything 02:45 Graham pivoted to Trump for political survival 03:30 International affairs were Graham’s north star 04:30 He loved his senate seat more than almost anything 05:15 Graham’s death will cause some chaos 06:00 This might mean Todd Blanche doesn’t get confirmed as AG 06:30 There will be a LOT of Republicans running to replace him   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with the Iran war back on and the rug pulled out from under the world economy once again — but his central argument is that this is now the biggest broken campaign promise in 40 years. He draws a crucial distinction between ordinary campaign lies and genuinely major broken promises: "build the wall" was a broken promise that didn't much hurt Trump, but "no new wars" was foundational to his appeal, and the Iran calamity is now actively damaging the economy and making everyday life harder for the voters who trusted him. He notes candidate Trump was actually right that an Iran war would be irresponsible, that securing anything would require a months- or years-long ground commitment Trump won't make, and that the president was so consumed with keeping his birthday celebration on schedule that he tried to time the war around it. Marco Rubio, as always, has vanished now that things are going badly. Todd flags the NATO meetings underway in Turkey (a complicated ally Trump only engages because he and Erdogan play by the same strongman rules), marvels that Trump remains inexplicably sympathetic to a Putin who has never been weaker, and warns that all of it is making Americans less safe. He then turns to the Maine Senate race, which has become a genuine debacle: Todd argues Graham Platner was caught in a clear lie to Democratic senators about Jenny Racicot — who has said publicly she believes Platner sexually assaulted her — and that Platner knew both what she believed and that she was talking to reporters. Todd is emphatic that the lies need to be called out, that leaning into misogyny is no way to win back working-class white men, and that progressives cannot let Trump set the bar for acceptable character. He frames the whole primary through the fighter-versus-winner divide, notes this could be the second high-profile Bernie-endorsed candidate to lose (raising the stakes for Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan and underscoring how much harder it is for progressives to win statewide), and argues the progressive left urgently needs to get its house in order. Todd closes with two intriguing threads: the swirling rumors about Mitch McConnell's health and status (his seat is on the ballot in November, and Kentucky's legislature changed its vacancy-appointment law in a way that may violate the state constitution but has never been tested in court), and the escalating fight between the Trump administration and the Smithsonian — where Todd concedes the administration had a couple of fair critiques but argues that its core complaint, that the museum is "woke" for simply asking questions about history, amounts to demanding the Smithsonian swap one alleged ideology for an openly right-wing one, when the honest approach to contested history is simply to present the facts and let people interpret them.  Finally, Chuck updates the ToddCast Top 5 most likely senate flips if Maine is off the board for Democrats post-Platner scandal and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code CHUCKTODDCAST at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/chucktoddcast  From the opening whistle to the final kick. Bet on a match and get bonus bets for every goal scored at Fanduel.com  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 05:00 The Iran war is now back on 06:00 The rug has been pulled on the world economy once again 06:30 The Iranians won this conflict, they have more leverage 07:30 There’s a difference between campaign lies & major broken promises 09:30 “Build the wall” was a broken promise, but didn’t impact Trump much 10:45 Trump’s other major promise was “No new wars” & Iran is a calamity 12:30 This broken promise is damaging the economy & making life difficult 13:15 When things are going badly, Marco Rubio disappears 14:30 This will be the biggest broken campaign promise in 40 years* 15:00 Candidate Trump was right that an Iran war would be irresponsible 16:15 Ground troops would be a months… if not years commitment 17:30 Trump wanted to stop the war in time for his birthday party 18:00 Trump was more concerned with keeping celebrations on schedule 18:45 NATO meetings currently taking place in Turkey…a complicated ally 19:30 Trump likely only attends this meeting because Erdogan is hosting 20:45 Trump & Erdogan are world leaders that play by the same rules 21:30 Putin has never been this weak as the ruler of Russia 23:00 It’s still perplexing that Trump is so sympathetic to Putin 24:15 Shirking Putin would make things easier for Trump…but he still doesn’t 25:00 Trump’s actions are making us all less safe 26:00 The Maine senate race has turned into a massive debacle 27:30 The framing is “Do you want to fight, or do you want to win?” 28:15 How much leverage does Platner have in choosing his replacement? 29:30 Democratic base wants a fighter, not a uniter this primary cycle 32:00 Pragmatic Democrats should make the “winning” case 32:45 Susan Collins has overperformed “generic Republican” for 30 years 34:30 Platner was caught in a clear lie to Democratic senators * 35:45 Jenny Racicot made clear she believed she was sexually assaulted by Platner 36:45 Platner knew she what she believed and that Racicot was talking to reporters* 38:00 He clearly lied to senators and the lies need to be called out* 39:30 Leaning into misogyny isn’t the way to win back white men 40:15 Platner was the left's idea of how to appeal to working class white men 41:30 Progressives can’t let Trump set the bar for character 42:30 Democrats should be thankful there’s time to fix this 44:30 This could be two high profile races that Bernie endorsees have lost 46:30 It’s much harder for progressives to win in statewide races 47:15 This puts more pressure on Abdul El-Sayed to win in Michigan 48:00 The progressive left needs to get their house in order 49:45 Rumors are flying about the status of Mitch McConnell 50:30 If Republicans wanted to put the rumors to bed, it’d be easy to do 51:30 McConnell’s seat is on the ballot in November 52:00 KY legislature changed law on vacancy appointments, against state constitution 53:00 Law change has never been tested in the courts 54:15 Simplest explanation might be McConnell wants to keep it private 56:00 Could keeping the illusion of McConnell going help with a SCOTUS confirmation? 57:00 This wouldn’t change a confirmation vote by much since he can’t vote 59:30 Fight between Trump administration and the Smithsonian 1:00:00 Administration had a couple fair critiques, but most wasn’t 1:00:30 Administration claimed the Smithsonian is “woke” 1:02:45 Another complaint was not enough America 250 programming/exhibits 1:05:00 Simply asking questions about history isn’t proof of an ideology 1:05:45 Administration is demanding the Smithsonian adopt their own ideology 1:06:30 Report claims left-wing bias, but now insists on a right-wing bias 1:09:15 History is open to interpretation, it’s best to present the facts 01:14:45 Chuck’s thoughts on the interview with Tad Devine   01:15:15 ToddCast Top 5 most likely senate flips if Maine is off the board   01:15:45 #1 North Carolina   01:16:15 #2 Michigan   01:19:30 #3 Ohio   01:20:00 #4 Alaska   01:20:45 #5 Iowa   01:21:00 If all these flip, Dems need to find one more seat   01:23:15 Susan Collins still unlikely to win, but Dems have to get it together   01:24:15 Democrats have to nominate a woman after Platner scandal   01:25:00 Ask Chuck   01:25:30 What’s one widely believed political myth that isn’t true?   01:29:15 Comparison of Trump’s impact on Atlantic City to Robert Moses?   01:31:45 Are Republicans not aware a future Dem could use expanded presidential powers?   01:34:45 USMNT loses to Belgium, whatever Trump touches dies  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with the Iran war back on and the rug pulled out from under the world economy once again — but his central argument is that this is now the biggest broken campaign promise in 40 years. He draws a crucial distinction between ordinary campaign lies and genuinely major broken promises: "build the wall" was a broken promise that didn't much hurt Trump, but "no new wars" was foundational to his appeal, and the Iran calamity is now actively damaging the economy and making everyday life harder for the voters who trusted him. He notes candidate Trump was actually right that an Iran war would be irresponsible, that securing anything would require a months- or years-long ground commitment Trump won't make, and that the president was so consumed with keeping his birthday celebration on schedule that he tried to time the war around it. Marco Rubio, as always, has vanished now that things are going badly. Todd flags the NATO meetings underway in Turkey (a complicated ally Trump only engages because he and Erdogan play by the same strongman rules), marvels that Trump remains inexplicably sympathetic to a Putin who has never been weaker, and warns that all of it is making Americans less safe. He then turns to the Maine Senate race, which has become a genuine debacle: Todd argues Graham Platner was caught in a clear lie to Democratic senators about Jenny Racicot — who has said publicly she believes Platner sexually assaulted her — and that Platner knew both what she believed and that she was talking to reporters. Todd is emphatic that the lies need to be called out, that leaning into misogyny is no way to win back working-class white men, and that progressives cannot let Trump set the bar for acceptable character. He frames the whole primary through the fighter-versus-winner divide, notes this could be the second high-profile Bernie-endorsed candidate to lose (raising the stakes for Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan and underscoring how much harder it is for progressives to win statewide), and argues the progressive left urgently needs to get its house in order. Todd closes with two intriguing threads: the swirling rumors about Mitch McConnell's health and status (his seat is on the ballot in November, and Kentucky's legislature changed its vacancy-appointment law in a way that may violate the state constitution but has never been tested in court), and the escalating fight between the Trump administration and the Smithsonian — where Todd concedes the administration had a couple of fair critiques but argues that its core complaint, that the museum is "woke" for simply asking questions about history, amounts to demanding the Smithsonian swap one alleged ideology for an openly right-wing one, when the honest approach to contested history is simply to present the facts and let people interpret them.    Then, legendary Democratic strategist Tad Devine — a senior adviser to Bernie Sanders' 2016 campaign and a veteran of multiple presidential campaigns — joins the Chuck Toddcast with a new book and a provocative thesis: the Democratic Party actively screwed Bernie Sanders, and in doing so screwed itself. Devine says he got angrier and angrier as he wrote the book, revisiting how Sanders couldn't get booked on the Sunday shows for years, how the nominating process was rigged in Hillary Clinton's favor by a party establishment that gave far too much weight to insiders and superdelegates, and how roughly half of Obama's 2008 supporters migrated to Bernie in 2016. Devine wrestles honestly with the central tension of Sanders' relationship to the party: Bernie would never actually register as a Democrat (unlike Zohran Mamdani, who embraced the label), begrudgingly agreeing only to put "Democrat" next to his name, describing his agenda as the "second agenda of Benjamin Franklin" and understanding perfectly well that the word "socialism" is toxic to many voters even as he refused to abandon it. The what-ifs are tantalizing: Devine argues that if Bernie had been declared the winner of Iowa on caucus night in 2016, the whole race might have unfolded differently, and that if Sanders had won the first three states, the establishment would have mobilized to stop him by any means necessary. The conversation broadens into a sweeping critique of how Democrats choose their nominees and what the party needs to reform. Devine argues the party must give voters far more control over nominations, that the primary calendar is one of the most important and underappreciated parts of the entire process, and that independents should be allowed to participate in either party's primary rather than being forced to register months in advance. He credits Sanders with hitting on the enduring insight that the system is rigged against working people — a message supercharged after the Supreme Court unleashed the flood of money into politics following Obama's election — and makes the striking counterfactual case that Bernie would have beaten Trump in 2016 because, unlike Hillary Clinton, he could credibly run as a change candidate, and the white working-class vote wouldn't have broken so heavily toward Trump. Devine muses that Sherrod Brown would have made a strong running mate for Sanders, wonders aloud whether Bernie would ever have said yes to Clinton as a running mate, and argues that electing Bernie would have been a powerful national reckoning. He's clear-eyed about the party's deeper problem — the DNC is fundamentally risk-averse, and politics is about taking risks. Finally, Chuck updates the ToddCast Top 5 most likely senate flips if Maine is off the board for Democrats post-Platner scandal and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code CHUCKTODDCAST at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/chucktoddcast  From the opening whistle to the final kick. Bet on a match and get bonus bets for every goal scored at Fanduel.com  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 05:00 The Iran war is now back on 06:00 The rug has been pulled on the world economy once again 06:30 The Iranians won this conflict, they have more leverage 07:30 There’s a difference between campaign lies & major broken promises 09:30 “Build the wall” was a broken promise, but didn’t impact Trump much 10:45 Trump’s other major promise was “No new wars” & Iran is a calamity 12:30 This broken promise is damaging the economy & making life difficult 13:15 When things are going badly, Marco Rubio disappears 14:30 This will be the biggest broken campaign promise in 40 years* 15:00 Candidate Trump was right that an Iran war would be irresponsible 16:15 Ground troops would be a months… if not years commitment 17:30 Trump wanted to stop the war in time for his birthday party 18:00 Trump was more concerned with keeping celebrations on schedule 18:45 NATO meetings currently taking place in Turkey…a complicated ally 19:30 Trump likely only attends this meeting because Erdogan is hosting 20:45 Trump & Erdogan are world leaders that play by the same rules 21:30 Putin has never been this weak as the ruler of Russia 23:00 It’s still perplexing that Trump is so sympathetic to Putin 24:15 Shirking Putin would make things easier for Trump…but he still doesn’t 25:00 Trump’s actions are making us all less safe 26:00 The Maine senate race has turned into a massive debacle 27:30 The framing is “Do you want to fight, or do you want to win?” 28:15 How much leverage does Platner have in choosing his replacement? 29:30 Democratic base wants a fighter, not a uniter this primary cycle 32:00 Pragmatic Democrats should make the “winning” case 32:45 Susan Collins has overperformed “generic Republican” for 30 years 34:30 Platner was caught in a clear lie to Democratic senators * 35:45 Jenny Racicot made clear she believed she was sexually assaulted by Platner 36:45 Platner knew she what she believed and that Racicot was talking to reporters* 38:00 He clearly lied to senators and the lies need to be called out* 39:30 Leaning into misogyny isn’t the way to win back white men 40:15 Platner was the left's idea of how to appeal to working class white men 41:30 Progressives can’t let Trump set the bar for character 42:30 Democrats should be thankful there’s time to fix this 44:30 This could be two high profile races that Bernie endorsees have lost 46:30 It’s much harder for progressives to win in statewide races 47:15 This puts more pressure on Abdul El-Sayed to win in Michigan 48:00 The progressive left needs to get their house in order 49:45 Rumors are flying about the status of Mitch McConnell 50:30 If Republicans wanted to put the rumors to bed, it’d be easy to do 51:30 McConnell’s seat is on the ballot in November 52:00 KY legislature changed law on vacancy appointments, against state constitution 53:00 Law change has never been tested in the courts 54:15 Simplest explanation might be McConnell wants to keep it private 56:00 Could keeping the illusion of McConnell going help with a SCOTUS confirmation? 57:00 This wouldn’t change a confirmation vote by much since he can’t vote 59:30 Fight between Trump administration and the Smithsonian 1:00:00 Administration had a couple fair critiques, but most wasn’t 1:00:30 Administration claimed the Smithsonian is “woke” 1:02:45 Another complaint was not enough America 250 programming/exhibits 1:05:00 Sim

Legendary Democratic strategist Tad Devine — a senior adviser to Bernie Sanders' 2016 campaign and a veteran of multiple presidential campaigns — joins the Chuck Toddcast with a new book and a provocative thesis: the Democratic Party actively screwed Bernie Sanders, and in doing so screwed itself. Devine says he got angrier and angrier as he wrote the book, revisiting how Sanders couldn't get booked on the Sunday shows for years, how the nominating process was rigged in Hillary Clinton's favor by a party establishment that gave far too much weight to insiders and superdelegates, and how roughly half of Obama's 2008 supporters migrated to Bernie in 2016. Devine wrestles honestly with the central tension of Sanders' relationship to the party: Bernie would never actually register as a Democrat (unlike Zohran Mamdani, who embraced the label), begrudgingly agreeing only to put "Democrat" next to his name, describing his agenda as the "second agenda of Benjamin Franklin" and understanding perfectly well that the word "socialism" is toxic to many voters even as he refused to abandon it. The what-ifs are tantalizing: Devine argues that if Bernie had been declared the winner of Iowa on caucus night in 2016, the whole race might have unfolded differently, and that if Sanders had won the first three states, the establishment would have mobilized to stop him by any means necessary. The conversation broadens into a sweeping critique of how Democrats choose their nominees and what the party needs to reform. Devine argues the party must give voters far more control over nominations, that the primary calendar is one of the most important and underappreciated parts of the entire process, and that independents should be allowed to participate in either party's primary rather than being forced to register months in advance. He credits Sanders with hitting on the enduring insight that the system is rigged against working people — a message supercharged after the Supreme Court unleashed the flood of money into politics following Obama's election — and makes the striking counterfactual case that Bernie would have beaten Trump in 2016 because, unlike Hillary Clinton, he could credibly run as a change candidate, and the white working-class vote wouldn't have broken so heavily toward Trump. Devine muses that Sherrod Brown would have made a strong running mate for Sanders, wonders aloud whether Bernie would ever have said yes to Clinton as a running mate, and argues that electing Bernie would have been a powerful national reckoning. He's clear-eyed about the party's deeper problem — the DNC is fundamentally risk-averse, and politics is about taking risks. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.    Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Tad Devine joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:15 Why do you say that the Democrats screwed Bernie? 02:30 Got more and more upset while writing the book 04:00 Sanders couldn’t get booked on the Sunday shows for years 06:45 Half of Obama’s supporters went to Bernie 07:45 Obama didn’t learn the fundamental lesson of his own campaign 09:45 The nominating process was rigged by the Democratic party 10:45 Gore didn’t control the party until he became the nominee in 2000 13:00 Why not play favorites when Bernie wouldn’t register as a Democrat? 13:45 Mamdani said he was Democrat, Bernie never would 15:00 Bernie begrudgingly agreed to Democratic Party next to his name 16:30 Bernie described his agenda as “2nd agenda of Benjamin Franklin” 17:45 People recoil at the word socialism, not necessarily the policies 18:30 Bernie understands the word socialism is toxic, but doesn’t care 20:00 Campaign needed to embrace the tapestry of America 20:30 Would election go differently if declared winner of Iowa on caucus night? 21:45 Both campaigns essentially said they won Iowa in 2016 primary 23:00 Bernie didn’t want to be a back-bencher, motivated him to run 24:00 Best measure of support is in open primaries 24:30 In how many states did Trump eaten into Bernie’s support? 25:15 If Bernie won first three states, establishment would try to stop him 26:00 Why did Bernie stand down for Biden? 27:00 Biden took Bernie’s infrastructure proposal and turned it into law 28:15 Was Bernie running to win or to make a point? 29:00 Tried to make a point, then grassroots energy swelled 30:30 The party needs to give voters more control over nominations 31:45 Dukakis wanted to get rid of the superdelegates 33:00 Democratic party gave too much weight to party insiders 33:45 It’s not just a DNC problem, there’s issues with media coverage 34:30 Primary calendar is one of the most important parts of process 36:00 Independents should be allowed to participate in either primary  37:45 Had to register as Dem in fall of 2015 to vote in 2016 primary 40:00 Bernie hit on the idea that the system is rigged against working people 41:00 After Obama won, SCOTUS allowed the flood of money into politics 42:45 Most people want money out of politics, need legislation or amendment 44:15 Voters need to be empowered to solve America’s problems 45:15 How do we get leaders that will let the reforms happen? 46:45 Should we have a broader or narrower definition of Democrat? 48:00 It was remarkable that Bernie did so well with the youngest voters 49:30 Bernie would have beaten Trump, Hillary couldn’t be a change candidate 51:00 White working class vote wouldn’t have gone mostly to Trump 52:30 Sherrod Brown would have been a strong running mate for Bernie 53:15 Would Bernie have said yes to Clinton as a running mate? 54:30 Electing Bernie would have been a powerful reckoning 55:45 The DNC is risk averse and politics is about risk taking 57:00 Bernie shouldn’t run in 2028, he’s too old 57:45 When Bernie is with Mamdani, he seems like Bernie’s son 59:00 AOC - Run for senate or run for president? 1:00:00 Who will get Bernie’s affection as his successor See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd and J.A. Adande tell you the INCREDIBLE story behind Wimbledon. It didn't just become the most prestigious tournament in tennis—it helped create the sport we know today. From a croquet club raising money for a broken lawn roller to becoming one of the most iconic sporting events in the world, Wimbledon has shaped the rules, traditions, legends, and culture of modern tennis for nearly 150 years. Chuck and J.A. trace the full history of the tournament, from its Victorian origins to unforgettable champions like Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Björn Borg, Martina Navratilova, Pete Sampras, Billie Jean King, Althea Gibson, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Venus Williams, and more. Along the way, we explore how Wimbledon changed tennis forever—and why the sport wouldn't be the same without it. Whether you're a lifelong tennis fan or just discovering the magic of Wimbledon, this is the story behind the world's most famous tennis tournament. Timeline:(Timestamps may vary based on ad placements) 00:00 How Wimbledon Created Modern Tennis 07:09 Federer vs. Nadal: The Greatest Match Ever? 11:37 The Surprising Origin of Wimbledon 22:50 Wimbledon's Traditions Explained 35:35 The First Wimbledon Champions 55:08 Why Everyone Wears White at Wimbledon 01:11:00 Rod Laver, Billie Jean King & the Open Era 01:28:55 Althea Gibson Breaks Tennis' Color Barrier 01:43:00 Breakfast at Wimbledon & America's Obsession 02:08:13 Borg vs. McEnroe & Tennis' Greatest Rivalries 02:29:36 Federer, Serena & the Greatest Champions 02:53:40 Our Wimbledon Mount Rushmore 03:01:10 Why Wimbledon Still Defines Tennis See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chris Cillizza and Chuck Todd launch Super Tuesdays — the now-on-every-feed version of the show they've been doing together — with a wide-ranging conversation that runs from Trump's self-centered Fourth of July to the summer's most consequential Senate primaries.  First, Chris starts with the update that the USMNT lost to Belgium after President Trump intervened to get star striker Falorin Balogun’s red card overturned and wonders if Trump curses every sports team he involves himself with. He also weighs in on the latest developments surrounding Graham Platner. Then, the guys break down why Trump's 250th-anniversary flop and his eye-popping financial disclosure ($2.2 billion in his first year back, $1.4 billion of it from crypto) add up to what Chuck calls "late-stage Trumpism" — a president who's more isolated, less able to self-correct, and increasingly celebrating his own version of patriotism by himself. From there it's onto the world stage: Trump's trip to the NATO summit, his instinct to break the alliance, and why throwing a lifeline to a historically vulnerable Putin makes no strategic sense. The back half turns to the 2026 map and the 2028 shadow race. Chuck and Chris dig into Mallory McMorrow's exit and the now one-on-one Abdul El-Sayed–Haley Stevens fight in Michigan, the outsider-vs-insider dynamic driving Democratic primaries, and what the Black vote means from Detroit to Karen Bass's LA. They size up the Wes Moore–Pritzker–Buttigieg field, decode the Graham Platner drama in Maine and why Susan Collins stays chronically underrated, and offer a sharp consumer's guide to why the NYT and Fox polls tell such different stories. Then they close the way only these two would — Trump's alleged FIFA meddling ahead of USA–Belgium, a lesson on how corruption always comes back around, LeBron's next move, and a deep Nationals All-Star and trade-deadline dive. Timeline: 00:00 USMNT loses to Belgium  07:00 Welcome to Super Tuesdays 09:25 Chuck watched 90% of Trump's July 4th speech 09:45 How it compares to Reagan & the 1986 Statue of Liberty centennial 11:11 Gerald Ford's restrained 1976 bicentennial in an election year 11:31 Trump threw away years of 250th anniversary planning 12:44 Trump's financial disclosure: $2.2B in year one, $1.4B from crypto 13:16 The Trump Bible and the tchotchke economy 14:24 "You should've seen what they wanted to put in that disclosure" 15:45 No elected officials showed up to celebrate the 4th with Trump 16:46 Trump is celebrating his version of patriotism by himself 17:05 The K-shaped economy & why Trump is insulated from the 80% 18:37 The case that we've reached "late-stage Trumpism" 21:06 AI-written speeches Trump can't even stick to 22:00 Expect a staff exodus after the midterms 23:12 Trump will never give a "shellacking" concession speech 23:38 The GOP language shift from "socialists" to "communists" 24:15 Trump heads to the NATO summit — can he actually break NATO? 25:32 Trump the transactionalist & the FIFA-Qatar corruption aside 26:36 Trump, Putin, and the shared goal of weakening Europe 28:50 Putin has never been this vulnerable 31:11 Why Trump is drawn to strongmen and rogues 32:20 Trump has no lifelong friends — everyone he gets close to gets alienated 33:37 Transactional "friends" like Howard Lutnick 34:11 To the Senate: Mallory McMorrow drops out of Michigan 35:44 Democratic primary energy is outsider vs. insider 36:38 El-Sayed is a genuinely talented communicator 38:04 Jackson & Bernie's Michigan wins as a pattern 39:34 Progressives' persistent problem with the Black vote 42:06 Michigan is the Democratic-held seat the party overlooks 43:30 How Michigan slipped from the blue wall 44:46 If El-Sayed and Paxton both win, donors panic 45:37 The 2028 hunt for the "most electable" Democrat 47:32 The real dividing line: fix the institutions or blow them up 49:09 Pritzker is the overlooked progressive-with-a-record 51:07 Pete Buttigieg's Biden baggage is heavier than he thinks 51:35 The Graham Platner story brewing in Maine 51:56 Collins vs. Platner is basically a toss-up 52:38 Trump takes credit for FIFA siding with the US over Belgium 54:50 A generic Democrat would beat Collins by ten 57:23 NYT forecasting vs. Fox snapshot polling 59:53 The real battlegrounds: Iowa, Ohio, Alaska 1:00:11 Where Democrats find another seat — Kansas, Mississippi 1:02:04 Jolly vs. Byron Donalds & the closer-than-you-think governor's race 1:04:00 The World Cup, Balogun's red card & USA-Belgium 1:05:23 No other president would have intervened with FIFA 1:05:49 Left-leaning soccer fans rationalizing corruption that helps them 1:08:16 A birthright-citizen Balogun & soccer's Trump ambivalence 1:08:59 LeBron's "Decision Part 10" & Rich Paul's genius whiteboard 1:10:29 Why the Warriors fit LeBron's game 1:12:19 LeBron wants to play guard, not power forward 1:14:00 Nats All-Stars: James Wood & CJ Abrams snubs and starters 1:16:53 The Aug. 3 trade deadline: buyer, seller, or stand pat? 1:18:19 Abrams & Wood among the game's best Black players 1:18:45 Building the Nats around Black stars in a majority-Black city 1:19:59 Baseball's demographics & the "no Bubbas in Connecticut" bit See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd delivers a sweeping, big-picture meditation on the Trump era and where it's ultimately headed, arguing that despite the widespread conviction that Trump is teflon and that nothing will ever take him down, his presidency will end not with a bang but a whimper — and history won't remember it well. He predicts that a century from now Trump will be remembered somewhere between Grover Cleveland and Richard Nixon, and that his act, like every previous iteration of Trump, will eventually wear out its welcome with the public — because it always has, and he's already entered some version of lame-duck territory. The heart of the episode is Chuck’s astonishment at Trump's financial disclosure, which he calls a brazen catalog of impeachable offenses. His sharpest line reframes Trump's entire brand: he doesn't actually "own the libs" — he owns the people who send him money, and he's utterly oblivious to the plight of anyone who isn't rich. He closes on a genuinely searching note — observing that Trump is visibly aging and less sharp, that the country is tired of him and it's starting to show, that his single greatest fear is exposure and ridicule, and that he's proving to be nothing more than a grifter. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the admission of several western states into the union and how it built the modern senate. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /*Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 04:00 Trump has been teflon, we’re convinced nothing will take him down 05:00 Trump era will end in a whimper, history won’t remember it well 07:15 In 100 years, Trump will be as remembered like Cleveland or Nixon 08:15 Trump admitted to rank corruption in his financial disclosures 09:45 Eventually, Trump’s act will wear out its welcome 10:45 Those who criticized Hunter Biden should be outraged about Trump 12:15 Trump has already entered some version of lame duck territory 14:00 Every era of Trump eventually wore out with the public 16:00 In politics, Trump has had nine lives. Survived when nobody else would 17:30 January 6th should have been the end of Trump… but wasn’t  19:15 The bribes from the middle east just keep getting worse and worse 21:15 Trump has lost his ability to influence anyone but his base 22:30 Trump’s financial disclosure is a catalog of impeachable offenses 23:15 Trump’s act feels like it’s entering its late-stage form 24:15 Trump made America 250 participation an endorsement of himself 28:00 Financial disclosure showed how brazen his corruption is 29:30 Trump’s disclosure was 927 pages, Obama’s was 8 31:00 Trump was anti-crypto until he realized he could monetize it personally 31:45 Trump has converted the presidency into a business 33:00 Trump doesn’t “own the libs”... he owns the people who send him money* 36:00 Trump is oblivious to the plight of anyone who isn’t rich 37:45 Trump has stakes in tons of companies with government contracts 39:30 In a healthy political system, this level of corruption would force retreat 41:15 Almost no Republicans appeared with him as he monetized the 4th of July 42:30 America should have been about the country, Trump made it about himself 44:15 Trump ignored warnings about the heat, put his own supporters at risk 46:30 The botched reflected pool is a perfect metaphor for Trump’s presidency 48:15 The white supremacist Patriot Front showed up in DC 49:00 Patriot Front felt emboldened and welcomed enough to show up in Trump’s DC 51:30 Trump is aging and not as sharp 52:15 The country is tired of Trump and it’s starting to show 53:30 Trump’s biggest fear is exposure and ridicule 55:30 Trump is politically vulnerable, he’s proving to only be a grifter 57:00 How did the country turn itself over to this man twice? 1:04:00 ToddCast Time Machine - July 10th, 1890 1:04:30 The U.S. had just admitted six new states and twelve Republican senators 1:05:15 Settlers were building the west, politicians were building the senate 1:07:00 Congress needed to replace votes from the south with votes from the west 1:08:15 Political considerations are why we have two Dakotas 1:08:45 The western states provided votes for a stronger federal government 1:10:30 The politicians had a public mandate to admit these states 1:11:15 Republicans built and maintained their political coalition via statehood admission 1:12:45 Politicians will always seek to give themselves political advantage 1:13:15 The map of America is a map based on political considerations 1:14:00 D.C. and Puerto Rico will eventually become states 1:14:45 Ask Chuck 1:15:00 Thoughts on D.C. statehood, do you support it? 1:18:15 What would it take for a 3rd party to have a viable chance of winning? 1:21:45 If Democrats take control of congress, do they risk stopping Trump’s arch? 1:25:00 What is holding back Vivek Ramaswamy in Ohio governor’s race? 1:28:45 How could the Supreme Court overturn a constitutional amendment? 1:32:00 Props to Charleston, South Carolina and Miami helmet See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd delivers a sweeping, big-picture meditation on the Trump era and where it's ultimately headed, arguing that despite the widespread conviction that Trump is teflon and that nothing will ever take him down, his presidency will end not with a bang but a whimper — and history won't remember it well. He predicts that a century from now Trump will be remembered somewhere between Grover Cleveland and Richard Nixon, and that his act, like every previous iteration of Trump, will eventually wear out its welcome with the public — because it always has, and he's already entered some version of lame-duck territory. The heart of the episode is Chuck’s astonishment at Trump's financial disclosure, which he calls a brazen catalog of impeachable offenses. His sharpest line reframes Trump's entire brand: he doesn't actually "own the libs" — he owns the people who send him money, and he's utterly oblivious to the plight of anyone who isn't rich. He closes on a genuinely searching note — observing that Trump is visibly aging and less sharp, that the country is tired of him and it's starting to show, that his single greatest fear is exposure and ridicule, and that he's proving to be nothing more than a grifter. Then, Carolyn Ryan — deputy managing editor of The New York Times — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a candid conversation about the state of American journalism at a moment when the Times has become, as Ryan puts it, one of the last big independent organizations left in news. Ryan makes the case that serious journalism has become almost impossible without the resources the Times can still muster — deep-dive reporting requires enormous time, the best legal team in the business to withstand the threats and lawsuits now routinely aimed at the press, and an ownership structure insulated from market pressure. She's blunt about the difference the Ochs-Sulzberger family makes: newsrooms owned by publicly traded companies inevitably change their behavior to satisfy shareholders, while the family that controls the Times is, in her words, "ride or die" for journalism — a distinction that has never mattered more than it does now, even as she praises the excellent nonprofit newsrooms springing up around the country. Ryan explains how the Times is building regional reporting hubs and investing heavily in places like Texas on the theory that a truly national news organization needs a journalist in every state, why book reporting from stars like Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan often lands with more impact and candor than day-to-day breaking news, and how the paper decides which reporters get the coveted book leave that produces those deeper stories. The conversation gets into the harder editorial questions facing the Times in the Trump era. Ryan discusses the paper's major investment in a more rigorous polling and data operation , its aggressive push into video to reach younger audiences, and the perennial tension over whether there should be a brighter line between the newsroom and the opinion page — a separation the Times has tried to clarify through design changes and by being more transparent about its process. Ryan is thoughtful about one of the thorniest challenges in modern journalism: how to handle the obvious lies told by Trump and other political figures, explaining that to actually call something a "lie" you have to establish intent, that the audience cares enormously about how things are described, and that the language should always be direct and forthright without tipping into hysteria. She closes with a sharp critique of the Pentagon kicking out reporters and banning contact with unauthorized military members — a policy she argues is not only unconstitutional but a direct threat to the journalism that keeps the public informed about how its military actually operates.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.    Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the admission of several western states into the union and how it built the modern senate. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.   For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /*Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options. From the opening whistle to the final kick. Bet on a match and get bonus bets for every goal scored at Fanduel.com Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 04:00 Trump has been teflon, we’re convinced nothing will take him down 05:00 Trump era will end in a whimper, history won’t remember it well 07:15 In 100 years, Trump will be as remembered like Cleveland or Nixon 08:15 Trump admitted to rank corruption in his financial disclosures 09:45 Eventually, Trump’s act will wear out its welcome 10:45 Those who criticized Hunter Biden should be outraged about Trump 12:15 Trump has already entered some version of lame duck territory 14:00 Every era of Trump eventually wore out with the public 16:00 In politics, Trump has had nine lives. Survived when nobody else would 17:30 January 6th should have been the end of Trump… but wasn’t  19:15 The bribes from the middle east just keep getting worse and worse 21:15 Trump has lost his ability to influence anyone but his base 22:30 Trump’s financial disclosure is a catalog of impeachable offenses 23:15 Trump’s act feels like it’s entering its late-stage form 24:15 Trump made America 250 participation an endorsement of himself 28:00 Financial disclosure showed how brazen his corruption is 29:30 Trump’s disclosure was 927 pages, Obama’s was 8 31:00 Trump was anti-crypto until he realized he could monetize it personally 31:45 Trump has converted the presidency into a business 33:00 Trump doesn’t “own the libs”... he owns the people who send him money* 36:00 Trump is oblivious to the plight of anyone who isn’t rich 37:45 Trump has stakes in tons of companies with government contracts 39:30 In a healthy political system, this level of corruption would force retreat 41:15 Almost no Republicans appeared with him as he monetized the 4th of July 42:30 America should have been about the country, Trump made it about himself 44:15 Trump ignored warnings about the heat, put his own supporters at risk 46:30 The botched reflected pool is a perfect metaphor for Trump’s presidency 48:15 The white supremacist Patriot Front showed up in DC 49:00 Patriot Front felt emboldened and welcomed enough to show up in Trump’s DC 51:30 Trump is aging and not as sharp 52:15 The country is tired of Trump and it’s starting to show 53:30 Trump’s biggest fear is exposure and ridicule 55:30 Trump is politically vulnerable, he’s proving to only be a grifter 57:00 How did the country turn itself over to this man twice? 1:05:15 Carolyn Ryan joins the Chuck ToddCast 1:07:00 The NYT is the last big independent organization left in news 1:08:00 Positives & concerns about the state of media? 1:09:30 NYT stress importance of fact based reporting 1:10:15 It’s important for journalists to have access to resources 1:11:45 Journalists require access to legal resources 1:12:45 Deep dive journalism requires lots of time & resources 1:13:15 NYT has the best legal team in the business 1:14:15 Newsrooms owned by publicly traded companies change behavior 1:15:45 The Ochz-Sulzberger family is ride or die for journalism 1:16:45 Great non-profit newsrooms exist around the country 1:19:15 NYT is trying to build hubs in certain cities & regions 1:19:45 Book reporting can have greater impact than day-to-day reporting 1:21:15 What’s the NYT policy regarding book vs day-to-day reporting? 1:22:00 Haberman/Swan are a singular force in journalism 1:22:45 Haberman is a scoop machine 1:23:15 Situation room with Bibi scoop broke in the paper months ago 1:24:00 Book reporting offers depth and candor that breaking news doesn’t 1:26:00 How do you decide which reporters can go on book leave? 1:27:45 NYT has created a much more rigorous polling unit 1:28:15 Polling and data are huge investments for the Times 1:30:00 State level polls are a great way to take temperature on issues 1:31:15 Public opinion shift on Israel has been historically fast 1:32:45 NYT investing big in video to reach a younger audience 1:34:45 Journalism has to adapt to new technologies/platforms 1:37:45 Should there be a brighter line between the NYT & opinion page? 1:38:30 Times isn’t guided by audience capture or clicks 1:39:30 Changed the design of the opinion segment to differentiate it 1:41:15 Is the fact checking process the same for opinion pieces? 1:43:30 Have to be forthright about the journalism process for the audience 1:45:15 The impact of having your newsroom centered in NYC? 1:48:45 It’s important to elevate journalists from across the country 1:49:45 NYT is investing heavily in report

Carolyn Ryan — deputy managing editor of The New York Times — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a candid conversation about the state of American journalism at a moment when the Times has become, as Ryan puts it, one of the last big independent organizations left in news. Ryan makes the case that serious journalism has become almost impossible without the resources the Times can still muster — deep-dive reporting requires enormous time, the best legal team in the business to withstand the threats and lawsuits now routinely aimed at the press, and an ownership structure insulated from market pressure. She's blunt about the difference the Ochs-Sulzberger family makes: newsrooms owned by publicly traded companies inevitably change their behavior to satisfy shareholders, while the family that controls the Times is, in her words, "ride or die" for journalism — a distinction that has never mattered more than it does now, even as she praises the excellent nonprofit newsrooms springing up around the country. Ryan explains how the Times is building regional reporting hubs and investing heavily in places like Texas on the theory that a truly national news organization needs a journalist in every state, why book reporting from stars like Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan often lands with more impact and candor than day-to-day breaking news, and how the paper decides which reporters get the coveted book leave that produces those deeper stories. The conversation gets into the harder editorial questions facing the Times in the Trump era. Ryan discusses the paper's major investment in a more rigorous polling and data operation , its aggressive push into video to reach younger audiences, and the perennial tension over whether there should be a brighter line between the newsroom and the opinion page — a separation the Times has tried to clarify through design changes and by being more transparent about its process. Ryan is thoughtful about one of the thorniest challenges in modern journalism: how to handle the obvious lies told by Trump and other political figures, explaining that to actually call something a "lie" you have to establish intent, that the audience cares enormously about how things are described, and that the language should always be direct and forthright without tipping into hysteria. She closes with a sharp critique of the Pentagon kicking out reporters and banning contact with unauthorized military members — a policy she argues is not only unconstitutional but a direct threat to the journalism that keeps the public informed about how its military actually operates.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.    For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /*Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Carolyn Ryan joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:45 The NYT is the last big independent organization left in news 02:45 Positives & concerns about the state of media? 04:15 NYT stress importance of fact based reporting 05:00 It’s important for journalists to have access to resources 06:30 Journalists require access to legal resources 07:30 Deep dive journalism requires lots of time & resources 08:00 NYT has the best legal team in the business 09:00 Newsrooms owned by publicly traded companies change behavior 10:30 The Ochz-Sulzberger family is ride or die for journalism 11:30 Great non-profit newsrooms exist around the country 14:00 NYT is trying to build hubs in certain cities & regions 14:30 Book reporting can have greater impact than day-to-day reporting 16:00 What’s the NYT policy regarding book vs day-to-day reporting? 16:45 Haberman/Swan are a singular force in journalism 17:30 Haberman is a scoop machine 18:00 Situation room with Bibi scoop broke in the paper months ago 18:45 Book reporting offers depth and candor that breaking news doesn’t 20:45 How do you decide which reporters can go on book leave? 22:30 NYT has created a much more rigorous polling unit 23:00 Polling and data are huge investments for the Times 24:45 State level polls are a great way to take temperature on issues 26:00 Public opinion shift on Israel has been historically fast 27:30 NYT investing big in video to reach a younger audience 29:30 Journalism has to adapt to new technologies/platforms 32:30 Should there be a brighter line between the NYT & opinion page? 33:15 Times isn’t guided by audience capture or clicks 34:15 Changed the design of the opinion segment to differentiate it 36:00 Is the fact checking process the same for opinion pieces? 38:15 Have to be forthright about the journalism process for the audience 40:00 The impact of having your newsroom centered in NYC? 43:30 It’s important to elevate journalists from across the country 44:30 NYT is investing heavily in reporting in Texas 45:45 You want a national strategy, have a journalist in every state 48:00 Grappling with publishing Trump’s & others obvious lies 49:00 To call something a lie, you have to understand intent 50:30 The audience really cares about how things are described 51:00 Language should be direct & forthright, not hysterical 53:30 Audience is being numbed to the corruption stories 56:15 Unclear how the Dem establishment responds to progressive uprising 57:15 What’s being missed by Pentagon kicking out reporters? 58:00 Banning talking to unauthorized military members is unconstitutional 1:00:00 The importance of access journalism See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd delivers a genuinely heartfelt lament that America's 250th anniversary — a moment that should have been enormous — has been shrunk, cheapened, and ultimately ruined by a president who turned the country's birthday into his own political rally. He argues the American experiment is a remarkable achievement worth celebrating in full, that "a more perfect union" is the single greatest phrase in the founding documents precisely because it acknowledges the country is a perpetual work in progress, and that the 250th should have been a moment to celebrate American progress rather than run from American history — to recognize that America is fundamentally an idea rather than an ethnicity. Instead, Trump has made the nation's birthday about Donald Trump: he created his own version of the celebration, turned "The Great American Fair" into a dud, and once again demonstrated his belief that everyone and everything must accommodate him. He says he feels genuinely betrayed watching the brand of America get sullied and cheapened this way, and argues the country desperately needs a president capable of rising above himself — something Trump has proven, again and again, he simply cannot do. He finds a silver lining in the Supreme Court blocking Trump's attempt to end birthright citizenship, arguing it proves this is a conservative court but not purely a Trump court — though he's sharply critical of the Court's campaign finance ruling, which he frames as a straightforward bailout of the Republican Party.. He closes by looking ahead: the Colorado primaries raised the question of whether the DSA movement has truly broken through. Finally, he presents his ToddCast Top 5 list of the best fictional presidents seen on TV & movies and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. From the opening whistle to the final kick. Bet on a match and get bonus bets for every goal scored at Fanduel.com     Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.    For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /*Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 03:30 The American 250 celebration sucks… Trump ruined it 04:00 America 250 should be much bigger, and keeps feeling smaller 05:45 The American experiment is a remarkable achievement 07:00 Modern American democracy didn’t start until the 1960s 07:30 “More Perfect Union” is greatest phrase in founding documents 08:15 250 should be celebrating our progress, not afraid of our history 09:00 SCOTUS blocking Trump’s ban on birthright citizenship was important 09:30 America is an idea, not an ethnicity 10:30 This was a moment to celebrate and also understand our history 11:00 Donald Trump has made the country’s birthday about Donald Trump* 12:15 Trump created his own version of the celebration 13:00 He turned the country’s birthday into his own political rally 14:45 Trump thinks everyone should accommodate him. Insult to Americans 15:30 The country needs a president that can rise above himself. Trump can’t 16:30 The Great American Fair could have been amazing. Instead it’s a dud 18:15 The big anniversaries force us to look at ourselves, not like what we see 19:45 Love the American story BECAUSE it’s complicated 21:00 Trump is showing us who he is by stealing this anniversary from us 22:00 Trump has sullied the brand of America, doesn’t have to be at 275 22:45 Feel betrayed as an American by this, resent seeing it cheapened 24:00 SCOTUS showed it’s a conservative court, but not a Trump court 25:15 There are partisans on the court, but the court itself isn’t purely partisan 26:15 Campaign finance ruling is a bail out of the Republican party 26:45 Campaigns can buy TV ads at a lower rate, outside groups can’t 28:00 Republicans have more big $ donors, Dems have more small $ donors 30:15 Court shows deference to congress if they are explicit in what they want 31:45 There will still be an effort to block birthright citizenship 32:30 Did Colorado primaries show the DSA movement has broken through? 33:15 Michigan will be the real test for the DSA 36:15 Let this be a lesson to anyone coming from Bidenworld 38:00 If Dems win both chambers, smooth path for Jeffries to speakership 38:45 Failure to win the senate will cause lots of finger pointing 45:00 ToddCast Top 5 Fictional Presidents 46:00 #5 David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) from 24 47:00 #4 Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) from Veep 48:30 #3 James Marshall (Harrison Ford) from Air Force One 50:15 #2 Thomas Whitmore (Bill Pullman) from Independence Day 51:15 #1 Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho (Terry Crews) from Idiocracy 53:30 Ask Chuck 53:45 What’s the point of voting down ballot when politicians vote on party lines? 1:01:30 Issue with Mamdani’s comments on Israel and religious/ethno states? 1:05:45 Expanding vote by mail? 1:07:30 Could Trump legally mount a write-in campaign? 1:12:30 Is America still not ready to elect a woman president? 1:16:00 What’s your take on the NPR retraction on Alito retirement? 1:23:15 How will Rubio/Vance dynamic play out in ‘28? 1:27:45 What’s the latest a SCOTUS justice can retire & get confirmed? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd delivers a genuinely heartfelt lament that America's 250th anniversary — a moment that should have been enormous — has been shrunk, cheapened, and ultimately ruined by a president who turned the country's birthday into his own political rally. He argues the American experiment is a remarkable achievement worth celebrating in full, that "a more perfect union" is the single greatest phrase in the founding documents precisely because it acknowledges the country is a perpetual work in progress, and that the 250th should have been a moment to celebrate American progress rather than run from American history — to recognize that America is fundamentally an idea rather than an ethnicity. Instead, Trump has made the nation's birthday about Donald Trump: he created his own version of the celebration, turned "The Great American Fair" into a dud, and once again demonstrated his belief that everyone and everything must accommodate him. He says he feels genuinely betrayed watching the brand of America get sullied and cheapened this way, and argues the country desperately needs a president capable of rising above himself — something Trump has proven, again and again, he simply cannot do. He finds a silver lining in the Supreme Court blocking Trump's attempt to end birthright citizenship, arguing it proves this is a conservative court but not purely a Trump court — though he's sharply critical of the Court's campaign finance ruling, which he frames as a straightforward bailout of the Republican Party.. He closes by looking ahead: the Colorado primaries raised the question of whether the DSA movement has truly broken through. Then, Debbie Cox Bultan — CEO of the NewDEAL, a network of center-left state and local elected officials focused on delivering results rather than fighting culture wars — joins the Chuck Toddcast to make the case for the unglamorous, often-overlooked pragmatic wing of the Democratic Party. Bultan argues that the center-left's defining challenge is structural and almost temperamental: moderates and pragmatists are, by their very nature, not the loud part of the coalition, which means they get drowned out. She rejects the premise that "fighting the other side" has to mean yelling, argues that governing effectively is still the best way for talented officials to rise through the ranks. Bultan notes a crucial asymmetry that gives her hope: the left has not actually dominated Democratic primaries the way the right has captured GOP primaries, in part because the perception of electability matters far more to base Democratic voters than it does to the Republican base — and she points to how even Mamdani's focus on affordability carried genuine cross-party appeal as evidence that pragmatic, results-oriented messaging still works. The conversation digs into the deeper tensions facing the party heading into a favorable 2026 and a wide-open 2028. Bultan introduces the concept of "pragmatic disruption" — the idea that the people who genuinely want to disrupt a broken system actually need government to work to do it. Bultan argues the leadership of key left-leaning interest groups has drifted much further left than the actual Democratic electorate, advises candidates to stop answering interest-group questionnaires that force them into litmus-test corners, and warns that base voters can become obsessed with issues only 1% of the electorate actually cares about. She frames this moment — with Trump as a uniquely norm-breaking figure and the country's 250th anniversary approaching — as the perfect opening for a serious conversation about democracy reform. Finally, he presents his ToddCast Top 5 list of the best fictional presidents seen on TV & movies and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.   From the opening whistle to the final kick. Bet on a match and get bonus bets for every goal scored at Fanduel.com     Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.    For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /*Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 03:30 The American 250 celebration sucks… Trump ruined it 04:00 America 250 should be much bigger, and keeps feeling smaller 05:45 The American experiment is a remarkable achievement 07:00 Modern American democracy didn’t start until the 1960s 07:30 “More Perfect Union” is greatest phrase in founding documents 08:15 250 should be celebrating our progress, not afraid of our history 09:00 SCOTUS blocking Trump’s ban on birthright citizenship was important 09:30 America is an idea, not an ethnicity 10:30 This was a moment to celebrate and also understand our history 11:00 Donald Trump has made the country’s birthday about Donald Trump* 12:15 Trump created his own version of the celebration 13:00 He turned the country’s birthday into his own political rally 14:45 Trump thinks everyone should accommodate him. Insult to Americans 15:30 The country needs a president that can rise above himself. Trump can’t 16:30 The Great American Fair could have been amazing. Instead it’s a dud 18:15 The big anniversaries force us to look at ourselves, not like what we see 19:45 Love the American story BECAUSE it’s complicated 21:00 Trump is showing us who he is by stealing this anniversary from us 22:00 Trump has sullied the brand of America, doesn’t have to be at 275 22:45 Feel betrayed as an American by this, resent seeing it cheapened 24:00 SCOTUS showed it’s a conservative court, but not a Trump court 25:15 There are partisans on the court, but the court itself isn’t purely partisan 26:15 Campaign finance ruling is a bail out of the Republican party 26:45 Campaigns can buy TV ads at a lower rate, outside groups can’t 28:00 Republicans have more big $ donors, Dems have more small $ donors 30:15 Court shows deference to congress if they are explicit in what they want 31:45 There will still be an effort to block birthright citizenship 32:30 Did Colorado primaries show the DSA movement has broken through? 33:15 Michigan will be the real test for the DSA 36:15 Let this be a lesson to anyone coming from Bidenworld 38:00 If Dems win both chambers, smooth path for Jeffries to speakership 38:45 Failure to win the senate will cause lots of finger pointing 46:30 Debbie Cox Bultan (New Deal Leaders) joins the Chuck ToddCast 48:30 What is the best way to describe the center-left? 50:00 New Deal is a group of center-left officials trying to deliver results 51:15 What’s different between New Deal and the DLCC? 51:45 Need to modernize progressive politics for the 21st century 53:15 Members don’t have to declare which part of coalition they are in 53:45 Governing effectively is the best way to rise up the ranks 55:00 The democratic pipeline for talent has proven to be effective 55:30 Want to support talented candidates once they get elected 56:45 By nature, the moderates/centrists aren’t a loud part of the coalition 57:45 Some voters treat bipartisan compromise as treason 58:30 Reject the idea that “fighting the other side” means yelling 59:15 20% of Democratic voters post the vast majority of online content 1:00:45 The political conflict isn’t just online, it’s starting to be everywhere 1:03:15 The institutionalists are now between the center left and right 1:04:00 State & local officials are the bright spots in American politics 1:05:15 Primary season heightens partisanship 1:06:00 The left hasn’t dominated Democratic primary elections 1:06:45 Perception of electability matters more to base Dems than base GOP 1:07:30 Mamdani’s focus on affordability has had cross party appeal to voters 1:08:45 Is there such a thing as “pragmatic disruption”? 1:09:45 People who want to be disrupters need government to work 1:14:15 Do Democrats need to diversify the backgrounds of their office holders? 1:15:00 More veterans are now running as Democrats 1:17:45 Trump is a uniquely troubling and norm-breaking person 1:18:30 Feels like beginning of the 20th century, need major reforms 1:19:45 The 250th anniversary is a great time to talk about democracy reform 1:20:45 Democrats are going to have a great election in ‘26 1:21:15 If Dems win both chambers, how do they govern with Trump? 1:23:00 What do you say to progressives who have never had the presidency? 1:25:15 The word socialism has a different meaning to different voters 1:26:00 Can center-left Dems get behind a DSA nominee? 1:28:00 Do progressives really want to risk someone like RFK running healthcare? 1:28:30 Progressives can’t rebrand the world socialism 1:30:45 Leadership of key interest groups on left are much further left now 1:31:15 Candidates shouldn’t answer questionnaires from interest groups 1:32:15 Base voters can obs

Debbie Cox Bultan — CEO of the NewDEAL, a network of center-left state and local elected officials focused on delivering results rather than fighting culture wars — joins the Chuck Toddcast to make the case for the unglamorous, often-overlooked pragmatic wing of the Democratic Party. Bultan argues that the center-left's defining challenge is structural and almost temperamental: moderates and pragmatists are, by their very nature, not the loud part of the coalition, which means they get drowned out. She rejects the premise that "fighting the other side" has to mean yelling, argues that governing effectively is still the best way for talented officials to rise through the ranks. Bultan notes a crucial asymmetry that gives her hope: the left has not actually dominated Democratic primaries the way the right has captured GOP primaries, in part because the perception of electability matters far more to base Democratic voters than it does to the Republican base — and she points to how even Mamdani's focus on affordability carried genuine cross-party appeal as evidence that pragmatic, results-oriented messaging still works. The conversation digs into the deeper tensions facing the party heading into a favorable 2026 and a wide-open 2028. Bultan introduces the concept of "pragmatic disruption" — the idea that the people who genuinely want to disrupt a broken system actually need government to work to do it. Bultan argues the leadership of key left-leaning interest groups has drifted much further left than the actual Democratic electorate, advises candidates to stop answering interest-group questionnaires that force them into litmus-test corners, and warns that base voters can become obsessed with issues only 1% of the electorate actually cares about. She frames this moment — with Trump as a uniquely norm-breaking figure and the country's 250th anniversary approaching — as the perfect opening for a serious conversation about democracy reform. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements 00:00 Debbie Cox Bultan (New Deal Leaders) joins the Chuck ToddCast 02:00 What is the best way to describe the center-left? 03:30 New Deal is a group of center-left officials trying to deliver results 04:45 What’s different between New Deal and the DLCC? 05:15 Need to modernize progressive politics for the 21st century 06:45 Members don’t have to declare which part of coalition they are in 07:15 Governing effectively is the best way to rise up the ranks 08:30 The democratic pipeline for talent has proven to be effective 09:00 Want to support talented candidates once they get elected 10:15 By nature, the moderates/centrists aren’t a loud part of the coalition 11:15 Some voters treat bipartisan compromise as treason 12:00 Reject the idea that “fighting the other side” means yelling 12:45 20% of Democratic voters post the vast majority of online content 14:15 The political conflict isn’t just online, it’s starting to be everywhere 16:45 The institutionalists are now between the center left and right 17:30 State & local officials are the bright spots in American politics 18:45 Primary season heightens partisanship 19:30 The left hasn’t dominated Democratic primary elections 20:15 Perception of electability matters more to base Dems than base GOP 21:00 Mamdani’s focus on affordability has had cross party appeal to voters 22:15 Is there such a thing as “pragmatic disruption”? 23:15 People who want to be disrupters need government to work 27:45 Do Democrats need to diversify the backgrounds of their office holders? 28:30 More veterans are now running as Democrats 31:15 Trump is a uniquely troubling and norm-breaking person 32:00 Feels like beginning of the 20th century, need major reforms 33:15 The 250th anniversary is a great time to talk about democracy reform 34:15 Democrats are going to have a great election in ‘26 34:45 If Dems win both chambers, how do they govern with Trump? 36:30 What do you say to progressives who have never had the presidency? 38:45 The word socialism has a different meaning to different voters 39:30 Can center-left Dems get behind a DSA nominee? 41:30 Do progressives really want to risk someone like RFK running healthcare? 42:00 Progressives can’t rebrand the world socialism 44:15 Leadership of key interest groups on left are much further left now 44:45 Candidates shouldn’t answer questionnaires from interest groups 45:45 Base voters can obsess over issues 1% of electorate cares about 47:00 The donors are part of the problem, but that’s starting to change 48:00 Democrats need to do a lot more listening 48:30 What could you provide a local official that wants to run for higher office? 49:30 Helping candidates with pragmatic governing and skill development 52:45 Civic engagement and national service could help the country heal 54:45 People need to understand “with rights come responsibilities” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with the Iran ceasefire collapsing as the U.S. and Iran trade strikes again — but the real story, he argues, is that the U.S. military just inadvertently revealed Trump was lying about the war all along. The targets American forces hit in this latest round were the very targets Trump claimed weeks ago had already been destroyed; either Iran somehow reconstituted its entire military in a single week, or the president lied to the country, and CENTCOM's own report makes clear which it was. He warns that lying about war is historically not a small thing for a president to survive, no matter how badly Trump wants to memory-hole the entire episode. He then turns to the escalating Democratic fight over taxing billionaires, taking a characteristically nuanced position: billionaires are genuinely undertaxed, but "tax the rich" doesn't work as actual policy the way it works as a slogan, the loopholes built into the code exist to avoid unintended consequences, and the changes to the inheritance "death tax" are responsible for an enormous share of current inequality. He assesses Zohran Mamdani taking a victory lap as the new face of the DSA (and increasingly comfortable as a face of the Democratic Party), praising him as a genuinely compelling performer and possible heir to the Bernie movement while questioning whether his story can travel beyond New York City. He closes with one of his favorite structural arguments — that the far-left and far-right are now feeding off each other's fear, that a faction doesn't need to capture the whole country, just one congressional caucus, and that the founders' actual protection against factions was supposed to be a multitude of them — which is exactly why the House was meant to scale with the population and why Congress's choice to freeze its size needs to be reversed. He also looks ahead at fascinating Colorado primaries. Finally, he hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to explain the origin of the name of the bikini swimsuit, and why America’s relationship with nuclear technology changed over time. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Asl Chuck” segment.  From the opening whistle to the final kick. Bet on a match and get bonus bets for every goal scored at Fanduel.com  Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 05:15 U.S. and Iran trade strikes again, ceasefire not holding 06:15 The U.S. military basically revealed Trump was lying about the war 06:45 Historically, voters don’t accept lies from presidents about war 07:30 The targets the U.S. hit were targets Trump said were already destroyed 08:30 Three weeks ago Trump said Iran had nothing… clearly it wasn’t true 09:15 Making the case that Trump is full of shit isn’t hard* 10:30 Either Iran reconstituted its military in a week, or Trump lied.  11:15 CENTCOM’s report shows that Trump lied to the country 13:15 Trump announced on his birthday that he had ended the war 14:00 Handing Iran billions of dollars is hardly the “surrender” Trump proclaimed 15:45 Lying about war is not a small thing for a president to do 17:15 Trump thought he could memory-hole the Iran war, Iran won’t let him 17:45 There’s a right way to tax billionaires, but it’s not currently being proposed 19:00 Billionaires are undertaxed, but tax policy doesn’t work as a slogan 19:45 Loopholes are built into the tax code to avoid unintended consequences 20:30 Reforms to the inheritance tax allow the wealthy to avoid taxation 21:45 Closing other loopholes could raise hundreds of billions 23:00 Taxing billionaires is fine, but you can’t mess up tax code in the process 24:30 The Newsom vs. Khanna fight - Both are making good points 25:00 A state level wealth tax could create a shortfall in the long term 25:45 The “death tax” change is responsible for much of the current inequality 26:30 “Fair share” polls well, but requires major changes to the tax code 27:30 Tax reform isn’t simple or quick, requires real work from congress 28:15 Mamdani takes a victory lap, wants to be face of the DSA movement 29:30 Mamdani is fine with being the face of the Democratic party 31:00 Mamdani is telling a compelling story, but can it go beyond NYC? 33:00 Mamdani had a weak defense of the Dan Goldman coffee incident 34:00 Mamdani is very good as a performer, could be heir to Bernie movement 35:45 The far-left and the far-right are feeding off of each other 36:30 Trump ramps up rhetoric against DSA, calls them “godless communists” 37:30 The DSA and Trump both working off the fear of each other 38:45 A faction doesn’t need to capture the country, just one caucus 39:30 The founders’ protection from factions, was a multitude of factions 41:30 The House of Representatives was supposed to scale with the country 43:15 Congress chose to stop letting the House grow, needs to change 46:45 The Colorado primaries will be fascinating 48:15 Michael Bennett has to carry the banner of being a D.C. creature 48:45 John Hickenlooper facing a viable challenge from the left 50:30 The DSA candidate for congress is ahead in the polls 55:15 ToddCast Time Machine 56:15 July 1946 The bikini swimsuit named after atomic bomb test 58:45 Both fear and optimism rose about nuclear technology 59:30 We didn’t have an enemy yet with an atomic bomb 1:00:15 The atom wasn’t viewed just as a weapon, but as the future 1:01:45 We were exporting the atomic age and that seemed cool 1:02:15 The people on bikini atoll were being told to leave their homes 1:03:15 The vibe changed once the Soviets detonated their first bomb 1:04:15 Very few people know why the bikini swimsuit carries its name 1:05:45 Ask Chuck 1:06:00 Do you see somebody jumping into ‘28 presidential race prior to midterms? 1:11:15 What do you think happened in the meeting between Trump & senators? 1:19:15 Thoughts on college athletics eligibility changes? 1:22:15 Thoughts on straight-ticket voting? 1:24:15 Is the premise that moderate Democrats are more “electable” overstated? 1:31:45 Would reforms that redistribute power meaningfully improve our system? 1:33:45 Any go-to books on civics and the constitution? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with the Iran ceasefire collapsing as the U.S. and Iran trade strikes again — but the real story, he argues, is that the U.S. military just inadvertently revealed Trump was lying about the war all along. The targets American forces hit in this latest round were the very targets Trump claimed weeks ago had already been destroyed; either Iran somehow reconstituted its entire military in a single week, or the president lied to the country, and CENTCOM's own report makes clear which it was. He warns that lying about war is historically not a small thing for a president to survive, no matter how badly Trump wants to memory-hole the entire episode. He then turns to the escalating Democratic fight over taxing billionaires, taking a characteristically nuanced position: billionaires are genuinely undertaxed, but "tax the rich" doesn't work as actual policy the way it works as a slogan, the loopholes built into the code exist to avoid unintended consequences, and the changes to the inheritance "death tax" are responsible for an enormous share of current inequality. He assesses Zohran Mamdani taking a victory lap as the new face of the DSA (and increasingly comfortable as a face of the Democratic Party), praising him as a genuinely compelling performer and possible heir to the Bernie movement while questioning whether his story can travel beyond New York City. He closes with one of his favorite structural arguments — that the far-left and far-right are now feeding off each other's fear, that a faction doesn't need to capture the whole country, just one congressional caucus, and that the founders' actual protection against factions was supposed to be a multitude of them — which is exactly why the House was meant to scale with the population and why Congress's choice to freeze its size needs to be reversed. He also looks ahead at fascinating Colorado primaries. Then, Alvaro Bedoya — the former FTC Commissioner whom Trump fired in an unprecedented break with a century of agency-independence norms — joins the Chuck Toddcast to explain why his firing matters far beyond his own career, and what it reveals about the collision between corporate power and consumer protection in the Trump era. Bedoya makes the legal case plainly: removal "for cause" is clearly written into the law, Congress needs to codify FTC independence, and while he's skeptical this Supreme Court will rule in favor of agency independence, the circumstances of his dismissal are damning — he believes he was fired specifically for suing companies that happened to be Trump donors. The Amazon case is his exhibit A: the FTC was actively pursuing Amazon until Trump intervened, and after Amazon funneled millions to Trump, the investigations simply evaporated — proof, Bedoya argues, that existing laws against bribery and corruption clearly aren't working. He walks through the sprawling, well-funded lobbying effort against meaningful privacy legislation, and offers vivid examples of how unchecked data collection harms ordinary people. His prescription is structural: America needs genuine restrictions on what data can be collected and how it can be used, paired with serious antitrust enforcement — but the agencies tasked with that work have been starved of the resources they need. The conversation opens up into a fascinating, wide-ranging debate about monopoly power and consolidation across the American economy. Bedoya argues that streaming bills were already climbing even before the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger — a deal he believes there's a clear consumer case to block. He notes that Thomas Jefferson once argued for an anti-monopoly amendment in the Bill of Rights, that consolidation has hammered workers across countless industries, and that America is now suffering a genuine "drought of creativity" because of relentless media mergers — pointing out that there are only three serious buyers of documentary films left, and that half of America's TV news archive is about to be owned by a single family. Bedoya is honest about the nuances (Costco throws its weight around but has genuinely been good for consumers; vertically integrated health insurers are universally loathed), wrestles with whether unilateral Democratic executive action is even the answer, and warns that in this environment it's dangerously easy for regulators to simply get overwhelmed.  Finally, he hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to explain the origin of the name of the bikini swimsuit, and why America’s relationship with nuclear technology changed over time. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Asl Chuck” segment.  Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  From the opening whistle to the final kick. Bet on a match and get bonus bets for every goal scored at Fanduel.com Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 05:15 U.S. and Iran trade strikes again, ceasefire not holding 06:15 The U.S. military basically revealed Trump was lying about the war 06:45 Historically, voters don’t accept lies from presidents about war 07:30 The targets the U.S. hit were targets Trump said were already destroyed 08:30 Three weeks ago Trump said Iran had nothing… clearly it wasn’t true 09:15 Making the case that Trump is full of shit isn’t hard* 10:30 Either Iran reconstituted its military in a week, or Trump lied.  11:15 CENTCOM’s report shows that Trump lied to the country 13:15 Trump announced on his birthday that he had ended the war 14:00 Handing Iran billions of dollars is hardly the “surrender” Trump proclaimed 15:45 Lying about war is not a small thing for a president to do 17:15 Trump thought he could memory-hole the Iran war, Iran won’t let him 17:45 There’s a right way to tax billionaires, but it’s not currently being proposed 19:00 Billionaires are undertaxed, but tax policy doesn’t work as a slogan 19:45 Loopholes are built into the tax code to avoid unintended consequences 20:30 Reforms to the inheritance tax allow the wealthy to avoid taxation 21:45 Closing other loopholes could raise hundreds of billions 23:00 Taxing billionaires is fine, but you can’t mess up tax code in the process 24:30 The Newsom vs. Khanna fight - Both are making good points 25:00 A state level wealth tax could create a shortfall in the long term 25:45 The “death tax” change is responsible for much of the current inequality 26:30 “Fair share” polls well, but requires major changes to the tax code 27:30 Tax reform isn’t simple or quick, requires real work from congress 28:15 Mamdani takes a victory lap, wants to be face of the DSA movement 29:30 Mamdani is fine with being the face of the Democratic party 31:00 Mamdani is telling a compelling story, but can it go beyond NYC? 33:00 Mamdani had a weak defense of the Dan Goldman coffee incident 34:00 Mamdani is very good as a performer, could be heir to Bernie movement 35:45 The far-left and the far-right are feeding off of each other 36:30 Trump ramps up rhetoric against DSA, calls them “godless communists” 37:30 The DSA and Trump both working off the fear of each other 38:45 A faction doesn’t need to capture the country, just one caucus 39:30 The founders’ protection from factions, was a multitude of factions 41:30 The House of Representatives was supposed to scale with the country 43:15 Congress chose to stop letting the House grow, needs to change 46:45 The Colorado primaries will be fascinating 48:15 Michael Bennett has to carry the banner of being a D.C. creature 48:45 John Hickenlooper facing a viable challenge from the left 50:30 The DSA candidate for congress is ahead in the polls 56:45 Alvaro Bedoya joins the Chuck ToddCast 58:45 Trump broke a long standing norm to fire Alvaro from the FTC 59:15 Congress needs to codify FTC independence 1:00:15 Firing “for cause” is very clearly written into the law 1:02:15 This Supreme Court unlikely to rule for agency independence 1:02:45 Was likely fired for suing companies that were Trump donors 1:03:30 You want consumers to be protected from political donors 1:05:15 FTC was pursuing case against Amazon until Trump intervened 1:06:45 Amazon funneled millions to Trump, investigations went away 1:07:15 Laws against bribery & corruption clearly aren’t working 1:09:15 How should government tackle consumer privacy protections? 1:10:00 There is a massive lobbying effort against privacy laws 1:11:15 Background actors were being scanned rather than being paid 1:12:15 Privacy can sometimes be an abstract concept to people 1:12:45 Labor unions are the group actually winning in this space 1:15:00 Need protections around privacy, data collection and antitrust 1:15:45 Need restrictions on collecting certain data and how it is used 1:17:15 Against law to use SEC database to solicit donations, not enforced 1:17:45 Agencies have been starved of resources needed for enforcement 1:20:00 Meta has grown massive and Zuckerberg retains total control 1:22:15 The debate about whether to break up the biggest companies 1:23:00 Breaking up AT&T benefitted consumers, ended long distance rates 1:23:45 T-Mobile merger should not have been allowed 1:24:45 Streaming bills going up even before Paramount WB merger 1:28:15 Jefferson argued for an amendment against monopolies in Bill of Rights 1:30:45 Consolidation has hurt workers in a variety of industries 1:31:30 Has there been a consolidation that’s been good for consumers? 1:34:00 Costco throws its weight around, but has been good for consumers 1:35:00 Health insurers are vertically integrated, and consumers loathe th

Alvaro Bedoya — the former FTC Commissioner whom Trump fired in an unprecedented break with a century of agency-independence norms — joins the Chuck Toddcast to explain why his firing matters far beyond his own career, and what it reveals about the collision between corporate power and consumer protection in the Trump era. Bedoya makes the legal case plainly: removal "for cause" is clearly written into the law, Congress needs to codify FTC independence, and while he's skeptical this Supreme Court will rule in favor of agency independence, the circumstances of his dismissal are damning — he believes he was fired specifically for suing companies that happened to be Trump donors. The Amazon case is his exhibit A: the FTC was actively pursuing Amazon until Trump intervened, and after Amazon funneled millions to Trump, the investigations simply evaporated — proof, Bedoya argues, that existing laws against bribery and corruption clearly aren't working. He walks through the sprawling, well-funded lobbying effort against meaningful privacy legislation, and offers vivid examples of how unchecked data collection harms ordinary people. His prescription is structural: America needs genuine restrictions on what data can be collected and how it can be used, paired with serious antitrust enforcement — but the agencies tasked with that work have been starved of the resources they need. The conversation opens up into a fascinating, wide-ranging debate about monopoly power and consolidation across the American economy. Bedoya argues that streaming bills were already climbing even before the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger — a deal he believes there's a clear consumer case to block. He notes that Thomas Jefferson once argued for an anti-monopoly amendment in the Bill of Rights, that consolidation has hammered workers across countless industries, and that America is now suffering a genuine "drought of creativity" because of relentless media mergers — pointing out that there are only three serious buyers of documentary films left, and that half of America's TV news archive is about to be owned by a single family. Bedoya is honest about the nuances (Costco throws its weight around but has genuinely been good for consumers; vertically integrated health insurers are universally loathed), wrestles with whether unilateral Democratic executive action is even the answer, and warns that in this environment it's dangerously easy for regulators to simply get overwhelmed.  Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Alvaro Bedoya joins the Chuck ToddCast 02:00 Trump broke a long standing norm to fire Alvaro from the FTC 02:30 Congress needs to codify FTC independence 03:30 Firing “for cause” is very clearly written into the law 05:30 This Supreme Court unlikely to rule for agency independence 06:00 Was likely fired for suing companies that were Trump donors 06:45 You want consumers to be protected from political donors 08:30 FTC was pursuing case against Amazon until Trump intervened 10:00 Amazon funneled millions to Trump, investigations went away 10:30 Laws against bribery & corruption clearly aren’t working 12:30 How should government tackle consumer privacy protections? 13:15 There is a massive lobbying effort against privacy laws 14:30 Background actors were being scanned rather than being paid 15:30 Privacy can sometimes be an abstract concept to people 16:00 Labor unions are the group actually winning in this space 18:15 Need protections around privacy, data collection and antitrust 19:00 Need restrictions on collecting certain data and how it is used 20:30 Against law to use SEC database to solicit donations, not enforced 21:00 Agencies have been starved of resources needed for enforcement 23:15 Meta has grown massive and Zuckerberg retains total control 25:30 The debate about whether to break up the biggest companies 26:15 Breaking up AT&T benefitted consumers, ended long distance rates 27:00 T-Mobile merger should not have been allowed 28:00 Streaming bills going up even before Paramount WB merger 31:30 Jefferson argued for an amendment against monopolies in Bill of Rights 34:00 Consolidation has hurt workers in a variety of industries 34:45 Has there been a consolidation that’s been good for consumers? 37:15 Costco throws its weight around, but has been good for consumers 38:15 Health insurers are vertically integrated, and consumers loathe them 39:30 Iheart’s merger was allowed as an effort to preserve a “dying industry” 41:00 Paramount/WB only shot of catching Netflix/Disney is to merge? 42:15 Loading up the company with $80B in debt won’t produce a healthy firm 43:00 There are only 3 buyers of serious documentary films 44:15 Half of America’s TV news archive is about to be owned by one family 45:30 There are clear consumer cases for preventing the Paramount/WB merger 48:30 There’s been a cycle of innovation, then consolidation 50:00 We are suffering a drought of creativity due to mergers 52:15 There are antitrust exceptions for co-ops, can FTC encourage them? 54:15 Is unilateral Democratic executive branch action the answer here? 55:30 In this environment, it’s easy for regulators to get overwhelmed 56:15 The White House UFC fight was corrupt 59:00 Making the UFC event private at the WH was made it feel dirty 1:01:45 Favorite potential 2028 candidates? 1:03:45 Popular movements are effective pushing back against corporate power See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with a programming note—the ToddCast moves to a Monday/Thursday schedule for July and August—before digging into the fallout from Zohran Mamdani-endorsed candidates sweeping New York's primaries. Chuck unpacks who powered the wins (younger, white progressives), argues that Mamdani's affordability focus rather than his endorsements was the real galvanizing force, and examines how Israel has become a litmus test on a left that, like MAGA, increasingly has little patience for the pluralism Chuck calls the heart of the American experiment—warning that when every issue becomes a litmus test, disagreement turns into something punishable. He weighs whether this is a singular New York moment or a broader realignment in which two uncompromising factions come to dominate both parties, with Abdul El-Sayed's Michigan Senate bid shaping up as the next big test. From there, Chuck turns to Trump blowing a chance to show voters he cares about affordability by refusing to sign a housing bill that already has veto-proof majorities—and how the president keeps making it nearly impossible for the GOP to govern heading into a brutal midterm stretch he's brought on himself. Finally, an alarming look at Pete Hegseth's overt politicization of the military: the firing of respected leaders like Chris Donahue, purges that appear to target officers for their race, gender, what they know, or their willingness to push back on illegal orders, the removal of the JAGs and the Pentagon press corps, and why Chuck argues that whoever Hegseth wants out may be exactly who the country needs leading it next.  Finally, he answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! From the opening whistle to the final kick. Bet on a match and get bonus bets for every goal scored at Fanduel.com  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 00:15 Programming Note: July & August the ToddCast will be on M/TH only 03:30 Fallout from Mamdani endorsed candidates sweeping NYC primaries 04:30 Younger, white progressives powered Mamdani’s candidates 05:00 Mamdani was smart about where he spent his political capital 06:15 Unlikely there’s a wider swath of voters open to socialism 08:30 Mamdani’s affordability focus was galvanizing, not his endorsees 09:15 Israel has become a litmus test for some on the left 09:45 MAGA, and increasingly the progressive left don’t appreciate pluralism 10:15 Pluralism IS the American experiment 11:00 When every issue is a litmus test, disagreement becomes punishable 14:00 Many Jewish Americans felt very unsettled by the results 16:00 Is this New York’s moment, or a broader ideological realignment? 17:30 Two factions not interested in compromise could dominate both parties 19:00 Both parties used to move to the center to win elections, less so lately 19:45 The DSA could create discomfort with centrist voters like MAGA does 21:30 The next test will be with the candidacy of Abdul El-Sayed in MI 23:45 Mamdani is an incredibly smart and calculating leader of DSA movement 26:15 Despite better organization, DSA has less chance of taking over the party 29:00 It’s still early, but it feels like the left is on the march 29:30 Trump meets with senate GOP after refusing to sign housing bill 30:30 Trump blew a chance to show voters he cares about affordability 31:00 Trump turned meeting into an airing of grievances 31:45 The bill has veto proof majorities even if Trump doesn’t sign it 33:00 Trump is hurting the Republicans politically ahead of the midterms 33:45 Trump makes it almost impossible for the GOP to govern 34:45 It’s going to be a miserable 2 years for Trump, has only himself to blame 36:00 Pete Hegseth is overtly trying to politicize the military 36:30 Military leadership wants to stay out of the political fray 37:30 One of these generals they force out could become next POTUS 39:00 Chris Donahue is quintessential military leader, fired by Hegseth 40:00 Donahue was viewed as a future chairman of the joint chiefs 41:15 Confirming Hegseth is biggest black eye on the record of Tom Thillis 42:00 All military leaders make personnel changes, this is different 42:30 Hegseth is removing leaders simply for being black or women 44:00 Hegseth is firing people for what they know or what they’ve seen 45:00 He also fires officers for when they push back on illegal orders 45:45 Hegseth removed the JAGS to avoid “legal roadblocks” 47:45 Hegseth is trying to force his religious beliefs on the entire military 49:15 We’ve never had a comparable purge in our military 50:45 The Pentagon removed to the press corp to avoid difficult questions 51:30 This should be extraordinarily alarming to Americans 52:15 Whoever Pete Hegseth wants out… should be our next set of leaders 53:00 We can’t risk the military being turned into a political force 53:45 Damage at DOJ and Pentagon will be hard to repair 59:45 Ask Chuck 01:00:00 How much have outlets like Fox News shaped the outlooks of boomers? 01:07:45 Is there a future where large PAC spending burns out due to voter backlash? 01:12:45 Could you talk about Keir Starmer and labours struggles.. Lessons for Dems? 01:20:00 What would you consider the Top 5 presidential actions that worked? 01:25:45 What characteristics define a “Trumpy” voter? 01:28:30 Can the establishment mend fences with the progressives? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with a programming note—the ToddCast moves to a Monday/Thursday schedule for July and August—before digging into the fallout from Zohran Mamdani-endorsed candidates sweeping New York's primaries. Chuck unpacks who powered the wins (younger, white progressives), argues that Mamdani's affordability focus rather than his endorsements was the real galvanizing force, and examines how Israel has become a litmus test on a left that, like MAGA, increasingly has little patience for the pluralism Chuck calls the heart of the American experiment—warning that when every issue becomes a litmus test, disagreement turns into something punishable. He weighs whether this is a singular New York moment or a broader realignment in which two uncompromising factions come to dominate both parties, with Abdul El-Sayed's Michigan Senate bid shaping up as the next big test. From there, Chuck turns to Trump blowing a chance to show voters he cares about affordability by refusing to sign a housing bill that already has veto-proof majorities—and how the president keeps making it nearly impossible for the GOP to govern heading into a brutal midterm stretch he's brought on himself. Finally, an alarming look at Pete Hegseth's overt politicization of the military: the firing of respected leaders like Chris Donahue, purges that appear to target officers for their race, gender, what they know, or their willingness to push back on illegal orders, the removal of the JAGs and the Pentagon press corps, and why Chuck argues that whoever Hegseth wants out may be exactly who the country needs leading it next.  Then, Matt Bennett — co-founder and executive vice president of the center-left think tank Third Way — joins the Chuck Toddcast to offer a pragmatist's anxious assessment of what the Mamdani-led DSA surge in New York actually means for the future of the Democratic Party. Bennett's central worry is whether the New York primaries represent a genuine "Tea Party moment" for the left — which he frankly admits would be scary for Democrats — though he takes some comfort in the fact that the three districts Mamdani candidates won are extraordinarily deep blue, and argues the national Democratic electorate simply isn't as extreme as the Republican base, making the party much harder to hijack than the GOP was. Bennett draws a crucial distinction in how these races were actually won: Mamdani himself won on affordability, but many of his endorsees won on Israel, where anti-Israel sentiment has become the number-one voting issue for New York progressives. He's careful but direct on the antisemitism question — not all of the far-left are antisemites, he says, but they are increasingly making common cause with them, pointing to the antisemitic abuse Dan Goldman faced during his campaign — and argues that while antisemitism won't ultimately eat the Democratic Party, it absolutely needs to be contained. Bennett is sharply critical of the self-inflicted wounds of progressive governance (decriminalizing shoplifting was a disaster, he says), and argues the broader problem is that left-coded "performative nonsense" fundamentally changed how voters see the party — that the country rejected both Biden's progressive overreach and the left's woke cultural politics, and that Biden's real mistake was bragging he was the most progressive president since FDR. The conversation broadens into a rich strategic discussion about 2028 and the soul of the party. Bennett argues that parties are ultimately defined by their nominee, so Democrats will be fine if they simply get that choice right, and frames the Michigan Senate primary — where he's skeptical Abdul El-Sayed can beat Mike Rogers — as a fascinating case study in the tension between charisma and electability. He makes the case that charisma genuinely matters (Mamdani and El-Sayed have it), that "boring doesn't work" in modern politics, and that the biggest open question for 2028 is whether a center-left candidate can successfully run as a genuine change agent — because the status quo is extremely broken, and no one can win by running to preserve it. Bennett offers some encouraging signs for his wing of the party: Iowa is drifting back toward Democrats, James Talarico is a genuinely strong candidate in Texas, and candidate quality still matters enormously. He and Chuck dig into why Palestine became the defining progressive cause rather than the plight of the Uighurs, how social media and the collapse of civics education have sealed people into ideological bubbles, and why the word "socialism" means Norway to some voters and Cuba to others. Bennett argues that Netanyahu has personally turned off a generation of young Americans to Israel — and that if Israelis remove him, it could serve as a genuine relief valve for Democrats — and closes with a series of pointed predictions: Schumer should make clear soon that he won't run for leader again, Warren and Murphy are too far-left-coded to unify the party, both wings could actually rally around Brian Schatz as leader, and the Mamdani story, for all the panic it's generated, is ultimately a minor earthquake rather than a major fracture. Finally, he answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.    Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.    Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life!   From the opening whistle to the final kick. Bet on a match and get bonus bets for every goal scored at Fanduel.com  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 00:15 Programming Note: July & August the ToddCast will be on M/TH only 03:30 Fallout from Mamdani endorsed candidates sweeping NYC primaries 04:30 Younger, white progressives powered Mamdani’s candidates 05:00 Mamdani was smart about where he spent his political capital 06:15 Unlikely there’s a wider swath of voters open to socialism 08:30 Mamdani’s affordability focus was galvanizing, not his endorsees 09:15 Israel has become a litmus test for some on the left 09:45 MAGA, and increasingly the progressive left don’t appreciate pluralism 10:15 Pluralism IS the American experiment 11:00 When every issue is a litmus test, disagreement becomes punishable 14:00 Many Jewish Americans felt very unsettled by the results 16:00 Is this New York’s moment, or a broader ideological realignment? 17:30 Two factions not interested in compromise could dominate both parties 19:00 Both parties used to move to the center to win elections, less so lately 19:45 The DSA could create discomfort with centrist voters like MAGA does 21:30 The next test will be with the candidacy of Abdul El-Sayed in MI 23:45 Mamdani is an incredibly smart and calculating leader of DSA movement 26:15 Despite better organization, DSA has less chance of taking over the party 29:00 It’s still early, but it feels like the left is on the march 29:30 Trump meets with senate GOP after refusing to sign housing bill 30:30 Trump blew a chance to show voters he cares about affordability 31:00 Trump turned meeting into an airing of grievances 31:45 The bill has veto proof majorities even if Trump doesn’t sign it 33:00 Trump is hurting the Republicans politically ahead of the midterms 33:45 Trump makes it almost impossible for the GOP to govern 34:45 It’s going to be a miserable 2 years for Trump, has only himself to blame 36:00 Pete Hegseth is overtly trying to politicize the military 36:30 Military leadership wants to stay out of the political fray 37:30 One of these generals they force out could become next POTUS 39:00 Chris Donahue is quintessential military leader, fired by Hegseth 40:00 Donahue was viewed as a future chairman of the joint chiefs 41:15 Confirming Hegseth is biggest black eye on the record of Tom Thillis 42:00 All military leaders make personnel changes, this is different 42:30 Hegseth is removing leaders simply for being black or women 44:00 Hegseth is firing people for what they know or what they’ve seen 45:00 He also fires officers for when they push back on illegal orders 45:45 Hegseth removed the JAGS to avoid “legal roadblocks” 47:45 Hegseth is trying to force his religious beliefs on the entire military 49:15 We’ve never had a comparable purge in our military 50:45 The Pentagon removed to the press corp to avoid difficult questions 51:30 This should be extraordinarily alarming to Americans 52:15 Whoever Pete Hegseth wants out… should be our next set of leaders 53:00 We can’t risk the military being turned into a political force 53:45 Damage at DOJ and Pentagon will be hard to repair 01:00:30 Matt Bennett (The Third Way) joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:01:30 Third Way believes themselves to be center-left pragmatists 01:02:45 If NY primaries are a “Tea Party moment” for left, that’s scary for Dems 01:04:00 3 districts Mamdani candidates won are very deep blue 01:04:30 Worried about MI senate primary if Abdul El-Sayed wins 01:06:15 The far left could become a disruptive force inside the Dem party 01:08:30 Mamdani won on affordability, his endorsees won on Israel 01:10:00 Not all far-left are antisemites, but they’re making common cause with them 01:10:30 Dan Goldman faced antisemetic abuse during the campaign 01:11:45 Antisemitism won’t eat the Dem party, but needs to be contained 01:14:15 Progressive politicians decriminalizing shoplifting was a disaster 01:16:15 The national Dem electorate not as extreme as the GOP’s 01:18:00 It will be harder to hijack the Democratic electorate 01:20:00 Democrats suffered from a lack of charismatic leaders in the 80s 01:21:15 Parties are defined by their nominee, Dems will be fine if they get it right 01:2

