Episode

8/11 The Disastrous Final Year of Donald Trump’s Presidency w/ Carol Leonnig

August 11, 2021

Sam and Emma host Carol Leonnig, national investigative reporter at the Washington Post, to discuss her recent book she co-authored with Phillip Rucker, I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year. They begin by stepping off Leonnig’s and Rucker’s previous work A Very Stable Genius, and how they were able to secure a sit down with Trump following his complete bashing of their last book. They look into his continued desire for an audience, not to mention an audience of his audience, and the maintenance of his three primary beliefs in his final year: that the 1/6 rioters were genuinely loving people, that BLM protesters were a clear existential threat, and that he, Donald Trump, was the clear winner of the 2020 election. Delving into the ladder, Sam, Emma, and Carol explore how Trump was able to convince both his base and himself of the election fraud, before moving onto his mishandling of the Coronavirus pandemic from the very start. They discuss his strategy of focusing on the battleground of the daily news cycle, taking every problem as a PR crisis, even as those close to him attempted to steer him towards practically tackling the pandemic to save his reelection. Carol then goes deep into the pressure on journalists, when it comes to Trump, to find the truth behind the truth, looking into what he and his administration actually believe, and why they genuinely take the actions they take, looking particularly into his clearing of Lafayette Square for a biblical photo op. They round out the interview by looking deeper into his administration, his enablers, and those that attempted to control his impulses, as well as the effect of his first three years on emboldening the worst of him. Sam and Emma conclude the free half by summarizing the vote-a-rama that took place on reconciliation, and Fox & Friends’ realization that socialism is, indeed, popular.

And in the Fun Half: Emma, Sam, and the MR crew chat about the over-saturation of media critique, the importance of a large-scale audience for MR, and follow up yesterdays “Ligma” variant discussion with an exploration of some of the worst, and best, of MR IMs. Then, a dear MR Discord Moderator calls in for some carpentry tips (surprisingly not asking Emma of Nazareth), before Sam and a caller talk civics versus ethics, and Chris from Minneapolis follows up a discussion on the Senate Dem’s performative vote against “defund the police” by exploring what localities are actually doing, not just saying. Lastly, they look into the mob of parents chanting “child abuse” (unfortunately, not at themselves) at a Franklin, TN school board meeting on masks, plus, your calls and IMs!

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