Transcript: Trump Tirades Take Weird Turn as Poll Collapse Rattles GOP

As Trump’s GOP support cracks in earnest, a writer focused on his corruption explains why all the self-dealing has pushed Republicans to the breaking point—and why it looks real this time.

The following is a lightly edited transcript of the May 26 episode of the Daily Blast podcast. Listen to it here.

After we recorded, The New York Times posted a piece reporting at length that Trump’s ballroom, slush fund, and overall “self-indulgence” (translation: deranged megalomania) have “alarmed” Republicans about the midterms, again confirming the thrust of this conversation.

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

Donald Trump has been spinning wildly about his success in ousting disloyal Republicans in primaries, and he has been succeeding at that. But underneath this story is a much bigger truth. Trump is losing control of the GOP on many fronts, and his political project is failing more broadly. Trump’s corruption is forcing Republicans to abandon him, and he’s trying really hard to turn that around, as a crazed tirade on Truth Social reveals. There are other signs of failure too. For instance, the Kilmar Abrego Garcia criminal case was just dismissed as a vindictive prosecution.

We’re trying to make sense of all this with New Republic deputy editor Jason Linkins, who’s been arguing well that Trump’s corruption and criminality are actually political liabilities for him. Jason, thanks for coming on.

Jason Linkins: It’s great to be here. Thanks for having me.

Sargent: So here’s where we are. Trump succeeds in ousting a bunch of disloyal Republicans, but that’s now backfiring. Republicans are so pissed that they’re granting him less leeway on his corruption. They’re turning against the funding for the ballroom.

Republican senators just unloaded on acting Attorney General Todd Blanche over the slush fund. House Republicans shelved a vote on a measure ending the war because they didn’t have the votes to defeat it. Jason, how do you explain this sudden GOP move against him?

Linkins: Right now, I think that we’re seeing both the strengths and the limitations of Trump’s thrall, his hold on the party and his base. We’ve seen in a couple of elections now that his base, when they’re riled up, are still capable of dealing a primary defeat to a Republican that steps out of line of Trump.

But the cartoon villainy has gotten to a point that, outside of a rump that I think you’ve argued in the past—and I believe you’re going to be correct—is starting to shrink, he doesn’t really have the same kind of power and influence. We’ve seen now on a few votes, and specifically some related to what I would term graft corruption—this ballroom he wants to build and this insane slush fund that he wanted to assemble for himself to dole out to his political allies—you’re seeing prominent........

© New Republic