Matt Bennett — co-founder and executive vice president of the center-left think tank Third Way — joins the Chuck Toddcast to offer a pragmatist's anxious assessment of what the Mamdani-led DSA surge in New York actually means for the future of the Democratic Party. Bennett's central worry is whether the New York primaries represent a genuine "Tea Party moment" for the left — which he frankly admits would be scary for Democrats — though he takes some comfort in the fact that the three districts Mamdani candidates won are extraordinarily deep blue, and argues the national Democratic electorate simply isn't as extreme as the Republican base, making the party much harder to hijack than the GOP was. Bennett draws a crucial distinction in how these races were actually won: Mamdani himself won on affordability, but many of his endorsees won on Israel, where anti-Israel sentiment has become the number-one voting issue for New York progressives. He's careful but direct on the antisemitism question — not all of the far-left are antisemites, he says, but they are increasingly making common cause with them, pointing to the antisemitic abuse Dan Goldman faced during his campaign — and argues that while antisemitism won't ultimately eat the Democratic Party, it absolutely needs to be contained. Bennett is sharply critical of the self-inflicted wounds of progressive governance (decriminalizing shoplifting was a disaster, he says), and argues the broader problem is that left-coded "performative nonsense" fundamentally changed how voters see the party — that the country rejected both Biden's progressive overreach and the left's woke cultural politics, and that Biden's real mistake was bragging he was the most progressive president since FDR. The conversation broadens into a rich strategic discussion about 2028 and the soul of the party. Bennett argues that parties are ultimately defined by their nominee, so Democrats will be fine if they simply get that choice right, and frames the Michigan Senate primary — where he's skeptical Abdul El-Sayed can beat Mike Rogers — as a fascinating case study in the tension between charisma and electability. He makes the case that charisma genuinely matters (Mamdani and El-Sayed have it), that "boring doesn't work" in modern politics, and that the biggest open question for 2028 is whether a center-left candidate can successfully run as a genuine change agent — because the status quo is extremely broken, and no one can win by running to preserve it. Bennett offers some encouraging signs for his wing of the party: Iowa is drifting back toward Democrats, James Talarico is a genuinely strong candidate in Texas, and candidate quality still matters enormously. He and Chuck dig into why Palestine became the defining progressive cause rather than the plight of the Uighurs, how social media and the collapse of civics education have sealed people into ideological bubbles, and why the word "socialism" means Norway to some voters and Cuba to others. Bennett argues that Netanyahu has personally turned off a generation of young Americans to Israel — and that if Israelis remove him, it could serve as a genuine relief valve for Democrats — and closes with a series of pointed predictions: Schumer should make clear soon that he won't run for leader again, Warren and Murphy are too far-left-coded to unify the party, both wings could actually rally around Brian Schatz as leader, and the Mamdani story, for all the panic it's generated, is ultimately a minor earthquake rather than a major fracture.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! From the opening whistle to the final kick. Bet on a match and get bonus bets for every goal scored at Fanduel.com  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Matt Bennett (The Third Way) joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:00 Third Way believes themselves to be center-left pragmatists 02:15 If NY primaries are a “Tea Party moment” for left, that’s scary for Dems 03:30 3 districts Mamdani candidates won are very deep blue 04:00 Worried about MI senate primary if Abdul El-Sayed wins 05:45 The far left could become a disruptive force inside the Dem party 08:00 Mamdani won on affordability, his endorsees won on Israel 09:30 Not all far-left are antisemites, but they’re making common cause with them 10:00 Dan Goldman faced antisemetic abuse during the campaign 11:15 Antisemitism won’t eat the Dem party, but needs to be contained 13:45 Progressive politicians decriminalizing shoplifting was a disaster 15:45 The national Dem electorate not as extreme as the GOP’s 17:30 It will be harder to hijack the Democratic electorate 19:30 Democrats suffered from a lack of charismatic leaders in the 80s 20:45 Parties are defined by their nominee, Dems will be fine if they get it right 21:30 Anti-Israel has become the #1 voting issue for New York progressives 22:45 Why has Palestine become the cause and not the Uighurs? 26:45 Social media and a lack of civics education has put people in bubbles 27:30 You have to be able to talk to people you disagree with 29:00 Socialism means Norway to some people and Cuba to others 32:00 Biden’s mistake was bragging he was most progressive president since FDR 32:45 The country rejected Biden’s progressive change & left’s “woke” culture 35:00 The left coded performative nonsense changed the view of the party 36:15 Al Gore lost as a VP to a popular president, Harris had impossible task 39:30 Could the Democratic base reject someone center-left in 2028? 40:45 The Michigan primary is a fascinating case study in Dem politics 42:00 Being charismatic like Mamdani or El-Sayed matters in politics 42:30 Democratic candidates have to get through the wall in South Carolina 44:15 Big question for 2028… can a center-left candidate run as a change agent? 46:30 Bibi Netanyahu has turned off a generation of Americans to Israel 48:45 If Israelis get rid of Netanyahu, that could be a relief valve for Dems 49:15 What can the establishment learn from the DSA? 49:45 The status quo is extremely broken, can’t run on preserving it 50:45 Iowa is coming back to the Democratic party 51:45 Candidate quality matter and Talarico is a good candidate 53:00 Boring doesn’t work in modern politics 55:30 What does success look like for the center left in the 2026 midterms? 56:15 Skeptical that El-Sayed can beat Mike Rogers in Michigan 57:15 Schumer should make clear he won’t run in 2028 and announce it soon 58:00 Warren and Murphy are too far left and far left coded 58:30 Both wings of the party can agree on Brian Schatz as leader 59:00 Mamdani story is a minor earthquake not a major fracture See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd breaks down a seismic primary night in New York, where Mamdani-backed Democratic Socialist candidates swept their races — and argues the DSA may be on the verge of becoming the far-left equivalent of the Freedom Caucus, a small but disciplined faction capable of making the establishment's life genuinely miserable. The most stunning data point: Chuck argues Chuck Schumer likely couldn't win a Democratic primary anywhere in New York right now, that Dan Goldman lost his primary handily, and that while Schumer clearly shouldn't run again, politicians rarely walk away on their own. It was also a quietly bad night for Hakeem Jeffries, and Chuck raises the genuinely open question of whether Jeffries would even survive a primary challenge — and whether he still has a clear path to the speakership if Democrats take the House. The strategic lesson the left has internalized, Chuck argues, is that the smaller the Democratic majority, the more leverage a committed progressive bloc can apply, which means Democrats may have to govern in a fundamentally different way than their leadership wants. But Chuck repeatedly returns to the central tension: this brand of far-left politics plays beautifully in coastal cities but the socialist label simply doesn't travel well elsewhere, the rise of far-left politics has become uncomfortably intertwined with rising antisemitism, pro-Israel Democrats may soon find themselves politically homeless, and the real test will be whether progressives can win anywhere outside their urban strongholds. It all amounts, Chuck says, to a genuine fight for the heart and soul of the Democratic Party. He closes with a heartfelt remembrance of former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who passed away at 100 — recalling a man who always grounded his opinions in data, and what a personal treat it was to have known him. Finally, skip the reflecting pool… Chuck presents his ToddCast Top 5 list of his favorite Washington D.C. monuments & answers listeners’ questions in the Ask Chuck segment. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code CHUCKTODDCAST at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/chucktoddcast  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 04:00 Mamdani backed DSA candidates sweep in NY primaries 06:00 Democratic socialists could become the far left equivalent of Freedom Caucus? 06:45 Chuck Schumer likely couldn’t win any Democratic primary in New York 07:30 Dan Goldman lost his primary handily 09:45 Schumer shouldn’t run again, but politicians rarely walk away 10:30 It was a bad night for Hakeem Jeffries, would he survive a primary? 13:30 The left has learned that you can make life miserable for the establishment 15:00 The smaller the Dems majority, the more pressure the left can apply in Congress 15:45 Hakeem Jeffries may not have a clear path to the speakership 17:00 Democrats will have to govern differently if the majority is narrow 19:00 The far left politics play on the coasts, but can it win elsewhere? 21:45 The socialist label doesn’t travel well outside the left leaning cities 23:30 Far-left politics has become intertwined with rise of antisemitism 24:45 Pro-Israel Democrats could become politically homeless 25:45 Big test will be if progressive can win elsewhere 27:45 There’s a real fight for the heart and soul of the Democratic party29:00 Alan Greenspan passes away at the age of 100 30:30 Greenspan always grounded his opinions in data 33:15 It was a treat to know Alan Greenspan personally 38:15 Chuck’s thoughts on the interview with Mayor David Holt 40:30 ToddCast Top 5 list 42:00 Top 5 historical attractions in Washington DC 44:15 Honorable Mention - Mount Vernon 45:45 #5 The World War I Memorial 47:15 #4 Albert Einstein Memorial 49:00 #3 Arlington National Cemetery 51:30 #2 Korean War Memorial 52:45 #1 Vietnam Veterans Memorial 55:45 Ask Chuck 56:00 Thoughts on the predictions Trump might not finish his term? 01:04:45 Do leaders rise due to the political moment, or do they make the history? 01:11:30 Does George W Bush’s “go shopping” mindset say something about boomers? 01:17:45 Where would you rank the Iran war amongst top presidential blunders? 01:27:15 Why can’t the country ever deal with long term crises in advance? 01:31:45 How do you manage to juggle your busy schedule? 01:35:45 Does Trump’s leadership style hurt the ability to make peace? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd breaks down a seismic primary night in New York, where Mamdani-backed Democratic Socialist candidates swept their races — and argues the DSA may be on the verge of becoming the far-left equivalent of the Freedom Caucus, a small but disciplined faction capable of making the establishment's life genuinely miserable. The most stunning data point: Chuck argues Chuck Schumer likely couldn't win a Democratic primary anywhere in New York right now, that Dan Goldman lost his primary handily, and that while Schumer clearly shouldn't run again, politicians rarely walk away on their own. It was also a quietly bad night for Hakeem Jeffries, and Chuck raises the genuinely open question of whether Jeffries would even survive a primary challenge — and whether he still has a clear path to the speakership if Democrats take the House. The strategic lesson the left has internalized, Chuck argues, is that the smaller the Democratic majority, the more leverage a committed progressive bloc can apply, which means Democrats may have to govern in a fundamentally different way than their leadership wants. But Chuck repeatedly returns to the central tension: this brand of far-left politics plays beautifully in coastal cities but the socialist label simply doesn't travel well elsewhere, the rise of far-left politics has become uncomfortably intertwined with rising antisemitism, pro-Israel Democrats may soon find themselves politically homeless, and the real test will be whether progressives can win anywhere outside their urban strongholds. It all amounts, Chuck says, to a genuine fight for the heart and soul of the Democratic Party. He closes with a heartfelt remembrance of former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who passed away at 100 — recalling a man who always grounded his opinions in data, and what a personal treat it was to have known him. Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt — the popular Republican who has won all three of his mayoral elections with at least 60% of the vote — joins the Chuck Toddcast to make an impassioned and deeply substantive case for pluralism as the foundation of the entire American experiment. Holt, who recently gave a notable speech on the subject, argues that the American system was fundamentally built on the acceptance of pluralism and the idea that compromise should produce something "good enough" rather than perfect for any single faction — and that the founders gave us a pretty good system specifically designed to channel disagreement away from political violence. The problem, Holt argues, is that the system is now actively making compromise harder. He points to closed partisan primaries as a central culprit: because he faces all voters rather than a narrow partisan base, he's incentivized to build consensus, but most candidates today are forced to pass bizarre litmus tests with base voters and campaign on culture-war messaging rather than the bread-and-butter issues people actually care about.  The conversation broadens into the structural and cultural threats Holt sees to a pluralistic society. He argues this era has revealed the long-ignored flaws in American democracy — that we've all taken the system for granted — and makes the case that getting rid of closed partisan primaries, sometimes through ballot initiatives, is one of the most important reforms available, provided it's done in a way that doesn't simply flip parties or states for partisan advantage but instead empowers minority-party voters to act as genuine swing votes. Holt is sharp on education's role in all of this: he worries that the voucherization of schools and the explosion of private schools risk teaching kids in ideological monocultures, and laments the erosion of civics education over the past two decades, noting that public schools deliberately deemphasized social studies after No Child Left Behind. He and Chuck dig into whether pluralism can even be taught or whether it has to be lived in a genuinely diverse place, the difficulty of having a nuanced public conversation about AI data centers, and the housing crisis that Holt argues is not getting nearly enough attention from either the national media or Washington — closing with a concrete look at what a federal housing bill would actually mean for a fast-growing city like Oklahoma City. Finally, skip the reflecting pool… Chuck presents his ToddCast Top 5 list of his favorite Washington D.C. monuments & answers listeners’ questions in the Ask Chuck segment. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code CHUCKTODDCAST at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/chucktoddcast  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 04:00 Mamdani backed DSA candidates sweep in NY primaries 06:00 Democratic socialists could become the far left equivalent of Freedom Caucus? 06:45 Chuck Schumer likely couldn’t win any Democratic primary in New York 07:30 Dan Goldman lost his primary handily 09:45 Schumer shouldn’t run again, but politicians rarely walk away 10:30 It was a bad night for Hakeem Jeffries, would he survive a primary? 13:30 The left has learned that you can make life miserable for the establishment 15:00 The smaller the Dems majority, the more pressure the left can apply in Congress 15:45 Hakeem Jeffries may not have a clear path to the speakership 17:00 Democrats will have to govern differently if the majority is narrow 19:00 The far left politics play on the coasts, but can it win elsewhere? 21:45 The socialist label doesn’t travel well outside the left leaning cities 23:30 Far-left politics has become intertwined with rise of antisemitism 24:45 Pro-Israel Democrats could become politically homeless 25:45 Big test will be if progressive can win elsewhere 27:45 There’s a real fight for the heart and soul of the Democratic party29:00 Alan Greenspan passes away at the age of 100 30:30 Greenspan always grounded his opinions in data 33:15 It was a treat to know Alan Greenspan personally 41:45 Mayor David Holt joins the Chuck ToddCast 42:30 Was the city in mourning after the OKC Thunder lost? 44:15 Are San Antonio and OKC set to become rival cities? 46:15 The mayor gave a speech about the importance of pluralism 47:00 The American experiment is based on the acceptance of pluralism 47:45 Compromise should result in “good enough”, not perfect for anybody 49:15 The founders gave us a pretty good system to avoid political violence 51:30 Nowadays, the system is making compromise harder 52:15 OKC’s politics mirror the country, went 49-48 for Trump in ‘24 53:45 Won all three mayoral elections with at least 60% of the vote 54:30 Mayor faces all voters rather than closed partisan primaries 55:45 Electoral system needs to incentivize consensus building 57:30 Candidates used to campaign on their ability to work across the aisle 59:00 Messaging from gubernatorial candidates are not bread & butter issues 01:00:15 Candidates are forced to pass bizarre litmus tests with base voters 01:02:15 Can you teach pluralism, or do you have to live in a diverse place? 01:04:00 There are always opposing views that exist even in highly red/blue areas 01:06:15 This era has revealed the flaws/weaknesses of our democracy 01:07:15 We’ve all taken our system for granted 01:07:45 We have to get away from closed partisan primaries 01:09:45 How do you convince parties in power to open up primaries to more voters? 01:10:45 Some states can get rid of partisan primaries via ballot initiatives 01:12:30 The process shouldn’t flip parties or states 01:14:15 Voters in the minority should act as swing votes 01:16:30 Voucherization of schools can lead kids to learning in a monoculture 01:18:00 There’s been explosion in the creation of private schools 01:19:45 There’s been an erosion in civics education the past two decades 01:21:15 Public schools deemphasized social studies after No Child Left Behind 01:23:30 Can the electorate have a nuanced conversation around AI data centers? 01:25:15 Hard for elected officials to go against the NIMBY crowd 01:25:45 Politicians have to argue for the positive trade offs 01:27:00 Bringing in tech and investment used to be good politics, it’s not with data centers 01:27:30 Housing is the issue that’s not getting enough attention from media & DC 01:28:30 What would the housing bill do for you in OKC?  01:29:45 Chuck’s thoughts on the interview with Mayor David Holt 01:32:00 ToddCast Top 5 list 01:33:30 Top 5 historical attractions in Washington DC 01:35:45 Honorable Mention - Mount Vernon 01:37:15 #5 The World War I Memorial 01:38:45 #4 Albert Einstein Memorial 01:40:30 #3 Arlington National Cemetery 01:43:00 #2 Korean War Memorial 01:44:15 #1 Vietnam Veterans Memorial 01:47:15 Ask Chuck 01:47:30 Thoughts on the predictions Trump might not finish his term? 01:56:15 Do leaders rise due to the political moment, or do they make the history? 02:03:00 Does George W Bush’s “go shopping” mindset say something about boomers? 02:09:15 Where would you rank the Iran war amongst top presidential blunders? 02:18:45 Why can’t the country ever deal with long term crises in advance? 02:23:15 How do you manage to juggle your busy schedule? 02:27:15 Does Trump’s leadership style hurt the ability to make peace? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt — the popular Republican who has won all three of his mayoral elections with at least 60% of the vote — joins the Chuck Toddcast to make an impassioned and deeply substantive case for pluralism as the foundation of the entire American experiment. Holt, who recently gave a notable speech on the subject, argues that the American system was fundamentally built on the acceptance of pluralism and the idea that compromise should produce something "good enough" rather than perfect for any single faction — and that the founders gave us a pretty good system specifically designed to channel disagreement away from political violence. The problem, Holt argues, is that the system is now actively making compromise harder. He points to closed partisan primaries as a central culprit: because he faces all voters rather than a narrow partisan base, he's incentivized to build consensus, but most candidates today are forced to pass bizarre litmus tests with base voters and campaign on culture-war messaging rather than the bread-and-butter issues people actually care about.  The conversation broadens into the structural and cultural threats Holt sees to a pluralistic society. He argues this era has revealed the long-ignored flaws in American democracy — that we've all taken the system for granted — and makes the case that getting rid of closed partisan primaries, sometimes through ballot initiatives, is one of the most important reforms available, provided it's done in a way that doesn't simply flip parties or states for partisan advantage but instead empowers minority-party voters to act as genuine swing votes. Holt is sharp on education's role in all of this: he worries that the voucherization of schools and the explosion of private schools risk teaching kids in ideological monocultures, and laments the erosion of civics education over the past two decades, noting that public schools deliberately deemphasized social studies after No Child Left Behind. He and Chuck dig into whether pluralism can even be taught or whether it has to be lived in a genuinely diverse place, the difficulty of having a nuanced public conversation about AI data centers, and the housing crisis that Holt argues is not getting nearly enough attention from either the national media or Washington — closing with a concrete look at what a federal housing bill would actually mean for a fast-growing city like Oklahoma City. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order.   Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code CHUCKTODDCAST at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/chucktoddcast  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Mayor David Holt joins the Chuck ToddCast 00:45 Was the city in mourning after the OKC Thunder lost? 02:30 Are San Antonio and OKC set to become rival cities? 04:30 The mayor gave a speech about the importance of pluralism 05:15 The American experiment is based on the acceptance of pluralism 06:00 Compromise should result in “good enough”, not perfect for anybody 07:30 The founders gave us a pretty good system to avoid political violence 09:45 Nowadays, the system is making compromise harder 10:30 OKC’s politics mirror the country, went 49-48 for Trump in ‘24 12:00 Won all three mayoral elections with at least 60% of the vote 12:45 Mayor faces all voters rather than closed partisan primaries 14:00 Electoral system needs to incentivize consensus building 15:45 Candidates used to campaign on their ability to work across the aisle 17:15 Messaging from gubernatorial candidates are not bread & butter issues 18:30 Candidates are forced to pass bizarre litmus tests with base voters 20:30 Can you teach pluralism, or do you have to live in a diverse place? 22:15 There are always opposing views that exist even in highly red/blue areas 24:30 This era has revealed the flaws/weaknesses of our democracy 25:30 We’ve all taken our system for granted 26:00 We have to get away from closed partisan primaries 28:00 How do you convince parties in power to open up primaries to more voters? 29:00 Some states can get rid of partisan primaries via ballot initiatives 30:45 The process shouldn’t flip parties or states 32:30 Voters in the minority should act as swing votes 34:45 Voucherization of schools can lead kids to learning in a monoculture 36:15 There’s been explosion in the creation of private schools 38:00 There’s been an erosion in civics education the past two decades 39:30 Public schools deemphasized social studies after No Child Left Behind 41:45 Can the electorate have a nuanced conversation around AI data centers? 43:30 Hard for elected officials to go against the NIMBY crowd 44:00 Politicians have to argue for the positive trade offs 45:15 Bringing in tech and investment used to be good politics, it’s not with data centers 45:45 Housing is the issue that’s not getting enough attention from media & DC 46:45 What would the housing bill do for you in OKC? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd focuses this episode around a single, almost too-perfect metaphor: the reflecting pool Trump remade, where the paint is now visibly peeling off the concrete and the president is blaming vandals rather than his own shoddy work — a fitting symbol, Chuck argues, for a presidency defined by grandiose self-promotion and an inability to take responsibility for anything. He opens on the Iran fallout, where JD Vance is attending the latest round of negotiations while Marco Rubio is conspicuously MIA, MAGA is openly fracturing over the war and over support for Israel, and Trump's defenders are stuck trying to explain away an obvious capitulation.He warns that the Iranians have now learned to manipulate the markets the same way Trump does — opening and closing the Strait of Hormuz whenever they need cash — and that there will be no positives to come out of this war. From there Chuck pivots into one of his sharpest character indictments yet, arguing Trump is the worst role-model president in American history — a man who behaves like an elementary-school playground bully, and who constantly tries to steal other people's achievements.The contrast crystallized, Chuck says, in the split-screen of Obama's library dedication against Trump's UFC spectacle — the Obamas embodying the story of American meritocracy while Trump embodies inherited advantage squandered. That comparison leads Chuck into a genuinely nuanced reassessment of Obama's legacy: a successful president by traditional measures whose party nonetheless weakened badly on his watch, in part because there was no accountability for the financial crisis, no real effort to set up an heir apparent, and because Obama built a movement around himself rather than the party.He closes on Tuesday's pivotal New York primaries, where he argues the Democratic Socialists of America — led by Zohran Mamdani and AOC — are attempting a genuine takeover of New York Democratic politics, where the long-convenient "progressive" label is about to be torn apart to reveal the socialist faction underneath, and where the central question facing the entire party will be forced into the open: the socialist brand isn't automatically fatal, but it terrifies suburban voters, and a committed faction of supporters is all it takes to hijack a political party.  Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the Korean War and its lasting legacy on both American culture and geopolitics. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order.   Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.    Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.    Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code CHUCKTODDCAST at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/chucktoddcast  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 01:30 The reflecting pool has become a metaphor for Trump’s presidency 05:30 JD Vance attending latest round of Iran negotiations, Rubio MIA 07:30 MAGA is divided over the Iran war and support for Israel 08:45 Trump’s defenders stuck trying to explain away capitulation to Iran 09:30 Administration threatening to purge any critics of the Iran deal 10:30 Much of the administration is more populist, less pro-Israel 13:00 Growing movement of isolationism in both parties 14:30 Iranians have learned from Trump how to manipulate the markets 15:15 Iran will open and close the Strait whenever they need money 16:00 There will be no positives coming out of the Iran war 17:15 Will Republicans pretend Trump won, or will they start to speak out? 18:30 Trump has been a terrible role model for young American boys/men 19:30 Trump is the worst role model president we’ve ever had 20:15 Trump’s behavior is like an elementary school bully 21:15 Crypto.com bribed Trump to get out of legal trouble 21:45 UAE bribed Trump get export controls for chips dropped 22:45 Trump pardoned J6 rioters, then tried to reward them with slush fund 24:00 At least 40 pardoned J6ers have reoffended & been arrested again 25:00 Trump sent troops into cities to intimidate them like a playground bully 26:00 Trump, like a kid, tries to steal other people’s achievements 27:00 Trump’s remake of the reflecting pool has been a disaster 27:45 Paint is peeling off the concrete from the pool, Trump blames vandals 29:00 It’s clear Trump wasn’t parented at all, not given character tests 29:45 Trump gets a pass for behavior we wouldn’t tolerate from a child 30:30 How do we assess Obama’s legacy when Trump was elected after him? 31:15 Obama library ceremony reminded us about what he did best 31:45 Obama library vs Trump’s UFC showed sharp contrast between the two 32:45 The Obamas embodied the story of American meritocracy 33:15 Trump was born on 3rd base, and always trying to steal home 33:45 Both Obama and Trump’s stories are American stories 35:00 As time passes it becomes harder to separate Obama from Trump 35:45 By traditional measures, Obama was a successful president 36:30 The Democratic party weakened during Obama’s presidency 37:00 Three things Obama could have done to strengthen his party 37:30 Public was upset there was no accountability for financial crisis 38:00 Obama didn’t help identify and set up an heir apparent for success 39:00 22nd amendment a mistake? Would the country be better with 3 Obama terms? 39:30 Obama built a movement around himself, leaving party weaker 40:30 New York holds its primary on Tuesday with major implications  41:30 The Democratic Socialists of America trying to shift the party left 42:00 The Democratic party is splitting into 3 camps 42:45 “Progressive” used to cover both progressives and socialists 43:15 Tuesday’s primaries will tear the cover off the socialism facade 44:15 Mamdani believes he’s leading a movement, challenging establishment 44:45 Mamdani and AOC trying to lead DSA takeover of NY Democratic politics 45:45 Mamdani trying to remake the Democratic party in his image 46:30 Can the DSA brand work in the suburbs and outside the 5 boroughs? 47:15 Dem leadership treated Mamdani like a liability, socialism only sells in cities 48:15 The socialist label isn’t automatically fatal, but it scares suburban voters 49:00 Tuesday will force Democratic candidates to fit into one of the boxes 49:45 A faction of supporters is enough to hijack a political party 57:30 Chuck’s thoughts on interview with Paul Taylor 57:45 ToddCast Time Machine - June 25th, 1950 58:00 The Korean War never ended 58:45 The Korean War has a strange place in American history 59:15 The Korean War memorial in DC is haunting 01:00:30 The Korean War produced a world we’re still living in 01:01:00 America’s approach to foreign intervention began in Korea 01:01:45 Before the war, South Korea was third world and impoverished 01:02:45 North Korea has become a repressive military regime, more dangerous 01:03:45 The fighting ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty 01:04:15 The DNZ is one of the most heavily fortified borders on earth 01:04:45 The first fighting between US and China was in Korea 01:05:15 Truman didn’t rely on congress for a formal declaration of war 01:06:15 Korea was really America’s first true “forever war” 01:07:15 Korea taught America to live with a problem rather than fix it 01:08:00 Korea was not a clear victory or a clear defeat 01:09:00 Ask Chuck 01:09:15 Where’s the best place to go for civics education for kids? 01:12:15 Have you thought about creating an “election manifesto”? 01:16:15 Are there guardrails around presidential interference in elections? 01:20:30 If you could warn the founders about one blind spot, what would it be? 01:23:45 What happens behind the scenes during a TV news anchor walk-off? 01:27:00 What has actually changed on the ground in Venezuela post-Maduro? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd focuses this episode around a single, almost too-perfect metaphor: the reflecting pool Trump remade, where the paint is now visibly peeling off the concrete and the president is blaming vandals rather than his own shoddy work — a fitting symbol, Chuck argues, for a presidency defined by grandiose self-promotion and an inability to take responsibility for anything. He opens on the Iran fallout, where JD Vance is attending the latest round of negotiations while Marco Rubio is conspicuously MIA, MAGA is openly fracturing over the war and over support for Israel, and Trump's defenders are stuck trying to explain away an obvious capitulation.He warns that the Iranians have now learned to manipulate the markets the same way Trump does — opening and closing the Strait of Hormuz whenever they need cash — and that there will be no positives to come out of this war. From there Chuck pivots into one of his sharpest character indictments yet, arguing Trump is the worst role-model president in American history — a man who behaves like an elementary-school playground bully, and who constantly tries to steal other people's achievements.The contrast crystallized, Chuck says, in the split-screen of Obama's library dedication against Trump's UFC spectacle — the Obamas embodying the story of American meritocracy while Trump embodies inherited advantage squandered. That comparison leads Chuck into a genuinely nuanced reassessment of Obama's legacy: a successful president by traditional measures whose party nonetheless weakened badly on his watch, in part because there was no accountability for the financial crisis, no real effort to set up an heir apparent, and because Obama built a movement around himself rather than the party.He closes on Tuesday's pivotal New York primaries, where he argues the Democratic Socialists of America — led by Zohran Mamdani and AOC — are attempting a genuine takeover of New York Democratic politics, where the long-convenient "progressive" label is about to be torn apart to reveal the socialist faction underneath, and where the central question facing the entire party will be forced into the open: the socialist brand isn't automatically fatal, but it terrifies suburban voters, and a committed faction of supporters is all it takes to hijack a political party.  Then, Paul Taylor — former executive vice president of the Pew Research Center and author of This Is Getting Old — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a sweeping, data-rich conversation about the generation that has dominated American political life longer than any other: the Baby Boomers. Taylor's framing is striking — voters keep electing presidents born in 1946, and no generation in American history has enjoyed the kind of political hegemony Boomers have held since becoming the largest voting bloc in the 1980s. He argues this dominance has had real consequences as America approaches its 250th birthday in a genuinely dark place: CEO pay has ballooned from a 20-to-1 ratio to 300-to-1 on the Boomers' watch, their decisions have fueled the very populist backlash now reshaping both parties, and — in a deep irony — they spent decades undermining public confidence in the very institutions that benefited them most, helping imprint Trump's "everything is rigged" worldview onto the broader public. Taylor offers a wealth of arresting data points: Jimmy Carter is the only Democrat to win a majority of the Boomer vote in the last 14 elections, and the United States is the only country on earth where a majority of citizens believe their fellow citizens are morally bad — a stunning measure of how thoroughly Americans have turned on one another. The conversation broadens into questions of national identity, demographics, and where the country goes from here. Taylor argues that America is fundamentally a creedal nation rather than a "blood and soil" one, that it has accepted far more immigrants than any other country (though he's candid that too much immigration too fast tends to produce political and cultural backlash, and that the shift toward majority non-white immigration over the past 60 years has been a profound change), and that today's young generation celebrates difference — but a mosaic, he cautions, still needs glue to hold it together. Boomers, he notes, are the last living generation to experience America as something close to a monoculture, and the last to remember segregated America firsthand, which shapes their politics in ways younger generations struggle to understand. Taylor doesn't shy away from the harder verdicts: the generalization that Boomers are a narcissistic generation, he says, is fair. He and Todd explore the demographic time bomb of declining birth rates and an inverting age pyramid (and whether AI and robotics might paradoxically reduce the need for a baby boom), and trace a fascinating through-line from Gary Hart to Graham Platner on how the television era forced politicians to perform their character for the public — and how both Platner and Trump ultimately channel the same anger at a broken system. Taylor closes on a cautiously hopeful note that the next wave of American politics could be a backlash against the current divisiveness, even as he braces for the possibility that his fellow Boomers may not love what they read in his book. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the Korean War and its lasting legacy on both American culture and geopolitics. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order.   Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.    Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.    Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code CHUCKTODDCAST at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/chucktoddcast  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 01:30 The reflecting pool has become a metaphor for Trump’s presidency 05:30 JD Vance attending latest round of Iran negotiations, Rubio MIA 07:30 MAGA is divided over the Iran war and support for Israel 08:45 Trump’s defenders stuck trying to explain away capitulation to Iran 09:30 Administration threatening to purge any critics of the Iran deal 10:30 Much of the administration is more populist, less pro-Israel 13:00 Growing movement of isolationism in both parties 14:30 Iranians have learned from Trump how to manipulate the markets 15:15 Iran will open and close the Strait whenever they need money 16:00 There will be no positives coming out of the Iran war 17:15 Will Republicans pretend Trump won, or will they start to speak out? 18:30 Trump has been a terrible role model for young American boys/men 19:30 Trump is the worst role model president we’ve ever had 20:15 Trump’s behavior is like an elementary school bully 21:15 Crypto.com bribed Trump to get out of legal trouble 21:45 UAE bribed Trump get export controls for chips dropped 22:45 Trump pardoned J6 rioters, then tried to reward them with slush fund 24:00 At least 40 pardoned J6ers have reoffended & been arrested again 25:00 Trump sent troops into cities to intimidate them like a playground bully 26:00 Trump, like a kid, tries to steal other people’s achievements 27:00 Trump’s remake of the reflecting pool has been a disaster 27:45 Paint is peeling off the concrete from the pool, Trump blames vandals 29:00 It’s clear Trump wasn’t parented at all, not given character tests 29:45 Trump gets a pass for behavior we wouldn’t tolerate from a child 30:30 How do we assess Obama’s legacy when Trump was elected after him? 31:15 Obama library ceremony reminded us about what he did best 31:45 Obama library vs Trump’s UFC showed sharp contrast between the two 32:45 The Obamas embodied the story of American meritocracy 33:15 Trump was born on 3rd base, and always trying to steal home 33:45 Both Obama and Trump’s stories are American stories 35:00 As time passes it becomes harder to separate Obama from Trump 35:45 By traditional measures, Obama was a successful president 36:30 The Democratic party weakened during Obama’s presidency 37:00 Three things Obama could have done to strengthen his party 37:30 Public was upset there was no accountability for financial crisis 38:00 Obama didn’t help identify and set up an heir apparent for success 39:00 22nd amendment a mistake? Would the country be better with 3 Obama terms? 39:30 Obama built a movement around himself, leaving party weaker 40:30 New York holds its primary on Tuesday with major implications  41:30 The Democratic Socialists of America trying to shift the party left 42:00 The Democratic party is splitting into 3 camps 42:45 “Progressive” used to cover both progressives and socialists 43:15 Tuesday’s primaries will tear the cover off the socialism facade 44:15 Mamdani believes he’s leading a movement, challenging establishment 44:45 Mamdani and AOC trying to lead DSA takeover of NY Democratic politics 45:45 Mamdani trying to remake the Democratic party in his image 46:30 Can the DSA brand work in the suburbs and outside the 5 boroughs? 47:15 Dem leadership treated Mamdani like a liability, socialism only sells in cities 48:15 The socialist label isn’t automatically fatal, but it scares suburban voters 49:00 Tuesday will force Democratic candidates to fit into one of the boxes 49:45 A faction of supporters is enough to hijack a political party 58:45 Paul Taylor (This Is Getting Old) joins the Chuck ToddCast 59:45 Voters keep electing presidents born in 1946 01:00:30 No generation has had political hegemony li

Paul Taylor — former executive vice president of the Pew Research Center and author of This Is Getting Old — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a sweeping, data-rich conversation about the generation that has dominated American political life longer than any other: the Baby Boomers. Taylor's framing is striking — voters keep electing presidents born in 1946, and no generation in American history has enjoyed the kind of political hegemony Boomers have held since becoming the largest voting bloc in the 1980s. He argues this dominance has had real consequences as America approaches its 250th birthday in a genuinely dark place: CEO pay has ballooned from a 20-to-1 ratio to 300-to-1 on the Boomers' watch, their decisions have fueled the very populist backlash now reshaping both parties, and — in a deep irony — they spent decades undermining public confidence in the very institutions that benefited them most, helping imprint Trump's "everything is rigged" worldview onto the broader public. Taylor offers a wealth of arresting data points: Jimmy Carter is the only Democrat to win a majority of the Boomer vote in the last 14 elections, and the United States is the only country on earth where a majority of citizens believe their fellow citizens are morally bad — a stunning measure of how thoroughly Americans have turned on one another. The conversation broadens into questions of national identity, demographics, and where the country goes from here. Taylor argues that America is fundamentally a creedal nation rather than a "blood and soil" one, that it has accepted far more immigrants than any other country (though he's candid that too much immigration too fast tends to produce political and cultural backlash, and that the shift toward majority non-white immigration over the past 60 years has been a profound change), and that today's young generation celebrates difference — but a mosaic, he cautions, still needs glue to hold it together. Boomers, he notes, are the last living generation to experience America as something close to a monoculture, and the last to remember segregated America firsthand, which shapes their politics in ways younger generations struggle to understand. Taylor doesn't shy away from the harder verdicts: the generalization that Boomers are a narcissistic generation, he says, is fair. He and Todd explore the demographic time bomb of declining birth rates and an inverting age pyramid (and whether AI and robotics might paradoxically reduce the need for a baby boom), and trace a fascinating through-line from Gary Hart to Graham Platner on how the television era forced politicians to perform their character for the public — and how both Platner and Trump ultimately channel the same anger at a broken system. Taylor closes on a cautiously hopeful note that the next wave of American politics could be a backlash against the current divisiveness, even as he braces for the possibility that his fellow Boomers may not love what they read in his book. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order.   Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.    Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Paul Taylor (This Is Getting Old) joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:00 Voters keep electing presidents born in 1946 01:45 No generation has had political hegemony like the Boomers 02:45 Since the 80s, boomers have been biggest voting bloc 03:30 America in a dark place as it prepares to celebrate 250 05:00 Disneyland opened in the 50s but has lost its egalitarian culture 05:45 CEO pay has gone from 20-1 to 300-1, boomers facilitated that 06:30 Boomers’ decisions have led to a major populist backlash 08:00 Boomers came of age during a period of deep division in America 10:00 During the 60s, people believed the system was built to do good 10:30 Trump’s “rigged” worldview has been imprinted on the public 11:45 Boomers undermined confidence in institutions that benefitted them 13:30 There’s always been a class distinction in the boomer generation 14:30 Carter is the only Democrat to win majority of boomer vote in past 14 elections 16:00 U.S. is the only country where majority thinks fellow citizens are morally bad 17:30 Boomers grew up with a sense of triumphalism after World War 2 18:30 American exceptionalism didn’t start with the boomers 19:30 America has accepted far more immigrants than any other country 20:30 Too much immigration leads to political and cultural backlash 21:30 In the last 60 years, most immigrants have been non-white, a big change 22:30 Today’s young generation celebrates differences, but a mosaic needs glue 24:00 Boomers are the last generation to experience America as a monoculture 26:15 American is a creedal nation, not a “blood and soil” nation 28:45 Americans are misinformed, but generally pragmatic and collaborative 30:00 Hopefully the next wave of politics is a backlash to our current, divisive politics 30:45 Boomers are the last living generation to experience segregated America 32:45 Despite current tensions, progress for women and minorities has happened 34:00 Expanding minority rights is a hard thing to pull off 34:45 Why has it taken so long to push boomers out of leadership? 36:00 Women’s liberation has led to declining birth rates 37:30 Inverted demographic chart is going to create problems 38:30 Will we need a baby boom if AI & robotics will perform many of the jobs? 40:30 The generalization that boomers are a narcissistic generation is fair 41:15 Is there a thru line between Gary Hart and Graham Platner’s character issues? 44:15 The television era forced politicians to present themselves to the public 45:45 Mainers will have to decide about Platner’s shortcomings 47:00 Platner & Trump channel anger at the system 50:30 Will your fellow boomers hate what they read in this book? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck takes a wide-ranging look at what he sees as the long-term impact of the Trump administration's foreign policy. He argues that the United States has weakened many of the alliances and institutions that underpinned American influence for decades, raising questions about whether key partners in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East can still rely on Washington as a stable security partner. In Ask Chuck, listeners ask about Democratic impeachment scenarios, presidential war powers, the future of the Republican Party, and other political questions shaping the road to 2028. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Try ShipStation free for 60 days with full access to all features, No credit card needed! Go to https://ShipStation.com and use code TODDCAST for 60 days for free! Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code CHUCKTODDCAST at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/chucktoddcast   Timeline:(Timestamps may vary due to advertisements) 02:21 Opening Thoughts: Did America Lose in Iran? 07:21 Why Trump Isn't Really an Isolationist 12:33 The Collapse of America's Global Security Architecture 17:22 How Allies Are Learning to Live Without America 20:51 The New Middle East Taking Shape 24:18 Trump's Next Foreign Policy Target: Cuba 27:34 Ask Chuck Begins 28:23 Would Impeaching Trump Backfire on Democrats? 33:40 Presidential War Powers Explained 39:25 Can America Move Toward Coalition Politics? 43:49 The Challenge of Verifying Information in Modern Media 48:54 Are Swing Voters the Least Represented Americans? 54:54 Why BYU Could Thrive in the NIL Era 1:00:17 Great Man Theory vs. The Times Make the Leader 1:06:36 Would a Democratic Cuba Change Florida Politics Forever? 1:10:50 Chuck's Nationals Playoff Pitch & Closing Thoughts See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck opens the podcast with a wide-ranging look at what he sees as the long-term impact of the Trump administration's foreign policy. He argues that the United States has weakened many of the alliances and institutions that underpinned American influence for decades, raising questions about whether key partners in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East can still rely on Washington as a stable security partner. Then Chuck is joined by Eurasia Group founder Ian Bremmer for an in-depth conversation about the aftermath of the Iran war, the future of the Middle East, and the growing geopolitical uncertainty facing America's allies. Bremmer explains why he believes the conflict has fundamentally altered regional dynamics, creating competing power blocs led by the UAE and Israel on one side and Saudi Arabia and its partners on the other. He also discusses China's opportunities in the region, the future of Iran's regime, and why the biggest long-term consequence of the conflict may be an accelerated global shift away from oil and gas. The conversation then turns to Russia and Ukraine, where Bremmer delivers a stark warning: Vladimir Putin may now represent the world's most dangerous geopolitical risk. He explains why he is increasingly concerned about Putin's isolation, decision-making, and willingness to escalate as the war continues. In Ask Chuck, listeners ask about Democratic impeachment scenarios, presidential war powers, the future of the Republican Party, and other political questions shaping the road to 2028. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Try ShipStation free for 60 days with full access to all features, No credit card needed! Go to https://ShipStation.com and use code TODDCAST for 60 days for free! Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code CHUCKTODDCAST at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/chucktoddcast   Timeline: (Timestamps may vary due to advertisements)02:21 Opening Thoughts: The Fallout from Iran 07:53 Why Trump Isn't Really an Isolationist 12:34 America's Alliances and the Cost of Dependency 19:51 Three Major Takeaways Before Ian Bremmer 23:34 Trump's Political Future, Cuba, and the Midterms 32:23 Ian Bremmer Joins the Podcast 35:47 Why the Iran Deal Looks Like a Strategic Failure 38:06 Has America Broken Trust with Its Allies? 41:52 The Gulf States Recalculate Their Security Strategy 45:11 The Emerging UAE-Israel Alliance 49:48 Saudi Arabia's New Geopolitical Path 52:47 How the Middle East Is Splitting into Rival Blocs 55:47 Qatar, Iran, and Regional Uncertainty 58:05 Netanyahu's Political Challenges After the War 1:02:19 Can the Iranian Regime Survive? 1:06:49 The Global Shift Away from Oil and Gas 1:09:29 China's Growing Influence in the Middle East 1:11:01 North Korea's Rising Leverage 1:15:01 Why Putin May Be More Dangerous Than Kim Jong-un 1:18:25 Russia, Nuclear Risk, and Global Stability 1:22:25 Russian Operations Against the West 1:26:17 Ask Chuck 1:28:23 Would Impeaching Trump Backfire on Democrats? 1:33:40 Presidential War Powers Explained 1:36:43 Additional Listener Questions 1:45:51 The Future of Political Coalitions 1:56:06 Baseball, the Nationals, and Weekend Thoughts See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck is joined by Eurasia Group founder Ian Bremmer for an in-depth conversation about the aftermath of the Iran war, the future of the Middle East, and the growing geopolitical uncertainty facing America's allies. Bremmer explains why he believes the conflict has fundamentally altered regional dynamics, creating competing power blocs led by the UAE and Israel on one side and Saudi Arabia and its partners on the other. He also discusses China's opportunities in the region, the future of Iran's regime, and why the biggest long-term consequence of the conflict may be an accelerated global shift away from oil and gas. The conversation then turns to Russia and Ukraine, where Bremmer delivers a stark warning: Vladimir Putin may now represent the world's most dangerous geopolitical risk. He explains why he is increasingly concerned about Putin's isolation, decision-making, and willingness to escalate as the war continues. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Try ShipStation free for 60 days with full access to all features, No credit card needed! Go to https://ShipStation.com and use code TODDCAST for 60 days for free! Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code CHUCKTODDCAST at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/chucktoddcast   Timeline (Timestamps may vary due to advertisements) 02:21 Ian Bremmer Joins the Podcast 06:03 Why the Iran Deal Is a Failure for Trump 12:25 How the Middle East Is Reordering Itself 20:19 The UAE, Saudi Arabia & Competing Power Blocs 28:23 Iran's Future and the End of Oil Dominance 35:50 China's Growing Influence in the Middle East 42:23 North Korea, Putin & Global Security Risks 49:46 Cuba, Trump, and the Western Hemisphere 56:05 World Cup, Knicks & Closing Thoughts See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd and J.A. Adande talk with NBA Hall of Famer Chris Mullin to discuss the evolution of the Golden State Warriors from the Run TMC era to the Steph Curry dynasty. Mullin reflects on his time alongside Tim Hardaway and Mitch Richmond, explains why Run TMC was broken up before reaching its full potential, and shares how the We Believe Warriors helped reignite basketball in the Bay Area. As a former Warriors executive, he also takes us inside the moves that helped lay the foundation for one of the greatest dynasties in sports history. We also dive into Steph Curry's impact on basketball, the evolution of the three-point shot, the legendary 1992 Dream Team, the KD Warriors, and whether Golden State's championship teams will stand the test of time. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd reacts to Tuesday's elections and what the fallout means for both parties. Then he discusses the latest on the US-Iran deal and why it's already a failure for the Trump administration, and why the Kennedy Center and White House ballroom drama signals the beginning of the end for the Trump era. Also, he discusses the most underreported story of the week. Plus, the Top 5 most underrated elections and "Ask Chuck". Timeline: (Timestamps may vary due to advertisements): 01:42 - Election reaction 12:22 - Failure for Trump in Iran 23:59 - Beginning of end of Trump era 36:11 - Week's most underreported story 49:13 - Top 5 most underrated elections 58:43 - Ask Chuck       See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd reacts to Tuesday's elections and what the fallout means for both parties. Then he discusses the latest on the US-Iran deal and why it's already a failure for the Trump administration, and why the Kennedy Center and White House ballroom drama signals the beginning of the end for the Trump era. Plus, he discusses the most underreported story of the week.Then historian Dominic Erdozain — author of To Love a Country — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a deeply thoughtful conversation about the difference between Americanism and the actual promise of America, and what it means to love a country honestly rather than mythologically. Erdozain argues that Joe Biden's "this is not who we are" framing of Trump-era nationalism was simply not accurate — the darker currents in American life are very much part of who we've always been, and pretending otherwise makes them harder to confront. He pushes back hard on the version of American exceptionalism that requires looking down on others, noting that while America was a genuine pioneer of democracy, it was painfully slow on feminism and racial equality, and that democracy itself can become a hollow shell for something tyrannical when it's imposed rather than consented to. Erdozain offers a fascinating historical excavation of how the South's distinct identity was forged by the Civil War, why that war seeded the worst possible conditions for Black freedom, and how Germany managed to avoid the "lost cause" mythology that still poisons American politics. He even takes aim at the Gettysburg Address — arguing its soaring language was later weaponized to justify wars it was never meant to bless, and that the enduring American myth that unity comes through blood and conflict is a dangerous one.The conversation broadens into a sweeping meditation on patriotism, war, and historical memory. Erdozain observes that today's reviled "elites" are essentially the "Yankees" of the 19th century in the Southern imagination, that the greatest war hawks tend to be people who never actually fought, and that America still hasn't reckoned with how profoundly 9/11 changed its society — pointing out that the people who championed the Iraq war have never been ostracized for it. He reflects on John F. Kennedy's hard-won realization that weapons alone were never the true guarantor of American security and Kennedy's deliberate effort to dampen American hatred of the Soviets, contrasts that with the "peace through strength" mantra of the Reagan era, and warns about the very real danger of a proxy conflict spiraling out of Ukraine. Erdozain argues that the "city on a hill" mentality, however flattering, inevitably curdles into nationalism — and that whenever a country fully embraces nationalism, someone always loses their freedom. But his book isn't a counsel of despair: he makes the case that America's singular ability to assimilate immigrants is one of its true superpowers, and that genuine patriotism means challenging the country to actually live up to the ideals it committed to paper. His closing pitch for why both a liberal and a conservative should read the book is the heart of the whole conversation — loving a country, like loving a person, means holding it to its highest self rather than excusing its worst instincts.Finally, Chuck gives his Top 5 most overlooked races and then, in "Ask Chuck", he answers your questions about the U.S.-Iran situation and sports playoff systems. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 01:42 Election reaction 12:22 Failure for Trump in Iran 23:59 Beginning of end of Trump era 36:11 Week's most underreported story 49:13 Dominic Erdozain (To Love A Country) joins The Chuck ToddCast 51:13 Americanism vs. the promise of America 52:13 America’s founders believed in John Locke’s natural rights 53:28 2016 was traumatic between Brexit & election of Trump 54:28 Biden’s “This is not who we are” framing of nationalism wasn’t accurate 55:28 American exceptionalism can’t come with looking down on others 57:13 America is a pioneer democracy but slow on feminism & racial equality 58:28 Democracy can’t be imposed on others, it requires consent 59:43 Democracy can become a shell for something tyrannical 1:00:58 America’s “southern identity” was created by the civil war 1:01:43 The civil war seeded worst possible grounds for black freedom 1:02:43 How did Germany avoid “lost cause” mentality seen in American south? 1:03:58 What the Gettysburg address got wrong 1:04:58 The language of the address was used to justify many other wars 1:05:58 The myth is that unity comes through blood and conflict 1:06:43 Today’s “elites” are basically the “Yankees” of the 19th century 1:08:13 A civil society is one that’s in a state of peace 1:09:28 Avoiding a cult mentality when professing love of country 1:11:13 When a country embraces nationalism, someone loses freedoms 1:13:43 Accounts of history tend to be infused with the authors biases 1:15:43 The “patriotic myth” infused into cold war & Iraq war mythology 1:16:28 We create new myths to tell stories about ourselves 1:17:58 Kennedy tried to dampen down hatred of the Soviets 1:20:13 Greatest war hawks tend to be people who never fought 1:21:28 We haven’t reckoned with the changes to American society post 9/11 1:22:58 The people who championed Iraq war haven’t been ostracized 1:24:58 JFK realized that weapons weren’t the guarantor of American security 1:26:43 America’s projection of soft power wasn’t purely altruistic 1:28:13 What does Reagan’s “peace through strength” mantra mean to you? 1:29:58 Fear the development of a proxy war that spirals out of Ukraine 1:32:13 The “city on a hill” mentality will lead to nationalism 1:35:13 America’s ability to assimilate immigrants is one of its superpowers 1:36:28 Book is challenging Americans to live up to the ideals we put on paper 1:37:58 Why should a liberal and a conservative read this book? 1:43:50 - Top 5 Most Underrated Races 1:53:23 - Ask Chuck See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Historian Dominic Erdozain — author of To Love a Country — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a deeply thoughtful conversation about the difference between Americanism and the actual promise of America, and what it means to love a country honestly rather than mythologically. Erdozain argues that Joe Biden's "this is not who we are" framing of Trump-era nationalism was simply not accurate — the darker currents in American life are very much part of who we've always been, and pretending otherwise makes them harder to confront. He pushes back hard on the version of American exceptionalism that requires looking down on others, noting that while America was a genuine pioneer of democracy, it was painfully slow on feminism and racial equality, and that democracy itself can become a hollow shell for something tyrannical when it's imposed rather than consented to. Erdozain offers a fascinating historical excavation of how the South's distinct identity was forged by the Civil War, why that war seeded the worst possible conditions for Black freedom, and how Germany managed to avoid the "lost cause" mythology that still poisons American politics. He even takes aim at the Gettysburg Address — arguing its soaring language was later weaponized to justify wars it was never meant to bless, and that the enduring American myth that unity comes through blood and conflict is a dangerous one. The conversation broadens into a sweeping meditation on patriotism, war, and historical memory. Erdozain observes that today's reviled "elites" are essentially the "Yankees" of the 19th century in the Southern imagination, that the greatest war hawks tend to be people who never actually fought, and that America still hasn't reckoned with how profoundly 9/11 changed its society — pointing out that the people who championed the Iraq war have never been ostracized for it. He reflects on John F. Kennedy's hard-won realization that weapons alone were never the true guarantor of American security and Kennedy's deliberate effort to dampen American hatred of the Soviets, contrasts that with the "peace through strength" mantra of the Reagan era, and warns about the very real danger of a proxy conflict spiraling out of Ukraine. Erdozain argues that the "city on a hill" mentality, however flattering, inevitably curdles into nationalism — and that whenever a country fully embraces nationalism, someone always loses their freedom. But his book isn't a counsel of despair: he makes the case that America's singular ability to assimilate immigrants is one of its true superpowers, and that genuine patriotism means challenging the country to actually live up to the ideals it committed to paper. His closing pitch for why both a liberal and a conservative should read the book is the heart of the whole conversation — loving a country, like loving a person, means holding it to its highest self rather than excusing its worst instincts. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 01:46 Dominic Erdozain (To Love A Country) joins The Chuck ToddCast 03:46 Americanism vs. the promise of America 04:46 America’s founders believed in John Locke’s natural rights 06:01 2016 was traumatic between Brexit & election of Trump 07:01 Biden’s “This is not who we are” framing of nationalism wasn’t accurate 08:01 American exceptionalism can’t come with looking down on others 09:46 America is a pioneer democracy but slow on feminism & racial equality 11:01 Democracy can’t be imposed on others, it requires consent 12:16 Democracy can become a shell for something tyrannical 13:31 America’s “southern identity” was created by the civil war 14:16 The civil war seeded worst possible grounds for black freedom 15:16 How did Germany avoid “lost cause” mentality seen in American south? 16:31 What the Gettysburg address got wrong 17:31 The language of the address was used to justify many other wars 18:31 The myth is that unity comes through blood and conflict 19:16 Today’s “elites” are basically the “Yankees” of the 19th century 20:46 A civil society is one that’s in a state of peace 22:01 Avoiding a cult mentality when professing love of country 23:46 When a country embraces nationalism, someone loses freedoms 26:16 Accounts of history tend to be infused with the authors biases 28:16 The “patriotic myth” infused into cold war & Iraq war mythology 29:01 We create new myths to tell stories about ourselves 30:31 Kennedy tried to dampen down hatred of the soviets 32:46 Greatest war hawks tend to be people who never fought 34:01 We haven’t reckoned with the changes to American society post 9/11 35:31 The people who championed Iraq war haven’t been ostracized 37:31 JFK realized that weapons weren’t the guarantor of American security 39:16 America’s projection of soft power wasn’t purely altruistic 40:46 What does Reagan’s “peace through strength” mantra mean to you? 42:31 Fear the development of a proxy war that spirals out of Ukraine 44:46 The “city on a hill” mentality will lead to nationalism 47:46 America’s ability to assimilate immigrants is one of its superpowers 49:01 Book is challenging Americans to live up to the ideals we put on paper 50:31 Why should a liberal and a conservative read this book? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens on the surreal split-screen of a president desperate to manufacture a legacy: in the same stretch of days, Trump announced a "deal" with Iran, and hosted a UFC fight on the White House lawn. He argues the Iran deal is barely a deal at all — it's an agreement to begin a new negotiation, the diplomatic equivalent of trying to salvage a tie from a war that was always an own goal. The stated goal was to dismantle Iran's nuclear program; instead Iran never capitulated, will see roughly $24 billion in assets unfrozen along with oil export relief, and is essentially being paid off by the United States to reopen the Strait of Hormuz it closed in the first place. Chuck’s verdict is blunt: Iran didn't win the war outright, but it absolutely humiliated the United States, the deal looks far closer to an Iranian victory than an American one, it pointedly excludes Iran's proxies and effectively bails out Hezbollah, and it may actually increase Iran's incentive to pursue a nuclear weapon down the line — assuming the whole fragile arrangement doesn't simply fall apart by Friday. The biggest loser of the entire episode, Chuck argues, is Bibi Netanyahu, who alienated a generation of Democrats and thought he could manipulate Trump only to get burned, much as Trump assumed Iran would fold as easily as he believed Venezuela would. He gives Trump exactly one piece of credit — at least he knew when to fold, because the outcome could have been far worse — before pivoting to the deeper, sadder story underneath all of it: a president obsessed with celebrating himself and desperate for lasting recognition, who wants to define popular culture, slap his name on the federal government the way he does his golf courses, and who threw himself a grotesque UFC-fight birthday party on the White House lawn that's terrible politics. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit June 17th, 1994… when OJ Simpson was chased by police in his white Ford Broncos. He argues that news executives learned that sensationalized news coverage could create a large, reliable viewership… and this would change the news business forever. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 03:30 Trump announces deal with Iran,  04:00 Trump hosts UFC fight on White House lawn 04:30 White House lashes out at the Weather Channel for storm forecast 05:15 Trump is trying so hard to leave his mark on history* 05:45 Deal is basically an agreement to begin a new negotiation 07:15 The Iran war was an own goal by Trump, can he salvage a tie? 08:00 Goal was to dismantle nuclear program, Iran hasn’t capitulated 08:45 Iran says that $24B in assets will be unfrozen & oil export relief 10:00 Trump is basically paying off Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz 10:30 Iran didn’t win the war, but they did humiliate the United States 11:00 The deal didn’t include proxies, and bails out Hezbollah 12:00 Deal looks closer to an Iranian victory than an American one 14:00 Iran will now be more incentivized to get a nuclear weapon 16:15 There’s a real chance this deal could fall apart by Friday 17:30 The biggest loser from the war/deal is Bibi Netanyahu 18:00 Bibi has alienated a generation of Democrats 19:00 Bibi thought he could manipulate Trump & it burned him 21:15 Trump thought Iran would be easy like Venezuela 22:00 At least Trump knew when to fold, outcome could be worse 24:00 Trump is obsessed with celebrating himself 24:30 Trump is desperate for lasting recognition 26:30 Trump wants to define popular culture himself 27:15 Like his golf courses, Trump wants to put his name on the government 28:30 Workers hid scaffolding when taking Trump’s name off Kennedy Center 30:00 The UFC fight at the White House just feels gross 30:30 The UFC fight is terrible politics, people don’t like it 31:30 Trump threw his own birthday because nobody else would 36:45 ToddCast Time Machine - June 17th, 1994 38:00 The OJ Bronco chase overshadowed the Knicks NBA Finals 40:15 The news business learned people came back for OJ coverage 41:15 OJ coverage became a format for the TV news business 42:15 Newsrooms felt financial pressure and OJ delivered ratings 42:45 The OJ chase got Super Bowl level TV ratings 43:30 The courtroom TV kept audiences coming back 44:30 The trial became like a daytime soap opera 45:00 CNN’s ratings exploded during the trial, made huge money 46:00 Fox & MSNBC launched after seeing CNN’s revenue 47:00 News viewership became a daily ritual for millions 49:30 Media sensationalized other stories the way they did OJ 51:15 Coverage began amplifying divisions & nationalized them 52:45 The trial led to the Kardashian’s becoming a media empire 53:45 Trial created the attention economy that Trump mastered 57:45 Ask Chuck 58:00 Why are votes counts released before the final tally? 01:01:15 Rick Jackson buying a crazy amount of TV spots? 01:06:00 Could war powers vote give Trump an offramp for Iran? 01:08:15 Why do our older leaders keep holding on to power? 01:14:00 Are there dividing lines in the college sports bill? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens on the surreal split-screen of a president desperate to manufacture a legacy: in the same stretch of days, Trump announced a "deal" with Iran, and hosted a UFC fight on the White House lawn. He argues the Iran deal is barely a deal at all — it's an agreement to begin a new negotiation, the diplomatic equivalent of trying to salvage a tie from a war that was always an own goal. The stated goal was to dismantle Iran's nuclear program; instead Iran never capitulated, will see roughly $24 billion in assets unfrozen along with oil export relief, and is essentially being paid off by the United States to reopen the Strait of Hormuz it closed in the first place. Chuck’s verdict is blunt: Iran didn't win the war outright, but it absolutely humiliated the United States, the deal looks far closer to an Iranian victory than an American one, it pointedly excludes Iran's proxies and effectively bails out Hezbollah, and it may actually increase Iran's incentive to pursue a nuclear weapon down the line — assuming the whole fragile arrangement doesn't simply fall apart by Friday. The biggest loser of the entire episode, Chuck argues, is Bibi Netanyahu, who alienated a generation of Democrats and thought he could manipulate Trump only to get burned, much as Trump assumed Iran would fold as easily as he believed Venezuela would. He gives Trump exactly one piece of credit — at least he knew when to fold, because the outcome could have been far worse — before pivoting to the deeper, sadder story underneath all of it: a president obsessed with celebrating himself and desperate for lasting recognition, who wants to define popular culture, slap his name on the federal government the way he does his golf courses, and who threw himself a grotesque UFC-fight birthday party on the White House lawn that's terrible politics. Then, Daniel Alegre — CEO of TelevisaUnivision, the largest Spanish-language media company in the world — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a genuinely revealing conversation about the single most misunderstood bloc in American politics: the Hispanic vote. Alegre's central argument is one both parties keep failing to internalize — the Hispanic vote is now an issues vote, not a reliably Democratic one, and Latino voters have become measurably more engaged precisely as they've started shopping their vote across abortion, democracy, the border, the economy, and immigration enforcement. He's blunt about 2024: the Trump campaign communicated with Hispanic voters far more effectively than Democrats did. Alegre offers a striking data point from Texas — James Talarico outspent Jasmine Crockett 8-to-1 on Hispanic outreach and won that demographic by roughly the same margin — and notes that Ted Cruz never actually won the Hispanic vote until he put in serious, sustained effort to reach them. The tactical lessons are sharp and counterintuitive: campaigns have to communicate with Hispanics differently than the general population, white politicians attempting to speak Spanish get a mixed reception at best, and sending a Spanish-speaking surrogate in your place is actually worse than not showing up at all. The conversation digs into the rich complexity beneath the catch-all term "Hispanic." Alegre explains that political leanings differ dramatically by country of origin (the network's biggest constituencies are Mexican, Cuban, and Venezuelan), that there are significant differences between first- and second-generation Latinos and the third and fourth generation, and that in more heavily Hispanic cities many families are actively maintaining their heritage rather than assimilating — even using AI now to translate content for the genuinely different variations of Spanish across Latin American communities. He shares polling that should reshape how candidates pitch themselves: two-thirds of Hispanics say they're barely getting by, 80% are lending money to family or community, and yet over 90% still want to live the American dream — which is exactly why optimistic messaging resonates with Latinos while doom-and-gloom falls flat. Alegre addresses the perennial accusations of bias against his network (he argues it moved not to the right but to the center after the Jorge Ramos era, with a goal of providing information and letting the audience decide), reflects on Mexico electing a Jewish woman in Claudia Sheinbaum, and explains the network's massive sports footprint — it broadcasts 70% of soccer games in the U.S. and holds major World Cup rights. His closing message is one neither party can afford to ignore heading into the midterms: Hispanics are the swing vote in America now, and any campaign that treats them as a monolith — or worse, as a constituency it already owns — is going to lose them. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit June 17th, 1994… when OJ Simpson was chased by police in his white Ford Broncos. He argues that news executives learned that sensationalized news coverage could create a large, reliable viewership… and this would change the news business forever. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 03:30 Trump announces deal with Iran,  04:00 Trump hosts UFC fight on White House lawn 04:30 White House lashes out at the Weather Channel for storm forecast 05:15 Trump is trying so hard to leave his mark on history* 05:45 Deal is basically an agreement to begin a new negotiation 07:15 The Iran war was an own goal by Trump, can he salvage a tie? 08:00 Goal was to dismantle nuclear program, Iran hasn’t capitulated 08:45 Iran says that $24B in assets will be unfrozen & oil export relief 10:00 Trump is basically paying off Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz 10:30 Iran didn’t win the war, but they did humiliate the United States 11:00 The deal didn’t include proxies, and bails out Hezbollah 12:00 Deal looks closer to an Iranian victory than an American one 14:00 Iran will now be more incentivized to get a nuclear weapon 16:15 There’s a real chance this deal could fall apart by Friday 17:30 The biggest loser from the war/deal is Bibi Netanyahu 18:00 Bibi has alienated a generation of Democrats 19:00 Bibi thought he could manipulate Trump & it burned him 21:15 Trump thought Iran would be easy like Venezuela 22:00 At least Trump knew when to fold, outcome could be worse 24:00 Trump is obsessed with celebrating himself 24:30 Trump is desperate for lasting recognition 26:30 Trump wants to define popular culture himself 27:15 Like his golf courses, Trump wants to put his name on the government 28:30 Workers hid scaffolding when taking Trump’s name off Kennedy Center 30:00 The UFC fight at the White House just feels gross 30:30 The UFC fight is terrible politics, people don’t like it 31:30 Trump threw his own birthday because nobody else would 40:00 Daniel Alegre (TelevisaUnavision) joins the Chuck ToddCast 42:45 Distinctions between Telemundo and Univision post-merger? 44:30 Priority now is to create content that resonates with all hispanics 45:45 Adding English content doesn’t work when targeting spanish speakers 47:30 “Spanglish” is different for different Latin American communities 49:00 Using AI to translate for different variations of Spanish 50:30 Many overdubbed American media used same Spanish voice actor 52:00 Does instant translation tech diminish need for learning 2nd language? 53:00 People still want to connect with own language and community 55:30 Are politicians finally realizing they need to diversify their pitch to Latinos? 57:15 The Hispanic vote is now an issues vote, not a Democratic vote 58:15 Abortion, democracy, border are all key issues for Hispanics 59:15 Economic issues & immigration enforcement also key for Hispanics 01:01:30 Campaigns must communicate to Hispanics differently than general population 01:02:15 Trump campaign communicated to Hispanics much better than Dems in ‘24 01:03:30 Talarico outspent Crockett 8:1 communicating to Hispanics, won by same margin 01:04:30 Ted Cruz never won Hispanic vote until he put serious effort into reaching them 01:05:30 Over half of Latino vote in Los Angeles mayoral is still undecided 01:06:45 In a bilingual home, if parents switch to Spanish something serious happened 01:07:30 Significant differences between 1st-2nd gen hispanics and 3rd-4th gen 01:09:00 In more hispanic cities, many are maintaining heritage & not assimilating 01:11:45 Political leanings differ based on country of origin 01:13:00 Influx of immigrants at the border frustrated latinos in south Texas 01:14:15 Hispanics generally are very faith and family focused 01:15:45 Campaigns would do well to target the predominant section of hispanic vote 01:16:30 How well are white politicians received when they speak Spanish? 01:17:30 Sending Spanish speaking surrogates is worse than not showing up 01:19:00 Which candidates have impressed you with outreach to hispanics? 01:20:45 Trump campaign bookended messaging around Telemundo town halls 01:21:30 2/3rds of polled hispanics say they’re barely getting by 01:22:30 80% of people polled are lending money to family or their community 01:23:00 Over 90% want to live the American dream 01:24:30 Optimistic messaging resonates with Latinos rather than doom & gloom 01:27:00 Would a Latino presidential candidate overperform with Latinos? 01:28:15 As they’ve become issues voters, Latinos have become m

Daniel Alegre — CEO of TelevisaUnivision, the largest Spanish-language media company in the world — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a genuinely revealing conversation about the single most misunderstood bloc in American politics: the Hispanic vote. Alegre's central argument is one both parties keep failing to internalize — the Hispanic vote is now an issues vote, not a reliably Democratic one, and Latino voters have become measurably more engaged precisely as they've started shopping their vote across abortion, democracy, the border, the economy, and immigration enforcement. He's blunt about 2024: the Trump campaign communicated with Hispanic voters far more effectively than Democrats did, while Democrats took the community for granted. Alegre offers a striking data point from Texas — James Talarico outspent Jasmine Crockett 8-to-1 on Hispanic outreach and won that demographic by roughly the same margin — and notes that Ted Cruz never actually won the Hispanic vote until he put in serious, sustained effort to reach them. The tactical lessons are sharp and counterintuitive: campaigns have to communicate with Hispanics differently than the general population, white politicians attempting to speak Spanish get a mixed reception at best, and sending a Spanish-speaking surrogate in your place is actually worse than not showing up at all. The conversation digs into the rich complexity beneath the catch-all term "Hispanic." Alegre explains that political leanings differ dramatically by country of origin (the network's biggest constituencies are Mexican, Cuban, and Venezuelan), that there are significant differences between first- and second-generation Latinos and the third and fourth generation, and that in more heavily Hispanic cities many families are actively maintaining their heritage rather than assimilating — even using AI now to translate content for the genuinely different variations of Spanish across Latin American communities. He shares polling that should reshape how candidates pitch themselves: two-thirds of Hispanics say they're barely getting by, 80% are lending money to family or community, and yet over 90% still want to live the American dream — which is exactly why optimistic messaging resonates with Latinos while doom-and-gloom falls flat. Alegre addresses the perennial accusations of bias against his network (he argues it moved not to the right but to the center after the Jorge Ramos era, with a goal of providing information and letting the audience decide), reflects on Mexico electing a Jewish woman in Claudia Sheinbaum, and explains the network's massive sports footprint — it broadcasts 70% of soccer games in the U.S. and holds major World Cup rights. His closing message is one neither party can afford to ignore heading into the midterms: Hispanics are the swing vote in America now, and any campaign that treats them as a monolith — or worse, as a constituency it already owns — is going to lose them. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Daniel Alegre (TelevisaUnavision) joins the Chuck ToddCast 02:45 Distinctions between Telemundo and Univision post-merger? 04:30 Priority now is to create content that resonates with all hispanics 05:45 Adding English content doesn’t work when targeting spanish speakers 07:30 “Spanglish” is different for different Latin American communities 09:00 Using AI to translate for different variations of Spanish 10:30 Many overdubbed American media used same Spanish voice actor 12:00 Does instant translation tech diminish need for learning 2nd language? 13:00 People still want to connect with own language and community 15:30 Are politicians finally realizing they need to diversify their pitch to Latinos? 17:15 The Hispanic vote is now an issues vote, not a Democratic vote 18:15 Abortion, democracy, border are all key issues for Hispanics 19:15 Economic issues & immigration enforcement also key for Hispanics 21:30 Campaigns must communicate to Hispanics differently than general population 22:15 Trump campaign communicated to Hispanics much better than Dems in ‘24 23:30 Talarico outspent Crockett 8:1 communicating to Hispanics, won by same margin 24:30 Ted Cruz never won Hispanic vote until he put serious effort into reaching them 25:30 Over half of Latino vote in Los Angeles mayoral is still undecided 26:45 In a bilingual home, if parents switch to Spanish something serious happened 27:30 Significant differences between 1st-2nd gen hispanics and 3rd-4th gen 29:00 In more hispanic cities, many are maintaining heritage & not assimilating 31:45 Political leanings differ based on country of origin 33:00 Influx of immigrants at the border frustrated latinos in south Texas 34:15 Hispanics generally are very faith and family focused 35:45 Campaigns would do well to target the predominant section of hispanic vote 36:30 How well are white politicians received when they speak Spanish? 37:30 Sending Spanish speaking surrogates is worse than not showing up 39:00 Which candidates have impressed you with outreach to hispanics? 40:45 Trump campaign bookended messaging around Telemundo town halls 41:30 2/3rds of polled hispanics say they’re barely getting by 42:30 80% of people polled are lending money to family or their community 43:00 Over 90% want to live the American dream 44:30 Optimistic messaging resonates with Latinos rather than doom & gloom 47:00 Would a Latino presidential candidate overperform with Latinos? 48:15 As they’ve become issues voters, Latinos have become more engaged 49:45 Which community attacks your network the most over “bias”? 51:00 Jorge Ramos’s politics became defining for the network for viewers 52:15 The network moved right… to the center, not the right 53:30 Goal is to provide the information and let the audience decide 54:00 Mexico elected a jewish woman in Claudia Scheinbaum 55:15 Biggest constituencies for the network are Mexican, Cuban & Venezuelan 56:15 Have World Cup TV broadcasts in Mexico, and radio rights in U.S. 58:00 70% of soccer games in the U.S. are broadcast on the network 59:30 Hispanics are the swing vote and can’t be ignored See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with the grim news that the Iran conflict is hot again as both sides resume exchanging strikes — and his blunt assessment is that nothing has actually changed since Trump was begging for a deal a month ago. He argues Trump has mismanaged this war from the very beginning with no clear goal, that he and Israel started it with vastly different objectives, and that he stubbornly refuses to accept a deal that looks like the one Obama got even though that's the only realistic off-ramp available. The brutal truth, Chuck says, is that Trump can't airstrike his way to victory, and if he was never willing to commit ground troops, he never should have started the war in the first place — the Iranians now hold more leverage than the United States, and it's entirely Trump's fault that they do. He delivers one of his sharpest character indictments yet, arguing Trump "failed upwards" to the most powerful job on earth and is now half-assing his way through the presidency the same way he half-assed his way through life, while Vance and Rubio scramble to avoid any ownership of the war.With inflation rising for a third straight month, Chuck sees no path for any of this to improve before the midterms.  But the heart of the episode is a deep, genuinely illuminating dive into a new Pew survey that Chuck calls possibly the best available tool for understanding the actual American electorate — one that shatters the illusion created by social media. The data reveals nine distinct political archetypes (three on the left, three in the middle, three on the right), that the ideological extremes make up only about 15% of the country and are the whitest segments, and that the loud, combative bases dominating online discourse aren't remotely close to a majority. The middle, he notes, is a full 38% of the electorate, with the center-left as the single largest group; the Reagan Republican coalition is measurably gone, reduced to just 11%; the civil war inside the American left is already underway with skeptical progressives who'll never vote Republican but may simply not vote at all; and the MAGA-religious right remains a fortress of reliable voters, with erosion showing up in exactly one place — younger voters. His takeaway is the one that should reshape how both parties think: the persuadable middle is repulsed most by the far left and far right, the party bases are precisely what cause the parties to struggle electorally, and the opportunity for independents has genuinely never been better — because what happens online simply is not reflective of who actually shows up to vote.  Finally, he answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order.   Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Timeline: 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 03:00 The conflict in Iran is active again as sides exchange strikes 04:00 Situation hasn’t changed since Trump begged for deal a month ago 04:45 Trump has mismanaged this war from the beginning, no clear goal 05:30 Trump refuses to accept a deal similar to the one Obama got 06:45 Trump + Israel started the war, but had vastly different objectives 08:45 New report shows inflation is going up for third straight month 09:45 Trump can’t airstrike his way into victory 11:00 If he wasn’t willing to commit ground troops, he shouldn’t have started war 11:45 Trump failed upwards to the most powerful job on earth 12:45 Trump half-assed his way through life, thinks he can do that as president 13:30 Vance & Rubio want no ownership of the Iran war 14:30 The Pentagon is instituting christian nationalist protocols 16:00 Trump is in a quagmire, Iranians know he needs a deal more than them 18:00 The Iranians have more leverage and it’s Trump’s fault that they do 19:30 There’s no way this gets better for the country by the midterms 21:15 New report categorizes Americans political views, most people in the middle 22:00 The extremes are only about 15% of the elecorate & are the whitest 22:45 The loudest parts of the bases aren’t close to the majority 23:30 Democrats have to win more moderate to win than the right 25:00 This Pew survey is possibly the best tool to understand the electorate  26:15 How the survey was conducted 29:15 The Reagan Republican coalition is measurably gone 30:30 There 9 different American political archetypes, 3 on left, middle & right 31:15 Breakdown of American left, which is 30% of the country 33:45 Breakdown of American right, core MAGA voters most likely to vote 35:30 The young right is a bit checked out on politics, don’t always vote 36:30 The middle is 38% of the electorate, center left is largest group 37:45 Remnants of the Reagan coalition is only 11% of the electorate 39:30 The “tuned out middle” is 9% of the electorate, minority of them vote 40:30 The civil war inside the American left is already underway 41:30 Progressives are still skeptical of the Democratic party 43:00 Progressives will never vote Republican, but may not vote 44:15 The MAGA + religious right is a fortress of voters that show up 45:15 Support for Trump amongst younger voters is the one place showing erosion 46:00 The establishment right is politically homeless and persuadable 48:45 The “polite right” demographically best reflects America, but is oldest 50:00 The “checked out middle” isn’t reachable or persuadable 50:30 The far left and right are most repulsive to the persuadable middle 51:15 The bases are what cause the parties to struggle electorally 53:00 The opportunity for independents has never been better 54:15 What happens online is not reflective of the majority of the electorate 1:02:45 Ask Chuck 1:03:00 Thoughts on private equity getting involved in college sports? 1:11:45 Why does ballot counting get overcovered by the media? 1:14:30 Will the incoming shortfall for social security affect the election? 1:18:00 How do you reconcile candidates with character shortfalls & their policies? 1:24:15 Should voters assess media narratives & bias in reporting about Platner? 1:29:45 Does the media need to do a better job explaining how votes come in? 1:35:15 How should presidents approach attending big sports events? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with the grim news that the Iran conflict is hot again as both sides resume exchanging strikes — and his blunt assessment is that nothing has actually changed since Trump was begging for a deal a month ago. He argues Trump has mismanaged this war from the very beginning with no clear goal, that he and Israel started it with vastly different objectives, and that he stubbornly refuses to accept a deal that looks like the one Obama got even though that's the only realistic off-ramp available. The brutal truth, Chuck says, is that Trump can't airstrike his way to victory, and if he was never willing to commit ground troops, he never should have started the war in the first place — the Iranians now hold more leverage than the United States, and it's entirely Trump's fault that they do. He delivers one of his sharpest character indictments yet, arguing Trump "failed upwards" to the most powerful job on earth and is now half-assing his way through the presidency the same way he half-assed his way through life, while Vance and Rubio scramble to avoid any ownership of the war.With inflation rising for a third straight month, Chuck sees no path for any of this to improve before the midterms.  But the heart of the episode is a deep, genuinely illuminating dive into a new Pew survey that Chuck calls possibly the best available tool for understanding the actual American electorate — one that shatters the illusion created by social media. The data reveals nine distinct political archetypes (three on the left, three in the middle, three on the right), that the ideological extremes make up only about 15% of the country and are the whitest segments, and that the loud, combative bases dominating online discourse aren't remotely close to a majority. The middle, he notes, is a full 38% of the electorate, with the center-left as the single largest group; the Reagan Republican coalition is measurably gone, reduced to just 11%; the civil war inside the American left is already underway with skeptical progressives who'll never vote Republican but may simply not vote at all; and the MAGA-religious right remains a fortress of reliable voters, with erosion showing up in exactly one place — younger voters. His takeaway is the one that should reshape how both parties think: the persuadable middle is repulsed most by the far left and far right, the party bases are precisely what cause the parties to struggle electorally, and the opportunity for independents has genuinely never been better — because what happens online simply is not reflective of who actually shows up to vote.  Then, cultural critic Chuck Klosterman — author of But What If We're Wrong?, The Nineties, and now a new book simply titled Football — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a fascinating, genre-bending conversation that's part memoir, part sports analysis, and part thought experiment about how a singular American obsession will be remembered centuries from now. Klosterman frames the book as a "living obituary" for football, working from his signature premise that over enough time, almost everything fades until a single simplified narrative is all that survives — and that football, despite being the one true common denominator of the modern American experience (it overtook baseball as the most popular sport by the 1970s, even though people at the time didn't realize it), will almost certainly not remain central to the culture a few decades from now. He and Chuck explore how perception dramatically changes over time , how the internet has fundamentally altered our relationship with time itself, and why arguments against the internet today sound exactly like the arguments people once made against television. Klosterman, who only half-jokingly says his "beat" these days is simply reality, argues that we now consume social media on the working assumption that what we're seeing isn't real — a profound shift in how humans relate to information. The conversation winds through some genuinely original territory about why football works the way it does and what its eventual decline might look like. Klosterman argues football is a fundamentally cerebral sport with intense but widely dispersed moments of action (the Wall Street Journal famously found only 11 minutes of actual action in a three-hour broadcast), that its sheer complexity and total absence of free-flowing movement is exactly why it's never exported well, and that it nearly became a literal embodiment of American exceptionalism. He and Todd dig into whether the NFL can over-expand into a 12-month product, why football is the one American sport that could plausibly survive on pay-per-view, and how the league walks a razor's edge between the maximum physicality fans crave and the safety changes that are slowly, quietly trying to remove hitting from the game — even as the ever-present risk of injury is precisely what raises the stakes and makes it so engaging. There's a wonderful tangent on COVID and 9/11 as the two great timeline-dividing events of the modern era (one slow and shared globally, one sudden and strange), including Chuck's own reflection that the pandemic was unexpectedly a bonding experience with his kids. Klosterman closes by previewing his next book — an alternate history of rock and roll — and delivering a characteristically provocative argument that rock effectively ended as a meaningful art form in the 1990s, that having access to all the music ever recorded has paradoxically led people to listen to the same 600 songs, and that he genuinely regrets ever getting rid of his CD collection, because the day may come when streaming services are broken up and no longer contain all the music in the world. Finally, he answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 03:00 The conflict in Iran is active again as sides exchange strikes 04:00 Situation hasn’t changed since Trump begged for deal a month ago 04:45 Trump has mismanaged this war from the beginning, no clear goal 05:30 Trump refuses to accept a deal similar to the one Obama got 06:45 Trump + Israel started the war, but had vastly different objectives 08:45 New report shows inflation is going up for third straight month 09:45 Trump can’t airstrike his way into victory 11:00 If he wasn’t willing to commit ground troops, he shouldn’t have started war 11:45 Trump failed upwards to the most powerful job on earth 12:45 Trump half-assed his way through life, thinks he can do that as president 13:30 Vance & Rubio want no ownership of the Iran war 14:30 The Pentagon is instituting christian nationalist protocols 16:00 Trump is in a quagmire, Iranians know he needs a deal more than them 18:00 The Iranians have more leverage and it’s Trump’s fault that they do 19:30 There’s no way this gets better for the country by the midterms 21:15 New report categorizes Americans political views, most people in the middle 22:00 The extremes are only about 15% of the elecorate & are the whitest 22:45 The loudest parts of the bases aren’t close to the majority 23:30 Democrats have to win more moderate to win than the right 25:00 This Pew survey is possibly the best tool to understand the electorate  26:15 How the survey was conducted 29:15 The Reagan Republican coalition is measurably gone 30:30 There 9 different American political archetypes, 3 on left, middle & right 31:15 Breakdown of American left, which is 30% of the country 33:45 Breakdown of American right, core MAGA voters most likely to vote 35:30 The young right is a bit checked out on politics, don’t always vote 36:30 The middle is 38% of the electorate, center left is largest group 37:45 Remnants of the Reagan coalition is only 11% of the electorate 39:30 The “tuned out middle” is 9% of the electorate, minority of them vote 40:30 The civil war inside the American left is already underway 41:30 Progressives are still skeptical of the Democratic party 43:00 Progressives will never vote Republican, but may not vote 44:15 The MAGA + religious right is a fortress of voters that show up 45:15 Support for Trump amongst younger voters is the one place showing erosion 46:00 The establishment right is politically homeless and persuadable 48:45 The “polite right” demographically best reflects America, but is oldest 50:00 The “checked out middle” isn’t reachable or persuadable 50:30 The far left and right are most repulsive to the persuadable middle 51:15 The bases are what cause the parties to struggle electorally 53:00 The opportunity for independents has never been better 54:15 What happens online is not reflective of the majority of the electorate 1:04:00 Chuck Klosterman joins the Chuck ToddCast 1:05:00 Football is partially memoir, part description of football 1:07:30 The process of writing the book 1:09:00 It was like Chuck was “trying to build his brain in public” 1:11:15 The thought exercise of how football will be remembered in 200 years 1:12:00 Over time, some things stick and others fade away until one thing is left 1:12:45 It’s easier to understand a singular narrative 1:13:30 If something remains in the zeitgeist after 60 years, it has true staying power 1:16:00 Arguments against the internet sound like arguments against TV 1:17:45 What do you consider “your beat” these days? Reality. 1:19:00 Consuming social media with assumption what you’re seeing isn’t real 1:20:15 Book is a living obituary for football. Eventually, it won’t be central to culture 1:21:00 By the 1970’s football was the m

Cultural critic Chuck Klosterman — author of But What If We're Wrong?, The Nineties, and now a new book simply titled Football — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a fascinating, genre-bending conversation that's part memoir, part sports analysis, and part thought experiment about how a singular American obsession will be remembered centuries from now. Klosterman frames the book as a "living obituary" for football, working from his signature premise that over enough time, almost everything fades until a single simplified narrative is all that survives — and that football, despite being the one true common denominator of the modern American experience (it overtook baseball as the most popular sport by the 1970s, even though people at the time didn't realize it), will almost certainly not remain central to the culture a few decades from now. He and Chuck explore how perception dramatically changes over time , how the internet has fundamentally altered our relationship with time itself, and why arguments against the internet today sound exactly like the arguments people once made against television. Klosterman, who only half-jokingly says his "beat" these days is simply reality, argues that we now consume social media on the working assumption that what we're seeing isn't real — a profound shift in how humans relate to information. The conversation winds through some genuinely original territory about why football works the way it does and what its eventual decline might look like. Klosterman argues football is a fundamentally cerebral sport with intense but widely dispersed moments of action (the Wall Street Journal famously found only 11 minutes of actual action in a three-hour broadcast), that its sheer complexity and total absence of free-flowing movement is exactly why it's never exported well, and that it nearly became a literal embodiment of American exceptionalism. He and Todd dig into whether the NFL can over-expand into a 12-month product, why football is the one American sport that could plausibly survive on pay-per-view, and how the league walks a razor's edge between the maximum physicality fans crave and the safety changes that are slowly, quietly trying to remove hitting from the game — even as the ever-present risk of injury is precisely what raises the stakes and makes it so engaging. There's a wonderful tangent on COVID and 9/11 as the two great timeline-dividing events of the modern era (one slow and shared globally, one sudden and strange), including Chuck's own reflection that the pandemic was unexpectedly a bonding experience with his kids. Klosterman closes by previewing his next book — an alternate history of rock and roll — and delivering a characteristically provocative argument that rock effectively ended as a meaningful art form in the 1990s, that having access to all the music ever recorded has paradoxically led people to listen to the same 600 songs, and that he genuinely regrets ever getting rid of his CD collection, because the day may come when streaming services are broken up and no longer contain all the music in the world. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Klosterman joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:00 Football is partially memoir, part description of football 03:30 The process of writing the book 05:00 It was like Chuck was “trying to build his brain in public” 07:15 The thought exercise of how football will be remembered in 200 years 08:00 Over time, some things stick and others fade away until one thing is left 08:45 It’s easier to understand a singular narrative 09:30 If something remains in the zeitgeist after 60 years, it has true staying power 12:00 Arguments against the internet sound like arguments against TV 13:45 What do you consider “your beat” these days? Reality. 15:00 Consuming social media with assumption what you’re seeing isn’t real 16:15 Book is a living obituary for football. Eventually, it won’t be central to culture 17:00 By the 1970’s football was the most popular sport, people thought it was baseball 18:15 Football is the one common denominator of the American experience 19:15 In a few decades, football will likely no longer be central to our society 20:30 The perception of Woodrow Wilson changed well after his death 22:00 Perception can dramatically change over time 22:45 How much time should pass before writing about a historical event? 24:15 The internet has changed our relationship with time 25:30 Diving the timeline into pre and post 9/11 and pre/post Covid 26:45 The COVID experience was slow, 9/11 happened suddenly 28:00 People forget how weird the two weeks after 9/11 were 29:30 Covid was a bizarre experience, everyone focused on same thing 30:15 Covid truly the first global event, shared by everyone 31:30 Covid was actually a bonding experience for Chuck Todd with his kids 33:30 History may look back at Covid very differently than we do now 38:15 Will football end as the cultural glue when television ends? 38:45 Cost of TV advertising is not worth the ROI for many companies 39:30 NFL + college football are of the mindset that they can only expand 40:30 Football is our only sport that could survive on a PPV basis 42:15 The majority of people who love football didn’t play it 43:00 Sports show how capitalism operates in a way that’s dangerous 45:45 Complexity has made American football hard to export 46:45 There’s no freedom of movement in football. It’s all planned 48:00 Why hasn’t Rugby caught on in America? 48:45 Football almost became an embodiment of American exceptionalism 49:45 WSJ studied football and found there’s only 11 mins of action in 3 hours 51:45 Football is a mostly cerebral sport with intense, dispersed moments of action 52:45 How important is it that football is in fall and winter? 53:30 People can now escape nature, but nature is very determinative in football 56:30 Most people don’t experience physicality and football demands it 57:30 Is it possible for the NFL to overexpand? Could it become a 12 month experience? 59:30 Owners want to host a Super Bowl, all stadiums will likely have a roof in 20 years 1:01:45 Football will have value as a distraction, but it needs meaning to stay powerful 1:03:00 Attending football games has gotten increasingly expensive 1:04:30 Safety changes have changed the nature of the game 1:05:00 The dream may be to slowly remove the hitting from the game 1:05:30 Fans used to revel in the hard hits, now they’re turning away 1:06:15 The risk of injury raises the stakes, makes it more engaging 1:08:15 NFL walks the line between max physicality and not turning fans off 1:11:00 What is your next book? Alternate history of Rock n Roll 1:13:45 Rock as a meaningful artform ended in the 90s 1:16:00 People have access to all the music in the world, listen to same 600 songs 1:18:30 Regret getting rid of the CD collection 1:19:15 Eventually streaming services could get broken up, not have all music See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with the resolution of a story he's been tracking for weeks: Graham Platner cruised to victory in Maine, comfortably clearing 70% even with Janet Mills' name still on the ballot — which he says means the scandals that had Platner in "save my campaign" mode turned out to be far less than a five-alarm fire. The deeper lesson, Chuck argues, is uncomfortable but revealing: for a significant share of Democratic primary voters, high character has become a luxury item, because the base is so exhausted by losing and capitulating to the establishment that it will forgive a flawed candidate who actually seems willing to fight. He notes that Maine has gotten meaningfully bluer since Susan Collins was last on the ballot (Harris underperformed nationally but actually drew more raw votes in Maine than Biden did), that a generic Democrat should win this seat by six or seven points, and that the only real question left is how many squeamish Democrats sit the race out rather than pull the lever for Platner. He runs through the rest of the night — Lindsey Graham narrowly avoided a runoff in South Carolina, the GOP gubernatorial race there is headed to a runoff that knocked out both Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman — and pulls back to identify the defining theme of the entire 2026 cycle: everyone, in both parties, is running on a message of change, with no candidate anywhere running on restoration the way Biden did in 2020. The messaging this cycle is relentlessly future-focused, the exact opposite of Trump's nostalgia, and Chuck reiterates his running observation that the worst possible first name to have in politics right now is "congressman" — because Washington experience carries zero value to voters this cycle. The split-screen between the parties remains stark: Republican voters still reward confrontation while Democratic primary voters are gravitating toward electability and consensus, Democratic turnout is rising while GOP turnout is flat or falling, and the throughline that's held for a decade is only intensifying — voters are demanding major change, and they'll punish anyone who doesn't offer it.  Finally, Chuck updates his ToddCast Top 5 list of senate seats most likely to flip parties and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Predict the action all the way through the finals. Sign up now for your twenty-five dollar bonus on https://fanduel.com/predicts   Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 03:15 Graham Platner cruised to victory will Janet Mills still on the ballot 04:15 Platner comfortably cleared 70%, it’s not a five alarm fire 05:45 Will there be more scandals from Platner? If so, what type? 06:30 For some primary voters, high character is a luxury item 08:15 The Democratic base is tired of losing & capitulating to establishment 08:45 A Platner election victory could change perception of the Democrats 10:30 Maine has gotten bluer since the last time Collins was on the ballot 11:30 Harris underperformed nationally, but had more raw vote in Maine than Biden 13:30 How many Dems will sit out the race rather than vote for Platner? 15:00 A generic Dem should win this race by 6-7 points 16:00 Lindsey Graham manages to avoid a runoff 16:45 South Carolina GOP gubernatorial race headed to runoff 17:15 Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman didn’t make the runoff 18:30 Everybody running in 2026 is running on a message of change 19:30 There’s no message of restoration similar to Biden’s campaign 20:30 Messaging is more future focused, the opposite of Trump 21:30 The worst first name to have in politics is congressman 24:45 Washington experience won’t carry value to voters this cycle 26:00 GOP voters still seemingly reward confrontation 27:00 Dem primary voters looking to electability/consensus candidates 28:45 Dem turnout on the rise, GOP turnout stagnant or down 29:30 For the past decade, voters are demanding major change 35:15 ToddCast Top 5 senate seats most likely to flip 36:30 More senate seats are creeping to “in play” status 38:45 #1 North Carolina 40:30 #2 Ohio 43:30 #3 Michigan 47:00 #4 Iowa 50:00 #5 Maine 55:00 Ask Chuck 55:15 Could politicians' investments be limited by law to index funds? 57:00 Correction on Jeri Ryan’s Star Trek series 58:30 If candidates like Platner and El-Sayed lose, could progressives change course? 1:04:30 Will Trump’s disciples try to be too much like him once he leaves politics? 1:08:15 Are you seeing a real shift in coverage from CBS News? 1:13:30 Thoughts on Brendan Soresby being reinstated after gambling on himself See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with the resolution of a story he's been tracking for weeks: Graham Platner cruised to victory in Maine, comfortably clearing 70% even with Janet Mills' name still on the ballot — which he says means the scandals that had Platner in "save my campaign" mode turned out to be far less than a five-alarm fire. The deeper lesson, Chuck argues, is uncomfortable but revealing: for a significant share of Democratic primary voters, high character has become a luxury item, because the base is so exhausted by losing and capitulating to the establishment that it will forgive a flawed candidate who actually seems willing to fight. He notes that Maine has gotten meaningfully bluer since Susan Collins was last on the ballot (Harris underperformed nationally but actually drew more raw votes in Maine than Biden did), that a generic Democrat should win this seat by six or seven points, and that the only real question left is how many squeamish Democrats sit the race out rather than pull the lever for Platner. He runs through the rest of the night — Lindsey Graham narrowly avoided a runoff in South Carolina, the GOP gubernatorial race there is headed to a runoff that knocked out both Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman — and pulls back to identify the defining theme of the entire 2026 cycle: everyone, in both parties, is running on a message of change, with no candidate anywhere running on restoration the way Biden did in 2020. The messaging this cycle is relentlessly future-focused, the exact opposite of Trump's nostalgia, and Chuck reiterates his running observation that the worst possible first name to have in politics right now is "congressman" — because Washington experience carries zero value to voters this cycle. The split-screen between the parties remains stark: Republican voters still reward confrontation while Democratic primary voters are gravitating toward electability and consensus, Democratic turnout is rising while GOP turnout is flat or falling, and the throughline that's held for a decade is only intensifying — voters are demanding major change, and they'll punish anyone who doesn't offer it.  Then, Lauren Pinkston — the independent candidate for governor of Tennessee — joins the Chuck Toddcast to make the case that the deepest problem in her state isn't left versus right, it's the near-total absence of two-party competition that has allowed one-party rule to calcify into something genuinely unhealthy. Pinkston, who was raised in an evangelical environment where she was taught that voting Democrat meant going to hell, offers a fascinating personal and political journey: she lived in communist Laos where people were persecuted for their faith, which gave her a firsthand understanding of why the Founders deliberately kept Christianity out of the Constitution, and she's now running explicitly against the kind of Christian nationalism that teaches America was divinely ordained. She argues Citizens United is a major reason Tennessee became so uncompetitive, walks through the mechanical difficulties of mounting a serious independent campaign, and contends that Marsha Blackburn isn't nearly as strong a candidate as she thinks she is. The conversation digs into Pinkston's actual governing vision and her theory of how an independent can build a winning coalition in one of the reddest states in the country. She wants to reform education and make teaching a genuinely fun profession again, and she's passionate about the way Nashville soaks up all the state's political investment while Memphis gets neglected — pointing out that crime in Memphis is at a 20-year low yet the city still can't attract investment, and that St. Jude is struggling to recruit talent because of H1-B visa denials. Pinkston is candid about the structural obstacles: Tennessee's constitution doesn't even allow for ballot measures, the GOP holds a stranglehold on the statehouse, and Republican leadership has been kicking moderate candidates off the ballot entirely. But she argues there's a real opening — Republicans in the state are looking for an offramp that isn't a Democrat, and even staunch Democrats are frustrated with their own party. Pinkston is energized about working with the Working Families Party and the Forward Party to build toward a more moderate, genuinely competitive two-party system, argues this is the strongest group of independent candidates to run in years, and wonders aloud whether being "too educated" has perversely become a negative quality in a candidate. She closes with a sharp observation that cuts to the heart of the whole project: Americans demand more than two options for literally everything in their lives except politics, politicians increasingly rely on performance over substance, and the stakes couldn't be higher. Finally, Chuck updates his ToddCast Top 5 list of senate seats most likely to flip parties and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Predict the action all the way through the finals. Sign up now for your twenty-five dollar bonus on https://fanduel.com/predicts   Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 03:15 Graham Platner cruised to victory will Janet Mills still on the ballot 04:15 Platner comfortably cleared 70%, it’s not a five alarm fire 05:45 Will there be more scandals from Platner? If so, what type? 06:30 For some primary voters, high character is a luxury item 08:15 The Democratic base is tired of losing & capitulating to establishment 08:45 A Platner election victory could change perception of the Democrats 10:30 Maine has gotten bluer since the last time Collins was on the ballot 11:30 Harris underperformed nationally, but had more raw vote in Maine than Biden 13:30 How many Dems will sit out the race rather than vote for Platner? 15:00 A generic Dem should win this race by 6-7 points 16:00 Lindsey Graham manages to avoid a runoff 16:45 South Carolina GOP gubernatorial race headed to runoff 17:15 Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman didn’t make the runoff 18:30 Everybody running in 2026 is running on a message of change 19:30 There’s no message of restoration similar to Biden’s campaign 20:30 Messaging is more future focused, the opposite of Trump 21:30 The worst first name to have in politics is congressman 24:45 Washington experience won’t carry value to voters this cycle 26:00 GOP voters still seemingly reward confrontation 27:00 Dem primary voters looking to electability/consensus candidates 28:45 Dem turnout on the rise, GOP turnout stagnant or down 29:30 For a decade, voters are demanding major change 36:45 Lauren Pinkston joins the Chuck ToddCast 37:45 Why run for governor as an independent? 39:00 There’s a lack of two party competition in Tennessee 40:45 Some of the barriers for an insurgent candidacy have been removed 42:45 Citizen’s United was a big reason for TN becoming uncompetitive 43:30 Lauren was raised to feel that voting Dem meant going to hell 45:30 Politics has courted the evangelical vote & leaders for decades 46:15 Jimmy Carter’s pure faith made it harder for him to govern 47:00 Churches teach nationalism & that America was ordained by god 48:00 Founders specifically didn’t put christianity & religion into the constitution 49:00 Lauren lived in communist Laos, where people were persecuted for their faith 50:00 The mechanical difficulties of running as an independent 51:15 Businesses afraid to support a non-Republican candidate in TN 52:45 Democratic opponent has been receiving calls to drop out 54:00 Any chance Marsha Blackburn isn’t the GOP nominee? 54:45 Blackburn isn’t as strong of a candidate as she thinks she is 55:15 Three leading candidates are white women with colors in their name 56:45 What big ideas are you proposing that you hope stick with voters? 57:15 Want to reform education and make it a fun field for teachers to work 58:45 Nashville gets all the political support and Memphis gets neglected 59:30 Crime is at a 20 year low in Memphis, but it still doesn’t get investment 1:00:30 St. Jude struggling to recruit due to denial of H1-B visas 1:01:00 How would you govern with a Republican stranglehold on the statehouse? 1:01:45 State constitution doesn’t even allow for ballot measures 1:02:30 Need to invest in Chief Information Officers are the county level 1:04:00 Attracting support from disaffected Democrats and Republicans 1:06:30 There’s a deep history of good governance out of east Tennessee 1:07:45 Need leaders and not party puppets 1:08:45 GOP leadership in the state has kicked moderate candidates off the ballot 1:09:45 Republicans in the state are looking for an offramp that isn’t a Democrat 1:10:15 What does your winning coalition look like? 1:12:30 Can you succeed without winning? 1:13:00 Want to give people an onramp to political engagement 1:14:15 Excited about working with WFP and Forward Party 1:14:45 Want to create a more moderate two party system 1:16:30 Strongest group of independent candidates running in years 1:17:30 Possible that being too educated will be a negative quality in a candidate 1:19:00 Voter turnout is pretty low in both Nashville and Memphis 1:20:45 Even the most staunch Democrats are frustrated with their party 1:22:00 It will be hard to get either opponent to agree to a debate 1:24:00 People demand more than two options for everything except politics 1:26:00 Politicians rely more on performance now than substance 1:27:45 People will die if governing isn’t taken seriously  1:29:15 Lack of competition in one party states isn’t good for democracy 1:30:30 Independe

