The following is a lightly edited transcript of the July 31 episode of the
Daily Blast podcast. Listen to it here.

Greg Sargent: This is The Daily Blast from The New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR network. I’m your host, Greg Sargent.

Many are dismayed by the news that Texas Republicans released a new gerrymandered map designed to add five house seats. No question, it is terrible news, but we think part of it is about trying to psych us out; about trying to get Democrats and liberals to fear that future elections are unwinnable. What if the real story is that Trump is actually getting politically weaker and less popular? The Federal Reserve chairman just announced that interest rates will not be cut, defying Trump’s repeated explosions of rage at him. Trump fulminated wildly at Senator Chuck Grassley to speed up judicial nominations, insisting Democrats are laughing at Republicans—but Grassley doesn’t appear to be budging. Meanwhile, two new polls find Trump’s approval sinking to new lows and, on the economy, his approval’s cratering at exactly the moment when he’s set to announce that his tariffs are going into effect. MSNBC.com columnist James Downie has a new piece arguing that Democrats shouldn’t get overly spooked about the midterms right now, so we’re talking to him about all this. Good to see you, James.

James Downie: Good to be back with you.

Sargent: So let’s start here: Fed Chair Jerome Powell just announced that the Fed isn’t lowering interest rates. He said this.

Jerome Powell (audio voiceover): Increased tariffs are pushing up prices in some categories of goods. Near-term measures of inflation expectations have moved up on balance over the course of this year on news about tariffs as reflected in both market-based and survey-based measures.

Sargent: That comes just after Trump raged wildly in all caps on Truth Social that “POWELL MUST LOWER THE RATE.” He’s been raging along these lines for weeks. James, it seems like pretty bad timing for Trump that the Fed chair just said his tariffs are driving up prices, right when a bunch of tariffs are set to go into effect on August 1, which Trump is hailing as “Liberation Day.” Your reaction to all this?

Downie: Certainly poor timing for the president. I think it’s also worth noting that when Trump’s talking about lowering rates, he’s talking about lowering rates by multiple percentage points, which is well beyond whatever.… Even if he gets a Fed chair next year when Powell’s term ends, even if he gets a Fed chair who is more open to lowering rates, what Trump is talking about is something that would completely destabilize the economy. But yes, as Powell said, prices are certainly going up and there’s a reason why voters’ goodwill toward Trump when he came into office on prices is rapidly vanishing.

Sargent: Yeah, and the polls are showing just that. A new Reuters poll finds his approval overall sinking to 40 percent—his lowest yet—with 56 percent disapproving. He’s at 38 percent on the economy in the Reuters poll. Meanwhile, in the new Economist/YouGov poll, his approval is at 40 percent with 55 percent disapproving. There, he’s at 40 percent on the economy and jobs. And I feel compelled to point out, James, that this is before all the tariffs go fully into effect. There’s no reason—absolutely none—given the way all these dynamics are playing out, to assume that gets better for Trump. It seems likely to get worse. Prices will probably........

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