Trump is retreating to friendly turf while the ground shifts under the whole rigged two-party system. Paul Rieckhoff takes you inside a Media Blitz week — a CNN hit with Erin Burnett and a News Nation sit-down with Chris Cuomo and independent Senate candidate Seth Bodnar — to lay out what the polls, the propaganda machine, and the president’s travel schedule are actually telling us one month out from the biggest election of our lifetime. GOP senators are quietly comparing 2026 to the 2006 wipeout. Internal numbers are worse than public ones. And Trump’s approval with independents has fallen into single digits, a floor almost no modern president has touched.
Episode 641
Trump runs home to Alabama
Trump ran home to Alabama because most of America doesn’t want him anywhere near their state. GOP internal polls are reportedly worse than the public ones. And independents — now 45% of the country and climbing — are polling him below 10% approval. The sleeping giant is stirring, and this episode captures the moment it started showing up on cable news.
The Brief
→ Four things from today’s episode
01
Why the GOP’s internal data completely missed the scale of t. Why the GOP’s internal data completely missed the scale of the 2026 midterm wipeout — nine Senate seats, House flipped, Trump +18 districts turned blue
02
“The silent independent voice”. Shermichael’s framing of the voters who decided to be jury and judge this cycle
03
The case for economic populism inside a right-of-center party. and why Singleton thinks it’s the only way to save capitalism itself
04
Pete Hegseth’s Arlington selfies and Paul’s call that Hegset. Pete Hegseth’s Arlington selfies and Paul’s call that Hegseth is positioning to inherit what’s left of MAGA