Lauren Pinkston — the independent candidate for governor of Tennessee — joins the Chuck Toddcast to make the case that the deepest problem in her state isn't left versus right, it's the near-total absence of two-party competition that has allowed one-party rule to calcify into something genuinely unhealthy. Pinkston, who was raised in an evangelical environment where she was taught that voting Democrat meant going to hell, offers a fascinating personal and political journey: she lived in communist Laos where people were persecuted for their faith, which gave her a firsthand understanding of why the Founders deliberately kept Christianity out of the Constitution, and she's now running explicitly against the kind of Christian nationalism that teaches America was divinely ordained. She argues Citizens United is a major reason Tennessee became so uncompetitive, walks through the mechanical difficulties of mounting a serious independent campaign, and contends that Marsha Blackburn isn't nearly as strong a candidate as she thinks she is. The conversation digs into Pinkston's actual governing vision and her theory of how an independent can build a winning coalition in one of the reddest states in the country. She wants to reform education and make teaching a genuinely fun profession again, and she's passionate about the way Nashville soaks up all the state's political investment while Memphis gets neglected — pointing out that crime in Memphis is at a 20-year low yet the city still can't attract investment, and that St. Jude is struggling to recruit talent because of H1-B visa denials. Pinkston is candid about the structural obstacles: Tennessee's constitution doesn't even allow for ballot measures, the GOP holds a stranglehold on the statehouse, and Republican leadership has been kicking moderate candidates off the ballot entirely. But she argues there's a real opening — Republicans in the state are looking for an offramp that isn't a Democrat, and even staunch Democrats are frustrated with their own party. Pinkston is energized about working with the Working Families Party and the Forward Party to build toward a more moderate, genuinely competitive two-party system, argues this is the strongest group of independent candidates to run in years, and wonders aloud whether being "too educated" has perversely become a negative quality in a candidate. She closes with a sharp observation that cuts to the heart of the whole project: Americans demand more than two options for literally everything in their lives except politics, politicians increasingly rely on performance over substance, and the stakes couldn't be higher. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Lauren Pinkston joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:00 Why run for governor as an independent? 02:15 There’s a lack of two party competition in Tennessee 04:00 Some of the barriers for an insurgent candidacy have been removed 06:00 Citizen’s United was a big reason for TN becoming uncompetitive 06:45 Lauren was raised to feel that voting Dem meant going to hell 08:45 Politics has courted the evangelical vote & leaders for decades 09:30 Jimmy Carter’s pure faith made it harder for him to govern 10:15 Churches teach nationalism & that America was ordained by god 11:15 Founders specifically didn’t put christianity & religion into the constitution 12:15 Lauren lived in communist Laos, where people were persecuted for their faith 13:15 The mechanical difficulties of running as an independent 14:30 Businesses afraid to support a non-Republican candidate in TN 16:00 Democratic opponent has been receiving calls to drop out 17:15 Any chance Marsha Blackburn isn’t the GOP nominee? 18:00 Blackburn isn’t as strong of a candidate as she thinks she is 18:30 Three leading candidates are white women with colors in their name 20:00 What big ideas are you proposing that you hope stick with voters? 20:30 Want to reform education and make it a fun field for teachers to work 22:00 Nashville gets all the political support and Memphis gets neglected 22:45 Crime is at a 20 year low in Memphis, but it still doesn’t get investment 23:45 St. Jude struggling to recruit due to denial of H1-B visas 24:15 How would you govern with a Republican stranglehold on the statehouse? 25:00 State constitution doesn’t even allow for ballot measures 25:45 Need to invest in Chief Information Officers are the county level 27:15 Attracting support from disaffected Democrats and Republicans 29:45 There’s a deep history of good governance out of east Tennessee 31:00 Need leaders and not party puppets 32:00 GOP leadership in the state has kicked moderate candidates off the ballot 33:00 Republicans in the state are looking for an offramp that isn’t a Democrat 33:30 What does your winning coalition look like? 35:45 Can you succeed without winning? 36:15 Want to give people an onramp to political engagement 37:30 Excited about working with WFP and Forward Party 38:00 Want to create a more moderate two party system 39:45 Strongest group of independent candidates running in years 40:45 Possible that being too educated will be a negative quality in a candidate 42:15 Voter turnout is pretty low in both Nashville and Memphis 44:00 Even the most staunch Democrats are frustrated with their party 45:15 It will be hard to get either opponent to agree to a debate 47:15 People demand more than two options for everything except politics 49:15 Politicians rely more on performance now than substance 51:00 People will die if governing isn’t taken seriously See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with an uncomfortable truth Republicans are doing everything possible to avoid acknowledging: Trump turns 80 next week, his physical and mental decline is increasingly visible to anyone paying attention, and the GOP is now repeating exactly the same mistake Democrats made by ignoring Joe Biden's obvious deterioration. The cruelest irony: Trump literally built his entire 2024 campaign on the premise that his opponent was too old and too sleepy to do the job, but Biden's catastrophic debate finally broke the Democratic silence in a way the GOP shows no signs of replicating. Chuck argues Trump's behavior isn't unusual for an 80-year-old — it's deeply unusual for an American president. He warns that Senate Republicans made an enormous mistake by not killing the weaponization fund, that every GOP incumbent up for reelection is now vulnerable to extremely effective attack ads, and that acting DNI Bill Pulte is almost certainly holding that position illegally — the courts will probably step in to declare him ineligible. He previews Tuesday's primaries in Maine and South Carolina, where Lindsey Graham looks genuinely vulnerable, and notes that if Graham gets forced into a runoff, history says he's in real trouble. He's watching how much protest vote Janet Mills picks up in Maine, and on Graham Platner — who has been saying that the war "messed him up" —  Chuck offers a pointed observation: just because behavior is explainable doesn't always make it excusable.He closes with a sharp analysis of the Scott Pelley firing at 60 Minutes, arguing the real story isn't Pelley at all — it's the Ellisons, who are using 60 Minutes as a bargaining chip with Trump to get their Paramount merger approved. He believes 60 Minutes is a symbol with massive brand equity, and Trump wants to bring it to heel or topple it altogether.  Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the infamous quote “Have you no sense of decency” from the Army/McCarthy hearings, why McCarthy was one of the first American politicians to master the attention economy, and why that famous quote precipitated the decline of McCarthy’s influence. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.  Predict the action all the way through the finals. Sign up now for your twenty-five dollar bonus on https://fanduel.com/predicts   Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 05:30 Trump turns 80 in a week. Plans on celebrating himself with UFC fight 06:30 You can tell that Trump is not doing well physically/mentally 07:30 Republicans ignoring Trump’s decline like Dems did with Biden 10:00 Trump won’t do events where he has to stand, he sits now 11:30 Trump’s staff has been padding his schedule with private meetings 12:30 Trump built his campaign on premise his opponent was too old & sleepy 13:15 Biden’s debate broke the Dems silence, GOP hasn’t done same with Trump 14:30 Trump has influence and pull over his party that Biden didn’t 15:15 Trump’s behavior isn’t unusual for an 80 year, is unusual for a POTUS 16:00 Reinforces public perception that parties will say/defend anything for power 19:00 This will add to the credibility problems for the Republican party 19:30 Senate Republicans made huge mistake not killing the weaponization fund 20:15 Every Republican up for reelection is now vulnerable to easy attack ads 21:15 It’s probably illegal for Bill Pulte to hold the acting DNI position 23:00 Courts will likely step in to declare Pulte ineligible for position 25:30 Major primaries coming up on Tuesday including ME & SC 26:45 Lindsey Graham is vulnerable in South Carolina 27:45 Christian conservative right has always been skeptical of Graham 28:45 Outsiders have been ousting incumbents across the country 30:15 Since the Tea Party, GOP base has gone against the establishment 32:30 The anti-war vote will have qualms with Trump & Graham 33:15 Graham’s career is defined by being a political weathervane 35:00 If Graham is forced into a runoff, history says he’s in trouble 35:30 Will be interesting to see how much protest vote Janet Mills gets in ME 36:15 Platner says war messed him up… does he have the temperament for the job? 37:45 Just because behavior is explainable, doesn’t always make it excusable 38:15 Platner is in “save his campaign” mode 39:30 Bad actors will exploit California’s slow ballot counting process 40:30 Counting process requires people have faith in it, slowness hurts credibility 42:00 California has a duty to make citizens confident in the election 44:00 Thoughts on changes at 60 Minutes and Scott Pelley’s firing 44:30 Too much focus on Pelley and not enough on the Ellisons 45:00 Publicly traded media companies have all folded to & appeased Trump 47:30 Companies have a responsibility to shareholders, bad for news integrity 48:30 60 Minutes is a symbol, and Trump wants to bring it to heel/topple it 49:30 We don’t know the politics of the Ellisons, but they want their merger approved 50:30 Ellison’s know one 60 Minutes piece Trump dislikes could blow up merger 51:45 Bari Weiss is being used… is she comfortable being used? 53:00 Scott Pelley has the money to speak out and fight back 54:00 Journalists that stayed hoping to weather the storm & wait for new management 55:15 60 Minutes has incredible brand equity and is being gutted for the merger 56:45 The story is the Ellisons using 60 Minutes as a bargaining chip 1:02:15 ToddCast Time Machine - June 9th, 1954 1:02:45 “Have you no sense of decency?” quote becomes famous 1:03:30 Quote came during the Army/McCarthy hearings 1:04:00 The famous line didn’t end McCarthyism 1:04:45 The myth is that McCarthy created the Red Scare… he did not 1:05:30 The Cold War was not a distant abstraction, people were worried 1:06:00 McCarthy didn’t create the wave… he was surfing it 1:07:15 Mass media was growing in America and sped up the information wars 1:08:00 McCarthy understood media and how to create anticipation 1:09:30 McCarthy mastered the politics of attention, his and Trump’s mentor was Roy Cohn 1:11:30 The fear of communism still existed, but public confidence in McCarthy eroded 1:12:30 Television exposed McCarthy in a way quotes and newspapers couldn’t 1:14:00 Army/McCarthy hearings started as a personnel dispute for Roy Cohn ally 1:15:30 There were multiple institutions moving against McCarthy 1:16:30 Army chief counsel Joseph Welch spoke the infamous line 1:17:00 Welch gave words to a conclusion Americans were reaching on their own 1:19:45 Ask Chuck 1:20:00 When will congress actually hold cabinet members accountable? 1:26:45 Thoughts on DHS pulling CBP from sanctuary city airports? 1:30:45 Navigating the tension between voting for and against a candidate? 1:36:45 Thoughts on Democrats proposing a national gerrymandering ban? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with an uncomfortable truth Republicans are doing everything possible to avoid acknowledging: Trump turns 80 next week, his physical and mental decline is increasingly visible to anyone paying attention, and the GOP is now repeating exactly the same mistake Democrats made by ignoring Joe Biden's obvious deterioration. The cruelest irony: Trump literally built his entire 2024 campaign on the premise that his opponent was too old and too sleepy to do the job, but Biden's catastrophic debate finally broke the Democratic silence in a way the GOP shows no signs of replicating. Chuck argues Trump's behavior isn't unusual for an 80-year-old — it's deeply unusual for an American president. He warns that Senate Republicans made an enormous mistake by not killing the weaponization fund, that every GOP incumbent up for reelection is now vulnerable to extremely effective attack ads, and that acting DNI Bill Pulte is almost certainly holding that position illegally — the courts will probably step in to declare him ineligible. He previews Tuesday's primaries in Maine and South Carolina, where Lindsey Graham looks genuinely vulnerable, and notes that if Graham gets forced into a runoff, history says he's in real trouble. He's watching how much protest vote Janet Mills picks up in Maine, and on Graham Platner — who has been saying that the war "messed him up" —  Chuck offers a pointed observation: just because behavior is explainable doesn't always make it excusable.He closes with a sharp analysis of the Scott Pelley firing at 60 Minutes, arguing the real story isn't Pelley at all — it's the Ellisons, who are using 60 Minutes as a bargaining chip with Trump to get their Paramount merger approved. He believes 60 Minutes is a symbol with massive brand equity, and Trump wants to bring it to heel or topple it altogether.  Then, David French — New York Times columnist, veteran constitutional attorney, and one of the sharpest legal thinkers writing today — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a riveting conversation about how the legal system is straining to handle a world being remade by AI, an out-of-control executive branch, and the slow erosion of America's basic constitutional architecture. French opens with the chilling case the Florida Attorney General has now brought against OpenAI in connection with the Florida State University shooter, who asked ChatGPT how to disengage his weapon's safety just three minutes before opening fire. French argues that if ChatGPT had been a human person, it would unquestionably have been charged as a co-conspirator — humans get prosecuted for encouraging suicide all the time — and that when ChatGPT is speaking, OpenAI is legally speaking, full stop. He walks through the murky liability questions the law is now scrambling to answer: Google Search has never been held to the same standard as ChatGPT, but ChatGPT actively generates new speech rather than just pointing users to existing content, and French argues that litigation needs to function as a meaningful deterrent rather than mere compensation — though ultimately Congress is going to have to actually legislate AI regulation rather than leave the entire field to civil lawsuits. The conversation turns to what French sees as a more immediate constitutional crisis: Trump's blanket immunity for tax violations and the "anti-weaponization" slush fund scheme, both of which French argues are flatly indefensible on legal grounds. He explains the deeper problem — Trump suing his own government creates a fiction of an adversarial proceeding when there isn't actually one, and Trump cares far more about the liability shield than the slush fund itself, because he's trying to remove himself from the operation of the law in essentially the same way a king would. The pardon power only covers federal crimes, not civil offenses, and Congress has clear authority to stop this if it had the will. French offers several concrete reforms: require congressional approval for legal settlements above a certain dollar threshold, force members of Congress to obtain a certification in the Constitution itself, and that political parties should perform comprehensive background checks for their candidates, On the question of whether the Founders intended a Christian nation, French is unequivocal: they didn't, and Madison rebuked Christian nationalism explicitly. The deeper structural problem behind the DOJ's loss of credibility is the unitary executive theory itself — Article II of the Constitution is dangerously vague, the executive was never meant to be a co-equal branch (Congress was supposed to be most powerful), and the only durable fix may require constitutional reform to formally remove the DOJ from executive control. French closes on a hopeful note: after every dark period in American history, the country has entered a major era of reform — and he believes one is coming again.  Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the infamous quote “Have you no sense of decency” from the Army/McCarthy hearings, why McCarthy was one of the first American politicians to master the attention economy, and why that famous quote precipitated the decline of McCarthy’s influence. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.  Predict the action all the way through the finals. Sign up now for your twenty-five dollar bonus on https://fanduel.com/predicts   Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 05:30 Trump turns 80 in a week. Plans on celebrating himself with UFC fight 06:30 You can tell that Trump is not doing well physically/mentally 07:30 Republicans ignoring Trump’s decline like Dems did with Biden 10:00 Trump won’t do events where he has to stand, he sits now 11:30 Trump’s staff has been padding his schedule with private meetings 12:30 Trump built his campaign on premise his opponent was too old & sleepy 13:15 Biden’s debate broke the Dems silence, GOP hasn’t done same with Trump 14:30 Trump has influence and pull over his party that Biden didn’t 15:15 Trump’s behavior isn’t unusual for an 80 year, is unusual for a POTUS 16:00 Reinforces public perception that parties will say/defend anything for power 19:00 This will add to the credibility problems for the Republican party 19:30 Senate Republicans made huge mistake not killing the weaponization fund 20:15 Every Republican up for reelection is now vulnerable to easy attack ads 21:15 It’s probably illegal for Bill Pulte to hold the acting DNI position 23:00 Courts will likely step in to declare Pulte ineligible for position 25:30 Major primaries coming up on Tuesday including ME & SC 26:45 Lindsey Graham is vulnerable in South Carolina 27:45 Christian conservative right has always been skeptical of Graham 28:45 Outsiders have been ousting incumbents across the country 30:15 Since the Tea Party, GOP base has gone against the establishment 32:30 The anti-war vote will have qualms with Trump & Graham 33:15 Graham’s career is defined by being a political weathervane 35:00 If Graham is forced into a runoff, history says he’s in trouble 35:30 Will be interesting to see how much protest vote Janet Mills gets in ME 36:15 Platner says war messed him up… does he have the temperament for the job? 37:45 Just because behavior is explainable, doesn’t always make it excusable 38:15 Platner is in “save his campaign” mode 39:30 Bad actors will exploit California’s slow ballot counting process 40:30 Counting process requires people have faith in it, slowness hurts credibility 42:00 California has a duty to make citizens confident in the election 44:00 Thoughts on changes at 60 Minutes and Scott Pelley’s firing 44:30 Too much focus on Pelley and not enough on the Ellisons 45:00 Publicly traded media companies have all folded to & appeased Trump 47:30 Companies have a responsibility to shareholders, bad for news integrity 48:30 60 Minutes is a symbol, and Trump wants to bring it to heel/topple it 49:30 We don’t know the politics of the Ellisons, but they want their merger approved 50:30 Ellison’s know one 60 Minutes piece Trump dislikes could blow up merger 51:45 Bari Weiss is being used… is she comfortable being used? 53:00 Scott Pelley has the money to speak out and fight back 54:00 Journalists that stayed hoping to weather the storm & wait for new management 55:15 60 Minutes has incredible brand equity and is being gutted for the merger 56:45 The story is the Ellisons using 60 Minutes as a bargaining chip 1:04:00 David French joins the Chuck ToddCast 1:05:30 Insurance companies & gambling companies have opposite incentives 1:08:00 States liberalized sports gambling and the public hasn’t liked it 1:09:45 Trying to regulate after the fact can be difficult 1:11:00 Common law concepts are starting to come into regulating AI 1:11:30 Florida AG has brought criminal case against OpenAI over FSU shooter 1:13:00 There has to always be human liability in AI cases 1:15:00 If ChatGPT was a human in FSU case, it would have be charged as co-conspirator 1:16:00 Shooter asked ChatGPT how to disengage the safety 3 mins before shooting 1:18:00 In Canadian school shooting, ChatGPT’s participation was overt 1:20:30 Determining liability is murky. Google search isn’t held to same standard as ChatGPT 1:22:00 Humans can be prosecuted for encouraging someone to commit suicide 1:23:15 There are circumstances where criminal liability could apply to AI 1:23:45 When ChatGPT is speaking, OpenAI is speaking 1:25:00 Litigation needs to be a deterrent, not

David French — New York Times columnist, veteran constitutional attorney, and one of the sharpest legal thinkers writing today — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a riveting conversation about how the legal system is straining to handle a world being remade by AI, an out-of-control executive branch, and the slow erosion of America's basic constitutional architecture. French opens with the chilling case the Florida Attorney General has now brought against OpenAI in connection with the Florida State University shooter, who asked ChatGPT how to disengage his weapon's safety just three minutes before opening fire. French argues that if ChatGPT had been a human person, it would unquestionably have been charged as a co-conspirator — humans get prosecuted for encouraging suicide all the time — and that when ChatGPT is speaking, OpenAI is legally speaking, full stop. He walks through the murky liability questions the law is now scrambling to answer: Google Search has never been held to the same standard as ChatGPT, but ChatGPT actively generates new speech rather than just pointing users to existing content, and French argues that litigation needs to function as a meaningful deterrent rather than mere compensation — though ultimately Congress is going to have to actually legislate AI regulation rather than leave the entire field to civil lawsuits. The conversation turns to what French sees as a more immediate constitutional crisis: Trump's blanket immunity for tax violations and the "anti-weaponization" slush fund scheme, both of which French argues are flatly indefensible on legal grounds. He explains the deeper problem — Trump suing his own government creates a fiction of an adversarial proceeding when there isn't actually one, and Trump cares far more about the liability shield than the slush fund itself, because he's trying to remove himself from the operation of the law in essentially the same way a king would. The pardon power only covers federal crimes, not civil offenses, and Congress has clear authority to stop this if it had the will. French offers several concrete reforms: require congressional approval for legal settlements above a certain dollar threshold, force members of Congress to obtain a certification in the Constitution itself, and that political parties should perform comprehensive background checks for their candidates, On the question of whether the Founders intended a Christian nation, French is unequivocal: they didn't, and Madison rebuked Christian nationalism explicitly. The deeper structural problem behind the DOJ's loss of credibility is the unitary executive theory itself — Article II of the Constitution is dangerously vague, the executive was never meant to be a co-equal branch (Congress was supposed to be most powerful), and the only durable fix may require constitutional reform to formally remove the DOJ from executive control. French closes on a hopeful note: after every dark period in American history, the country has entered a major era of reform — and he believes one is coming again.  Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 David French joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:30 Insurance companies & gambling companies have opposite incentives 04:00 States liberalized sports gambling and the public hasn’t liked it 05:45 Trying to regulate after the fact can be difficult 07:00 Common law concepts are starting to come into regulating AI 07:30 Florida AG has brought criminal case against OpenAI over FSU shooter 09:00 There has to always be human liability in AI cases 11:00 If ChatGPT was a human in FSU case, it would have be charged as co-conspirator 12:00 Shooter asked ChatGPT how to disengage the safety 3 mins before shooting 14:00 In Canadian school shooting, ChatGPT’s participation was overt 16:30 Determining liability is murky. Google search isn’t held to same standard as ChatGPT 18:00 Humans can be prosecuted for encouraging someone to commit suicide 19:15 There are circumstances where criminal liability could apply to AI 19:45 When ChatGPT is speaking, OpenAI is speaking 21:00 Litigation needs to be a deterrent, not just compensation for victims 23:30 We need to pass laws regulating AI, not just pressure via civil lawsuits 24:45 How is blanket immunity for Trump tax violations remotely legal? 25:45 Congress’s job to stop weaponization fund & Trump IRS immunity 26:45 Legal system rests on an adversarial relationship in court cases 27:45 There’s no adversarial proceeding when Trump sues his own government 28:30 Trump cares more about liability shield than the slush fund 29:30 Pardon power only applies to federal crimes, not civil offenses. Can be sued 30:15 Trump is trying to remove himself from the operation of the law like a king 31:00 How can congress stop Trump’s DOJ from issuing these settlements? 32:45 Congress should have to approve settlements above a certain amount of $ 34:30 Member of congress should have to get a certification in the constitution 35:45 Parties should force candidates to pass a comprehensive background check 37:00 Why aren’t state funded partisan primaries a violation of equal protection? 40:15 Partisan primaries are killing the political system 41:00 States can say that they’ll only fund open primaries 42:15 Campaign finance reforms and PACs have weakened party control 44:00 Did the founders intend for America to be a christian nation? 45:00 Founders were biblically literate, but not particularly devout 45:30 Founders intentionally did not create a christian nation 46:30 Madison argued against paying clergy with tax dollars 47:15 Madison rebuked christian nationalism and immigration restriction 49:45 DOJ has lost credibility, how can we separate the DOJ from the executive? 50:30 Problems with DOJ are downstream from the unitary executive theory 51:30 Article II of the constitution is vague and inexplicit  52:45 After dark period, America enters periods of reform, which we badly need 54:45 Never supposed to be co-equal branches. Congress should have most power 55:30 Have to remove executive’s ability to claw power to the top 56:30 Would likely need constitutional reform to pull DOJ out of executive branch 59:00 Past congressional leaders wouldn’t voluntarily cede power 1:00:45 In late 80’s - early 90’s, congress was incentivized to compromise 1:01:30 Changes to college basketball in one-and-done and NIL era 1:03:00 Transfer portal has created a new form of one-and-done 1:04:45 NBA can only improve regular season by reducing the 82 games 1:06:15 Regular season NBA games are more intense than 30 years ago See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd revisits his interview with Iowa Democratic senate candidate and four-time Paralympian and gold medalist Josh Turek for a deeply personal and politically sharp conversation. Josh shares his remarkable journey—from being born with spina bifida caused by his father’s exposure to Agent Orange, to discovering wheelchair basketball as a pathway to college, to becoming one of the winningest athletes in Paralympic history. He opens up about the emotional challenge of leaving the sport he loved and what ultimately pushed him toward public service. Together, Chuck and Josh explore how the ADA reshaped life for disabled Americans, why adaptive and women’s sports remain undervalued, and how equal access—not guaranteed equal outcomes—remains the core civil rights debate for the disability community. The conversation widens into an unvarnished look at rural politics, Iowa’s sharp rightward turn, and the policies reshaping life in small towns. Josh breaks down why Medicaid denials have exploded, how school choice is quietly devastating rural school districts, and why tariffs—when used chaotically—are crushing family farms. He tackles complex cultural issues such as religion’s decline, the trans sports debate, and why Democrats shouldn’t cede Christianity or populism to the right. They also cover climate messaging, the stakes for U.S. policy in Israel and Ukraine, and whether Congress should step in to regulate collegiate athletics. With insights on Iowa’s political future, the 2026 Democratic opportunity, and even some NBA talk (yes—Jokić and Jordan both make an appearance), Josh Turek offers one of the most candid, wide-ranging conversations you’ll hear about the Midwest, disability rights, and the future of American politics. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 1:45 Josh Turek joins the Chuck ToddCast 3:15 Josh’s journey as a gold medal winning Paralympian 4:30 Josh’s fathers exposure to agent orange caused his spina bifida 6:15 Wheelchair basketball was his pathway to college 7:30 What do we not value adaptive & female sports in America? 9:45 How hard was it to walk away from basketball? 11:30 What inspired the decision to go into politics? 12:45 There was a 1000% increase in Medicaid denials in Iowa 14:15 The ADA made things better, still a long ways to go 15:30 The ADA gave disabled Americans an onramp to society 18:15 The debate over equal access vs. equal outcome 19:00 Who is the Turek/Trump voter? 21:30 The difficulty of breaking through as a Democrat in rural America 23:30 Iowa has shifted rightward, but could shift back to swing state status 26:45 The right candidate with the right message can win red Iowa counties 29:00 School choice sounds great, but is a huge problem for rural America 30:30 Rural schools are struggling and closing under school choice policies 32:00 There are no standards for private schools spending tax dollars 34:45 Not all tariffs are bad, but Trump’s tariff regime is chaotic 35:45 Tariffs are crushing family farms 36:45 What’s the plan to keep people in Iowa and reverse brain drain? 39:30 How has the decline in religious participation affected Iowa? 40:45 Pushing back against the narrative that Democrats can’t be Christian 41:15 What’s fair to the trans community when it comes to organized sports? 42:30 Politicians shouldn’t be involved in the trans sports conversation 43:15 Why have many Democrats turned to socialism over capitalism? 44:15 We need regulated capitalism and a progressive tax structure 45:00 We are living in a country of have’s and have nots 46:30 Addressing climate change without scaring voters about the economy 48:00 What’s your position on Israel? 49:00 The U.S. should stand in solidarity with Ukraine & aid them 50:00 Does Congress need to get involved in regulating collegiate sports? 53:15 We need more genuine populists in congress to push back against oligarchs 55:00 Nikola Jokic is Josh’s favorite basketball player to watch 56:30 Michael Jordan is the GOAT 57:30 Historic opportunity for Democrats in Iowa in ‘26 58:45 Democrats focused too much on identity in Iowa 1:01:15 Public schools will be a huge issue for Iowa voters 1:03:00 If Democrats can’t win Iowa in this environment, it could take a generation 1:07:15 There are three great candidates for the Iowa Democratic senate seat 1:08:15 Primaries sharpen candidates and improve party registration See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd & J.A. Adande tell the complete history of The Golden State Warriors, who certainly didn't become a dynasty overnight. Long before Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and the NBA's greatest three-point revolution, the Warriors were one of the most fascinating—and frustrating—franchises in professional sports. Chuck & J.A. take you from their origins as one of the NBA's founding franchises to the rise of Wilt Chamberlain, the 1975 championship team led by Rick Barry, the Run TMC era, the We Believe Warriors, and ultimately the dynasty that changed basketball forever. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with what he calls the unmistakable arrival of a "YOLO caucus" in the Senate — a growing number of congressional Republicans who are simply done capitulating to Trump, evidenced by John Thune publicly declaring there's no need to "weaponize" the DNI position and by the broader sense that the non-Trump part of the GOP is openly preparing to move on. He argues Trump is doing everything possible to accelerate his own lame duck status: he's politicizing America's 250th anniversary in ways that genuinely alarm vulnerable Republicans, he failed to engage any of the former presidents in the 250th planning, and he's creating Marie Antoinette-style "let them eat cake" optics by celebrating himself at a moment of real economic pain for ordinary Americans. Trump's treatment of CNN's Kaitlan Collins was outrageous, his cranky behavior with the press is a tell that things aren't going well, and his decision to formally nominate Todd Blanche for Attorney General has essentially zero chance of confirmation — Blanche has burned his bridges in the Senate and the doomed January 6th weaponization fund was reportedly his idea in the first place. It's almost as if Trump is begging to put a neon "I'm a lame duck" sign on the White House. Chuck then turns to California, where ballots are still being counted at a pace that he says is actively eroding public trust in the democratic process itself — the state desperately needs to find a way to count faster — and notes that CA-06 was drawn as a safe Democratic seat but the top two finishers right now are both Republicans, while Spencer Pratt looks safer in the LA mayoral race than Steve Hilton does in the governor's race. He closes with a fascinating analysis of the Graham Platner situation in Maine, where Janet Mills' decision to leave her name on the ballot has created a Nikki Haley-style protest vote opportunity for nervous Democrats — Mills didn't bow out in disgrace so her floor is high, and if she pulls 25% or more in the primary, Chuck predicts very real conversations about replacing Platner will begin. The number to watch is ME-02: if Platner underperforms there, it's the clearest red flag that a candidate Democrats once viewed as a slam-dunk pickup is now in serious trouble.  Finally, Chuck answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment and spends a few minutes reflecting on the life of his grandmother who passed away this week.  Predict the action all the way through the finals. Sign up now for your twenty-five dollar bonus on https://fanduel.com/predicts   Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 06:45 Increasing # of congressional Republicans done capitulating to Trump 07:30 John Thune said we don’t need “weaponization” of DNI position 08:30 There’s a growing “YOLO caucus” in the senate 09:30 The non-Trump part of the GOP is ready to move on from Trump 10:00 Trump’s treatment of Kaitlin Collins is outrageous 11:45 Trump gets cranky with the press when things aren’t going well 12:30 Trump is a terrible negotiator 13:00 Trump is creating huge political risk politicizing America 250 13:45 Trump should have put the UFC on the national mall, not WH 15:00 Trump is celebrating himself for 250, terrible move politically 16:15 Trump didn’t engage with the former presidents for 250 17:00 Trump is creating Marie Antoinette “let them eat cake” optics  18:30 Vulnerable Republicans may fear attending Trump’s 250 events 19:00 Trump is looking to formally nominate Todd Blanche for AG 19:30 There is zero chance Todd Blanche can get confirmed 20:15 Blanche hasn’t made friends. Weaponization fund was his idea 22:15 Trump may be done listening to any rational advice 23:30 It’s like Trump wants to put a neon “I’m a lame duck” sign on WH 24:15 California ballots are still being counted. Can Steyer and Raman catch up? 26:15 Pratt seems to have a more comfortable lead than Hilton 27:30 CA-06 was drawn to be Democratic, top two so far are Republican 29:45 California desperately needs to find a way to count ballots faster 30:30 Slow count erodes trust is democracy and counting process 33:15 Graham Platner visit to D.C. went ok, but there’s trepidation 35:30 Platner wants to drive the narrative he’s still ahead of Collins 36:30 Polling has shown Platner with a massive lead over Collins for weeks 38:15 Platner’s recent scandals have him in trouble, can’t take much more 39:30 New polling shows Platner took a hit, but it’s recoverable 40:00 Janet Mills chose to keep her name on the ballot for uneasy Dems 41:00 Maine is one of the easier states to replace a candidate 42:30 How votes for Mills should be read 44:15 Mills didn’t bow out in disgrace, her floor is higher 45:30 Mills could become a protest vote for Platner, similar to Nikki Haley 47:00 If Maine voters are nervous about Platner, they can vote for Mills 49:00 If Mills gets 25% or more, then there will be talks of replacing Platner 51:15 If Platner underperforms in ME-02, that’s a red flag 55:45 Chuck’s thoughts on interview with Todd Ricketts 57:15 Salary cap proposal for MLB revealed 58:30 Salary cap could be much higher than expected to buy time 59:45 Willingness to pool local revenue is a big deal 1:00:00 Ask Chuck 1:00:15 Is voting for a candidate an indictment of the character of the voter? 1:19:15 How would the logistics work for expanding the house? 1:23:15 How much should a candidate’s private behavior affect their electability? 1:31:00 How does a state with no income tax like Florida fund services? 1:35:45 With government agreeing to large settlements, won’t future admins do the same? 1:44:30 Chuck’s eulogy for his grandmother See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with what he calls the unmistakable arrival of a "YOLO caucus" in the Senate — a growing number of congressional Republicans who are simply done capitulating to Trump, evidenced by John Thune publicly declaring there's no need to "weaponize" the DNI position and by the broader sense that the non-Trump part of the GOP is openly preparing to move on. He argues Trump is doing everything possible to accelerate his own lame duck status: he's politicizing America's 250th anniversary in ways that genuinely alarm vulnerable Republicans, he failed to engage any of the former presidents in the 250th planning, and he's creating Marie Antoinette-style "let them eat cake" optics by celebrating himself at a moment of real economic pain for ordinary Americans. Trump's treatment of CNN's Kaitlan Collins was outrageous, his cranky behavior with the press is a tell that things aren't going well, and his decision to formally nominate Todd Blanche for Attorney General has essentially zero chance of confirmation — Blanche has burned his bridges in the Senate and the doomed January 6th weaponization fund was reportedly his idea in the first place. It's almost as if Trump is begging to put a neon "I'm a lame duck" sign on the White House. Chuck then turns to California, where ballots are still being counted at a pace that he says is actively eroding public trust in the democratic process itself — the state desperately needs to find a way to count faster — and notes that CA-06 was drawn as a safe Democratic seat but the top two finishers right now are both Republicans, while Spencer Pratt looks safer in the LA mayoral race than Steve Hilton does in the governor's race. He closes with a fascinating analysis of the Graham Platner situation in Maine, where Janet Mills' decision to leave her name on the ballot has created a Nikki Haley-style protest vote opportunity for nervous Democrats — Mills didn't bow out in disgrace so her floor is high, and if she pulls 25% or more in the primary, Chuck predicts very real conversations about replacing Platner will begin. The number to watch is ME-02: if Platner underperforms there, it's the clearest red flag that a candidate Democrats once viewed as a slam-dunk pickup is now in serious trouble.  Then, Todd Ricketts — Chicago Cubs co-owner and founder of Freespoke, the search engine that labels news sources with media bias ratings — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a wide-ranging conversation that bridges the increasingly intertwined worlds of media, technology, and professional sports. Ricketts makes the case that when people are given genuinely good information from across the ideological spectrum, they tend to arrive at good answers — and that Freespoke's mission is to present all sides and then get out of the way, rather than letting ad sales determine what news you see. He pushes back on the idea that the market alone can solve the data privacy crisis, arguing data may eventually need to be regulated like a utility but that nothing changes until there's a major "event" that creates real public groundswell. Ricketts is candid about Freespoke's challenges — paywalls remain a real obstacle, the left/right labeling is imperfect and done by outside groups, and the political landscape itself is shifting in ways that scramble the traditional categories . He observes that podcasts have become a primary news source because people clearly hunger for long-form content with nuance, that politicians are now visibly afraid of giving long answers because they might get clipped, and that legacy media still doesn't seem to understand why its audience has migrated elsewhere. The second half pivots into the business of running a baseball team, and Ricketts brings the same straight-talking pragmatism to MLB's looming economic crisis. He argues you cannot sell a salary cap to MLB owners without genuine revenue sharing, because if the league itself isn't competitive then everyone eventually loses — including the owners writing the biggest checks. Players currently take roughly 48% of revenue, a number he expects to climb to around 52% in the next deal, and Ricketts is honest that half of MLB's franchises are still essentially mom-and-pop operations even as private equity money is rapidly entering the sport. He talks about the difficulty of running any sports team in 2026 because fans genuinely feel like they own the franchise, why ownership groups are increasingly building entire entertainment districts around their ballparks to control the fan experience end-to-end, and the painful broadcast rights question every team is wrestling with: fans have cut the cord, the old TV economics no longer work, and ownership has to be flexible with new broadcast partners even as they ask themselves whether season ticket holders should be entitled to free access to every game. Ricketts closes by laying out what would qualify as a disappointing season for the Cubs — a sober assessment from an owner who has watched the economics of his sport, and the media landscape his business depends on, both transform at the same time. Finally, Chuck answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment and spends a few minutes reflecting on the life of his grandmother who passed away this week.  Predict the action all the way through the finals. Sign up now for your twenty-five dollar bonus on https://fanduel.com/predicts   Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 06:45 Increasing # of congressional Republicans done capitulating to Trump 07:30 John Thune said we don’t need “weaponization” of DNI position 08:30 There’s a growing “YOLO caucus” in the senate 09:30 The non-Trump part of the GOP is ready to move on from Trump 10:00 Trump’s treatment of Kaitlin Collins is outrageous 11:45 Trump gets cranky with the press when things aren’t going well 12:30 Trump is a terrible negotiator 13:00 Trump is creating huge political risk politicizing America 250 13:45 Trump should have put the UFC on the national mall, not WH 15:00 Trump is celebrating himself for 250, terrible move politically 16:15 Trump didn’t engage with the former presidents for 250 17:00 Trump is creating Marie Antoinette “let them eat cake” optics  18:30 Vulnerable Republicans may fear attending Trump’s 250 events 19:00 Trump is looking to formally nominate Todd Blanche for AG 19:30 There is zero chance Todd Blanche can get confirmed 20:15 Blanche hasn’t made friends. Weaponization fund was his idea 22:15 Trump may be done listening to any rational advice 23:30 It’s like Trump wants to put a neon “I’m a lame duck” sign on WH 24:15 California ballots are still being counted. Can Steyer and Raman catch up? 26:15 Pratt seems to have a more comfortable lead than Hilton 27:30 CA-06 was drawn to be Democratic, top two so far are Republican 29:45 California desperately needs to find a way to count ballots faster 30:30 Slow count erodes trust is democracy and counting process 33:15 Graham Platner visit to D.C. went ok, but there’s trepidation 35:30 Platner wants to drive the narrative he’s still ahead of Collins 36:30 Polling has shown Platner with a massive lead over Collins for weeks 38:15 Platner’s recent scandals have him in trouble, can’t take much more 39:30 New polling shows Platner took a hit, but it’s recoverable 40:00 Janet Mills chose to keep her name on the ballot for uneasy Dems 41:00 Maine is one of the easier states to replace a candidate 42:30 How votes for Mills should be read 44:15 Mills didn’t bow out in disgrace, her floor is higher 45:30 Mills could become a protest vote for Platner, similar to Nikki Haley 47:00 If Maine voters are nervous about Platner, they can vote for Mills 49:00 If Mills gets 25% or more, then there will be talks of replacing Platner 51:15 If Platner underperforms in ME-02, that’s a red flag 59:45 Todd Ricketts joins the Chuck ToddCast 1:00:30 Providing media bias ratings for online news sources 1:03:00 When people are given good info, they come up with good answers 1:03:30 Goal is to present all sides, then let people make up their mind 1:04:45 You don’t want ad sales for search to determine your information 1:07:00 Can the market fix data sales, or does the government need to regulate? 1:08:45 Should data be regulated like a utility? 1:09:15 There will need to be an “event” to cause groundswell over data privacy 1:10:15 Does Freespoke labeling news left/right cause users to seek their preferred source? 1:13:15 Politics are shifting and what used to be a “left” issue is now a right issue etc 1:14:00 Protectionism has become right and free trade has become left 1:15:45 How would someone like George Will be labled? 1:17:15 Labeling is done by outside groups and the labeling isn’t perfect 1:17:45 The company is for-profit, sells ads and has subscription model 1:18:30 All the search is AI curated, but people curate the current events page 1:19:15 Bing and Google are the direct competitors 1:20:00 The Freespoke algorithm tries to strip out bias 1:21:30 Some topics get a ton of content from one side & none from the other 1:23:00 People are informing themselves via podcasts instead of legacy news 1:23:45 Legacy media needs to understand why audience is going elsewhere 1:25:30 Popularity of podcasts show people like long form content 1:26:45 Politicians are afraid of long answers & nuance in case they get clipped 1:27:15 Paywalls are a challenge for Freespoke, but sources are still included 1:28:15 Why are there left/right labels on sports coverage? 1:29:45 What is

Todd Ricketts — Chicago Cubs co-owner and founder of Freespoke, the search engine that labels news sources with media bias ratings — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a wide-ranging conversation that bridges the increasingly intertwined worlds of media, technology, and professional sports. Ricketts makes the case that when people are given genuinely good information from across the ideological spectrum, they tend to arrive at good answers — and that Freespoke's mission is to present all sides and then get out of the way, rather than letting ad sales determine what news you see. He pushes back on the idea that the market alone can solve the data privacy crisis, arguing data may eventually need to be regulated like a utility but that nothing changes until there's a major "event" that creates real public groundswell. Ricketts is candid about Freespoke's challenges — paywalls remain a real obstacle, the left/right labeling is imperfect and done by outside groups, and the political landscape itself is shifting in ways that scramble the traditional categories . He observes that podcasts have become a primary news source because people clearly hunger for long-form content with nuance, that politicians are now visibly afraid of giving long answers because they might get clipped, and that legacy media still doesn't seem to understand why its audience has migrated elsewhere. The second half pivots into the business of running a baseball team, and Ricketts brings the same straight-talking pragmatism to MLB's looming economic crisis. He argues you cannot sell a salary cap to MLB owners without genuine revenue sharing, because if the league itself isn't competitive then everyone eventually loses — including the owners writing the biggest checks. Players currently take roughly 48% of revenue, a number he expects to climb to around 52% in the next deal, and Ricketts is honest that half of MLB's franchises are still essentially mom-and-pop operations even as private equity money is rapidly entering the sport. He talks about the difficulty of running any sports team in 2026 because fans genuinely feel like they own the franchise, why ownership groups are increasingly building entire entertainment districts around their ballparks to control the fan experience end-to-end, and the painful broadcast rights question every team is wrestling with: fans have cut the cord, the old TV economics no longer work, and ownership has to be flexible with new broadcast partners even as they ask themselves whether season ticket holders should be entitled to free access to every game. Ricketts closes by laying out what would qualify as a disappointing season for the Cubs — a sober assessment from an owner who has watched the economics of his sport, and the media landscape his business depends on, both transform at the same time. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Todd Ricketts joins the Chuck ToddCast 00:45 Providing media bias ratings for online news sources 03:15 When people are given good info, they come up with good answers 03:45 Goal is to present all sides, then let people make up their mind 05:00 You don’t want ad sales for search to determine your information 07:15 Can the market fix data sales, or does the government need to regulate? 09:00 Should data be regulated like a utility? 09:30 There will need to be an “event” to cause groundswell over data privacy 10:30 Does Freespoke labeling news left/right cause users to seek their preferred source? 13:30 Politics are shifting and what used to be a “left” issue is now a right issue etc 14:15 Protectionism has become right and free trade has become left 16:00 How would someone like George Will be labled? 17:30 Labeling is done by outside groups and the labeling isn’t perfect 18:00 The company is for-profit, sells ads and has subscription model 18:45 All the search is AI curated, but people curate the current events page 19:30 Bing and Google are the direct competitors 20:15 The Freespoke algorithm tries to strip out bias 21:45 Some topics get a ton of content from one side & none from the other 23:15 People are informing themselves via podcasts instead of legacy news 24:00 Legacy media needs to understand why audience is going elsewhere 25:45 Popularity of podcasts show people like long form content 27:00 Politicians are afraid of long answers & nuance in case they get clipped 27:30 Paywalls are a challenge for Freespoke, but sources are still included 28:30 Why are there left/right labels on sports coverage? 30:00 What is Freespoke’s position on mis and disinformation? 30:45 What does Freespoke 2.0 look like? 32:00 AI is only as good as the people & information that train it 33:00 Will you get into the newsletter business? 34:45 Can you sell a salary cap to MLB owners without total revenue sharing? 36:00 If the league isn’t competitive, then everyone will eventually lose 37:15 Players currently get 48% of revenue, may move up to about 52% 38:30 Running a sports team is hard because fans feel like they own the team 40:30 What have you learned from running the Cubs? 42:00 Half the teams are still mom & pop operations, but PE is coming in 43:15 Ownership wants to control fan experience, building entertainment districts 44:15 Should teams always be available on free TV? 44:45 Fans have cut the cord, have to be flexible with broadcast partners 46:30 Should season ticket holders be able to get all game broadcasts for free? 47:15 What would qualify this season as disappointing for the Cubs? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd walks through a primary night that was, in his words, a really good night for Democrats — and one that may have just answered whether 2026 is shaping up as a genuine blue wave. The night's biggest single story came out of Iowa, where Zach Lahn pulled off a stunning upset of Randy Feenstra in what Chuck characterizes as a "MAHA vs. MAGA" race — Trump endorsed the establishment Feenstra and lost, which Chuck predicts will drive the president absolutely nuts. Iowa Democrats also got a substantial ticket boost when Josh Turek blew out Zach Wahls in the Senate primary, and combined with the surprisingly strong gubernatorial candidacy of Rob Sand, Iowa is now the cleanest test case in the country for whether the political wind has truly shifted — a right-leaning state where the politics are visibly in flux. Chuck flags that Lahn can probably be painted as too far right in a general, that having "congressman" as your first name has become a real disadvantage in 2026, and that the night was an unambiguous positive for Democrats nationally. He also walks through results elsewhere: New Jersey's seventh district will see Tom Keane (still mysteriously MIA from his own campaign) face Rebecca Bennett; South Dakota's gubernatorial race is headed to its first-ever runoff after four candidates each cleared 20%, and Deb Haaland is on track to become the first Native American woman governor in U.S. history. The conversation then turns to California, where Chuck warns it will be days before we have full primary results but where turnout is already on pace to exceed 2022. He cautions viewers about the inevitable early "red mirage" from the mail-vote curve, predicts Hilton has enough of a lead over Steyer that he likely survives, and argues Xavier Becerra would much rather face Hilton than Steyer in a general — though a potential scandal is looming over Becerra that could reshape the whole race. Chuck argues a Becerra-Hilton race would be a conventional Democrat-versus-Republican contest, that Steyer has spent $500 million across his last two campaigns and still has a low ceiling because he's created a genuine sense of voter exhaustion, and that the single most fascinating race in the state right now is CA-06 and Kevin Kiley. The Los Angeles mayoral picture is clarifying too: Karen Bass and Spencer Pratt appear set to advance, which Todd argues is exactly what Bass wanted — it will be far easier to turn Pratt into a Trump acolyte in a general election than to face the formidable Nithya Raman. He notes that Matt Mahan became known as "big tech's candidate" in ways that genuinely hurt him, and closes with one to watch in Montana, where independent Seth Bodner is quietly hoping the Democratic candidate eventually bows out so he can consolidate the anti-incumbent vote into a real challenge. Finally, Chuck presents his ToddCast Top 5 list of instances that Republicans have rebuked Donald Trump in his second term, and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Predict the action all the way through the finals. Sign up now for your twenty-five dollar bonus on https://fanduel.com/predicts   Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 01:00 Tuesday was a REALLY good night for Democrats nationally 01:30 Tom Keane still MIA, will face Rebecca Bennett in NJ-07 04:00 Iowa results made Democratic ticket substantially stronger 04:30 Josh Turek blew out Zach Wahls in Iowa 05:30 Biggest upset of the night was Zach Lahn beating Randy Feenstra 08:15 Lahn vs. Feenstra was a MAHA vs. MAGA race 08:45 Iowa is a right leaning state, but the state’s politics are in flux 09:45 Having a first name of “congressman” is a major disadvantage 11:30 Rob Sand is a very strong Democratic candidate for governor in Iowa 13:15 It’s possible Lahn can be painted as too far to the right 14:15 Iowa will be the test of whether 2026 is a blue wave election 15:30 Iowa was a huge positive development for team blue 16:45 Trump endorsing Feenstra then losing will drive Trump nuts 19:00 South Dakota governor’s race headed to runoff for first time 20:45 Four candidates in SD gubernatorial race received 20% of vote 23:00 Voters keep rewarding political bomb throwers 24:00 Trump endorsed the least Trump-like candidate, voters chose the Trumpy one 25:00 Deb Haaland on track to be the first Native American woman governor 25:30 It will be days before we know the full results of California primaries 27:30 California turnout will exceed turnout in 2022 28:30 Early on there will be a red mirage in California due to early vote 31:00 Hilton has enough of a lead over Steyer that he likely hangs on 32:15 Becerra would rather run against Hilton than Steyer 32:45 Steyer has created a sense of exhaustion 33:45 A Becerra v Hilton race would be a conventional D vs. R race 34:15 Potential scandal looms over Becerra 35:45 Most fascinating race is CA-06 and Kevin Kiley 38:15 It looks like Karen Bass & Spencer Pratt will move on in LA mayoral 40:30 It will be easier for Bass to turn Pratt into a Trump acolyte than face Raman 41:45 Steyer has a low ceiling, and has spent $500M in last two campaigns 43:30 Matt Mahan became known as “big tech’s candidate” and that hurt him 46:00 Independent Seth Bodner hoping Democratic candidate bows out in Montana 54:15 Trump replacing Tulsi Gabbard with Bill Pulte for DNI 55:15 Republicans immediately starting pushing back on Pulte as nominee 56:45 No need for NDI. CIA has won the intel agency turf battle 57:30 Bill Pulte makes Tulsi Gabbard look qualified for DNI role 59:45 ToddCast Top 5 instances Republicans successfully rebuked Trump 1:00:00 #5 The Epstein files 1:01:30 #4 Trump’s threat to take over Greenland 1:02:30 #3 Fed chair Jay Powell 1:03:45 #2 Matt Gaetz nomination for AG 1:05:45 #1 Death of Trump’s anti-weaponization slush fund 1:11:30 Ask Chuck 1:11:45 Thoughts on potential reforms, how realistic are they? 1:19:00 Why do you call Democrats the party that’s held to a higher standard? 1:22:45 Do you see Wes Moore as a top Democratic contender in ‘28? 1:27:45 Is Mike Johnson’s speakership at risk? Would he be the minority leader? 1:30:00 Can Keir Starmer survive as PM? Will Nigel Farage be PM? 1:35:00 Do you think a more virtual governance model rather than in-person would work? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd walks through a primary night that was, in his words, a really good night for Democrats — and one that may have just answered whether 2026 is shaping up as a genuine blue wave. The night's biggest single story came out of Iowa, where Zach Lahn pulled off a stunning upset of Randy Feenstra in what Chuck characterizes as a "MAHA vs. MAGA" race — Trump endorsed the establishment Feenstra and lost, which Chuck predicts will drive the president absolutely nuts. Iowa Democrats also got a substantial ticket boost when Josh Turek blew out Zach Wahls in the Senate primary, and combined with the surprisingly strong gubernatorial candidacy of Rob Sand, Iowa is now the cleanest test case in the country for whether the political wind has truly shifted — a right-leaning state where the politics are visibly in flux. Chuck flags that Lahn can probably be painted as too far right in a general, that having "congressman" as your first name has become a real disadvantage in 2026, and that the night was an unambiguous positive for Democrats nationally. He also walks through results elsewhere: New Jersey's seventh district will see Tom Keane (still mysteriously MIA from his own campaign) face Rebecca Bennett; South Dakota's gubernatorial race is headed to its first-ever runoff after four candidates each cleared 20%, and Deb Haaland is on track to become the first Native American woman governor in U.S. history. The conversation then turns to California, where Chuck warns it will be days before we have full primary results but where turnout is already on pace to exceed 2022. He cautions viewers about the inevitable early "red mirage" from the mail-vote curve, predicts Hilton has enough of a lead over Steyer that he likely survives, and argues Xavier Becerra would much rather face Hilton than Steyer in a general — though a potential scandal is looming over Becerra that could reshape the whole race. Chuck argues a Becerra-Hilton race would be a conventional Democrat-versus-Republican contest, that Steyer has spent $500 million across his last two campaigns and still has a low ceiling because he's created a genuine sense of voter exhaustion, and that the single most fascinating race in the state right now is CA-06 and Kevin Kiley. The Los Angeles mayoral picture is clarifying too: Karen Bass and Spencer Pratt appear set to advance, which Todd argues is exactly what Bass wanted — it will be far easier to turn Pratt into a Trump acolyte in a general election than to face the formidable Nithya Raman. He notes that Matt Mahan became known as "big tech's candidate" in ways that genuinely hurt him, and closes with one to watch in Montana, where independent Seth Bodner is quietly hoping the Democratic candidate eventually bows out so he can consolidate the anti-incumbent vote into a real challenge. Then, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings — the former Orlando police chief turned local executive who is now running for governor of Florida — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a candid conversation about the challenges of being a Democrat in modern Florida and the lessons his unusual career path (accountant, then cop, then mayor) brings to executive leadership. Demings reveals that Governor Ron DeSantis personally threatened to remove him from office over his opposition to ICE operations in Orange County, and uses that experience as the entry point to a broader discussion about what's gone wrong with American law enforcement. He argues you cannot solve police shortages by lowering recruiting standards — exactly what he says ICE did when it ramped up so quickly that screening and training went out the window, with the predictable consequence that ICE has now begun poaching trained officers from state and local departments. Demings makes the case that we have to get criminals off the streets but it has to be done lawfully, that state law enforcement should not be doing immigration work, and that being elected sheriff as a partisan position creates real tensions because the actual responsibilities of the job aren't partisan at all. He pushes back on the idea that he's running to be a "performance politician" and frames his candidacy as wanting to bring competent local-government experience to a state level that he says is suffering from leaders chasing viral moments rather than delivering services. The conversation turns to the structural challenges facing Florida and the deeper question of why Democrats can't win statewide in a state that's growing more diverse by the year. Demings argues Florida's underpaid state legislators simply don't attract quality talent, that many longtime Florida Democrats have left the party out of pure frustration, and that the party's central task is to restore basic public belief in government's capacity to function. He's willing to give DeSantis credit for diversifying and growing Florida's economy, but argues the state needs to find efficiencies rather than continually burdening local governments with expenses it should be covering itself — and points to slashed state mental health funding as a direct driver of the violent crime he sees in his community. Demings is sharp on Florida's climate exposure, arguing the state is building in places it absolutely should not be building, and that hurricane-hardened construction standards need a major overhaul, He flags the NAACP's call for athletes to avoid schools in remapping states as the kind of extreme response that extreme government actions inevitably provoke, and warns that the politics of division are starting to genuinely threaten Florida's tourism economy — meaning the state's longtime economic engine may finally be running into the consequences of the culture wars its leaders have spent the past decade fueling. Finally, Chuck presents his ToddCast Top 5 list of instances that Republicans have rebuked Donald Trump in his second term, and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Predict the action all the way through the finals. Sign up now for your twenty-five dollar bonus on https://fanduel.com/predicts     Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order.   Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life!   Timeline: 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 01:00 Tuesday was a REALLY good night for Democrats nationally 01:30 Tom Keane still MIA, will face Rebecca Bennett in NJ-07 04:00 Iowa results made Democratic ticket substantially stronger 04:30 Josh Turek blew out Zach Wahls in Iowa 05:30 Biggest upset of the night was Zach Lahn beating Randy Feenstra 08:15 Lahn vs. Feenstra was a MAHA vs. MAGA race 08:45 Iowa is a right leaning state, but the state’s politics are in flux 09:45 Having a first name of “congressman” is a major disadvantage 11:30 Rob Sand is a very strong Democratic candidate for governor in Iowa 13:15 It’s possible Lahn can be painted as too far to the right 14:15 Iowa will be the test of whether 2026 is a blue wave election 15:30 Iowa was a huge positive development for team blue 16:45 Trump endorsing Feenstra then losing will drive Trump nuts 19:00 South Dakota governor’s race headed to runoff for first time 20:45 Four candidates in SD gubernatorial race received 20% of vote 23:00 Voters keep rewarding political bomb throwers 24:00 Trump endorsed the least Trump-like candidate, voters chose the Trumpy one 25:00 Deb Haaland on track to be the first Native American woman governor 25:30 It will be days before we know the full results of California primaries 27:30 California turnout will exceed turnout in 2022 28:30 Early on there will be a red mirage in California due to early vote 31:00 Hilton has enough of a lead over Steyer that he likely hangs on 32:15 Becerra would rather run against Hilton than Steyer 32:45 Steyer has created a sense of exhaustion 33:45 A Becerra v Hilton race would be a conventional D vs. R race 34:15 Potential scandal looms over Becerra 35:45 Most fascinating race is CA-06 and Kevin Kiley 38:15 It looks like Karen Bass & Spencer Pratt will move on in LA mayoral 40:30 It will be easier for Bass to turn Pratt into a Trump acolyte than face Raman 41:45 Steyer has a low ceiling, and has spent $500M in last two campaigns 43:30 Matt Mahan became known as “big tech’s candidate” and that hurt him 46:00 Independent Seth Bodner hoping Democratic candidate bows out in Montana 54:30 Jerry Demings joins the Chuck ToddCast 55:30 How did you go from accountant to police to mayor? 56:45 Accounting background helped with managing the city budget 58:00 How has Orlando changed since the time you were a police officer in the 80s? 59:30 Working on police reform both locally and nationally 1:00:45 Should the focus for police be better recruiting or better training? 1:01:30 Lowering recruiting standards can’t be the answer to police shortages 1:02:15 ICE was forced to ramp up so fast they didn’t screen or train recruits properly 1:03:45 We have to get criminals off the street, but it has be done lawfully 1:04:30 What were the unintended consequences of ICE’s questionable recruitment? 1:05:45 ICE began poaching state and local police officers 1:07:45 Should county sheriff be an elected position? 1:09:00 Political considerations do enter the equation when you’re elected 1:10:30 Size of jurisdiction does matter when it comes to appointed vs. elected 1:11:30 Sheriff is elected as a partisan position, but the responsibilities aren’t partisan 1:12:30 Why did you want to run for governor? 1:15:00 Want to take experience at local level government to a larger level 1:15:45 Ron DeSantis threatened to remove him over opposition to ICE 1:18:30 How would you work with the Republican dominated legislature? 1:20:30 Republicans have a large voter registrati

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings — the former Orlando police chief turned local executive who is now running for governor of Florida — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a candid conversation about the challenges of being a Democrat in modern Florida and the lessons his unusual career path (accountant, then cop, then mayor) brings to executive leadership. Demings reveals that Governor Ron DeSantis personally threatened to remove him from office over his opposition to ICE operations in Orange County, and uses that experience as the entry point to a broader discussion about what's gone wrong with American law enforcement. He argues you cannot solve police shortages by lowering recruiting standards — exactly what he says ICE did when it ramped up so quickly that screening and training went out the window, with the predictable consequence that ICE has now begun poaching trained officers from state and local departments. Demings makes the case that we have to get criminals off the streets but it has to be done lawfully, that state law enforcement should not be doing immigration work, and that being elected sheriff as a partisan position creates real tensions because the actual responsibilities of the job aren't partisan at all. He pushes back on the idea that he's running to be a "performance politician" and frames his candidacy as wanting to bring competent local-government experience to a state level that he says is suffering from leaders chasing viral moments rather than delivering services. The conversation turns to the structural challenges facing Florida and the deeper question of why Democrats can't win statewide in a state that's growing more diverse by the year. Demings argues Florida's underpaid state legislators simply don't attract quality talent, that many longtime Florida Democrats have left the party out of pure frustration, and that the party's central task is to restore basic public belief in government's capacity to function. He's willing to give DeSantis credit for diversifying and growing Florida's economy, but argues the state needs to find efficiencies rather than continually burdening local governments with expenses it should be covering itself — and points to slashed state mental health funding as a direct driver of the violent crime he sees in his community. Demings is sharp on Florida's climate exposure, arguing the state is building in places it absolutely should not be building, and that hurricane-hardened construction standards need a major overhaul, He flags the NAACP's call for athletes to avoid schools in remapping states as the kind of extreme response that extreme government actions inevitably provoke, and warns that the politics of division are starting to genuinely threaten Florida's tourism economy — meaning the state's longtime economic engine may finally be running into the consequences of the culture wars its leaders have spent the past decade fueling. Predict the action all the way through the finals. Sign up now for your twenty-five dollar bonus on https://fanduel.com/predicts   Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Jerry Demings joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:00 How did you go from accountant to police to mayor? 02:15 Accounting background helped with managing the city budget 03:30 How has Orlando changed since the time you were a police officer in the 80s? 05:00 Working on police reform both locally and nationally 06:15 Should the focus for police be better recruiting or better training? 07:00 Lowering recruiting standards can’t be the answer to police shortages 07:45 ICE was forced to ramp up so fast they didn’t screen or train recruits properly 09:15 We have to get criminals off the street, but it has be done lawfully 10:00 What were the unintended consequences of ICE’s questionable recruitment? 11:15 ICE began poaching state and local police officers 13:15 Should county sheriff be an elected position? 14:30 Political considerations do enter the equation when you’re elected 16:00 Size of jurisdiction does matter when it comes to appointed vs. elected 17:00 Sheriff is elected as a partisan position, but the responsibilities aren’t partisan 18:00 Why did you want to run for governor? 20:30 Want to take experience at local level government to a larger level 21:15 Ron DeSantis threatened to remove him over opposition to ICE 24:00 How would you work with the Republican dominated legislature? 26:00 Republicans have a large voter registration advantage in Florida 27:15 Not interested in being a performance politician 28:30 Why have Democrats been unable to elect a governor in Florida? 29:00 Florida’s legislators are underpaid, don’t attract quality talent 30:45 Many Florida Democrats left the party due to their frustration 32:30 Democrats need to restore belief in government 34:00 What has Ron DeSantis done right? Diversified & grown the economy 36:15 Does Florida need more tax revenue and how do you acquire it? 38:00 Government should always look to find inefficiencies & fix them 39:00 The state keeps burdening local governments with expenses 40:30 State has slashed funding for mental health, leading to violent crime 43:30 There is a lot of fraudulent claims made in Florida, state bad at investigating 44:30 State law enforcement shouldn’t be doing immigration enforcement 45:15 Florida is building in places they shouldn’t be, not factoring climate change 46:15 Florida should be hardening their building and infrastructure 47:30 Should Florida ban manufactured housing? 48:45 Florida needs housing construction standards that make sense 50:00 NAACP calling on athletes to not attend schools in remapping states 51:00 Extreme actions by the government elicit extreme responses 53:00 Tourism in Florida is being threatened by politics 55:15 Politics is dividing people by racial lines See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with the latest from the Iran war's increasingly costly stalemate, arguing Trump doesn't actually want a deal — he wants the ability to declare an accomplishment without ever looking like he capitulated, the same trick he ran with NAFTA and the JCPOA where he ripped up agreements only to sign nearly identical ones under new names. June, Chuck warns, is when the energy shock will start showing up in domestic prices, every day Hormuz stays closed exponentially increases the damage, consumers may begin behaving irrationally and hoarding, and a single bad natural disaster on top of all this could trigger a genuine crisis. But the heart of the episode is Chuck’s meditation on a single phrase: character is destiny in politics. It's not whether character flaws exist — everyone has them — but when those flaws become public and start affecting the people you were elected to serve. Trump's character problems were on display long before he ever became president, but his defenders now include the exact same Rubios and Grahams who used to blast him as morally unfit. And the most uncomfortable part of Chuck argument for the Democratic base: the same progressives who mocked Trump supporters for excusing his behavior are now using essentially identical defenses for Maine's Graham Platner — who has been accused of sexting in 2023, behavior that isn't youthful indiscretion and isn't going away. Chuck argues political parties used to function as imperfect but real vetting organizations, that once voters become emotionally invested in a candidate they will defend literally anything, that running for office sometimes becomes a substitute for therapy rather than a vehicle for service, and that democracy itself depends on elected officials being able to separate their personal motivations from their public obligations — something Biden failed at when his family obligations led to those preemptive pardons. He notes the Bidens were genuinely beloved before the election but Biden's ambition did real harm to his party, his family, and his own legacy. Todd points to Pope Leo as a potential moral leader Americans seem desperate for at exactly the moment when neither party seems remotely interested in finding the best possible actors. He observes that Platner vs. Collins is starting to feel like a rerun of Trump vs. Clinton in 2016 — two candidates voters genuinely don't want to choose between — and closes with quick hits on Jill Biden's forthcoming memoir, the California gubernatorial primary (where Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer could finish in the top two), and the increasingly strange Los Angeles mayoral race in which Karen Bass appears to be deliberately ignoring Spencer Pratt because she would much rather face him in a general election than the genuinely formidable Nithya Raman. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit two stories that occurred on the same day… the Tiananmen square massacre, and Poland’s first post-soviet elections. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Predict the action all the way through the finals. Sign up now for your twenty-five dollar bonus on https://fanduel.com/predicts   Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 05:30 Iran war/ceasefire has settled into a costly stalemate 06:45 Trump doesn’t want a deal, just ability to declare an accomplishment 07:30 Trump doesn’t want to look like he capitulated 08:00 Trump ripped up other deals, then got same deals with new names 09:15 June will be when the impacts of energy shock show up domestically 10:30 Every day Hormuz remains closed exponentially increases the damage 11:30 Consumers may begin to behave irrationally, start hoarding 12:30 If a natural disaster hits during energy shock, it could be major crisis 13:45 Pulling out of WHO has exacerbated Ebola outbreak 15:00 We can’t foresee all negative impacts, we just know they’re coming 16:15 Character is always destiny in politics, it’s a matter of when people see it 18:00 Everybody has their own motivation for voting, character isn’t always important 18:45 People defending character flaws are a huge part of the problem 20:00 Rubio & Graham used to blast Trump’s character, now defend it 20:30 People criticizing Trump’s behavior are now defending Graham Platner’s 22:00 People run for office for a variety of reasons, and sometimes not good ones 23:15 Sometimes entering politics become a substitute for therapy 24:30 Character matters because it’s predictive 25:30 Trump’s character flaws did not stay private, they became public 26:30 Biden ran for office when his kids were in crisis 27:30 Biden’s family obligations competed with public ones, gave preemptive pardons 28:15 Democracy depends on elected officials separating personal & public 29:15 Political parties used to be vetting organizations, even if imperfect 30:00 Once people become emotionally invested in a candidate, they defend them 30:45 Character flaws don’t just disappear, they show up… and affect us all 33:00 Democrats in a difficult spot having to defend Graham Platner 33:45 Plater accused of sexting in 2023, these aren’t youthful indiscretions 34:45 Eric Swalwell’s indiscretions were ignored until they became too much to ignore 37:15 Platner can still win, Susan Collins has worn out her welcome 38:00 Progressives may have put blinders on for Platner 38:45 People who mocked support for Trump using same defenses for Platner 40:00 At some point credibility will matter to a majority of voters 42:30 Trump’s bad behavior has alienated 1/3rd of Republican voters 44:30 Trump is politicizing celebrating America 250…making it hard to celebrate 45:45 Trump’s character flaws were on display well before he became president 46:30 The Pope may become the moral leader Americans are desperate for 48:30 Parties don’t seem to be worried about finding the best possible actors 49:30 Platner vs. Collins feels like a rerun of Trump vs. Clinton in 2016 51:15 Jill Biden to release new memoir - Bidens seem insulated from public opinion 52:15 Before election, the Biden family was fairly beloved by most 52:45 Biden’s ambition did real harm to the party, family and their legacy 53:30 The Bidens are good people and people were willing to overlook their flaws 54:30 Xavier Becerra & Tom Steyer could finish in Top 2 spots in CA gov primary 56:30 Karen Bass has mostly ignored Spencer Pratt in LA mayoral race 57:00 Bass wants to face Pratt rather than Nithya Raman 1:05:00 ToddCast Time Machine - June 4th, 1989 - Tiananmen Square massacre 1:05:30 The image of a man standing in front of a tank is iconic 1:06:30 On the same day, Polish citizens were casting ballots in a post soviet election 1:07:00 One communist system responded with elections, another responded with force 1:08:00 The Chinese students protesting were easy to empathize with 1:08:45 At the time it felt like freedom was advancing and communism was retreating 1:09:45 The elections in Poland humiliated the communist government 1:10:30 Chinese leaders closely watched events in Europe 1:11:15 Protest movement in China was one of the largest in their history 1:12:45 Chinese government cracked down on reformers and protest movement 1:13:30 Martial law was declared and troops moved into Beijing 1:14:15 We don’t have an accounting of the total death toll of protestors 1:14:45 The image we all remember is “tank man” 1:15:15 The incorrect assumption was that China’s middle class would demand rights 1:16:30 China proved that their model could survive and remain durable 1:18:30 Tiananmen ultimately was the birth of the current bipolar world 1:19:30 Poland chose the ballot box, China chose the tank 1:20:00 Ask Chuck 1:20:15 Would you ever consider running for president? Colbert as a running mate? 1:23:30 Do you think Paxton heads into the general overconfident? 1:30:15 Could the “Wyoming Rule” be a more realistic step than expanding house? 1:33:15 Any lesser known founding fathers that deserve more credit? 1:38:15 Thoughts on the Catholic church as a source of moral authority? 1:42:15 Any advice for people needing to step back from news while staying informed? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with the latest from the Iran war's increasingly costly stalemate, arguing Trump doesn't actually want a deal — he wants the ability to declare an accomplishment without ever looking like he capitulated, the same trick he ran with NAFTA and the JCPOA where he ripped up agreements only to sign nearly identical ones under new names. June, Chuck warns, is when the energy shock will start showing up in domestic prices, every day Hormuz stays closed exponentially increases the damage, consumers may begin behaving irrationally and hoarding, and a single bad natural disaster on top of all this could trigger a genuine crisis. But the heart of the episode is Chuck’s meditation on a single phrase: character is destiny in politics. It's not whether character flaws exist — everyone has them — but when those flaws become public and start affecting the people you were elected to serve. Trump's character problems were on display long before he ever became president, but his defenders now include the exact same Rubios and Grahams who used to blast him as morally unfit. And the most uncomfortable part of Chuck argument for the Democratic base: the same progressives who mocked Trump supporters for excusing his behavior are now using essentially identical defenses for Maine's Graham Platner — who has been accused of sexting in 2023, behavior that isn't youthful indiscretion and isn't going away. Chuck argues political parties used to function as imperfect but real vetting organizations, that once voters become emotionally invested in a candidate they will defend literally anything, that running for office sometimes becomes a substitute for therapy rather than a vehicle for service, and that democracy itself depends on elected officials being able to separate their personal motivations from their public obligations — something Biden failed at when his family obligations led to those preemptive pardons. He notes the Bidens were genuinely beloved before the election but Biden's ambition did real harm to his party, his family, and his own legacy. Todd points to Pope Leo as a potential moral leader Americans seem desperate for at exactly the moment when neither party seems remotely interested in finding the best possible actors. He observes that Platner vs. Collins is starting to feel like a rerun of Trump vs. Clinton in 2016 — two candidates voters genuinely don't want to choose between — and closes with quick hits on Jill Biden's forthcoming memoir, the California gubernatorial primary (where Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer could finish in the top two), and the increasingly strange Los Angeles mayoral race in which Karen Bass appears to be deliberately ignoring Spencer Pratt because she would much rather face him in a general election than the genuinely formidable Nithya Raman. Then, Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade — the independent who won a culturally conservative city by running as a true centrist who refuses to be boxed into either party — joins the Chuck Toddcast to make the case that quality-of-life governance still beats partisanship when voters are actually given the chance to choose it. Mobolade, who adapted his governing principles from Abraham Lincoln, argues that there's a genuine and growing appetite for leadership that isn't red or blue — but warns that working for unity is incredibly hard and tiring work that few politicians want to do anymore. He walks through Colorado Springs' fight to retain Space Command after Trump and Biden moved the headquarters back and forth between Colorado Springs and Huntsville, Alabama, and explains why he ultimately chose not to sue over the relocation (the decision was within the president's purview, and burning that bridge would have cost the city more than it gained). Mobolade describes hiring his own mayoral opponent Wayne Williams after the campaign — a move he calls part of his "radical collaboration" approach — and argues that mayors don't have the luxury of partisan posturing because their job is fundamentally about producing deliverables for actual residents who want safer streets, better services, and a higher quality of life. The conversation moves into the practical challenges facing every American mayor in 2026, with data centers emerging as the political pain point in nearly every community across the country. Mobolade describes calling an emergency meeting to develop a data center strategy for Colorado Springs, walks through the balanced-but-responsible-growth framework his team has settled on, and explains the tradeoffs honestly: residents are worried about quality-of-life impacts, but the tax revenue from data centers is exactly what cities need to fund essential services. Larger data centers in his city are now forced to pay impact fees to offset their costs, some are being placed on military bases for security purposes, and Mobolade is candid with residents that they cannot have the services they demand without the revenue base to pay for them. The conversation turns to Colorado Springs' housing shortage — the city has been named one of the best places for young people, but only if young people can actually afford to live there — and Mobolade discusses his work with HUD to expand supply, his belief that the country needs genuine innovation in finding cheaper ways to build, and his frustration with a Colorado political landscape that he says no longer has room for center-left and center-right voices the way it used to. His closing argument is the one that ties the whole episode together: the country needs more independent leadership, not because partisanship is bad in theory, but because the current version of it is incapable of delivering the basics that voters actually care about. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit two stories that occurred on the same day… the Tiananmen square massacre, and Poland’s first post-soviet elections. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Predict the action all the way through the finals. Sign up now for your twenty-five dollar bonus on https://fanduel.com/predicts   Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 05:30 Iran war/ceasefire has settled into a costly stalemate 06:45 Trump doesn’t want a deal, just ability to declare an accomplishment 07:30 Trump doesn’t want to look like he capitulated 08:00 Trump ripped up other deals, then got same deals with new names 09:15 June will be when the impacts of energy shock show up domestically 10:30 Every day Hormuz remains closed exponentially increases the damage 11:30 Consumers may begin to behave irrationally, start hoarding 12:30 If a natural disaster hits during energy shock, it could be major crisis 13:45 Pulling out of WHO has exacerbated Ebola outbreak 15:00 We can’t foresee all negative impacts, we just know they’re coming 16:15 Character is always destiny in politics, it’s a matter of when people see it 18:00 Everybody has their own motivation for voting, character isn’t always important 18:45 People defending character flaws are a huge part of the problem 20:00 Rubio & Graham used to blast Trump’s character, now defend it 20:30 People criticizing Trump’s behavior are now defending Graham Platner’s 22:00 People run for office for a variety of reasons, and sometimes not good ones 23:15 Sometimes entering politics become a substitute for therapy 24:30 Character matters because it’s predictive 25:30 Trump’s character flaws did not stay private, they became public 26:30 Biden ran for office when his kids were in crisis 27:30 Biden’s family obligations competed with public ones, gave preemptive pardons 28:15 Democracy depends on elected officials separating personal & public 29:15 Political parties used to be vetting organizations, even if imperfect 30:00 Once people become emotionally invested in a candidate, they defend them 30:45 Character flaws don’t just disappear, they show up… and affect us all 33:00 Democrats in a difficult spot having to defend Graham Platner 33:45 Plater accused of sexting in 2023, these aren’t youthful indiscretions 34:45 Eric Swalwell’s indiscretions were ignored until they became too much to ignore 37:15 Platner can still win, Susan Collins has worn out her welcome 38:00 Progressives may have put blinders on for Platner 38:45 People who mocked support for Trump using same defenses for Platner 40:00 At some point credibility will matter to a majority of voters 42:30 Trump’s bad behavior has alienated 1/3rd of Republican voters 44:30 Trump is politicizing celebrating America 250…making it hard to celebrate 45:45 Trump’s character flaws were on display well before he became president 46:30 The Pope may become the moral leader Americans are desperate for 48:30 Parties don’t seem to be worried about finding the best possible actors 49:30 Platner vs. Collins feels like a rerun of Trump vs. Clinton in 2016 51:15 Jill Biden to release new memoir - Bidens seem insulated from public opinion 52:15 Before election, the Biden family was fairly beloved by most 52:45 Biden’s ambition did real harm to the party, family and their legacy 53:30 The Bidens are good people and people were willing to overlook their flaws 54:30 Xavier Becerra & Tom Steyer could finish in Top 2 spots in CA gov primary 56:30 Karen Bass has mostly ignored Spencer Pratt in LA mayoral race 57:00 Bass wants to face Pratt rather than Nithya Raman 1:07:00 Mayor Yemi Mobolade joins the Chuck ToddCast 1:08:30 The people care more about quality of life than partisanship 1:09:45 Adapted

Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade — the independent who won a culturally conservative city by running as a true centrist who refuses to be boxed into either party — joins the Chuck Toddcast to make the case that quality-of-life governance still beats partisanship when voters are actually given the chance to choose it. Mobolade, who adapted his governing principles from Abraham Lincoln, argues that there's a genuine and growing appetite for leadership that isn't red or blue — but warns that working for unity is incredibly hard and tiring work that few politicians want to do anymore. He walks through Colorado Springs' fight to retain Space Command after Trump and Biden moved the headquarters back and forth between Colorado Springs and Huntsville, Alabama, and explains why he ultimately chose not to sue over the relocation (the decision was within the president's purview, and burning that bridge would have cost the city more than it gained). Mobolade describes hiring his own mayoral opponent Wayne Williams after the campaign — a move he calls part of his "radical collaboration" approach — and argues that mayors don't have the luxury of partisan posturing because their job is fundamentally about producing deliverables for actual residents who want safer streets, better services, and a higher quality of life. The conversation moves into the practical challenges facing every American mayor in 2026, with data centers emerging as the political pain point in nearly every community across the country. Mobolade describes calling an emergency meeting to develop a data center strategy for Colorado Springs, walks through the balanced-but-responsible-growth framework his team has settled on, and explains the tradeoffs honestly: residents are worried about quality-of-life impacts, but the tax revenue from data centers is exactly what cities need to fund essential services. Larger data centers in his city are now forced to pay impact fees to offset their costs, some are being placed on military bases for security purposes, and Mobolade is candid with residents that they cannot have the services they demand without the revenue base to pay for them. The conversation turns to Colorado Springs' housing shortage — the city has been named one of the best places for young people, but only if young people can actually afford to live there — and Mobolade discusses his work with HUD to expand supply, his belief that the country needs genuine innovation in finding cheaper ways to build, and his frustration with a Colorado political landscape that he says no longer has room for center-left and center-right voices the way it used to. His closing argument is the one that ties the whole episode together: the country needs more independent leadership, not because partisanship is bad in theory, but because the current version of it is incapable of delivering the basics that voters actually care about. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Mayor Yemi Mobolade joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:30 The people care more about quality of life than partisanship 02:45 Adapted governing principles from Abraham Lincoln 03:45 Colorado Springs is culturally conservative, yet elected an independent 05:30 Ran as a true centrist, hard to box in his politics 06:45 There’s an appetite for leadership that isn’t red or blue 7:30 Trump & Biden moved space command back and forth from Co. Springs 08:45 The city fought hard to keep space command  09:30 Worked with the mayor of Huntsville to ensure smooth transition 10:30 Why did you decide not to sue over relocation of space command? 11:15 The decision was within the president’s purview 12:30 The city is safer now than when he took office 13:45 A mayor’s job is to produce deliverables for the people 15:45 There’s a lack of competition of ideas in Colorado politics 16:45 Have a good relationship with the governor and statehouse 17:30 People get too stuck in their partisan lanes 18:00 Working for unity is incredibly hard and tiring 20:15 There used to be room for center-left and center-right in Colorado 21:15 Hired his mayoral opponent Wayne Williams 21:45 Wayne ran a more traditional campaign, Yemi ran on different leadership 23:00 The goal was radical collaboration and the community embraced it 23:45 Data centers are a political pain point of every local community 24:30 Called an emergency meeting to discuss data center strategy 25:15 The sweet spot of data center policy is balanced but responsible growth 26:00 Residents are worried data centers will lower their quality of life 27:30 Data centers being placed on military bases for security 29:30 Larger data centers are forced to pay a fee to offset impact 33:00 Data centers bring in much needed tax dollars 34:00 The city budget needs the revenue to provide essential services 34:30 Residents want services but no data centers… can’t have it both ways 36:30 Colorado Springs also struggling with a housing shortage 38:30 Working with HUD to try to increase housing supply 39:15 Colorado Springs named one of the best cities for young people 40:45 Need innovation in housing construction, find cheaper ways to build 42:30 The country needs more independent leadership See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd uses the fallout from the Texas runoff to identify a much bigger pattern emerging across the Sun Belt — and argues we may be watching a generational realignment of American politics in real time. For decades, Southern states moved steadily from blue to red, with the Sun Belt providing the demographic engine of every Republican majority and Democrats traditionally finding their path to power through the upper Midwest. But Trump's GOP has now moved so far right that it's quietly opening the door for Democrats across the South — the blue shift we've seen in Georgia over the past decade is starting to happen in Texas, and the Trump brand has badly complicated things for the centrist voters who used to keep these states reliably Republican. Chuck argues that successful Southern Republican governors of the past spent enormous energy doing coalition management — keeping their activist wing at bay while delivering for swing voters — but Republicans misread their recent electoral dominance and started catering exclusively to their base instead.The data is clear: election deniers consistently lose in Georgia, and when every single issue becomes a loyalty test, you bleed exactly the kind of voters you need to actually win.  But Chuck’s larger argument is that Democrats are blowing the opportunity. He argues the Democratic path back to power is genuinely simple — economic inequality and the concentration of corporate power are causing virtually all of America's ills, and there's a coherent coalition waiting to be built around those issues — but progressives behave like they've already won the intellectual argument and refuse to do the actual work of persuasion. There's no "pure" way to win, Chuck says: winning coalitions are inherently messy, both party bases want movement politics, but the actual electorate consistently rewards coalition politics. Americans increasingly dislike both parties for very different reasons — moderate voters think Democrats are weak and Republicans are too extreme — and what they're actually hungry for is a coalition that is stable and visibly capable of governing.  Finally, he answers listeners' questions in the "Ask Chuck" segment.  Predict the action all the way through the finals. Sign up now for your twenty-five dollar bonus on https://fanduel.com/predicts   Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 0:15 Fallout from Texas runoff - We’re seeing a pattern in the Sun Belt 1:00 For decades, southern states have been transitioning from blue to red 2:00 Sun belt states have powered the Republican majority 3:15 Democrats path to power used to be the midwest, now is moving south 4:00 Republicans move to the right has created Dem opportunities in Sun Belt 5:30 The shift to blue we’ve seen in Georgia is starting to happen in Texas 6:30 The Trump brand has complicated things for centrist voters in the south 7:15 Will Ken Paxton be the Mark Robinson of Texas? 8:15 Southern governors were able to keep their activist wing at bay 9:45 GOP leaders in the south had to perform coalition management 11:00 Republicans misunderstood election dominance, then catered to base 12:00 Florida GOP has purged most of its institutional wing 13:15 Loudest activists have set the tone for the Republican party 14:00 Arizona GOP went way too far to the right, less competitive now 16:00 Election deniers have consistently lost in Georgia 17:00 When every issue becomes a loyalty test, you bleed voters 18:15 Texas election will test if the Texas GOP went too far right 20:15 Dems path to power is simple, but have to be willing to take it 22:00 Economic inequality & concentration of power are causing all of our ills 22:30 Progressives behave like they’ve won the intellectual argument 23:15 It’s hard to convince most dedicated supporters what the winning path is 24:15 Republicans are losing due to Trump’s purging of the party 26:30 There’s no “pure” way to win, winning coalitions are messy 27:45 Both bases want movement politics, electorate rewards coalition politics 29:15 Americans increasingly dislike both parties for different reasons 31:15 Base Democrats are taking the wrong lessons from Trump 32:00 Moderate voters think Dems are weak, and GOP is too extreme 33:15 Voters want a coalition that’s stable and capable of governing 35:30 Biden governed differently than he campaign and voters punished him  41:30 Ask Chuck 41:45 Taking the high road in politics doesn’t always work, worth the trade off? 47:15 How do you see election results in 2026 shaping the gerrymandering fight? 50:15 Are presidential approval polls too limited or not comprehensive enough? 54:30 Do you see a path forward for people who believe in healing our politics? 1:01:15 Would it make sense to draw districts without humans involved using metrics? 1:08:45 Is expanding the house realistic considering politics & public perception? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd uses the fallout from the Texas runoff to identify a much bigger pattern emerging across the Sun Belt — and argues we may be watching a generational realignment of American politics in real time. For decades, Southern states moved steadily from blue to red, with the Sun Belt providing the demographic engine of every Republican majority and Democrats traditionally finding their path to power through the upper Midwest. But Trump's GOP has now moved so far right that it's quietly opening the door for Democrats across the South — the blue shift we've seen in Georgia over the past decade is starting to happen in Texas, and the Trump brand has badly complicated things for the centrist voters who used to keep these states reliably Republican. Chuck argues that successful Southern Republican governors of the past spent enormous energy doing coalition management — keeping their activist wing at bay while delivering for swing voters — but Republicans misread their recent electoral dominance and started catering exclusively to their base instead.The data is clear: election deniers consistently lose in Georgia, and when every single issue becomes a loyalty test, you bleed exactly the kind of voters you need to actually win.  But Chuck’s larger argument is that Democrats are blowing the opportunity. He argues the Democratic path back to power is genuinely simple — economic inequality and the concentration of corporate power are causing virtually all of America's ills, and there's a coherent coalition waiting to be built around those issues — but progressives behave like they've already won the intellectual argument and refuse to do the actual work of persuasion. There's no "pure" way to win, Chuck says: winning coalitions are inherently messy, both party bases want movement politics, but the actual electorate consistently rewards coalition politics. Americans increasingly dislike both parties for very different reasons — moderate voters think Democrats are weak and Republicans are too extreme — and what they're actually hungry for is a coalition that is stable and visibly capable of governing.  Then, novelist Elliot Ackerman and retired Admiral James Stavridis — the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander — join the Chuck Toddcast to discuss their new novel 2084 and to deliver some deeply uncomfortable warnings about where war, technology, and great-power competition are actually headed. The duo, whose previous collaboration 2034 imagined a U.S.-China war, are quick to clarify that their work isn't predictive fiction — it's cautionary fiction, written from the conviction that major disasters almost always stem from a failure of imagination, and that the only way to prevent the worst-case scenarios is to seriously imagine them first. Ackerman and Stavridis argue that war has fundamentally changed, that superpowers are now uniquely vulnerable to asymmetric warfare, and that victors are made or unmade by their willingness to adapt to new technologies — pointing to the Ukraine war as a real-time revolution in drone combat and AI-driven battlefield decision-making. They raise the hardest moral question facing modern militaries: do you always need a human in the loop of the kill chain, and if not, who is morally responsible when something goes wrong? Different countries are answering that question in different ways, with profoundly different ethical and strategic consequences. The conversation broadens into the deeper structural concerns animating 2084. Ackerman and Stavridis warn that one of the gravest threats to the international order is the rise of corporations whose power is beginning to rival that of nation-states — and they argue the defining feature of a nation-state has always been its monopoly on violence, meaning governments will eventually be forced to ensure corporations can't apply violence at scale (a fight that has already begun in subtle ways). They flag Trump's recent summit with Xi Jinping as a massive win for China, with Xi clearly presenting himself as the senior partner while Trump walked away with very little — and the meeting was particularly catastrophic for Taiwan, whose strategic standing has now been visibly weakened. The authors discuss whether democracy will remain the defining feature of America going forward, whether the country can overcome its current internal divisions, and how human patterns of warfare repeat themselves across centuries even as the technology evolves. They make the case that the 1983 film War Games was prescient and overdue for a reboot, that military action against Cuba would be nothing like Venezuela — politically much tougher given the engaged Cuban-American community in Florida, and economically far more expensive on the reconstruction side — and that Venezuela itself has the natural resources to one day become "the Dubai of the Caribbean" if its politics ever stabilize. Their bottom-line warning is the one most worth sitting with: the war between the United States and China is the one we all hope to avoid, and the only way to make sure it never happens is to take seriously the possibility that it could. Finally, he answers listeners' questions in the "Ask Chuck" segment. Predict the action all the way through the finals. Sign up now for your twenty-five dollar bonus on https://fanduel.com/predicts   Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 03:00 Fallout from Texas runoff - We’re seeing a pattern in the Sun Belt 03:45 For decades,southern states have been transitioning from blue to red 04:45 Sun belt states have powered the Republican majority 06:00 Democrats path to power used to be the midwest, now is moving south 06:45 Republicans move to the right has created Dem opportunities in Sun Belt 08:15 The shift to blue we’ve seen in Georgia is starting to happen in Texas 09:15 The Trump brand has complicated things for centrist voters in the south 10:00 Will Ken Paxton be the Mark Robinson of Texas? 11:00 Southern governors were able to keep their activist wing at bay 12:30 GOP leaders in the south had to perform coalition management 13:45 Republicans misunderstood election dominance, then catered to base 14:45 Florida GOP has purged most of its institutional wing 16:00 Loudest activists have set the tone for the Republican party 16:45 Arizona GOP went way too far to the right, less competitive now 18:45 Election deniers have consistently lost in Georgia 19:45 When every issue becomes a loyalty test, you bleed voters 21:00 Texas election will test if the Texas GOP went too far right 23:00 Dems path to power is simple, but have to be willing to take it 24:45 Economic inequality & concentration of power are causing all of our ills 25:15 Progressives behave like they’ve won the intellectual argument 26:00 It’s hard to convince most dedicated supporters what the winning path is 27:00 Republicans are losing due to Trump’s purging of the party 29:15 There’s no “pure” way to win, winning coalitions are messy 30:30 Both bases want movement politics, electorate rewards coalition politics 32:00 Americans increasingly dislike both parties for different reasons 34:00 Base Democrats are taking the wrong lessons from Trump 34:45 Moderate voters think Dems are weak, and GOP is too extreme 36:00 Voters want a coalition that’s stable and capable of governing 38:15 Biden governed differently than he campaign and voters punished him 44:30 Elliot Ackerman & Admiral James Stavridis join the Chuck ToddCast 45:30 2084 is not predictive fiction, it’s cautionary fiction 46:30 Major disasters come from a failure of imagination 47:45 Planned the arc of multiple books in advance 49:00 You can’t be too dystopian or too pollyannish 50:00 War has changed and superpowers are vulnerable to asymmetric war 50:45 Victors are made by adapting to new technologies 51:15 Ukraine war has revolutionized fighting with drones and AI 52:00 War is terrible and drones risk “gamifying” it 53:30 Questions surround whether humans must be involved in “kill chain” 55:15 Always having a human in the loop may not always be best option 56:15 AI tools have moral questions that countries answer differently 57:30 The risk of corporations being more powerful than nation states 58:45 Nation states will ensure that corporations can’t apply violence at scale 59:45 Defining feature of a nation state is a monopoly on violence 1:02:30 Book predicts that Greenland will be growing wine due to climate change 1:03:00 War between U.S. and China is the one we all hope to avoid 1:03:30 Trump’s summit with Xi was a massive with for Xi and China 1:04:00 Xi seemed like the senior partner, Trump got very little\ 1:04:45 The summit was terrible for Taiwan 1:06:00 2034 started with the thesis of the U.S. and China going to war 1:08:15 Will democracy remain the defining feature of America? 1:08:45 Can America overcome the big divisions in the nation? 1:10:15 War is something humans have engaged in & you can see patterns emerge 1:12:30 Other war books served as cautionary fiction & inspiration for the book 1:14:45 The movie “War Games” needs a reboot, it was prescient 1:16:00 Military action against Cuba won’t be like Venezuela, will be much tougher 1:17:00 The Cuban American community in Florida would be very engaged 1:18:15 Venezuela has the resources to be Dubai on the Caribbean 1:18:45 Reconstruction of Cuba would be wildly expensive 1:19:30 What is your next project? 1:20:00 Don’t need to read the earlier books to read 2084, they stand on their own  1:22:15 Ask Chuck 1:22:3

Novelist Elliot Ackerman and retired Admiral James Stavridis — the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander — join the Chuck Toddcast to discuss their new novel 2084 and to deliver some deeply uncomfortable warnings about where war, technology, and great-power competition are actually headed. The duo, whose previous collaboration 2034 imagined a U.S.-China war, are quick to clarify that their work isn't predictive fiction — it's cautionary fiction, written from the conviction that major disasters almost always stem from a failure of imagination, and that the only way to prevent the worst-case scenarios is to seriously imagine them first. Ackerman and Stavridis argue that war has fundamentally changed, that superpowers are now uniquely vulnerable to asymmetric warfare, and that victors are made or unmade by their willingness to adapt to new technologies — pointing to the Ukraine war as a real-time revolution in drone combat and AI-driven battlefield decision-making. They raise the hardest moral question facing modern militaries: do you always need a human in the loop of the kill chain, and if not, who is morally responsible when something goes wrong? Different countries are answering that question in different ways, with profoundly different ethical and strategic consequences. The conversation broadens into the deeper structural concerns animating 2084. Ackerman and Stavridis warn that one of the gravest threats to the international order is the rise of corporations whose power is beginning to rival that of nation-states — and they argue the defining feature of a nation-state has always been its monopoly on violence, meaning governments will eventually be forced to ensure corporations can't apply violence at scale (a fight that has already begun in subtle ways). They flag Trump's recent summit with Xi Jinping as a massive win for China, with Xi clearly presenting himself as the senior partner while Trump walked away with very little — and the meeting was particularly catastrophic for Taiwan, whose strategic standing has now been visibly weakened. The authors discuss whether democracy will remain the defining feature of America going forward, whether the country can overcome its current internal divisions, and how human patterns of warfare repeat themselves across centuries even as the technology evolves. They make the case that the 1983 film War Games was prescient and overdue for a reboot, that military action against Cuba would be nothing like Venezuela — politically much tougher given the engaged Cuban-American community in Florida, and economically far more expensive on the reconstruction side — and that Venezuela itself has the natural resources to one day become "the Dubai of the Caribbean" if its politics ever stabilize. Their bottom-line warning is the one most worth sitting with: the war between the United States and China is the one we all hope to avoid, and the only way to make sure it never happens is to take seriously the possibility that it could. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Elliot Ackerman & Admiral James Stavridis join the Chuck ToddCast 01:00 2084 is not predictive fiction, it’s cautionary fiction 02:00 Major disasters come from a failure of imagination 03:15 Planned the arc of multiple books in advance 04:30 You can’t be too dystopian or too pollyannish  05:30 War has changed and superpowers are vulnerable to asymmetric war 06:15 Victors are made by adapting to new technologies 06:45 Ukraine war has revolutionized fighting with drones and AI 07:30 War is terrible and drones risk “gamifying” it 09:00 Questions surround whether humans must be involved in “kill chain” 10:45 Always having a human in the loop may not always be best option 11:45 AI tools have moral questions that countries answer differently 13:00 The risk of corporations being more powerful than nation states 14:15 Nation states will ensure that corporations can’t apply violence at scale 15:15 Defining feature of a nation state is a monopoly on violence 18:00 Book predicts that Greenland will be growing wine due to climate change 18:30 War between U.S. and China is the one we all hope to avoid 19:00 Trump’s summit with Xi was a massive with for Xi and China 19:30 Xi seemed like the senior partner, Trump got very little\ 20:15 The summit was terrible for Taiwan 21:30 2034 started with the thesis of the U.S. and China going to war 23:45 Will democracy remain the defining feature of America? 24:15 Can America overcome the big divisions in the nation? 25:45 War is something humans have engaged in & you can see patterns emerge 28:00 Other war books served as cautionary fiction & inspiration for the book 30:15 The movie “War Games” needs a reboot, it was prescient  31:30 Military action against Cuba won’t be like Venezuela, will be much tougher 32:30 The Cuban American community in Florida would be very engaged 33:45 Venezuela has the resources to be Dubai on the Caribbean 34:15 Reconstruction of Cuba would be wildly expensive 35:00 What is your next project? 35:30 Don’t need to read the earlier books to read 2084, they stand on their own See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with Ken Paxton's runoff blowout over John Cornyn — a result that confirms Texas Republicans remain the base of what eventually grew into MAGA nationally, that the insurgent wing of the GOP consistently wins in the state, and that Paxton is somehow simultaneously the least electable nominee Republicans could have picked and still electable enough to make this a real fight. He argues Texas is slowly moving toward swing state status the way Georgia did over the past decade — the ingredients are there for a Democrat to finally break through, the question is whether James Talarico can move his 45% number higher and prove he's the political athlete this moment requires. The downstream consequences for Republicans are brutal: the GOP will have to drop a $500 million anvil on Talarico that can't be deployed in other races, and Democrats' path to a Senate majority just got measurably wider.  But the more fascinating story Chuck unpacks is Pope Leo's stunning new document on AI, automated weapons, and concentrated power — a text Chuck argues is essentially an indictment of American military dominance dressed in the language of moral theology. The Pope explicitly compares AI-driven targeting systems to slavery, arguing both reduce human beings to data points and dehumanize their victims, and apologizes for the church's historic slowness on slavery while warning Catholics that they cannot afford the same slowness on artificial intelligence. He declares the centuries-old "just war" framework outdated, argues that no algorithm can ever make war morally acceptable, and pushes back forcefully on the entire concept of nuclear deterrence — drawing a direct line back to Pope Leo XIII's 1891 intervention on industrial capitalism. He argues the document, while never naming the United States, is speaking directly to American politicians: it's framed as a call for a moral framework around AI that can live above the political discourse, an explicit argument that technological capital must be regulated, and a warning that AI is not morally neutral no matter how much Silicon Valley wishes it were. The larger message is unmistakable — the Pope, who Chuck notes is now arguably the most formidable global moral voice that even secular Americans look to for clarity, has just put concentrated technological power on notice in a way no head of state has been willing to. Then, Virginia Kase Solomon — president of Common Cause, one of the country's oldest and most respected pro-democracy organizations — joins the Chuck Toddcast to deliver a clear-eyed assessment of just how broken American self-government has become, and what it might actually take to fix it. Kase Solomon argues that Trump's corruption has gone so far beyond anything in modern history that it makes Watergate look quaint by comparison — she points to Trump stealing roughly $1.8 billion from American taxpayers as a single staggering example — but warns that the most dangerous development isn't the corruption itself, it's that young voters are growing up normalized to it, with no living memory of an administration where this kind of behavior carried consequences. She makes a striking comparison to Hungary, where it took genuinely staggering levels of corruption before Orbán could be toppled, and where the opposition only succeeded once it tied that corruption directly to degrading quality of life for ordinary people — a lesson she says American Democrats badly need to learn. They note that there are real bipartisan calls to address money in politics, that a congressional stock trading ban enjoys overwhelming public support, that Amy Klobuchar's Disclose Act keeps getting reintroduced and ignored, and that forced disclosure of large-dollar donors alone would significantly reduce political giving — but the country is on a runaway train, with big tech money flowing to whoever holds power and Trump openly running the country like a corporation. The conversation broadens into Kase Solomon's structural diagnosis of why American democracy isn't working. She argues that the way the founders designed the country no longer functions in the modern era — but that the founders also gave us the tools to fix what's broken if we choose to use them. Congress is too small to genuinely represent the public, the Senate is horribly malapportioned, the Supreme Court has offered no real solution to the gerrymandering crisis, and we've completely lost the "statesmen" in Congress who once voted their conscience because there's no longer any incentive to compromise or work across the aisle. She is deeply concerned about the regulatory vacuum around AI — deepfakes have terrifying implications for elections and civil litigation is currently the only meaningful path to push back — and she warns that the election of judges has corrupted the rule of law in ways America needs a movement to address. Despite all of this, she  is genuinely hopeful: Common Cause is litigating against the corruption, organizing a million conversations between activists and ordinary Americans, and operating from the conviction that the public isn't stupid and still loves this country. Her closing argument is the most American one possible: the United States has always emerged from its darkest periods better than it went in — but only because people refused to accept the broken system as permanent, and that work has to start now. Finally, Chuck reveals his ToddCast Top 5 list of Democrats who could be vaulted into 2028 contender status for the presidency if they perform well in the midterms. He highlights two midwestern gubernatorial candidates, two upstart senate bids and one name that stands above the rest… Jon Ossoff of Georgia. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.   Predict the action all the way through the finals. Sign up now for your twenty-five dollar bonus on https://fanduel.com/predicts   Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 03:30 Ken Paxton trounces John Cornyn in runoff election  05:00 Texas Republicans are the base for what grew into MAGA nationally 07:15 The insurgent wing of the GOP consistently wins in Texas 09:00 Paxton is the least electable nominee, but he’s still electable 10:30 Is 45% Talarico’s ceiling, or can he move that number higher? 11:30 Texas is slowly moving towards swing state status like Georgia did 13:00 Ingredients are there for a Democrat to finally break through in TX 15:30 Senate Republicans won’t be happy having to serve with Paxton 16:00 Texas is more winnable than other races for GOP, will have to spend in TX 16:30 Republicans will have to spend big to drop the anvil on Talarico 17:30 We’ll find out how talented of a political athlete Talarico is 19:30 This will be the magnet race that national reporters will focus on 21:30 Race will cost the GOP $500m that can’t be deployed elsewhere 23:15 Democrats now have a better chance of winning the senate 24:00 The Pope speaks to more than Catholics, seculars look to him for moral clarity 25:00 The Pope is formidable influencer in America 26:15 The Pope speaks out about AI, concentrated power & the “just war” theory 26:45 He compared automated weapons to slavery 28:00 The Pope spoke out similarly in 1891 during the Industrial Revolution 29:00 The Pope’s document says AI is not morally neutral 30:15 Document argues that technological capital needs to be regulated 30:45 The church has had a “just war” framework for hundreds of years 31:15 Pope Leo says “just war” framework is outdated 32:15 Document argues no algorithm can make war morally acceptable 33:15 Document argues against the concept of nuclear deterrence 33:45 Pope apologizes for church’s role in slavery 34:30 Document says AI systems reduce human beings into targeting data 35:00 Pope argues the dehumanization of AI targeting is similar to slavery 36:00 While not saying it directly, the document is speaking about the United States 37:00 The document is an indictment of American military dominance 38:30 Document does have a carve-out for self defence 40:15 The document was speaking directly to American politicians 41:30 A call for a moral framework for AI can live above the political discourse 42:30 Pope argues church was too slow on slavery, can’t be slow on AI 49:00 Virginia Kase Solomon (Common Cause) joins the Chuck ToddCast 50:30 Common Cause works to hold the government accountable to the people 51:30 Corporate lobbies have disproportionate power compared to people 52:15 Many people threw their hands up after Citizen’s United 53:30 States are working to change campaign finance rules 55:15 States can ban companies in their state from making political donations 57:00 Rules changes but money always seems to find a way around them 59:00 Parties stopped becoming the epicenter of political donations 1:00:30 There are bipartisan calls to do something about money in politics 1:02:00 More GOP support for reform at the state level than national level 1:02:45 We’re on a runaway train for money in politics 1:03:30 Big tech money goes to whoever is in power 1:04:00 The country is being run like a corporation 1:04:45 Jamie Raskin has started an anti-corruption task force 1:05:15 A congressional stock trading ban has massive public support 1:06:15 Trump is obviously corrupt, but people fear him too much to act 1:07:30 Forced disclosure of large dollar donors would reduce donations 1:0

Virginia Kase Solomon — president of Common Cause, one of the country's oldest and most respected pro-democracy organizations — joins the Chuck Toddcast to deliver a clear-eyed assessment of just how broken American self-government has become, and what it might actually take to fix it. Kase Solomon argues that Trump's corruption has gone so far beyond anything in modern history that it makes Watergate look quaint by comparison — she points to Trump stealing roughly $1.8 billion from American taxpayers as a single staggering example — but warns that the most dangerous development isn't the corruption itself, it's that young voters are growing up normalized to it, with no living memory of an administration where this kind of behavior carried consequences. She makes a striking comparison to Hungary, where it took genuinely staggering levels of corruption before Orbán could be toppled, and where the opposition only succeeded once it tied that corruption directly to degrading quality of life for ordinary people — a lesson she says American Democrats badly need to learn. They note that there are real bipartisan calls to address money in politics, that a congressional stock trading ban enjoys overwhelming public support, that Amy Klobuchar's Disclose Act keeps getting reintroduced and ignored, and that forced disclosure of large-dollar donors alone would significantly reduce political giving — but the country is on a runaway train, with big tech money flowing to whoever holds power and Trump openly running the country like a corporation. The conversation broadens into Kase Solomon's structural diagnosis of why American democracy isn't working. She argues that the way the founders designed the country no longer functions in the modern era — but that the founders also gave us the tools to fix what's broken if we choose to use them. Congress is too small to genuinely represent the public, the Senate is horribly malapportioned, the Supreme Court has offered no real solution to the gerrymandering crisis, and we've completely lost the "statesmen" in Congress who once voted their conscience because there's no longer any incentive to compromise or work across the aisle. She is deeply concerned about the regulatory vacuum around AI — deepfakes have terrifying implications for elections and civil litigation is currently the only meaningful path to push back — and she warns that the election of judges has corrupted the rule of law in ways America needs a movement to address. Despite all of this, she  is genuinely hopeful: Common Cause is litigating against the corruption, organizing a million conversations between activists and ordinary Americans, and operating from the conviction that the public isn't stupid and still loves this country. Her closing argument is the most American one possible: the United States has always emerged from its darkest periods better than it went in — but only because people refused to accept the broken system as permanent, and that work has to start now.   Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Virginia Kase Solomon (Common Cause) joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:30 Common Cause works to hold the government accountable to the people 02:30 Corporate lobbies have disproportionate power compared to people 03:15 Many people threw their hands up after Citizen’s United 04:30 States are working to change campaign finance rules 06:15 States can ban companies in their state from making political donations 08:00 Rules changes but money always seems to find a way around them 10:00 Parties stopped becoming the epicenter of political donations 11:30 There are bipartisan calls to do something about money in politics 13:00 More GOP support for reform at the state level than national level 13:45 We’re on a runaway train for money in politics 14:30 Big tech money goes to whoever is in power 15:00 The country is being run like a corporation 15:45 Jamie Raskin has started an anti-corruption task force 16:15 A congressional stock trading ban has massive public support 17:15 Trump is obviously corrupt, but people fear him too much to act 18:30 Forced disclosure of large dollar donors would reduce donations 19:30 Amy Klobuchar has put forward the Disclose Act in almost every congress 22:00 The Trump administration’s corruption is beyond egregious 22:45 Trump stealing $1.8 billion from taxpayers, makes Watergate look quaint 24:15 Young voters have grown up being normalized to this corruption 24:45 There will be a backlash to the corruption at some point 25:45 America’s long term global standing has been severely damaged 26:30 Common Cause is involved in litigation trying to prevent the corruption 28:30 Striving to have a million conversations between organizers & normal people 29:45 People are struggling and feeling fatigued 31:30 It took staggering levels of corruption in Hungary before Orban was toppled 32:30 Opposition in Hungary tied corruption to degrading quality of life 34:30 A fairness criteria was implemented in the California redistricting 35:30 CA and VA put redistricting before the voters, but still a race to the bottom 36:00 The Supreme Court hasn’t offered any solution to gerrymandering problem 37:00 Congress is too small to effectively represent the public 37:45 The senate is horribly malapportioned 39:30 The way the founders designed the country doesn’t work anymore 40:00 The founders gave us the tools to fix the democracy 42:15 There’s no incentive to work in a bipartisan manner or compromise 43:45 We’ve lost the “statesmen” in congress who vote their conscience 44:30 Politics has become a zero sum game 45:45 Politics has always been dirty, but we’ve hit an all-time low 47:00 Government seems completely unequipped to regulate AI 49:45 Deepfakes impact on elections are very concerning 51:00 Civil litigation is the only current path to push back on AI 52:30 Status of “sunshine laws” in the country? Could they be rolled back? 54:45 Need a movement against the election of the judiciary 57:45 The reason for optimism… is that people aren’t stupid and love the country 58:30 Our country has always emerged better after dark times See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with a brutal verdict on the emerging Iran "deal": it's just a worse version of the Obama agreement Trump once tore up, Iran has effectively avoided every stated goal Trump and Israel set out to achieve, and Tehran retains control of the Strait of Hormuz — meaning this is unambiguously a loss for the United States, no matter how the administration tries to spin it. He argues Trump bit off far more than he could chew, that Bibi Netanyahu put his faith into Donald Trump (which never ends well), and that America's standing has been diminished in ways that will reverberate for years. Iran's regime won't be able to repress its own people forever, He notes, but the window to actually topple it during the protests was missed — and Gulf state allies will now be dealing with the Iranians for much longer than they bargained for, having quietly hoped the U.S. and Israel would do their dirty work for them. The political damage at home is just as severe. He cites the Wall Street Journal christening the past seven days as "the week that broke Trump's hold on Congress," with the president now underwater on every single issue, consumer confidence unlikely to recover before the midterms, the Senate unable to fund DHS through reconciliation because Trump makes bipartisan solutions impossible, and his January 6th slush fund producing a backlash that won't go away — with Republican senators visibly wavering. Chuck's verdict on the lame duck arriving early: this is a failed first two years of the Trump presidency, and the stronger his grip on the party, the weaker that party becomes in general elections. He blasts Todd Blanche for turning the DOJ into Trump's personal legal team (Blanche should be impeached, Todd argues, and nothing coming out of this DOJ can be trusted), tears into the long-awaited DNC autopsy of the 2024 loss as paralyzed, tone-deaf, and poorly thought-out — naming Ken Martin as the wrong person to lead the DNC and noting that the simple truth Democrats can't bring themselves to face is that the party is perceived as too liberal in a country with more conservatives than progressives. He flags Mike Duggan dropping out of the Michigan governor's race after his hoped-for contentious Democratic primary never materialized, and Tulsi Gabbard's resignation as DNI proving that the position itself was never really necessary Then, former Marine sniper AJ Pasciuti — author of the new book Dark Horse and host of the Combat Story podcast — joins the Chuck Toddcast for one of the most riveting and clear-eyed conversations about military service, leadership, and the realities of modern war. Pasciuti was 16 years old on September 11th, enlisted at 17, and eventually became the Marine who led the team that killed "Juba" — the notorious Iraqi sniper who uploaded videos of his American kills to the internet to taunt the U.S. military. He walks listeners through the entire hunt: how Marines studied Juba's uploaded footage to identify his patterns, how the team set a trap, how Pasciuti spotted Juba in his hide by catching the glint off the lens of a Sony Handycam, and how he knew within minutes that they'd gotten him — while emphasizing that he may have pulled the trigger but it was an entire team that brought Juba down. Pasciuti reflects on the strange experience of fighting enemies who saw themselves as freedom fighters rather than terrorists, why attention to detail is the trait that weeds out most sniper candidates, and how snipers are ultimately meant to combat the enemy emotionally as much as physically. The conversation broadens into a sweeping meditation on what military service teaches you about America — and where Pasciuti worries the country is heading. He calls the military one of the last bastions of the American dream, where opportunity is real but has to be earned, and argues that a culture promoting service to the greater good over the accumulation of wealth would make America measurably healthier.. Pasciuti is openly worried about political leadership infecting the values of the military, makes the case that empathy must be viewed as a strength rather than a weakness in military leadership, and insists his book is political but not partisan — it's about values. He offers a vital warning that the Taliban proved asymmetrical warfare can defeat a stronger foe, that drone warfare is dangerously dehumanizing combat by reducing casualties to dollars and cents, and that the most important thing any soldier carries home is their soul intact — something he says becomes harder every year as the social contract between America and its veterans erodes. Pasciuti describes seeing fear rather than hatred in the eyes of a dying enemy combatant, a moment that has stayed with him, and explains why he can't support any politician who describes a political opponent as an enemy. He shares his experience running for city council and personally knocking on thousands of doors, his frustration with the financial barriers to entry in modern politics, and his belief that current discourse simply doesn't allow for real dialogue. He closes with the most powerful observation of the episode, made for Memorial Day: the holiday isn't about those who came home — it's about those who didn't — and anyone calling for war should be required to first sit down and have a conversation with a Gold Star family. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine for a thoughtful Memorial Day reflection on how countries honor their war dead — and how the rituals they choose reveal who they understand themselves to be. He traces Memorial Day back to its actual origins in the Civil War and its 600,000 American dead, including the powerful and often-forgotten story of formerly enslaved people who reburied Union soldiers from a mass grave to give them the dignified resting place their country had failed to provide. He explains that the date was chosen not because of a specific battle but because of when flowers bloom, that Southern states kept parallel remembrance traditions for the Confederacy, and that Memorial Day's secondary role as the unofficial start of summer has always made it a uniquely American hybrid of grief and gathering — which, Chuck argues, is actually one of its virtues, because coming together is how communities find common ground. He surveys how other nations approach the same task: WWI created a uniquely Canadian identity around remembrance, Russia centers its V-Day celebrations on WWII triumph as the foundation of national identity, Germany approaches its war dead cautiously and somberly with a deep awareness of historical responsibility, and Japan frames remembrance through loss, peace, and explicit anti-war reflection. His larger argument is that the story and tone of a country's remembrance day reveals exactly how it understands itself — what it celebrates, what it confronts, and what it would rather not look at. He closes with the smallest but most important reminder of the day: you don't say "Happy Memorial Day." He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Predict the action all the way through the finals. Sign up now for your twenty-five dollar bonus on https://fanduel.com/predicts  Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 04:00 Pending Iran deal looks like a worse version of Obama’s deal 04:45 Iran looks to have avoided all of Trump + Israel’s stated goals 05:15 Iran retains control of Strait, that means this is a loss for Trump 06:15 Trump is capitulating, and this diminishes America’s standing 07:15 Administration hoping to sweep Iran under the rug in time for the midterms 08:00 Normally, America would be leading Ebola response. Trump destroyed USAID 08:45 Helping with disease outbreaks was about protecting us at home 10:00 Unlikely the Iranian regime will be able to repress their people forever 11:00 Trump bit off more than he could chew and needs an offramp 11:45 Bibi put his faith into Donald Trump, which never goes well 13:00 Trump hires flawed people that could only work for him. Makes them loyal 14:15 Politics infects every decision Trump makes 15:45 Gulf state allies will have to deal with Iran for much longer now 16:30 Missed the window to topple the regime during the protests 18:00 Gulf states were hoping U.S. and Israel would do their dirty work 18:30 Trump was worst possible commander in chief for this moment 19:30 It’s a big loss for Trump, but he had no choice but to end the war 22:00 New polling shows Trump approval tanking, huge generic Dem advantage 23:45 WSJ dubs the past week, “The week the broke Trump’s hold on Congress” 25:00 Trump is underwater on every issue 26:00 It’s highly unlikely consumer confidence will rise before the midterms 27:00 Trump is directly responsible for higher inflation and cost of living 28:00 Senate cannot find way to fund DHS through reconciliation 29:30 Trump makes any bipartisan solution impossible 30:15 Todd Banche is making DOJ Trump’s personal attorneys 31:45 Can’t trust anything this DOJ says. Blanche should be impeached* 33:15 Trump’s J6 slush fund is likely illegal and has GOP senators wavering 34:15 Backlash to slush fund isn’t going away 35:45 The stronger Trump grips the party, the weaker it is in general elections 36:30 The lame duck is here. This a failed first two years of Trump’s presidency 37:15 DNC finally releases autopsy of 2024 election loss 37:45 Ken Martin is the wrong person for the DNC

Former Marine sniper AJ Pasciuti — author of the new book Dark Horse and host of the Combat Story podcast — joins the Chuck Toddcast for one of the most riveting and clear-eyed conversations about military service, leadership, and the realities of modern war. Pasciuti was 16 years old on September 11th, enlisted at 17, and eventually became the Marine who led the team that killed "Juba" — the notorious Iraqi sniper who uploaded videos of his American kills to the internet to taunt the U.S. military. He walks listeners through the entire hunt: how Marines studied Juba's uploaded footage to identify his patterns, how the team set a trap, how Pasciuti spotted Juba in his hide by catching the glint off the lens of a Sony Handycam, and how he knew within minutes that they'd gotten him — while emphasizing that he may have pulled the trigger but it was an entire team that brought Juba down. Pasciuti reflects on the strange experience of fighting enemies who saw themselves as freedom fighters rather than terrorists, why attention to detail is the trait that weeds out most sniper candidates, and how snipers are ultimately meant to combat the enemy emotionally as much as physically. The conversation broadens into a sweeping meditation on what military service teaches you about America — and where Pasciuti worries the country is heading. He calls the military one of the last bastions of the American dream, where opportunity is real but has to be earned, and argues that a culture promoting service to the greater good over the accumulation of wealth would make America measurably healthier.. Pasciuti is openly worried about political leadership infecting the values of the military, makes the case that empathy must be viewed as a strength rather than a weakness in military leadership, and insists his book is political but not partisan — it's about values. He offers a vital warning that the Taliban proved asymmetrical warfare can defeat a stronger foe, that drone warfare is dangerously dehumanizing combat by reducing casualties to dollars and cents, and that the most important thing any soldier carries home is their soul intact — something he says becomes harder every year as the social contract between America and its veterans erodes. Pasciuti describes seeing fear rather than hatred in the eyes of a dying enemy combatant, a moment that has stayed with him, and explains why he can't support any politician who describes a political opponent as an enemy. He shares his experience running for city council and personally knocking on thousands of doors, his frustration with the financial barriers to entry in modern politics, and his belief that current discourse simply doesn't allow for real dialogue. He closes with the most powerful observation of the episode, made for Memorial Day: the holiday isn't about those who came home — it's about those who didn't — and anyone calling for war should be required to first sit down and have a conversation with a Gold Star family. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 AJ Pasciuti (Dark Horse) joins the Chuck ToddCast 02:00 If you wrote the book 10 years ago, how would it have been different? 03:30 You gain extra perspective about “why” when more time has passed 04:15 Leadership is currently in very short supply 06:15 The book is a love letter and thank you to people who shaped AJ’s life 08:15 The military is one of the last bastions of the American dream 09:15 Was 16 years old on 9/11 and the attack inspired AJ to enlist at 17 10:15 How did you identify that you had the skills to be a sniper? 11:45 Gunnery Sgt. Jackson helped set AJ on his trajectory 12:30 What is training for a sniper like? 13:30 Attention to details is the trait that weeds out most sniper candidates 14:15 Snipers have to be self-dependent, must rely on yourself for survival 15:30 Snipers are meant to combat the enemy emotionally, scare them 16:15 “Juba” may not have been just one enemy sniper & hunted Americans 16:45 Juba uploaded videos of sniper kills of Americans to the internet 17:30 Watching the videos allowed marines to understand Juba’s patterns 18:00 Set up a trap for Juba and Juba fell into it 19:00 AJ knew they had killed Juba within minutes 20:00 Caught a glint of the lens of a Sony handycam to spot Juba 21:15 AJ may have pulled the trigger, but it was an entire team that got him 22:45 Marines were shocked that people would fight for a tyrant like Saddam 23:30 We viewed the enemies as terrorists, they viewed themselves as freedom fighters 25:15 Does the message to the troops today seem different than when you served? 26:15 When we send Americans into conflict, it must be for a just cause 26:45 There’s a responsibility that comes with having the greatest military in history 27:45 Are you worried political leadership is infecting the values of the military? 28:45 Leadership needs to project values people are inspired to defend 30:30 Military leadership needs to view empathy as a strength, not a weakness 31:30 The book is political but not partisan. It’s about values 33:15 A culture that promotes services to the greater good is healthier 35:00 If the culture promotes service over wealth, we’d be better off 35:30 Mandatory service in Israel has helped to bond their society 38:00 Service strips away the illusion that we succeed alone 39:15 Veterans aren’t easily categorized in their politics 40:00 Military provides an opportunity, but you have to earn it 42:00 Competitive advantage for the military is to think, adapt & react quicker 43:15 Marine culture should create  soldiers that are problem solvers 44:15 Taliban found that asymmetrical warfare could defeat a stronger foe 46:30 We have to better prepare for asymmetrical warfare 47:15 The American Revolution was fought with asymmetrical warfare 48:00 Drone warfare dehumanizes war. Casualties counted in dollars and cents 49:15 War is a chess game, and modern tech has leveled the playing field 51:15 Have to avoid being dehumanized by war 52:00 Saw an enemy combatant dying, saw fear in his eyes, not hatred 52:45 Wrote the book not to glorify war, but to tell the realities of it 54:15 The hardest part of coming home was doing so with your soul intact 55:30 The social contract with our soldiers must be protected 56:45 How are you able to publicly express your experience when many can’t? 59:00 Can’t support someone that says a political opponent is an enemy 1:00:00 Tell us about your podcast “Combat Story” 1:01:30 Ran for city council, personally knocked on thousands of doors 1:03:00 Our current politics doesn’t allow for dialogue 1:05:15 There’s a financial barrier to entry into politics 1:08:00 Memorial Day is tough, it’s about those who didn’t come home 1:08:30 Anyone calling for war should have a conversation with a gold star family See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd walks through a primary night that should make every elected Republican break out in a cold sweat — Democrats outvoted Republicans by 100,000 votes in Georgia. He argues we now have a fully formed "woke right" — and Trump is leading it. The man who built his political brand on refusing to conform to anyone's mindset has become the most aggressive cancel culture warrior in American politics, ending the careers of Republicans who cross him. The downstream consequences are catastrophic for the GOP: Republicans will now have to dump enormous money into Texas to defend a seat that was supposed to be safe, and Texas joins North Carolina and Ohio as an expensive trio Republicans will struggle to defend. Trump appears either clueless or in denial that he's systematically setting his own party up for massive failure, but Chuck notes a "YOLO caucus" is quietly emerging among Senate Republicans who know they're toast and may act more independently. He closes with a moving tribute to Barney Frank, who died at 86 after 32 years in Congress — the architect of Dodd-Frank, the first openly gay member of Congress, who came out in 1987 at the height of the AIDS crisis and endured Gingrich-era homophobia that he felt punished him beyond what any straight politician would have faced. Frank's parting message to today's Democrats sits at the center of Todd's episode and arguably explains why the party keeps losing winnable elections: "Don't litmus test yourselves into oblivion."  Finally, he answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Predict the action all the way through the finals. Sign up now for your twenty-five dollar bonus on https://fanduel.com/predicts     Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order.    Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.    Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life!   Timeline: 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 02:30 Georgia Republican senate race headed to runoff 04:00 Democrats outvoted Republicans by 100k votes in Georgia 05:30 Breakdown of primary results from Idaho 06:00 An independent has a better chance to win in Idaho than a Dem 06:30 Brad Little was able to stand up to Trump & survive 07:00 You can’t oppose Trump and be a Republican in good standing 08:00 We now have a “woke right” that Trump is leading 08:45 Trump’s initial appeal was not having to conform to a certain mindset 09:30 Cancel culture is now Trump targeting any Republican who crosses him 10:45 Republicans can’t oppose taxpayer funding for Trump’s ballroom 11:30 Trump is as defensive about Epstein as he was about Russia 12:45 There’s a lot of circumstantial evidence with Trump/Epstein 13:15 Trump angry that Lauren Boebert won’t drop Epstein 14:00 Ken Paxton’s election denialism is what won him Trump’s support 15:15 Cassidy and Cornyn supported 90% of Trump’s agenda…wasn’t enough 15:45 Elected Republicans know that Trump can end their career in a primary 17:00 It’s Trump’s party but he’s setting it up for massive failure 17:45 GOP senators relieved they don’t have to vote for ballroom funding 18:15 There’s a growing YOLO caucus in the Republican senate 19:15 Republicans will have to spend way more money in Texas now 20:00 Cornyn has raised $400m for Republicans 22:15 Trump seems clueless or in denial that the GOP is set up to fail in the fall 23:45 Paxton is so corrupt he belongs nowhere near political power 24:15 Talarico can beat Paxton, but it will be close 25:00 Trump doesn’t usually spend money that doesn’t help Trump 26:30 Republicans are now playing defense…do they concede NC? 28:30 Texas, NC and Ohio become an expensive trio for GOP to defend 29:00 Several other potential Democratic senate pickups 35:00 Barney Frank passes away at 86, served in congress 32 years 37:15 Dodd-Frank has stood the test of time 37:45 Frank was a barrier breaker as first openly gay member of congress 38:15 Frank came out in 1987 at the height of the AIDS crisis 39:30 Republicans led by Gingrich used Frank’s sexuality as a cudgel 40:45 Frank felt overly punished because he was a gay man 43:00 Frank had to work in a place where homophobia was rampant 44:00 Frank’s closing message to Dems - “Don’t litmus test yourselves into oblivion” 45:30 Frank was a larger public figure than he gets credit for 46:30 Ask Chuck 46:45 Is it possible the U.S. ever defaults on the national debt? 51:00 Is there a scenario where states coordinate gerrymandering reforms? 54:30 Are Dems in a no win scenario when it comes to redistricting? 59:45 Any chance senators like Cornyn or Cassidy could break ranks? 1:04:30 How can you say don’t fight fire with fire to people whose rights are threatened? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd walks through a primary night that should make every elected Republican break out in a cold sweat — Democrats outvoted Republicans by 100,000 votes in Georgia. He argues we now have a fully formed "woke right" — and Trump is leading it. The man who built his political brand on refusing to conform to anyone's mindset has become the most aggressive cancel culture warrior in American politics, ending the careers of Republicans who cross him. The downstream consequences are catastrophic for the GOP: Republicans will now have to dump enormous money into Texas to defend a seat that was supposed to be safe, and Texas joins North Carolina and Ohio as an expensive trio Republicans will struggle to defend. Trump appears either clueless or in denial that he's systematically setting his own party up for massive failure, but Chuck notes a "YOLO caucus" is quietly emerging among Senate Republicans who know they're toast and may act more independently. He closes with a moving tribute to Barney Frank, who died at 86 after 32 years in Congress — the architect of Dodd-Frank, the first openly gay member of Congress, who came out in 1987 at the height of the AIDS crisis and endured Gingrich-era homophobia that he felt punished him beyond what any straight politician would have faced. Frank's parting message to today's Democrats sits at the center of Todd's episode and arguably explains why the party keeps losing winnable elections: "Don't litmus test yourselves into oblivion."  Then. former Senator, Tennessee Governor, and Education Secretary Lamar Alexander joins the Chuck Toddcast to discuss his new memoir The Education of a Senator and an offer his extraordinary perspective on American politics shaped by five decades in public life — including the surreal experience of being sworn in as governor under emergency circumstances because his predecessor was openly selling pardons for cash and eventually went to prison for selling whiskey licenses. (For listeners absorbing the news of Trump's modern pardon market, the historical echoes are impossible to miss.) Alexander shares stories that capture an entirely different era: how he had to govern in a bipartisan manner from day one to handle the scandal he inherited, how an inquiry surfaced about springing MLK's killer from prison, and how Southern governors of his generation had to drag their states out of the 1950s and into something resembling modernity. Alexander argues that style matters enormously in politics — and reveals that he predicted Trump's presidency years before it happened, because he saw clearly that American politics was being consumed by money and media in ways that disincentivized actual legislating. He walks through his theory of education reform, defends "No Child Left Behind"'s standards-based approach, and offers the wonkish but fascinating idea he once pitched to Reagan: have states and the federal government swap administration of Medicaid and K-12 education. The conversation broadens into Alexander's diagnosis of what's gone wrong with American politics and the path back. He argues that partisan primaries have created more ideologically extreme candidates than the system can absorb, and that people will always find ways around campaign finance limits — meaning the real fix has to be structural. Alexander offers a remarkable assessment of recent presidents: governor is the best preparation for the presidency, Carter didn't understand Washington when he arrived but Clinton did, and George W. Bush was the most "normal guy" of the modern era. He reflects on his famous healthcare debates with Obama (both gave each other notes afterwards rather than playing for spectacle), shares his concerns about state budgets becoming dangerously reliant on vice taxes, and asks the question no Republican can answer honestly anymore: could you propose raising the gas tax in today's GOP? Alexander is candid about Trump's mixed legacy — the party had become ossified and Trump did break it open, but pardoning the January 6th rioters was a profound error because the peaceful transfer of power is the single most important element of American democracy. He warns that we lack genuine two-party competition right now, that the next Republican nominee needs a fundamentally different temperament than Trump, and that the lack of character and morality in modern politics may be dissuading exactly the kind of people we most need to run.  Finally, he answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Predict the action all the way through the finals. Sign up now for your twenty-five dollar bonus on https://fanduel.com/predicts   Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 02:30 Georgia Republican senate race headed to runoff 04:00 Democrats outvoted Republicans by 100k votes in Georgia 05:30 Breakdown of primary results from Idaho 06:00 An independent has a better chance to win in Idaho than a Dem 06:30 Brad Little was able to stand up to Trump & survive 07:00 You can’t oppose Trump and be a Republican in good standing 08:00 We now have a “woke right” that Trump is leading 08:45 Trump’s initial appeal was not having to conform to a certain mindset 09:30 Cancel culture is now Trump targeting any Republican who crosses him 10:45 Republicans can’t oppose taxpayer funding for Trump’s ballroom 11:30 Trump is as defensive about Epstein as he was about Russia 12:45 There’s a lot of circumstantial evidence with Trump/Epstein 13:15 Trump angry that Lauren Boebert won’t drop Epstein 14:00 Ken Paxton’s election denialism is what won him Trump’s support 15:15 Cassidy and Cornyn supported 90% of Trump’s agenda…wasn’t enough 15:45 Elected Republicans know that Trump can end their career in a primary 17:00 It’s Trump’s party but he’s setting it up for massive failure 17:45 GOP senators relieved they don’t have to vote for ballroom funding 18:15 There’s a growing YOLO caucus in the Republican senate 19:15 Republicans will have to spend way more money in Texas now 20:00 Cornyn has raised $400m for Republicans 22:15 Trump seems clueless or in denial that the GOP is set up to fail in the fall 23:45 Paxton is so corrupt he belongs nowhere near political power 24:15 Talarico can beat Paxton, but it will be close 25:00 Trump doesn’t usually spend money that doesn’t help Trump 26:30 Republicans are now playing defense…do they concede NC? 28:30 Texas, NC and Ohio become an expensive trio for GOP to defend 29:00 Several other potential Democratic senate pickups 35:00 Barney Frank passes away at 86, served in congress 32 years 37:15 Dodd-Frank has stood the test of time 37:45 Frank was a barrier breaker as first openly gay member of congress 38:15 Frank came out in 1987 at the height of the AIDS crisis 39:30 Republicans led by Gingrich used Frank’s sexuality as a cudgel 40:45 Frank felt overly punished because he was a gay man 43:00 Frank had to work in a place where homophobia was rampant 44:00 Frank’s closing message to Dems - “Don’t litmus test yourselves into oblivion” 45:30 Frank was a larger public figure than he gets credit for 49:00 Sen. Lamar Alexander joins The Chuck ToddCast 50:30 Being a senator vs. being a governor 51:30 There are always 8-10 senators that are better than the rest 52:15 Ted Kennedy was an incredibly effective senator 53:45 The governor he succeeded was selling pardons for cash 55:30 The prior governor eventually went to jail for selling whiskey licenses 57:15 There was an inquiry about springing MLK Jr.’s killer from prison 58:30 Had to work in a bipartisan manner on day 1 to handle the scandal 59:30 Southern governors had to bring southern states out of the 50’s 1:01:45 How would you update & modernize public education? 1:03:15 Mississippi has had great success emphasizing phonics 1:04:00 Schools are best governed community by community 1:04:30 Don’t need a Dept. of Education for higher ed 1:05:00 Federal money should allow money to follow low income students 1:05:45 You need advocacy but not management from Washington 1:06:30 Hard to argue with standards created by “No Child Left Behind” 1:08:00 If you’re entering politics it should be to accomplish something 1:09:00 Goal isn’t necessarily bipartisanship, it’s to get a result 1:10:00 Style matters in politics 1:11:15 Politics has become all money and media - Predicted Trump as president 1:12:00 The digital democracy doesn’t provide incentive for legislating 1:13:30 Money has consumed our politics, how do we fix it? 1:14:45 NC senate race could be the first billion dollar senate race 1:15:15 People always find a way around campaign finance limits 1:17:00 John Kerry was first pres. candidate to spend huge sums of personal $ 1:18:45 Why couldn’t John Baker get traction but George Bush did? 1:20:00 Governor is the best job to prepare you for the presidency 1:21:00 Carter didn’t understand D.C. when he got there, Clinton did 1:21:45 George W. Bush was the most “normal guy” out of recent presidents 1:23:30 Debate with Obama over healthcare gave both sides a platform for their views 1:24:45 Didn’t want to over debate Obama for spectacle, give him notes afterwards 1:25:30 Proposed states swapping Medicaid admin for K-12 admin to Reagan 1:26:45 Medicaid was cramping states ability to effectively manage public ed 1:27:15 Vice taxes have been relied on as a way to pad state government budgets 1:28:30 Are we too r

Former Senator, Tennessee Governor, and Education Secretary Lamar Alexander joins the Chuck Toddcast to discuss his new memoir The Education of a Senator and an offer his extraordinary perspective on American politics shaped by five decades in public life — including the surreal experience of being sworn in as governor under emergency circumstances because his predecessor was openly selling pardons for cash and eventually went to prison for selling whiskey licenses. (For listeners absorbing the news of Trump's modern pardon market, the historical echoes are impossible to miss.) Alexander shares stories that capture an entirely different era: how he had to govern in a bipartisan manner from day one to handle the scandal he inherited, how an inquiry surfaced about springing MLK's killer from prison, and how Southern governors of his generation had to drag their states out of the 1950s and into something resembling modernity. Alexander argues that style matters enormously in politics — and reveals that he predicted Trump's presidency years before it happened, because he saw clearly that American politics was being consumed by money and media in ways that disincentivized actual legislating. He walks through his theory of education reform, defends "No Child Left Behind"'s standards-based approach, and offers the wonkish but fascinating idea he once pitched to Reagan: have states and the federal government swap administration of Medicaid and K-12 education. The conversation broadens into Alexander's diagnosis of what's gone wrong with American politics and the path back. He argues that partisan primaries have created more ideologically extreme candidates than the system can absorb, and that people will always find ways around campaign finance limits — meaning the real fix has to be structural. Alexander offers a remarkable assessment of recent presidents: governor is the best preparation for the presidency, Carter didn't understand Washington when he arrived but Clinton did, and George W. Bush was the most "normal guy" of the modern era. He reflects on his famous healthcare debates with Obama (both gave each other notes afterwards rather than playing for spectacle), shares his concerns about state budgets becoming dangerously reliant on vice taxes, and asks the question no Republican can answer honestly anymore: could you propose raising the gas tax in today's GOP? Alexander is candid about Trump's mixed legacy — the party had become ossified and Trump did break it open, but pardoning the January 6th rioters was a profound error because the peaceful transfer of power is the single most important element of American democracy. He warns that we lack genuine two-party competition right now, that the next Republican nominee needs a fundamentally different temperament than Trump, and that the lack of character and morality in modern politics may be dissuading exactly the kind of people we most need to run.    Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order.    Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.    Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Sen. Lamar Alexander joins The Chuck ToddCast 01:30 Being a senator vs. being a governor 02:30 There are always 8-10 senators that are better than the rest 03:15 Ted Kennedy was an incredibly effective senator 04:45 The governor he succeeded was selling pardons for cash 06:30 The prior governor eventually went to jail for selling whiskey licenses 08:15 There was an inquiry about springing MLK Jr.’s killer from prison 09:30 Had to work in a bipartisan manner on day 1 to handle the scandal 10:30 Southern governors had to bring southern states out of the 50’s 12:45 How would you update & modernize public education? 14:15 Mississippi has had great success emphasizing phonics 15:00 Schools are best governed community by community 15:30 Don’t need a Dept. of Education for higher ed 16:00 Federal money should allow money to follow low income students 16:45 You need advocacy but not management from Washington 17:30 Hard to argue with standards created by “No Child Left Behind” 19:00 If you’re entering politics it should be to accomplish something 20:00 Goal isn’t necessarily bipartisanship, it’s to get a result 21:00 Style matters in politics 22:15 Politics has become all money and media - Predicted Trump as president 23:00 The digital democracy doesn’t provide incentive for legislating 24:30 Money has consumed our politics, how do we fix it? 25:45 NC senate race could be the first billion dollar senate race 26:15 People always find a way around campaign finance limits 28:00 John Kerry was first pres. candidate to spend huge sums of personal $ 29:45 Why couldn’t John Baker get traction but George Bush did? 31:00 Governor is the best job to prepare you for the presidency 32:00 Carter didn’t understand D.C. when he got there, Clinton did 32:45 George W. Bush was the most “normal guy” out of recent presidents 34:30 Debate with Obama over healthcare gave both sides a platform for their views 35:45 Didn’t want to over debate Obama for spectacle, give him notes afterwards 36:30 Proposed states swapping Medicaid admin for K-12 admin to Reagan 37;45 Medicaid was cramping states ability to effectively manage public ed 38:15 Vice taxes have been relied on as a way to pad state government budgets 39:30 Are we too reliant on vices to fund state budgets? 40:45 Could you propose a raise to gas tax in today’s GOP? 42:15 Where is the Republican party headed in the post-Trump era? 43:00 Partisan primaries created more ideologically extreme candidates 45:15 Most national politicians from Tennessee came from eastern TN 45:45 Elements of Trumpism were emerging in early 2000’s GOP politics 47:45 GOP needs to nominate someone with a different temperament than Trump 48:30 Lack of character and morality in modern politics 49:30 Politics has caused ruptures in families, might dissuade good people from running 51:00 Trump has been both good & bad for the GOP - The party had become ossified 52:00 Trump made a major error in pardoning the J6 rioters 52:45 The peaceful transfer of power is the most important element of democracy 54:00 Washington shouldn’t operate on a pay to play basis 55:45 When did you first connect with Doug Bailey? 57:45 What advice did you get from Bailey when you were governor? 1:00:00 Purpose of memoir was to explain the goals he had as a public servant 1:01:15 The republic will survive, but we have work to do to make it survive 1:02:30 We suffer from a lack of two party competition See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd and J.A. Adande legendary Steelers running back and fullback Rocky Bleier, as Dynastic goes deeper into the Pittsburgh Steelers dynasty. From winning a national championship at University of Notre Dame… to being drafted into both the NFL and the Vietnam War… to fighting his way back from devastating injuries to become a 4-time Super Bowl champion, Rocky’s story is one of the most unbelievable journeys in football history. There are also some incredible behind-the-scenes stories involving Franco Harris, Joe Biden, the Steelers locker room culture, and the leadership principles that helped build one of the greatest dynasties in sports history. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with a wave of primary night results that all point the same direction: Thomas Massie has lost his reelection bid, Trump's grip on the GOP base is as strong as ever, and the president just endorsed Ken Paxton in Texas — a move that's great for Trump personally and disastrous for the Republican Party, which will now have to pour enormous money into a Senate seat that was supposed to be safe. Democrats outvoted Republicans in Georgia, with African-American turnout spiking in the aftermath of the Supreme Court gutting the Voting Rights Act — exactly the kind of backlash dynamic that could reshape the entire midterm map. The night's verdict: good for Trump, bad for the GOP. But he argues the deeper, more dangerous story isn't electoral — it's the systematic normalization of corruption that Trump is engineering in plain sight. He's turning the Republican Party into a kleptocracy, selling pardons that erase prison sentences and massive financial penalties, raising prices for ordinary Americans while amassing a personal fortune, and just secured a DOJ get-out-of-jail-free card for his family on tax evasion. The genius of Trump's strategy, Chuck argues, is that he understands corruption can be absorbed into the culture if it carries no meaningful penalty. He reminds listeners that Bill Clinton survived his scandals only because the economy was booming; corruption becomes a voting issue when people's lives get worse, and Trump's policies are now unraveling the American economy at exactly the wrong moment for him. The real warning sits in the structural pattern: once corruption becomes politically survivable, it becomes politically reproducible. Finally, Chuck presents his ToddCast Top 5 list of primary elections that will have the biggest impact on the general election in November, and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.  Predict the action all the way through the finals. Sign up now for your twenty-five dollar bonus on https://fanduel.com/predicts   Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction01:00 Thomas Massie loses re-elect. Trump still has grip over GOP 02:00 Trump endorsing Ken Paxton is good for him, bad for the GOP 03:15 Republicans will have to dump a ton of money into Texas 04:00 Endorsement is a gut punch for Cornyn, who had momentum 06:30 Georgia Republican governor & senate races headed to runoff 07:45 Rick Jackson has bragged about writing a million dollar check to Trump 08:15 Will Trump co-endorse in the GA governor’s race? 08:45 Democrats had higher turnout than GOP in Georgia 09:30 African-American turnout higher after gutting of Voting Rights Act 11:45 Trump’s endorsement really matters in a GOP primary 14:15 Election deniers turn off general election voters in swing states 15:30 Trump is not making decisions that are in the best interest of the GOP 18:00 Overall, a good night for Trump, a bad night for the Republican party 19:00 Corruption only becomes a voting issue when voters’ lives get worse 19:30 Clinton survived scandal because the economy was booming 20:00 Trump is normalizing corruption & selling of the presidency 20:45 Trump is stealing from taxpayers to create a slush fund 21:15 DOJ gives the Trumps a get-out-of-jail free card for tax evasion 22:00 Trump’s survival has come from convincing voters all politicians are corrupt 22:45 Trump’s policies are unraveling the American economy 23:30 Trump understands corruption can be absorbed into the culture 24:45 The danger is that corruption carries no meaningful penalty anymore 26:00 Trump is purging anyone who isn’t blindly loyal from the GOP 27:00 Trump is turning the GOP into a kleptocracy 28:30 This isn’t secretive corruption, it’s all out in the open 29:00 Trump sells pardons that erase jail + massive financial penalties 30:00 Trump has increased prices for everyone while amassing a personal fortune 31:30 Trump is weaponizing cynicism with both parties 33:00 Eventually the ruling class sees the public as something to extract from 33:45 Once something becomes politically survivable, it becomes reproducible 35:30 Republics decay once voters become accustomed to corruption  41:30 ToddCast Top 5 primaries that will have most impact on general election 42:15 #5 Wisconsin Democratic governor 45:45 #4 Michigan Democratic senate 49:45 #3 California gubernatatorial primary 52:15 #2 Arizona Republican gubernatorial 55:00 #1 Texas Republican senate 1:00:00 Ask Chuck 1:00:15 Why didn’t Virginia’s Supreme Court step in sooner on redistricting? 1:02:45 Any recommendations for road trips or places worth exploring? 1:05:45 Are we closer than ever to a viable 3rd party or are the barriers too high? 1:10:15 What will Trump be like once he leaves office? Will media move on? 1:15:30 What if 2028 did a listening tour at every state’s geographical center? 1:19:15 Could Bernie or Pete win without major improvement with black voters? 1:22:30 Credible worries that personal considerations are shaping middle east policy? 1:26:30 Will Trump’s endorsements of weak nominees eventually backfire? 1:28:45 Wemby is going to be transformational for the NBA See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with a wave of primary night results that all point the same direction: Thomas Massie has lost his reelection bid, Trump's grip on the GOP base is as strong as ever, and the president just endorsed Ken Paxton in Texas — a move that's great for Trump personally and disastrous for the Republican Party, which will now have to pour enormous money into a Senate seat that was supposed to be safe. Democrats outvoted Republicans in Georgia, with African-American turnout spiking in the aftermath of the Supreme Court gutting the Voting Rights Act — exactly the kind of backlash dynamic that could reshape the entire midterm map. The night's verdict: good for Trump, bad for the GOP. But he argues the deeper, more dangerous story isn't electoral — it's the systematic normalization of corruption that Trump is engineering in plain sight. He's turning the Republican Party into a kleptocracy, selling pardons that erase prison sentences and massive financial penalties, raising prices for ordinary Americans while amassing a personal fortune, and just secured a DOJ get-out-of-jail-free card for his family on tax evasion. The genius of Trump's strategy, Chuck argues, is that he understands corruption can be absorbed into the culture if it carries no meaningful penalty. He reminds listeners that Bill Clinton survived his scandals only because the economy was booming; corruption becomes a voting issue when people's lives get worse, and Trump's policies are now unraveling the American economy at exactly the wrong moment for him. The real warning sits in the structural pattern: once corruption becomes politically survivable, it becomes politically reproducible. Then, Dartmouth political scientist Sean Westwood — director of the Polarization Lab and one of the leading researchers studying why American politics has become so toxic — joins the Chuck Toddcast with a counterintuitive opening argument: America has actually been more polarized in the past than it is now, and polarization itself is a normal feature of democracy. What changed is that the Cold War spent four decades artificially suppressing American polarization by giving the country a unifying external adversary; once the Soviet Union collapsed, the Pat Buchanan wing of the GOP emerged from hibernation and the country returned to its more natural fractious state. The real threat, Westwood argues, isn't disagreement — it's the structural changes that have allowed disagreement to metastasize into something all-consuming. He walks through the menu of possible reforms — ranked choice voting, all-party primaries, stronger party control over nominations — and is refreshingly candid about the tradeoffs: every fix comes with its own problems, moving from a two-party to a multi-party system would be enormously difficult (most multi-party democracies still end up with two dominant parties anyway), and the most realistic reform is simply restoring stronger party control, though Congress will never vote for anything that threatens its own members.  The conversation broadens into a sweeping diagnosis of what's actually broken. Westwood argues we're creating a world where if you don't opt-in to politics, you simply won't encounter it — meaning voters increasingly lack the basic information needed to hold elected officials accountable. He warns that any election denialism from one side gives the other side a permission slip to do the same, that America is experiencing more democratic backsliding than most observers want to admit, and that AI-powered microtargeting is about to make the information environment dramatically more disruptive than anything we've seen so far. Westwood identifies the Senate's malapportionment as the single most destructive feature of American politics, and observes that interracial marriage used to be the great cultural wedge before being replaced by raw partisanship — meaning partisan identity has now absorbed every other source of social division. He notes that Democrats have created litmus tests that will never win in rural America and that many modern legislators simply don't have governing skills but are very good at getting attention because humans are predisposed to focus on threat and conflict. Westwood's most haunting closing observation: telling voters they no longer live in a democracy can become a self-fulfilling prophecy, and that's a risk both sides need to take far more seriously than they currently do. Finally, Chuck presents his ToddCast Top 5 list of primary elections that will have the biggest impact on the general election in November, and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.  Predict the action all the way through the finals. Sign up now for your twenty-five dollar bonus on https://fanduel.com/predicts   Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCASTfor 30% off your first order.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction01:00 Thomas Massie loses re-elect. Trump still has grip over GOP 02:00 Trump endorsing Ken Paxton is good for him, bad for the GOP 03:15 Republicans will have to dump a ton of money into Texas 04:00 Endorsement is a gut punch for Cornyn, who had momentum 06:30 Georgia Republican governor & senate races headed to runoff 07:45 Rick Jackson has bragged about writing a million dollar check to Trump 08:15 Will Trump co-endorse in the GA governor’s race? 08:45 Democrats had higher turnout than GOP in Georgia 09:30 African-American turnout higher after gutting of Voting Rights Act 11:45 Trump’s endorsement really matters in a GOP primary 14:15 Election deniers turn off general election voters in swing states 15:30 Trump is not making decisions that are in the best interest of the GOP 18:00 Overall, a good night for Trump, a bad night for the Republican party 20:30 Corruption only becomes a voting issue when voters’ lives get worse 21:00 Clinton survived scandal because the economy was booming 21:30 Trump is normalizing corruption & selling of the presidency 22:15 Trump is stealing from taxpayers to create a slush fund 22:45 DOJ gives the Trumps a get-out-of-jail free card for tax evasion 23:30 Trump’s survival has come from convincing voters all politicians are corrupt 24:15 Trump’s policies are unraveling the American economy 25:00 Trump understands corruption can be absorbed into the culture 26:15 The danger is that corruption carries no meaningful penalty anymore 27:30 Trump is purging anyone who isn’t blindly loyal from the GOP 28:30 Trump is turning the GOP into a kleptocracy 30:00 This isn’t secretive corruption, it’s all out in the open 30:30 Trump sells pardons that erase jail + massive financial penalties 31:30 Trump has increased prices for everyone while amassing a personal fortune 33:00 Trump is weaponizing cynicism with both parties 34:30 Eventually the ruling class sees the public as something to extract from 35:15 Once something becomes politically survivable, it becomes reproducible 37:00 Republics decay once voters become accustomed to corruption 43:00 Sean Westwood joins the Chuck ToddCast 44:15 The origin of the Polarization Lab? 45:45 Partisanship is the area where negativity is rewarded 46:30 America has been more polarized in the past than it is now 48:15 The Cold War suppressed polarization 49:00 Once the Cold War ended, the Pat Buchanon wing of GOP emerged 50:00 Polarization is normal in a democracy 50:45 Structural changes that led to polarization are the threat 51:30 Potential “relief valves” to ease polarization 52:30 Structural changes come with both improvements & negatives 53:15 Ranked choice voting can lead to district in election outcomes 54:30 Stronger party control is the easiest and most realistic fix 55:15 Moving from two parties to multi party would be incredibly difficult 55:45 Congress won’t vote on reforms that threaten their own power 56:30 Even in multi party systems there’s generally two strong parties 57:30 Members don’t just dislike the other party, they dislike their own party 58:30 American third parties struggle to leverage their position 59:00 Ross Perot’s candidacy sobered up the two major parties 1:00:45 Mark Cuban is the only person who could run successfully as an I 1:02:00 Places with electoral reforms typically had overwhelming one party control 1:03:15 In California & Texas you aren’t running “typical” candidates 1:04:30 All party primaries can help to alleviate some polarization 1:05:45 Redistricting muddies election data, makes it harder to form conclusions 1:07:30 It’s important to disagree, but disagreement can’t become all consuming 1:09:00 Many Trump voters who don’t love Trump but want to “own the libs” 1:10:15 We’re creating a world where if you don’t opt-in to politics, you won’t see it 1:11:00 Americans won’t have the info to hold elected officials accountable 1:12:00 Newspaper delivery used to correlate with likelihood of voting 1:14:00 Local info can be easily accessed online, but still needs journalists 1:15:15 Public media is seen as a mouthpiece of the left in America 1:16:45 We’ve been reversing all the progress on fairer districts 1:17:30 Any election denialism gives a permission slip to the other side 1:18:15 Voters see democratic pullback from one side & want their party to do the same 1:19:15 We’re experiencing more democratic backsliding than we’d like to admit 1:20:45 The impact of big data and microtargeting 1:21:30 AI will make microtargeting far more impactful and disruptive 1:22:45 Partisans have

Dartmouth political scientist Sean Westwood — director of the Polarization Lab and one of the leading researchers studying why American politics has become so toxic — joins the Chuck Toddcast with a counterintuitive opening argument: America has actually been more polarized in the past than it is now, and polarization itself is a normal feature of democracy. What changed is that the Cold War spent four decades artificially suppressing American polarization by giving the country a unifying external adversary; once the Soviet Union collapsed, the Pat Buchanan wing of the GOP emerged from hibernation and the country returned to its more natural fractious state. The real threat, Westwood argues, isn't disagreement — it's the structural changes that have allowed disagreement to metastasize into something all-consuming. He walks through the menu of possible reforms — ranked choice voting, all-party primaries, stronger party control over nominations — and is refreshingly candid about the tradeoffs: every fix comes with its own problems, moving from a two-party to a multi-party system would be enormously difficult (most multi-party democracies still end up with two dominant parties anyway), and the most realistic reform is simply restoring stronger party control, though Congress will never vote for anything that threatens its own members.  The conversation broadens into a sweeping diagnosis of what's actually broken. Westwood argues we're creating a world where if you don't opt-in to politics, you simply won't encounter it — meaning voters increasingly lack the basic information needed to hold elected officials accountable. He warns that any election denialism from one side gives the other side a permission slip to do the same, that America is experiencing more democratic backsliding than most observers want to admit, and that AI-powered microtargeting is about to make the information environment dramatically more disruptive than anything we've seen so far. Westwood identifies the Senate's malapportionment as the single most destructive feature of American politics, and observes that interracial marriage used to be the great cultural wedge before being replaced by raw partisanship — meaning partisan identity has now absorbed every other source of social division. He notes that Democrats have created litmus tests that will never win in rural America and that many modern legislators simply don't have governing skills but are very good at getting attention because humans are predisposed to focus on threat and conflict. Westwood's most haunting closing observation: telling voters they no longer live in a democracy can become a self-fulfilling prophecy, and that's a risk both sides need to take far more seriously than they currently do. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Sean Westwood joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:15 The origin of the Polarization Lab? 02:45 Partisanship is the area where negativity is rewarded 03:30 America has been more polarized in the past than it is now 05:15 The Cold War suppressed polarization 06:00 Once the Cold War ended, the Pat Buchanon wing of GOP emerged 07:00 Polarization is normal in a democracy 07:45 Structural changes that led to polarization are the threat 08:30 Potential “relief valves” to ease polarization 09:30 Structural changes come with both improvements & negatives 10:15 Ranked choice voting can lead to district in election outcomes 11:30 Stronger party control is the easiest and most realistic fix 12:15 Moving from two parties to multi party would be incredibly difficult 12:45 Congress won’t vote on reforms that threaten their own power 13:30 Even in multi party systems there’s generally two strong parties 14:30 Members don’t just dislike the other party, they dislike their own party 15:30 American third parties struggle to leverage their position 16:00 Ross Perot’s candidacy sobered up the two major parties 17:45 Mark Cuban is the only person who could run successfully as an I 19:00 Places with electoral reforms typically had overwhelming one party control 20:15 In California & Texas you aren’t running “typical” candidates 21:30 All party primaries can help to alleviate some polarization 22:45 Redistricting muddies election data, makes it harder to form conclusions 24:30 It’s important to disagree, but disagreement can’t become all consuming 26:00 Many Trump voters who don’t love Trump but want to “own the libs” 27:15 We’re creating a world where if you don’t opt-in to politics, you won’t see it 28:00 Americans won’t have the info to hold elected officials accountable 29:00 Newspaper delivery used to correlate with likelihood of voting 31:00 Local info can be easily accessed online, but still needs journalists 32:15 Public media is seen as a mouthpiece of the left in America 33:45 We’ve been reversing all the progress on fairer districts 34:30 Any election denialism gives a permission slip to the other side 35:15 Voters see democratic pullback from one side & want their party to do the same 36:15 We’re experiencing more democratic backsliding than we’d like to admit 37:45 The impact of big data and microtargeting 38:30 AI will make microtargeting far more impactful and disruptive 39:45 Partisans have become self-sorting geographically, but it’s incidental 41:15 Partisanship can become contagious  42:30 American politics urban/rural divide mirrors politics in Germany 44:15 Democrats created litmus tests that will never win in rural America 45:00 Dems would do well to make social issues determined by local governments 46:30 The malapportionment of the senate is most destructive to our politics 49:30 If you truly object to what your rep is doing, you have to take action 51:15 Haven’t had a consequential update to the democracy since before FDR 53:00 Interracial marriage used to be cultural wedge, replaced by partisanship  55:30 Many legislators don’t have governing skills, but good at getting attention 57:00 Humans are predisposed to focus on threat and conflict 58:30 Our information ecosystem is built to inflame, not moderate 1:00:45 Telling voters you aren’t in a democracy can be self-fulfilling See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with the political obituary of Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana senator whose primary defeat is the latest and clearest evidence that there is simply no room left in the Republican Party for anyone who ever had qualms about Donald Trump. He argues Cassidy's downfall was as much self-inflicted as Trump-driven: he had the spine to vote to convict in the second impeachment trial but never the spine to actually defend the vote, owning it while constantly running from it on the trail. Cassidy could have run as an independent and didn't, gave up the last shreds of his credibility by voting to confirm RFK Jr., and put himself in the worst possible position to defend the toughest vote of his career. He uses the moment to make a broader argument: the Republican Party no longer believes in morals, ethics, or character, the leaders of both parties are damaging their own institutions in pursuit of raw power, and the country desperately needs more independents and third parties to break the duopoly. Trump, Chuck reminds listeners, is the scorpion of the fable — he will sting you every time, regardless of what you've done for him. The bigger story, though, is Trump's stunning 180 on China — a complete reversal that has produced near-total silence from the GOP's once-deafening chorus of China hawks. He argues Trump has gone from confrontation to pure transaction with Beijing, that he appears willing to sell out Taiwan as leverage, and that he's effectively treating American arms sales to Taipei as bargaining chips in a trade negotiation. The contrast with Nixon's trip to China is glaring: Nixon went with a coherent strategy, Trump went without one. For decades America positioned itself as the defender of democracy worldwide, but that role is now genuinely in question — Pacific allies are nervous about Chinese aggression, rightfully so if America is prepared to trade away Taiwan, and Trump is signaling to the world that you simply cannot count on the United States anymore. He argues that the most damning indictment of the modern GOP is the fact that Trump is visibly screwing up on the world stage and not a single Republican will say so. He closes with a more hopeful note from his commencement address at John Carroll University, praising the school's political journalism program for teaching students morality and empathy, and reflecting that this graduating generation has been forced to adapt and develop resilience in ways no class before them ever had to. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the fraught opening of the Brooklyn bridge and the campaign to overcome the public’s fear about a new technology. He also answers listeners’ questions in an extended edition of “Ask Chuck”. Predict the action all the way through the finals. Sign up now for your twenty-five dollar bonus on https://fanduel.com/predicts   Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 03:45 Bill Cassidy’s vote to convict Trump cost him his senate seat 04:45 Closed GOP primary will favor Trump endorsed candidates 06:30 Only 3 Republicans left in congress who voted to impeach 09:00 Cassidy was 2nd worst performing of all GOP who voted to convict 09:30 Cassidy never defended his vote during the campaign 11:45 Cassidy could have run as an independent, but chose not to 13:00 More senators would have voted to convict on a secret ballot 14:30 Cassidy owned his vote, but always ran away from it 16:00 Cassidy gave up his credibility by voting to confirm RFK Jr. 16:45 There is no room in the GOP for people who have qualms with Trump 19:00 The Republican party doesn’t believe in morals, ethics or character 20:30 Cassidy put himself in worst possible position to defend a tough vote 22:15 Leaders of both parties are damaging their parties trying to win power 23:45 We need more independents & third parties to threaten the duopoly 24:45 Cassidy had the spine to vote to convict, but never explained the vote 26:00 Donald Trump is the “scorpion” of lore and will sting you every time 28:00 Louisiana primary vote total barely favored Republicans 29:00 Gutting of Voting Rights Act looks like it will juice black voter turnout 30:00 Presidential level turnout of black voters is possible in the south 31:00 Trump has pulled a complete 180 on China 32:00 Trump seems willing to completely sell out Taiwan 33:00 Trump has gone in the opposite direction of his “tough on China” position 34:15 Trump has gone from confrontation to transaction with China 35:30 Trump seems to be treating Taiwan as leverage 37:00 What happens to GOP hawkishness on China if Trump reverses his position? 37:30 GOP China hawks have been conspicuously silent 39:15 Trump is treating arms to Taiwan as a bargaining chip for China 40:00 For decades, America was the defender of democracy. That’s in question now 41:00 Pacific allies are nervous about China, rightfully so if U.S. sells out Taiwan 41:45 Trump is telling the world you can’t count on America 42:30 Trump is more worried about his political standing than American strength 43:45 Trump’s policies have made things more expensive & the economy worse 46:45 Nixon’s trip to China came with a coherent strategy, Trump’s didn’t 47:45 Trump can’t bomb his way into a solution with Iran 48:30 If the U.S. isn’t the defender of democracy worldwide… who is? 50:00 Trump is screwing up and nobody in his party will say so 54:00 Chuck gave commencement address at John Carroll University 55:00 JCU has a great program for political journalism 55:45 Program’s goal is to instill students with morality and empathy 57:00 This graduating generation has been forced to adapt and be resilient 1:03:00 ToddCast Time Machine - May 1883 1:03:30 New York opens the largest suspension bridge ever built, the Brooklyn bridge 1:04:00 The idea of a suspension bridge from Booklyn to Manhattan seemed impossible 1:05:45 Project seemed cursed after the designer of the bridge died 1:07:00 Emily Roebling effectively becomes the project manager for the bridge 1:08:00 May 24th, 1883 - The Brooklyn bridge finally opens 1:08:30 The bridge changed Brooklyn permanently, turns into a borough of NYC 1:09:45 Rumors start spreading that the bridge is collapsing 1:10:15 Twelve people died in stampede over fears of bridge collapsing 1:11:00 P.T. Barnum helps to calm public fear about the bridge 1:11:45 Elephants were paraded over the bridge to show it was stable 1:12:45 The public has to trust new technologies enough in order to use them 1:14:15 Ask Chuck 1:14:30 How should Democrats approach the issue of transgender rights? 1:20:30 Why do so many Americans believe major political events are “staged”? 1:24:45 Should Democrats stick with incrementalism or take a confrontational approach? 1:31:15 If MLB realigns, how would you restructure it? 1:40:00 Could Liz Cheney or Adam Kinziger become viable independent candidates? 1:43:15 Why doesn’t the press pool push back when attacked by Trump? 1:48:00 Who would have to leave the Democratic party to initiate its collapse? 1:51:00 What do you see happening with Trump’s tariff regime after SCOTUS ruling? 1:56:00 Nats off to a surprisingly good start See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens by previewing Mark Zandi's sobering economic forecast from this episode and arrives at a simple, devastating conclusion: every single policy decision Trump has made has made the economy worse, tax refunds have already been gobbled up by inflation, and the math guarantees voters will feel even worse by the midterms — meaning Republicans on the ballot should be furious with the president, and those in swing districts have no choice but to start distancing themselves from his policies now. But the real heat in this episode comes from his analysis of Trump's trip to Beijing to meet Xi Jinping, which he frames as the diplomatic equivalent of going hat in hand. He argues there's simply no winning a trade war with China, that scrapping the TPP and the JCPOA will go down as two of the most colossal strategic mistakes of the modern era, and that Trump's combined Iran and China policies have somehow managed to strengthen both adversaries simultaneously — to the point that his foreign policy decisions are starting to make him look, in Chuck’s words, like a Manchurian candidate. The world is now beginning to view the United States itself as the global boogeyman, and Trump's presidency is doing damage to America's long-term standing that will take a generation to repair. The brutal irony, he notes, is that Trump now needs more from China than China needs from America: China is the only country with real leverage over Iran, defenders of Taiwanese independence are quietly terrified that Trump could trade them away for an economic off-ramp, and Xi gets to sit across the table from a desperate American president whose negotiating position keeps eroding by the day.    Then, Mark Zandi — chief economist at Moody's Analytics and one of the most quoted forecasters in America — joins the Chuck Toddcast to deliver a remarkably sobering verdict on where the economy actually stands: without the $700 billion currently being poured into AI investment, the United States would already be in or close to recession. The latest CPI and PPI reports came back ugly and uglier, oil shocks from the Iran war will keep prices elevated through 2027 even if the war ended tomorrow (Zandi says don't expect $3 gas again until then), real disposable income has been flat or falling for a year, FHA mortgage delinquencies are at their highest level since the Great Recession, and the bottom 40% of earners are living genuinely paycheck to paycheck. Zandi pushes back on lazy comparisons to the 1970s — conditions were objectively worse then, with a self-reinforcing wage-price loop that took a brutal recession to break — but warns that nominating Kevin Warsh as Fed chair specifically to cut rates would risk replaying exactly that movie, and that a policy of low rates at any cost would be catastrophic.   The deeper diagnosis is brutal: employment was growing steadily and inflation was easing until Liberation Day, when both reversed simultaneously — meaning Trump's tariffs are the most obvious thing to cut, and the question of who actually benefits from them gets harder to answer every month. The mass deportation policy is costing the country roughly 0.5-0.7% of GDP growth that normal immigration would have provided, with agriculture, construction, hospitality and services taking direct hits. Zandi sees economic weakness most pronounced in the South and West, healthcare-anchored cities like Philadelphia outperforming Florida and Texas, and a national debt now exceeding GDP that's setting the conditions for a potential bond market sell-off — with global investors already being advised to diversify away from the dollar as America deglobalizes and the world quietly pulls away. His most striking observation: the fixes are all sitting on the shelf. America doesn't need new ideas to solve any of this — it needs the political will to use the ones we already have, and that will probably won't materialize until a genuine crisis forces it. By the midterms, voters will be feeling the worst of it, and while partisan media can try to spin the numbers all it wants — reality is much harder to spin.  Finally, Chuck answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Try ShipStation free for 60 days with full access to all features, No credit card needed! Go to https://ShipStation.com and use code TODDCAST for 60 days for free! Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 01:00 Mark Zandi paints a sobering picture about state of the economy 02:30 Every Trump policy decision has made has made the economy worse 03:45 Tax refunds have been gobbled up by inflation 04:15 The economy will only feel worse to people by midterm elections 06:30 Republicans on the ballot should be furious with Trump 07:15 Republicans in swing areas have to distance from Trump policies 08:15 Trump in China to meet with Xi Jinping 09:00 There’s no winning a trade war with China 10:30 Getting rid of the TPP & JCPOA were colossal mistakes 11:30 Trump is losing the Iran war and strengthened Iran & China  12:00 Trump’s policies make him look like a Manchurian candidate 12:30 The world is now starting to view the US as the boogeyman 13:15 Trump’s presidency has been terribly damaging long term to the US 14:30 We need more from China than they need from us 15:00 China is the only country that could lean on Iran 15:45 Defenders of Taiwan independence worried Trump could cave 16:45 Trump is desperate for Xi’s help 21:00 Mark Zandi joins the Chuck ToddCast 21:45 CPI inflation and PPI inflation reports came back ugly & uglier 23:00 The through lines are ugly and going to get worse due to oil prices 23:45 Even if the war ended today, higher prices would last all year 24:15 Inflation has been accelerating under Trump, was on track under Biden 25:15 Inflation was worse during Covid combined with start of Ukraine war 28:00 Economy and stagflation were much worse in the 70s than now 28:45 Conditions different from 70s, there was a self-reinforcing loop in 70s 29:30 The only way out of 70s stagflation was a very severe recession 30:15 Kevin Warsh nominated for Fed chair to lower interest rates 31:00 If Warsh cuts interest rates, we risk a repeat of the 70s 31:45 A policy of low rates at any cost would be catastrophic 32:15 Rate cuts won’t happen since they are set by a board 32:45 Economy won’t have time to recover in time for the midterm elections 34:00 Partisan media can try to spin the economy, but reality is hard to spin 35:15 We won’t be back to $3/gallon gas until 2027 most likely 35:45 Last 3 months, the economy got a boost due to tax refunds that are fading 37:00 Real disposable income has fallen or stayed stagnant the past year 37:45 Bottom 40% earners are struggling badly, living paycheck to paycheck 38:45 FHA mortgage delinquency rates are rising, highest since great recession 40:00 Things will feel worse economically by the midterm election 41:30 Without $700B in AI investment, we’d be close to, or in a recession 43:45 Last two jobs reports better than expected, tax cuts acted as stimulus 44:30 The job market is still very weak 45:30 With normal immigration we’d grow GDP by 0.5-0.7%, and lost that 46:30 Data shows immigrants don’t take jobs native born workers have 47:30 Lack of immigrants will hit state & local government budgets hard 48:15 Agriculture, construction, hospitality and services hit hard by deportations 50:00 Air travel hasn’t fallen off due to economic conditions… yet 50:45 High end consumer spending on recreation hasn’t fallen off at all 51:45 Is the proposal to cap credit card interest rate at 10% a good idea? 52:30 Companies won’t offer credit lines to consumers without great credit scores 53:15 Trump cutting the tariffs is the most obvious solution to higher prices 54:00 Employment was increasing regularly until Liberation Day tariffs 54:30 Inflation also took off on Liberation Day 55:15 Who actually benefits from Trump’s tariffs? 56:30 Suspending gas tax would result in .10-.15c lower prices at pump 58:30 Cutting the gas tax likely won’t result in any political benefit 1:00:00 Economic weakness most pronounced in the south & the west 1:02:00 Cities with big healthcare industries having most job growth, Philly leading 1:03:45 Pennsylvania economy rowing faster than Florida or Texas 1:04:15 America’s national debt exceeds GDP, how concerned should we be? 1:06:30 Indicators show we having a massive debt and deficit problem 1:08:00 The conditions for a sell off in the bond market are in place 1:08:30 It’s going to take a crisis to generate political will to act on the debt 1:09:45 America is deglobalizing, and world pulling away from us 1:10:15 Investors being advised to diversify away from the dollar 1:11:30 The fixes to the economy are all sitting on the shelf. Don’t need new ideas 1:13:00 AI job displacement hasn’t hit hard yet, but could be coming soon  1:16:15 Need a stiff drink after the interview with Mark Zandi 1:16:45 Ask Chuck 1:17:00 Alternative idea for formula to expand the house of representatives? 1:21:45 Will there be any impact from Susan Collins disclosing her tremors? 1:25:30 Thanks for interview with lawyers suing big tech, screen time is down 1:26:45 Could you argue that SCOTUS striking down New Deal policy was most impactful? 1:28:45 Is Dems gerrymandering more about deterrence and not pure hypocrisy? 1:33:15 If a justice steps down, who would Trump nominate. What would impacts be? 1:37:45 Thanks for the pod. It’s helped me get through long dialysis sessions 1:39:15 NBA playoffs reac

