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5 min readThe Irredeemable Republicans
Susan Glasser, staff writer at The New Yorker and co-host of its political scene podcast, joins Tim Miller to survey the wreckage of Trump's second term. The episode's central argument is stark: the Republican Party has become irredeemable, with no remaining institutional resistance to Trump's assault on American norms. Every hope that a "moderate" or "establishment" figure might draw a line has been extinguished, most recently and painfully by Senator Bill Cassidy's vote to confirm Todd Blanche as Attorney General.
The Economy of Distraction
The conversation opens with grim economic news—minus 23,000 jobs in the latest report, with nearly three in ten unemployed workers looking for work for more than six months, the highest rate since the pandemic. Glasser notes that even Donald Trump is now "distancing himself from Republicans," a remarkable posture for a president who demanded total party fealty.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (01:01) **The Irredeemable Republicans** - Susan Glasser (New Yorker) joins Tim Miller to diagnose a Republican Party that has fully surrendered to Trumpism, with no moderates left to save it.
- 2 (05:17) **The Disastrous Jobs Report** - The August jobs numbers show minus 23,000 jobs lost, with long-term unemployment at its highest since the pandemic.
- 3 (11:36) **Trump's Tariff Obsession** - Trump continues to push tariffs despite the Supreme Court striking them down, searching for exotic new instruments to impose them.
- 4 (15:18) **The Iran War's Economic Toll** - The war with Iran has driven up energy prices, which in turn raises the price of almost all manufactured goods and food.
- 5 (17:36) **The Todd Blanche Cliffhanger** - Senator Bill Cassidy announces he will reveal his vote on Attorney General nominee Todd Blanche at 10:40 AM, creating a live suspense moment on the podcast.
- 6 (20:36) **The Moral Stain of Immigration Enforcement** - Two stories illustrate the brutal human cost of Trump's deportation regime, targeting refugees and legal residents.
- 7 (26:49) **Leopards Eating Faces** - The CBS story about the Trump voter whose fiancée was detained illustrates the paradox of voters shocked by policies they supported.
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Guests on this episode
Show Notes
Tim got his hopes up that Bill Cassidy was going to come out against Blanche as AG. But of course, the senator showed once again that Republicans will do anything to stay on Team Trump—including turning our government into a corrupt, gangster oligarchy. Never mind that ordinary Americans are still dealing with the stink bombs Trump dumped on our economy with his tariffs and failed war: We’ve got lousy job numbers and higher prices across the board. Plus: The deportation of legal immigrants is a moral stain on our country, Russia’s energy crisis has backed Putin into a dangerous corner, and Trump is on a goldmaxxing spree. Susan Glasser joins Tim Miller for the weekend pod.
show notes:
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