THE DAILY BLAST with Greg Sargent

Donald Trump has reached a “settlement” with his Justice Department in a $10 billion lawsuit he brought against the IRS. Under it, DOJ will create a new $1.8 billion fund, controlled by Trump, that will dole out payments to allies who have supposedly been victimized by government “weaponization.” This could include the January 6 rioters. This has shocked legal observers, who called it everything from “horrible” to a “slush fund,” with others describing it as corruption that might be historically unprecedented. What happened here? Is there any recourse? Do Republicans really want to defend this, given that Trump’s economic numbers just cratered again in a brutal New York Times poll? We talked to legal expert Harry Litman, who writes for The New Republic and hosts the Talking Feds podcast. He explains why this is likely illegal but almost impossible to stop; why it’s so damaging to our system more broadly; and how Democrats can ensure that the GOP pays a major price for it this fall.

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Donald Trump desperately wants the world to recognize his world-historical defeat of Iran. In an extended tirade, Trump raged wildly at a New York Times reporter, insisting his victory is absolute. He claimed the Times is failing, accusing the journalist of being a “fake guy” and declaring his coverage betrays America: “I actually think it’s treason.” This is revealing: His insistence on having won reveals that Trump doesn’t get that military force alone can’t force open the Strait of Hormuz—meaning he doesn’t grasp the situation at the most fundamental level, perhaps his biggest failing of all. We talked to political scientist David Faris, who’s been writing well on this fiasco. We discuss how Trump got little out of China, why his failures abroad mean more authoritarianism at home, why that combination will do severe long-term damage to America, and how Trump suffers from “dictator envy.” 

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NBC News reports that some vulnerable Republicans are privately worried about use of the slogan “MAGA majority” to describe the GOP effort to hold the House. Why? Because the term “MAGA” puts Trump “front and center,” as NBC puts it. That’s quite an admission of Trump’s toxicity. Meanwhile, CNN’s Harry Enten reports on new polling that finds his disapproval on gas prices at 79 percent, higher than under any other president. That disapproval is shared by 85 percent of independents and even 52 percent of Republicans, which Enten describes as “scary” for the GOP. Mona Charen, a writer for The Bulwark, has a good piece arguing that high gas prices are dovetailing with public revelations about Trump’s corruption to produce a particularly toxic combination for him. So we talked to Charen about why that double whammy is so potent, why corruption is a sleeper issue in the midterms, and why the GOP panic is a real moment of poetic justice.

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The fallout continues from Donald Trump’s startling rant admitting that he isn’t concerned with how the Iran war is impacting Americans’ finances. On Wednesday, JD Vance, Mike Johnson, and numerous other Republicans struggled to spin away the damage, but they appeared visibly flummoxed. Indeed,  the GOP cracks are worsening: Three GOP Senators just voted to end the war. And shocking leaks to The New York Times reveal that Iran still retains substantial military capabilities, directly undercutting Trump’s boasts of success. We talked to international relations expert Nicholas Grossman, who has a good piece on this whole fiasco. We discuss why those leaks are so damning, why the economic and political fallout from the war is only just beginning, and why Trump’s megalomaniacal understanding of the situation has left him fundamentally cornered.

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Donald Trump just got hit by crushing new inflation data: Consumer prices rose at their fastest rate in several years. Importantly, Trump’s war with Iran is a big driver of it, and he can’t find a way out. Meanwhile, a new CNN poll shows his standing on the economy sliding to its lowest point in either term. No wonder Trump erupted angrily at a reporter who quizzed him over prices, deriding her as “stupid.” He also seethed at a journalist who asked about his ballroom, calling her “dumb.” Yet despite all this, there are signs that GOP hopes are rebounding due to gerrymandering and other factors. So we talked to Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg, who’s been arguing that the economic fundamentals won’t change in time for the GOP. We discuss the mixed signals in the polling data, why Trump has long been so strong on the economy, why that’s finally changing, and what Democrats can do to overcome their lingering brand problems.

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