Mark Zandi — chief economist at Moody's Analytics and one of the most quoted forecasters in America — joins the Chuck Toddcast to deliver a remarkably sobering verdict on where the economy actually stands: without the $700 billion currently being poured into AI investment, the United States would already be in or close to recession. The latest CPI and PPI reports came back ugly and uglier, oil shocks from the Iran war will keep prices elevated through 2027 even if the war ended tomorrow (Zandi says don't expect $3 gas again until then), real disposable income has been flat or falling for a year, FHA mortgage delinquencies are at their highest level since the Great Recession, and the bottom 40% of earners are living genuinely paycheck to paycheck. Zandi pushes back on lazy comparisons to the 1970s — conditions were objectively worse then, with a self-reinforcing wage-price loop that took a brutal recession to break — but warns that nominating Kevin Warsh as Fed chair specifically to cut rates would risk replaying exactly that movie, and that a policy of low rates at any cost would be catastrophic.   The deeper diagnosis is brutal: employment was growing steadily and inflation was easing until Liberation Day, when both reversed simultaneously — meaning Trump's tariffs are the most obvious thing to cut, and the question of who actually benefits from them gets harder to answer every month. The mass deportation policy is costing the country roughly 0.5-0.7% of GDP growth that normal immigration would have provided, with agriculture, construction, hospitality and services taking direct hits. Zandi sees economic weakness most pronounced in the South and West, healthcare-anchored cities like Philadelphia outperforming Florida and Texas, and a national debt now exceeding GDP that's setting the conditions for a potential bond market sell-off — with global investors already being advised to diversify away from the dollar as America deglobalizes and the world quietly pulls away. His most striking observation: the fixes are all sitting on the shelf. America doesn't need new ideas to solve any of this — it needs the political will to use the ones we already have, and that will probably won't materialize until a genuine crisis forces it. By the midterms, voters will be feeling the worst of it, and while partisan media can try to spin the numbers all it wants — reality is much harder to spin.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Mark Zandi joins the Chuck ToddCast 00:45 CPI inflation and PPI inflation reports came back ugly & uglier 02:00 The through lines are ugly and going to get worse due to oil prices 02:45 Even if the war ended today, higher prices would last all year 03:15 Inflation has been accelerating under Trump, was on track under Biden 04:15 Inflation was worse during Covid combined with start of Ukraine war 07:00 Economy and stagflation were much worse in the 70s than now 07:45 Conditions different from 70s, there was a self-reinforcing loop in 70s 08:30 The only way out of 70s stagflation was a very severe recession 09:15 Kevin Warsh nominated for Fed chair to lower interest rates 10:00 If Warsh cuts interest rates, we risk a repeat of the 70s 10:45 A policy of low rates at any cost would be catastrophic 11:15 Rate cuts won’t happen since they are set by a board 11:45 Economy won’t have time to recover in time for the midterm elections 13:00 Partisan media can try to spin the economy, but reality is hard to spin 14:15 We won’t be back to $3/gallon gas until 2027 most likely 14:45 Last 3 months, the economy got a boost due to tax refunds that are fading 16:00 Real disposable income has fallen or stayed stagnant the past year 16:45 Bottom 40% earners are struggling badly, living paycheck to paycheck 17:45 FHA mortgage delinquency rates are rising, highest since great recession 19:00 Things will feel worse economically by the midterm election 20:30 Without $700B in AI investment, we’d be close to, or in a recession 22:45 Last two jobs reports better than expected, tax cuts acted as stimulus 23:30 The job market is still very weak 24:30 With normal immigration we’d grow GDP by 0.5-0.7%, and lost that 25:30 Data shows immigrants don’t take jobs native born workers have 26:30 Lack of immigrants will hit state & local government budgets hard 27:15 Agriculture, construction, hospitality and services hit hard by deportations 29:00 Air travel hasn’t fallen off due to economic conditions… yet 29:45 High end consumer spending on recreation hasn’t fallen off at all 30:45 Is the proposal to cap credit card interest rate at 10% a good idea? 31:30 Companies won’t offer credit lines to consumers without great credit scores 32:15 Trump cutting the tariffs is the most obvious solution to higher prices 33:00 Employment was increasing regularly until Liberation Day tariffs 33:30 Inflation also took off on Liberation Day 34:15 Who actually benefits from Trump’s tariffs? 35:30 Suspending gas tax would result in .10-.15c lower prices at pump 37:30 Cutting the gas tax likely won’t result in any political benefit 39:00 Economic weakness most pronounced in the south & the west 41:00 Cities with big healthcare industries having most job growth, Philly leading 42:45 Pennsylvania economy rowing faster than Florida or Texas 43:15 America’s national debt exceeds GDP, how concerned should we be? 45:30 Indicators show we having a massive debt and deficit problem 47:00 The conditions for a sell off in the bond market are in place 47:30 It’s going to take a crisis to generate political will to act on the debt 48:45 America is deglobalizing, and world pulling away from us 49:15 Investors being advised to diversify away from the dollar 50:30 The fixes to the economy are all sitting on the shelf. Don’t need new ideas 52:00 AI job displacement hasn’t hit hard yet, but could be coming soon See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with Trump getting visibly defensive with reporters over a brutal new inflation report — and argues the bad economy is in worse shape directly because of Trump's policies, with the president himself having zero answers for the data. He notes that AI investment is essentially the only thing propping up the economy, and that we are at least weeks away from the end of the Iran war. He warns we're only at the beginning of the inflation problem and that Democrats can simply point to Trump's broken promises of lower costs and no wars — they don't even need to make a "for" case, just a sustained "against" case — but cautions that despite all of this, Democrats still have a serious brand problem that no economic data alone will fix. He argues the failed Virginia redistricting effort exposed the deeper issue: Democrats talk like the resistance but are viewed as institutionalists, while Republicans still behave like raw partisans, and the rise of independent voters represents a fundamental protest against both available parties — something that should worry Democrats more than Republicans because the GOP has already shown a willingness to blow up the system. He makes a sweeping argument that until the last decade, Democrats were a reform-focused party, but the Trump era has pushed them into becoming defenders of institutions at exactly the moment when public trust in institutions had collapsed. He closes with observations from the Musk-Altman trial, which he says has been revealing about the personalities actually building AI — with OpenAI employees testifying to Altman's lying and the internal chaos, and so much tech ego on display that the public, already feeling burned by big tech, is only going to grow more skeptical.  Finally Chuck reveals his bonus TWO ToddCast Top 5 lists, the top 5 2028 Democratic hopefuls who have run for president before, and the top who haven’t. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.   Try ShipStation free for 60 days with full access to all features, No credit card needed! Go to https://ShipStation.com and use code TODDCAST for 60 days for free! Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 01:30 Trump gets defensive with reporters over bad inflation report 03:00 Economy is in worse shape directly because of Trump’s policies 03:45 Trump has zero answers for the bad state of the economy 04:45 Dow still hasn’t gotten back over 50k since Bondi’s viral moment 05:45 AI investment is the only thing propping up the economy 06:30 We are weeks away from the end of the Iran war… at minimum 07:45 Despite the bad economy, Democrats still have a brand problem 08:30 We are only at the beginning of the inflation problem 09:15 Dems can point to Trump breaking promise of lower costs & no wars 10:00 Dems don’t even have to make a “for” case, just an “against” case  11:00 Another variable is what the political maps look like by the midterms 12:15 The issue for the Dems is what the party stands for… what’s its identity? 13:00 Dems ‘28 hopefuls need to, and will jump in early 13:45 Dems failed redistricting in VA exposed a problem with the party 15:45 Dems talk like resistance but are viewed as institutionalists 16:30 GOP still behaves more like raw partisans 17:15 South Carolina would have risked disaster by carving up Clyburn’s seat 18:45 Backlash to SCOTUS gutting Voting Rights Act could juice Dem turnout 19:45 Why do both parties seem against reforming the system overall? 21:15 Politics has become completely nationalized and it’s a problem 21:45 Until the last decade, the Democrats were a reform focused party 23:00 The Trump era has pushed Dems into becoming defenders of institutions 23:45 Biden ran on preservation when trust in institutions had collapsed 25:15 The rise of independent voters shows protest for the two available parties 26:30 Rise of independents should worry Dems more than Republicans 27:45 Real reforms to the system would help rebuild trust with the public 29:30 Dems risk becoming custodians of a system people don’t trust 31:45 Dems took their eye off the ball, haven’t acted as reformers 35:30 The Musk/Altman trial has been revealing of the personalities building AI 36:00 OpenAI’s employees testified to Altman lying and chaos internally 37:15 So much tech ego on display at the trial 38:00 The public already feels burned by big tech 40:00 TWO ToddCast Top 5 lists today42:45 Winning Democratic presidential candidates are usually first time candidates46:45 Top 5 2028 Democratic candidates who have never run for president47:00 2026 results will dictate who will eventually have best prospects in 202850:00 #5 2026 TBD, could be Rob Sand, Mallory McMorrow…Colbert?50:30 #4 Josh Shapiro51:30 #3 Gavin Newsom52:45 #2 Wes Moore53:45 #1 AOC 55:45 Top 5 2028 Dem candidates who HAVE run for president56:00 #5 Amy Klobuchar57:00 #4 Cory Booker58:30 #3 Pete Buttigieg1:00:00 #2 Bernie Sanders1:01:00 #1 Kamala Harris1:02:30 Ask Chuck1:02:45 Modern equivalent of the “good government” groups of the 20th century?1:07:30 When should Dems make strategic adjustments vs compromising values?1:10:30 Is a socially conservative, fiscally liberal platform viable?1:13:00 Could co-op’s be a viable solution to modern economic challenges? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with Trump getting visibly defensive with reporters over a brutal new inflation report — and argues the bad economy is in worse shape directly because of Trump's policies, with the president himself having zero answers for the data. He notes that AI investment is essentially the only thing propping up the economy, and that we are at least weeks away from the end of the Iran war. He warns we're only at the beginning of the inflation problem and that Democrats can simply point to Trump's broken promises of lower costs and no wars — they don't even need to make a "for" case, just a sustained "against" case — but cautions that despite all of this, Democrats still have a serious brand problem that no economic data alone will fix. He argues the failed Virginia redistricting effort exposed the deeper issue: Democrats talk like the resistance but are viewed as institutionalists, while Republicans still behave like raw partisans, and the rise of independent voters represents a fundamental protest against both available parties — something that should worry Democrats more than Republicans because the GOP has already shown a willingness to blow up the system. He makes a sweeping argument that until the last decade, Democrats were a reform-focused party, but the Trump era has pushed them into becoming defenders of institutions at exactly the moment when public trust in institutions had collapsed. He closes with observations from the Musk-Altman trial, which he says has been revealing about the personalities actually building AI — with OpenAI employees testifying to Altman's lying and the internal chaos, and so much tech ego on display that the public, already feeling burned by big tech, is only going to grow more skeptical.  This episode of the Chuck Toddcast features a deep dive into the AI governance crisis with two of the leading experts in the field. First, Miriam Vogel — president and CEO of EqualAI — joins the show to explain her organization's mission of establishing meaningful AI guardrails at a moment when American consumers are deeply skeptical of big tech and less than 1% of companies have anything resembling strong AI governance policies. Vogel argues that good governance means corporate leadership must take direct responsibility for AI deployment, walks through her five best practices for responsible AI adoption, and pushes back on the idea that federal preemption should override state-level regulation — noting that companies are pushing hard against state regulation precisely because they know most of the actual rules will be written in court cases over the next few years. She warns that we're seeing tremendous investment in AI without commensurate ROI so far, that gender and regional gaps in AI adoption are already emerging, and that the public urgently needs to be empowered with real knowledge about AI's upsides as well as its risks. Vogel asks the question that should keep every executive up at night: are we actually ready for AI to make decisions without humans in the loop? And she argues that transparency — letting employees and consumers see how AI errors play out — will be absolutely essential to safe deployment. Then former Deputy National Security Advisor Anne Neuberger joins to discuss what global AI governance should look like between superpowers, and whether the arms race framing between the U.S. and China is actually helpful or harmful. Neuberger argues AI is fundamentally different from nuclear regulation because it's being developed by the private sector rather than by governments, and questions whether it was a mistake to let the private sector spearhead this technology in the first place. Drawing on her cybersecurity background, she walks through how governments learned to combat ransomware: extending existing rules for fiat currencies to cover cryptocurrencies (which had helped criminals evade detection), disincentivizing ransom payments, and helping companies recover without paying — a template she argues could apply to AI regulation. Neuberger says AI drug development should be an international win-win rather than a zero-sum arms race, but acknowledges the national security applications make competition unavoidable, with advantages now measured in months rather than years and dangerously inadequate military-to-military communication between the U.S. and China. They debate whether an "FDA for AI models" might be necessary, that existing regulations can be updated to cover AI without requiring new legislation, and that AI will ultimately transform defensive cybersecurity by allowing companies to double-check their infrastructure at scale. Her bottom line: laws always trail technology, but governments have key roles to play in identifying cyber risks, helping companies patch their infrastructure, and ensuring America's defenders aren't left behind as Chinese models close the six-month gap. Finally Chuck reveals his bonus TWO ToddCast Top 5 lists, the top 5 2028 Democratic hopefuls who have run for president before, and the top who haven’t. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Try ShipStation free for 60 days with full access to all features, No credit card needed! Go to https://ShipStation.com and use code TODDCAST for 60 days for free! Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 01:30 Trump gets defensive with reporters over bad inflation report 03:00 Economy is in worse shape directly because of Trump’s policies 03:45 Trump has zero answers for the bad state of the economy 04:45 Dow still hasn’t gotten back over 50k since Bondi’s viral moment 05:45 AI investment is the only thing propping up the economy 06:30 We are weeks away from the end of the Iran war… at minimum 07:45 Despite the bad economy, Democrats still have a brand problem 08:30 We are only at the beginning of the inflation problem 09:15 Dems can point to Trump breaking promise of lower costs & no wars 10:00 Dems don’t even have to make a “for” case, just an “against” case  11:00 Another variable is what the political maps look like by the midterms 12:15 The issue for the Dems is what the party stands for… what’s its identity? 13:00 Dems ‘28 hopefuls need to, and will jump in early 13:45 Dems failed redistricting in VA exposed a problem with the party 15:45 Dems talk like resistance but are viewed as institutionalists 16:30 GOP still behaves more like raw partisans 17:15 South Carolina would have risked disaster by carving up Clyburn’s seat 18:45 Backlash to SCOTUS gutting Voting Rights Act could juice Dem turnout 19:45 Why do both parties seem against reforming the system overall? 21:15 Politics has become completely nationalized and it’s a problem 21:45 Until the last decade, the Democrats were a reform focused party 23:00 The Trump era has pushed Dems into becoming defenders of institutions 23:45 Biden ran on preservation when trust in institutions had collapsed 25:15 The rise of independent voters shows protest for the two available parties 26:30 Rise of independents should worry Dems more than Republicans 27:45 Real reforms to the system would help rebuild trust with the public 29:30 Dems risk becoming custodians of a system people don’t trust 31:45 Dems took their eye off the ball, haven’t acted as reformers 33:30 The Musk/Altman trial has been revealing of the personalities building AI 34:00 OpenAI’s employees testified to Altman lying and chaos internally 35:15 So much tech ego on display at the trial 36:00 The public already feels burned by big tech 43:30 Chuck Todd’s introduction 46:15 Miriam Vogel joins the Chuck ToddCast 46:30 Equal AI’s mission is to establish AI guardrails 47:45 American consumers are extremely skeptical of big tech 48:30 Tech companies need to address users’ concerns & questions 50:30 Less than 1% of companies have strong AI governance policies 52:00 Some companies are working hard towards AI best practices 53:00 State vs. federal regulation for tech companies & AI 53:45 Why are companies pushing back against state level regulation? 55:45 Most of AI regulation will come down to the courts 57:30 We need more certainty of expectations from AI companies 59:45 AI is a disruptor, we can’t pretend it won’t be everywhere 1:01:00 Are we ready for AI to make decisions without humans in the loop? 1:01:45 Good governance means leadership must take responsibility for AI 1:02:45 If agentic AI without a human was outlawed, how would companies respond? 1:04:00 We’re seeing tremendous investment without the ROI so far 1:05:00 AI will scale at an exponential rate 1:05:45 We’re seeing gender and regional gaps in AI adoption 1:06:30 The public needs to be empowered with knowledge of AI’s upside 1:07:45 The five best practices for AI adoption 1:09:30 Employees and consumers will see how AI errors play out 1:10:45 Transparency will be key to safe AI deployment 1:12:15 Anne Neuberger joins the Chuck ToddCast 1:12:45 What should AI global governance look like between superpowers? 1:14:00 AI is different than nuclear regulation because it’s developed privately 1:14:45 Was it a mistake to let the private sector spearhead AI development? 1:16:00 Cybersecurity concerns and risks 1:17:15 Cryptocurrency helped criminals evade detection & enforcement 1:18:00 Every ransom payment encourages more cyber attacks & ransomware 1:19:15 Cyber threat intel was shared across governments 1:20:15 Governments extended rules for fiat currencies to cryptocurrencies 1:21:00 Governments had to disincentivize ransom payments 1:22:0

This episode of the Chuck Toddcast features a deep dive into the AI governance crisis with two of the leading experts in the field. First, Miriam Vogel — president and CEO of EqualAI — joins the show to explain her organization's mission of establishing meaningful AI guardrails at a moment when American consumers are deeply skeptical of big tech and less than 1% of companies have anything resembling strong AI governance policies. Vogel argues that good governance means corporate leadership must take direct responsibility for AI deployment, walks through her five best practices for responsible AI adoption, and pushes back on the idea that federal preemption should override state-level regulation — noting that companies are pushing hard against state regulation precisely because they know most of the actual rules will be written in court cases over the next few years. She warns that we're seeing tremendous investment in AI without commensurate ROI so far, that gender and regional gaps in AI adoption are already emerging, and that the public urgently needs to be empowered with real knowledge about AI's upsides as well as its risks. Vogel asks the question that should keep every executive up at night: are we actually ready for AI to make decisions without humans in the loop? And she argues that transparency — letting employees and consumers see how AI errors play out — will be absolutely essential to safe deployment. Then former Deputy National Security Advisor Anne Neuberger joins to discuss what global AI governance should look like between superpowers, and whether the arms race framing between the U.S. and China is actually helpful or harmful. Neuberger argues AI is fundamentally different from nuclear regulation because it's being developed by the private sector rather than by governments, and questions whether it was a mistake to let the private sector spearhead this technology in the first place. Drawing on her cybersecurity background, she walks through how governments learned to combat ransomware: extending existing rules for fiat currencies to cover cryptocurrencies (which had helped criminals evade detection), disincentivizing ransom payments, and helping companies recover without paying — a template she argues could apply to AI regulation. Neuberger says AI drug development should be an international win-win rather than a zero-sum arms race, but acknowledges the national security applications make competition unavoidable, with advantages now measured in months rather than years and dangerously inadequate military-to-military communication between the U.S. and China. They debate whether an "FDA for AI models" might be necessary, that existing regulations can be updated to cover AI without requiring new legislation, and that AI will ultimately transform defensive cybersecurity by allowing companies to double-check their infrastructure at scale. Her bottom line: laws always trail technology, but governments have key roles to play in identifying cyber risks, helping companies patch their infrastructure, and ensuring America's defenders aren't left behind as Chinese models close the six-month gap. Try ShipStation free for 60 days with full access to all features, No credit card needed! Go to https://ShipStation.com and use code TODDCAST for 60 days for free! Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 02:45 Miriam Vogel joins the Chuck ToddCast 03:00 Equal AI’s mission is to establish AI guardrails 04:15 American consumers are extremely skeptical of big tech 05:00 Tech companies need to address users’ concerns & questions 07:00 Less than 1% of companies have strong AI governance policies 08:30 Some companies are working hard towards AI best practices 09:30 State vs. federal regulation for tech companies & AI 10:15 Why are companies pushing back against state level regulation? 12:15 Most of AI regulation will come down to the courts 14:00 We need more certainty of expectations from AI companies 16:15 AI is a disruptor, we can’t pretend it won’t be everywhere 17:30 Are we ready for AI to make decisions without humans in the loop? 18:15 Good governance means leadership must take responsibility for AI 19:15 If agentic AI without a human was outlawed, how would companies respond? 20:30 We’re seeing tremendous investment without the ROI so far 21:30 AI will scale at an exponential rate 22:15 We’re seeing gender and regional gaps in AI adoption 23:00 The public needs to be empowered with knowledge of AI’s upside  24:15 The five best practices for AI adoption 26:00 Employees and consumers will see how AI errors play out 27:15 Transparency will be key to safe AI deployment 28:45 Anne Neuberger joins the Chuck ToddCast 29:15 What should AI global governance look like between superpowers? 30:30 AI is different than nuclear regulation because it’s developed privately 31:15 Was it a mistake to let the private sector spearhead AI development? 32:30 Cybersecurity concerns and risks  33:45 Cryptocurrency helped criminals evade detection & enforcement 34:30 Every ransom payment encourages more cyber attacks & ransomware 35:45 Cyber threat intel was shared across governments 36:45 Governments extended rules for fiat currencies to cryptocurrencies 37:30 Governments had to disincentivize ransom payments 38:30 Goal was to help companies recover without paying a ransom 39:15 Both companies & government should share burden of security 40:45 AI is being framed as an arms race between U.S. and China 41:30 AI drug development should be an international win-win 42:30 The arms race framing applies to national security applications 44:15 The speed of innovation is so fast, a race feels unwinnable 45:30 Advantages in AI race will be measured in months, not years 46:15 There’s no good military to military comms between U.S. & China 48:30 Does government have any chance to effectively regulate AI? 49:15 It took a major cyberattack for government to figure out cybersecurity 50:00 Government took existing regulations and updated them for digital age 52:00 Existing regulations can also be updated to regulate AI without legislation 53:00 Should there be an FDA for AI models? 54:15 There needs to be a balance between innovation and regulation 55:15 Laws trail tech. Need to find regulation that protects the public 56:45 AI will transform defensive cybersecurity 57:30 AI can double check defensive cyber infrastructure at scale 59:15 We need to prepare our defenders, China’s models are 6 months behind 1:00:15 Companies will need help to patch and update their infrastructure 1:01:15 The government has a very key role to play in AI cybersecurity 1:02:15 Government has to clearly identify where the cyber risks are See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd delivers an analysis of the Virginia Supreme Court's decision tossing out the Democratic redistricting map — arguing Democrats pissed away enormous political capital for absolutely nothing and that the reaction on the left has been wildly out of proportion, treating the ruling like an election loss when it was actually a predictable consequence of trying to fight fire with fire. He notes that Democrats passed the Virginia map without ever bothering to figure out how the courts would rule, and that both Obama and Governor Spanberger spent serious political capital pushing a referendum that was always legally vulnerable. He pushes back hard on left-wing commentary framing the ruling as partisan: the Virginia Supreme Court isn't full of partisans — they're technocrats, and Democrats just spent years arguing for norms and process and then ignored norms and process. His central argument is that Democrats will never win a race to the bottom with Trump's GOP, that the "fight fire with fire" mentality is a huge strategic mistake, and that Democrats can absolutely win in newly created swing districts with the right candidates if they go back to persuading voters and building coalitions rather than treating voters as the problem. He argues that Democrats are still likely to win both the House and Senate in the midterms — proof that Trump has done nothing to improve the GOP's image and that the path back to a winning Democratic coalition is still wide open if the party chooses to take it.  Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the Supreme Court’s Brown vs. Board of Education decision and explains that the courts have been forced to rule on major structural changes to American society when congress refuses to legislate. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Try ShipStation free for 60 days with full access to all features, No credit card needed! Go to https://ShipStation.com and use code TODDCAST for 60 days for free! Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 01:45 Democrats pissed away political capital in VA, then map was tossed 05:30 Reaction on the left to Virginia ruling has been like an election loss 07:00 It’s understandable that Democrats wanted to fight fire with fire 07:45 Democrats passed VA map without knowing how the courts would rule 08:30 Obama and Spanberger wasted political capital for nothing 09:45 Dems have argued for norms + process that court said they didn’t follow 10:30 Electing the judiciary is terrible for the rule of law 11:15 The VA Supreme Court aren’t partisans, they’re technocrats 12:30 Left wing commentary assumes it was a partisan decision… it wasn’t 14:00 Dem leadership in VA misled the party & the public on referendum 15:45 We still don’t know what the maps will look like in the south after redistricting 16:30 GOP has the redistricting advantage now, but courts may intervene 17:30 VA court may give courage to other courts to stop the gerrymandering 18:45 Democrats will never win a race to the bottom with Trump’s GOP 20:15 Democrats can win in newly created swing districts with right candidates 22:00 The “fight fire with fire” mentality is a huge mistake by the Dems 23:00 Democracy is eroded when both parties play scorched earth politics 24:15 Dems should be trying to persuade and coalition build 26:00 Republicans treat voters as the problem, Dems shouldn’t do the same 27:15 Dems want to be held to a higher standard, but don’t like it when they are 28:30 Dems did real damage to their credibility with Virginia redistricting 30:00 Trump has done nothing to improve the GOP’s image, Dems can still win 31:45 Democrats know what they’re against, but not what they’re for 33:30 Spanberger was put in an impossible position by her party 35:00 Spanberger knew that swing voters didn’t like the redistricting chaos 36:15 Dems practiced politics of addition under Obama, now in survival mode 37:45 Voters viewed the Democratic party as more principled, VA jeopardizes that 38:30 Dems still more likely to win both house and senate despite the ruling 42:15 ToddCast Time Machine - May 17th, 195443:00 Brown vs. Board was the court pushing back against a legal fiction43:30 Plessy vs. Ferguson was the foundation for segregation44:15 Segregation had to end via the courts, congress refused to end it45:30 Southern Democrats held enormous power in the 50s46:00 The system challenged by Brown had too much power in congress46:45 The NAACP was chipping away at segregation one case at a time47:30 The court needed a unanimous decision for Brown to have legitimacy48:30 The US was championing freedom abroad while segregated at home49:00 Without the cold war, we don’t desegregate or pass the Voting Rights Act49:30 Court rules 9-0 on Brown, didn’t end segregation but delegitimized it50:30 Southern politicians organized massive resistance51:00 Federal troops sent into Little Rock to escort black students into school51:45 Brown changed how Americans thought about the power of the court52:30 Courts became more like political actors in decades after Brown53:45 The ruling in Brown was definitive, its implementation was not54:30 Ask Chuck54:45 How much could voter suppression affect juiced Democratic turnout?1:01:00 What if Trump never becomes a lame duck president?1:05:30 Is gerrymandering creating better chances for moderates?1:12:00 What are the most realistic options for scaling back entitlements?1:17:15 Predictions for the political futures of Nikki Haley & Ron DeSantis?1:23:15 Is there a scenario for a bipartisan impeachment to avoid bad pardons?1:28:00 Greg Olsen was commencement speaker at Chuck’s daughters graduation1:29:30 Thoughts on the NBA playoffs & NCAA tournament expansion See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd delivers an analysis of the Virginia Supreme Court's decision tossing out the Democratic redistricting map — arguing Democrats pissed away enormous political capital for absolutely nothing and that the reaction on the left has been wildly out of proportion, treating the ruling like an election loss when it was actually a predictable consequence of trying to fight fire with fire. He notes that Democrats passed the Virginia map without ever bothering to figure out how the courts would rule, and that both Obama and Governor Spanberger spent serious political capital pushing a referendum that was always legally vulnerable. He pushes back hard on left-wing commentary framing the ruling as partisan: the Virginia Supreme Court isn't full of partisans — they're technocrats, and Democrats just spent years arguing for norms and process and then ignored norms and process. His central argument is that Democrats will never win a race to the bottom with Trump's GOP, that the "fight fire with fire" mentality is a huge strategic mistake, and that Democrats can absolutely win in newly created swing districts with the right candidates if they go back to persuading voters and building coalitions rather than treating voters as the problem. He argues that Democrats are still likely to win both the House and Senate in the midterms — proof that Trump has done nothing to improve the GOP's image and that the path back to a winning Democratic coalition is still wide open if the party chooses to take it.  Then, acclaimed music biographer Bob Spitz — author of definitive biographies of The Beatles and Led Zeppelin and now The Rolling Stones: The Biography, his five-year deep dive into the world's greatest rock and roll band — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a deeply enjoyable conversation about why the Stones have endured for over six decades and what their longevity says about the state of music itself. Spitz argues that the Stones gave us the foundation of the rock and roll sound and that, in many ways, there is no rock and roll today — modern musicians are producers more than performers, and now in their 80s the Stones are essentially one of the last bands keeping the form alive. He explains why their decision to flirt with politics in the 60s and then back off actually helped them endure, traces their close friendship with The Beatles , and describes Mick and Keith's strange but enduring marriage as the central engine of the band — held together by their shared love of playing live. The conversation digs into the surprising musical and cultural backstory of how the Stones became the Stones — including the fascinating history of how white British kids embraced the blues more than American kids did. Spitz pays beautiful tribute to drummer Charlie Watts as the heart and soul of the group — a jazz lover who only played rock because it paid the bills and who, along with Ian Stewart, kept the band in line for decades — and discusses the profound effect of losing him on the band's chemistry. He explains why the Stones keep playing well into their 80s, why great guitarists are now a rare commodity with no real innovators emerging, and why Mick has stayed in such great shape. Spitz offers his verdict on the Stones' place in music history — they've come to understand themselves as the greatest rock band, and he agrees — and reveals what's next for him: a book about John Lennon's second act. He closes with a fascinating thought experiment posed by Chuck: if Mick Jagger had been killed and John Lennon had lived, would the trajectories of the two bands have completely switched? Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the Supreme Court’s Brown vs. Board of Education decision and explains that the courts have been forced to rule on major structural changes to American society when congress refuses to legislate. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Try ShipStation free for 60 days with full access to all features, No credit card needed! Go to https://ShipStation.com and use code TODDCAST for 60 days for free! Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 01:45 Democrats pissed away political capital in VA, then map was tossed 05:30 Reaction on the left to Virginia ruling has been like an election loss 07:00 It’s understandable that Democrats wanted to fight fire with fire 07:45 Democrats passed VA map without knowing how the courts would rule 08:30 Obama and Spanberger wasted political capital for nothing 09:45 Dems have argued for norms + process that court said they didn’t follow 10:30 Electing the judiciary is terrible for the rule of law 11:15 The VA Supreme Court aren’t partisans, they’re technocrats 12:30 Left wing commentary assumes it was a partisan decision… it wasn’t 14:00 Dem leadership in VA misled the party & the public on referendum 15:45 We still don’t know what the maps will look like in the south after redistricting 16:30 GOP has the redistricting advantage now, but courts may intervene 17:30 VA court may give courage to other courts to stop the gerrymandering 18:45 Democrats will never win a race to the bottom with Trump’s GOP 20:15 Democrats can win in newly created swing districts with right candidates 22:00 The “fight fire with fire” mentality is a huge mistake by the Dems 23:00 Democracy is eroded when both parties play scorched earth politics 24:15 Dems should be trying to persuade and coalition build 26:00 Republicans treat voters as the problem, Dems shouldn’t do the same 27:15 Dems want to be held to a higher standard, but don’t like it when they are 28:30 Dems did real damage to their credibility with Virginia redistricting 30:00 Trump has done nothing to improve the GOP’s image, Dems can still win 31:45 Democrats know what they’re against, but not what they’re for 33:30 Spanberger was put in an impossible position by her party 35:00 Spanberger knew that swing voters didn’t like the redistricting chaos 36:15 Dems practiced politics of addition under Obama, now in survival mode 37:45 Voters viewed the Democratic party as more principled, VA jeopardizes that 38:30 Dems still more likely to win both house and senate despite the ruling 46:00 Bob Spitz (Rolling Stones Biographer) joins the Chuck ToddCast 48:00 How long have you been thinking about writing this biography? 49:15 Keith Richards biography was a phenomenal book, but only Keith’s view 50:30 The Stones longevity as a group makes them more compelling 52:00 The Stones gave us the foundation of the rock and roll sound 53:15 There is no rock and roll today, musicians are producers now 55:15 In their 80’s, the Stones are still keeping rock and roll alive 56:30 The Stones flirted with being political, then backed off 57:15 Their lack of taking a stand actually helped them endure 58:45 The Stones became great friends with the Beatles 1:00:00 Mick Jagger & Paul McCartney explored joint business ventures 1:01:30 Without Paul or Mick, both bands may not have been financially viable 1:02:15 Mick & Keith seemed like a strange marriage, but they made it work 1:04:15 The music kept the band together, they love to play and perform 1:05:30 You have to see the Stones in concert to truly appreciate them 1:06:45 They’ve had countless “Farewell Tours” and always come back 1:08:00 Mick has kept in great shape, his father was a fitness celebrity 1:09:30 Fans pitted the Beatles vs. The Stones, but the bands never did 1:11:30 How did white British kids embrace the blues more than American kids? 1:12:15 American GI’s left their blues records behind in the UK 1:13:45 Chuck Berry was a massive influence on the Stones becoming rock 1:14:30 Charlie Watts was the heart and soul of the band 1:16:00 Charlie loved jazz, only played rock because it paid the bills 1:17:30 Charlie and Ian Stewart kept the band in line 1:18:45 The effect of losing Charlie Watts on the Stones 1:20:45 They keep playing because it sustains them as humans, not for the money 1:22:15 Does it bother Keith that everyone sits down when Jagger isn’t performing? 1:23:30 Great guitarists are a rare commodity these days, no innovators 1:24:30 Modern music doesn’t emphasize live instrumental performance 1:26:45 What is the Stones' place in the music universe? 1:27:15 They’ve come to understand themselves as the greatest rock band 1:28:15 Secret to the Stones longevity? 1:30:00 The Stones wouldn’t participate in an extended “Dead & Company” style 1:30:45 Mick is about to have great grandkids, and has a 30 year old girlfriend 1:31:15 Next project is a book about John Lennon’s second act 1:32:30 Beatles had an aversion to talking to the press 1:33:30 If Jagger had been killed & Lennon lived, would the bands switch trajectories?  1:38:15 ToddCast Time Machine - May 17th, 1954 1:39:00 Brown vs. Board was the court pushing back against a legal fiction 1:39:30 Plessy vs. Ferguson was the foundation for segregation 1:40:15 Segregation had to end via the courts, congress refused to end it 1:41:30 Southern Democrats held enormous power in the 50s 1:42:00 The system challenged by Brown had too much power in congress 1:42:45 The NAACP was chipping away at segregation one case at a time 1:43:30 The court needed a unanimous decision for Brown to have legitimacy 1:44:30 The US was championing freedom abroad while segregated at home 1:45:00 Without the cold war, we don’t desegregate or pass the Voting Rights Act 1:45:30 Court rules 9-0 on Brown, didn’t end segregation but delegitimized it 1:46:30 Southe

Acclaimed music biographer Bob Spitz — author of definitive biographies of The Beatles and Led Zeppelin and now The Rolling Stones: The Biography, his five-year deep dive into the world's greatest rock and roll band — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a deeply enjoyable conversation about why the Stones have endured for over six decades and what their longevity says about the state of music itself. Spitz argues that the Stones gave us the foundation of the rock and roll sound and that, in many ways, there is no rock and roll today — modern musicians are producers more than performers, and now in their 80s the Stones are essentially one of the last bands keeping the form alive. He explains why their decision to flirt with politics in the 60s and then back off actually helped them endure, traces their close friendship with The Beatles , and describes Mick and Keith's strange but enduring marriage as the central engine of the band — held together by their shared love of playing live. The conversation digs into the surprising musical and cultural backstory of how the Stones became the Stones — including the fascinating history of how white British kids embraced the blues more than American kids did. Spitz pays beautiful tribute to drummer Charlie Watts as the heart and soul of the group — a jazz lover who only played rock because it paid the bills and who, along with Ian Stewart, kept the band in line for decades — and discusses the profound effect of losing him on the band's chemistry. He explains why the Stones keep playing well into their 80s, why great guitarists are now a rare commodity with no real innovators emerging, and why Mick has stayed in such great shape. Spitz offers his verdict on the Stones' place in music history — they've come to understand themselves as the greatest rock band, and he agrees — and reveals what's next for him: a book about John Lennon's second act. He closes with a fascinating thought experiment posed by Chuck: if Mick Jagger had been killed and John Lennon had lived, would the trajectories of the two bands have completely switched? Try ShipStation free for 60 days with full access to all features, No credit card needed! Go to https://ShipStation.com and use code TODDCAST for 60 days for free! Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Bob Spitz (Rolling Stones Biographer) joins the Chuck ToddCast 02:00 How long have you been thinking about writing this biography? 03:15 Keith Richards biography was a phenomenal book, but only Keith’s view 04:30 The Stones longevity as a group makes them more compelling 06:00 The Stones gave us the foundation of the rock and roll sound 07:15 There is no rock and roll today, musicians are producers now 09:15 In their 80’s, the Stones are still keeping rock and roll alive 10:30 The Stones flirted with being political, then backed off 11:15 Their lack of taking a stand actually helped them endure 12:45 The Stones became great friends with the Beatles 14:00 Mick Jagger & Paul McCartney explored joint business ventures 15:30 Without Paul or Mick, both bands may not have been financially viable 16:15 Mick & Keith seemed like a strange marriage, but they made it work 18:15 The music kept the band together, they love to play and perform 19:30 You have to see the Stones in concert to truly appreciate them 20:45 They’ve had countless “Farewell Tours” and always come back 22:00 Mick has kept in great shape, his father was a fitness celebrity 23:30 Fans pitted the Beatles vs. The Stones, but the bands never did 25:30 How did white British kids embrace the blues more than American kids? 26:15 American GI’s left their blues records behind in the UK 27:45 Chuck Berry was a massive influence on the Stones becoming rock 28:30 Charlie Watts was the heart and soul of the band 30:00 Charlie loved jazz, only played rock because it paid the bills 31:30 Charlie and Ian Stewart kept the band in line 32:45 The effect of losing Charlie Watts on the Stones 34:45 They keep playing because it sustains them as humans, not for the money 36:15 Does it bother Keith that everyone sits down when Jagger isn’t performing? 37:30 Great guitarists are a rare commodity these days, no innovators 38:30 Modern music doesn’t emphasize live instrumental performance 40:45 What is the Stones' place in the music universe? 41:15 They’ve come to understand themselves as the greatest rock band 42:15 Secret to the Stones longevity? 44:00 The Stones wouldn’t participate in an extended “Dead & Company” style 44:45 Mick is about to have great grandkids, and has a 30 year old girlfriend 45:15 Next project is a book about John Lennon’s second act 46:30 Beatles had an aversion to talking to the press 47:30 If Jagger had been killed & Lennon lived, would the bands switch trajectories? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with the latest from the Iran war: the Saudis have now denied the U.S. military access to strikes from their bases and airspace, the U.S. cannot claim any net positive from this conflict, and Trump's best realistic outcome is some version of the Obama nuclear deal 2.0. He notes that both sides are being squeezed — Iran can't keep this going forever either — but warns that beyond the immediate political damage to Trump, the war has handed China tremendous long-term leverage, AI spending is the only reason the U.S. economy hasn't already tanked, and asymmetric warfare has once again proven it can beat superpower militaries. He argues Trump's request for $1 billion in taxpayer funds for a White House ballroom is political suicide — if Obama had made the same ask, the media firestorm would have been deafening — and that Congress approving the money would be handing Democrats an enormous political gift. He flags the FBI's new investigation into Virginia Democrat Louise Lucas, warns that nothing coming from Trump's DOJ can be trusted at face value, and argues the trumped-up charges against James Comey create reasonable doubt about every other case the administration brings. He warns the administration is actively poking the bear with African American voters in ways that could supercharge Black turnout and reshape the midterm calculus, flags the FBI investigation related to The Atlantic's story on Kash Patel's drinking (the bureau denies investigating the reporter, but the careful language suggests a leak investigation exists. He closes with a beautiful and personal commencement-style address to the graduating class of 2026 as his daughter prepares to walk. Finally, he answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.  Try ShipStation free for 60 days with full access to all features, No credit card needed! Go to https://ShipStation.com and use code TODDCAST for 60 days for free! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 04:30 Saudis have denied U.S. military access to bases & airspace 06:00 Trump is only going to get the nuclear deal 2.0 at best 07:30 Iran can’t keep this going as well, both sides being squeezed 08:30 U.S. can’t claim any net positive from this war 09:30 This is bad for Trump politically, but it’s bad for the US long-term 10:15 Trump has handed China tremendous leverage 11:00 AI spending is the only reason the U.S. economy hasn’t tanked 12:30 Asymmetric warfare beats superpower militaries 14:15 Greenlighting $1B in taxpayer funds for ballroom is political suicide 15:15 If Obama made the same ask, there would be a media firestorm 16:00 Congress giving Dems a huge political gift by approving funds 17:15 FBI launches investigation into Virginia dem Louise Lucas 18:30 You can’t trust the narratives from Trump’s DOJ 20:00 Trumped up charges against Comey create doubt in other cases 20:45 Administration is poking the bear with African Americans voters 22:00 Supercharged black turnout would change midterm election calculus 23:00 FBI investigation into Atlantic story about Kash Patel’s drinking 23:45 FBI denies investigating the reporter who broke the story 24:30 Denial language suggests a leak investigation exists 26:00 Worried about the future and for this graduating class 28:30 Chuck’s advice for the graduating class of 2026 29:15 Graduates are heading into a very uncertain future 29:45 Adulthood is not a race, don’t always need to hurry 31:00 The first job you take isn’t your forever job 32:00 Don’t confuse a setback with failure 32:45 Respect your elders and respect experience 35:00 Don’t be embarrassed by your struggles or disregard someone else’s 36:00 Life happens. Don’t wait for the perfect time for something 37:15 Road trips are the best way to learn about America 38:15 Don’t be a “Yeah, but” person 40:00 Life is not a competition with your friends’ lives 40:45 It takes a lot of hard work to get lucky 42:00 Sorry that we’ve brought grads into a very angry America 42:30 Talk to people who disagree with you 43:30 If you only experience America through an algorithm, you’ll misunderstand it 47:45 Ask Chuck 48:00 How would you approach teaching, more depth or more breadth? 52:30 Should we pay members of congress more? 56:15 What can make local law enforcement a more enticing job? 1:01:45 How does Trump’s drift towards lame-duck status play out? 1:06:15 Why do you think redistricting would create an electoral backlash? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with the latest from the Iran war: the Saudis have now denied the U.S. military access to strikes from their bases and airspace, the U.S. cannot claim any net positive from this conflict, and Trump's best realistic outcome is some version of the Obama nuclear deal 2.0. He notes that both sides are being squeezed — Iran can't keep this going forever either — but warns that beyond the immediate political damage to Trump, the war has handed China tremendous long-term leverage, AI spending is the only reason the U.S. economy hasn't already tanked, and asymmetric warfare has once again proven it can beat superpower militaries. He argues Trump's request for $1 billion in taxpayer funds for a White House ballroom is political suicide — if Obama had made the same ask, the media firestorm would have been deafening — and that Congress approving the money would be handing Democrats an enormous political gift. He flags the FBI's new investigation into Virginia Democrat Louise Lucas, warns that nothing coming from Trump's DOJ can be trusted at face value, and argues the trumped-up charges against James Comey create reasonable doubt about every other case the administration brings. He warns the administration is actively poking the bear with African American voters in ways that could supercharge Black turnout and reshape the midterm calculus, flags the FBI investigation related to The Atlantic's story on Kash Patel's drinking (the bureau denies investigating the reporter, but the careful language suggests a leak investigation exists. He closes with a beautiful and personal commencement-style address to the graduating class of 2026 as his daughter prepares to walk. Then, conservative writer Kevin Williamson — National Correspondent for The Dispatch and one of the sharpest voices on the right — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a wide-ranging and characteristically blunt conversation about Trump's Iran disaster, the collapse of the political parties, and what kind of country America is becoming. Williamson argues Trump made a colossal mistake getting into the Iran war and there's now no way out without national humiliation: the goals of the conflict have constantly been changing, and Trump effectively told the Iranians where his political weaknesses were and they called his bluff. He notes the absurdity of America blockading the Strait specifically because we're mad that it's been blockaded, observes that the firing hasn't actually ceased despite the supposed ceasefire, and offers a withering verdict on the president himself: "Trump is just not a smart guy, he's an insult artist," surrounded by people who don't have the nation's interests in mind. They explore whether China could end up being the country Trump needs to bail him out in Iran, whether a nuclear Iran could benefit Putin (would he actually sell them one?), and notes the Gulf states are tired of this. He warns that securing the Strait of Hormuz requires ground troops Trump is too afraid to commit, that the Iranian regime is nothing like Venezuela's and won't fold, and that Trump never prepared the country for pain at the pump. The conversation broadens into Williamson's structural diagnosis of American politics, and his unsentimental view of where this is all headed. He argues that politics has become like religion, especially for the most religious, which is why Trump's coalition won't fracture even when farmers are being destroyed by Trump's own policies and still vote for him. He says Trump's declining popularity isn't restraining his decision-making at all, that Republicans are already assuming a midterm wipeout, and that Trump will be impeached if Democrats take the House — and should be — though he acknowledges it may not be the smartest political move. They dig into whether both American parties are at genuine risk of collapse, arguing their decline has been a huge loss for the country: celebrity and social media have filled the vacuum, with communication ability now mattering more than actual governing competence. He half-jokes that Taylor Swift could be president if she wanted to be, dismisses the idea that Stephen Colbert could carry a progressive banner, and closes with a genuinely dark prediction: America is losing its identity, may simply be too rich for its own good, and is heading for a low so bad that most Americans aren't prepared for it. Finally, he answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.  Try ShipStation free for 60 days with full access to all features, No credit card needed! Go to https://ShipStation.com and use code TODDCAST for 60 days for free! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 04:30 Saudis have denied U.S. military access to bases & airspace 06:00 Trump is only going to get the nuclear deal 2.0 at best 07:30 Iran can’t keep this going as well, both sides being squeezed 08:30 U.S. can’t claim any net positive from this war 09:30 This is bad for Trump politically, but it’s bad for the US long-term 10:15 Trump has handed China tremendous leverage 11:00 AI spending is the only reason the U.S. economy hasn’t tanked 12:30 Asymmetric warfare beats superpower militaries 14:15 Greenlighting $1B in taxpayer funds for ballroom is political suicide 15:15 If Obama made the same ask, there would be a media firestorm 16:00 Congress giving Dems a huge political gift by approving funds 17:15 FBI launches investigation into Virginia dem Louise Lucas 18:30 You can’t trust the narratives from Trump’s DOJ 20:00 Trumped up charges against Comey create doubt in other cases 20:45 Administration is poking the bear with African Americans voters 22:00 Supercharged black turnout would change midterm election calculus 23:00 FBI investigation into Atlantic story about Kash Patel’s drinking 23:45 FBI denies investigating the reporter who broke the story 24:30 Denial language suggests a leak investigation exists 26:00 Worried about the future and for this graduating class 28:30 Chuck’s advice for the graduating class of 2026 29:15 Graduates are heading into a very uncertain future 29:45 Adulthood is not a race, don’t always need to hurry 31:00 The first job you take isn’t your forever job 32:00 Don’t confuse a setback with failure 32:45 Respect your elders and respect experience 35:00 Don’t be embarrassed by your struggles or disregard someone else’s 36:00 Life happens. Don’t wait for the perfect time for something 37:15 Road trips are the best way to learn about America 38:15 Don’t be a “Yeah, but” person 40:00 Life is not a competition with your friends’ lives 40:45 It takes a lot of hard work to get lucky 42:00 Sorry that we’ve brought grads into a very angry America 42:30 Talk to people who disagree with you 43:30 If you only experience America through an algorithm, you’ll misunderstand it 47:45 Kevin Williamson (The Dispatch) joins The Chuck ToddCast 49:00 Trump made a colossal mistake with Iran war 49:30 We can’t get out of Iran war without being humiliated 50:45 The goals of the war have constantly been changing 52:15 Iran can’t win a battle with the U.S. but its sphere of influence is bigger 53:45 Trump told the Iranians what his weaknesses are, they called his bluff 54:45 The firing has not ceased, there’s no actual ceasefire 55:15 We’re blockading a Strait because we’re mad it’s blockaded… 56:15 Trump is just not a smart guy, he’s an insult artist 57:00 The people around Trump don’t have the nation's interests in mind 57:45 Rubio looks good because the people around Trump are so bad 59:45 Will China be the country Trump needs to bail him out in Iran? 1:00:45 Iran having a nuke could benefit Putin, would he sell them one? 1:02:15 Trump didn’t prepare the country for pain at the pump 1:03:30 We could really use our European allies that we spurned 1:04:15 Unclear if Iran would accept a JCPOA style deal now 1:07:15 50 years after the revolution, Iranian regime hasn’t changed priorities 1:08:45 The gulf states have influence over Trump and they’re tired of this 1:11:00 Gulf states probably assumed Trump would go for regime change 1:12:15 The Iranian regime is nothing like the regime in Venezuela 1:13:45 The rural vs urban divide leads to failed democratic states 1:15:30 Trump’s declining popularity isn’t restraining his decision making 1:16:30 Republicans are already assuming a wipeout in the midterms 1:17:00 Trump will be impeached with a Dem majority in the house, and should be 1:17:45 Impeaching Trump may not be best option politically, but the right thing to do 1:20:15 Securing the Strait requires ground troops, which is terrible politics 1:21:00 Trump is a coward, and afraid of the risk of using ground troops 1:22:45 Trump doesn’t want to get into an open ended occupation of Iran 1:23:15 Unlikely that Trump’s coalition fractures, it’s a personality cult 1:24:30 Farmers are being destroyed by Trump, yet many still support him 1:25:45 Politics has become like religion, especially to the most religious 1:27:00 Kevin quit the GOP over Arlen Spector, which now seems quaint 1:28:45 What kind of conservative do you consider yourself to be? 1:33:15 Are both American parties at risk of collapse? Could another party emerge? 1:34:00 The parties matter less now than before Trump was elected 1:34:45 The decline of the parties has been a huge loss 1:35:45 Celebrity & social media has filled the gap left by the parties 1:37:00 Stephen Colbert is unlikely to be the celebrity to carry the progressive banner 1:38:15 Taylor Swift could be presid

Conservative writer Kevin Williamson — National Correspondent for The Dispatch and one of the sharpest voices on the right — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a wide-ranging and characteristically blunt conversation about Trump's Iran disaster, the collapse of the political parties, and what kind of country America is becoming. Williamson argues Trump made a colossal mistake getting into the Iran war and there's now no way out without national humiliation: the goals of the conflict have constantly been changing, and Trump effectively told the Iranians where his political weaknesses were and they called his bluff. He notes the absurdity of America blockading the Strait specifically because we're mad that it's been blockaded, observes that the firing hasn't actually ceased despite the supposed ceasefire, and offers a withering verdict on the president himself: "Trump is just not a smart guy, he's an insult artist," surrounded by people who don't have the nation's interests in mind. They explore whether China could end up being the country Trump needs to bail him out in Iran, whether a nuclear Iran could benefit Putin (would he actually sell them one?), and notes the Gulf states are tired of this. He warns that securing the Strait of Hormuz requires ground troops Trump is too afraid to commit, that the Iranian regime is nothing like Venezuela's and won't fold, and that Trump never prepared the country for pain at the pump. The conversation broadens into Williamson's structural diagnosis of American politics, and his unsentimental view of where this is all headed. He argues that politics has become like religion, especially for the most religious, which is why Trump's coalition won't fracture even when farmers are being destroyed by Trump's own policies and still vote for him. He says Trump's declining popularity isn't restraining his decision-making at all, that Republicans are already assuming a midterm wipeout, and that Trump will be impeached if Democrats take the House — and should be — though he acknowledges it may not be the smartest political move. They dig into whether both American parties are at genuine risk of collapse, arguing their decline has been a huge loss for the country: celebrity and social media have filled the vacuum, with communication ability now mattering more than actual governing competence. He half-jokes that Taylor Swift could be president if she wanted to be, dismisses the idea that Stephen Colbert could carry a progressive banner, and closes with a genuinely dark prediction: America is losing its identity, may simply be too rich for its own good, and is heading for a low so bad that most Americans aren't prepared for it. Finally, he answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.  Try ShipStation free for 60 days with full access to all features, No credit card needed! Go to https://ShipStation.com and use code TODDCAST for 60 days for free! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Kevin Williamson (The Dispatch) joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:15 Trump made a colossal mistake with Iran war 01:45 We can’t get out of Iran war without being humiliated 03:00 The goals of the war have constantly been changing 04:30 Iran can’t win a battle with the U.S. but its45 sphere of influence is bigger 06:00 Trump told the Iranians what his weaknesses are, they called his bluff 07:00 The firing has not ceased, there’s no actual ceasefire 07:30 We’re blockading a Strait because we’re mad it’s blockaded… 08:30 Trump is just not a smart guy, he’s an insult artist 09:15 The people around Trump don’t have the nation's interests in mind 10:00 Rubio looks good because the people around Trump are so bad 12:00 Will China be the country Trump needs to bail him out in Iran? 13:00 Iran having a nuke could benefit Putin, would he sell them one? 14:30 Trump didn’t prepare the country for pain at the pump 15:45 We could really use our European allies that we spurned 16:30 Unclear if Iran would accept a JCPOA style deal now 19:30 50 years after the revolution, Iranian regime hasn’t changed priorities 21:00 The gulf states have influence over Trump and they’re tired of this 23:15 Gulf states probably assumed Trump would go for regime change 24:30 The Iranian regime is nothing like the regime in Venezuela 26:00 The rural vs urban divide leads to failed democratic states  27:45 Trump’s declining popularity isn’t restraining his decision making 28:45 Republicans are already assuming a wipeout in the midterms 29:15 Trump will be impeached with a Dem majority in the house, and should be 30:00 Impeaching Trump may not be best option politically, but the right thing to do 32:30 Securing the Strait requires ground troops, which is terrible politics 33:15 Trump is a coward, and afraid of the risk of using ground troops 35:00 Trump doesn’t want to get into an open ended occupation of Iran 35:30 Unlikely that Trump’s coalition fractures, it’s a personality cult 36:45 Farmers are being destroyed by Trump, yet many still support him 38:00 Politics has become like religion, especially to the most religious 39:15 Kevin quit the GOP over Arlen Spector, which now seems quaint  41:00 What kind of conservative do you consider yourself to be? 45:30 Are both American parties at risk of collapse? Could another party emerge? 46:15 The parties matter less now than before Trump was elected 47:00 The decline of the parties has been a huge loss 48:00 Celebrity & social media has filled the gap left by the parties 49:15 Stephen Colbert is unlikely to be the celebrity to carry the progressive banner 50:30 Taylor Swift could be president if she wanted to 51:30 Communication is the winning trait of politicians now, not ability 54:30 We’re losing our American identity, maybe too rich for our own good 56:00 We’re going to hit a low that’s so bad, Americans aren’t prepared for it 57:45 The next election is not going to solve our problems See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with the morning-after analysis of Indiana's primary results, which he says show Trump still has plenty of juice with his own party — roughly $13 million was spent to influence about 100,000 voters, and the results have created new urgency for Republican-led states across the South to redistrict before the midterms. He notes that being on the wrong side of Trump remains a career-ending move in the GOP, that Thomas Massie's upcoming primary will be a critical test of Trump's intra-party strength, and that Trump has effectively postponed the perception that he's a lame duck — even as the Iran war continues to crater his standing with the broader public. He flags Ohio as setting up to look like a real swing state in 2026, with Vivek Ramaswamy's polarizing style creating an opening for highly-regarded former Ohio Health Director Amy Acton, and notes that Iowa and Ohio could both move back toward genuine battleground status. He then walks through his fascinating recent participation in a political crisis simulation premised on the idea that January 6th wasn't an anomaly — three teams (Institutionalists, Nationalists, and Capitalists) competed for power, and the entire exercise revolved around who could get the capitalists on their side, since their core interest was simply enrichment and instability. The most revealing detail: in the simulation, Congress barely existed and had no measurable impact on outcomes, which Chuck argues mirrors reality and exposes the deeper problem facing American democracy. His blunt verdict: America doesn't actually have a polarization problem — it has a Congress problem, because weak legislatures inevitably create strong executives, Trump simply filled the vacuum a broken Congress created, and the looming gerrymandering wars (with at least eight states set to redraw their maps before 2028) will make Congress even less functional and more purely partisan than it already is.  Finally, Chuck presents his ToddCast Top 5 gubernatorial one-party droughts that are most likely to end in 2026, and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Try ShipStation free for 60 days with full access to all features, No credit card needed! Go to https://ShipStation.com and use code TODDCAST for 60 days for free! Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 01:15 Indiana primaries show that Trump still has juice with his party 02:15 $13 million was spent to influence around 100k voters 04:15 Trump has created new urgency to redistrict in the south 05:30 Being on the wrong side of Trump will end your career in the GOP 06:15 Thomas Massie’s primary will be telling about Trump’s strength 08:15 Trump has postponed the perception that he’s a lame duck in his party 09:15 Iran is not going to get better for Trump, and the polling is brutal 11:30 Indiana showed that Trump hasn’t lost his fastball with the GOP 12:30 Ohio is setting up to look like a swing state in 2026 14:30 Vivek Ramaswamy is polarizing and has said some politically dumb things 16:30 Amy Acton is highly regarded for her leadership during Covid 18:30 It’s possible that Iowa and Ohio move back toward battleground status 19:00 Chuck participated in a political crisis simulation  21:15 Premise of simulation was January 6th wasn’t an anomaly 21:45 Three teams: Institutionalists, Nationalists and Capitalists 23:00 Entire simulation revolved around who could get capitalists on their side  24:30 Capitalists want enrichment & instability 25:15 In the simulation, congress barely existed, had no impact 26:15 Stress tests begin with the assumption congress is ineffective 26:45 Congress is supposed to be the strongest branch, but is now weakest 28:15 America doesn’t have a polarization problem, we have a congress problem 29:30 Weak legislatures create strong executives 30:45 We’ve suffered from a failure of imagination in the Trump era 31:30 Trump filled the vacuum that was created by a broken congress 33:30 The gerrymandering wars will make congress even less functional 34:00 At least 8 states will remap between now and 2028 36:00 Congress will be nothing but partisanship after all the gerrymandering 37:30 Don’t just assume that Democrats will pass a gerrymandering ban 39:00 Democracy feels vulnerable because congress doesn’t work 44:15 ToddCast Top 5 gubernatorial droughts likely to end in 2026 48:15 #5 Texas 51:15 #4 Alabama 54:45 #3 Georgia 57:15 #2 Ohio 1:01:30 #1 Iowa 1:02:15 Ask Chuck 1:02:30 With the national debt 100% of GDP, what are the risks if this continues? 1:11:00 Could a SCOTUS confirmation fight improve GOP chances in midterms? 1:16:15 Can the WHCD assailant plead insanity via Trump Derangement Syndrome? 1:19:45 Impact if Texas moved to closed primaries? 1:22:15 Is there any appetite in congress for uncapping the house? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with the morning-after analysis of Indiana's primary results, which he says show Trump still has plenty of juice with his own party — roughly $13 million was spent to influence about 100,000 voters, and the results have created new urgency for Republican-led states across the South to redistrict before the midterms. He notes that being on the wrong side of Trump remains a career-ending move in the GOP, that Thomas Massie's upcoming primary will be a critical test of Trump's intra-party strength, and that Trump has effectively postponed the perception that he's a lame duck — even as the Iran war continues to crater his standing with the broader public. He flags Ohio as setting up to look like a real swing state in 2026, with Vivek Ramaswamy's polarizing style creating an opening for highly-regarded former Ohio Health Director Amy Acton, and notes that Iowa and Ohio could both move back toward genuine battleground status. Hethen walks through his fascinating recent participation in a political crisis simulation premised on the idea that January 6th wasn't an anomaly — three teams (Institutionalists, Nationalists, and Capitalists) competed for power, and the entire exercise revolved around who could get the capitalists on their side, since their core interest was simply enrichment and instability. The most revealing detail: in the simulation, Congress barely existed and had no measurable impact on outcomes, which Chuck argues mirrors reality and exposes the deeper problem facing American democracy. His blunt verdict: America doesn't actually have a polarization problem — it has a Congress problem, because weak legislatures inevitably create strong executives, Trump simply filled the vacuum a broken Congress created, and the looming gerrymandering wars (with at least eight states set to redraw their maps before 2028) will make Congress even less functional and more purely partisan than it already is.  Then, Ashley Trice and Rob Holbert — co-publishers of Lagniappe, the alt-weekly turned investigative newspaper covering Mobile and Alabama's Gulf Coast — join the Chuck Toddcast to share the origin story of how their independent publication has grown into the region's premier investigative voice. They explain how Lagniappe started as a free paper and has now transitioned to a subscription model behind a paywall, why most newspapers won't even print these days unless they're certain it won't cost them money (and the surprising fact that there's a national shortage of available printers), and how the paper has built its reputation by covering everything from Mobile's local government to scandals in the wealthy parts of town and irresistible animal stories — both of which they say reliably grow audience faster than anything else. Trice and Holbert preview the upcoming Tuberville-Jones gubernatorial race, which they expect to be surprisingly close, and offer a withering assessment of outgoing Governor Kay Ivey's "very inactive" tenure. They walk through the political divide in Alabama where coastal Mobile often feels left out of the conversation, the surprising audience appeal of youth and high school sports coverage, and the looming threat of the Nexstar-Tegna merger gutting even more local newsrooms across the country. The conversation broadens into the practical realities of running a sustainable local newsroom in 2026. Trice and Holbert explain that the public has been trained to expect news for free, that reaching younger audiences now requires aggressive use of social media platforms and video content, and that live events have become an increasingly important revenue stream for papers like theirs. Trice and Holbert observe that small businesses are still reaching out about advertising — proof that print journalism continues to have a market — and close with a fascinating observation about how coastal Southern cities like Mobile tend to be less polarized than the rest of the South, with a genuine sense of community that gets lost in the national conversation about red-state politics. Finally, Chuck presents his ToddCast Top 5 gubernatorial one-party droughts that are most likely to end in 2026, and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Try ShipStation free for 60 days with full access to all features, No credit card needed! Go to https://ShipStation.com and use code TODDCAST for 60 days for free! Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 01:15 Indiana primaries show that Trump still has juice with his party 02:15 $13 million was spent to influence around 100k voters 04:15 Trump has created new urgency to redistrict in the south 05:30 Being on the wrong side of Trump will end your career in the GOP 06:15 Thomas Massie’s primary will be telling about Trump’s strength 08:15 Trump has postponed the perception that he’s a lame duck in his party 09:15 Iran is not going to get better for Trump, and the polling is brutal 11:30 Indiana showed that Trump hasn’t lost his fastball with the GOP 12:30 Ohio is setting up to look like a swing state in 2026 14:30 Vivek Ramaswamy is polarizing and has said some politically dumb things 16:30 Amy Acton is highly regarded for her leadership during Covid 18:30 It’s possible that Iowa and Ohio move back toward battleground status 19:00 Chuck participated in a political crisis simulation  21:15 Premise of simulation was January 6th wasn’t an anomaly 21:45 Three teams: Institutionalists, Nationalists and Capitalists 23:00 Entire simulation revolved around who could get capitalists on their side  24:30 Capitalists want enrichment & instability 25:15 In the simulation, congress barely existed, had no impact 26:15 Stress tests begin with the assumption congress is ineffective 26:45 Congress is supposed to be the strongest branch, but is now weakest 28:15 America doesn’t have a polarization problem, we have a congress problem 29:30 Weak legislatures create strong executives 30:45 We’ve suffered from a failure of imagination in the Trump era 31:30 Trump filled the vacuum that was created by a broken congress 33:30 The gerrymandering wars will make congress even less functional 34:00 At least 8 states will remap between now and 2028 36:00 Congress will be nothing but partisanship after all the gerrymandering 37:30 Don’t just assume that Democrats will pass a gerrymandering ban 39:00 Democracy feels vulnerable because congress doesn’t work 45:00 Ashley Trice & Rob Holbert (Lagniappe) join the Chuck ToddCast 46:30 Origin story of Lagniappe 48:45 The paper started off free, now is a subscription model behind paywall 50:30 Most papers wait to print unless they know it won’t cost them money 52:00 There’s a shortage of printers available for publications 54:15 Striving to be Alabama’s best investigative newspaper 56:15 Governor’s race between Tuberville & Jones will be close 58:00 Kay Ivey has been a very inactive governor 59:30 When did local governments understand you were going to cover them? 1:03:00 There’s a big political divide in Alabama, and Mobile feels left out 1:04:00 Is youth & high school sports an audience builder? 1:05:00 Scandals in the rich part of town & animal stories really grow audience 1:06:00 Nexstar & Tegna merger will gut more local newsrooms 1:07:45 People have been trained that they don’t have to pay for news 1:08:15 Have to use social media platforms & video to reach younger audience 1:10:00 What do you do in the live event space and are those money makers? 1:12:30 It takes more reporters for coverage that creates dedicated subscribers 1:14:30 Airbus & shipbuilding have been big economic growth drivers in Mobile 1:16:00 The “commuter schools” have really grown in recent years in Alabama 1:18:30 Are there formalized local news networks regionally that could help you? 1:20:00 No time to create networks, in a constant state of “news triage” 1:20:30 Small businesses still reach out about advertising 1:22:30 Print journalism still has a market 1:25:00 Coastal southern cities tend to be less polarized 1:25:45 There’s a real sense of community in southern coastal cities 1:27:00 Where can people find your work?  1:28:00 Alternative weekly’s have been able to become local papers of note 1:29:15 ToddCast Top 5 gubernatorial droughts likely to end in 2026 1:33:15 #5 Texas 1:36:15 #4 Alabama 1:39:45 #3 Georgia 1:42:15 #2 Ohio 1:46:30 #1 Iowa 1:47:15 Ask Chuck 1:47:30 With the national debt 100% of GDP, what are the risks if this continues? 1:56:00 Could a SCOTUS confirmation fight improve GOP chances in midterms? 2:01:15 Can the WHCD assailant plead insanity via Trump Derangement Syndrome? 2:04:45 Impact if Texas moved to closed primaries? 2:07:15 Is there any appetite in congress for uncapping the house? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ashley Trice and Rob Holbert — co-publishers of Lagniappe, the alt-weekly turned investigative newspaper covering Mobile and Alabama's Gulf Coast — join the Chuck Toddcast to share the origin story of how their independent publication has grown into the region's premier investigative voice. They explain how Lagniappe started as a free paper and has now transitioned to a subscription model behind a paywall, why most newspapers won't even print these days unless they're certain it won't cost them money (and the surprising fact that there's a national shortage of available printers), and how the paper has built its reputation by covering everything from Mobile's local government to scandals in the wealthy parts of town and irresistible animal stories — both of which they say reliably grow audience faster than anything else. Trice and Holbert preview the upcoming Tuberville-Jones gubernatorial race, which they expect to be surprisingly close, and offer a withering assessment of outgoing Governor Kay Ivey's "very inactive" tenure. They walk through the political divide in Alabama where coastal Mobile often feels left out of the conversation, the surprising audience appeal of youth and high school sports coverage, and the looming threat of the Nexstar-Tegna merger gutting even more local newsrooms across the country. The conversation broadens into the practical realities of running a sustainable local newsroom in 2026. Trice and Holbert explain that the public has been trained to expect news for free, that reaching younger audiences now requires aggressive use of social media platforms and video content, and that live events have become an increasingly important revenue stream for papers like theirs. Trice and Holbert observe that small businesses are still reaching out about advertising — proof that print journalism continues to have a market — and close with a fascinating observation about how coastal Southern cities like Mobile tend to be less polarized than the rest of the South, with a genuine sense of community that gets lost in the national conversation about red-state politics. Try ShipStation free for 60 days with full access to all features, No credit card needed! Go to https://ShipStation.com and use code TODDCAST for 60 days for free! Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Ashley Trice & Rob Holbert (Lagniappe) join the Chuck ToddCast 01:30 Origin story of Lagniappe  03:45 The paper started off free, now is a subscription model behind paywall 05:30 Most papers wait to print unless they know it won’t cost them money 07:00 There’s a shortage of printers available for publications 09:15 Striving to be Alabama’s best investigative newspaper 11:15 Governor’s race between Tuberville & Jones will be close 13:00 Kay Ivey has been a very inactive governor  14:30 When did local governments understand you were going to cover them? 18:00 There’s a big political divide in Alabama, and Mobile feels left out 19:00 Is youth & high school sports an audience builder? 20:00 Scandals in the rich part of town & animal stories really grow audience 21:00 Nexstar & Tegna merger will gut more local newsrooms 22:45 People have been trained that they don’t have to pay for news 23:15 Have to use social media platforms & video to reach younger audience 25:00 What do you do in the live event space and are those money makers? 27:30 It takes more reporters for coverage that creates dedicated subscribers 29:30 Airbus & shipbuilding have been big economic growth drivers in Mobile 31:00 The “commuter schools” have really grown in recent years in Alabama 33:30 Are there formalized local news networks regionally that could help you? 35:00 No time to create networks, in a constant state of “news triage” 35:30 Small businesses still reach out about advertising 37:30 Print journalism still has a market 40:00 Coastal southern cities tend to be less polarized 40:45 There’s a real sense of community in southern coastal cities 42:00 Where can people find your work? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd unpacks a wave of devastating new polling that shows Americans have lost confidence in Trump across nearly every metric, with his approval cratering among independents and only his hardcore base still standing by him. He notes Trump is underwater on virtually every issue except taxes, immigration, and the border — that his trustworthiness is lower than any past president, that even 22% of his own 2024 voters don't believe he's kept his promises, and that his approval has collapsed with younger voters even as it holds up with the elderly. In a particularly striking finding, only 1 in 10 Americans approve of Trump naming things after himself, and even the "own the libs" voters can't get behind that particular vanity. Todd warns this is a political disaster in the making for Republicans: the enthusiasm gap is now massive in the Democrats' favor, and the Iran war is polling more unpopular than the worst polling ever recorded for Iraq or Vietnam. Yet despite all this, neither party's brand has actually improved with swing voters — both parties still carry almost identical unfavorability ratings, voters of both parties don't even want their leaders to work across the aisle anymore, and the political incentives are now firmly aligned with confrontation rather than compromise — creating an enormous opportunity for independent candidates that neither major party seems prepared to address. On Iran, he says there is no political room for Trump to escalate militarily — his only real escalation option would be ground troops, which would risk total political collapse — and predicts the eventual deal will look like whatever framework the Iranians put forward. He flags a striking recent Tucker Carlson interview in which Carlson was forced to face hard facts, observing that Tucker increasingly looks like a combination of Pat Buchanan and Roger Ailes who is genuinely trying to build a political movement of his own. He returns to the case for expanding the House of Representatives as the fix for the Supreme Court's Voting Rights Act ruling, warns that Republicans could pay a serious political price if Southern voters perceive the GOP as actively trying to disenfranchise Black voters and closes with the news that Janet Mills has dropped out of the Maine Senate race — leaving Democrats now trying to coalesce around Graham Platner, in what Chuck says feels increasingly like a mirror image of the 2016 presidential campaign.  Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the Hindenburg disaster and how it was the origin of “breaking news”, and also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Try ShipStation free for 60 days with full access to all features, No credit card needed! Go to https://ShipStation.com and use code TODDCAST for 60 days for free! Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 08:30 New polling shows Americans have no confidence in Trump 09:15 Trump’s approval has cratered with independent voters 10:00 Trump is only above his approval rating on taxes, immigration and border 10:45 The only people that approve of Trump are his base 12:45 The polling shows a massive repudiation of Trump 14:15 Trump’s trustworthiness is lower than any past president 16:45 Only 78% of Trump voters believe he’s kept his promises 18:15 Trump’s highest approval is with older voters, collapsed with younger voters 20:00 Only 1 in 10 Americans approve of Trump naming things after himself 21:00 Even the “own the libs” voters don’t like Trump naming things after himself 24:30 Republicans expected ethics in government to improve & they haven’t 25:45 Both parties still have almost identical unfavorability ratings 26:15 The Democratic brand hasn’t improved amongst swing voters 28:15 Voters of both parties don’t want leaders to work across the aisle 29:15 Neither side is incentivized to compromise 31:15 Voters are rewarding confrontation 33:45 Dems more trusted on healthcare, Republicans trusted on crime 34:15 Almost every other issue is up for grabs for both parties 34:45 Neither party has trust on dealing with AI 36:15 There’s a huge opportunity for independents in this political climate 36:45 There’s a huge enthusiasm gap favoring the Democrats 38:00 This is a political disaster in the making for Republicans 38:30 Iran war is more unpopular than worst polling for Iraq & Vietnam 40:15 Trump’s only escalation option in Iran is to send in ground troops 41:15 If Trump wants to escalate he better have a plan 41:45 Far more damage to American military assets than we were told 42:30 The Iranian framework for a deal will likely be the one agreed to 43:30 There is no political room for Trump to escalate militarily 44:00 Trump risks total political collapse if he escalates in Iran 45:00 Tucker Carlson forced to face facts in recent interview 46:00 Tucker is a combination of Pat Buchanon and Roger Ailes 47:45 Carlson feels like someone who is trying to build a movement 49:00 Expanding congress would fix SCOTUS Voting Rights Act ruling 50:30 There will be angry voters in the south after this ruling 52:00 Republicans could pay a political price due to backlash from SCOTUS 53:45 If Republicans try to disenfranchise black voters, they could juice turnout 54:45 Trump is more focused on targeting disloyal Republicans than Democrats 56:00 Janet Mills drops out, Dems trying to come around on Graham Platner 56:45 Platner race feels like mirror image of 2016 campaign for president 1:02:15 ToddCast Time Machine - May 6th 1937 - The Hindenburg Disaster 1:03:15 Crowds arrived to watch the Hindenburg  1:04:30 Commercial zeppelin travel had existed for 30 years already 1:05:15 The Hindenburg carried the symbols of Nazi Germany 1:06:00 In 34 seconds the entire airship was destroyed 1:06:45 “Oh The Humanity” becomes an iconic term from broadcasting 1:07:15 The recording wasn’t broadcast live, but was presented as breaking news 1:08:30 Airships fell out of fashion and airplanes made them uncompetitive 1:09:15 The Hindenburg didn’t just fail technically, it failed publicly 1:10:15 Ask Chuck 1:10:30 Have you fallen into the normalization trap? Trump has impeachable offenses 1:16:00 Thoughts on Adam Hamilton running as a Dem in Kansas? 1:19:30 Has any president been as intentionally divisive as Trump? 1:21:45 Take on the expansion of March Madness tournament? 1:26:15 How much impact could the Forward Party have? 1:31:45 Thoughts on the weekend in sports See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd unpacks a wave of devastating new polling that shows Americans have lost confidence in Trump across nearly every metric, with his approval cratering among independents and only his hardcore base still standing by him. He notes Trump is underwater on virtually every issue except taxes, immigration, and the border — that his trustworthiness is lower than any past president, that even 22% of his own 2024 voters don't believe he's kept his promises, and that his approval has collapsed with younger voters even as it holds up with the elderly. In a particularly striking finding, only 1 in 10 Americans approve of Trump naming things after himself, and even the "own the libs" voters can't get behind that particular vanity. Todd warns this is a political disaster in the making for Republicans: the enthusiasm gap is now massive in the Democrats' favor, and the Iran war is polling more unpopular than the worst polling ever recorded for Iraq or Vietnam. Yet despite all this, neither party's brand has actually improved with swing voters — both parties still carry almost identical unfavorability ratings, voters of both parties don't even want their leaders to work across the aisle anymore, and the political incentives are now firmly aligned with confrontation rather than compromise — creating an enormous opportunity for independent candidates that neither major party seems prepared to address. On Iran, he says there is no political room for Trump to escalate militarily — his only real escalation option would be ground troops, which would risk total political collapse — and predicts the eventual deal will look like whatever framework the Iranians put forward. He flags a striking recent Tucker Carlson interview in which Carlson was forced to face hard facts, observing that Tucker increasingly looks like a combination of Pat Buchanan and Roger Ailes who is genuinely trying to build a political movement of his own. He returns to the case for expanding the House of Representatives as the fix for the Supreme Court's Voting Rights Act ruling, warns that Republicans could pay a serious political price if Southern voters perceive the GOP as actively trying to disenfranchise Black voters and closes with the news that Janet Mills has dropped out of the Maine Senate race — leaving Democrats now trying to coalesce around Graham Platner, in what Chuck says feels increasingly like a mirror image of the 2016 presidential campaign.  Then, Yale political scientist Ian Shapiro — author of the new book After the Fall — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a wide-ranging conversation about the missed opportunities of the post-Cold War era and what it would take to actually fix what's broken in the global political economy. Shapiro argues America fundamentally squandered its chance to integrate Russia into the West after the Soviet collapse — there should have been a Marshall Plan for Russia along the lines of what was done for Germany and Japan after World War II, and both Yeltsin and Putin (in his early years) actively lobbied to join the Western order. Clinton was hesitant to help Russia economically, the 1994 midterm results pushed him away from foreign policy ambition entirely, and the eventual pivot toward NATO expansion in Eastern Europe — rather than transforming NATO into something genuinely inclusive — froze Russia out and is exactly when Putin's worldview hardened into the revanchism we're dealing with today. Shapiro extends this analysis to 2008, calling the financial crisis another massive missed opportunity: Obama had to bail out the banks, but his failure to insist on a parallel bailout for Main Street allowed the elites to rescue themselves while imposing austerity on everyone else, which directly fueled the right-wing populism now reshaping politics across the West. The conversation pivots to what comes next. Shapiro is clear that the good policies of the 2030s won't be a rehash of the New Deal — they need to address modern realities. He argues governments need to help workers be flexible rather than redistributing wealth through politically toxic taxation, advocating instead for portable health insurance and portable child care that follows the worker. Shapiro makes a forceful case for immigration as the only realistic answer to America's demographic challenges, noting that Spain and Poland are economically outperforming much of Europe specifically because they've embraced immigration to support aging populations. He warns that we're living in a world disturbingly similar to the 1930s — if ordinary people don't benefit from economic growth, they will not continue supporting the existing order — and notes that right-wing populists don't actually have answers; they just attack the elites. Shapiro argues Trump is inadvertently benefiting China enormously, but cautions that authoritarian governments are fundamentally bad at managing complex economies, so it's still unlikely China's model wins the 21st century. Shapiro closes by warning that the anti-Trump coalition has become too big to govern, but that if Zohran Mamdani succeeds in New York, it could meaningfully energize progressive politics nationally — proof that the road forward requires real ideas about power, not just opposition to Trumpism. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the Hindenburg disaster and how it was the origin of “breaking news”, and also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Try ShipStation free for 60 days with full access to all features, No credit card needed! Go to https://ShipStation.com and use code TODDCAST for 60 days for free! Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 08:30 New polling shows Americans have no confidence in Trump 09:15 Trump’s approval has cratered with independent voters 10:00 Trump is only above his approval rating on taxes, immigration and border 10:45 The only people that approve of Trump are his base 12:45 The polling shows a massive repudiation of Trump 14:15 Trump’s trustworthiness is lower than any past president 16:45 Only 78% of Trump voters believe he’s kept his promises 18:15 Trump’s highest approval is with older voters, collapsed with younger voters 20:00 Only 1 in 10 Americans approve of Trump naming things after himself 21:00 Even the “own the libs” voters don’t like Trump naming things after himself 24:30 Republicans expected ethics in government to improve & they haven’t 25:45 Both parties still have almost identical unfavorability ratings 26:15 The Democratic brand hasn’t improved amongst swing voters 28:15 Voters of both parties don’t want leaders to work across the aisle 29:15 Neither side is incentivized to compromise 31:15 Voters are rewarding confrontation 33:45 Dems more trusted on healthcare, Republicans trusted on crime 34:15 Almost every other issue is up for grabs for both parties 34:45 Neither party has trust on dealing with AI 36:15 There’s a huge opportunity for independents in this political climate 36:45 There’s a huge enthusiasm gap favoring the Democrats 38:00 This is a political disaster in the making for Republicans 38:30 Iran war is more unpopular than worst polling for Iraq & Vietnam 40:15 Trump’s only escalation option in Iran is to send in ground troops 41:15 If Trump wants to escalate he better have a plan 41:45 Far more damage to American military assets than we were told 42:30 The Iranian framework for a deal will likely be the one agreed to 43:30 There is no political room for Trump to escalate militarily 44:00 Trump risks total political collapse if he escalates in Iran 45:00 Tucker Carlson forced to face facts in recent interview 46:00 Tucker is a combination of Pat Buchanon and Roger Ailes 47:45 Carlson feels like someone who is trying to build a movement 49:00 Expanding congress would fix SCOTUS Voting Rights Act ruling 50:30 There will be angry voters in the south after this ruling 52:00 Republicans could pay a political price due to backlash from SCOTUS 53:45 If Republicans try to disenfranchise black voters, they could juice turnout 54:45 Trump is more focused on targeting disloyal Republicans than Democrats 56:00 Janet Mills drops out, Dems trying to come around on Graham Platner 56:45 Platner race feels like mirror image of 2016 campaign for president 1:03:45 Ian Shapiro (After the Fall) joins The Chuck ToddCast 1:05:15 How long did you work on the book? 1:07:00 The lack of a Marshall Plan for Russia was a missed opportunity 1:07:45 Russia should have been dealt with like Germany & Japan after WW2 1:08:45 Yeltsin & Putin lobbied to join the west & we blew that opportunity 1:10:00 Clinton was hesitant to help Russia economically 1:11:15 ‘94 midterm results dissuaded Clinton from focusing on foreign policy 1:12:45 Clinton pivoted from rapprochement NATO expansion in eastern Europe 1:13:45 There were opportunities to transform NATO into something else 1:15:15 NATO feels necessary again, we’re back in another cold war 1:16:15 What if we had brought Ukraine into NATO in the 90s? 1:17:00 When Russia was frozen out of the west, that’s when Putin changed 1:17:30 Eastern Europeans have a deep distrust of the Russians 1:18:45 The rise of right wing populism is driven by economics 1:19:30 2008 financial crisis was a missed opportunity for Obama 1:21:15 Elites bailed themselves out in 2008 & imposed austerity on everyone else 1:22:45 Obama had to bail out banks, but didn’t force a bail out of main street too 1:24:30 How do you begin to undo protectionism and nationalism? 1:25:15 Good polic

Yale political scientist Ian Shapiro — author of the new book After the Fall — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a wide-ranging conversation about the missed opportunities of the post-Cold War era and what it would take to actually fix what's broken in the global political economy. Shapiro argues America fundamentally squandered its chance to integrate Russia into the West after the Soviet collapse — there should have been a Marshall Plan for Russia along the lines of what was done for Germany and Japan after World War II, and both Yeltsin and Putin (in his early years) actively lobbied to join the Western order. Clinton was hesitant to help Russia economically, the 1994 midterm results pushed him away from foreign policy ambition entirely, and the eventual pivot toward NATO expansion in Eastern Europe — rather than transforming NATO into something genuinely inclusive — froze Russia out and is exactly when Putin's worldview hardened into the revanchism we're dealing with today. Shapiro extends this analysis to 2008, calling the financial crisis another massive missed opportunity: Obama had to bail out the banks, but his failure to insist on a parallel bailout for Main Street allowed the elites to rescue themselves while imposing austerity on everyone else, which directly fueled the right-wing populism now reshaping politics across the West. The conversation pivots to what comes next. Shapiro is clear that the good policies of the 2030s won't be a rehash of the New Deal — they need to address modern realities. He argues governments need to help workers be flexible rather than redistributing wealth through politically toxic taxation, advocating instead for portable health insurance and portable child care that follows the worker. Shapiro makes a forceful case for immigration as the only realistic answer to America's demographic challenges, noting that Spain and Poland are economically outperforming much of Europe specifically because they've embraced immigration to support aging populations. He warns that we're living in a world disturbingly similar to the 1930s — if ordinary people don't benefit from economic growth, they will not continue supporting the existing order — and notes that right-wing populists don't actually have answers; they just attack the elites. Shapiro argues Trump is inadvertently benefiting China enormously, but cautions that authoritarian governments are fundamentally bad at managing complex economies, so it's still unlikely China's model wins the 21st century. Shapiro closes by warning that the anti-Trump coalition has become too big to govern, but that if Zohran Mamdani succeeds in New York, it could meaningfully energize progressive politics nationally — proof that the road forward requires real ideas about power, not just opposition to Trumpism. Try ShipStation free for 60 days with full access to all features, No credit card needed! Go to https://ShipStation.com and use code TODDCAST for 60 days for free! Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Ian Shapiro (After the Fall) joins The Chuck ToddCast 01:30 How long did you work on the book? 03:15 The lack of a Marshall Plan for Russia was a missed opportunity 04:00 Russia should have been dealt with like Germany & Japan after WW2 05:00 Yeltsin & Putin lobbied to join the west & we blew that opportunity 06:15 Clinton was hesitant to help Russia economically 07:30 ‘94 midterm results dissuaded Clinton from focusing on foreign policy 09:00 Clinton pivoted from rapprochement NATO expansion in eastern Europe 10:00 There were opportunities to transform NATO into something else 11:30 NATO feels necessary again, we’re back in another cold war 12:30 What if we had brought Ukraine into NATO in the 90s? 13:15 When Russia was frozen out of the west, that’s when Putin changed 13:45 Eastern Europeans have a deep distrust of the Russians 15:00 The rise of right wing populism is driven by economics 15:45 2008 financial crisis was a missed opportunity for Obama 17:30 Elites bailed themselves out in 2008 & imposed austerity on everyone else 19:00 Obama had to bail out banks, but didn’t force a bail out of main street too 20:45 How do you begin to undo protectionism and nationalism? 21:30 Good policies of the 2030s won’t be a rehash of the New Deal 22:30 Gina Riamondo has smart policies for transforming the labor force 24:00 Government needs to aid the modern worker to help them be flexible 25:15 Taxation and redistribution is politically toxic. Better to incentivize business 26:15 Portable health insurance and child care would give workers flexibility 27:30 Domestic immigration is incredibly difficult and cost prohibitive 28:15 Every state needs immigration in order to fix demographic challenges 29:30 Spain & Poland’s economies are performing well because of immigration 30:15 We need immigrants in order to support services for an aging population 31:00 In some ways, we’re living in a world similar to the 1930s 32:15 If people don’t benefit from growth, they won’t support the existing order 33:00 Right wing populists don’t have answers, they just attack the elites 33:30 Spain is one of the few western countries that is getting it right 35:30 The west hasn’t dealt well with the rise of China 36:00 Everything Trump is doing has benefitted China enormously 37:30 Unlikely that China’s model wins the 21st century 38:45 Authoritarian governments aren’t good for managing a complex economy 39:45 India is even further down the nationalist road than the U.S. 41:00 UK’s two major parties are facing the potential of collapse 42:00 Could either of the two major two parties in America collapse? 43:00 Both parties pushing the same policies & benefits go to the top 45:00 Do globally integrated economies make world war less likely? 46:30 Major war results in mutually assured economic destruction 47:30 The calamities of the 30s and 40s led to massive, inclusive economic growth 48:30 Massive, stateless companies are accruing more power than states 50:00 The global oligarchs are still reliant on markets and consumers 50:45 Governments will need to coordinate to put guardrails on the oligarchs 51:30 If business isn’t part of the solution, they will be part of the problem 53:00 The Trump administration is cratering & left is reveling in the schaudenfreude 54:30 The anti-Trump coalition is too big to govern 55:15 If Mamdani succeeds, could that energize progressive politics nationally? 57:15 Where can people find your work? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd dives into the Supreme Court's latest ruling further hollowing out the Voting Rights Act and walks through what it actually means in practice — including the very real possibility that several Southern states will now try to redistrict, creating a messy political landscape that won't necessarily benefit Republicans in the way they hope. He traces the history back to the 1990s Georgia reapportionment that led to major GOP pickups by packing Black Democratic voters into fewer districts, but warns this round of Southern redistricting will create more swing districts. He uses the moment to make the case for what he sees as the real structural fix to America's representation crisis: uncapping the House of Representatives to allow it to grow with population the way the founders originally intended, with Madison himself arguing the chamber would always need to expand. He argues that a bigger House would lower the barrier for third parties, minimize the outsized impact of the Electoral College, dramatically reduce the incentive to gerrymander — and crucially, this change wouldn't exclusively benefit either party. His framing is simple: stop fighting over the chairs at the table and increase the size of the table itself. He then pivots to what he calls the rise of the "woke right" — citing the second Comey indictment as exhibit A, noting that the right has now embraced exactly the kind of oversensitivity they once accused the left of engaging in, and pointing out it's no accident that Pam Bondi wouldn't bring the Comey case but Todd Blanche will. He flags that the FCC's attacks on Jimmy Kimmel will badly backfire, dismisses the Hegseth congressional hearing as a useless exercise where everyone was just chasing viral moments, and argues that Hegseth himself is suffering from a bad case of "internet brain" — actively politicizing the military while failing to make a coherent case for why the Iran war was ever necessary. He closes with a pointed observation about the entire administration: nobody around Trump believes any criticism of him is ever valid, and they appear to genuinely think voters are stupid enough to never notice.  Finally, he answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment, weighs in on the DNC choosing NOT to release their 2024 autopsy, and reacts to the expansion on the NCAA basketball tournament.  Try ShipStation free for 60 days with full access to all features, No credit card needed! Go to https://ShipStation.com and use code TODDCAST for 60 days for free! Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order.   Timeline: 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 01:30 Supreme Court further hollows out the Voting Rights Act 03:00 You may see several states in the south try to redistrict 06:00 We have a serious representation issue in congress 07:30 In the 90’s Georgia reapportionment led to major GOP pickups 09:00 Led to more black Dems in congress, but less Dems in congress 10:00 Redistricting won’t be clean for GOP in this political climate 10:30 Redistricting will create more swing districts in the south 12:15 You may see racially charged Dem primaries in new districts 13:45 Uncapping the House of Representatives could solve this issue 14:15 House expanded based on population growth 16:15 Right now the house is not representative of the people 17:45 Multi-member districts also provide better representation 19:00 Bigger house would create less need for gerrymandering 20:00 Expanding house would minimize the impact of electoral college 21:30 Expanded house would lower barrier to entry for third parties 23:00 The house was always meant to be a bit messy 23:30 Madison argued the house was always going to have to expand 25:00 This change wouldn’t exclusively benefit one party 26:00 Don’t fight over the chairs, increase the size of the table 28:00 The “woke right” has emerged, evidenced by Comey indictment 29:30 Right accused the left of the oversensitivity they’re engaged in now 31:00 Attacks by the FCC on Kimmel will backfire and look terrible 33:15 Not an accident that Bondi wouldn’t bring Comey case & Blanche will 34:15 Hegseth’s hearing was useless, everyone wanted a viral moment 35:30 Hegseth is suffering from a bad case of “internet brain” 36:30 Hegseth is doing everything he can to politicize the military 37:15 Hegseth failed to make the case for why the war was necessary 39:00 Nobody in the administration believes that any criticism is valid 40:15 Do they really think the voters are all stupid?  45:15 Ask Chuck45:30 Experienced wildfires, in bad conditions there’s nothing you can do46:45 What do you make of Hegseth purging so many top generals?48:45 Props for “Dynastic” podcast50:45 How do you see the US/Israel dynamic play out post-Trump?54:15 Do you see a path forward for statehood for D.C. & Puerto Rico?58:00 Why don’t interviewers press Lindsey Graham on his post J6 remarks?1:00:45 Should Democrats be more forceful rhetorically or does that do more harm?1:05:00 Ken Martin appears on Pod Save to explain why they won’t release ‘24 autopsy1:06:15 Autopsy could have offended a particular set of donors or supporters1:07:30 How do you learn lessons from the loss if you don’t share those lessons?1:08:15 NCAA expanding basketball tournament See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd dives into the Supreme Court's latest ruling further hollowing out the Voting Rights Act and walks through what it actually means in practice — including the very real possibility that several Southern states will now try to redistrict, creating a messy political landscape that won't necessarily benefit Republicans in the way they hope. He traces the history back to the 1990s Georgia reapportionment that led to major GOP pickups by packing Black Democratic voters into fewer districts, but warns this round of Southern redistricting will create more swing districts. He uses the moment to make the case for what he sees as the real structural fix to America's representation crisis: uncapping the House of Representatives to allow it to grow with population the way the founders originally intended, with Madison himself arguing the chamber would always need to expand. He argues that a bigger House would lower the barrier for third parties, minimize the outsized impact of the Electoral College, dramatically reduce the incentive to gerrymander — and crucially, this change wouldn't exclusively benefit either party. His framing is simple: stop fighting over the chairs at the table and increase the size of the table itself. He then pivots to what he calls the rise of the "woke right" — citing the second Comey indictment as exhibit A, noting that the right has now embraced exactly the kind of oversensitivity they once accused the left of engaging in, and pointing out it's no accident that Pam Bondi wouldn't bring the Comey case but Todd Blanche will. He flags that the FCC's attacks on Jimmy Kimmel will badly backfire, dismisses the Hegseth congressional hearing as a useless exercise where everyone was just chasing viral moments, and argues that Hegseth himself is suffering from a bad case of "internet brain" — actively politicizing the military while failing to make a coherent case for why the Iran war was ever necessary. He closes with a pointed observation about the entire administration: nobody around Trump believes any criticism of him is ever valid, and they appear to genuinely think voters are stupid enough to never notice.  Then, Adam Green — co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee — joins the Chuck Toddcast to make the case that pragmatic economic populism is the Democratic Party's path back to a durable majority, and to push back hard on the conventional wisdom that "moderate" means "centrist." Green argues the public has lost faith in both political and economic systems and is hungry for candidates who tell a clear story about power — pointing to Maine's Graham Platner, Texas's James Talarico, and New York's Zohran Mamdani as examples of progressives who project authentic energy and pragmatic problem-solving rather than ideological purity. He contends that both major parties have already collapsed reputationally even if they haven't yet collapsed structurally, that Democrats could have passed a $12 minimum wage years ago if they'd been willing to compromise, and that recruiting 77-year-old Janet Mills against Platner is symbolic of everything wrong with Chuck Schumer's approach to the Senate. Green is blunt: if Democrats sweep the midterms but leadership remains unchanged, it actually hurts them in 2028 — a Democratic Senate majority should not be read as a validation of Schumer. They discuss why he Democratic brand is so damaged in red and rural states that independent candidates may be the best path to power in places like Montana and Nebraska, and that having someone like Platner in Senate leadership would dramatically improve Democratic performance in rural America. The conversation digs into the deeper strategic and policy questions facing the party. Green argues Democrats should lead with economic alignment over cultural alignment and that Dems should not put reproductive rights forward as their headline issue if they want to rebuild trust in the heartland. He pushes for progressive lawmakers to assert real leverage against their own leadership, advocates lowering the threshold for discharge petition, and makes the case that getting rid of the filibuster would help Democrats rebuild trust with voters who are tired of seeing nothing get done. Green is open to limited cooperation with Trump if Democrats win both chambers but warns the party shouldn't trim its sails just to get a signature. He explains why the PCC backed Talarico over Crockett , names UAW president Shawn Fain as a potential dark-horse candidate, and floats Stephen Colbert as a genuinely intriguing possibility because performance matters in a media-saturated era. Green argues Talarico, Platner, and Abdul El-Sayed all tell a coherent story about power that voters are hungry to hear, but ultimately, the candidate who runs as a genuine disruptor is the one most likely to win, because the current system is so visibly failing the public. Finally, he answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment, weighs in on the DNC choosing NOT to release their 2024 autopsy, and reacts to the expansion on the NCAA basketball tournament.  Try ShipStation free for 60 days with full access to all features, No credit card needed! Go to https://ShipStation.com and use code TODDCAST for 60 days for free! Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 01:30 Supreme Court further hollows out the Voting Rights Act 03:00 You may see several states in the south try to redistrict 06:00 We have a serious representation issue in congress 07:30 In the 90’s Georgia reapportionment led to major GOP pickups 09:00 Led to more black Dems in congress, but less Dems in congress 10:00 Redistricting won’t be clean for GOP in this political climate 10:30 Redistricting will create more swing districts in the south 12:15 You may see racially charged Dem primaries in new districts 13:45 Uncapping the House of Representatives could solve this issue 14:15 House expanded based on population growth 16:15 Right now the house is not representative of the people 17:45 Multi-member districts also provide better representation 19:00 Bigger house would create less need for gerrymandering 20:00 Expanding house would minimize the impact of electoral college 21:30 Expanded house would lower barrier to entry for third parties 23:00 The house was always meant to be a bit messy 23:30 Madison argued the house was always going to have to expand 25:00 This change wouldn’t exclusively benefit one party 26:00 Don’t fight over the chairs, increase the size of the table 28:00 The “woke right” has emerged, evidenced by Comey indictment 29:30 Right accused the left of the oversensitivity they’re engaged in now 31:00 Attacks by the FCC on Kimmel will backfire and look terrible 33:15 Not an accident that Bondi wouldn’t bring Comey case & Blanche will 34:15 Hegseth’s hearing was useless, everyone wanted a viral moment 35:30 Hegseth is suffering from a bad case of “internet brain” 36:30 Hegseth is doing everything he can to politicize the military 37:15 Hegseth failed to make the case for why the war was necessary 39:00 Nobody in the administration believes that any criticism is valid 40:15 Do they really think the voters are all stupid?  46:30 Adam Green (Progressive Change Committee) joins The Chuck ToddCast 49:00 What does it mean to be a pragmatic progressive? 50:15 The mission is to show economic populism can win in swing races 51:30 Graham Platner is a great storyteller, not a policy wonk 53:00 Several progressive candidates project strong masculine energy 54:30 Balancing incrementalism vs. progress 55:15 Mamdani is showing that you can be both progressive & pragmatic 56:15 Misconception is that “moderate” means centrist 57:00 The progressives are demanding a rebalancing of the power dynamics 57:30 Public doesn’t trust the political and economic system, wants change 58:15 How vulnerable are both parties to collapse at some point? 59:00 Both parties have collapsed reputationally, just not structurally 1:00:45 Dems could have passed $12 minimum wage if they compromised 1:03:00 If Dems sweep midterms but leaders stay the same, it’s bad for 2028 1:03:45 If Dems win the senate, it’s not a validation of Schumer 1:05:00 If Dems elect the non Schumer candidates, he has to go 1:05:45 Schumer was a really good leader… until he wasn’t 1:06:30 Recruiting 77 year old Janet Mills is symbolic of Schumer’s strategy 1:07:15 Sherrod Brown is probably the best Dems can do in Ohio 1:07:45 Iowa is overindexed as a swing state 1:09:30 Michigan having El-Sayed & Slokin would show multiple ways to win 1:10:30 If El-Sayed loses, does that set the progressive movement back? 1:12:00 Are independents the best route to power in Montana & Nebraska? 1:13:00 The Democratic brand is shot in most red & rural states 1:14:15 If Platner was in leadership, Dems would do better in rural states 1:15:30 What matters more to the PCC, economic or cultural alignment? 1:17:15 Democrats shouldn’t put out reproductive rights as their banner issue 1:18:00 Big Dem wins in the past came from economic, not cultural alignment 1:20:15 Jared Golden able to vote against trans sports bill, focused on economics 1:22:30 Want to see progressives assert leverage against their leadership 1:23:30 Proposal to lower the threshold for discharge petitions 1:24:15 Discharge petitions would actually liberate the leade

