It’s Casual Friday! Sam speaks with Astead Herndon, national politics reporter at the New York Times and host of “The Run-Up” podcast, to break down a crazy first week post-election.  First, Sam runs through updates on the developing picture of Trump’s cabinet, the Stop Terror Financing Act, and CFPB and NLRB action, also touching on establishment responses to RFK’s nomination as HHS secretary and his dangerous take on vaccines. Astead Herndon then joins, diving right into the prevalent narrative of two deeply unpopular nominees that dominated the 2024 US presidential election, and why, in refusing to acknowledge their sides’ unpopularity (specifically when it came to the Biden Administration), Democrats and Harris completely failed to address the question of change in the eyes of the voters. Expanding on this, Herndon walks through the evolution of this overwhelming backlash to the Biden Administration, in particular, with his shocking decision to run for reelection in the wake of the 2022 midterms, committing the party to a vision of status-quo that voters had (visibly) been growing less and less content with, and gutting any opportunity – via primary or otherwise – to present or shape a new vision for what Democrats, and the Democratic nominee, were fighting for. After diving a little deeper into his research on the undecided, swing state voters that decided this election and making clear the obvious paths Democrats had to win them over, Astead and Sam explore another level of failed messaging on the part of the Democratic party, with rhetoric seeking to separate Trump from his GOP colleagues alongside ceding ground on the issues of crime and immigration allowed Trump to untether himself from the critiques of the former while claiming victory over the latter. Wrapping up, they tackle the particular arrogance that pushed the Democratic Party to ignore the myriad, obvious signs that a Biden-associated candidacy would be a non-starter for voters, and why they need to go back to the table and work on actually addressing voters’ concerns.

And in the Fun Half: Sam dives a little deeper into some potential impacts of an RFK-led world of public health, watches Donald Trump grapple with the other-worldly annoyance that is Elon Musk, and listens to GOP Senators explain why Matt Gaetz just deserves a chance. Vivek Ramaswamy – unelected bureaucrat – rails against unelected bureaucrats, Mike Huckabee waxes about his commitment to Israel, and the MR Team discusses an already-beginning inversion of US public opinion by party. Sam has a message for the aliens, Leftist Big Pharma Plug gives some insights into insider feelings about a potential Trump/RFK-led world of public health, and Eric Weinstein has – get this – a batsh*t conspiracy, plus, your calls and IMs!

Follow Astead on Twitter here: https://x.com/AsteadWH

Check out Astead’s work at the Times here: https://www.nytimes.com/by/astead-w-herndon

Check out “The Run-Up” here: https://www.nytimes.com/column/election-run-up-podcast

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