Adam Green — co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee — joins the Chuck Toddcast to make the case that pragmatic economic populism is the Democratic Party's path back to a durable majority, and to push back hard on the conventional wisdom that "moderate" means "centrist." Green argues the public has lost faith in both political and economic systems and is hungry for candidates who tell a clear story about power — pointing to Maine's Graham Platner, Texas's James Talarico, and New York's Zohran Mamdani as examples of progressives who project authentic energy and pragmatic problem-solving rather than ideological purity. He contends that both major parties have already collapsed reputationally even if they haven't yet collapsed structurally, that Democrats could have passed a $12 minimum wage years ago if they'd been willing to compromise, and that recruiting 77-year-old Janet Mills against Platner is symbolic of everything wrong with Chuck Schumer's approach to the Senate. Green is blunt: if Democrats sweep the midterms but leadership remains unchanged, it actually hurts them in 2028 — a Democratic Senate majority should not be read as a validation of Schumer. They discuss why he Democratic brand is so damaged in red and rural states that independent candidates may be the best path to power in places like Montana and Nebraska, and that having someone like Platner in Senate leadership would dramatically improve Democratic performance in rural America. The conversation digs into the deeper strategic and policy questions facing the party. Green argues Democrats should lead with economic alignment over cultural alignment and that Dems should not put reproductive rights forward as their headline issue if they want to rebuild trust in the heartland. He pushes for progressive lawmakers to assert real leverage against their own leadership, advocates lowering the threshold for discharge petition, and makes the case that getting rid of the filibuster would help Democrats rebuild trust with voters who are tired of seeing nothing get done. Green is open to limited cooperation with Trump if Democrats win both chambers but warns the party shouldn't trim its sails just to get a signature. He explains why the PCC backed Talarico over Crockett , names UAW president Shawn Fain as a potential dark-horse candidate, and floats Stephen Colbert as a genuinely intriguing possibility because performance matters in a media-saturated era. Green argues Talarico, Platner, and Abdul El-Sayed all tell a coherent story about power that voters are hungry to hear, but ultimately, the candidate who runs as a genuine disruptor is the one most likely to win, because the current system is so visibly failing the public. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Adam Green (Progressive Change Committee) joins The Chuck ToddCast 02:30 What does it mean to be a pragmatic progressive? 03:45 The mission is to show economic populism can win in swing races 05:00 Graham Platner is a great storyteller, not a policy wonk 06:30 Several progressive candidates project strong masculine energy 08:00 Balancing incrementalism vs. progress 08:45 Mamdani is showing that you can be both progressive & pragmatic 09:45 Misconception is that “moderate” means centrist 10:30 The progressives are demanding a rebalancing of the power dynamics 11:00 Public doesn’t trust the political and economic system, wants change 11:45 How vulnerable are both parties to collapse at some point? 12:30 Both parties have collapsed reputationally, just not structurally 14:15 Dems could have passed $12 minimum wage if they compromised 16:30 If Dems sweep midterms but leaders stay the same, it’s bad for 2028 17:15 If Dems win the senate, it’s not a validation of Schumer 18:30 If Dems elect the non Schumer candidates, he has to go 19:15 Schumer was a really good leader… until he wasn’t 20:00 Recruiting 77 year old Janet Mills is symbolic of Schumer’s strategy 20:45 Sherrod Brown is probably the best Dems can do in Ohio 21:15 Iowa is overindexed as a swing state 23:00 Michigan having El-Sayed & Slokin would show multiple ways to win 24:00 If El-Sayed loses, does that set the progressive movement back? 25:30 Are independents the best route to power in Montana & Nebraska? 26:30 The Democratic brand is shot in most red & rural states 27:45 If Platner was in leadership, Dems would do better in rural states 29:00 What matters more to the PCC, economic or cultural alignment? 30:45 Democrats shouldn’t put out reproductive rights as their banner issue 31:30 Big Dem wins in the past came from economic, not cultural alignment 33:45 Jared Golden able to vote against trans sports bill, focused on economics 36:00 Want to see progressives assert leverage against their leadership 37:00 Proposal to lower the threshold for discharge petitions 37:45 Discharge petitions would actually liberate the leadership a bit 39:00 When too many items are stuffed into a bill, you don’t get credit for them 40:00 Getting rid of the filibuster would help Democrats rebuild trust 41:00 Both parties only like the filibuster when they’re out of power 42:30 Getting rid of stock trading isn’t as simple as it sounds 44:15 Spouses need to be included in stock trading ban 45:00 If Dems win both houses, where should they work with Trump? 46:15 Dems will be elected to be a check on Trump, but need his signature 49:15 Working with Trump requires abandoning the ideas you ran on 50:30 Dems shouldn’t trim their sails in order to work with Trump 53:00 PCC supported Talarico over Crockett for his bold economic vision 55:30 AOC may need to run for president soon, before her “sell by” date 56:15 Stephen Colbert could be an intriguing candidate, performance matters 57:30 Mamdani takes time every day to tell a story on social media 58:45 Shawn Fain could also make a strong candidate 1:00:00 If Talarico wins in Texas, it could put him on the presidential map 1:01:45 Talarico as VP to get his sea legs could be a potential route 1:02:30 McMorrow positioning herself as the “goldilocks” candidate 1:03:15 Being the shake up the system candidate is the way to go 1:04:00 Talarico, Platner & El-Sayed tell a story about power 1:04:45 The current system is failing the public 1:06:45 Preference between Steyer or Porter in California? 1:08:00 AOC raises the most money because people trust her See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Pittsburgh Steelers became one of the most successful and enduring franchises in sports history. But their dynasty wasn’t built the way most people think. Chuck Todd and J.A. Adande tell the Steelers history like it has never been told. It starts with a moment everyone knows—the Immaculate Reception—but the real story begins long before that. For decades, the Steelers were one of the worst-run teams in football. They ignored the draft, missed on generational talent, and lacked any clear identity. Then everything changed. At the center of it all was Chuck Noll, a coach who completely reset the organization’s philosophy. Paired with cornerstone players like Mean Joe Greene and a front office that found talent in places other teams ignored, the Steelers quietly assembled one of the greatest draft runs in sports history. This episode dives into the hidden advantages that fueled their rise—from overlooked talent pipelines to cultural cohesion inside the locker room—and why their success wasn’t just about stars, but about structure, discipline, and long-term thinking. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with a sobering analysis of the post-Correspondents' Dinner shooting political climate, arguing that both sides are now busy blaming each other for violent rhetoric while past presidents from both parties always understood their job was to lower the temperature, not raise it. He argues that while Democratic rhetoric has gotten harsher in recent years, Trump is the one who fundamentally changed what was acceptable to say out loud — his January 6th pardons effectively created a permission slip for political violence, and the public barely batted an eye when he celebrated Robert Mueller's death — and warns it only takes one unstable person to take the wrong cue from this environment. He says American politics has become genuinely brutal and violent, that the "cold civil war" is warming up, and that two wrongs don't make a right: just because Trump started this race to the bottom doesn't mean everyone has to engage in it. He then pivots to the Iran war, where he says the U.S. and Iran are measuring the conflict in fundamentally different ways — for the regime, victory is simply surviving — and argues that Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz has to be addressed before any nuclear threat. He closes with the proposed Florida redistricting map (which looks great for the GOP in a presidential year but terrible in a midterm), a new Texas poll showing Talarico leading both potential GOP nominees, and Susan Collins going negative on Graham Platner before the Maine primary. Finally, he gives his ToddCast Top 5 list of Republican races that could signal trouble for Donald Trump and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 02:45 Both sides blaming each other for “violent rhetoric” 03:15 Past presidents always tried to lower the temperature 04:30 Both sides confident they are right & other side is wrong 05:30 We’ve produced a new political environment that is scary 06:45 Trump changed what was acceptable to say out loud 07:45 Democratic rhetoric has also gotten harsher, but Trump took us here 08:30 Two wrongs don’t make a right* 09:15 Trump’s J6 pardons created a permission slip for political violence 10:30 Public barely batted an eye when Trump celebrated death of Mueller 11:15 One unstable person will take the wrong cue from this environment 13:15 American politics is now brutal and violent. Cold civil war is warming up 14:15 Both sides are racing to the bottom, and nobody wins 15:30 Just because Trump started it doesn’t mean everyone should engage in it 16:45 American leadership is not meeting the moment 18:00 You can’t “secure” your way out of a volatile political climate 19:30 At the ballot box, character and temperament need to matter 20:15 James Comey indicted again by Trump’s DOJ 21:00 Administration is weaponizing the Comey case  22:30 If Dems immediately go for impeachment in 27’, the cycle will continue 23:45 Jimmy Kimmel should apologize, but government shouldn’t target him 25:00 You can be a deescalator or an accelerant in this moment 26:30 The U.S. and Iran are measuring the war in different ways 27:00 Victory for the regime is simply surviving 28:30 Iranian control of the Strait has to be dealt with before nuclear threat 29:30 The Iranians understand us better than we understand them 30:30 Florida releases proposed redistricting map 31:15 The map is great for GOP in presidential year, bad in a midterm election 32:00 Map targets Jared Moskowitz & Debbie Wasserman Schultz 33:30 Analysis of how the new districts will look politically 37:30 Republicans might only break even, or only pick up 1-2 seats in ‘26 38:45 Poll out of Texas shows Talarico with a lead over both GOP candidates 39:45 Susan Collins has gone negative on Platner before the primary 40:15 Move shows that Collins would rather face Mills over Platner 41:00 Platner is in a strong position to win the senate seat 45:30 ToddCast Top 5 Republican races that could signal trouble for Trump 47:30 We’ll find out in May if Trump’s grip on the party is slipping 48:15 #5 North Carolina senate 50:30 #4 Louisiana senate primary 52:15 #3 Texas senate primary 53:45 #2 Georgia governor 56:00 #1 Kentucky 4th district & Thomas Massie 58:00 Ask Chuck 58:15 Did Ohio Democrats make a mistake by backing Sherrod Brown? 1:03:30 Is Trump liable for violating contracts by cancelling offshore wind projects?* 1:07:15 If Trump had bought the Bills would it have kept him from running in ‘16? 1:12:30 Navigating the reverence for founders when proposing amendments? 1:18:00 How do we move beyond violence to remove a tyrant? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with a sobering analysis of the post-Correspondents' Dinner shooting political climate, arguing that both sides are now busy blaming each other for violent rhetoric while past presidents from both parties always understood their job was to lower the temperature, not raise it. He argues that while Democratic rhetoric has gotten harsher in recent years, Trump is the one who fundamentally changed what was acceptable to say out loud — his January 6th pardons effectively created a permission slip for political violence, and the public barely batted an eye when he celebrated Robert Mueller's death — and warns it only takes one unstable person to take the wrong cue from this environment. He says American politics has become genuinely brutal and violent, that the "cold civil war" is warming up, and that two wrongs don't make a right: just because Trump started this race to the bottom doesn't mean everyone has to engage in it. He then pivots to the Iran war, where he says the U.S. and Iran are measuring the conflict in fundamentally different ways — for the regime, victory is simply surviving — and argues that Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz has to be addressed before any nuclear threat. He closes with the proposed Florida redistricting map (which looks great for the GOP in a presidential year but terrible in a midterm), a new Texas poll showing Talarico leading both potential GOP nominees, and Susan Collins going negative on Graham Platner before the Maine primary. Atima Omara — Democratic political strategist, longtime activist, and author of the new book The Instigators — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a wide-ranging conversation about who actually decides American elections, why Democrats keep losing despite favorable demographics, and what a winning coalition looks like in 2028. Omara opens by dismantling the conventional wisdom that white moderate swing voters are the deciding force in elections, arguing that the 2024 contest was lost on mobilization rather than persuasion — Trump won at the margins, not in a landslide, and many blue states were won by surprisingly thin margins. She points out that Kamala Harris was behind before she even started because she had to succeed an unpopular Biden, but they credit Harris with saving three to four Senate seats that Biden would have lost outright. Omara walks through the political leverage Black women in Virginia exercised after the Ralph Northam blackface scandal — pushing for real legislative change rather than just symbolic accountability — and uses that as a case study in how activist coalitions can wield power smartly.  The conversation turns to the structural challenges facing the Democratic coalition and what comes next. Omara makes the case that Republican advocacy is a constant, year-round operation while Democrats only mobilize during election years — a fundamental asymmetry that has allowed Republican messaging to dominate the cultural spaces and media ecosystem. She argues the left needs to get dramatically better at cultural messaging, that the activist class has helped Democrats make progress but has also made the party more rigid in ways that hurt it electorally, and that organizations like the Working Families Party are doing important work trying to push the Democratic Party from within. They both reflect on whether the two-party duopoly can survive — Americans clearly want the flexibility of a multiparty system but are stuck with this one. She offers a fascinating cultural analysis of why one-third of the electorate effectively grew up in a non-multiracial democracy, why events like the Tulsa massacre still aren't taught in most public schools, and why the South disproportionately sets the tone for American (and especially Republican) politics. They close by handicapping the 2028 Democratic field. Finally, he gives his ToddCast Top 5 list of Republican races that could signal trouble for Donald Trump and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 02:45 Both sides blaming each other for “violent rhetoric” 03:15 Past presidents always tried to lower the temperature 04:30 Both sides confident they are right & other side is wrong 05:30 We’ve produced a new political environment that is scary 06:45 Trump changed what was acceptable to say out loud 07:45 Democratic rhetoric has also gotten harsher, but Trump took us here 08:30 Two wrongs don’t make a right* 09:15 Trump’s J6 pardons created a permission slip for political violence 10:30 Public barely batted an eye when Trump celebrated death of Mueller 11:15 One unstable person will take the wrong cue from this environment 13:15 American politics is now brutal and violent. Cold civil war is warming up 14:15 Both sides are racing to the bottom, and nobody wins 15:30 Just because Trump started it doesn’t mean everyone should engage in it 16:45 American leadership is not meeting the moment 18:00 You can’t “secure” your way out of a volatile political climate 19:30 At the ballot box, character and temperament need to matter 20:15 James Comey indicted again by Trump’s DOJ 21:00 Administration is weaponizing the Comey case  22:30 If Dems immediately go for impeachment in 27’, the cycle will continue 23:45 Jimmy Kimmel should apologize, but government shouldn’t target him 25:00 You can be a deescalator or an accelerant in this moment 26:30 The U.S. and Iran are measuring the war in different ways 27:00 Victory for the regime is simply surviving 28:30 Iranian control of the Strait has to be dealt with before nuclear threat 29:30 The Iranians understand us better than we understand them 30:30 Florida releases proposed redistricting map 31:15 The map is great for GOP in presidential year, bad in a midterm election 32:00 Map targets Jared Moskowitz & Debbie Wasserman Schultz 33:30 Analysis of how the new districts will look politically 37:30 Republicans might only break even, or only pick up 1-2 seats in ‘26 38:45 Poll out of Texas shows Talarico with a lead over both GOP candidates 39:45 Susan Collins has gone negative on Platner before the primary 40:15 Move shows that Collins would rather face Mills over Platner 41:00 Platner is in a strong position to win the senate seat 47:00 Atima Omara (The Instigators) joins The Chuck ToddCast 48:30 Misconception that white moderate swing voters decide elections 50:15 Black women pushed for legislation after Ralph Northam blackface scandal 53:15 Activists were smart in using their political leverage in Virginia 55:15 Democrats can try to find some common cause with Trump voters 56:30 2024 election was lost on mobilization, not persuasion 57:45 Trump won on the margins, it wasn’t a resounding win 59:00 Lots of blue states were won with small margins in ‘24 1:00:00 It was hard for Harris to succeed a very unpopular Biden 1:01:00 Harris was behind before she started 1:01:30 Harris saved 3-4 senate seats that Biden would have lost 1:02:45 What ideological arguments work & don’t work with black women? 1:04:30 Messaging around criminal & environmental justice needs to capture humanity 1:06:15 Activists don’t see politicians putting together even piecemeal reform 1:07:15 Even with full control, Democrats couldn’t pass voting rights legislation 1:09:15 LBJ had to play hardball with senators to pass the Voting Rights Act 1:11:00 Most major legislation gets passed through sheer force of will 1:11:45 How can advocacy get more leverage in the face of huge money 1:13:00 Republican advocacy is constant, Dems focus on election years 1:14:00 Republican messaging has dominated the media ecosystem 1:16:00 The left needs to get better at messaging in the cultural spaces 1:17:30 Will the current two party duopoly be able to sustain itself? 1:19:30 Activists have caused Dems to progress, but also become rigid 1:20:30 The Working Families Party works to change the Democratic party 1:22:00 Americans want the flexibility of a multiparty system, stuck with duopoly 1:22:30 There hasn’t been enough energy to force changes to electoral college 1:23:30 Fear of AI job displacement could galvanize energy for structural change 1:24:00 What does a winning Democratic coalition look like in 2028? 1:27:30 Older generation of Democratic strategists have aged out 1:30:00 1/3rd of the electorate lived in a non multiracial democracy 1:31:15 We don’t have a shared public education or shared memory 1:33:30 Events like the Tulsa massacre aren’t taught in many public schools 1:34:45 The south sets the tone for American & especially Republican politics 1:37:30 Obama benefitted from being from a midwestern state 1:38:45 Most of the pushback to progress comes from the south & midwest 1:41:30 Obama’s superpower was being able to talk to everyone 1:42:15 4 people most likely to be the 2028 Democratic nominee? 1:44:30 Harris would be more free to run her own campaign in ‘28 1:45:30 It’s hard to know what Gavin Newsom is FOR 1:47:00 Starting to see more black women break through & win statewide  1:50:00 Thoughts on interview with Atima Omara 1:51:00 ToddCast Top 5 Republican races that could signal trouble for Trump 1:53:00 We’ll find out in May if Trump’s grip on the party is slipping 1:53:45 #5 North Carolina senate 1:56:00 #4 Louisiana senate primary 1:57:45 #3 Texas senate primary 1

Atima Omara — Democratic political strategist, longtime activist, and author of the new book The Instigators — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a wide-ranging conversation about who actually decides American elections, why Democrats keep losing despite favorable demographics, and what a winning coalition looks like in 2028. Omara opens by dismantling the conventional wisdom that white moderate swing voters are the deciding force in elections, arguing that the 2024 contest was lost on mobilization rather than persuasion — Trump won at the margins, not in a landslide, and many blue states were won by surprisingly thin margins. She points out that Kamala Harris was behind before she even started because she had to succeed an unpopular Biden, but they credit Harris with saving three to four Senate seats that Biden would have lost outright. Omara walks through the political leverage Black women in Virginia exercised after the Ralph Northam blackface scandal — pushing for real legislative change rather than just symbolic accountability — and uses that as a case study in how activist coalitions can wield power smartly.  The conversation turns to the structural challenges facing the Democratic coalition and what comes next. Omara makes the case that Republican advocacy is a constant, year-round operation while Democrats only mobilize during election years — a fundamental asymmetry that has allowed Republican messaging to dominate the cultural spaces and media ecosystem. She argues the left needs to get dramatically better at cultural messaging, that the activist class has helped Democrats make progress but has also made the party more rigid in ways that hurt it electorally, and that organizations like the Working Families Party are doing important work trying to push the Democratic Party from within. They both reflect on whether the two-party duopoly can survive — Americans clearly want the flexibility of a multiparty system but are stuck with this one. She offers a fascinating cultural analysis of why one-third of the electorate effectively grew up in a non-multiracial democracy, why events like the Tulsa massacre still aren't taught in most public schools, and why the South disproportionately sets the tone for American (and especially Republican) politics. They close by handicapping the 2028 Democratic field. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Atima Omara (The Instigators) joins The Chuck ToddCast 01:30 Misconception that white moderate swing voters decide elections 03:15 Black women pushed for legislation after Ralph Northam blackface scandal 06:15 Activists were smart in using their political leverage in Virginia 08:15 Democrats can try to find some common cause with Trump voters 09:30 2024 election was lost on mobilization, not persuasion 10:45 Trump won on the margins, it wasn’t a resounding win 12:00 Lots of blue states were won with small margins in ‘24 13:00 It was hard for Harris to succeed a very unpopular Biden 14:00 Harris was behind before she started 14:30 Harris saved 3-4 senate seats that Biden would have lost 15:45 What ideological arguments work & don’t work with black women? 17:30 Messaging around criminal & environmental justice needs to capture humanity 19:15 Activists don’t see politicians putting together even piecemeal reform 20:15 Even with full control, Democrats couldn’t pass voting rights legislation 22:15 LBJ had to play hardball with senators to pass the Voting Rights Act 24:00 Most major legislation gets passed through sheer force of will 24:45 How can advocacy get more leverage in the face of huge money 26:00 Republican advocacy is constant, Dems focus on election years 27:00 Republican messaging has dominated the media ecosystem 29:00 The left needs to get better at messaging in the cultural spaces 30:30 Will the current two party duopoly be able to sustain itself? 32:30 Activists have caused Dems to progress, but also become rigid 33:30 The Working Families Party works to change the Democratic party 35:00 Americans want the flexibility of a multiparty system, stuck with duopoly 35:30 There hasn’t been enough energy to force changes to electoral college 36:30 Fear of AI job displacement could galvanize energy for structural change 37:00 What does a winning Democratic coalition look like in 2028? 40:30 Older generation of Democratic strategists have aged out 43:00 1/3rd of the electorate lived in a non multiracial democracy 44:15 We don’t have a shared public education or shared memory 46:30 Events like the Tulsa massacre aren’t taught in many public schools 47:45 The south sets the tone for American & especially Republican politics 50:30 Obama benefitted from being from a midwestern state 51:45 Most of the pushback to progress comes from the south & midwest 54:30 Obama’s superpower was being able to talk to everyone 55:15 4 people most likely to be the 2028 Democratic nominee? 57:30 Harris would be more free to run her own campaign in ‘28 58:30 It’s hard to know what Gavin Newsom is FOR 1:00:00 Starting to see more black women break through & win statewide See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd delivers a deeply personal, harrowing account of being inside the Washington Hilton when a gunman charged through security at the White House Correspondents' Dinner — and uses the experience to issue a sobering warning about the political tinderbox America has become. He walks listeners through the night minute by minute: arriving through the back entrance to avoid protests, passing through magnetometers, the moment about a minute after the waitstaff emerged when gunfire erupted two floors above the ballroom and everyone immediately dropped to the ground, the realization that the shots weren't inside the room itself, the lockdown, senior leadership being escorted out, and journalists in the room immediately going to work to find out what happened. He recounts exiting through the kitchen and out a back door, running into the Fettermans on the street, and eventually finding an Uber home — a night he says he will never forget. He then steps back and argues that high-profile shootings have become weirdly normal but are not isolated incidents — they are the predictable culmination of rhetoric and events in an era where Americans are growing dangerously comfortable with political violence. He insists that "did Trump cause this?" is the wrong question, but argues that presidents don't just govern, they set the tone for the country — and Trump has publicly celebrated the deaths of political enemies, used existential language that frames everything through grievance, and views being targeted as personal validation. He warns that escalation invites escalation; that when everything becomes existential, anything becomes justifiable; and that previous leaders knew how to turn the temperature down while Trump deliberately pits Americans against each other. On the security questions, he dentifies two specific loopholes the shooter exploited — the lack of security on Amtrak (which he took from California) and his ability to stay at the Hilton as a regular hotel guest — but emphasizes that this was not a security failure: the screening worked exactly as intended, the gunman never made it down the stairs to the ballroom, and there's no such thing as 100% security against a determined lone wolf actor. He closes by flatly rejecting Trump's attempt to use the incident to justify his planned White House ballroom project, calling it what it is: a vanity play that has nothing to do with security and everything to do with ego, in a moment when the country desperately needs leadership willing to lower the temperature rather than turn it up. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit an event that further eroded Americans’ trust in their government… a U2 spy plane being shot down by the Soviet Union and the government lying directly to the public about the nature of the mission. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment” and weighs in on the NFL Draft. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 03:00 Chuck’s experience at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner 04:15 Had trepidation about attending the event beforehand 05:45 It’s not the president’s event, it belongs to the press corp 07:30 Went through the back way to avoid the protests outside 09:15 The ballroom section can be secured from rest of the building 11:00 Guests must pass through magnetometers before entering ballroom 12:00 The gunman never made it down the stairs to the ballroom 14:00 About a minute after the waitstaff came out was when gunfire erupted 15:15 Everybody dropped to the ground immediately 16:00 Didn’t take long to realize shots didn’t occur in the ballroom 16:45 There was security personnel everywhere 17:15 Senior leadership was escorted out, then room went into lockdown 18:15 Attendees immediately went to work trying to find out what happened 19:15 Gunshots were behind closed doors, two floors up from the ballroom 20:15 Will never forget that night at the correspondent’s dinner 21:30 Chuck exited through the kitchen and out a back door 22:30 Even if program resumed, wasn’t going back to the event 23:00 Ran into the Fettermans on the street outside 24:15 Eventually found an Uber and went home 25:15 We’re living in a political tinderbox 25:45 High profile shootings are weirdly normal now, but not isolated 26:15 We’re growing more comfortable with & normalizing political violence 27:30 The Trump era ushered in a new environment of division & violence 28:30 “Did Trump cause this?” is the wrong question 29:30 Presidents don’t just govern, they set the tone for the country 30:45 Trump has publicly celebrated the deaths of political enemies 31:30 Trump uses existential language, sets a terrible tone 32:00 Everything is now framed through political grievance 32:45 Trump views being targeted as validation for his presidency 33:45 If Trump thinks he’s going to be martyred, he’ll take extra risks 34:45 Trump thrives on division, and escalation invites escalation 36:00 When everything is existential, anything becomes justifiable  36:30 Previous leaders knew how to turn temperature down, Trump doesn’t 37:30 Trump is pitting Americans against each other on purpose 39:45 We don’t have the leadership we need to meet the moment 40:45 We’re not doing anything to make political violence less likely 42:30 This era has been led by someone who supports violent rhetoric 43:30 This was not an isolated incident, it was a culmination of rhetoric & events 44:00 Two security vulnerabilities the shooter exploited 44:30 Loophole #1 was lack of security on Amtrak 45:30 Loophole #2 was shooter staying at the Hilton as a hotel guest 46:45 This wasn’t a security failure, it worked as intended 47:45 This incident had nothing to do with building the ballroom 48:45 There’s no such thing as 100% security against a lone wolf actor 49:30 The ballroom isn’t about security, it’s a vanity project 55:30 ToddCast Time Machine May 1, 1960 56:45 Cold War tensions were rising, but felt manageable 57:15 U2 spy planes flew high above Soviet Union 57:45 U2 shot down over USSR, pilot parachuted to safety & was captured 58:30 US denied spy mission and called it a “weather monitoring plane” 59:00 Kruschev let the US lie to the world before revealing the truth 59:45 The issue wasn’t the spying, it was the lying to the public 1:00:15 Within a year we had the Bay of Pigs, American credibility takes a hit 1:01:00 Trust was already stretched after the McCarthy era 1:02:15 People stopped believing the government’s version of events 1:02:45 Ask Chuck 1:03:30 What advice would you give amateur podcasters? 1:08:15 How does a nation apologize to the world? 1:11:00 Could a Supreme Court vacancy increase GOP chances in midterms? 1:15:00 How can Democrats regain a foothold in Missouri? 1:20:15 Will Trump provoke strong polarized reactions long after his presidency? 1:24:00 How likely is it that Republicans can push back on Trump successfully? 1:26:15 Is there a scenario where Vance tries to distance himself from Trump? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd delivers a deeply personal, harrowing account of being inside the Washington Hilton when a gunman charged through security at the White House Correspondents' Dinner — and uses the experience to issue a sobering warning about the political tinderbox America has become. He walks listeners through the night minute by minute: arriving through the back entrance to avoid protests, passing through magnetometers, the moment about a minute after the waitstaff emerged when gunfire erupted two floors above the ballroom and everyone immediately dropped to the ground, the realization that the shots weren't inside the room itself, the lockdown, senior leadership being escorted out, and journalists in the room immediately going to work to find out what happened. He recounts exiting through the kitchen and out a back door, running into the Fettermans on the street, and eventually finding an Uber home — a night he says he will never forget. He then steps back and argues that high-profile shootings have become weirdly normal but are not isolated incidents — they are the predictable culmination of rhetoric and events in an era where Americans are growing dangerously comfortable with political violence. He insists that "did Trump cause this?" is the wrong question, but argues that presidents don't just govern, they set the tone for the country — and Trump has publicly celebrated the deaths of political enemies, used existential language that frames everything through grievance, and views being targeted as personal validation. He warns that escalation invites escalation; that when everything becomes existential, anything becomes justifiable; and that previous leaders knew how to turn the temperature down while Trump deliberately pits Americans against each other. On the security questions, he dentifies two specific loopholes the shooter exploited — the lack of security on Amtrak (which he took from California) and his ability to stay at the Hilton as a regular hotel guest — but emphasizes that this was not a security failure: the screening worked exactly as intended, the gunman never made it down the stairs to the ballroom, and there's no such thing as 100% security against a determined lone wolf actor. He closes by flatly rejecting Trump's attempt to use the incident to justify his planned White House ballroom project, calling it what it is: a vanity play that has nothing to do with security and everything to do with ego, in a moment when the country desperately needs leadership willing to lower the temperature rather than turn it up. Then, Pete Curran — meteorologist for Watch Duty, the nonprofit fire alert app that became indispensable for Californians during the devastating LA fires earlier this year — joins the Chuck Toddcast to discuss why fire season in the West is now effectively a 12-month phenomenon and what every American needs to know to prepare. Curran explains that Watch Duty has revolutionized real-time fire information by providing constant updates, replacing a system where the public previously got just twice-daily official updates that were dangerously inadequate during fast-moving emergencies. The conditions heading into 2026 are alarming: the West had a wet winter but very little snow, California recorded its hottest March ever, a Category 5 cyclone hit the Pacific in April, fuels are drying out at a record rate, and there were already massive fires in Nebraska and Kansas in mid-March that should serve as a wake-up call to a country that still thinks of wildfires as a California problem. Curran walks through what people can actually do to protect their homes, why they should consider non-combustible roofing, which he notes was the single biggest factor in determining which LA homes survived this year's fires. He explains that water pressure typically collapses during major fires (so hosing your house only helps so much), that firefighters now actively triage which homes have been "hardened" before deciding what to defend, and that California utilities are finally getting serious about burying power lines — though vulnerable communities will likely bear the cost. The conversation broadens into how meteorology and firefighting have become deeply integrated, and what's keeping experts up at night. Curran explains that weather is the single most important thing firefighters must prepare for to stay safe, and reveals that major firefighter organizations now employ staff meteorologists and fire behavior analysts on every incident. He flags serious concerns about firefighter staffing shortages, the fact that federal firefighting resources have been cut and reorganized under the Trump administration, and the biggest nightmare scenario: multiple major fires breaking out simultaneously across regions, leaving no resources to redeploy. His ultimate message is hopeful but urgent: we have better data than ever before, but data alone isn't enough — it requires the resources, attention, and personal preparation to actually save lives. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit an event that further eroded Americans’ trust in their government… a U2 spy plane being shot down by the Soviet Union and the government lying directly to the public about the nature of the mission. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment” and weighs in on the NFL Draft. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 03:00 Chuck’s experience at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner 04:15 Had trepidation about attending the event beforehand 05:45 It’s not the president’s event, it belongs to the press corp 07:30 Went through the back way to avoid the protests outside 09:15 The ballroom section can be secured from rest of the building 11:00 Guests must pass through magnetometers before entering ballroom 12:00 The gunman never made it down the stairs to the ballroom 14:00 About a minute after the waitstaff came out was when gunfire erupted 15:15 Everybody dropped to the ground immediately 16:00 Didn’t take long to realize shots didn’t occur in the ballroom 16:45 There was security personnel everywhere 17:15 Senior leadership was escorted out, then room went into lockdown 18:15 Attendees immediately went to work trying to find out what happened 19:15 Gunshots were behind closed doors, two floors up from the ballroom 20:15 Will never forget that night at the correspondent’s dinner 21:30 Chuck exited through the kitchen and out a back door 22:30 Even if program resumed, wasn’t going back to the event 23:00 Ran into the Fettermans on the street outside 24:15 Eventually found an Uber and went home 25:15 We’re living in a political tinderbox 25:45 High profile shootings are weirdly normal now, but not isolated 26:15 We’re growing more comfortable with & normalizing political violence 27:30 The Trump era ushered in a new environment of division & violence 28:30 “Did Trump cause this?” is the wrong question 29:30 Presidents don’t just govern, they set the tone for the country 30:45 Trump has publicly celebrated the deaths of political enemies 31:30 Trump uses existential language, sets a terrible tone 32:00 Everything is now framed through political grievance 32:45 Trump views being targeted as validation for his presidency 33:45 If Trump thinks he’s going to be martyred, he’ll take extra risks 34:45 Trump thrives on division, and escalation invites escalation 36:00 When everything is existential, anything becomes justifiable  36:30 Previous leaders knew how to turn temperature down, Trump doesn’t 37:30 Trump is pitting Americans against each other on purpose 39:45 We don’t have the leadership we need to meet the moment 40:45 We’re not doing anything to make political violence less likely 42:30 This era has been led by someone who supports violent rhetoric 43:30 This was not an isolated incident, it was a culmination of rhetoric & events 44:00 Two security vulnerabilities the shooter exploited 44:30 Loophole #1 was lack of security on Amtrak 45:30 Loophole #2 was shooter staying at the Hilton as a hotel guest 46:45 This wasn’t a security failure, it worked as intended 47:45 This incident had nothing to do with building the ballroom 48:45 There’s no such thing as 100% security against a lone wolf actor 49:30 The ballroom isn’t about security, it’s a vanity project 58:00 Pete Curran (Watch Duty) joins the Chuck ToddCast 59:30 Fire season in California is basically all twelve months now 1:00:45 Fire season used to only last a few months 1:01:30 Watch Duty became the must-have app during LA fires 1:02:00 What was the information flow to the public before Watch Duty? 1:02:45 Watch Duty updates fire information in real time 1:03:45 Previous to watch duty, official updates were only twice daily 1:05:15 The west had a wet winter, but not much snow. Bad for fire season 1:06:10 There were massive fires in Nebraska and Kansas in mid-March 1:06:45 California had its hottest March ever, Cat 5 cyclone in Pacific in April 1:07:15 It’s going to be a very significant fire season 1:08:15 Fuels are drying out this year at a record rate 1:09:30 Tropical storms on the west coast bring lightning that start fires 1:10:45 Humans are procrastinators, how do you advise them to prepare? 1:11:30 People should clear their properties of anything combustible 1:12:15 Does hosing the house and yard actual

Pete Curran — meteorologist for Watch Duty, the nonprofit fire alert app that became indispensable for Californians during the devastating LA fires earlier this year — joins the Chuck Toddcast to discuss why fire season in the West is now effectively a 12-month phenomenon and what every American needs to know to prepare. Curran explains that Watch Duty has revolutionized real-time fire information by providing constant updates, replacing a system where the public previously got just twice-daily official updates that were dangerously inadequate during fast-moving emergencies. The conditions heading into 2026 are alarming: the West had a wet winter but very little snow, California recorded its hottest March ever, a Category 5 cyclone hit the Pacific in April, fuels are drying out at a record rate, and there were already massive fires in Nebraska and Kansas in mid-March that should serve as a wake-up call to a country that still thinks of wildfires as a California problem. Curran walks through what people can actually do to protect their homes, why they should consider non-combustible roofing, which he notes was the single biggest factor in determining which LA homes survived this year's fires. He explains that water pressure typically collapses during major fires (so hosing your house only helps so much), that firefighters now actively triage which homes have been "hardened" before deciding what to defend, and that California utilities are finally getting serious about burying power lines — though vulnerable communities will likely bear the cost. The conversation broadens into how meteorology and firefighting have become deeply integrated, and what's keeping experts up at night. Curran explains that weather is the single most important thing firefighters must prepare for to stay safe, and reveals that major firefighter organizations now employ staff meteorologists and fire behavior analysts on every incident. He flags serious concerns about firefighter staffing shortages, the fact that federal firefighting resources have been cut and reorganized under the Trump administration, and the biggest nightmare scenario: multiple major fires breaking out simultaneously across regions, leaving no resources to redeploy. His ultimate message is hopeful but urgent: we have better data than ever before, but data alone isn't enough — it requires the resources, attention, and personal preparation to actually save lives. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Pete Curran (Watch Duty) joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:30 Fire season in California is basically all twelve months now 02:45 Fire season used to only last a few months 03:30 Watch Duty became the must-have app during LA fires 04:00 What was the information flow to the public before Watch Duty? 04:45 Watch Duty updates fire information in real time 05:45 Previous to watch duty, official updates were only twice daily 07:15 The west had a wet winter, but not much snow. Bad for fire season 08:10 There were massive fires in Nebraska and Kansas in mid-March 08:45 California had its hottest March ever, Cat 5 cyclone in Pacific in April 09:15 It’s going to be a very significant fire season 10:15 Fuels are drying out this year at a record rate 11:30 Tropical storms on the west coast bring lightning that start fires 12:45 Humans are procrastinators, how do you advise them to prepare? 13:30 People should clear their properties of anything combustible 14:15 Does hosing the house and yard actually help? 15:00 In a big fire, water pressure becomes a massive problem 16:00 How can people build differently to adapt to fire threat? 16:45 New homes with non combustible roofs survived the LA fires 17:30 Firefighters assess which homes have been hardened during a fire 18:15 Wooden fences bring fire to the house 19:15 What’s the status of California utilities burying power lines? 20:30 Power companies have been proactive about fire danger 21:30 At some point burying lines won’t be a choice 22:15 Vulnerable communities will likely have to bear cost of burying lines 23:30 What fire conditions cause you to lose sleep? 25:15 Elevated danger conditions will begin around June 26:00 Experience of working for the fire service prior to becoming a meteorologist 27:30 Weather is the most important thing for firefighters to prepare for to stay safe 28:15 Firefighter organizations have a staff meteoroligist & fire behavior analyst 29:15 Best practices now that meteorology has been infused with firefighting? 30:45 Every year we see new fire behavior that’s unprecedented 32:30 Remote, solar powered stations provide updated data once an hour 34:00 The more data meteorologists have… the better 34:30 Nobody in climate science denies that there’s global warming 35:00 Every year now becomes “the hottest year ever” 36:30 Fire seasons are getting worse globally, not just in western U.S. 37:30 There aren’t enough candidates to fill all the firefighting roles 39:30 Federal firefighting resources get moved seasonally 40:15 The biggest risk is fires breaking out everywhere at once 40:45 Federal resources have been cut & changed under Trump administration 41:45 The wake up call for this year was the massive fire in Nebraska in March 42:30 Colorado has been under red flag warnings 30 times already this year 43:00 The public gets “warning fatigue” leading them to not prepare 43:45 Watch Duty isn’t just in California, it serves the entire nation 44:15 Watch Duty will be adding flood warnings in the future 46:00 We have better data than ever, just need the resources & attention See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd digs into the aftermath of the Virginia redistricting vote and finds plenty of blame to spread around — Democrats are gloating, Republicans are upset, and the whole episode confirms that partisan redistricting has become a race to the bottom with no one coming out clean. Henotes the "no" campaign in Virginia performed about as well as it realistically could, argues that not a single Republican had the guts to call out Texas's initial redistricting as wrong — meaning he has zero sympathy for the ones now complaining that Democrats responded in kind — and warns that gerrymandering is ultimately an insult to the founding fathers no matter who's doing it, even as he gives Democrats partial credit for at least putting the question to voters. He argues Trump's approval numbers portend a catastrophic midterm for the GOP, that Democrats' ceiling is around 40 House seats, and that incumbent Republicans will soon be desperate to distance themselves from Trump — though very few can credibly do so. On Iran, he says the Wall Street Journal editorial board unloaded on Trump, declaring that Tehran now thinks Trump is a sucker, and argues the president made everything worse by starting a war he doesn't have the guts to finish. He closes with a fascinating read on Tucker Carlson's public break with Trump, noting Trump has burned virtually every professional relationship he's ever had — but cautioning that it's genuinely hard to know what Carlson actually believes, that this could be a fake "heel turn," or that Tucker may be positioning himself for his own presidential run as the face of an anti-Trump MAGA movement. Finally, he answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment and explains why he has reservations about NBA star Kevin Durant. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 02:45 Democrats gloating and Republicans upset after Virginia referendum 03:45 Redistricting has become a race to the bottom 04:15 The “no” vote in Virginia did about as good as it could have 05:15 No Republican had the guts to say Texas redistricting was wrong 06:00 No sympathy for Republicans who don’t acknowledge Trump started this 06:30 Trump getting involved didn’t help the “No” campaign 07:30 Republicans need Trump’s base and can’t repudiate him 08:15 Trump’s approval numbers portend a catastrophic midterm for GOP 08:45 Democrats ceiling is around 40 seats in the house 09:45 Yes campaign required Obama to clarify his position on gerrymandering 11:30 Voters in northern Virginia have felt personally attacked by Trump 12:15 DOGE put a lot of people in northern Virginia out of work 13:00 More resources & attention wouldn’t have helped the “no” campaign 14:15 Incumbent Republicans will be desperate to distance from Trump 16:15 Not many Republicans can credibly distance themselves from Trump 17:45 We need to fix the infrastructure of democracy & have better incentives 19:15 Are Dems going to jam things down the voters’ throats like GOP does* 19:45 Emulating Trump’s tactics is bad for America 20:45 Gerrymandering is an insult to the founding fathers 21:45 Democrats get credit for at least going to the voters on redistricting 22:15 Florida’s state constitution bars partisan & racial gerrymandering 24:15 Florida gerrymander would look like “strips of bacon”, against constitution 25:15 Trump may bully Florida legislature into gerrymandering 26:45 The best Trump can hope for now is a deal similar to Obama’s nuclear deal 27:15 WSJ editorial board unloaded on Trump, said Iran thinks Trump is a sucker 28:15 Trump made everything worse with Iran 29:15 Trump doesn’t have the guys to finish the job, because it requires ground troops 30:15 The louder Trump squeals, the more you know the criticism is correct 31:45 Trump knows he made a massive mistake 33:00 It’s clear Trump doesn’t understand Iran & didn’t have a strategy 34:15 What to make of Tucker Carlson’s break with Trump? 35:00 Trump has burned every professional relationship he’s ever had 36:15 It’s hard to know what Carlson’s true motivations and beliefs are 37:30 There’s a real chance this is a fake “heel turn” by Carlson 39:15 Maybe Tucker believes he could be president as anti-Trump MAGA 45:45 Ask Chuck46:00 Joke about Trump being a lame duck46:45 Do you have a great story about Tim Russert?51:45 What is your project to get independents elected?55:15 Is there a meaningful distinction between MAGA & Republican?1:01:00 If a third party emerges, what do you think they’ll call themselves?1:04:00 How would the midterms be affected if Alito or Thomas retire in October?1:06:15 Is there any way Dems can reach the “own the libs” part of the electorate?1:10:15 Is there any way to stop gerrymandering? Your NFL draft strategy?1:18:00 Kevin Durant rant See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd digs into the aftermath of the Virginia redistricting vote and finds plenty of blame to spread around — Democrats are gloating, Republicans are upset, and the whole episode confirms that partisan redistricting has become a race to the bottom with no one coming out clean. Henotes the "no" campaign in Virginia performed about as well as it realistically could, argues that not a single Republican had the guts to call out Texas's initial redistricting as wrong — meaning he has zero sympathy for the ones now complaining that Democrats responded in kind — and warns that gerrymandering is ultimately an insult to the founding fathers no matter who's doing it, even as he gives Democrats partial credit for at least putting the question to voters. He argues Trump's approval numbers portend a catastrophic midterm for the GOP, that Democrats' ceiling is around 40 House seats, and that incumbent Republicans will soon be desperate to distance themselves from Trump — though very few can credibly do so. On Iran, he says the Wall Street Journal editorial board unloaded on Trump, declaring that Tehran now thinks Trump is a sucker, and argues the president made everything worse by starting a war he doesn't have the guts to finish. He closes with a fascinating read on Tucker Carlson's public break with Trump, noting Trump has burned virtually every professional relationship he's ever had — but cautioning that it's genuinely hard to know what Carlson actually believes, that this could be a fake "heel turn," or that Tucker may be positioning himself for his own presidential run as the face of an anti-Trump MAGA movement. Then, veteran trial lawyers Mark Lanier and Rahul Ravipudi — the legal team that just won a landmark bellwether verdict against Meta and YouTube — join the Chuck Toddcast to explain how civil litigation is doing more to rein in big tech than the federal government has managed in a decade. They walk through how they persuaded a jury that these platforms engaged in negligent and punitive conduct toward children, systematically dismantling the "it's on the parents" defense by showing that parents simply aren't equipped to manage what amounts to engineered addiction — and that when that addiction takes hold in children, it causes irreparable harm by literally rewiring developing brains. They reveal that Meta's own internal research documents were devastating at trial, that former tech employees took the stand to call out the companies' safety practices, and that these platforms behaved exactly like Big Tobacco did — knowing the harm was real and burying the evidence. They break down how they proved addiction by design: endless scroll, autoplay, slot-machine psychology, and deliberately hidden safety features all created to maximize "time spent," a corporate metric fundamentally at odds with user wellbeing.  The conversation gets into the nuts and bolts of the legal strategy and what comes next. Lanier and Ravipudi describe cross-examining Mark Zuckerberg, who they say couldn't handle basic questions about protecting kids, and explain why YouTube's defense — that it's a streaming service like Netflix rather than social media — collapsed once its own internal documents consistently referred to the platform as "social media." They explain that this is a bellwether case, meaning the judge used nine representative cases to establish facts and conditions that will now apply to roughly 3,000 other pending cases, with eight more trials coming and a settlement fund likely in the companies' future. The attorneys discuss whether tech companies are simply pricing these verdicts in as a cost of doing business (they argue settling would actually be a PR boon for the platforms), draw parallels and distinctions between big tech and tobacco, and offer concrete policy recommendations: a meaningful minimum age requirement, scrapping Section 230, nighttime curfews for minors, and removing the endless scroll. Their bottom line: tech companies won't do the right thing unless they're forced to, and the legal system is finally catching up to what regulators refused to address. Finally, he answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment and explains why he has reservations about NBA star Kevin Durant. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 05:30 Democrats gloating and Republicans upset after Virginia referendum 06:30 Redistricting has become a race to the bottom 07:00 The “no” vote in Virginia did about as good as it could have 08:00 No Republican had the guts to say Texas redistricting was wrong 08:45 No sympathy for Republicans who don’t acknowledge Trump started this 09:15 Trump getting involved didn’t help the “No” campaign 10:15 Republicans need Trump’s base and can’t repudiate him 11:00 Trump’s approval numbers portend a catastrophic midterm for GOP 11:30 Democrats ceiling is around 40 seats in the house 12:30 Yes campaign required Obama to clarify his position on gerrymandering 14:15 Voters in northern Virginia have felt personally attacked by Trump 15:00 DOGE put a lot of people in northern Virginia out of work 15:45 More resources & attention wouldn’t have helped the “no” campaign 17:00 Incumbent Republicans will be desperate to distance from Trump 19:00 Not many Republicans can credibly distance themselves from Trump 20:30 We need to fix the infrastructure of democracy & have better incentives 22:00 Are Dems going to jam things down the voters’ throats like GOP does* 22:30 Emulating Trump’s tactics is bad for America 23:30 Gerrymandering is an insult to the founding fathers 24:30 Democrats get credit for at least going to the voters on redistricting 25:00 Florida’s state constitution bars partisan & racial gerrymandering 27:00 Florida gerrymander would look like “strips of bacon”, against constitution 28:00 Trump may bully Florida legislature into gerrymandering 29:30 The best Trump can hope for now is a deal similar to Obama’s nuclear deal 30:00 WSJ editorial board unloaded on Trump, said Iran thinks Trump is a sucker 31:00 Trump made everything worse with Iran 32:00 Trump doesn’t have the guys to finish the job, because it requires ground troops 33:00 The louder Trump squeals, the more you know the criticism is correct 34:30 Trump knows he made a massive mistake 35:45 It’s clear Trump doesn’t understand Iran & didn’t have a strategy 37:00 What to make of Tucker Carlson’s break with Trump? 37:45 Trump has burned every professional relationship he’s ever had 39:00 It’s hard to know what Carlson’s true motivations and beliefs are 40:15 There’s a real chance this is a fake “heel turn” by Carlson 42:00 Maybe Tucker believes he could be president as anti-Trump MAGA 49:45 Mark Lanier & Rahul Ravipudi join the Chuck ToddCast 52:15 Civil litigation is doing more to rein in big tech than government 52:45 You can’t fight big tech without an army of lawyers 53:45 Meta & Youtube found liable by jury of negligence & punitive conduct 55:15 How did you push back on the narrative of “parental challenges”? 56:15 Parents aren’t equipped to control kids social media addiction/use 57:00 Addiction in children is an irreparable harm, brain is rewired 58:00 Meta’s own internal research documents were damning 59:15 Without guardrails, tech companies race to the bottom for engagement 1:00:15 Tech companies behaved just like big tobacco, knew harm was real 1:01:45 Former tech employees called out safety practices at trial 1:02:45 How did you prove addiction at trial? 1:04:00 Proved the companies deliberately made products more addictive 1:04:45 Endless scroll, autoplay and slot machine science used to trap you 1:06:15 Platforms make it hard to access or find safety features 1:07:15 Goal of “increasing time spent” is at odds with users well-being 1:09:30 Architect for Youtube algorithm was forced to take the stand 1:10:15 Architect proposed changing algorithm for kids, didn’t happen 1:11:15 TikTok & Snapchat settled, did that clear the way to win in court? 1:13:15 Plaintiffs had finished discovery before any settlements 1:14:15 Youtube’s lawyer argued it’s a streaming platform and not social media 1:16:00 Despite their protests, Youtube is not like Netflix because of features 1:17:45 Exhaustive internal documents refer to Youtube as “social media” 1:19:15 How was the experience of cross-examining Mark Zuckerberg? 1:20:45 Zuckerberg couldn’t handle some very basic questions about kids 1:22:45 What makes this case a “bellwether case”? 1:24:15 Judge used 9 cases to determine facts & conditions for other 3,000 1:26:15 8 more trials are upcoming 1:27:45 Companies will likely need to create a settlement fund 1:28:15 Similarities and differences between big tech & tobacco companies 1:30:15 Companies achieved a critical mass of kids using the product 1:31:45 Are companies pricing in penalties/settlements as “cost of doing business”? 1:33:00 Settling these cases would be a PR boon for these companies 1:34:30 Preview of the upcoming trials against the tech companies 1:36:45 What are some good guardrails congress can put on the tech companies? 1:38:30 An age limit of would do good, as would scrapping Section 230 1:40:15 A nighttime curfew and removing the endless scroll also has benefits 1:41:30 There’s no law mandating 25 years of age to rent car, ind

Veteran trial lawyers Mark Lanier and Rahul Ravipudi — the legal team that just won a landmark bellwether verdict against Meta and YouTube — join the Chuck Toddcast to explain how civil litigation is doing more to rein in big tech than the federal government has managed in a decade. They walk through how they persuaded a jury that these platforms engaged in negligent and punitive conduct toward children, systematically dismantling the "it's on the parents" defense by showing that parents simply aren't equipped to manage what amounts to engineered addiction — and that when that addiction takes hold in children, it causes irreparable harm by literally rewiring developing brains. They reveal that Meta's own internal research documents were devastating at trial, that former tech employees took the stand to call out the companies' safety practices, and that these platforms behaved exactly like Big Tobacco did — knowing the harm was real and burying the evidence. They break down how they proved addiction by design: endless scroll, autoplay, slot-machine psychology, and deliberately hidden safety features all created to maximize "time spent," a corporate metric fundamentally at odds with user wellbeing.  The conversation gets into the nuts and bolts of the legal strategy and what comes next. Lanier and Ravipudi describe cross-examining Mark Zuckerberg, who they say couldn't handle basic questions about protecting kids, and explain why YouTube's defense — that it's a streaming service like Netflix rather than social media — collapsed once its own internal documents consistently referred to the platform as "social media." They explain that this is a bellwether case, meaning the judge used nine representative cases to establish facts and conditions that will now apply to roughly 3,000 other pending cases, with eight more trials coming and a settlement fund likely in the companies' future. The attorneys discuss whether tech companies are simply pricing these verdicts in as a cost of doing business (they argue settling would actually be a PR boon for the platforms), draw parallels and distinctions between big tech and tobacco, and offer concrete policy recommendations: a meaningful minimum age requirement, scrapping Section 230, nighttime curfews for minors, and removing the endless scroll. Their bottom line: tech companies won't do the right thing unless they're forced to, and the legal system is finally catching up to what regulators refused to address. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Mark Lanier & Rahul Ravipudi join the Chuck ToddCast 02:30 Civil litigation is doing more to rein in big tech than government 03:00 You can’t fight big tech without an army of lawyers 04:00 Meta & Youtube found liable by jury of negligence & punitive conduct 05:30 How did you push back on the narrative of “parental challenges”? 06:30 Parents aren’t equipped to control kids social media addiction/use 07:15 Addiction in children is an irreparable harm, brain is rewired 08:15 Meta’s own internal research documents were damning 09:30 Without guardrails, tech companies race to the bottom for engagement 10:30 Tech companies behaved just like big tobacco, knew harm was real 12:00 Former tech employees called out safety practices at trial 13:00 How did you prove addiction at trial? 14:15 Proved the companies deliberately made products more addictive 15:00 Endless scroll, autoplay and slot machine science used to trap you 16:30 Platforms make it hard to access or find safety features 17:30 Goal of “increasing time spent” is at odds with users well-being 19:45 Architect for Youtube algorithm was forced to take the stand 20:30 Architect proposed changing algorithm for kids, didn’t happen 21:30 TikTok & Snapchat settled, did that clear the way to win in court? 23:30 Plaintiffs had finished discovery before any settlements 24:30 Youtube’s lawyer argued it’s a streaming platform and not social media 26:15 Despite their protests, Youtube is not like Netflix because of features 28:00 Exhaustive internal documents refer to Youtube as “social media” 29:30 How was the experience of cross-examining Mark Zuckerberg? 31:00 Zuckerberg couldn’t handle some very basic questions about kids 33:00 What makes this case a “bellwether case”? 34:30 Judge used 9 cases to determine facts & conditions for other 3,000 36:30 8 more trials are upcoming 38:00 Companies will likely need to create a settlement fund 38:30 Similarities and differences between big tech & tobacco companies 40:30 Companies achieved a critical mass of kids using the product 42:00 Are companies pricing in penalties/settlements as “cost of doing business”? 43:15 Settling these cases would be a PR boon for these companies 44:45 Preview of the upcoming trials against the tech companies 47:00 What are some good guardrails congress can put on the tech companies? 48:45 An age limit of would do good, as would scrapping Section 230 50:30 A nighttime curfew and removing the endless scroll also has benefits 51:45 There’s no law mandating 25 years of age to rent car, industry imposed it 52:30 Companies might self-regulate after losing lawsuits 53:45 These companies won’t do the right thing unless forced to do so 54:15 Expectations for the appeals process? 56:00 What year do you expect all of these cases to be fully resolved? 57:30 A recommendation algorithm should make a platform a publisher See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd unpacks a night of significant Democratic wins — starting with Virginia voters passing the controversial redistricting measure, a result that hands Democrats a meaningful victory but at what Chuck argues is a steep cost. He questions whether Democrats are trading their most valuable brand asset, being seen as "the rule followers," for a short-term partisan gain they may not need: if Democrats narrowly win the House majority thanks to redistricting, then the gamble worked — but independents, who were already souring on partisan games, aren't likely to give Democrats the benefit of the doubt going forward. He warns that Abigail Spanberger, who wanted to govern from the center but was forced into the role of a partisan warrior to get this done, may not recover politically from the episode. He then turns to Iran, where Trump has unilaterally extended the ceasefire indefinitely because he can't actually land a deal — Iran won the second round of negotiations simply by not showing up, the Chinese will eventually have to step in to pressure Tehran, and Trump is now visibly signaling desperation, meaning he'll be lucky to walk away with terms similar to what Obama negotiated years ago. He calls the war a strategic disaster worse than Iraq that will permanently taint the presidential prospects of both Marco Rubio and JD Vance, and closes with the big political picture: overall it was a terrible night for Republicans, new polling shows Democrats suddenly competitive in rural Midwestern states, all the data points to Democratic momentum heading into the midterms, the economy will be deeply unpopular by Election Day, and the only real advantage Republicans have left is money — a boon he argues is consistently overstated when the political environment is this bad for the party in power. Finally Chuck reveals his ToddCast Top 5 most overlooked races for the midterm elections and answers questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 01:15 Virginia voters pass redistricting measure, a big win for Democrats 03:00 Strength of Democratic party was being viewed as the “rule followers” 03:45 Democrats won’t get the benefit of the doubt with independents 04:45 There was a path to 8-3 for Dems with the original map 06:15 If Dems narrowly win the house majority, then redistricting worked 07:00 Dems are closer to winning now, but at what cost? 08:30 Spanberger wants to govern from center, but had to be a partisan warrior 10:30 Filing deadline for Virginia is FRIDAY, will we see GOP retirements? 11:00 Court case could disqualify the referendum 12:30 Florida likely to redistrict in response to Virginia 14:00 Florida redistricting makes a lot of light red districts that are vulnerable 15:30 These partisan acts will increase appetite for a third party 17:15 Abigail Spanberger may not recover politically from this 18:15 Trump can’t get Iran deal, unilaterally extends ceasefire indefinitely  19:00 Iran has won the second round of negotiations by not showing up 19:45 At some point the Chinese will put pressure on Iran to end this 20:30 Trump started a war he wasn’t prepared to finish 21:15 This war has been a strategic disaster, even worse than Iraq 22:00 Trump will be lucky to get terms similar to what Obama got 22:45 Trump is signaling to Iran that he’s desperate for a deal 24:30 The war will taint presidential chances for Rubio & Vance 25:15 Overall, it’s been a disastrous night for Republicans 26:00 We will have a very unpopular economy when the midterms arrive 26:30 New polling shows Democrats are competitive in rural midwest states 27:45 All the data shows Democratic momentum going into the midterms 28:15 The only advantage Republicans have is money 29:30 Tuesday was a really good day for team blue, and bad for team red 35:00 ToddCast Top 5 overlooked races this election cycle 36:00 #5 Florida governor 41:00 #4 Oregon governor 44:00 #3 Alabama governor 47:00 #2 Texas governor 51:30 #1 Minnesota senate 55:30 Ask Chuck 55:45 Would it be worse for Spanberger politically to lose redistricting fight? 58:15 Who in Trump’s orbit would be willing to invoke the 25th amendment? 1:02:15 Thoughts on Vance & importance of “political athleticism” for GOP in ‘28? 1:08:30 What are the long term impacts if Trump pulls out of NATO? 1:11:45 Which piece of legislation does the opposite party most misunderstand? 1:18:15 Do our elected officials actually understand China? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd unpacks a night of significant Democratic wins — starting with Virginia voters passing the controversial redistricting measure, a result that hands Democrats a meaningful victory but at what Chuck argues is a steep cost. He questions whether Democrats are trading their most valuable brand asset, being seen as "the rule followers," for a short-term partisan gain they may not need: if Democrats narrowly win the House majority thanks to redistricting, then the gamble worked — but independents, who were already souring on partisan games, aren't likely to give Democrats the benefit of the doubt going forward. He warns that Abigail Spanberger, who wanted to govern from the center but was forced into the role of a partisan warrior to get this done, may not recover politically from the episode. He then turns to Iran, where Trump has unilaterally extended the ceasefire indefinitely because he can't actually land a deal — Iran won the second round of negotiations simply by not showing up, the Chinese will eventually have to step in to pressure Tehran, and Trump is now visibly signaling desperation, meaning he'll be lucky to walk away with terms similar to what Obama negotiated years ago. He calls the war a strategic disaster worse than Iraq that will permanently taint the presidential prospects of both Marco Rubio and JD Vance, and closes with the big political picture: overall it was a terrible night for Republicans, new polling shows Democrats suddenly competitive in rural Midwestern states, all the data points to Democratic momentum heading into the midterms, the economy will be deeply unpopular by Election Day, and the only real advantage Republicans have left is money — a boon he argues is consistently overstated when the political environment is this bad for the party in power. Then, Doug Sosnik — the veteran Democratic strategist, former Clinton White House political director, and one of the sharpest big-picture thinkers in American politics — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a sweeping conversation about where the country is headed and whether either party is prepared to meet the moment. Sosnik argues that every election cycle has a defining event that sets the political weather, and for 2026 it's unambiguously the Iran war — but with early voting expanding the calendar, the window for Republicans to fix their problems is razor thin. He breaks the American electorate into three buckets and notes that the critical 15% of swing voters who tend to align culturally with Trump have now turned against him, that the Republican brand actually outperforms both the Democratic brand and the MAGA brand in polling, and that the Democratic brand stubbornly refuses to improve despite Trump's failures — meaning the 2028 nominee, not the party label, will determine who wins. They identify a potential 60% majority that's fed up with the system itself, arguing that America has moved away from meritocracy toward family wealth in ways that demand creating a new ladder to middle-class life for non-college voters, and delivers a blunt generational verdict: real change won't happen until the boomers exit the stage, and 2028 will be like 1960 — the election that defines post-Trump America. The conversation turns to the future of both parties, and Sosnik's analysis is bracingly unsentimental. He notes that more Republicans now identify with the GOP brand than with MAGA, that Vance lacks the charisma to inherit Trump's movement, and that the Trump family has been testing Don Jr.'s name in polling. They warn that the country doesn't want to vote Republican in 2028 but lacks confidence in Democrats, and point to the UK where both major parties are in danger of being replaced by insurgent movements. He closes with a candid assessment of the 2028 Democratic field — the weakest since 2004, with Rahm Emmanuel as the only candidate putting out real policy.The winner in 2028, Sosnik predicts, will be on the side of breaking things rather than defending the status quo, because the animating force in American politics on both the left and the right is now unmistakably populist. Finally Chuck reveals his ToddCast Top 5 most overlooked races for the midterm elections and answers questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 01:15 Virginia voters pass redistricting measure, a big win for Democrats 03:00 Strength of Democratic party was being viewed as the “rule followers” 03:45 Democrats won’t get the benefit of the doubt with independents 04:45 There was a path to 8-3 for Dems with the original map 06:15 If Dems narrowly win the house majority, then redistricting worked 07:00 Dems are closer to winning now, but at what cost? 08:30 Spanberger wants to govern from center, but had to be a partisan warrior 10:30 Filing deadline for Virginia is FRIDAY, will we see GOP retirements? 11:00 Court case could disqualify the referendum 12:30 Florida likely to redistrict in response to Virginia 14:00 Florida redistricting makes a lot of light red districts that are vulnerable 15:30 These partisan acts will increase appetite for a third party 17:15 Abigail Spanberger may not recover politically from this 18:15 Trump can’t get Iran deal, unilaterally extends ceasefire indefinitely  19:00 Iran has won the second round of negotiations by not showing up 19:45 At some point the Chinese will put pressure on Iran to end this 20:30 Trump started a war he wasn’t prepared to finish 21:15 This war has been a strategic disaster, even worse than Iraq 22:00 Trump will be lucky to get terms similar to what Obama got 22:45 Trump is signaling to Iran that he’s desperate for a deal 24:30 The war will taint presidential chances for Rubio & Vance 25:15 Overall, it’s been a disastrous night for Republicans 26:00 We will have a very unpopular economy when the midterms arrive 26:30 New polling shows Democrats are competitive in rural midwest states 27:45 All the data shows Democratic momentum going into the midterms 28:15 The only advantage Republicans have is money 29:30 Tuesday was a really good day for team blue, and bad for team red 36:15 Doug Sosnik joins The Chuck ToddCast38:45 How much can the political environment change by midterms?39:30 Every election cycle has a moment that sets the political weather40:15 Iran war will be the defining event heading into midterms41:30 With early voting, the window for Republicans to fix things is small42:15 There used to be a correlation between economic numbers & mood42:45 Average economic numbers are good, the mean numbers aren’t44:15 We’ve moved away from meritocracy to family wealth45:15 We have to create a ladder to middle class life for non-college voters46:00 There’s a 60% majority to be had that’s fed up with the system itself47:15 Politics is a lagging, not a leading indicator for voters’ concerns48:00 The three buckets of American voters48:30 The 15% swing voters align more with Trump, vote against incumbents49:15 Trump has lost the swing voting third group50:45 Progressives want their own presidency51:30 Real change won’t happen until the boomers exit the stage52:30 The 2028 election will be like 1960, define future of America post-Trump54:45 More Republicans identifying with GOP than with MAGA55:30 Republican party outperforms Dems & MAGA in polling56:00 Democratic brand isn’t improving despite Trump’s failings56:30 The 2028 Democratic nominee will determine who wins the election57:15 3 recent campaigns became movements, Reagan, Obama & Trump59:30 Vance doesn’t have the charisma to pick up Trump’s movement 1:00:15 Trumps have been testing Don Jr’s name in polling1:02:30 Country doesn’t want to vote GOP in ‘28 but lack confidence in dems1:03:45 Two major parties in the UK are in danger of being replaced1:04:45 If independents win ‘26 will there be real appetite for one in ‘28?1:06:45 Both parties are likely to go by the wayside, like other institutions1:07:15 Lessons from Hungary?1:08:30 Trump has become toxic to far-right parties around the world1:10:30 For the last half century, both parties have been pragmatic about nominees1:11:15 Progressives have gotten their agenda but not their candidates1:13:00 The 2026 political environment is highly favorable for Dems1:14:30 400 house seats aren’t even considered competitive1:15:30 Senate map is tough for Democrats despite the political climate1:16:00 If Democrats win in Iowa, that’s a sign of a wave election1:17:15 No state has been more impacted by war & tariffs than Iowa1:18:30 There are 25 rural states that Dems aren’t competitive in1:19:15 Can’t be a majority party if you only win college educated voters1:20:00 Republicans nationally have a massive money advantage1:21:15 Money is an overstated advantage1:21:45 Trump’s base hasn’t turned out to vote when he isn’t on the ballot1:23:30 How can Democrats court cranky swing state independent voters?1:25:00 The problem is with incentives, candidates more likely to lose a primary1:26:15 Working class voters felt culturally more connected to Trump than to Biden1:27:00 If Biden had a Republican senate, would Dems have a better brand today?1:28:00 Biden didn’t truly have a political base, ran presidency to satisfy interest groups1:28:45 Without Covid, Biden doesn’t win in 20201:30:45 ‘28 candidates must articulate why they are running & find their voice1:31:45 Dems have their weakes

Doug Sosnik — the veteran Democratic strategist, former Clinton White House political director, and one of the sharpest big-picture thinkers in American politics — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a sweeping conversation about where the country is headed and whether either party is prepared to meet the moment. Sosnik argues that every election cycle has a defining event that sets the political weather, and for 2026 it's unambiguously the Iran war — but with early voting expanding the calendar, the window for Republicans to fix their problems is razor thin. He breaks the American electorate into three buckets and notes that the critical 15% of swing voters who tend to align culturally with Trump have now turned against him, that the Republican brand actually outperforms both the Democratic brand and the MAGA brand in polling, and that the Democratic brand stubbornly refuses to improve despite Trump's failures — meaning the 2028 nominee, not the party label, will determine who wins. They identify a potential 60% majority that's fed up with the system itself, arguing that America has moved away from meritocracy toward family wealth in ways that demand creating a new ladder to middle-class life for non-college voters, and delivers a blunt generational verdict: real change won't happen until the boomers exit the stage, and 2028 will be like 1960 — the election that defines post-Trump America. The conversation turns to the future of both parties, and Sosnik's analysis is bracingly unsentimental. He notes that more Republicans now identify with the GOP brand than with MAGA, that Vance lacks the charisma to inherit Trump's movement, and that the Trump family has been testing Don Jr.'s name in polling. They warn that the country doesn't want to vote Republican in 2028 but lacks confidence in Democrats, and point to the UK where both major parties are in danger of being replaced by insurgent movements. He closes with a candid assessment of the 2028 Democratic field — the weakest since 2004, with Rahm Emmanuel as the only candidate putting out real policy.The winner in 2028, Sosnik predicts, will be on the side of breaking things rather than defending the status quo, because the animating force in American politics on both the left and the right is now unmistakably populist. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Doug Sosnik joins The Chuck ToddCast 02:30 How much can the political environment change by midterms? 03:15 Every election cycle has a moment that sets the political weather 04:00 Iran war will be the defining event heading into midterms 05:15 With early voting, the window for Republicans to fix things is small 06:00 There used to be a correlation between economic numbers & mood 06:30 Average economic numbers are good, the mean numbers aren’t  08:00 We’ve moved away from meritocracy to family wealth 09:00 We have to create a ladder to middle class life for non-college voters 09:45 There’s a 60% majority to be had that’s fed up with the system itself 11:00 Politics is a lagging, not a leading indicator for voters’ concerns 11:45 The three buckets of American voters 12:15 The 15% swing voters align more with Trump, vote against incumbents 13:00 Trump has lost the swing voting third group 14:30 Progressives want their own presidency 15:15 Real change won’t happen until the boomers exit the stage 16:15 The 2028 election will be like 1960, define future of America post-Trump 18:30 More Republicans identifying with GOP than with MAGA 19:15 Republican party outperforms Dems & MAGA in polling 19:45 Democratic brand isn’t improving despite Trump’s failings 20:15 The 2028 Democratic nominee will determine who wins the election 21:00 3 recent campaigns became movements, Reagan, Obama & Trump 23:15 Vance doesn’t have the charisma to pick up Trump’s movement 24:00 Trumps have been testing Don Jr’s name in polling 26:15 Country doesn’t want to vote GOP in ‘28 but lack confidence in dems 27:30 Two major parties in the UK are in danger of being replaced 28:30 If independents win ‘26 will there be real appetite for one in ‘28? 30:30 Both parties are likely to go by the wayside, like other institutions 31:00 Lessons from Hungary? 32:15 Trump has become toxic to far-right parties around the world 34:15 For the last half century, both parties have been pragmatic about nominees 35:00 Progressives have gotten their agenda but not their candidates 36:45 The 2026 political environment is highly favorable for Dems 38:15 400 house seats aren’t even considered competitive 39:15 Senate map is tough for Democrats despite the political climate 39:45 If Democrats win in Iowa, that’s a sign of a wave election 41:00 No state has been more impacted by war & tariffs than Iowa 42:15 There are 25 rural states that Dems aren’t competitive in  43:00 Can’t be a majority party if you only win college educated voters 43:45 Republicans nationally have a massive money advantage 45:00 Money is an overstated advantage 45:30 Trump’s base hasn’t turned out to vote when he isn’t on the ballot 47:15 How can Democrats court cranky swing state independent voters? 48:45 The problem is with incentives, candidates more likely to lose a primary 50:00 Working class voters felt culturally more connected to Trump than to Biden 50:45 If Biden had a Republican senate, would Dems have a better brand today? 51:45 Biden didn’t truly have a political base, ran presidency to satisfy interest groups 52:30 Without Covid, Biden doesn’t win in 2020 54:30 ‘28 candidates must articulate why they are running & find their voice 55:30 Dems have their weakest field since 2004 56:00 Rahm Emmanuel is the only ‘28 hopeful putting out real policy 57:30 Newsom is more substantive than he gets credit for, but he’s also performative 59:00 Last time Dems lost popular vote was nominating San Francisco & Boston dems 1:00:30 Winner will be on the side of breaking things rather than defending status quo 1:01:30 Animating force in American politics is the populist left & right See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd surveys a dire geopolitical landscape where the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, fuel rationing has begun in many places around the globe, and the Trump administration is scrambling to extend a fragile ceasefire with Iran — sending JD Vance back to Pakistan for another round of talks, a move Chuck says signals genuine desperation to end a war that has become a generational foreign policy disaster. Heargues that Iran's control of the strait is now a greater deterrent than nuclear weapons ever were, that the Iranians know Trump is on the clock and that time is firmly on Tehran's side — meaning the best Trump can realistically hope for is a deal that looks remarkably like the Obama nuclear agreement he once shredded. Oil and stock markets appear divorced from reality while energy markets are in major distress, China's position has been strengthened enormously and Netanyahu has effectively suckered Trump into a mess that will define American foreign policy for a generation. He then unpacks a bombshell Atlantic report painting FBI Director Kash Patel as absent, unreliable, and allegedly drunk on the job — noting that just because it's a "hit piece" doesn't mean it's not true, that rank-and-file intelligence professionals don't trust the people leading their agencies, and that Patel himself believes he's about to be fired because Trump personally despises anecdotes about drinking. He closes with Virginia's redistricting referendum, which ends Tuesday and looks likely to pass, but he questions whether Democrats are making a smart investment — blowing enormous political capital and damaging Governor Abigail Spanberger's brand to pick up only two House seats, a tradeoff that may not be worth the cost. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit America’s first war of choice: The Spanish American War. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.  Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order.   Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 02:30 We’re in a precious position. Strait of Hormuz closed & fuel rationing is coming03:30 Expect some sort of extension of the current ceasefire agreement04:15 JD Vance headed back to Pakistan for another round of talks05:00 Sending Vance shows they’re serious about trying to end war05:45 Trump is desperate to get out of the war06:30 Control of Strait of Hormuz is a greater deterrent than nukes07:30 Oil & stock markets seem divorced from reality08:15 Energy markets are is major distress09:15 Trump’s approval has slipped, public knows the war is going badly10:00 Trump is talking tough, but his actions are cautious11:00 Iranians know Trump is desperate and Iranians have serious leverage12:30 Iranians know Trump is on the clock, and they have time on their side13:00 China’s position has been strengthened by Iran war14:15 U.S. is stretched too thin currently to defend Taiwan15:30 Energy shock increases demand for clean energy, where China leads16:45 Bibi suckered Trump into a generational foreign policy disaster17:45 We’re likely stuck without a resolution to the war for awhile18:45 Best Trump can hope for is redoing the Obama nuclear deal20:00 Time is running out on the 60 day war powers resolution deadline21:15 Trump has 5 weeks to get a deal before congress is forced to step in22:00 Atlantic publishes story about Kash Patel being MIA & drunk23:00 Patel denied everything, hoping for White House backup24:00 Just because it’s a “hit piece” doesn’t mean it’s not true24:45 People working at the FBI don’t trust the guy leading it26:30 Atlantic paints a portrait of an FBI leader that’s completely unreliable27:30 Patel’s ineptitude creates a national security threat to the U.S.29:00 Rank & file intel professionals don’t trust the people in charge30:15 Trump hates anecdotes about drinking, Patel’s days are numbered31:00 Patel believes he’s going to be fired32:30 Balloting for Virginia redistricting ends on Tuesday, looks like it will pass33:00 Democrats expending political capital to only pick up two house seats34:00 Redistricting fight has been terrible politically for Abigail Spanberger36:30 New map will trim two very blue districts and export voters to swing districts39:00 Blowing all this political capital for two seats doesn’t seem worth it40:45 Livestream on Tuesday evening breaking down the results from VA 46:00 ToddCast Time Machine April 20th, 1898 - Spanish American War 47:30 U.S.S. Maine exploded in Havana harbor, conclusion was Spain did it 48:00 The facts didn’t lead to the conclusion, the conclusion came first 48:45 Hearst & Pulitzer were locked in a publishing war, competing for readers 49:30 William McKinley didn’t want war, but pressure kept building 50:30 It was a War of Choice, and the press pushed leaders into war 51:00 Congress demanded that Spain leave Cuba 52:00 U.S. begins blockage of Cuba, basically kicking off the war 52:45 Congress backdated their declaration of war 53:30 Teddy Roosevelt’s rise scared establishment Republicans 54:00 The war produced Roosevelt’s presidency 55:00 It was a war of choice, until it felt like there was no other option 55:30 Wars of choice never end well 56:00 Ask Chuck 56:15 As Trump’s support erodes, any chance the 25th amendment gets invoked? 1:00:00 Does Federalist 10 still hold up? Is there a case for a constitutional convention? 1:06:30 A Top 5 list of races where you think the election projections are off? 1:13:00 Did I hear a dog in the background in your Wednesday episode? 1:15:15 Can you bring on a late night host like Colbert, Oliver or Maher? 1:18:00 What can and can’t be done with the huge fundraising hauls Dems are getting? 1:25:00 Thoughts on the NBA playoffs See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd surveys a dire geopolitical landscape where the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, fuel rationing has begun in many places around the globe, and the Trump administration is scrambling to extend a fragile ceasefire with Iran — sending JD Vance back to Pakistan for another round of talks, a move Chuck says signals genuine desperation to end a war that has become a generational foreign policy disaster. Heargues that Iran's control of the strait is now a greater deterrent than nuclear weapons ever were, that the Iranians know Trump is on the clock and that time is firmly on Tehran's side — meaning the best Trump can realistically hope for is a deal that looks remarkably like the Obama nuclear agreement he once shredded. Oil and stock markets appear divorced from reality while energy markets are in major distress, China's position has been strengthened enormously and Netanyahu has effectively suckered Trump into a mess that will define American foreign policy for a generation. He then unpacks a bombshell Atlantic report painting FBI Director Kash Patel as absent, unreliable, and allegedly drunk on the job — noting that just because it's a "hit piece" doesn't mean it's not true, that rank-and-file intelligence professionals don't trust the people leading their agencies, and that Patel himself believes he's about to be fired because Trump personally despises anecdotes about drinking. He closes with Virginia's redistricting referendum, which ends Tuesday and looks likely to pass, but he questions whether Democrats are making a smart investment — blowing enormous political capital and damaging Governor Abigail Spanberger's brand to pick up only two House seats, a tradeoff that may not be worth the cost. Then, Sarah Isgur — legal commentator, former DOJ spokesperson, and author of Last Branch Standing — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a comprehensive deep dive into the Supreme Court that challenges virtually everything the public thinks it knows about how the institution actually works. Isgur argues that the court's politics don't map neatly onto the current left-right spectrum, and that the court isn't really 6-3 but rather 3-3-3 — with a bloc of doctrinaire conservatives, a liberal minority, and a pragmatic center that includes Kavanaugh and Chief Justice Roberts. She reveals that Elena Kagan plays a major behind-the-scenes role that the public rarely sees, and that over the past 20 years more than 90% of rulings have had a liberal justice in the majority (undermining the narrative of a runaway conservative court)  The conversation turns to deeper structural concerns about the judiciary that Isgur argues are undermining the rule of law itself. She notes that today's justices all have eerily uniform résumés — a problem created by a system that essentially identifies future Supreme Court candidates by the time they're 18 and forces them to lead incredibly sheltered lives for both career and safety reasons — making them detached from the real world in ways that earlier, more varied courts were not. She is sharply critical of Congress for making the court the arbiter of fundamental rights, which has turned every confirmation into an existential battle — the refusal to take on issues like Roe legislatively forced them to the court, and now there's no real dialogue between the branches. They close by debating a provocative proposal: the confirmation threshold for justices should be raised to 60 or even 75 votes to force presidents to nominate consensus candidates, breaking the cycle of partisan warfare that has made the Federalist Society effectively a prerequisite for any aspiring conservative judge and turned the nomination process into something that is actively bad for both the court and the rule of law. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit America’s first war of choice: The Spanish American War. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.  Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 04:00 We’re in a precious position. Strait of Hormuz closed & fuel rationing is coming 05:00 Expect some sort of extension of the current ceasefire agreement 05:45 JD Vance headed back to Pakistan for another round of talks 06:30 Sending Vance shows they’re serious about trying to end war 07:15 Trump is desperate to get out of the war 08:00 Control of Strait of Hormuz is a greater deterrent than nukes  09:00 Oil & stock markets seem divorced from reality 09:45 Energy markets are is major distress 10:45 Trump’s approval has slipped, public knows the war is going badly 11:30 Trump is talking tough, but his actions are cautious 12:30 Iranians know Trump is desperate and Iranians have serious leverage 14:00 Iranians know Trump is on the clock, and they have time on their side 14:30 China’s position has been strengthened by Iran war 15:45 U.S. is stretched too thin currently to defend Taiwan  17:00 Energy shock increases demand for clean energy, where China leads 18:15 Bibi suckered Trump into a generational foreign policy disaster 19:15 We’re likely stuck without a resolution to the war for awhile 20:15 Best Trump can hope for is redoing the Obama nuclear deal 21:30 Time is running out on the 60 day war powers resolution deadline 22:45 Trump has 5 weeks to get a deal before congress is forced to step in 23:30 Atlantic publishes story about Kash Patel being MIA & drunk 24:30 Patel denied everything, hoping for White House backup 25:30 Just because it’s a “hit piece” doesn’t mean it’s not true 26:15 People working at the FBI don’t trust the guy leading it 28:00 Atlantic paints a portrait of an FBI leader that’s completely unreliable 29:00 Patel’s ineptitude creates a national security threat to the U.S. 30:30 Rank & file intel professionals don’t trust the people in charge 31:45 Trump hates anecdotes about drinking, Patel’s days are numbered 32:30 Patel believes he’s going to be fired 34:00 Balloting for Virginia redistricting ends on Tuesday, looks like it will pass 34:30 Democrats expending political capital to only pick up two house seats 35:30 Redistricting fight has been terrible politically for Abigail Spanberger 38:00 New map will trim two very blue districts and export voters to swing districts 40:30 Blowing all this political capital for two seats doesn’t seem worth it 42:15 Livestream on Tuesday evening breaking down the results from VA 48:30 Sarah Isgur (Last Branch Standing) joins the Chuck ToddCast 50:15 The Supreme Court’s politics don’t map neatly to current left/right 51:30 Bono called Chuck a “radical centrist” 52:15 Brett Kavanaugh’s biggest regret was not getting selfie with Bono 54:00 Songs that best comment on American political culture 57:00 Incrimentalism more important than liberal/conservative 58:00 Kavanaugh & Kagan most similar to Chuck in philosophy 59:30 Kagan plays a major role on the court behind the scenes 1:00:30 The reputation of the solicitor general has changed under Trump 1:01:15 Earlier justices didn’t have the uniform resume of the current justices 1:03:00 Current justices are detached from the real world 1:04:15 Alito likely retiring this summer or next as Dems senate chances increase 1:05:15 White House is eager to get a Supreme Court opening 1:06:00 Trump may have his hands tied, Alito will want to approve successor 1:08:00 Alito will want someone like him to replace him 1:08:30 Unlikely Ted Cruz or Mike Lee will be nominated for the court 1:09:30 We’ve narrowed down who can be justices by the time candidates are 18 1:10:15 Justices have to lead an incredibly sheltered life for safety 1:12:15 The court isn’t really 6-3, it’s 3-3-3 1:14:15 Which justices are the most overtly political for their side? 1:15:30 Gorsuch had best opinion of the year on Trump’s tariffs 1:16:15 Congress has abdicated their duty, forced the court to legislate 1:17:15 There’s no dialogue between congress & court. Court gets final word 1:18:30 Congress didn’t have the guts to take on Roe, forced it to the court 1:20:15 Court has become the arbiter of rights, making confirmations existential 1:21:45 Rights of criminal defendants are compromised by an elected judiciary 1:22:45 Elections for judges create perverse incentive structures 1:24:15 Jackson & Kavanaugh share view of their role on the court 1:25:15 In past 20 years, over 90% of rulings had a liberal in the majority 1:27:00 Justice Thomas has been remarkably consistent in his rulings 1:29:00 Gorsuch consistently relies on the text and applies it 1:29:45 Thomas is a hardcore originalist 1:31:30 Chief Justice Roberts has eschewed any type of label 1:33:30 Kagan tries to keep the court out of issues unless they must intervene 1:34:45 Justices are taking fewer cases and writing more opinions than ever 1:35:45 The court speaks in too many voices now 1:37:30 Justice Alito’s favorite movie is “Being There” 1:38:45 Breyer was a 2nd backup choice for the court 1:40:30 The value of moderation vs. abstention 1:42:15 Should the confirmation threshold for justices be raised to 60 or 75? 1:45:00 Requirement to join the Federalist Society if you want to be a judge 1:46:00 Proposal for how to fix the confirmation wars 1:48:30 Current nomination process is bad for the court & rule of law 1:53:30 Court is last branch standing for now, haven’t seen result of 50 vote

Sarah Isgur — legal commentator, former DOJ spokesperson, and author of Last Branch Standing — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a comprehensive deep dive into the Supreme Court that challenges virtually everything the public thinks it knows about how the institution actually works. Isgur argues that the court's politics don't map neatly onto the current left-right spectrum, and that the court isn't really 6-3 but rather 3-3-3 — with a bloc of doctrinaire conservatives, a liberal minority, and a pragmatic center that includes Kavanaugh and Chief Justice Roberts. She reveals that Elena Kagan plays a major behind-the-scenes role that the public rarely sees, and that over the past 20 years more than 90% of rulings have had a liberal justice in the majority (undermining the narrative of a runaway conservative court)  The conversation turns to deeper structural concerns about the judiciary that Isgur argues are undermining the rule of law itself. She notes that today's justices all have eerily uniform résumés — a problem created by a system that essentially identifies future Supreme Court candidates by the time they're 18 and forces them to lead incredibly sheltered lives for both career and safety reasons — making them detached from the real world in ways that earlier, more varied courts were not. She is sharply critical of Congress for making the court the arbiter of fundamental rights, which has turned every confirmation into an existential battle — the refusal to take on issues like Roe legislatively forced them to the court, and now there's no real dialogue between the branches. They close by debating a provocative proposal: the confirmation threshold for justices should be raised to 60 or even 75 votes to force presidents to nominate consensus candidates, breaking the cycle of partisan warfare that has made the Federalist Society effectively a prerequisite for any aspiring conservative judge and turned the nomination process into something that is actively bad for both the court and the rule of law. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Sarah Isgur (Last Branch Standing) joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:45 The Supreme Court’s politics don’t map neatly to current left/right 03:00 Bono called Chuck a “radical centrist” 03:45 Brett Kavanaugh’s biggest regret was not getting selfie with Bono 05:30 Songs that best comment on American political culture 08:30 Incrimentalism more important than liberal/conservative 09:30 Kavanaugh & Kagan most similar to Chuck in philosophy 11:00 Kagan plays a major role on the court behind the scenes 12:00 The reputation of the solicitor general has changed under Trump 12:45 Earlier justices didn’t have the uniform resume of the current justices 14:30 Current justices are detached from the real world 15:45 Alito likely retiring this summer or next as Dems senate chances increase 16:45 White House is eager to get a Supreme Court opening 17:30 Trump may have his hands tied, Alito will want to approve successor 19:30 Alito will want someone like him to replace him 20:00 Unlikely Ted Cruz or Mike Lee will be nominated for the court 21:00 We’ve narrowed down who can be justices by the time candidates are 18 21:45 Justices have to lead an incredibly sheltered life for safety 23:45 The court isn’t really 6-3, it’s 3-3-3 25:45 Which justices are the most overtly political for their side? 27:00 Gorsuch had best opinion of the year on Trump’s tariffs 27:45 Congress has abdicated their duty, forced the court to legislate 28:45 There’s no dialogue between congress & court. Court gets final word 30:00 Congress didn’t have the guts to take on Roe, forced it to the court 31:45 Court has become the arbiter of rights, making confirmations existential 33:15 Rights of criminal defendants are compromised by an elected judiciary 34:15 Elections for judges create perverse incentive structures 35:45 Jackson & Kavanaugh share view of their role on the court 36:45 In past 20 years, over 90% of rulings had a liberal in the majority 38:30 Justice Thomas has been remarkably consistent in his rulings 40:30 Gorsuch consistently relies on the text and applies it 41:15 Thomas is a hardcore originalist 43:00 Chief Justice Roberts has eschewed any type of label 45:00 Kagan tries to keep the court out of issues unless they must intervene 46:15 Justices are taking fewer cases and writing more opinions than ever 47:15 The court speaks in too many voices now 49:00 Justice Alito’s favorite movie is “Being There”  50:15 Breyer was a 2nd backup choice for the court 52:00 The value of moderation vs. abstention 53:45 Should the confirmation threshold for justices be raised to 60 or 75? 56:30 Requirement to join the Federalist Society if you want to be a judge 57:30 Proposal for how to fix the confirmation wars 1:00:00 Current nomination process is bad for the court & rule of law 1:05:00 Court is last branch standing for now, haven’t seen result of 50 vote confirmation See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd argues the Trump administration is in the political equivalent of a hole and can't stop digging, walking through a series of self-inflicted wounds that are damaging America's standing both at home and abroad. He reveals the administration is circulating a "trade for aid" package at the UN that would essentially privatize humanitarian assistance, a pretense to drop all foreign aid since the private sector obviously won't fill the gaps without extracting something in return — and warns that after the USAID cuts, other countries have already scaled back their own contributions, meaning America is effectively exporting heartlessness around the world and looking like assholes in the process. The administration's fight with the Pope perfectly captures this mentality: Mike Johnson is defending Trump's attacks on the pontiff by citing Catholic "just war doctrine," newly-converted JD Vance is lecturing the Pope on his own church's theology, and Chuck notes that elected Republicans know this is disastrous politics but are too afraid to say so publicly.  He closes with a reflection on hosting a panel for a new documentary about Hannah Arendt, arguing it's the perfect moment to revisit her work on totalitarianism. He notes Arendt was a Zionist who didn't want Israel to be a nationalist state, and applies that framework to the current moment: the backlash against Israel is really a backlash against Netanyahu, who has tried to manipulate every American president but only found his willing partner in Trump; October 7th galvanized Israeli society but hasn't made Bibi more popular at home; Israel now has only one major ally left in America, and Bibi is actively risking even that. Finally, he answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 06:00 The Trump administration can’t help but “stop digging” 06:45 Outside of his base, Trump isn’t able to persuade others 07:30 Administration circulating a “trade for aid” package at the UN 09:00 Administration wants the world to privatize humanitarian aid 10:00 After USAID cuts, other countries have scaled back their aid 10:45 State Dept official says it’s a pretense to drop all aid & privatize it 11:45 Private sector won’t fill in aid gaps without getting something in return 13:15 Trump is making America look like assholes to the rest of the world 14:00 We’re exporting heartlessness around the world 15:00 This mentality is perfectly captured in administration’s fight with the pope 16:15 Mike Johnson defends Trump’s attack on Pope, citing “just war doctrine” 17:30 The pope has been saying what a pope should say 18:45 Catholic church has a specific theology on “just war” 20:00 JD Vance is newly converted and wants to lecture the pope & church 21:15 Elected Republicans know this is bad politics but are afraid to go public 22:30 Trump’s threats to fire Jay Powell make it harder to confirm his successor 25:00 Maybe a strong independent mind like Jay Powell should run for president 26:45 Prior presidents worked to help their party in 2nd term, Trump doesn’t care 27:45 Trump may be president, but he’s not a true “party leader” 28:15 Chuck hosted panel for new documentary about Hannah Arendt 29:00 Great time to take a deep dive into Arendt’s work on totalitarianism 29:45 We aren’t living in a totalitarian state, but you can see how it can happen 31:30 Arrendt was a Zionist, but didn’t want Israel to be a nationalist state 33:00 Backlash to Israel is mostly backlash against Bibi. 34:00 Bibi has tried to manipulate presidents, only Trump didn’t push back 35:30 October 7th galvanized Israelis, but Bibi isn’t more popular 37:30 Israel now only has one ally in America, Bibi risking that alliance too 38:30 The only way Israel fixes this is with a new government 39:15 Support for Israel is degraded on the American left, the right could follow 42:00 Thoughts on the NBA play-in 44:45 Ask Chuck 45:00 Would Whitmer/Slotkin be as strong as Warnock/Ossoff as a ticket? 47:45 Why didn’t Trump take credit/victory lap over the Artemis mission? 51:45 Why are preemptive pardons allowed? 53:45 Thoughts on latest polling showing Thomas Massie doing well? 57:00 Thoughts on increased calls for expulsion of members of congress? 58:45 If Iran offers Obama’s deal, could that further isolate Trump from the world? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd argues the Trump administration is in the political equivalent of a hole and can't stop digging, walking through a series of self-inflicted wounds that are damaging America's standing both at home and abroad. He reveals the administration is circulating a "trade for aid" package at the UN that would essentially privatize humanitarian assistance, a pretense to drop all foreign aid since the private sector obviously won't fill the gaps without extracting something in return — and warns that after the USAID cuts, other countries have already scaled back their own contributions, meaning America is effectively exporting heartlessness around the world and looking like assholes in the process. The administration's fight with the Pope perfectly captures this mentality: Mike Johnson is defending Trump's attacks on the pontiff by citing Catholic "just war doctrine," newly-converted JD Vance is lecturing the Pope on his own church's theology, and Chuck notes that elected Republicans know this is disastrous politics but are too afraid to say so publicly. He closes with a reflection on hosting a panel for a new documentary about Hannah Arendt, arguing it's the perfect moment to revisit her work on totalitarianism. He notes Arendt was a Zionist who didn't want Israel to be a nationalist state, and applies that framework to the current moment: the backlash against Israel is really a backlash against Netanyahu, who has tried to manipulate every American president but only found his willing partner in Trump; October 7th galvanized Israeli society but hasn't made Bibi more popular at home; Israel now has only one major ally left in America, and Bibi is actively risking even that. Then, Gal Beckerman — author of the new book How to Be a Dissident — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a timely conversation about what it actually takes to resist authoritarianism, written explicitly for an American audience that he argues is now experiencing something abnormal and authoritarian for the first time. Beckerman, drawing on his years of reporting on historical resistance movements, identifies the qualities that successful dissidents across cultures and eras tend to share: the ability to step away from human conformity, a deep sense of pessimism that paradoxically motivates action, and a willingness to be reckless in ways that expose the cruelty of the system they're fighting — whether that's putting children in harm's way during the Birmingham civil rights protests, setting oneself on fire to prove a point, or Alexei Navalny choosing to return to Russia knowing he would likely lose his life. He explains why killing dissidents often backfires by making them immortal, why humor and satire are uniquely powerful tools that authorities have always tried to suppress (medieval rulers banned satire for a reason), and the simple question every dissident eventually faces: "Can I live with myself?" The conversation turns to what Beckerman sees happening in America right now. He praises the No Kings protests for ramping up demonstrations strategically and points to Minneapolis during ICE's occupation as a moment where ordinary Americans demonstrated genuine dissident behavior. Beckerman makes the provocative argument that the most effective dissidents tend to come from within the system rather than from outside it. He compares Hungary's recent overthrow of Orbán, which was made possible by years of civic organizing in rural areas building the sense of community needed to believe change was possible, with America's institutional capitulation under Trump. He argues Americans weren't prepared to act because they'd never faced this situation before, but that ICE's actions in Minneapolis genuinely woke many people up, They close with cautious optimism: Trump has shaken Americans out of complacency, voter turnout is at its highest in a century, the country has become more sophisticated about protest, and that most dissidents don't realize they've succeeded in the moment they're acting. Finally, he answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 06:00 The Trump administration can’t help but “stop digging” 06:45 Outside of his base, Trump isn’t able to persuade others 07:30 Administration circulating a “trade for aid” package at the UN 09:00 Administration wants the world to privatize humanitarian aid 10:00 After USAID cuts, other countries have scaled back their aid 10:45 State Dept official says it’s a pretense to drop all aid & privatize it 11:45 Private sector won’t fill in aid gaps without getting something in return 13:15 Trump is making America look like assholes to the rest of the world 14:00 We’re exporting heartlessness around the world 15:00 This mentality is perfectly captured in administration’s fight with the pope 16:15 Mike Johnson defends Trump’s attack on Pope, citing “just war doctrine” 17:30 The pope has been saying what a pope should say 18:45 Catholic church has a specific theology on “just war” 20:00 JD Vance is newly converted and wants to lecture the pope & church 21:15 Elected Republicans know this is bad politics but are afraid to go public 22:30 Trump’s threats to fire Jay Powell make it harder to confirm his successor 25:00 Maybe a strong independent mind like Jay Powell should run for president 26:45 Prior presidents worked to help their party in 2nd term, Trump doesn’t care 27:45 Trump may be president, but he’s not a true “party leader” 28:15 Chuck hosted panel for new documentary about Hannah Arendt 29:00 Great time to take a deep dive into Arendt’s work on totalitarianism 29:45 We aren’t living in a totalitarian state, but you can see how it can happen 31:30 Arrendt was a Zionist, but didn’t want Israel to be a nationalist state 33:00 Backlash to Israel is mostly backlash against Bibi. 34:00 Bibi has tried to manipulate presidents, only Trump didn’t push back 35:30 October 7th galvanized Israelis, but Bibi isn’t more popular 37:30 Israel now only has one ally in America, Bibi risking that alliance too 38:30 The only way Israel fixes this is with a new government 39:15 Support for Israel is degraded on the American left, the right could follow 43:30 Gal Beckerman joins the Chuck ToddCast45:15 The book is intended for an American audience45:45 Americans are experiencing something abnormal & authoritarian46:30 The conditions for a “normal life” are being impeded on in America47:00 We saw true dissidents in Minneapolis during ICE occupation48:30 Most people are hardwired to conform, Minneapolis didn’t49:00 Dissidents say “no” when their conscience is being violated50:00 The most simple question for dissidents is “Can I live with myself?”52:00 What made Soviet dissidents successful vs. modern Russians?53:30 Soviet Jews were oppressed, but also couldn’t leave54:15 Soviet Jews broadcast to the world that they were basically prisoners56:00 Orban’s fall in Hungary had been percolating for years57:00 Civic organizations in rural Hungary had been organizing58:00 The sense of community helped people think Orban could be defeated59:00 No Kings protests have been smart about ramping up demonstrations59:30 People can join No Kings for their preferred cause & find community1:01:00 Are the most effective dissidents the people who came from the system?1:01:45 Navalny in Russia was a creature of the establishment1:02:45 Liz Cheney didn’t work as a dissident since she wasn’t from Trump wing1:04:15 The qualities found in dissidents transcend cultures and eras1:05:30 Dissidents have to be able to step away from human conformity1:06:15 Pessimism is a common quality in dissidents1:07:45 If you think things will get better, it doesn’t motivate you to act1:09:00 The difference between fatalism and pessimism1:10:45 Humor and satire are a great way to speak to broader audiences1:12:00 The absurdity in satire cuts through1:13:30 Satire was pulled down by authorities during the middle ages1:14:00 Why is recklessness the mark of a successful dissident?1:15:00 Putting children in harms way in Birmingham showed cruelty of segregation1:16:15 People set themselves on fire to prove a point1:17:30 Navalny risked and ultimately lost his life by going back to Russia1:19:00 Killing dissidents can make them immortal, make them more powerful1:21:15 It’s important to understand what qualities make for a powerful dissident1:22:15 We’ve seen institutions and people capitulate in America1:23:00 Disney settling with Trump put a permanent stain on corporate owned media1:25:30 Americans weren’t prepared to act because they’ve never faced this situation1:26:15 ICE going to Minneapolis really woke up many Americans1:26:45 Being a citizen does demand hard choices sometimes1:29:45 Israeli society is organized around the idea that citizenship is active work1:30:30 The upside to the Trump era, is the highest voter turnout in a century1:32:00 Trump has shaken many Americans out of their sense of complacency1:33:00 America has become more sophisticated about protesting1:34:45 America wants change badly, they keep voting for it1:35:30 Change takes time and people are increasingly impatient1:37:30 What lesson do you hope people most learn from your book?1:40:15 Moral choices are a burden, but are also creative acts1:41:45 Most dissidents don’t know they are successful in the moment 1:43:45 Thoughts on the NBA play-in 1:46:30 Ask Chuck 1:46:45 Wou

Gal Beckerman — author of the new book How to Be a Dissident — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a timely conversation about what it actually takes to resist authoritarianism, written explicitly for an American audience that he argues is now experiencing something abnormal and authoritarian for the first time. Beckerman, drawing on his years of reporting on historical resistance movements, identifies the qualities that successful dissidents across cultures and eras tend to share: the ability to step away from human conformity, a deep sense of pessimism that paradoxically motivates action, and a willingness to be reckless in ways that expose the cruelty of the system they're fighting — whether that's putting children in harm's way during the Birmingham civil rights protests, setting oneself on fire to prove a point, or Alexei Navalny choosing to return to Russia knowing he would likely lose his life. He explains why killing dissidents often backfires by making them immortal, why humor and satire are uniquely powerful tools that authorities have always tried to suppress (medieval rulers banned satire for a reason), and the simple question every dissident eventually faces: "Can I live with myself?" The conversation turns to what Beckerman sees happening in America right now. He praises the No Kings protests for ramping up demonstrations strategically and points to Minneapolis during ICE's occupation as a moment where ordinary Americans demonstrated genuine dissident behavior. Beckerman makes the provocative argument that the most effective dissidents tend to come from within the system rather than from outside it. He compares Hungary's recent overthrow of Orbán, which was made possible by years of civic organizing in rural areas building the sense of community needed to believe change was possible, with America's institutional capitulation under Trump. He argues Americans weren't prepared to act because they'd never faced this situation before, but that ICE's actions in Minneapolis genuinely woke many people up, They close with cautious optimism: Trump has shaken Americans out of complacency, voter turnout is at its highest in a century, the country has become more sophisticated about protest, and that most dissidents don't realize they've succeeded in the moment they're acting. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Gal Beckerman joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:45 The book is intended for an American audience  02:15 Americans are experiencing something abnormal & authoritarian 03:00 The conditions for a “normal life” are being impeded on in America 03:30 We saw true dissidents in Minneapolis during ICE occupation 05:00 Most people are hardwired to conform, Minneapolis didn’t 05:30 Dissidents say “no” when their conscience is being violated 06:30 The most simple question for dissidents is “Can I live with myself?” 08:30 What made Soviet dissidents successful vs. modern Russians? 10:00 Soviet Jews were oppressed, but also couldn’t leave 10:45 Soviet Jews broadcast to the world that they were basically prisoners 12:30 Orban’s fall in Hungary had been percolating for years 13:30 Civic organizations in rural Hungary had been organizing 14:30 The sense of community helped people think Orban could be defeated 15:30 No Kings protests have been smart about ramping up demonstrations 16:00 People can join No Kings for their preferred cause & find community 17:30 Are the most effective dissidents the people who came from the system? 18:15 Navalny in Russia was a creature of the establishment 19:15 Liz Cheney didn’t work as a dissident since she wasn’t from Trump wing 20:45 The qualities found in dissidents transcend cultures and eras 22:00 Dissidents have to be able to step away from human conformity 22:45 Pessimism is a common quality in dissidents 24:15 If you think things will get better, it doesn’t motivate you to act 25:30 The difference between fatalism and pessimism 27:15 Humor and satire are a great way to speak to broader audiences 28:30 The absurdity in satire cuts through 30:00 Satire was pulled down by authorities during the middle ages 30:30 Why is recklessness the mark of a successful dissident? 31:30 Putting children in harms way in Birmingham showed cruelty of segregation 32:45 People set themselves on fire to prove a point 34:00 Navalny risked and ultimately lost his life by going back to Russia 35:30 Killing dissidents can make them immortal, make them more powerful 37:45 It’s important to understand what qualities make for a powerful dissident 38:45 We’ve seen institutions and people capitulate in America 39:30 Disney settling with Trump put a permanent stain on corporate owned media 42:00 Americans weren’t prepared to act because they’ve never faced this situation 42:45 ICE going to Minneapolis really woke up many Americans 43:15 Being a citizen does demand hard choices sometimes 46:15 Israeli society is organized around the idea that citizenship is active work 47:00 The upside to the Trump era, is the highest voter turnout in a century 48:30 Trump has shaken many Americans out of their sense of complacency 49:30 America has become more sophisticated about protesting  51:15 America wants change badly, they keep voting for it 52:00 Change takes time and people are increasingly impatient 54:00 What lesson do you hope people most learn from your book? 56:45 Moral choices are a burden, but are also creative acts 58:15 Most dissidents don’t know they are successful in the moment See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens on Tax Day — which the Trump team had planned as a political celebration showcasing bigger refunds, but which has instead become what he dubs the "One Big Beautiful BUST," with any gains from the tax cut completely eaten up by Trump's tariffs and the Iran war. Todd argues the economy isn't in recession but isn't good either, that voters simply won't feel the effects of Trump's tax cut, and that America now faces the genuine prospect of 1970s-style stagflation. H predicts we'll ultimately end up with an Iran deal that looks remarkably similar to the Obama deal Trump once ripped up, and notes that Trump's Jesus meme played terribly even with his own base — forcing him to backpedal with weak excuses — because when things are going well that kind of provocation gets a pass, but Trump is now squarely in the "bad gets worse" stage of his presidency where the coalition hasn't collapsed but the cracks are visibly widening.  He pivots to Viktor Orbán's decisive defeat in Hungary after 16 years in power, an election that featured massive voter turnout and was won by opposition leader Péter Magyar — an insider who gave Orbán's own voters a "permission slip" to leave by connecting democratic erosion directly to the bad economy. He argues America used to set the weather for democracy worldwide but hasn't been the leading model in 15 years, points to the mainstream party vote share in the UK falling below 40% as evidence of a broader cultural conservative backlash happening across democracies, and closes with a historically grounded warning: Hungary proves that political breakthroughs come from defectors within the system rather than outsiders challenging it, and history suggests real change rarely comes from merely tweaking the machinery — it comes from someone giving voters permission to abandon a failing project. Finally, Chuck provides a spin on the ToddCast Top 5 and instead lists the senate seats he ranks as 6th-10th most likely to flip and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order.   Timeline: 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 02:00 It’s Tax Day and Trump’s team planned on it being a boon  03:00 Bigger tax refunds eaten by Trump’s tariffs and Iran war 03:45 Tax day instead will be the One Big Beautiful BUST 04:30 Economy isn’t in recession, but it’s not good 05:15 If Trump didn’t impose tariffs & start war, today would be good for him 06:00 Facing the potential of stagflation for a decade like in the 70s 07:00 Voters won’t feel the effects of Trump’s tax cut 08:15 Economic conditions could go off a cliff if war doesn’t end 09:15 This period of Trump’s presidency will be viewed as when it ended 10:00 It’s clear we’ll get a deal with the Iranians similar to Obama’s deal 11:30 Trump’s jesus meme played terribly, even with his base 12:30 Trump backpedaled and came up with bad excuses for meme 13:45 Everybody has a line that Trump will eventually cross 15:00 If things were going well, the meme wouldn’t get the same backlash 16:15 Trump is in the “bad gets worse” stage of his presidency 18:15 Trump’s coalition hasn’t collapsed, but cracks are getting wider 18:45 Viktor Orban trounced in Hungarian elections after 16 years of rule 20:00 We assumed that America democracy set the weather for democracies 20:45 In the last 15 years, America’s democracy isn’t the leading model 22:00 Cultural conservative backlash happening in many democracies 23:00 Mainstream party vote share in UK has dropped below 40% 24:00 Center-left and center-right UK parties would lose to far left/right 24:45 Hungary’s election was decisive with mass voter turnout 25:30 Magyar was an insider, gave Orban voters permission slip to leave 26:15 Magyar connected democratic erosion to the bad economy 26:45 Vance tried to rescue Orban and that backfired horribly 27:15 How much Hungarian money didn’t American influencers receive? 28:30 America’s political system just vacillates and feels stuck 29:00 Hungary showed the breakthrough comes from defectors, not outsiders 30:15 History suggests that change doesn’t come from tweaking the system 35:30 ToddCast Not Top 5 - The next 5 senate seats most likely to flip 36:30 Political environment is highly favorable for Democrats 38:00 Top 5, NC, ME, OH, AK, NE 39:45 #6 Texas 40:30 #7 Michigan 43:30 #8 Georgia 44:00 #9 Iowa 45:45 #10 Montana 48:15 Ask Chuck 48:30 Are Republicans more in danger of fracturing than Democrats? 55:00 Was there a backroom deal for resignation of Swalwell & Gonzales? 56:30 Rubio’s shoes are the most “Veep” thing in Trump administration 1:00:00 How can CA Dems win over rural GOP voters in the state? 1:05:30 Best national and international news sources to stay informed? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens on Tax Day — which the Trump team had planned as a political celebration showcasing bigger refunds, but which has instead become what he dubs the "One Big Beautiful BUST," with any gains from the tax cut completely eaten up by Trump's tariffs and the Iran war. Todd argues the economy isn't in recession but isn't good either, that voters simply won't feel the effects of Trump's tax cut, and that America now faces the genuine prospect of 1970s-style stagflation. H predicts we'll ultimately end up with an Iran deal that looks remarkably similar to the Obama deal Trump once ripped up, and notes that Trump's Jesus meme played terribly even with his own base — forcing him to backpedal with weak excuses — because when things are going well that kind of provocation gets a pass, but Trump is now squarely in the "bad gets worse" stage of his presidency where the coalition hasn't collapsed but the cracks are visibly widening.  He pivots to Viktor Orbán's decisive defeat in Hungary after 16 years in power, an election that featured massive voter turnout and was won by opposition leader Péter Magyar — an insider who gave Orbán's own voters a "permission slip" to leave by connecting democratic erosion directly to the bad economy. He argues America used to set the weather for democracy worldwide but hasn't been the leading model in 15 years, points to the mainstream party vote share in the UK falling below 40% as evidence of a broader cultural conservative backlash happening across democracies, and closes with a historically grounded warning: Hungary proves that political breakthroughs come from defectors within the system rather than outsiders challenging it, and history suggests real change rarely comes from merely tweaking the machinery — it comes from someone giving voters permission to abandon a failing project. Then, Zach Wahls — the Iowa state senator, former minority leader, and U.S. Senate candidate who first went viral as a 19-year-old in 2011 for his moving speech defending his two moms before the Iowa legislature — joins the Chuck Toddcast to make the case that Democrats have a real shot at flipping statewide races in Iowa this cycle. Wahls explains how he realized at 13 that the GOP was targeting his own family, how he still considers marriage equality to be genuinely under threat today, and pushes back on the narrative that Iowa has abandoned its famous libertarian streak — noting that the vast majority of Iowans remain pro-choice and supportive of marriage equality even as the state has drifted red. He argues that Obama-Trump voters are plentiful in Iowa and that rural Iowa communities feel forgotten by the establishment — a dynamic Trump spoke to effectively in 2016 when the state was in a regional recession. Wahls points to the party's post-New Deal legacy of fighting for workers' rights, but he also reveals he wouldn't support Chuck Schumer for Senate leadership — a position that's apparently cost him, as Schumer-linked super PACs are now spending millions against him in the primary. The conversation turns to what Wahls sees as the defining issue of his campaign: the obscene influence of dark money in American politics. He reveals that a bipartisan Iowa bill to get money out of state politics was killed by lobbyists and GOP opposition, that he's received small-dollar donations from all 99 Iowa counties while refusing corporate PAC money, and that his anti-corruption message is genuinely resonating with voters who are exhausted by the current system. Wahls says he'll co-sponsor a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, discusses his openness to banning private equity from owning residential homes and responds to being labeled a "Sanders/Warren" candidate. Wahls pledges to lead by example on anti-corruption by serving only two terms if elected, shares concerns about state reliance on gambling revenue as a signal of voter economic anxiety, and closes with a deeply relatable observation every young parent will recognize: with a two-year-old at home, his monthly childcare bill now costs as much as his mortgage. Finally, Chuck provides a spin on the ToddCast Top 5 and instead lists the senate seats he ranks as 6th-10th most likely to flip and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order.   Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 02:00 It’s Tax Day and Trump’s team planned on it being a boon  03:00 Bigger tax refunds eaten by Trump’s tariffs and Iran war 03:45 Tax day instead will be the One Big Beautiful BUST 04:30 Economy isn’t in recession, but it’s not good 05:15 If Trump didn’t impose tariffs & start war, today would be good for him 06:00 Facing the potential of stagflation for a decade like in the 70s 07:00 Voters won’t feel the effects of Trump’s tax cut 08:15 Economic conditions could go off a cliff if war doesn’t end 09:15 This period of Trump’s presidency will be viewed as when it ended 10:00 It’s clear we’ll get a deal with the Iranians similar to Obama’s deal 11:30 Trump’s jesus meme played terribly, even with his base 12:30 Trump backpedaled and came up with bad excuses for meme 13:45 Everybody has a line that Trump will eventually cross 15:00 If things were going well, the meme wouldn’t get the same backlash 16:15 Trump is in the “bad gets worse” stage of his presidency 18:15 Trump’s coalition hasn’t collapsed, but cracks are getting wider 18:45 Viktor Orban trounced in Hungarian elections after 16 years of rule 20:00 We assumed that America democracy set the weather for democracies 20:45 In the last 15 years, America’s democracy isn’t the leading model 22:00 Cultural conservative backlash happening in many democracies 23:00 Mainstream party vote share in UK has dropped below 40% 24:00 Center-left and center-right UK parties would lose to far left/right 24:45 Hungary’s election was decisive with mass voter turnout 25:30 Magyar was an insider, gave Orban voters permission slip to leave 26:15 Magyar connected democratic erosion to the bad economy 26:45 Vance tried to rescue Orban and that backfired horribly 27:15 How much Hungarian money didn’t American influencers receive? 28:30 America’s political system just vacillates and feels stuck 29:00 Hungary showed the breakthrough comes from defectors, not outsiders 30:15 History suggests that change doesn’t come from tweaking the system 36:00 Zach Wahls joins the Chuck ToddCast 38:00 Democrats have a real chance at flipping statewide Iowa races 40:00 Did you always know you were going to be in politics? 41:45 Realized at 13 years old the GOP was targeting his own family 42:45 Going viral in 2011 for speech defending his two moms 44:00 Gay marriage rights are still under threat today 45:30 Does Iowa’s famous libertarian streak still exist today? 46:45 Vast majority of Iowans are pro-choice and support marriage equality 48:00 There are a lot of Obama/Trump voters in Iowa 49:30 Union leadership in Iowa leans Dem, rank & file lean GOP 51:15 Rural Iowa communities feel forgotten by the establishment 52:00 Iowa was in a regional recession in 2016, Trump spoke to that 53:30 Why run as a Democrat vs. as an independent? 54:30 Since the New Deal, Democrats have fought for workers rights 55:00 Wouldn’t support Chuck Schumer for senate leadership 55:45 Schumer-linked Super PAC spending millions against him 57:00 How do you avoid being painted as focused on identity & not economics? 59:00 The impact of dark money has tainted American & Iowa politics 1:00:30 Bipartisan bill to get money out of politics in Iowa spiked by lobbyists & GOP 1:01:45 The money in politics has gotten obscene quickly in recent years 1:03:00 What would a campaign finance constitutional amendment look like? 1:04:30 Republican aligned PACs set to spend huge money in Iowa in the fall 1:05:15 Received small dollar donations from all 99 counties, no corporate PAC $ 1:06:15 Anti-corruption message is resonating with voters 1:07:30 Can you unilaterally disarm in the face of huge Republican spending? 1:08:30 Will co-sponsor amendment to overturn Citizen’s United 1:09:45 What did you learn from your stint in leadership in the legislature? 1:12:00 There was no clear strategic plan for Democrats to take back majority 1:13:00 There were basic organizational issues for Iowa Dems that needed to be fixed 1:13:45 Needed to rebuild relationships with organized labor 1:16:00 Stint in leadership doesn’t make him have more sympathy for Schumer 1:16:45 Democrats didn’t know what they were asking for during shutdown 1:17:30 If Democrats get the majority…do you work with Trump? 1:18:45 Have a responsibility to work across the aisle if it helps people 1:19:30 Open to banning private equity from owning homes, anti monopoly in meat 1:20:45 Price of fire trucks has tripled due to private equity buying up the manufacturing 1:22:30 Is the description of being the “Sanders/Warren” candidate a fair description? 1:25:00 Part-time legislatures don’t have the institutional knowledge of the lobbyists 1:26:30 Must lead by example on anti-corruption, will only serve two terms if elected 1:27:30 Thoughts on “vice taxes” & gambling to help state generate revenue? 1:30:30 High interest in gambling speaks to fear for economic future in voters 1:32:45 How has having a two year old affected your life & job? 1:33:30 Childcare costs as much as his mortgage with one child

Zach Wahls — the Iowa state senator, former minority leader, and U.S. Senate candidate who first went viral as a 19-year-old in 2011 for his moving speech defending his two moms before the Iowa legislature — joins the Chuck Toddcast to make the case that Democrats have a real shot at flipping statewide races in Iowa this cycle. Wahls explains how he realized at 13 that the GOP was targeting his own family, how he still considers marriage equality to be genuinely under threat today, and pushes back on the narrative that Iowa has abandoned its famous libertarian streak — noting that the vast majority of Iowans remain pro-choice and supportive of marriage equality even as the state has drifted red. He argues that Obama-Trump voters are plentiful in Iowa and that rural Iowa communities feel forgotten by the establishment — a dynamic Trump spoke to effectively in 2016 when the state was in a regional recession. Wahls points to the party's post-New Deal legacy of fighting for workers' rights, but he also reveals he wouldn't support Chuck Schumer for Senate leadership — a position that's apparently cost him, as Schumer-linked super PACs are now spending millions against him in the primary. The conversation turns to what Wahls sees as the defining issue of his campaign: the obscene influence of dark money in American politics. He reveals that a bipartisan Iowa bill to get money out of state politics was killed by lobbyists and GOP opposition, that he's received small-dollar donations from all 99 Iowa counties while refusing corporate PAC money, and that his anti-corruption message is genuinely resonating with voters who are exhausted by the current system. Wahls says he'll co-sponsor a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, discusses his openness to banning private equity from owning residential homes and responds to being labeled a "Sanders/Warren" candidate. Wahls pledges to lead by example on anti-corruption by serving only two terms if elected, shares concerns about state reliance on gambling revenue as a signal of voter economic anxiety, and closes with a deeply relatable observation every young parent will recognize: with a two-year-old at home, his monthly childcare bill now costs as much as his mortgage. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Zach Wahls joins the Chuck ToddCast 02:00 Democrats have a real chance at flipping statewide Iowa races 04:00 Did you always know you were going to be in politics? 05:45 Realized at 13 years old the GOP was targeting his own family 06:45 Going viral in 2011 for speech defending his two moms 08:00 Gay marriage rights are still under threat today 09:30 Does Iowa’s famous libertarian streak still exist today? 10:45 Vast majority of Iowans are pro-choice and support marriage equality 12:00 There are a lot of Obama/Trump voters in Iowa 13:30 Union leadership in Iowa leans Dem, rank & file lean GOP 15:15 Rural Iowa communities feel forgotten by the establishment 16:00 Iowa was in a regional recession in 2016, Trump spoke to that 17:30 Why run as a Democrat vs. as an independent? 18:30 Since the New Deal, Democrats have fought for workers rights 19:00 Wouldn’t support Chuck Schumer for senate leadership 19:45 Schumer-linked Super PAC spending millions against him 21:00 How do you avoid being painted as focused on identity & not economics? 23:00 The impact of dark money has tainted American & Iowa politics 24:30 Bipartisan bill to get money out of politics in Iowa spiked by lobbyists & GOP 25:45 The money in politics has gotten obscene quickly in recent years 27:00 What would a campaign finance constitutional amendment look like? 28:30 Republican aligned PACs set to spend huge money in Iowa in the fall 29:15 Received small dollar donations from all 99 counties, no corporate PAC $ 30:15 Anti-corruption message is resonating with voters 31:30 Can you unilaterally disarm in the face of huge Republican spending? 32:30 Will co-sponsor amendment to overturn Citizen’s United 33:45 What did you learn from your stint in leadership in the legislature? 36:00 There was no clear strategic plan for Democrats to take back majority 37:00 There were basic organizational issues for Iowa Dems that needed to be fixed 37:45 Needed to rebuild relationships with organized labor 40:00 Stint in leadership doesn’t make him have more sympathy for Schumer 40:45 Democrats didn’t know what they were asking for during shutdown 41:30 If Democrats get the majority…do you work with Trump? 42:45 Have a responsibility to work across the aisle if it helps people 43:30 Open to banning private equity from owning homes, anti monopoly in meat 44:45 Price of fire trucks has tripled due to private equity buying up the manufacturing 46:30 Is the description of being the “Sanders/Warren” candidate a fair description? 49:00 Part-time legislatures don’t have the institutional knowledge of the lobbyists 50:30 Must lead by example on anti-corruption, will only serve two terms if elected 51:30 Thoughts on “vice taxes” & gambling to help state generate revenue? 54:30 High interest in gambling speaks to fear for economic future in voters 56:45 How has having a two year old affected your life & job? 57:30 Childcare costs as much as his mortgage with one child See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with the unraveling of Trump's Iran peace talks and the president's threat of a naval blockade, breaking down why the administration has far less leverage than it's letting on, why Iran's control of the Strait of Hormuz puts Trump in a corner with only two real choices—escalate or capitulate—and why markets have been dangerously complacent as the economic hit accelerates and consumer confidence sinks below COVID-era lows. From there, Chuck digs into the collapse of Eric Swalwell's career amid sexual abuse allegations and the bipartisan push to expel him along with three other members of Congress, the wide-open and underwhelming California governor's race left behind by a weak Democratic field and Tom Steyer's charmless self-promotion, the curious Roger Stone–Tulsi Gabbard connection and their shared Russia sympathies, and Trump's promise of preemptive pardons for White House staff—making the case for why Congress urgently needs a commission on the pardon power. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the Bay of Pigs debacle under John F. Kennedy and why that event still reverberates today, and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.  Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 04:00 Trump threatens naval blockade after Iran peace talks fall apart 05:00 Trump admin has less leverage in talks than they’re letting on 05:30 Trump’s stupid rhetoric is not harmless 06:00 Control over the Strait is biggest piece of leverage & Iran has it 07:00 Will Trump send in ground troops if he can’t get what he wants? 08:30 Trump only has two choices: Escalate or capitulate 09:30 If Trump’s lucky he can get the Obama nuclear deal, but that’s unlikely 10:45 Markets will likely panic, they’ve been too complacent so far 12:15 Trump is begging for deal to save face and the Iranians know it 13:15 Trump keeps declaring victory despite reality being the opposite 15:00 Trump doesn’t understand regime, thinks they’re transactional like him 16:00 Iran looking like past failed military operations like Vietnam & Iraq 18:00 Iran saw Libya give up nuclear ambitions & regime was toppled 20:00 Economic hit is happening, consumer confidence lower than COVID 21:30 As Iran talks fell apart, Trump & Rubio were attending UFC fight 23:00 Rubio knows better, but has fallen in line anyway 24:30 Eric Swalwell’s campaign falls apart after allegations of sexual abuse 25:30 Rumors of Swalwell’s behavior existed for years 27:00 Swalwell is only denying criminal behavior, not all the allegations 28:45 Swalwell is trying hard to say he’s not Bill Cosby… he’s Bill Clinton 29:30 Push to expel Swalwell & possibly 3 other members of congress 31:00 It’s politically convenient for leadership to agree to boot them all 33:00 Will congress hold their members to a higher standard than the POTUS? 35:00 It’s likely all four members will get expelled  35:45 California dems had been reluctantly rallying around Swalwell  37:00 Major Democrats passed on running for CA gov, leaving weak field 38:15 Hard to blame Newsom for not setting up an “heir apparent” 39:00 Tom Steyer has spent an insane amount of money to promote himself 40:00 You need to have charm in politics, and Steyer doesn’t have it 41:30 Should prominent California dems all endorse the same person? 43:30 Schiff, Padilla, Harris & Newsom may need to play kingmaker 45:00 Likely there will be two weak candidates heading into November 46:30 Stories coming out that Roger Stone saved Tulsi Gabbard 47:15 Both Stone & Gabbard have been pro-Russia… coincidence? 47:45 Trump promises preemptive pardons for WH staff 48:45 We need a congressional commission on pardons 53:45 ToddCast Time Machine - Too many huge historical events to choose from 55:45 April 1961 - Bay of Pigs 56:30 Nixon meets with Castro after Eisenhower refused to 58:00 There a back and forth over whether to embrace or shun Castro 58:30 Cold War tensions were very high when the Bay of Pigs happens 59:15 Bay of Pigs was a presidential approved operation before JFK took office 1:01:00 Kennedy’s hands were tied by his predecessor 1:01:45 The plan required air superiority, but Castro’s air force had survived 1:02:45 Castro arrests more than 100,000 suspected dissidents 1:04:30 Most of the participants are captured 1:05:00 Kennedy promised a free Havana that never transpired 1:05:45 Cuban Americans became reliable Republican voters under Reagan 1:07:15 Ask Chuck 1:07:30 Will congress ever vote against rebuilding military after president launches war? 1:12:00 Why is the market not really reacting to the Iran war? 1:14:30 As norms become tested, will congress every reassert its role? 1:20:45 Outside of your Top 5 senate flips, what are your 6-10? 1:25:45 Suggestions to fix the NBA 1:28:45 Does anyone use Camp David since Trump doesn’t? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with the unraveling of Trump's Iran peace talks and the president's threat of a naval blockade, breaking down why the administration has far less leverage than it's letting on, why Iran's control of the Strait of Hormuz puts Trump in a corner with only two real choices—escalate or capitulate—and why markets have been dangerously complacent as the economic hit accelerates and consumer confidence sinks below COVID-era lows. From there, Chuck digs into the collapse of Eric Swalwell's career amid sexual abuse allegations and the bipartisan push to expel him along with three other members of Congress, the wide-open and underwhelming California governor's race left behind by a weak Democratic field and Tom Steyer's charmless self-promotion, the curious Roger Stone–Tulsi Gabbard connection and their shared Russia sympathies, and Trump's promise of preemptive pardons for White House staff—making the case for why Congress urgently needs a commission on the pardon power. Then, conservative talk radio host and Georgia political commentator Martha Zoller joins the Chuck ToddCast for a wide-ranging conversation about the state of politics in the Peach State and beyond. Martha and Chuck dig into why non-MAGA Republicans remain viable in Georgia, how Trump's influence has reshaped the GOP (and arguably handed Democrats two Senate seats), David Perdue's identity crisis between the Trump and Romney wings of the party, and the current landscape of Georgia's gubernatorial and Senate primaries—including why the governor's race may be Mike Collins' to lose and how Rick Jackson's entry has shaken things up. The conversation then broadens to the deeper fault lines running through American politics: the cultural divide between traditional and progressive family values, why millennials feel left behind, neither party's failure to address affordability, and how media saturation and the collapse of bipartisan relationships in Congress have made compromise feel like treason. Martha and Chuck also explore whether Brian Kemp has presidential ambitions, why it's still harder for Republican women to break through, Jon Ossoff's political strengths, and whether figures like Obama and Trump are really two sides of the same disruption-hungry coin. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the Bay of Pigs debacle under John F. Kennedy and why that event still reverberates today, and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.  Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 04:00 Trump threatens naval blockade after Iran peace talks fall apart 05:00 Trump admin has less leverage in talks than they’re letting on 05:30 Trump’s stupid rhetoric is not harmless 06:00 Control over the Strait is biggest piece of leverage & Iran has it 07:00 Will Trump send in ground troops if he can’t get what he wants? 08:30 Trump only has two choices: Escalate or capitulate 09:30 If Trump’s lucky he can get the Obama nuclear deal, but that’s unlikely 10:45 Markets will likely panic, they’ve been too complacent so far 12:15 Trump is begging for deal to save face and the Iranians know it 13:15 Trump keeps declaring victory despite reality being the opposite 15:00 Trump doesn’t understand regime, thinks they’re transactional like him 16:00 Iran looking like past failed military operations like Vietnam & Iraq 18:00 Iran saw Libya give up nuclear ambitions & regime was toppled 20:00 Economic hit is happening, consumer confidence lower than COVID 21:30 As Iran talks fell apart, Trump & Rubio were attending UFC fight 23:00 Rubio knows better, but has fallen in line anyway 24:30 Eric Swalwell’s campaign falls apart after allegations of sexual abuse 25:30 Rumors of Swalwell’s behavior existed for years 27:00 Swalwell is only denying criminal behavior, not all the allegations 28:45 Swalwell is trying hard to say he’s not Bill Cosby… he’s Bill Clinton 29:30 Push to expel Swalwell & possibly 3 other members of congress 31:00 It’s politically convenient for leadership to agree to boot them all 33:00 Will congress hold their members to a higher standard than the POTUS? 35:00 It’s likely all four members will get expelled  35:45 California dems had been reluctantly rallying around Swalwell  37:00 Major Democrats passed on running for CA gov, leaving weak field 38:15 Hard to blame Newsom for not setting up an “heir apparent” 39:00 Tom Steyer has spent an insane amount of money to promote himself 40:00 You need to have charm in politics, and Steyer doesn’t have it 41:30 Should prominent California dems all endorse the same person? 43:30 Schiff, Padilla, Harris & Newsom may need to play kingmaker 45:00 Likely there will be two weak candidates heading into November 46:30 Stories coming out that Roger Stone saved Tulsi Gabbard 47:15 Both Stone & Gabbard have been pro-Russia… coincidence? 47:45 Trump promises preemptive pardons for WH staff 48:45 We need a congressional commission on pardons 55:30 Martha Zoller joins the Chuck ToddCast57:30 There’s a lot of diversity under the umbrellas of the two parties58:15 Non-MAGA Republicans are still viable in Georgia59:45 Georgia Democrats used a legal, mail-in voting loophole1:00:45 Trump is the reason there are two Democratic GA senators1:01:45 Thoughts on David Perdue trying to primary Brian Kemp?1:03:45 Perdue lost identity being caught between Trump & Romney wings1:05:00 Trump has been an MRI for Republican politics1:06:15 Trump wasn’t loyal to David Perdue1:07:15 Margins in statewide Georgia races are close1:09:00 With Roe gone, has it made it harder to court Republican voters?1:10:15 Abortion pills are most common method, have 7% complication rate1:12:30 What is the one major dividing line in American politics?1:13:45 Independents are disaffected by both parties1:14:30 Dividing line is traditional family values vs progressive ones1:15:45 Millennials aren’t having kids and feel like life has passed them by1:16:15 Neither party is offering affordability solutions1:17:30 Shutdown fights are stupid and wasteful1:19:15 People view people in the other party as a caricature1:20:00 Compromise with the other party is treated as treason1:21:30 Congress doesn’t stay in DC & build bipartisan relationships1:23:30 Media exposure makes it harder to campaign for office1:25:45 Many Republicans learned how to run from Newt Gingrich tapes1:27:00 Jon Ossoff’s youth & good looks are a political asset1:28:15 Ossoff is not as progressive as his consultants make him sound1:29:30 State of the Georgia Republican primary?1:31:00 Race is Mike Collins race to lose1:32:45 Rick Jackson’s entry has upended the governor's race1:34:15 Kemp is focused on getting Derek Dooley across the finish line1:35:15 Former governors hate working in the senate1:38:00 The case for state legislatures electing senators1:40:00 State legislators engage in the most corruption due to lack of coverage1:41:15 Kelly Loeffler lost her political identity quickly after taking office1:42:15 Is Brian Kemp going to run for president?1:44:30 MTG says Republican party doesn’t make it easier for women to run1:46:15 It’s harder for women to get traction in politics, easier for Dems1:48:30 Have we crossed a line in how ugly our politics has become?1:50:00 Voters wanted disruption, Obama & Trump two sides of same coin1:52:00 Obama moderated in order to fit in1:54:45 Trump couldn’t fake grace over deaths of Rob Reiner or Robert Mueller1:57:30 Polling is less reliable than ever 2:02:45 ToddCast Time Machine - Too many huge historical events to choose from2:04:45 April 1961 - Bay of Pigs2:05:30 Nixon meets with Castro after Eisenhower refused to2:07:00 There a back and forth over whether to embrace or shun Castro2:07:30 Cold War tensions were very high when the Bay of Pigs happens2:08:15 Bay of Pigs was a presidential approved operation before JFK took office2:10:00 Kennedy’s hands were tied by his predecessor2:10:45 The plan required air superiority, but Castro’s air force had survived2:11:45 Castro arrests more than 100,000 suspected dissidents2:13:30 Most of the participants are captured2:14:00 Kennedy promised a free Havana that never transpired2:14:45 Cuban Americans became reliable Republican voters under Reagan2:16:15 Ask Chuck2:16:30 Will congress ever vote against rebuilding military after president launches war?2:21:00 Why is the market not really reacting to the Iran war?2:23:30 As norms become tested, will congress every reassert its role?2:29:45 Outside of your Top 5 senate flips, what are your 6-10?2:34:45 Suggestions to fix the NBA2:37:45 Does anyone use Camp David since Trump doesn’t? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Conservative talk radio host and Georgia political commentator Martha Zoller joins the Chuck ToddCast for a wide-ranging conversation about the state of politics in the Peach State and beyond. Martha and Chuck dig into why non-MAGA Republicans remain viable in Georgia, how Trump's influence has reshaped the GOP (and arguably handed Democrats two Senate seats), David Perdue's identity crisis between the Trump and Romney wings of the party, and the current landscape of Georgia's gubernatorial and Senate primaries—including why the governor's race may be Mike Collins' to lose and how Rick Jackson's entry has shaken things up. The conversation then broadens to the deeper fault lines running through American politics: the cultural divide between traditional and progressive family values, why millennials feel left behind, neither party's failure to address affordability, and how media saturation and the collapse of bipartisan relationships in Congress have made compromise feel like treason. Martha and Chuck also explore whether Brian Kemp has presidential ambitions, why it's still harder for Republican women to break through, Jon Ossoff's political strengths, and whether figures like Obama and Trump are really two sides of the same disruption-hungry coin. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.  Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Martha Zoller joins the Chuck ToddCast 02:00 There’s a lot of diversity under the umbrellas of the two parties 02:45 Non-MAGA Republicans are still viable in Georgia 04:15 Georgia Democrats used a legal, mail-in voting loophole 05:15 Trump is the reason there are two Democratic GA senators 06:15 Thoughts on David Perdue trying to primary Brian Kemp? 08:15 Perdue lost identity being caught between Trump & Romney wings 09:30 Trump has been an MRI for Republican politics 10:45 Trump wasn’t loyal to David Perdue 11:45 Margins in statewide Georgia races are close 13:30 With Roe gone, has it made it harder to court Republican voters? 14:45 Abortion pills are most common method, have 7% complication rate 17:00 What is the one major dividing line in American politics? 18:15 Independents are disaffected by both parties 19:00 Dividing line is traditional family values vs progressive ones 20:15 Millennials aren’t having kids and feel like life has passed them by 20:45 Neither party is offering affordability solutions 22:00 Shutdown fights are stupid and wasteful 23:45 People view people in the other party as a caricature 24:30 Compromise with the other party is treated as treason 26:00 Congress doesn’t stay in DC & build bipartisan relationships 28:00 Media exposure makes it harder to campaign for office 30:15 Many Republicans learned how to run from Newt Gingrich tapes 31:30 Jon Ossoff’s youth & good looks are a political asset 32:45 Ossoff is not as progressive as his consultants make him sound 34:00 State of the Georgia Republican primary? 35:30 Race is Mike Collins race to lose 37:15 Rick Jackson’s entry has upended the governor's race 38:45 Kemp is focused on getting Derek Dooley across the finish line 39:45 Former governors hate working in the senate 42:30 The case for state legislatures electing senators 44:30 State legislators engage in the most corruption due to lack of coverage 45:45 Kelly Loeffler lost her political identity quickly after taking office 46:45 Is Brian Kemp going to run for president? 49:00 MTG says Republican party doesn’t make it easier for women to run 50:45 It’s harder for women to get traction in politics, easier for Dems 53:00 Have we crossed a line in how ugly our politics has become? 54:30 Voters wanted disruption, Obama & Trump two sides of same coin 56:30 Obama moderated in order to fit in 59:15 Trump couldn’t fake grace over deaths of Rob Reiner or Robert Mueller 1:02:00 Polling is less reliable than ever See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd unleashes a fierce indictment of Trump's Iran war, walking through a series of devastating prophetic quotes from Trump's own 2016 Republican rivals, now supporters — Lindsey Graham calling his foreign policy "gibberish," Marco Rubio warning that turning the nuclear codes over to an erratic individual "wouldn't end well," Ted Cruz suggesting Trump could "nuke Denmark," and Nikki Haley raising alarms about his "irresponsible behavior" — all of which now look less like campaign rhetoric and more like haunting predictions of exactly the moment America finds itself in. He argues that whether you're a hawk or a dove on Iran, Donald Trump has failed you: he's pissed away American prestige and trust around the world, the Strait of Hormuz is now effectively in Iranian hands, the United States doesn't even know who it's negotiating with given uncertainty about the Ayatollah's status, and Trump is so desperate to escape the war he started that he was bizarrely celebrating a "ceasefire and joint venture with Iran" — a phrase that captures just how thoroughly this is turning into a massive humiliation for the United States.  He notes that Netanyahu spent years trying to drag America into a war with Iran and finally found his sucker in Trump, that no advisor had the guts to challenge him before the strikes began, and that Obama's old foreign policy doctrine of "don't do stupid shit" has been violated in spectacular fashion. He flags an absurd new development — Trumpworld is now threatening the Vatican because the Pope spoke against the war, a politically idiotic move given how many Catholics live in swing states — and reiterates that success in the conflict would require ground troops Trump refuses to commit, meaning the damage is done and markets will take a long time to recover. Todd argues that the United States has become an erratic and unreliable ally to every country in the world, that the only nation benefiting from Trump's presidency is Russia. He closes on a political note: Democrats massively overperformed again in recent elections, including a shocking blowout in Wisconsin, the war is accelerating the GOP's problems heading into the midterms, and Republicans who distance themselves from Trump now will be very glad they did by 2028 — because the current political climate is pointing toward a massive blue wave. Finally, he answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.  Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 00:30 Trump was celebrating the ceasefire & joint venture with Iran?? 01:00 This is turning into a massive humiliation for the United States 02:00 Trump’s biggest GOP supporters sounded the alarm on him in 2016 02:45 We have pissed away American prestige and trust around the world 04:00 In May 2016, Lindsey Graham said Trump’s foreign policy is jibberish 05:15 March 2016, Rubio said Trump was the opposite of what America stands for 05:45 Rubio warned about turning over nuclear codes to an erratic individual 06:30 Rubio warned that electing Trump “wouldn’t end well” 07:30 If you’re a hawk or dove on Iran, Donald Trump has failed you* 08:00 In 2016, Ted Cruz warned that Trump could “nuke Denmark” 09:30 In 2016, Nikki Haley also warned about Trump’s “irresponsible behavior” 10:30 Netanyahu tried to drag U.S. into war for years, found a sucker in Trump 11:15 No Trump advisor had the guts to challenge Trump on Iran before war 11:45 Obama’s strategy was “Don’t do stupid shit” - This war is “stupid shit” 12:30 Trump is desperate to get out of war, willing to take any deal 15:00 The Strait is now in the hands of the Iranians 15:30 We don’t know the state of the Ayatollah…who are we negotiating with? 16:30 The Pope spoke against the war, now Trumpworld threatening the Vatican 17:15 There are a lot of Catholics in swing states, picking fight w/pope is idiotic 18:30 Success requires ground troops & Trump doesn’t want to do that 20:00 The damage has been done, it will take time for markets to recover 21:15 The U.S. has become an erratic and unreliable ally 22:15 Trump gravitates toward being sold the best possible outcome 24:00 The word of the United States used to mean something 25:00 Trump has made our relationship with every country worse 26:30 The mistake people make is thinking they can control Trump 27:30 The next president will have to fix or apologize for things Trump did 29:30 Only one country is benefitting from Trump’s presidency…Russia 30:45 Rubio’s quote “this won’t end well” will live in infamy 31:15 Democrats massively overperformed again in recent elections 32:00 Wisconsin election was a shocking blowout for the Democrats 32:30 War is accelerating GOP’s problems heading into midterms 33:15 Republicans that distance from Trump will be glad they did by 2028 34:45 Current political climate portends a massive blue wave 40:00 Ask Chuck 40:15 What is being missed that will bite us in the future? 46:00 What’s the most “Veep” thing you’ve seen in DC? 49:30 Why haven’t Democrats tapped into talk radio like Republicans have? 55:00 Didn’t mention Washington state in one party drought Top 5 list? 58:30 If the war ends, can Republicans run on the economy in 2026? 1:01:30 Forcing ownership changes if sports teams underperform? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd unleashes a fierce indictment of Trump's Iran war, walking through a series of devastating prophetic quotes from Trump's own 2016 Republican rivals, now supporters — Lindsey Graham calling his foreign policy "gibberish," Marco Rubio warning that turning the nuclear codes over to an erratic individual "wouldn't end well," Ted Cruz suggesting Trump could "nuke Denmark," and Nikki Haley raising alarms about his "irresponsible behavior" — all of which now look less like campaign rhetoric and more like haunting predictions of exactly the moment America finds itself in. He argues that whether you're a hawk or a dove on Iran, Donald Trump has failed you: he's pissed away American prestige and trust around the world, the Strait of Hormuz is now effectively in Iranian hands, the United States doesn't even know who it's negotiating with given uncertainty about the Ayatollah's status, and Trump is so desperate to escape the war he started that he was bizarrely celebrating a "ceasefire and joint venture with Iran" — a phrase that captures just how thoroughly this is turning into a massive humiliation for the United States.  He notes that Netanyahu spent years trying to drag America into a war with Iran and finally found his sucker in Trump, that no advisor had the guts to challenge him before the strikes began, and that Obama's old foreign policy doctrine of "don't do stupid shit" has been violated in spectacular fashion. He flags an absurd new development — Trumpworld is now threatening the Vatican because the Pope spoke against the war, a politically idiotic move given how many Catholics live in swing states — and reiterates that success in the conflict would require ground troops Trump refuses to commit, meaning the damage is done and markets will take a long time to recover. Todd argues that the United States has become an erratic and unreliable ally to every country in the world, that the only nation benefiting from Trump's presidency is Russia. He closes on a political note: Democrats massively overperformed again in recent elections, including a shocking blowout in Wisconsin, the war is accelerating the GOP's problems heading into the midterms, and Republicans who distance themselves from Trump now will be very glad they did by 2028 — because the current political climate is pointing toward a massive blue wave. Pulitzer Prize finalist and historian Megan Kate Nelson — author of the new book The Westerners: Mythmaking and Belonging on the American Frontier — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a fascinating conversation about how the story of the American West we all grew up with is largely a myth, and what the real history reveals about who actually built the country. Nelson explains that the dominant narrative was essentially invented by historian Frederick Jackson Turner in 1893, who argued the American creed was rooted in conquest and expansion — a framing that conveniently allowed white Americans to rally around westward expansion as a unifying project while papering over the uncomfortable realities of slavery and the brutal treatment of indigenous peoples. She walks through her seven central characters whose stories reclaim that history: Sacagawea (who wasn't actually famous until the 20th century), biracial fur trader Jim Beckwourth, Hispana saloon owner María Gertrudis Barceló (whose Santa Fe establishment inspired the modern Vegas casino), gold miner and newspaperman Ovando Hollister (who believed in human equality and later moved to Salt Lake City to agitate against the Mormons), Northern Cheyenne chief Little Wolf, Canadian immigrant rancher Ella Watson, and Chinese immigrant Polly Bemis. Nelson reveals the most surprising research findings — including how digitized old Colorado newspapers helped her discover stories that had been lost for generations — and discusses how Hollywood created and popularized the caricatures of the West that still dominate pop culture today. Finally, he answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.  Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 00:30 Trump was celebrating the ceasefire & joint venture with Iran?? 01:00 This is turning into a massive humiliation for the United States 02:00 Trump’s biggest GOP supporters sounded the alarm on him in 2016 02:45 We have pissed away American prestige and trust around the world 04:00 In May 2016, Lindsey Graham said Trump’s foreign policy is jibberish 05:15 March 2016, Rubio said Trump was the opposite of what America stands for 05:45 Rubio warned about turning over nuclear codes to an erratic individual 06:30 Rubio warned that electing Trump “wouldn’t end well” 07:30 If you’re a hawk or dove on Iran, Donald Trump has failed you* 08:00 In 2016, Ted Cruz warned that Trump could “nuke Denmark” 09:30 In 2016, Nikki Haley also warned about Trump’s “irresponsible behavior” 10:30 Netanyahu tried to drag U.S. into war for years, found a sucker in Trump 11:15 No Trump advisor had the guts to challenge Trump on Iran before war 11:45 Obama’s strategy was “Don’t do stupid shit” - This war is “stupid shit” 12:30 Trump is desperate to get out of war, willing to take any deal 15:00 The Strait is now in the hands of the Iranians 15:30 We don’t know the state of the Ayatollah…who are we negotiating with? 16:30 The Pope spoke against the war, now Trumpworld threatening the Vatican 17:15 There are a lot of Catholics in swing states, picking fight w/pope is idiotic 18:30 Success requires ground troops & Trump doesn’t want to do that 20:00 The damage has been done, it will take time for markets to recover 21:15 The U.S. has become an erratic and unreliable ally 22:15 Trump gravitates toward being sold the best possible outcome 24:00 The word of the United States used to mean something 25:00 Trump has made our relationship with every country worse 26:30 The mistake people make is thinking they can control Trump 27:30 The next president will have to fix or apologize for things Trump did 29:30 Only one country is benefitting from Trump’s presidency…Russia 30:45 Rubio’s quote “this won’t end well” will live in infamy 31:15 Democrats massively overperformed again in recent elections 32:00 Wisconsin election was a shocking blowout for the Democrats 32:30 War is accelerating GOP’s problems heading into midterms 33:15 Republicans that distance from Trump will be glad they did by 2028 34:45 Current political climate portends a massive blue wave 41:45 Megan Kate Nelson joins the Chuck ToddCast 43:15 What got you interested in the topic for The Westerners? 45:30 People still have a very entrenched idea of what the west is 46:45 The portrayal of the west has been improved in pop culture 48:30 Frederick Jackson Turner created the “myth” of the west 50:00 Turner argued the American creed was based on conquest & expansion 51:45 Turner’s narrative became the standard telling of American history 52:45 Western expansion papered over uncomfortable 19th century history 53:30 White Americans could rally around the west & avoid slavery 54:45 How did you get your research on the subjects of The Westerners? 55:30 Sacagawea wasn’t famous until the 20th century 56:15 Lewis & Clark was a core piece of context for the book 57:30 Most unique source material you found that filled in gaps? 1:00:45 Old local newspapers from Colorado were digitized, allowing discovery 1:02:00 Hollywood created and popularized caricatures of the west 1:03:00 Fears and hopes for the new “Little House on the Prairie" reboot? 1:04:45 How much did Laura Ingalls Wilder book create their own mythology? 1:05:45 White settlers received a great deal of help from the federal government 1:06:45 Transcontinental railroad enables the explosion of the cattle industry 1:07:15 Military deployed to protect white settlers, annihilate the indigenous 1:08:30 Expansion wasn’t just an east-west story, it was also a north-south story 1:11:45 Vegas casinos inspired by Maria Barcelo’s Santa Fe saloon 1:14:15 The story of southern migration from Canada 1:16:15 Timeline of the book is most of the 19th century 1:17:00 Role of Chinese workers/immigrants in the story of the west 1:18:45 Chinese workers came on a false promise, were trapped in their labor 1:22:15 Impact of the Chinese Exclusion Act 1:23:45 The story of Ovando Hollister 1:25:45 Hollister believed in the equality of all people. Went from military to newspapers 1:27:30 Hollister moved to Salt Lake City & agitated against the Mormons 1:28:15 Stories of the Native Americans are finally being depicted better 1:29:00 The story of Little Wolf 1:30:45 Little Wolf was a great military strategist and leader for his people 1:33:45 Histories of the west were heavily shaded by original bias 1:34:45 Balancing objectivity with your personal bias when writing history 1:36:15 Connecting individual stories in history to larger movements & moments 1:37:15 How would improve school curriculum to honestly depict the west? 1:41:30 The west was fairly violent before law enforcement became normalized 1:42:30 Next project is the story of a Kiowa and Comanche raid on ranching town 1:45:00 Ask Chuck 1:45:15 What is being missed that will bite us in the future? 1:51:00 What’s the most “Veep” thing you’ve seen in DC? 1:54:30 Why haven’t Democrats tapped into talk radio like Republicans have? 2:00:

Pulitzer Prize finalist and historian Megan Kate Nelson — author of the new book The Westerners: Mythmaking and Belonging on the American Frontier — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a fascinating conversation about how the story of the American West we all grew up with is largely a myth, and what the real history reveals about who actually built the country. Nelson explains that the dominant narrative was essentially invented by historian Frederick Jackson Turner in 1893, who argued the American creed was rooted in conquest and expansion — a framing that conveniently allowed white Americans to rally around westward expansion as a unifying project while papering over the uncomfortable realities of slavery and the brutal treatment of indigenous peoples. She walks through her seven central characters whose stories reclaim that history: Sacagawea (who wasn't actually famous until the 20th century), biracial fur trader Jim Beckwourth, Hispana saloon owner María Gertrudis Barceló (whose Santa Fe establishment inspired the modern Vegas casino), gold miner and newspaperman Ovando Hollister (who believed in human equality and later moved to Salt Lake City to agitate against the Mormons), Northern Cheyenne chief Little Wolf, Canadian immigrant rancher Ella Watson, and Chinese immigrant Polly Bemis. Nelson reveals the most surprising research findings — including how digitized old Colorado newspapers helped her discover stories that had been lost for generations — and discusses how Hollywood created and popularized the caricatures of the West that still dominate pop culture today. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Megan Kate Nelson joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:30 What got you interested in the topic for The Westerners? 03:45 People still have a very entrenched idea of what the west is 05:00 The portrayal of the west has been improved in pop culture 06:45 Frederick Jackson Turner created the “myth” of the west 08:15 Turner argued the American creed was based on conquest & expansion 10:00 Turner’s narrative became the standard telling of American history 11:00 Western expansion papered over uncomfortable 19th century history 11:45 White Americans could rally around the west & avoid slavery 13:00 How did you get your research on the subjects of The Westerners? 13:45 Sacagawea wasn’t famous until the 20th century 14:30 Lewis & Clark was a core piece of context for the book 15:45 Most unique source material you found that filled in gaps? 19:00 Old local newspapers from Colorado were digitized, allowing discovery 20:15 Hollywood created and popularized caricatures of the west 21:15 Fears and hopes for the new “Little House on the Prairie" reboot? 23:00 How much did Laura Ingalls Wilder book create their own mythology? 24:00 White settlers received a great deal of help from the federal government 25:00 Transcontinental railroad enables the explosion of the cattle industry 25:30 Military deployed to protect white settlers, annihilate the indigenous  26:45 Expansion wasn’t just an east-west story, it was also a north-south story 30:00 Vegas casinos inspired by Maria Barcelo’s Santa Fe saloon 32:30 The story of southern migration from Canada  34:30 Timeline of the book is most of the 19th century 35:15 Role of Chinese workers/immigrants in the story of the west 37:00 Chinese workers came on a false promise, were trapped in their labor 40:30 Impact of the Chinese Exclusion Act 42:00 The story of Ovando Hollister 44:00 Hollister believed in the equality of all people. Went from military to newspapers 45:45 Hollister moved to Salt Lake City & agitated against the Mormons 46:30 Stories of the Native Americans are finally being depicted better 47:15 The story of Little Wolf 49:00 Little Wolf was a great military strategist and leader for his people 52:00 Histories of the west were heavily shaded by original bias 53:00 Balancing objectivity with your personal bias when writing history 54:30 Connecting individual stories in history to larger movements & moments 55:30 How would improve school curriculum to honestly depict the west? 59:45 The west was fairly violent before law enforcement became normalized 1:00:45 Next project is the story of a Kiowa and Comanche raid on ranching town See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd predicts Trump will look for an offramp after his shocking "civilization will die" threat, noting that even in an era where people are numb to Trump's rhetoric, this particular statement genuinely rattled supporters and critics alike — yet only two elected Republicans have expressed even mild discomfort, which he calls unacceptable when a sitting president is openly threatening a war crime and behaving, in his words, like a terrorist thug. He then unpacks a blockbuster New York Times report detailing how Trump was talked into the Iran war, revealing that only two people in the entire decision-making process thought it was a good idea: Trump himself and Benjamin Netanyahu. The Times piece shows that Trump's own advisors tried to steer him away from the conflict, that JD Vance was privately against it, and that Netanyahu — who has spent years trying to get an American president to fight Iran on Israel's behalf, only to be rebuffed by Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Biden finally found his willing partner in Trump.. He then pivots to JD Vance campaigning in Europe on behalf of Hungarian dictator Viktor Orbán while trashing America's European allies — effectively siding with Putin in the Hungarian election and betraying the values America was founded on — and predicts it will be a generation before the U.S. is trusted on the world stage again. He closes with sharp analysis of the Virginia redistricting referendum, which he says is hurting Governor Abigail Spanberger politically by labeling her as "partisan" in ways she didn't earn, noting that Democrats would have picked up 2-3 Virginia seats without the aggressive redistricting push and that independent voters — already exhausted by partisan garbage — may punish Democrats for fighting fire with fire. Finally, he gives his ToddCast Top 5 states most likely to end their 4 term one-party drought in the 2026 elections, and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.   Timeline: 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 00:45 Trump will look for offramp after threatening civilizational destruction 01:30 People are numb to Trump, but this statement still shocked people 03:00 Only two elected Republicans have expressed discomfort  05:30 When the president threatens a war crime, leaders need to speak out 06:45 Trump is behaving like a terrorist thug 08:00 Everybody saw Trump’s comment, even supporters are uncomfortable 09:15 NYT reporters release piece explaining how Trump was talked into war 10:45 Only two people thought war was a good idea: Trump & Netanyahu 12:00 Iran wanted to assassinate Trump, there’s personal animosity here 12:45 This war has NOT been in the best interest of the United States 13:30 Advisors to Trump tried to steer him away from war 14:30 NYT piece will make Trump nuts over “leaks” 16:00 Vance shown as against the war in the NYT piece 17:00 Trump is on an island over the war, even amongst his staff 18:00 Netanyahu made it sound like regime change would be easy 18:30 Bibi wanted a U.S. president to go to war for years, they all said no 19:15 Clinton, Bush, Obama and Biden all rebuffed Netanyahu 21:15 Biden shouted down Bibi as a liar 22:00 Bibi finally found a president willing to acquiesce in Trump 22:45 Bibi’s power in Israel comes from fear of the Iranians 23:45 This story will poison Israel’s reputation with the American public 25:30 NYT story should be more explosive, but Trump’s rhetoric stole headlines 27:00 Trump is advocating war crimes even if he doesn’t commit one 27:45 Trump has not brainwashed the public into thinking war is a good idea 28:45 Vance is campaigning on behalf of Hungarian dictator Viktor Orban 29:45 Vance is in Europe trashing America’s European allies 30:30 The U.S. is siding with Putin in Hungarian election, betraying our values 31:15 It’ll be a generation before America is trusted again on the world stage 33:45 America fought for independence against autocratic rule 35:00 Can Trump get a deal to open the Strait without embarrassing the U.S.? 36:00 Redistricting referendum in VA has hurt Abigail Spanberger politically 37:00 Yes on redistricting will win, but margins are narrow 39:15 Independent voters don’t like the partisan garbage, Dems could lose them 41:00 Spanberger is getting labeled as “partisan” in all the wrong ways 41:45 Democrats would have picked up 2-3 seats without redistricting 43:15 Voters will tire of either party governing in a too partisan manner 49:00 New episode of the “Dynastic” podcast available! 51:15 ToddCast Top 5 states that could end their 4 term one party droughts 53:15 #1 Iowa 53:45 #2 Ohio 56:00 #3 Georgia 57:45 #4 Alabama 1:00:00 #5 Texas 1:02:00 Honorable mentions 1:03:15 Ask Chuck 1:03:30 What would campaigning look like if the electoral college was abolished? 1:07:00 Is there any chance Republicans will find a way to remove Trump from office? 1:09:15 What’s with Hegseth ousting top generals? Are Geneva Conventions defunct? 1:11:30 Why haven’t Dems taken steps in court over War Powers? 1:14:00 Are all hopes of a two-state solution dead? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd predicts Trump will look for an offramp after his shocking "civilization will die" threat, noting that even in an era where people are numb to Trump's rhetoric, this particular statement genuinely rattled supporters and critics alike — yet only two elected Republicans have expressed even mild discomfort, which he calls unacceptable when a sitting president is openly threatening a war crime and behaving, in his words, like a terrorist thug. He then unpacks a blockbuster New York Times report detailing how Trump was talked into the Iran war, revealing that only two people in the entire decision-making process thought it was a good idea: Trump himself and Benjamin Netanyahu. The Times piece shows that Trump's own advisors tried to steer him away from the conflict, that JD Vance was privately against it, and that Netanyahu — who has spent years trying to get an American president to fight Iran on Israel's behalf, only to be rebuffed by Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Biden finally found his willing partner in Trump.. He then pivots to JD Vance campaigning in Europe on behalf of Hungarian dictator Viktor Orbán while trashing America's European allies — effectively siding with Putin in the Hungarian election and betraying the values America was founded on — and predicts it will be a generation before the U.S. is trusted on the world stage again. He closes with sharp analysis of the Virginia redistricting referendum, which he says is hurting Governor Abigail Spanberger politically by labeling her as "partisan" in ways she didn't earn, noting that Democrats would have picked up 2-3 Virginia seats without the aggressive redistricting push and that independent voters — already exhausted by partisan garbage — may punish Democrats for fighting fire with fire. Then, Lauren Gustus — executive editor of The Salt Lake Tribune — joins the Chuck Toddcast ahead of Local News Day on April 9th to discuss how a legacy daily newspaper completely reimagined itself as a nonprofit and is now taking its paywall down entirely in May, betting that free access and a members-based support model is the path to long-term sustainability. Gustus walks through the Tribune's fascinating history: the newspaper once had a 50-person desk dedicated just to youth sports, was heavily supported by the Huntsman family, had a joint operating agreement with the Deseret News, and — like so many local papers — eventually became a target for private equity firms. She explains how the Tribune transitioned to its nonprofit structure, acquired the Moab Times and retained those subscribers, created unique member benefits that require a paid subscription, and is now experimenting with how to serve Utah as both a statewide and hyper-local paper. She emphasizes that local news consumers are incredibly engaged and curious, that reporters need to understand their audience before doing the work, and that there has to be a genuine public service aspect to local journalism or the whole model falls apart. The conversation turns to the specific challenges of covering Utah — a state where the intersection of faith, business, and politics is uniquely intense. Gustus explains that the Tribune's reporters covering the LDS church are themselves LDS members, which she argues allows them to report honestly and with context rather than creating conflict of interest concerns. She notes that Utah politics is often described as divisive but more polite than elsewhere, and suggests that the state's tradition of mission service creates a more worldly electorate than outsiders assume. On the editorial page, Gustus says the Tribune still sends questionnaires to political candidates because voters need information, not instruction on how to vote, and reveals that the paper receives dozens of Trump op-ed submissions but declines to run them. She discusses the messy ongoing redistricting war in Utah, the potential opportunity created by the Nexstar/Tegna merger consolidating local TV news, and makes the case that the Tribune's model — nonprofit structure, reader engagement, statewide ambition, and free access — is fundamentally repeatable in other markets across the country, which is exactly the kind of story Local News Day is designed to amplify. Finally, he gives his ToddCast Top 5 states most likely to end their 4 term one-party drought in the 2026 elections, and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 00:45 Trump will look for offramp after threatening civilizational destruction 01:30 People are numb to Trump, but this statement still shocked people 03:00 Only two elected Republicans have expressed discomfort  05:30 When the president threatens a war crime, leaders need to speak out 06:45 Trump is behaving like a terrorist thug 08:00 Everybody saw Trump’s comment, even supporters are uncomfortable 09:15 NYT reporters release piece explaining how Trump was talked into war 10:45 Only two people thought war was a good idea: Trump & Netanyahu 12:00 Iran wanted to assassinate Trump, there’s personal animosity here 12:45 This war has NOT been in the best interest of the United States 13:30 Advisors to Trump tried to steer him away from war 14:30 NYT piece will make Trump nuts over “leaks” 16:00 Vance shown as against the war in the NYT piece 17:00 Trump is on an island over the war, even amongst his staff 18:00 Netanyahu made it sound like regime change would be easy 18:30 Bibi wanted a U.S. president to go to war for years, they all said no 19:15 Clinton, Bush, Obama and Biden all rebuffed Netanyahu 21:15 Biden shouted down Bibi as a liar 22:00 Bibi finally found a president willing to acquiesce in Trump 22:45 Bibi’s power in Israel comes from fear of the Iranians 23:45 This story will poison Israel’s reputation with the American public 25:30 NYT story should be more explosive, but Trump’s rhetoric stole headlines 27:00 Trump is advocating war crimes even if he doesn’t commit one 27:45 Trump has not brainwashed the public into thinking war is a good idea 28:45 Vance is campaigning on behalf of Hungarian dictator Viktor Orban 29:45 Vance is in Europe trashing America’s European allies 30:30 The U.S. is siding with Putin in Hungarian election, betraying our values 31:15 It’ll be a generation before America is trusted again on the world stage 33:45 America fought for independence against autocratic rule 35:00 Can Trump get a deal to open the Strait without embarrassing the U.S.? 36:00 Redistricting referendum in VA has hurt Abigail Spanberger politically 37:00 Yes on redistricting will win, but margins are narrow 39:15 Independent voters don’t like the partisan garbage, Dems could lose them 41:00 Spanberger is getting labeled as “partisan” in all the wrong ways 41:45 Democrats would have picked up 2-3 seats without redistricting 43:15 Voters will tire of either party governing in a too partisan manner 50:00 Lauren Gustus joins the Chuck ToddCast 52:30 SL Tribune is a legacy publication that’s been reimagined 53:30 The Tribune used to have a 50 person desk for youth sports 55:00 Huntsman family was a massive booster of the Tribune 55:45 Transitioning the Tribune to a nonprofit model 57:30 In May, the Tribune will be taking down their paywall 59:30 Private Equity bought newspapers in order to obtain their real estate 1:00:45 Tribune had a joint operating agreement with Deseret News 1:02:30 Local news has to constantly pivot between revenue sources 1:04:30 How many hybrid funding models were considered? 1:05:45 Acquired the Moab Times & subscribers kept paying 1:06:30 Creating unique member benefits that require a paid subscription 1:08:00 Local news consumers are incredibly engaged and curious 1:09:15 Reporters need to understand the audience before doing the work 1:11:15 There has to be a public service aspect to local journalism 1:14:30 Has local advertising gotten harder, easier or just different? 1:17:30 Are there different models for relationships with reporters? 1:18:30 Independent contractor/freelancer model hasn’t caught on in SLC 1:20:30 Stories should be tailored to the platform if resources allow 1:22:45 Instagram isn’t monetizable, but good for reaching a subscriber base 1:24:30 What model have you chosen for your editorial page? 1:26:00 Tribune still sends questionnaires to political candidates 1:26:45 Voters need info, don’t need to be told how to vote 1:28:30 Trib receives dozens of Trump Op-Eds, doesn’t run them 1:29:00 How do you cover the LDS church? 1:30:30 Tribune team covering the church are LDS members, but still report honestly 1:32:00 Intersectionality of faith, business and politics is huge in Salt Lake City 1:33:30 Utah politics is seen as divisive but more polite… is that true? 1:34:00 Mission service creates a more worldly electorate in Utah 1:36:00 The redistricting war in Utah has been incredibly messy 1:37:45 Nexstar/Tegna merger will consolidate TV news, is that an opportunity for you? 1:39:00 Tribune strives to be a statewide & local paper for all of Utah 1:41:30 Tribune model is repeatable 1:42:00 Plans for Local News Day on April 9th? 1:42:30 New episode of the “Dynastic” podcast available! 1:44:45 ToddCast Top 5 states that could end their 4 term one party droughts 1:46:45 #1 Iowa 1:47:15 #2 Ohio 1:49:30 #3 Georgia 1:51:15 #4 Alabama 1:53:30

Lauren Gustus — executive editor of The Salt Lake Tribune — joins the Chuck Toddcast ahead of Local News Day on April 9th to discuss how a legacy daily newspaper completely reimagined itself as a nonprofit and is now taking its paywall down entirely in May, betting that free access and a members-based support model is the path to long-term sustainability. Gustus walks through the Tribune's fascinating history: the newspaper once had a 50-person desk dedicated just to youth sports, was heavily supported by the Huntsman family, had a joint operating agreement with the Deseret News, and — like so many local papers — eventually became a target for private equity firms. She explains how the Tribune transitioned to its nonprofit structure, acquired the Moab Times and retained those subscribers, created unique member benefits that require a paid subscription, and is now experimenting with how to serve Utah as both a statewide and hyper-local paper. She emphasizes that local news consumers are incredibly engaged and curious, that reporters need to understand their audience before doing the work, and that there has to be a genuine public service aspect to local journalism or the whole model falls apart. The conversation turns to the specific challenges of covering Utah — a state where the intersection of faith, business, and politics is uniquely intense. Gustus explains that the Tribune's reporters covering the LDS church are themselves LDS members, which she argues allows them to report honestly and with context rather than creating conflict of interest concerns. She notes that Utah politics is often described as divisive but more polite than elsewhere, and suggests that the state's tradition of mission service creates a more worldly electorate than outsiders assume. On the editorial page, Gustus says the Tribune still sends questionnaires to political candidates because voters need information, not instruction on how to vote, and reveals that the paper receives dozens of Trump op-ed submissions but declines to run them. She discusses the messy ongoing redistricting war in Utah, the potential opportunity created by the Nexstar/Tegna merger consolidating local TV news, and makes the case that the Tribune's model — nonprofit structure, reader engagement, statewide ambition, and free access — is fundamentally repeatable in other markets across the country, which is exactly the kind of story Local News Day is designed to amplify. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Lauren Gustus joins the Chuck ToddCast 02:30 SL Tribune is a legacy publication that’s been reimagined 03:30 The Tribune used to have a 50 person desk for youth sports 05:00 Huntsman family was a massive booster of the Tribune 05:45 Transitioning the Tribune to a nonprofit model 07:30 In May, the Tribune will be taking down their paywall 09:30 Private Equity bought newspapers in order to obtain their real estate 10:45 Tribune had a joint operating agreement with Deseret News 12:30 Local news has to constantly pivot between revenue sources 14:30 How many hybrid funding models were considered? 15:45 Acquired the Moab Times & subscribers kept paying 16:30 Creating unique member benefits that require a paid subscription 18:00 Local news consumers are incredibly engaged and curious 19:15 Reporters need to understand the audience before doing the work 21:15 There has to be a public service aspect to local journalism 24:30 Has local advertising gotten harder, easier or just different? 27:30 Are there different models for relationships with reporters? 28:30 Independent contractor/freelancer model hasn’t caught on in SLC 30:30 Stories should be tailored to the platform if resources allow 32:45 Instagram isn’t monetizable, but good for reaching a subscriber base 34:30 What model have you chosen for your editorial page? 36:00 Tribune still sends questionnaires to political candidates 36:45 Voters need info, don’t need to be told how to vote 38:30 Trib receives dozens of Trump Op-Eds, doesn’t run them 39:00 How do you cover the LDS church?  40:30 Tribune team covering the church are LDS members, but still report honestly 42:00 Intersectionality of faith, business and politics is huge in Salt Lake City 43:30 Utah politics is seen as divisive but more polite… is that true? 44:00 Mission service creates a more worldly electorate in Utah 46:00 The redistricting war in Utah has been incredibly messy 47:45 Nexstar/Tegna merger will consolidate TV news, is that an opportunity for you? 49:00 Tribune strives to be a statewide & local paper for all of Utah 51:30 Tribune model is repeatable 52:00 Plans for Local News Day on April 9th? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this special episode of the ToddCast, Chuck Todd delivers a chilling monologue in response to Trump's Truth Social post warning that "a civilization will die" — a phrase Chuck asks listeners to sit with, because a sitting American president is now openly threatening the annihilation of an entire civilization and getting almost no pushback for it. He notes the ominous context: Defense Secretary Hegseth has purged the top ranks of the military, potentially clearing the way for orders that career officers might otherwise resist, and Trump's post is filled with the kind of contradictions that suggest a president who has lost both strategic focus and emotional control. He says it wouldn't shock him if Trump has privately inquired about using a tactical nuclear weapon and warns that with Trump you don't have to take him literally, but you absolutely have to take him seriously. He argues that America has abdicated its leadership role in ways that are now creating more problems than they solve, that Trump is handing the Iranian regime massive propaganda wins by threatening civilizational destruction. He closes with a stark binary: either Trump commits an irredeemable atrocity that will stain America's reputation for generations, or he does what he always does when cornered — he "TACOs" (Trump Always Chickens Out). Timeline: 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction - Trump warns “a civilization will die” 00:45 Sit with that… A president is threatening an entire civilization 01:15 Trump talks tough, but isn’t really a “tough guy” 02:00 Hegseth purged top military leaders… clearing the way? 03:00 Trump’s Truth Social post is filled with contradictions 03:45 Trump gets no pushback, this is a scary moment 04:15 He probably thinks “Truman dropped bomb, now Japan is an ally” 05:00 Wouldn’t be shocking if Trump inquired about dropping tactical nuke 05:30 You don’t have to take him literally, but do take him somewhat seriously 06:15 White House tells AFP a nuclear bomb isn’t being considered 06:45 U.S. has abdicated leadership, causing more problems than solving 07:45 Trump is bragging that Venezuela is a success… it isn’t  08:45 Trump is handing propaganda wins to the Iranian regime 09:30 This is on us as Americans, Trump told us who he was before election 10:30 Elected Republicans still refuse & are afraid to criticize Trump 11:45 Either Trump commits an irredeemable atrocity… or he TACOs 13:00 The regime killed its own people for protesting…you think they’re afraid? Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this special edition of "Dynastic", legendary Dodgers announcer Jaime Jarrin joins Chuck Todd and J.A. Adande to discuss his favorite games, the rise of FernandoMania, his relationship with Vin Scully, and the controversial move from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. Please FOLLOW for upcoming episodes. Follow the show on our social accounts: https://www.twitter.com/dynasticpod/ https://www.instagram.com/dynasticpod/ https://www.facebook.com/DynasticPod https://www.tiktok.com/@dynastic.pod   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with the harrowing story of two F-15 operators who went missing over Iran and had to be extracted by U.S. Special Forces — a dramatic rescue the administration is now using to obscure the larger failures of a war that is clearly not going well, starting with the fact that Defense Secretary Hegseth's description of "uncontested airspace" was demonstrably false and raises the most important question nobody in the Pentagon wants to answer: why did we need a rescue mission in the first place? He catalogs a weekend of Trump's unraveling: a Truth Social post telling Iran to "open the f****n strait, you crazy bastards," a seemingly deliberate insult to Muslims with a sarcastic "praise be to allah" reference, and an unhinged Easter morning rant that Todd challenges Evangelicals to defend — all while the Strait of Hormuz remains closed after three weeks of empty threats, energy expert Daniel Yergin has called this the worst energy disruption in history, and control of the strait now gives Iran more leverage than a nuclear weapon ever would. Todd warns that the world economy is far more interconnected than during the 1970s oil shocks and that even if the war stopped today, it would take a year to restore supply chains to normal. He highlights Republican Senator John Curtis of Utah challenging the very premise of the war and drawing a direct parallel to Vietnam's gradual escalation, notes that Congress has just three weeks until the 60-day War Powers clause kicks in, and excoriates lawmakers for doing nothing while Trump threatens Iranian infrastructure in ways that could constitute war crimes under the Geneva Convention — a framework Pete Hegseth clearly doesn't care about. He closes with a quick dissection of Trump's executive order on college sports, which he dismisses as a glorified press release with no enforcement mechanism, no controlling legal authority, and zero chance of surviving legal challenges — just another document designed to generate talking points from an administration so unpopular the public won't even side with them on an issue where there's genuine bipartisan frustration. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the beginning and end of America’s participation in the Civil War & World War 1, and argues that the underlying disagreements of both conflicts have never been resolved. He also takes listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment and weighs in on the latest in sports. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 01:15 Check out Chuck’s sports podcast “Dynastic”! 04:30 Moderating debate “Is gambling is the new pornography?” 05:30 Trump silent after F-15 operator was missing in Iran 06:15 Fear was an American pilot captured by the regime 06:45 U.S. Special forces able to extract both F-15 operators 07:30 Success of rescue being used to obscure Trump’s failures 08:15 Hegseth’s description of “uncontested airspace” was false 09:00 Most important question… Why did we need rescue in the first place? 09:45 Things are not going well in this war 10:15 Hegseth has not been telling the public the truth 11:30 Congress would normally provide oversight, but they’ve been neutered 12:30 Trump posts “Open the f****n strait, you crazy bastards” 13:30 Trump seemingly insults muslims with “Praise be to allah” in post 14:00 Trump posts rant on Easter morning… How can Evangelicals defend this? 15:00 After 3 weeks of threats, the Strait of Hormuz is still closed 15:45 Trump tries to jawbone markets on Sundays, but they might not be listening 16:30 If Trump walks away with Strait in Iranian control, he sets the world back 17:30 Energy expert Daniel Jurgen calls this worst energy disruption ever 19:00 Control of the strait gives Iran more power than having a nuke 19:45 The world economy is far more interconnected than during 70’s shocks 20:15 If the war stopped today, it’d take a year to get supply chains back to normal 21:15 Congress is doing nothing here, and they’ll pay the price at the ballot box 22:30 Republican Sen. John Curtis challenges the premise of the war 23:30 We have 3 weeks until 60 day War Powers clause kicks in 24:30 Curtis argued Vietnam started as small operation, then expanded 25:30 Trump threatens infrastructure, could be potential war crime 26:15 Hegseth doesn’t care about human rights or Geneva Convention 27:15 Trump has treated NATO allies terribly, doesn’t deserve their help 28:15 Trump is not a reliable ally to anyone, we’re here because of him 29:00 75 years of American leadership didn’t alienate allies like Trump 29:45 Congress needs to get off its ass and do its job 31:45 Trump issues executive order on college sports 33:30 Trump’s order is basically a list of suggestions/press release 34:30 Order says if schools abuse NIL, could ban them from federal grants 35:45 Courts have struck down basically every NCAA rule before them 37:00 White House wants to apply pressure on the big schools 38:30 Document is a wish list sent to NCAA, no enforcement mechanism 39:45 Administration is so unpopular, public won’t side with them on this order 41:00 Order will face all kinds of legal hurdles, only gives WH talking points 41:45 Trump has no controlling legal authority here 46:45 ToddCast Time Machine  47:00 Many American wars started/ended this week in history  48:15 We’re good at marking the beginning/end of wars, but not resolving them  49:00 Appomattox was a clean ending to the Civil War  49:45 The fighting stopped, but the argument for the war wasn’t resolved  50:15 Birthright citizenship added via 14th amendment  50:45 Citizenship rights were denied to black Americans  51:45 U.S. formally entered WW1  52:15 Hard to celebrate Armistice Day when WW2 happens 20 years later  52:45 European powers drew new maps but didn’t settle claims & conflicts  53:30 Middle East turmoil is direct result of Europeans redrawing maps  54:30 Wars aren’t chapters…they are arguments  55:30 The arguments of the Civil War & WW1 are still unresolved  56:30 Ask Chuck  56:45 What are your thoughts on ranked choice voting?  1:03:00 Correction on the location of Stetson’s law school  1:03:45 What current sports player or manager would do well in politics?  1:09:30 Has Congress’s inaction over Trump’s Iran war created a precedent?  1:13:00 Is relegation structurally possible in the NBA to avoid tanking?  1:16:45 Sports reaction See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with the harrowing story of two F-15 operators who went missing over Iran and had to be extracted by U.S. Special Forces — a dramatic rescue the administration is now using to obscure the larger failures of a war that is clearly not going well, starting with the fact that Defense Secretary Hegseth's description of "uncontested airspace" was demonstrably false and raises the most important question nobody in the Pentagon wants to answer: why did we need a rescue mission in the first place? He catalogs a weekend of Trump's unraveling: a Truth Social post telling Iran to "open the f****n strait, you crazy bastards," a seemingly deliberate insult to Muslims with a sarcastic "praise be to allah" reference, and an unhinged Easter morning rant that Todd challenges Evangelicals to defend — all while the Strait of Hormuz remains closed after three weeks of empty threats, energy expert Daniel Yergin has called this the worst energy disruption in history, and control of the strait now gives Iran more leverage than a nuclear weapon ever would. Todd warns that the world economy is far more interconnected than during the 1970s oil shocks and that even if the war stopped today, it would take a year to restore supply chains to normal. He highlights Republican Senator John Curtis of Utah challenging the very premise of the war and drawing a direct parallel to Vietnam's gradual escalation, notes that Congress has just three weeks until the 60-day War Powers clause kicks in, and excoriates lawmakers for doing nothing while Trump threatens Iranian infrastructure in ways that could constitute war crimes under the Geneva Convention — a framework Pete Hegseth clearly doesn't care about. He closes with a quick dissection of Trump's executive order on college sports, which he dismisses as a glorified press release with no enforcement mechanism, no controlling legal authority, and zero chance of surviving legal challenges — just another document designed to generate talking points from an administration so unpopular the public won't even side with them on an issue where there's genuine bipartisan frustration. Then, Mike Pesca — the veteran journalist, podcaster, and host of The Gist — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a wide-ranging conversation that covers everything from the structural reforms American democracy desperately needs to why the NBA regular season is unwatchable. They dig into the emergence of the "never Trump media" ecosystem and argue that both parties have become fundamentally reactionary, with internal debates in each reduced to full resistance versus compromise. They make the case that partisan primaries are the single biggest driver of hyperpartisanship, that competitive districts would produce more reasonable candidates and debate which reforms could actually break the cycle. They note that if California's jungle primary produces a Republican governor, Democrats will reform the system within a year, and that with so many big-name Democrats in the crowded field, at least one major candidate needs to drop out before they cannibalize each other. The conversation shifts to what Democrats should do if they control Congress. Pesca argues that Democrats can't brand themselves as the alternative to the "do nothing GOP" and then do nothing themselves — a child tax credit expansion is something Democrats and JD Vance could theoretically agree on, and being seen as on the side of the consumer is both good policy and great politics. They zero in on surveillance pricing as the issue ripe for bipartisan action: airlines using your personal data to gouge you is gross and bills are already moving in state legislatures to ban digital price tags, though Chuck notes there are legitimate upsides to dynamic pricing based on supply and demand that shouldn't be thrown out with the bathwater. They discuss how consumer advocacy once gave news media enormous credibility and trust, how the public feels big tech has too much control over everything, and how creating a caucus of independents in the Senate could serve as a powerful fulcrum — since independent candidates shouldn't have to choose between Trump and Schumer to be effective. The episode closes with a surprisingly passionate sports segment where they agree that March Madness exposes how unwatchable the NBA regular season has become, that tanking and load management are destroying competitive integrity, and that urgency — the thing college basketball's single-elimination format delivers in abundance — is what creates truly great sports. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the beginning and end of America’s participation in the Civil War & World War 1, and argues that the underlying disagreements of both conflicts have never been resolved. He also takes listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment and weighs in on the latest in sports. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 01:15 Check out Chuck’s sports podcast “Dynastic”! 04:30 Moderating debate “Is gambling is the new pornography?” 05:30 Trump silent after F-15 operator was missing in Iran 06:15 Fear was an American pilot captured by the regime 06:45 U.S. Special forces able to extract both F-15 operators 07:30 Success of rescue being used to obscure Trump’s failures 08:15 Hegseth’s description of “uncontested airspace” was false 09:00 Most important question… Why did we need rescue in the first place? 09:45 Things are not going well in this war 10:15 Hegseth has not been telling the public the truth 11:30 Congress would normally provide oversight, but they’ve been neutered 12:30 Trump posts “Open the f****n strait, you crazy bastards” 13:30 Trump seemingly insults muslims with “Praise be to allah” in post 14:00 Trump posts rant on Easter morning… How can Evangelicals defend this? 15:00 After 3 weeks of threats, the Strait of Hormuz is still closed 15:45 Trump tries to jawbone markets on Sundays, but they might not be listening 16:30 If Trump walks away with Strait in Iranian control, he sets the world back 17:30 Energy expert Daniel Jurgen calls this worst energy disruption ever 19:00 Control of the strait gives Iran more power than having a nuke 19:45 The world economy is far more interconnected than during 70’s shocks 20:15 If the war stopped today, it’d take a year to get supply chains back to normal 21:15 Congress is doing nothing here, and they’ll pay the price at the ballot box 22:30 Republican Sen. John Curtis challenges the premise of the war 23:30 We have 3 weeks until 60 day War Powers clause kicks in 24:30 Curtis argued Vietnam started as small operation, then expanded 25:30 Trump threatens infrastructure, could be potential war crime 26:15 Hegseth doesn’t care about human rights or Geneva Convention 27:15 Trump has treated NATO allies terribly, doesn’t deserve their help 28:15 Trump is not a reliable ally to anyone, we’re here because of him 29:00 75 years of American leadership didn’t alienate allies like Trump 29:45 Congress needs to get off its ass and do its job 31:45 Trump issues executive order on college sports 33:30 Trump’s order is basically a list of suggestions/press release 34:30 Order says if schools abuse NIL, could ban them from federal grants 35:45 Courts have struck down basically every NCAA rule before them 37:00 White House wants to apply pressure on the big schools 38:30 Document is a wish list sent to NCAA, no enforcement mechanism 39:45 Administration is so unpopular, public won’t side with them on this order 41:00 Order will face all kinds of legal hurdles, only gives WH talking points 41:45 Trump has no controlling legal authority here 47:15 Mike Pesca joins the Chuck ToddCast 49:15 The emergence of the never Trump media 50:15 Both parties have become reactionary 51:30 Prior to the civil war, leaders just papered over the divides 52:30 Debate in both parties is full resistance vs. compromise 53:45 Virginia would go 8-3 Democrat without partisan redistricting 54:45 Competitive districts will create more reasonable candidates 57:00 Partisan primaries are the biggest driver of our hyperpartisanship 57:45 Mobile voting would be a game changer for voter participation 58:45 All-party primaries are a better alternative 1:00:30 Is there a viable path for independent candidates to win? 1:01:15 Dem brand is so toxic in Nebraska, only an independent can be viable 1:02:00 Ranked choice voting is further down the list of good reforms 1:02:45 Ranked choice makes explaining results difficult on election night 1:03:45 Louisiana had the best version of the jungle primary 1:04:45 Louisiana changed their system just to beat Bill Cassidy 1:06:00 If jungle primary in CA produces a Republican, reforms come in a year 1:07:00 One of the Democratic CA governor candidates has to go 1:08:15 Surprising how many big name candidates passed on CA gov race 1:09:15 Kash Patel might hand Eric Swalwell the nomination by leaking file 1:10:00 Gavin Newsom doesn’t have an heir apparent 1:11:15 With control of congress, should Dems try to pass legislation with Trump? 1:12:15 Child tax credit is something Dems & JD Vance could agree on 1:13:30 Democrats can’t be an alternative to “do nothing GOP”, then do nothing 1:14:45 Dems will do investigations, but not much else will get done 1:15:30 Trump officials won’t answer subpoenas, busines

Mike Pesca — the veteran journalist, podcaster, and host of The Gist — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a wide-ranging conversation that covers everything from the structural reforms American democracy desperately needs to why the NBA regular season is unwatchable. They dig into the emergence of the "never Trump media" ecosystem and argue that both parties have become fundamentally reactionary, with internal debates in each reduced to full resistance versus compromise. They make the case that partisan primaries are the single biggest driver of hyperpartisanship, that competitive districts would produce more reasonable candidates and debate which reforms could actually break the cycle. They note that if California's jungle primary produces a Republican governor, Democrats will reform the system within a year, and that with so many big-name Democrats in the crowded field, at least one major candidate needs to drop out before they cannibalize each other. The conversation shifts to what Democrats should do if they control Congress. Pesca argues that Democrats can't brand themselves as the alternative to the "do nothing GOP" and then do nothing themselves — a child tax credit expansion is something Democrats and JD Vance could theoretically agree on, and being seen as on the side of the consumer is both good policy and great politics. They zero in on surveillance pricing as the issue ripe for bipartisan action: airlines using your personal data to gouge you is gross and bills are already moving in state legislatures to ban digital price tags, though Chuck notes there are legitimate upsides to dynamic pricing based on supply and demand that shouldn't be thrown out with the bathwater. They discuss how consumer advocacy once gave news media enormous credibility and trust, how the public feels big tech has too much control over everything, and how creating a caucus of independents in the Senate could serve as a powerful fulcrum — since independent candidates shouldn't have to choose between Trump and Schumer to be effective. The episode closes with a surprisingly passionate sports segment where they agree that March Madness exposes how unwatchable the NBA regular season has become, that tanking and load management are destroying competitive integrity, and that urgency — the thing college basketball's single-elimination format delivers in abundance — is what creates truly great sports. Timeline: 00:00 Mike Pesca joins the Chuck ToddCast 02:00 The emergence of the never Trump media 03:00 Both parties have become reactionary  04:15 Prior to the civil war, leaders just papered over the divides 05:15 Debate in both parties is full resistance vs. compromise 06:30 Virginia would go 8-3 Democrat without partisan redistricting 07:30 Competitive districts will create more reasonable candidates 09:45 Partisan primaries are the biggest driver of our hyperpartisanship 10:30 Mobile voting would be a game changer for voter participation 11:30 All-party primaries are a better alternative 13:15 Is there a viable path for independent candidates to win? 14:00 Dem brand is so toxic in Nebraska, only an independent can be viable 14:45 Ranked choice voting is further down the list of good reforms 15:30 Ranked choice makes explaining results difficult on election night 16:30 Louisiana had the best version of the jungle primary 17:30 Louisiana changed their system just to beat Bill Cassidy 18:45 If jungle primary in CA produces a Republican, reforms come in a year 19:45 One of the Democratic CA governor candidates has to go 21:00 Surprising how many big name candidates passed on CA gov race 22:00 Kash Patel might hand Eric Swalwell the nomination by leaking file 22:45 Gavin Newsom doesn’t have an heir apparent  24:00 With control of congress, should Dems try to pass legislation with Trump? 25:00 Child tax credit is something Dems & JD Vance could agree on 26:15 Democrats can’t be an alternative to “do nothing GOP”, then do nothing 27:30 Dems will do investigations, but not much else will get done 28:15 Trump officials won’t answer subpoenas, business leaders will have to 29:00 With power in congress, Democrats will likely target big tech 31:00 Surveillance pricing needs to be regulated 33:00 Bills in many legislatures to ban digital price tags in stores 33:45 There are upsides to dynamic pricing, it’s not all bad 34:45 Airlines using your data against you to gouge you is gross 35:30 Floating price based on supply vs. demand is fine 37:00 Being seen as being on the side of the consumer is good politics 38:00 Consumer advocacy gave news media credibility and trust 39:30 The public feels like big tech has too much control of everything 41:00 Creating a caucus of independents could be a fulcrum in the senate 42:15 Independents shouldn’t have to choose between Trump & Schumer 44:15 We are in desperate need of reform, and the constitution is difficult to amend 46:00 March Madness reminds you that the NBA regular season sucks 47:15 NBA players don’t try hard in the regular season & tanking is terrible 49:30 Long playoff series in the NBA are great 51:00 A shorter 1st round 5 game series injects some randomness into the playoffs 53:15 DC could be a great NBA market, but the Wizards are awful 55:00 NBA draft lottery needs some modification to address tanking 55:30 “Load management” also needs to be addressed 58:30 Urgency is what creates great competitive sports Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Mike Pesca joins the Chuck ToddCast 02:00 The emergence of the never Trump media 03:00 Both parties have become reactionary  04:15 Prior to the civil war, leaders just papered over the divides 05:15 Debate in both parties is full resistance vs. compromise 06:30 Virginia would go 8-3 Democrat without partisan redistricting 07:30 Competitive districts will create more reasonable candidates 09:45 Partisan primaries are the biggest driver of our hyperpartisanship 10:30 Mobile voting would be a game changer for voter participation 11:30 All-party primaries are a better alternative 13:15 Is there a viable path for independent candidates to win? 14:00 Dem brand is so toxic in Nebraska, only an independent can be viable 14:45 Ranked choice voting is further down the list of good reforms 15:30 Ranked choice makes explaining results difficult on election night 16:30 Louisiana had the best version of the jungle primary 17:30 Louisiana changed their system just to beat Bill Cassidy 18:45 If jungle primary in CA produces a Republican, reforms come in a year 19:45 One of the Democratic CA governor candidates has to go 21:00 Surprising how many big name candidates passed on CA gov race 22:00 Kash Patel might hand Eric Swalwell the nomination by leaking file 22:45 Gavin Newsom doesn’t have an heir apparent  24:00 With control of congress, should Dems try to pass legislation with Trump? 25:00 Child tax credit is something Dems & JD Vance could agree on 26:15 Democrats can’t be an alternative to “do nothing GOP”, then do nothing 27:30 Dems will do investigations, but not much else will get done 28:15 Trump officials won’t answer subpoenas, business leaders will have to 29:00 With power in congress, Democrats will likely target big tech 31:00 Surveillance pricing needs to be regulated 33:00 Bills in many legislatures to ban digital price tags in stores 33:45 There are upsides to dynamic pricing, it’s not all bad 34:45 Airlines using your data against you to gouge you is gross 35:30 Floating price based on supply vs. demand is fine 37:00 Being seen as being on the side of the consumer is good politics 38:00 Consumer advocacy gave news media credibility and trust 39:30 The public feels like big tech has too much control of everything 41:00 Creating a caucus of independents could be a fulcrum in the senate 42:15 Independents shouldn’t have to choose between Trump & Schumer 44:15 We are in desperate need of reform, and the constitution is difficult to amend 46:00 March Madness reminds you that the NBA regular season sucks 47:15 NBA players don’t try hard in the regular season & tanking is terrible 49:30 Long playoff series in the NBA are great 51:00 A shorter 1st round 5 game series injects some randomness into the playoffs 53:15 DC could be a great NBA market, but the Wizards are awful 55:00 NBA draft lottery needs some modification to address tanking 55:30 “Load management” also needs to be addressed 58:30 Urgency is what creates great competitive sports See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd reacts to the breaking news that Trump has fired Attorney General Pam Bondi — the second Cabinet member ousted in a month after Kristi Noem — and warns that what should alarm Americans isn't Bondi's departure but what comes next. He explains that like Jeff Sessions before her, Bondi apparently had lines she wouldn't cross: Trump grew frustrated that she hadn't prosecuted enough of his political enemies and was dissatisfied with her handling of the Epstein files. He traces Bondi's complicated history with Trump back to 2013, when she received fraud complaints against Trump University as Florida's attorney general, then dropped the investigation after a Trump PAC donated to her campaign — a transactional relationship that defined her entire arc. He argues that Trump doesn't believe in an independent justice system and never has, that he doesn't care about the law but only about loyalty, and that Bondi — a former Democrat who grew up in politics and was once a mostly by-the-book prosecutor in Tampa — has now destroyed her reputation with everyone by serving a president who discards people the moment they become inconvenient. With Trump's former personal criminal defense attorney Todd Blanche now installed as acting AG and Lee Zeldin reportedly under consideration as permanent replacement, Todd warns the DOJ could get far worse. He closes by turning to the Iran war's cascading energy crisis, which he says will be the worst the world has ever seen with Russia and China as the primary beneficiaries, and lays out the impossible bind: the U.S. will likely have to deploy ground troops to secure the Strait of Hormuz, but there will be disasters whether Trump commits those forces or simply walks away. Finally, he answers listeners’ questions in the Ask Chuck segment. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.   Timeline: 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 03:15 Trump fires Attorney General Pam Bondi 04:15 There were things Bondi wasn’t comfortable doing, like Jeff Sessions 05:30 Trump doesn’t believe in an independent justice system 06:30 Trump wants the DOJ to serve his own ends 07:45 Trump doesn’t care about the law, he cares about loyalty 09:00 Bondi used to be a Democrat, grew up in the world of politics 10:30 Bondi used to be a mostly by the book prosecutor in Tampa 12:00 In 2013, Bondi received fraud complaints against Trump University 12:30 Trump PAC donated to Bondi, the she dropped the lawsuit 13:15 Like Bill Barr, there were lines Bondi wouldn’t cross 14:15 Bondi has hurt her reputation with everyone by working for Trump 15:15 Bondi’s firing should concern everyone. DOJ could get far worse  16:00 Energy crisis due to Iran will be the worst ever. Russia & China benefit 17:30 We’re going to have to use ground troops to secure Strait of Hormuz 18:15 There will be disasters if Trump just leaves, and disasters with ground troops 23:15 Ask Chuck See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd reacts to the breaking news that Trump has fired Attorney General Pam Bondi — the second Cabinet member ousted in a month after Kristi Noem — and warns that what should alarm Americans isn't Bondi's departure but what comes next. He explains that like Jeff Sessions before her, Bondi apparently had lines she wouldn't cross: Trump grew frustrated that she hadn't prosecuted enough of his political enemies and was dissatisfied with her handling of the Epstein files. He traces Bondi's complicated history with Trump back to 2013, when she received fraud complaints against Trump University as Florida's attorney general, then dropped the investigation after a Trump PAC donated to her campaign — a transactional relationship that defined her entire arc. He argues that Trump doesn't believe in an independent justice system and never has, that he doesn't care about the law but only about loyalty, and that Bondi — a former Democrat who grew up in politics and was once a mostly by-the-book prosecutor in Tampa — has now destroyed her reputation with everyone by serving a president who discards people the moment they become inconvenient. With Trump's former personal criminal defense attorney Todd Blanche now installed as acting AG and Lee Zeldin reportedly under consideration as permanent replacement, Todd warns the DOJ could get far worse. He closes by turning to the Iran war's cascading energy crisis, which he says will be the worst the world has ever seen with Russia and China as the primary beneficiaries, and lays out the impossible bind: the U.S. will likely have to deploy ground troops to secure the Strait of Hormuz, but there will be disasters whether Trump commits those forces or simply walks away. Then, Eyck Freymann — Hoover Fellow at Stanford University and author of the new book Defending Taiwan: A Strategy to Prevent War with China — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a riveting conversation about the world's most dangerous geopolitical flashpoint at a moment when America is stretched dangerously thin by the Iran war. Freymann argues that the remainder of Trump's term represents a unique window of opportunity for Xi Jinping to move on Taiwan, not necessarily through a dramatic amphibious invasion — which Taiwan's geography makes incredibly difficult and which would result in the U.S. destroying China's navy and air force in a high-intensity conflict — but through coercion, quarantine, or political manipulation designed to change Taiwan's orientation without firing a shot. He explains that Taiwan is more than a strategic asset for China: it's a democratic success story that represents a shining alternative to CCP rule, making it the lynchpin of Xi's "national rejuvenation" project. Freymann unpacks Xi's recent purges of top military leaders as a sign that he now has full control of the PLA, notes that Western intelligence agencies have struggled to penetrate China's inner circle, and warns that Xi may issue direct threats to Taiwan during their 2028 election — a pattern of coercion that the U.S. must develop tools to deter. The conversation turns to what a realistic defense strategy looks like — and what the Iran war is teaching Beijing in real time. Freymann pushes back on war games that show China winning, arguing they aren't a crystal ball and that the U.S. retains significant advantages in cyber warfare and conventional naval power. But he warns that China is more likely to pursue a "quarantine" rather than a full blockade — a semantic distinction with enormous legal and strategic implications, since a blockade would turn the entire world against China while a quarantine creates more ambiguity. He notes that China is carefully studying both Russia's failures in Ukraine and America's struggles in Iran to learn what not to do. His bottom line: in the best-case scenario, we're headed for another cold war — but China doesn't actually want to fight the United States because the risks are far too high, and the American public, already exhausted by Iran, has zero appetite for another conflict. Finally, he answers listeners’ questions in the Ask Chuck segment. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 03:15 Trump fires Attorney General Pam Bondi 04:15 There were things Bondi wasn’t comfortable doing, like Jeff Sessions 05:30 Trump doesn’t believe in an independent justice system 06:30 Trump wants the DOJ to serve his own ends 07:45 Trump doesn’t care about the law, he cares about loyalty 09:00 Bondi used to be a Democrat, grew up in the world of politics 10:30 Bondi used to be a mostly by the book prosecutor in Tampa 12:00 In 2013, Bondi received fraud complaints against Trump University 12:30 Trump PAC donated to Bondi, the she dropped the lawsuit 13:15 Like Bill Barr, there were lines Bondi wouldn’t cross 14:15 Bondi has hurt her reputation with everyone by working for Trump 15:15 Bondi’s firing should concern everyone. DOJ could get far worse  16:00 Energy crisis due to Iran will be the worst ever. Russia & China benefit 17:30 We’re going to have to use ground troops to secure Strait of Hormuz 18:15 There will be disasters if Trump just leaves, and disasters with ground troops 24:30 Eyck Freymann joins The Chuck ToddCast 26:30 What is the strategy for defending Taiwan? 27:15 The U.S. has a long-standing “One China” policy 28:15 The goal is to let the Taiwan situation get resolved peacefully 29:45 What’s the practical reason the Chinese want Taiwan so badly? 30:15 Taiwan is a democratic success story, shining alternative to CCP 31:15 Taiwan’s geography makes an invasion incredibly difficult 32:45 If China can take Taiwan, other dominoes in the region could fall 33:30 Taiwan is a “nice to have” not “need to have” for China 35:00 China’s project is “national rejuvenation”, Taiwan is lynchpin of that 36:30 U.S. stretched thin, best chance for China is while Trump is president? 37:45 Remainder of Trump’s term is unique opportunity for Xi 40:15 How should we read Xi’s purges of top military leaders? 41:45 Xi Jinping doesn’t give many interviews, remains an enigma 44:30 Western intelligence agencies have struggled to penetrate China 46:15 Xi is in full control of the PLA after the military purges 47:15 The last thing you want to be in CCP is the rumored successor to Xi 48:30 Xi may issue threats to Taiwan during their 2028 election 51:00 How does the U.S. deter coercion of Taiwan by China? 52:15 War games showing China wins more often are not a crystal ball for reality 53:00 A high intensity war would result in the U.S. destroying PLA navy & air force 53:45 U.S. has advantage over China in cyber warfare 55:15 U.S. can stabilize the situation by responding proportionally 56:30 China thinks they can win a PR war, change Taiwan politically in their favor 58:00 American public has no appetite for war, Iran war unpopular from Day 1 59:30 Could Taiwanese who want independence just flee the country? 1:01:45 Occupying Taipei would make Kabul & Mosul look like child’s play 1:02:45 A blockade of Taiwan is Plan B, not Plan A 1:04:00 A blockade would turn the entire world against China 1:04:45 China more likely to “quarantine” Taiwan than blockade 1:06:30 China has grown a middle class that will demand services & stability 1:08:00 China’s economic ties to other countries create their own deterrence 1:10:30 China is 1/3rd of world manufacturing, in every global supply chain 1:12:15 Some version of TPP is coming back because we don’t have a choice 1:14:00 In the best case scenario, we’re headed for another cold war 1:16:30 Invading via the Taiwan strait is incredibly difficult 1:17:30 Chinese military is untested, could they “test” somewhere else? 1:18:15 China is taking lessons from Russia in Ukraine & U.S. in Iran 1:19:30 China doesn’t want to fight the U.S. - It’s far too risky  1:22:00 Ask Chuck See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Eyck Freymann — Hoover Fellow at Stanford University and author of the new book Defending Taiwan: A Strategy to Prevent War with China — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a riveting conversation about the world's most dangerous geopolitical flashpoint at a moment when America is stretched dangerously thin by the Iran war. Freymann argues that the remainder of Trump's term represents a unique window of opportunity for Xi Jinping to move on Taiwan, not necessarily through a dramatic amphibious invasion — which Taiwan's geography makes incredibly difficult and which would result in the U.S. destroying China's navy and air force in a high-intensity conflict — but through coercion, quarantine, or political manipulation designed to change Taiwan's orientation without firing a shot. He explains that Taiwan is more than a strategic asset for China: it's a democratic success story that represents a shining alternative to CCP rule, making it the lynchpin of Xi's "national rejuvenation" project. Freymann unpacks Xi's recent purges of top military leaders as a sign that he now has full control of the PLA, notes that Western intelligence agencies have struggled to penetrate China's inner circle, and warns that Xi may issue direct threats to Taiwan during their 2028 election — a pattern of coercion that the U.S. must develop tools to deter. The conversation turns to what a realistic defense strategy looks like — and what the Iran war is teaching Beijing in real time. Freymann pushes back on war games that show China winning, arguing they aren't a crystal ball and that the U.S. retains significant advantages in cyber warfare and conventional naval power. But he warns that China is more likely to pursue a "quarantine" rather than a full blockade — a semantic distinction with enormous legal and strategic implications, since a blockade would turn the entire world against China while a quarantine creates more ambiguity. He notes that China is carefully studying both Russia's failures in Ukraine and America's struggles in Iran to learn what not to do. His bottom line: in the best-case scenario, we're headed for another cold war — but China doesn't actually want to fight the United States because the risks are far too high, and the American public, already exhausted by Iran, has zero appetite for another conflict. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Eyck Freymann joins The Chuck ToddCast 02:00 What is the strategy for defending Taiwan? 02:45 The U.S. has a long-standing “One China” policy 03:45 The goal is to let the Taiwan situation get resolved peacefully 05:15 What’s the practical reason the Chinese want Taiwan so badly? 05:45 Taiwan is a democratic success story, shining alternative to CCP 06:45 Taiwan’s geography makes an invasion incredibly difficult 08:15 If China can take Taiwan, other dominoes in the region could fall 09:00 Taiwan is a “nice to have” not “need to have” for China 10:30 China’s project is “national rejuvenation”, Taiwan is lynchpin of that 12:00 U.S. stretched thin, best chance for China is while Trump is president? 13:15 Remainder of Trump’s term is unique opportunity for Xi 15:45 How should we read Xi’s purges of top military leaders? 17:15 Xi Jinping doesn’t give many interviews, remains an enigma 20:00 Western intelligence agencies have struggled to penetrate China 21:45 Xi is in full control of the PLA after the military purges 22:45 The last thing you want to be in CCP is the rumored successor to Xi 24:00 Xi may issue threats to Taiwan during their 2028 election 26:30 How does the U.S. deter coercion of Taiwan by China? 27:45 War games showing China wins more often are not a crystal ball for reality 28:30 A high intensity war would result in the U.S. destroying PLA navy & air force 29:15 U.S. has advantage over China in cyber warfare 30:45 U.S. can stabilize the situation by responding proportionally 32:00 China thinks they can win a PR war, change Taiwan politically in their favor 33:30 American public has no appetite for war, Iran war unpopular from Day 1 35:00 Could Taiwanese who want independence just flee the country? 37:15 Occupying Taipei would make Kabul & Mosul look like child’s play 38:15 A blockade of Taiwan is Plan B, not Plan A 39:30 A blockade would turn the entire world against China 40:15 China more likely to “quarantine” Taiwan than blockade 42:00 China has grown a middle class that will demand services & stability 43:30 China’s economic ties to other countries create their own deterrence 46:00 China is 1/3rd of world manufacturing, in every global supply chain 47:45 Some version of TPP is coming back because we don’t have a choice 49:30 In the best case scenario, we’re headed for another cold war 52:00 Invading via the Taiwan strait is incredibly difficult 53:00 Chinese military is untested, could they “test” somewhere else? 53:45 China is taking lessons from Russia in Ukraine & U.S. in Iran 55:00 China doesn’t want to fight the U.S. - It’s far too risky Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd delivers a devastating week-by-week timeline of Trump's increasingly incoherent Iran war messaging that reads like a case study in presidential self-entrapment. He reports that military movements on the ground suggest escalation even as Trump's rhetoric promises de-escalation, that Defense Secretary Hegseth was allegedly looking into investments in defense stocks before the war began, that Pam Bondi's DOJ has been quietly dropping huge numbers of white-collar cases, and that in the middle of a war, Trump has proposed building a massive skyscraper Trump library in Miami — all while reports emerge that the president is simply getting bored with the conflict. He warns that the second and third-order effects of the war haven't landed yet but will hit hard in the next four to six weeks, that markets look calmer than they should given the geopolitical reality. He also flags that Trump's poll numbers are lower than ever and the political environment is so favorable for Democrats they should win both chambers without even needing redistricting help, and closes with the emergence of a new but manageable COVID variant dubbed "Cicada" — a reminder that we can no longer rely on HHS to provide normal, common-sense public health guidance when the country needs it most. Finally Chuck updates his ToddCast Top 5 Republican senate seats most likely to turn blue in the midterm elections and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 02:15 Trump’s rhetoric over the war is confusing. Keeps saying it’s almost over 02:45 Military movements suggest we’re about to escalate the war 03:15 Trump is trying to balance the war with the markets 04:45 Week 1 Trump tried to project a sense of control, and says war will be short 05:30 In Week 2, Trump proposes something like a Marshall Plan for Iran 06:15 In Week 3, Trump promises that Iran is seeking a deal 07:00 Week 4, Trump proposes a pause on strikes to calm markets 07:45 Now Trump says talks are happening, but also issues threats to infrastructure 08:30 Trump’s social posts are frontrunning the Pentagon briefings 09:15 Trump knows he’s boxed himself in, put himself in impossible situation 10:30 Trump is clearly manipulating the markets with his social posts 11:45 Hegseth was allegedly looking into investments in defense stocks before war 13:30 Pam Bondi’s DOJ has been dropping huge numbers of white-collar cases 15:30 During a war, Trump proposes a huge skyscraper Trump library in Miami 17:15 Reports are that Trump is getting bored with the war 18:00 Trump’s poll numbers are lower than ever, Dems should win both houses 19:00 Political environment is so favorable for Dems, they don’t need redistricting 21:00 Markets look calmer than they should considering geopolitical concerns 22:00 2nd & 3rd effects of the war haven’t landed yet 23:30 The effects of the war are likely to hit hard in the next 4-6 weeks 24:30 Trump treated NATO allies terribly, then gets mad they won’t bail him out 25:30 If Trump walks away, he hands Iran more leverage of Strait of Hormuz 26:45 Eventually the markets & traders will have to accept reality 27:30 Trump cares most about his financial allies that pay him personally 29:30 The Gulf states thought they could manipulate Trump, but he’s erratic 30:15 Gulf states are probably having buyer’s remorse 31:30 War is accelerating green energy transition, China set to benefit most 32:45 War has strengthened Russia & China, weakened the United States 34:30 New but manageable COVID variant has emerged, the Cicada variant 36:00 We can’t rely on HHS to give us normal common sense health advice 40:00 Don’t forget Local News Day on April 9th! 40:45 ToddCast Top 5 Republican senate seats most likely to turn blue 42:15 The political environment for Republicans is terrible 43:15 May will be the month where we see if Republicans break with Trump 44:30 #1 North Carolina 46:00 #2 Maine 48:00 #3 Ohio 50:45 #4 Alaska 52:00 #5 Nebraska 57:45 Ask Chuck 58:00 What is going on with all the alien talk from government officials lately? 1:01:45 Is it possible to play by the old rules when both parties feel fight is existential? 1:05:15 Why don’t journalists more directly call out obvious lies?   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd delivers a devastating week-by-week timeline of Trump's increasingly incoherent Iran war messaging that reads like a case study in presidential self-entrapment. He reports that military movements on the ground suggest escalation even as Trump's rhetoric promises de-escalation, that Defense Secretary Hegseth was allegedly looking into investments in defense stocks before the war began, that Pam Bondi's DOJ has been quietly dropping huge numbers of white-collar cases, and that in the middle of a war, Trump has proposed building a massive skyscraper Trump library in Miami — all while reports emerge that the president is simply getting bored with the conflict. He warns that the second and third-order effects of the war haven't landed yet but will hit hard in the next four to six weeks, that markets look calmer than they should given the geopolitical reality. He also flags that Trump's poll numbers are lower than ever and the political environment is so favorable for Democrats they should win both chambers without even needing redistricting help, and closes with the emergence of a new but manageable COVID variant dubbed "Cicada" — a reminder that we can no longer rely on HHS to provide normal, common-sense public health guidance when the country needs it most. Then, Vanan Murugesan — executive director of Sahan Journal, Minnesota's only nonprofit newsroom dedicated to covering immigrants and communities of color — joins the Chuck Toddcast ahead of Local News Day on April 9th to discuss a dimension of the local news crisis that rarely gets attention: community news deserts. Murugesan explains that even in Minnesota — a state with relatively strong local news — immigrant stories were consistently missed or covered with biased narratives by mainstream outlets. He draws a vivid analogy: mainstream news organizations are like Target, offering broad coverage for a general audience, while immigrant outlets are specialty stores that reflect the specific realities of their communities.  The conversation turns to the business of sustaining community journalism in a fractured media landscape. Murugesan argues that the ideal model is 50 to 70 percent reader-funded through a combination of subscribers and donors, noting that audience size isn't the ultimate goal — who the audience is can matter as much as how large it is. He explains that immigrant newsrooms actually have an advantage because they don't follow the conservative, cautious practices of legacy media — they're willing to experiment with video, social media, and syndication partnerships that allow them to overindex their audience relative to their size. They discuss why  local service journalism — helping people navigate schools, immigration processes, and government services — isn't always sexy but is incredibly useful, while insisting that the joyful parts of the immigrant experience need to be better covered alongside the hardship. Finally Chuck updates his ToddCast Top 5 Republican senate seats most likely to turn blue in the midterm elections and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 02:15 Trump’s rhetoric over the war is confusing. Keeps saying it’s almost over 02:45 Military movements suggest we’re about to escalate the war 03:15 Trump is trying to balance the war with the markets 04:45 Week 1 Trump tried to project a sense of control, and says war will be short 05:30 In Week 2, Trump proposes something like a Marshall Plan for Iran 06:15 In Week 3, Trump promises that Iran is seeking a deal 07:00 Week 4, Trump proposes a pause on strikes to calm markets 07:45 Now Trump says talks are happening, but also issues threats to infrastructure 08:30 Trump’s social posts are frontrunning the Pentagon briefings 09:15 Trump knows he’s boxed himself in, put himself in impossible situation 10:30 Trump is clearly manipulating the markets with his social posts 11:45 Hegseth was allegedly looking into investments in defense stocks before war 13:30 Pam Bondi’s DOJ has been dropping huge numbers of white-collar cases 15:30 During a war, Trump proposes a huge skyscraper Trump library in Miami 17:15 Reports are that Trump is getting bored with the war 18:00 Trump’s poll numbers are lower than ever, Dems should win both houses 19:00 Political environment is so favorable for Dems, they don’t need redistricting 21:00 Markets look calmer than they should considering geopolitical concerns 22:00 2nd & 3rd effects of the war haven’t landed yet 23:30 The effects of the war are likely to hit hard in the next 4-6 weeks 24:30 Trump treated NATO allies terribly, then gets mad they won’t bail him out 25:30 If Trump walks away, he hands Iran more leverage of Strait of Hormuz 26:45 Eventually the markets & traders will have to accept reality 27:30 Trump cares most about his financial allies that pay him personally 29:30 The Gulf states thought they could manipulate Trump, but he’s erratic 30:15 Gulf states are probably having buyer’s remorse 31:30 War is accelerating green energy transition, China set to benefit most 32:45 War has strengthened Russia & China, weakened the United States 34:30 New but manageable COVID variant has emerged, the Cicada variant 36:00 We can’t rely on HHS to give us normal common sense health advice 42:00 Vanan Murugesan (Sahan Journal) joins the Chuck ToddCast 44:00 There are both local news deserts, and community news deserts 45:00 How would you describe the Sahan Journal and its mission? 46:00 Minnesota has great local news, but immigrant stories were missed 48:30 Immigrant media was created to reflect realities of their audience 50:30 Immigrants truly want to understand the place they’re living in 52:00 Mainstream outlets are like Target, immigrant outlets are specialty stores 54:00 How do you decide when a community needs a full time reporter? 55:00 Sahan publishes in English to serve all Minnesotans 57:00 Addressing immigrant issues can uplift the entire community 58:30 Why not publish in multiple languages? Is it a resource issue? 59:30 Sahan added a spanish language version 1:00:30 Insisted on using a spanish speaking human for translations 1:01:30 Digital tools allow for pretty good translation 1:04:30 What works about the nonprofit model? Could you see going for-profit? 1:05:30 Sustainability is the ultimate goal regardless of profit model 1:07:15 Generating revenue from subscribers + donors is the ideal model 1:08:45 Washington Post has become beholden to Jeff Bezos 1:10:45 Ideally, 50-70% reader funded is the business model 1:11:30 Audience size isn’t the ultimate panacea 1:12:30 Who the audience is can matter as much as the size of it 1:14:30 Craigslist destroyed the business model for local newspapers 1:17:00 Newsrooms tend to be conservative and cautious trying new models 1:20:30 Immigrant newsrooms due well to not follow national media practices 1:23:00 Media is fracturing, but the barrier to entry is getting lower 1:25:00 Able to overindex audience by using video & social media 1:26:00 Are you able to syndicate any of your work to other outlets? 1:27:30 Finding stories they can collaborate on with other outlets 1:28:30 Local service journalism isn’t always sexy but is incredibly useful 1:29:30 What type of service journalism do you produce? 1:30:45 The joyful part of the immigrant experience needs to be better covered 1:32:00 Trying to balance what the audience wants with what they need 1:33:45 Celebrating Local News Day on April 9th 1:34:15 Don’t forget Local News Day on April 9th! 1:35:00 ToddCast Top 5 Republican senate seats most likely to turn blue 1:36:30 The political environment for Republicans is terrible 1:37:30 May will be the month where we see if Republicans break with Trump 1:38:45 #1 North Carolina 1:40:15 #2 Maine 1:42:15 #3 Ohio 1:45:00 #4 Alaska 1:46:15 #5 Nebraska 1:52:00 Ask Chuck 1:52:15 What is going on with all the alien talk from government officials lately? 1:56:00 Is it possible to play by the old rules when both parties feel fight is existential? 1:59:30 Why don’t journalists more directly call out obvious lies?  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Vanan Murugesan — executive director of Sahan Journal, Minnesota's only nonprofit newsroom dedicated to covering immigrants and communities of color — joins the Chuck Toddcast ahead of Local News Day on April 9th to discuss a dimension of the local news crisis that rarely gets attention: community news deserts. Murugesan explains that even in Minnesota — a state with relatively strong local news — immigrant stories were consistently missed or covered with biased narratives by mainstream outlets. He draws a vivid analogy: mainstream news organizations are like Target, offering broad coverage for a general audience, while immigrant outlets are specialty stores that reflect the specific realities of their communities.  The conversation turns to the business of sustaining community journalism in a fractured media landscape. Murugesan argues that the ideal model is 50 to 70 percent reader-funded through a combination of subscribers and donors, noting that audience size isn't the ultimate goal — who the audience is can matter as much as how large it is. He explains that immigrant newsrooms actually have an advantage because they don't follow the conservative, cautious practices of legacy media — they're willing to experiment with video, social media, and syndication partnerships that allow them to overindex their audience relative to their size. They discuss why  local service journalism — helping people navigate schools, immigration processes, and government services — isn't always sexy but is incredibly useful, while insisting that the joyful parts of the immigrant experience need to be better covered alongside the hardship. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Vanan Murugesan (Sahan Journal) joins the Chuck ToddCast 02:00 There are both local news deserts, and community news deserts 03:00 How would you describe the Sahan Journal and its mission? 04:00 Minnesota has great local news, but immigrant stories were missed 06:30 Immigrant media was created to reflect realities of their audience 08:30 Immigrants truly want to understand the place they’re living in 10:00 Mainstream outlets are like Target, immigrant outlets are specialty stores 12:00 How do you decide when a community needs a full time reporter? 13:00 Sahan publishes in English to serve all Minnesotans  15:00 Addressing immigrant issues can uplift the entire community 16:30 Why not publish in multiple languages? Is it a resource issue? 17:30 Sahan added a spanish language version 18:30 Insisted on using a spanish speaking human for translations 19:30 Digital tools allow for pretty good translation 22:30 What works about the nonprofit model? Could you see going for-profit? 23:30 Sustainability is the ultimate goal regardless of profit model 25:15 Generating revenue from subscribers + donors is the ideal model 26:45 Washington Post has become beholden to Jeff Bezos 28:45 Ideally, 50-70% reader funded is the business model 29:30 Audience size isn’t the ultimate panacea 30:30 Who the audience is can matter as much as the size of it 32:30 Craigslist destroyed the business model for local newspapers 35:00 Newsrooms tend to be conservative and cautious trying new models 38:30 Immigrant newsrooms due well to not follow national media practices 41:00 Media is fracturing, but the barrier to entry is getting lower 43:00 Able to overindex audience by using video & social media 44:00 Are you able to syndicate any of your work to other outlets? 45:30 Finding stories they can collaborate on with other outlets 46:30 Local service journalism isn’t always sexy but is incredibly useful 47:30 What type of service journalism do you produce? 48:45 The joyful part of the immigrant experience needs to be better covered 50:00 Trying to balance what the audience wants with what they need 51:45 Celebrating Local News Day on April 9th See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd asks the most uncomfortable question in American politics: is the country's current dysfunction a problem that can be resolved at the ballot box, or are we living through a pre-Civil War style pressure buildup where fundamental divisions keep getting papered over rather than addressed? He draws a striking parallel between today's hyperpartisan era — where both parties are simultaneously fighting each other and tearing themselves apart internally — and the post-Jackson period of American politics, when the country flipped back and forth between parties without ever resolving the underlying wound of slavery. He traces the arc from the Compromise of 1850, when Millard Fillmore believed he'd saved the republic, through the repeal of the Missouri Compromise that led to Bleeding Kansas, to James Buchanan handing Abraham Lincoln a country already on fire — and asks whether modern America can heal its divides without mass violence. He closes with Lincoln's insight that you couldn't solve the divide by managing it — but insists it doesn't have to take a hot civil war to resolve America's fractures, even if it increasingly feels like the country still isn't ready to do the hard work of actually turning the page. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the creation of NATO in 1949 and asks whether an alliance built on stability and values can survive a transactional president like Donald Trump, and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code CHUCKTODDCAST at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/chucktoddcast Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 01:00 Reaction to March Madness 03:15 Nats are 2-1!  6:45 Trump orders TSA workers to be paid via executive order  7:45 Both parties are fighting each other, and also infighting  8:45 The house has the hardliners, the senate has the compromisers  9:15 Is the country ready to move on from dysfunction & hyperpartisanship?  11:30 For the 21st century, the country has flipped back & forth between parties  12:15 Similarities to the post-Jackson era of American politics  14:30 Problems and divisions were left unresolved  16:00 The wound over slavery was never healed, pressure kept building  17:00 Fillmore offered the compromise of 1850, thought he saved the republic  18:45 The Missouri Compromise was repealed, led to conflict in Kansas  20:30 Buchanon handed Lincoln a country already on fire  21:15 Can modern America heal its divides without mass violence?  22:15 8 million turned out for No Kings protests  23:45 CPAC was completely different universe compared to No Kings  25:00 Trump’s poll numbers are tanking on multiple issues  25:45 Democrats brand is still worse than Republicans in polls  26:30 We don’t seem to have the leaders we need to turn the page  27:15 The economy is a mess and it’s almost entirely Trump’s fault  28:15 The GOP hasn’t finished its own internal reckoning  29:30 It feels like America still isn’t ready to turn the page yet  30:30 The two parties have two fundamentally different visions for America  33:00 Will 2026 be a paradigm shift, or yet another pendulum swing?  34:00 Lincoln understood you couldn’t solve the divide by managing it  37:00 It doesn’t have to take a hot civil war to solve America’s divides 42:30 California’s governor race still shaping up 44:15 ToddCast Time Machine April 4th 1949 45:00 12 countries met to create the North Atlantic Treaty Organization 46:15 League of Nations didn’t have any binding enforcement mechanisms 47:15 Breakthrough came via the Vandenberg Resolution 48:15 Article 5 allowed constitutional discretion, made ratification possible 49:30 In 1955, West Germany was admitted, but it was uncomfortable 50:15 NATO has a simple purpose, deter the Soviet Union 50:45 NATO continued to grow eastward 53:00 Trump believes NATO should do whatever he wants them to 53:30 Trump has made NATO believe America’s help is conditional 54:30 Can an alliance built on certainty function in this era? 55:45 What happens to Ukraine portends whether NATO can survive 56:00 Ask Chuck 56:15 Why has job creation stopped being part of our political discourse? 1:00:15 What other points of leverage like the Strait of Hormuz exist in the world? 1:02:15 Trump conflates political asylum with insane asylums? 1:03:15 Democrats' problem less about leaders & instead poor messaging? 1:06:30 A 2/3rds vote in the senate as a check on the pardon power? 1:08:00 Will attorney John Morgan run for governor? 1:04:30 Thoughts of putting all parties on the same primary ballot?   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd asks the most uncomfortable question in American politics: is the country's current dysfunction a problem that can be resolved at the ballot box, or are we living through a pre-Civil War style pressure buildup where fundamental divisions keep getting papered over rather than addressed? He draws a striking parallel between today's hyperpartisan era — where both parties are simultaneously fighting each other and tearing themselves apart internally — and the post-Jackson period of American politics, when the country flipped back and forth between parties without ever resolving the underlying wound of slavery. He traces the arc from the Compromise of 1850, when Millard Fillmore believed he'd saved the republic, through the repeal of the Missouri Compromise that led to Bleeding Kansas, to James Buchanan handing Abraham Lincoln a country already on fire — and asks whether modern America can heal its divides without mass violence. He closes with Lincoln's insight that you couldn't solve the divide by managing it — but insists it doesn't have to take a hot civil war to resolve America's fractures, even if it increasingly feels like the country still isn't ready to do the hard work of actually turning the page. Then, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan — the moderate Democrat, former tech entrepreneur, and Harvard-educated candidate for California governor — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a policy-dense conversation about what's wrong with California governance and how to fix it. Mahan argues that California has enormous resources but isn't delivering better results, and that the best form of resistance to Trumpism isn't performative opposition but good governance that actually improves people's lives. He walks through his record in San Jose — where he prioritized basic dignified shelter over expensive permanent housing and is now leading the state in reducing unsheltered homelessness — and makes the case that expensive housing is fundamentally a public policy failure driven by environmental review processes that needlessly slow construction. On AI, Mahan notes that Silicon Valley's libertarian tech culture has historically disengaged from civic life, but warns that AI is coming fast and California has both the responsibility and the opportunity to set guardrails that could become the national standard — particularly around transparency in government data use and serious law enforcement around data violations. The conversation gets politically candid as they navigate the tensions within the Democratic Party. Mahan argues that California Democrats can't blame anyone else for the state's governance failures, that every year revenue goes up faster than population growth yet outcomes get worse, and that highly organized interest groups end up wielding a veto over meaningful change. He opposes the proposed California billionaire wealth tax — not because he's defending billionaires, he insists, but because taxing the ultra-wealthy needs to happen at the federal level to avoid driving companies out of state — and disagrees with Newsom's handling of Proposition 36, arguing the state should force people into either treatment or jail rather than allowing open drug markets. On California's jungle primary, Mahan dismisses concerns about two Republican candidates advancing as overblown, pushes back on the idea he should run as an independent, and contends that Democrats need to update their platform and make government actually work rather than relying on "resistance warrior" posturing.  Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the creation of NATO in 1949 and asks whether an alliance built on stability and values can survive a transactional president like Donald Trump, and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code CHUCKTODDCAST at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/chucktoddcast Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 01:00 Reaction to March Madness 03:15 Nats are 2-1!  08:45 Trump orders TSA workers to be paid via executive order 09:45 Both parties are fighting each other, and also infighting 10:45 The house has the hardliners, the senate has the compromisers 11:15 Is the country ready to move on from dysfunction & hyperpartisanship? 13:30 For the 21st century, the country has flipped back & forth between parties 14:15 Similarities to the post-Jackson era of American politics 16:30 Problems and divisions were left unresolved 18:00 The wound over slavery was never healed, pressure kept building 19:00 Fillmore offered the compromise of 1850, thought he saved the republic 20:45 The Missouri Compromise was repealed, led to conflict in Kansas 22:30 Buchanon handed Lincoln a country already on fire 23:15 Can modern America heal its divides without mass violence? 24:15 8 million turned out for No Kings protests 25:45 CPAC was completely different universe compared to No Kings  27:00 Trump’s poll numbers are tanking on multiple issues 27:45 Democrats brand is still worse than Republicans in polls 28:30 We don’t seem to have the leaders we need to turn the page 29:15 The economy is a mess and it’s almost entirely Trump’s fault 30:15 The GOP hasn’t finished its own internal reckoning 31:30 It feels like America still isn’t ready to turn the page yet 32:30 The two parties have two fundamentally different visions for America 35:00 Will 2026 be a paradigm shift, or yet another pendulum swing? 36:00 Lincoln understood you couldn’t solve the divide by managing it 39:00 It doesn’t have to take a hot civil war to solve America’s divides 47:00 Mayor Matt Mahan (San Jose) joins the Chuck ToddCast 48:30 What got you into politics and made you want to run for mayor? 50:30 What are the other Dems in the race missing that you can bring? 51:45 California has a lot of resources but isn’t delivering better results 53:00 San Jose become the place where Palo Alto workers actually live 54:30 Why has San Jose lacked a real urban center? 55:45 Tech sector is very libertarian & didn’t really engage the community 58:15 Concerns that AI is coming quickly & can do both good and harm 59:45 If California puts guardrails on AI, that could become national standard 1:01:00 Government has responsibility to be transparent about AI data use 1:02:30 California has to create framework for AI security, regulation & transparency 1:03:15 The unknown of AI has created fear amongst the American public 1:04:30 The lack of trust in AI is because social media has been such a negative 1:06:00 There needs to be serious law enforcement around data violations 1:07:15 Media literacy & critical thinking need to be taught in public schools 1:08:45 What are you getting right in tackling homelessness in San Jose? 1:09:45 Prioritized basic dignified shelter over expensive permanent housing 1:11:00 San Jose is leading California in solving homelessness 1:12:00 California hasn’t built enough shelter or treatment facilities 1:13:00 Expensive housing is a public policy failure 1:13:45 Why does environmental review have to slow down construction? 1:15:00 Environmental impacts go far beyond just clean air & water 1:15:45 Technology can drastically speed up environmental review 1:17:00 Infill construction permits should be approved/denied in 30 days 1:18:30 Are tenant protection laws sufficient to protect ADU renters? 1:20:00 22% of new housing built in San Jose is ADUs 1:20:30 Are taxes too high in California? 1:21:15 California has one of the most progressive tax structures in the country 1:21:45 Gas tax is one of California’s most regressive, EV owners need to pay 1:23:15 A per vehicle flat fee for both gas & EVs makes the most sense 1:25:00 Every year revenue goes up faster than population w/ worse outcomes 1:26:15 What has Newsom gotten right & wrong? 1:28:30 Disagreed with Newsom on Prop 36 & force either treatment or jail 1:29:30 Highly organized interests end up getting a veto over change 1:31:30 Best form of resistance to Trumpism is good governance 1:32:30 The math problem for Democrats in California’s jungle primary 1:33:15 The concern over two GOP candidates winning is overblown 1:36:15 Voters are skeptical of both parties, why not run as an independent? 1:38:00 Democrats need to update the party platform & make government work 1:39:30 Voters frustrated with Trump gravitate towards “resistance warriors” 1:41:00 California Democrats can’t blame anyone else for California’s governance 1:41:30 Better ways to make tax code fairer than proposed billionaire wealth tax 1:42:30 Taxing the ultra wealthy needs to be done at the federal level 1:43:15 Opposing CA wealth tax isn’t defending billionaires   1:45:45 California’s governor race still shaping up 1:47:30 ToddCast Time Machine April 4th 1949 1:48:15 12 countries met to create the North Atlantic Treaty Organization 1:49:30 League of Nations didn’t have any binding enforcement mechanisms 1:50:30 Breakthrough came via the Vandenberg Resolution 1:51:30 Article 5 allowed constitutional discretion, made ratification possible 1:52:45 In 1955, West Germany was admitted, but it was uncomfortable 1:53:30 NATO has a simple purpose, deter the Soviet Union 1:54:00 NATO continued to grow eastward 1:56:15 Trump believes NATO should do whatever he wants them to 1:56:45 Trump has made NATO believe America’s help is conditional 1:57:45 Can an alliance built on certainty function in this era? 1:59:00 What happens to Ukraine portends whether NATO can survive

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan — the moderate Democrat, former tech entrepreneur, and Harvard-educated candidate for California governor — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a policy-dense conversation about what's wrong with California governance and how to fix it. Mahan argues that California has enormous resources but isn't delivering better results, and that the best form of resistance to Trumpism isn't performative opposition but good governance that actually improves people's lives. He walks through his record in San Jose — where he prioritized basic dignified shelter over expensive permanent housing and is now leading the state in reducing unsheltered homelessness — and makes the case that expensive housing is fundamentally a public policy failure driven by environmental review processes that needlessly slow construction. On AI, Mahan notes that Silicon Valley's libertarian tech culture has historically disengaged from civic life, but warns that AI is coming fast and California has both the responsibility and the opportunity to set guardrails that could become the national standard — particularly around transparency in government data use and serious law enforcement around data violations. The conversation gets politically candid as they navigate the tensions within the Democratic Party. Mahan argues that California Democrats can't blame anyone else for the state's governance failures, that every year revenue goes up faster than population growth yet outcomes get worse, and that highly organized interest groups end up wielding a veto over meaningful change. He opposes the proposed California billionaire wealth tax — not because he's defending billionaires, he insists, but because taxing the ultra-wealthy needs to happen at the federal level to avoid driving companies out of state — and disagrees with Newsom's handling of Proposition 36, arguing the state should force people into either treatment or jail rather than allowing open drug markets. On California's jungle primary, Mahan dismisses concerns about two Republican candidates advancing as overblown, pushes back on the idea he should run as an independent, and contends that Democrats need to update their platform and make government actually work rather than relying on "resistance warrior" posturing.  Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code CHUCKTODDCAST at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/chucktoddcast Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Mayor Matt Mahan joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:30 What got you into politics and made you want to run for mayor? 03:30 What are the other Dems in the race missing that you can bring? 04:45 California has a lot of resources but isn’t delivering better results 06:00 San Jose become the place where Palo Alto workers actually live 07:30 Why has San Jose lacked a real urban center? 08:45 Tech sector is very libertarian & didn’t really engage the community 11:15 Concerns that AI is coming quickly & can do both good and harm 12:45 If California puts guardrails on AI, that could become national standard 14:00 Government has responsibility to be transparent about AI data use 15:30 California has to create framework for AI security, regulation & transparency 16:15 The unknown of AI has created fear amongst the American public 17:30 The lack of trust in AI is because social media has been such a negative 19:00 There needs to be serious law enforcement around data violations 20:15 Media literacy & critical thinking need to be taught in public schools 21:45 What are you getting right in tackling homelessness in San Jose? 22:45 Prioritized basic dignified shelter over expensive permanent housing 24:00 San Jose is leading California in solving homelessness 25:00 California hasn’t built enough shelter or treatment facilities 26:00 Expensive housing is a public policy failure 26:45 Why does environmental review have to slow down construction? 28:00 Environmental impacts go far beyond just clean air & water 28:45 Technology can drastically speed up environmental review 30:00 Infill construction permits should be approved/denied in 30 days 31:30 Are tenant protection laws sufficient to protect ADU renters? 33:00 22% of new housing built in San Jose is ADUs 33:30 Are taxes too high in California? 34:15 California has one of the most progressive tax structures in the country 34:45 Gas tax is one of California’s most regressive, EV owners need to pay 36:15 A per vehicle flat fee for both gas & EVs makes the most sense 38:00 Every year revenue goes up faster than population w/ worse outcomes 39:15 What has Newsom gotten right & wrong? 41:30 Disagreed with Newsom on Prop 36 & force either treatment or jail 42:30 Highly organized interests end up getting a veto over change 44:30 Best form of resistance to Trumpism is good governance 45:30 The math problem for Democrats in California’s jungle primary 46:15 The concern over two GOP candidates winning is overblown 49:15 Voters are skeptical of both parties, why not run as an independent? 51:00 Democrats need to update the party platform & make government work 52:30 Voters frustrated with Trump gravitate towards “resistance warriors” 54:00 California Democrats can’t blame anyone else for California’s governance 54:30 Better ways to make tax code fairer than proposed billionaire wealth tax 55:30 Taxing the ultra wealthy needs to be done at the federal level 56:15 Opposing CA wealth tax isn’t defending billionaires See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd reveals that Trump's planned visit to Beijing on May 14th and 15th may function as a de facto deadline for wrapping up the Iran war, noting that Trump wants to end the conflict more than the Iranian regime does — a devastating negotiating position — and that his own voters are being hit hardest by soaring gas prices since they drive more than the average American, while lawmakers in compact D.C. remain insulated from the pain. He unpacks the Gulf states' precarious calculus: the Saudis and Emiratis are terrified Trump will retreat and leave Iran with leverage, knowing that once the U.S. leaves the region it isn't coming back anytime soon, but they also have significant business leverage over Trump and his family that complicates every decision. He then pivots to what should be a triumphant moment for Democrats — they've flipped 30 Republican seats since Trump took office without losing a single one, won two government shutdowns, and are operating in the best political climate in years — but finds a party that feels leaderless, with Chuck Schumer at the center of the dysfunction. He reports that some Senate Democrats want Schumer to step aside, that he's become paranoid about leaks and tells different caucus members what they want to hear (a tactic known internally as "getting Schumed"), He closes with a sharp critique of Democrats in Virginia who are advocating for indefensible partisan redistricting — arguing that the Democratic brand still has lower favorability than both the GOP and MAGA brands, that the Democratic base is smaller than the Republican base and therefore needs moderates to win, and that deploying the same gerrymandering tactics they claim to oppose is exactly the kind of hypocrisy that keeps voters from trusting the party. Then, Maryland Congressman Johnny Olszewski — the author of the Pardon Integrity Act, a proposed constitutional amendment that would give Congress the power to reject presidential pardons with a two-thirds supermajority vote — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a frank conversation about fixing a broken democracy and what Democrats should prioritize if they retake the House. Olszewski argues that the presidential pardon is the biggest loophole between democracy and autocracy, a power straight out of a monarchy that the founders failed to adequately check, and notes that Congress actually tried to curb pardon authority after Nixon but the effort stalled. His amendment, which is structured like a veto override and has already attracted Republican co-sponsor Don Bacon, would allow 20 House members and five senators to initiate a review process with 60 days to nullify a pardon. Olszewski is careful to spread the blame across parties — calling Trump's 1,600 pardons in 2025 alone "exceptionally egregious" but acknowledges that Biden’s preemptive pardons were a bad thing — and says nobody in Congress actually thinks the proposal is a bad idea. The conversation broadens into a sobering assessment of congressional dysfunction and the state of American democracy. Olszewski describes the current Congress as one of the least productive ever, with both parties proposing unpassable messaging bills rather than legislating, and warns that partisan redistricting combined with partisan primaries creates a vicious cycle where the Republicans most willing to compromise are the ones most likely to lose their primaries. On Democratic strategy, Olszewski argues that if impeachable offenses exist they should be pursued but the party must focus on voters' needs, that Hakeem Jeffries should center his speakership on affordability if Democrats retake the House, and that Congress needs to come together to ban bipartisan gerrymandering. He insists that repairing democracy transcends partisan politics — the country needs people to believe in the institution of Congress again, and that requires restraints not just on this president but on all future ones. Finally, Chuck proposes a major change to the NCAA basketball tournament… an expanded, 96 team playoff that would benefit both athletics and academics, celebrates the start of the MLB season, and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code CHUCKTODDCAST at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/chucktoddcast Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 3:00 We may have a new deadline for Trump to wrap up the Iran war 3:30 Trump to visit Beijing on May 14th & 15th 4:45 Trump wants to end the war more than the Iranian regime 6:15 Trump voters drive more, gas prices will impact them more 7:30 Lawmakers are insulated from gas prices since D.C. is compact 8:45 Saudis and Emirates afraid Trump will retreat & leave Iran with leverage 9:45 Gulf states know that once the U.S. leaves they aren’t coming back soon 11:15 Saudis and Emirates have business leverage over Trump & his family 12:00 Trump will have to weigh business vs. political interests 13:00 Ground forces still being deployed to the region 14:00 Democrats in great political climate, but party feels rudderless & leaderless 14:45 Dems have flipped 30 Republican seats since Trump took office, lost none 15:30 Democrats have ushered in two government shutdowns & winning both 17:00 ICE’s abuses drove Dems to shutdown, the public largely supports them 17:45 Deploying ICE to airports is a dumb political move by Trump 19:15 Markwayne Mullin seems open to getting rid of ICE masking 21:15 The traveling public needs to be insulated from these political fights 22:30 Democrats should make the deal, but Chuck Schumer struggling to lead 23:15 Senate Democrats want Schumer to step aside as leader 26:00 Brian Schatz could be potential replacement, but expressed support for Schumer 28:30 Many longtime establishment senators have rallied behind Schumer 29:30 Schumer seems paranoid of leaks, and doesn’t share enough information 31:00 Confusion between senate Dems over whether there was deal to end shutdown 32:15 Schumer trying to appease everyone, telling them what they want to hear 33:00 The tactic is known as “Getting Schumed” 35:00 Schumer seems to have lost his fastball & is always looking over his shoulder 36:15 Schumer has become the stand-in for the establishment 37:45 Schumer can’t be seen as fighting the progressives and losing 40:00 Abigail Spanberger didn’t run as a partisan, forced into partisan redistricting 41:45 Partisan redistricting results in the election of partisan hacks 44:45 Dem base is smaller than GOP base, Dems need to win moderates 45:45 Dems in Virginia are advocating for indefensible partisan redistricting 46:45 Democratic brand still has lower favorability than GOP & MAGA   53:00 Chuck’s proposal for the NCAA basketball tournament 54:15 Big East is closer to the A10 than the other power conferences 55:15 People say they love cinderellas in the Final Four, then don’t watch 56:30 Applications surge to mid-majors that advanced far in tournament 58:30 Schools were able to get higher quality students & faculty 59:00 Success in athletics leads to success in academics 59:30 Expand the tournament to 96 teams 1:00:45 96 teams is still less than 1/3rd of potential schools 1:02:15 Expanded tournament would be a net positive for higher education 1:03:45 Four regions, 24 teams per region - 2 teams seeded 9-16 1:06:30 You get more basketball, and a better chance for midmajors 1:08:45 Everybody would make more money, & it’d be more fan friendly 1:11:00 The best teams would still advance 1:13:30 It’s opening day in Major League Baseball 1:15:30 Most intriguing MLB teams 1:18:45 MLB dark horses 1:20:00 Ask Chuck 1:20:15 Why didn’t you include 1858 Lincoln v Douglas in Top 5 Illinois campaigns? 1:22:15 If we don’t get oil from the Strait of Hormuz, why have our gas prices gone up? 1:24:00 How can we rebalance focus from national to local politics? 1:29:30 Was Kristi Noem’s DHS PR campaign in service of a presidential run? 1:33:00 Do you think Trump will invade Iran with boots on the ground? 1:35:45 Who is advising the president on potential outcomes, intel seems degraded? 1:42:45 Could Democrats benefit from putting forward a “contract with America” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd reveals that Trump's planned visit to Beijing on May 14th and 15th may function as a de facto deadline for wrapping up the Iran war, noting that Trump wants to end the conflict more than the Iranian regime does — a devastating negotiating position — and that his own voters are being hit hardest by soaring gas prices since they drive more than the average American, while lawmakers in compact D.C. remain insulated from the pain. He unpacks the Gulf states' precarious calculus: the Saudis and Emiratis are terrified Trump will retreat and leave Iran with leverage, knowing that once the U.S. leaves the region it isn't coming back anytime soon, but they also have significant business leverage over Trump and his family that complicates every decision. He then pivots to what should be a triumphant moment for Democrats — they've flipped 30 Republican seats since Trump took office without losing a single one, won two government shutdowns, and are operating in the best political climate in years — but finds a party that feels leaderless, with Chuck Schumer at the center of the dysfunction. He reports that some Senate Democrats want Schumer to step aside, that he's become paranoid about leaks and tells different caucus members what they want to hear (a tactic known internally as "getting Schumed"), He closes with a sharp critique of Democrats in Virginia who are advocating for indefensible partisan redistricting — arguing that the Democratic brand still has lower favorability than both the GOP and MAGA brands, that the Democratic base is smaller than the Republican base and therefore needs moderates to win, and that deploying the same gerrymandering tactics they claim to oppose is exactly the kind of hypocrisy that keeps voters from trusting the party. Then, Maryland Congressman Johnny Olszewski — the author of the Pardon Integrity Act, a proposed constitutional amendment that would give Congress the power to reject presidential pardons with a two-thirds supermajority vote — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a frank conversation about fixing a broken democracy and what Democrats should prioritize if they retake the House. Olszewski argues that the presidential pardon is the biggest loophole between democracy and autocracy, a power straight out of a monarchy that the founders failed to adequately check, and notes that Congress actually tried to curb pardon authority after Nixon but the effort stalled. His amendment, which is structured like a veto override and has already attracted Republican co-sponsor Don Bacon, would allow 20 House members and five senators to initiate a review process with 60 days to nullify a pardon. Olszewski is careful to spread the blame across parties — calling Trump's 1,600 pardons in 2025 alone "exceptionally egregious" but acknowledges that Biden’s preemptive pardons were a bad thing — and says nobody in Congress actually thinks the proposal is a bad idea. The conversation broadens into a sobering assessment of congressional dysfunction and the state of American democracy. Olszewski describes the current Congress as one of the least productive ever, with both parties proposing unpassable messaging bills rather than legislating, and warns that partisan redistricting combined with partisan primaries creates a vicious cycle where the Republicans most willing to compromise are the ones most likely to lose their primaries. On Democratic strategy, Olszewski argues that if impeachable offenses exist they should be pursued but the party must focus on voters' needs, that Hakeem Jeffries should center his speakership on affordability if Democrats retake the House, and that Congress needs to come together to ban bipartisan gerrymandering. He insists that repairing democracy transcends partisan politics — the country needs people to believe in the institution of Congress again, and that requires restraints not just on this president but on all future ones. Finally, Chuck proposes a major change to the NCAA basketball tournament… an expanded, 96 team playoff that would benefit both athletics and academics, celebrates the start of the MLB season, and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code CHUCKTODDCAST at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/chucktoddcast Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 07:30 We may have a new deadline for Trump to wrap up the Iran war 08:00 Trump to visit Beijing on May 14th & 15th 09:15 Trump wants to end the war more than the Iranian regime 10:45 Trump voters drive more, gas prices will impact them more 12:00 Lawmakers are insulated from gas prices since D.C. is compact 13:15 Saudis and Emirates afraid Trump will retreat & leave Iran with leverage 14:15 Gulf states know that once the U.S. leaves they aren’t coming back soon 15:45 Saudis and Emirates have business leverage over Trump & his family 16:30 Trump will have to weigh business vs. political interests 17:30 Ground forces still being deployed to the region 18:30 Democrats in great political climate, but party feels rudderless & leaderless 19:15 Dems have flipped 30 Republican seats since Trump took office, lost none 20:00 Democrats have ushered in two government shutdowns & winning both 21:30 ICE’s abuses drove Dems to shutdown, the public largely supports them  22:15 Deploying ICE to airports is a dumb political move by Trump 23:45 Markwayne Mullin seems open to getting rid of ICE masking 25:45 The traveling public needs to be insulated from these political fights 27:00 Democrats should make the deal, but Chuck Schumer struggling to lead 27:45 Senate Democrats want Schumer to step aside as leader 30:30 Brian Schatz could be potential replacement, but expressed support for Schumer 33:00 Many longtime establishment senators have rallied behind Schumer 34:00 Schumer seems paranoid of leaks, and doesn’t share enough information 35:30 Confusion between senate Dems over whether there was deal to end shutdown 36:45 Schumer trying to appease everyone, telling them what they want to hear 37:30 The tactic is known as “Getting Schumed” 39:30 Schumer seems to have lost his fastball & is always looking over his shoulder 40:45 Schumer has become the stand-in for the establishment 42:15 Schumer can’t be seen as fighting the progressives and losing 44:30 Abigail Spanberger didn’t run as a partisan, forced into partisan redistricting 46:15 Partisan redistricting results in the election of partisan hacks 49:15 Dem base is smaller than GOP base, Dems need to win moderates 50:15 Dems in Virginia are advocating for indefensible partisan redistricting 51:15 Democratic brand still has lower favorability than GOP & MAGA 57:30 Rep. Johnny Olszewski joins the Chuck ToddCast 58:45 Pardon clause is biggest loophole between democracy & autocracy 1:00:30 Do you have more Republicans on board with the pardon amendment? 1:01:15 Pardon amendment is structured like a veto override 1:01:45 Trump’s pardons are exceptionally egregious 1:02:15 Biden’s preemptive pardons for family members were also terrible 1:04:00 Pardon power is a loophole right out of a monarchy 1:05:00 Congress wanted to curb pardon power after Nixon, but it stalled 1:06:45 We need people to believe in the institution of congress again 1:08:00 Should a pardon board be created similar to those at the state level? 1:10:00 What’s the strategy for getting the pardon amendment passed? 1:10:45 Nobody in congress thinks the proposal is a bad idea 1:13:00 We haven’t passed a meaningful amendment since JFK assassination 1:13:45 Repairing the democracy transcends partisan politics 1:15:00 What should Democrats prioritize if they retake the house majority? 1:15:45 If impeachable offenses exist, pursue them, but focus on voters’ needs 1:18:00 The current congress is one of the least productive ever 1:20:30 Both parties propose unpassable messaging bills 1:22:15 The minority is rarely treated well by the majority 1:24:30 Democrats can compromise on policy but not core values 1:25:30 Depending on the members, there may be space for compromise 1:26:00 R’s willing to compromise are most likely to lose their primary 1:26:45 Partisan redistricting + partisan elections leads to bad outcomes 1:30:00 Seriously concerned about certification of the 2028 election 1:31:00 Worried that Speaker Johnson will mess with the 2026 result? 1:33:30 Government has resources to make lives better if not for partisanship 1:36:00 Congress has passed almost no meaningful legislation 1:38:15 Congress needs to come together and ban bipartisan gerrymandering 1:40:30 No appetite in congress for uncapping size of house, talk of rank choice voting 1:41:45 If Hakeem Jeffries becomes speaker, he needs to focus on affordability 1:42:45 The numbers aren’t there to advance an impeachment inquiry 1:44:30 We need restraints on this president and future presidents 1:45:00 Thoughts on Wes Moore running for president? 1:46:00 What’s “electability” going to mean in 2028?   1:50:00 Chuck’s proposal for the NCAA basketball tournament 1:51:15 Big East is closer to the A10 than the other power conferences 1:52:15 People say they love cinderellas in the Final Four, then don’t watch 1:53:30 Applications surge to mid-majors that advanced far in tournament 1:55:30 Schools were able to get higher quality students & faculty 1:56:00 Success in athletics leads to success in academics 1:56:30 Expand the tournament to 96 teams 1:57:45 96 teams is still less than 1/3rd of potential schoo

Maryland Congressman Johnny Olszewski — the author of the Pardon Integrity Act, a proposed constitutional amendment that would give Congress the power to reject presidential pardons with a two-thirds supermajority vote — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a frank conversation about fixing a broken democracy and what Democrats should prioritize if they retake the House. Olszewski argues that the presidential pardon is the biggest loophole between democracy and autocracy, a power straight out of a monarchy that the founders failed to adequately check, and notes that Congress actually tried to curb pardon authority after Nixon but the effort stalled. His amendment, which is structured like a veto override and has already attracted Republican co-sponsor Don Bacon, would allow 20 House members and five senators to initiate a review process with 60 days to nullify a pardon. Olszewski is careful to spread the blame across parties — calling Trump's 1,600 pardons in 2025 alone "exceptionally egregious" but acknowledges that Biden’s preemptive pardons were a bad thing — and says nobody in Congress actually thinks the proposal is a bad idea. The conversation broadens into a sobering assessment of congressional dysfunction and the state of American democracy. Olszewski describes the current Congress as one of the least productive ever, with both parties proposing unpassable messaging bills rather than legislating, and warns that partisan redistricting combined with partisan primaries creates a vicious cycle where the Republicans most willing to compromise are the ones most likely to lose their primaries. On Democratic strategy, Olszewski argues that if impeachable offenses exist they should be pursued but the party must focus on voters' needs, that Hakeem Jeffries should center his speakership on affordability if Democrats retake the House, and that Congress needs to come together to ban bipartisan gerrymandering. He insists that repairing democracy transcends partisan politics — the country needs people to believe in the institution of Congress again, and that requires restraints not just on this president but on all future ones. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code CHUCKTODDCAST at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/chucktoddcast Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Rep. Johnny Olszewski joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:15 Pardon clause is biggest loophole between democracy & autocracy 03:00 Do you have more Republicans on board with the pardon amendment? 03:45 Pardon amendment is structured like a veto override 04:15 Trump’s pardons are exceptionally egregious 04:45 Biden’s preemptive pardons for family members were also terrible 06:30 Pardon power is a loophole right out of a monarchy 07:30 Congress wanted to curb pardon power after Nixon, but it stalled 09:15 We need people to believe in the institution of congress again 10:30 Should a pardon board be created similar to those at the state level? 12:30 What’s the strategy for getting the pardon amendment passed? 13:15 Nobody in congress thinks the proposal is a bad idea 15:30 We haven’t passed a meaningful amendment since JFK assassination 16:15 Repairing the democracy transcends partisan politics 17:30 What should Democrats prioritize if they retake the house majority? 18:15 If impeachable offenses exist, pursue them, but focus on voters’ needs 20:30 The current congress is one of the least productive ever 23:00 Both parties propose unpassable messaging bills 24:45 The minority is rarely treated well by the majority 27:00 Democrats can compromise on policy but not core values 28:00 Depending on the members, there may be space for compromise 28:30 R’s willing to compromise are most likely to lose their primary 29:15 Partisan redistricting + partisan elections leads to bad outcomes 32:30 Seriously concerned about certification of the 2028 election 33:30 Worried that Speaker Johnson will mess with the 2026 result? 36:00 Government has resources to make lives better if not for partisanship 38:30 Congress has passed almost no meaningful legislation 40:45 Congress needs to come together and ban bipartisan gerrymandering 43:00 No appetite in congress for uncapping size of house, talk of rank choice voting 44:15 If Hakeem Jeffries becomes speaker, he needs to focus on affordability 45:15 The numbers aren’t there to advance an impeachment inquiry 47:00 We need restraints on this president and future presidents 47:30 Thoughts on Wes Moore running for president? 48:30 What’s “electability” going to mean in 2028? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens by announcing the launch of "Dynastic," his new sports history podcast with J.A. Adande, before turning to what may be the most consequential inflection point of the Iran war: Trump is running out of patience and actively searching for an off-ramp, but every path forward carries serious risks and his definition of victory keeps shifting by the day. Chuck warns that the U.S. continues to send more troops for potential escalation even as the military acknowledges it has achieved its strategic objectives but can only do so much — the regime has plenty of loyalists and will not go away quietly, meaning the war has now become fundamentally about perception rather than territory. He flags General Mattis's warning that Iran will claim control over the Strait of Hormuz if the U.S. retreats, that Gulf states are already hedging their security partnerships and leaning toward China, and that standing with America has become politically toxic in allied countries — a direct consequence of Trump choosing to weaken alliances before launching a war that required them. At home, the picture is equally grim: support for Trump among independents has cratered into the low 20s, the MAGA brand has become more toxic with voters than the generic Republican brand, nobody in Trump's orbit wants to own this war, and Chuck warns that while Trump has always bounced back from political crises, this time may be different — the war could be the death knell for the MAGA movement itself, because Trump hollowed out the expertise around him, surrounded himself with sycophants, and now finds both sides stuck in a conflict where retreat looks like defeat and escalation looks like madness. Finally, Chuck gives his ToddCast Top 5 statewide incumbents most likely to lose reelection in 2026, and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code CHUCKTODDCAST at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/chucktoddcast Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 00:45 Launching the "Dynastic" sports history podcast with J.A. Adande! 09:00 Trump is running out of patience, looking for off-ramp in Iran 10:15 Trump’s definition of victory keeps changing 11:00 Every path forward in Iran carries risks 11:30 We continue to send more troops for potential escalation 12:45 Iran will have a say over who can travel through the Strait of Hormuz 13:15 Gen. Mattis believes Iran will claim control over Strait if U.S. retreats 16:00 The military has had strategic victory, but can only do so much 16:45 Regime has plenty of loyalists and will not go away quietly 18:00 Both sides are stuck, so now the war becomes about perception 18:45 Gulf states could hedge their security partnerships, lean to China 19:30 Trump hollowed out expertise & surrounded himself with sycophants 20:30 Nobody in Trump’s orbit want to own this war 21:30 Standing with the U.S. is politically unpopular in allied countries 23:00 Trump chose to weaken America’s alliance prior to launching war 23:45 War is increasingly unpopular at home 25:00 Support for Trump among independents is in the low 20’s 26:30 The MAGA brand is now more toxic with voters than Republican brand 27:30 War could be the death knell for the MAGA brand 28:45 Trump has always bounced back, but he may not be able to this time 35:30 ToddCast Top 5 statewide incumbents most likely to lose in 2026 36:45 #1 John Cornyn 38:15 #2 Dan McKee 40:30 #3 Bill Cassidy 43:00 #4 Susan Collins 47:00 #5 Pete Ricketts 48:15 Ask Chuck 48:30 John Hickenlooper is out. Has another state had so many 1-term dropouts? 52:45 Would Hilary Clinton have won the presidency if the nominee in a different year? 56:30 Any pop culture quotes that you love that carry weight politically? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens by announcing the launch of "Dynastic," his new sports history podcast with J.A. Adande, before turning to what may be the most consequential inflection point of the Iran war: Trump is running out of patience and actively searching for an off-ramp, but every path forward carries serious risks and his definition of victory keeps shifting by the day. Chuck warns that the U.S. continues to send more troops for potential escalation even as the military acknowledges it has achieved its strategic objectives but can only do so much — the regime has plenty of loyalists and will not go away quietly, meaning the war has now become fundamentally about perception rather than territory. He flags General Mattis's warning that Iran will claim control over the Strait of Hormuz if the U.S. retreats, that Gulf states are already hedging their security partnerships and leaning toward China, and that standing with America has become politically toxic in allied countries — a direct consequence of Trump choosing to weaken alliances before launching a war that required them. At home, the picture is equally grim: support for Trump among independents has cratered into the low 20s, the MAGA brand has become more toxic with voters than the generic Republican brand, nobody in Trump's orbit wants to own this war, and Chuck warns that while Trump has always bounced back from political crises, this time may be different — the war could be the death knell for the MAGA movement itself, because Trump hollowed out the expertise around him, surrounded himself with sycophants, and now finds both sides stuck in a conflict where retreat looks like defeat and escalation looks like madness. Then, Warwick Sabin — president and CEO of Deep South Today, the nonprofit news network that includes the Pulitzer Prize-winning Mississippi Today, New Orleans' Verite News, and Lafayette's The Current — joins the Chuck Toddcast to discuss what may be the most promising model for saving local journalism in America. Sabin, a former three-term Arkansas state legislator and publisher of the Oxford American magazine, explains how he's building a network of nonprofit newsrooms across the Deep South from scratch, starting with Mississippi Today — the first nonprofit newsroom in Mississippi, now the largest in the state — and expanding into Louisiana and soon Arkansas. He describes the wholesale implosion of the old newspaper model, using the Jackson Clarion-Ledger's decline as a case study, and argues that the nonprofit approach has a critical advantage: starting fresh means avoiding the crushing legacy costs that buried traditional papers, and all revenue gets reinvested directly into the news product. They make the case that service journalism — covering schools, local government, youth sports — is what creates the trust and audience that makes the "sexy" investigative work possible, pointing to the fact that local journalists in his network helped exonerate a man on death row in Mississippi. The conversation turns to what makes local journalism viable and essential in 2026 and beyond. Sabin argues that human connection to journalists will be the defining differentiator in the age of AI — people won't trust reporters who aren't part of their local community — while acknowledging that AI tools can make reporting dramatically more efficient. He discusses using local and youth sports as a community bonding agent in an era where it's one of the few areas where communities can avoid politics, notes that Mississippi produces terrific writers who need platforms, and emphasizes that having video and audio components is now critical for any news operation. They explore the potential for rebuilding a national network of nonprofit newspapers, discuss which communities are ripe for expansion and make the case that local journalism should be treated as a civic institution deserving of public-private partnership. Sabin's model is free to access, civic-minded, and designed to help citizens survive and thrive in their communities — exactly what Local News Day on April 9th is designed to champion. Finally, Chuck gives his ToddCast Top 5 statewide incumbents most likely to lose reelection in 2026, and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code CHUCKTODDCAST at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/chucktoddcast Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 00:45 Launching the "Dynastic" sports history podcast with J.A. Adande! 09:00 Trump is running out of patience, looking for off-ramp in Iran 10:15 Trump’s definition of victory keeps changing 11:00 Every path forward in Iran carries risks 11:30 We continue to send more troops for potential escalation 12:45 Iran will have a say over who can travel through the Strait of Hormuz 13:15 Gen. Mattis believes Iran will claim control over Strait if U.S. retreats 16:00 The military has had strategic victory, but can only do so much 16:45 Regime has plenty of loyalists and will not go away quietly 18:00 Both sides are stuck, so now the war becomes about perception 18:45 Gulf states could hedge their security partnerships, lean to China 19:30 Trump hollowed out expertise & surrounded himself with sycophants 20:30 Nobody in Trump’s orbit want to own this war 21:30 Standing with the U.S. is politically unpopular in allied countries 23:00 Trump chose to weaken America’s alliance prior to launching war 23:45 War is increasingly unpopular at home 25:00 Support for Trump among independents is in the low 20’s 26:30 The MAGA brand is now more toxic with voters than Republican brand 27:30 War could be the death knell for the MAGA brand 28:45 Trump has always bounced back, but he may not be able to this time 37:00 Warwick Sabin joins the Chuck ToddCast 38:30 Creating the first nonprofit newsroom in Mississippi 41:30 What went wrong with the Jackson Clarion-Ledger? 43:30 There’s been a wholesale implosion of the old newspaper model 45:00 Potential for rebuilding a national network of newspapers? 46:15 In small markets, newspapers have to be hyper efficient 48:15 Service journalism is what creates the opportunity for “sexy” journalism 49:15 Local journalists exonerated a man on death row in Mississippi 50:15 Using local and youth sports as a community bond 52:00 Local sports is the one area where communities can avoid politics 53:30 Mississippi produces terrific writers 54:30 Having a video/audio component for reporting is critical 56:00 Human connection to journalists will be important in age of AI 58:00 People won’t trust journalists that aren’t part of their local community 59:45 AI tools can make reporting easier and more efficient 1:01:15 What does a community need to have to become part of your network? 1:02:30 Arkansas Democrat Gazette weathered the storm better than most 1:04:30 Arkansas is in need of a local news network 1:05:45 Bill Clinton’s election kept Walmart’s headquarters in Arkansas 1:08:00 Northwest Arkansas produced some of America’s biggest companies 1:11:00 How much do you factor in local resources when launching a new paper? 1:13:00 What other places have you looked at to expand the network? 1:15:00 Model is doing civic minded journalism that is free to access 1:16:00 Starting from scratch, avoiding legacy costs is a huge boon 1:18:30 All the revenue they generate gets invested back into the news product 1:20:00 Newspapers & local journalism are a civic institution 1:22:00 Local journalism should be a public/private partnership 1:23:00 It is incredibly difficult to deliver straight news in smaller communities 1:23:45 What do you hope to get out of Local News Day? 1:26:30 Local journalism can help citizens survive and thrive in their communities 1:27:30 Is print dead, or is there a viable path for it? 1:29:15 What has the gutting of local & public radio meant for Mississippi?  1:33:00 ToddCast Top 5 statewide incumbents most likely to lose in 2026 1:34:15 #1 John Cornyn 1:35:45 #2 Dan McKee 1:38:00 #3 Bill Cassidy 1:40:30 #4 Susan Collins 1:44:30 #5 Pete Ricketts 1:45:45 Ask Chuck 1:46:00 John Hickenlooper is out. Has another state had so many 1-term dropouts? 1:50:15 Would Hilary Clinton have won the presidency if the nominee in a different year? 1:54:00 Any pop culture quotes that you love that carry weight politically? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Warwick Sabin — president and CEO of Deep South Today, the nonprofit news network that includes the Pulitzer Prize-winning Mississippi Today, New Orleans' Verite News, and Lafayette's The Current — joins the Chuck Toddcast to discuss what may be the most promising model for saving local journalism in America. Sabin, a former three-term Arkansas state legislator and publisher of the Oxford American magazine, explains how he's building a network of nonprofit newsrooms across the Deep South from scratch, starting with Mississippi Today — the first nonprofit newsroom in Mississippi, now the largest in the state — and expanding into Louisiana and soon Arkansas. He describes the wholesale implosion of the old newspaper model, using the Jackson Clarion-Ledger's decline as a case study, and argues that the nonprofit approach has a critical advantage: starting fresh means avoiding the crushing legacy costs that buried traditional papers, and all revenue gets reinvested directly into the news product. They make the case that service journalism — covering schools, local government, youth sports — is what creates the trust and audience that makes the "sexy" investigative work possible, pointing to the fact that local journalists in his network helped exonerate a man on death row in Mississippi. The conversation turns to what makes local journalism viable and essential in 2026 and beyond. Sabin argues that human connection to journalists will be the defining differentiator in the age of AI — people won't trust reporters who aren't part of their local community — while acknowledging that AI tools can make reporting dramatically more efficient. He discusses using local and youth sports as a community bonding agent in an era where it's one of the few areas where communities can avoid politics, notes that Mississippi produces terrific writers who need platforms, and emphasizes that having video and audio components is now critical for any news operation. They explore the potential for rebuilding a national network of nonprofit newspapers, discuss which communities are ripe for expansion and make the case that local journalism should be treated as a civic institution deserving of public-private partnership. Sabin's model is free to access, civic-minded, and designed to help citizens survive and thrive in their communities — exactly what Local News Day on April 9th is designed to champion. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code CHUCKTODDCAST at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/chucktoddcast Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Warwick Sabin joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:30 Creating the first nonprofit newsroom in Mississippi 04:30 What went wrong with the Jackson Clarion-Ledger? 06:30 There’s been a wholesale implosion of the old newspaper model 08:00 Potential for rebuilding a national network of newspapers? 09:15 In small markets, newspapers have to be hyper efficient 11:15 Service journalism is what creates the opportunity for “sexy” journalism 12:15 Local journalists exonerated a man on death row in Mississippi 13:15 Using local and youth sports as a community bond 15:00 Local sports is the one area where communities can avoid politics 16:30 Mississippi produces terrific writers 17:30 Having a video/audio component for reporting is critical 19:00 Human connection to journalists will be important in age of AI 21:00 People won’t trust journalists that aren’t part of their local community 22:45 AI tools can make reporting easier and more efficient 24:15 What does a community need to have to become part of your network? 25:30 Arkansas Democrat Gazette weathered the storm better than most 27:30 Arkansas is in need of a local news network  28:45 Bill Clinton’s election kept Walmart’s headquarters in Arkansas 31:00 Northwest Arkansas produced some of America’s biggest companies 34:00 How much do you factor in local resources when launching a new paper? 36:00 What other places have you looked at to expand the network? 38:00 Model is doing civic minded journalism that is free to access 39:00 Starting from scratch, avoiding legacy costs is a huge boon 41:30 All the revenue they generate gets invested back into the news product 43:00 Newspapers & local journalism are a civic institution 45:00 Local journalism should be a public/private partnership 46:00 It is incredibly difficult to deliver straight news in smaller communities 46:45 What do you hope to get out of Local News Day? 49:30 Local journalism can help citizens survive and thrive in their communities 50:30 Is print dead, or is there a viable path for it? 52:15 What has the gutting of local & public radio meant for Mississippi? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.