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The Chuck ToddCast

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The Chuck ToddCast is back! If you're looking for smart, no-nonsense political conversation, you've come to the right place. The Chuck ToddCast goes beyond the headlines, featuring conversations with top reporters, insiders, and newsmakers from D.C. to the heartland. No scripts, no spin—just real discussions about what’s shaping our politics and why it matters.

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  • Yesterday · 57 min

    Interview Only w/ Molly Roberts - The Blueprint For How To Steal An Election

    Lawfare senior editor Molly Roberts joins the Chuck Toddcast to walk through the "rogue clerk" scenario — the theory circulating online that House Republicans could hold power on January 3rd regardless of what voters do in November. Her piece on it has been called the most comprehensive analysis written to date, and her conclusion is genuinely nuanced: this is worth taking seriously without taking it too seriously. The mechanics matter. At noon on January 3rd the old House dissolves and, briefly, there is no House at all — only the clerk, who under 2 U.S.C. § 26 has a ministerial duty to place on the roll only those members whose credentials show they were regularly elected. Ministerial duties are enforceable by mandamus, which means courts can compel compliance before a speaker is ever seated. But the vulnerabilities are real: a speaker can unilaterally fire the clerk and install an acting one, a state certification delayed past January 3rd creates genuine chaos (Missouri is the obvious candidate), and once a speaker is elected the courts will likely bow out. She and Chuck walk through the historical precedents — the 1838 Broad Seal War, the 1984 fight over Indiana's "Bloody 8th" — and land on the reassuring and unsettling truth at once: pulling this off would require an enormous number of people at the state level and in the House conference acting in lockstep, and treating it as a foolproof hack implies it's lawful when it plainly isn't. The realistic ceiling for a rogue clerk isn't a stolen election; it's mayhem. The worry, as Roberts puts it, is that for some people mayhem is more than enough. link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Get your wardrobe sorted and your gift list handled with Quince. Don't wait! Go to https://Quince.com/CHUCK for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too! For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Molly Roberts joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:15 How Lawfare shifted from national security to rule of law 02:15 Could the administration steal the midterm elections? 04:45 The local certification weirdness that didn't work out 06:45 Many states tightened election procedures after 2020 08:15 A certification delay past January 3rd is the big "what if" 11:15 Why January 3rd is the key date — the 20th Amendment 12:00 At noon, the old House dissolves and there is no House 13:45 During that window, the clerk is effectively running things 15:30 What if Missouri's delegation can't get certified? 18:15 A late seating could flip the chamber 20:15 The 1984 fight over Indiana's "Bloody 8th" 22:15 If the clerk goes rogue, can courts step in? 23:15 Once there's a speaker, the courts likely bow out 26:15 The speaker can fire the clerk and install an acting one 30:00 The clerk's ministerial duty — and why it's enforceable 32:45 Can the House override a state certification? 35:15 How many people would have to cooperate to pull this off 37:00 The history of the Broad Seal War 42:00 Why the Senate is more immune to January 3rd chaos 48:00 The decisions that sustained democracy were mostly 52-48 48:45 What she tells people who ask "will the midterms be stolen?" See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • Transcript
  • Yesterday · 2 hr 41 min

    Full Episode - We Gave Up Freedoms After 9/11… It’s Time To Get Them Back + The Blueprint For How To Steal An Election

    Chuck Todd argues AI alarmism just hit its break-glass moment. Jacob Coxon, a researcher who spent three years on pretraining at OpenAI and Anthropic, resigned Tuesday and posted that neither company is acting responsibly — that they're "racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives". Chuck had assumed some of this fearmongering was a marketing tactic. He no longer does. His argument is that the public is begging for guardrails while a government that's been bought off or is simply afraid of tech money does nothing, that the tech companies want regulatory capture, and that we have the worst possible president for this moment. We organized globally to prevent nuclear war; we need televised emergency congressional hearings and the same seriousness here. From there Chuck turns to trust — the connective tissue of the whole episode. Only 45% of Americans think the midterms will be fair, in part because Trump has convinced his supporters that every election he's lost was suspicious. Republicans have to win voters with oil prices at record highs, and unlike Obama, Trump can't credibly blame his predecessor: he inherited a recovery and made it worse. Chuck previews a convention that's a base-turnout exercise rather than a persuasion play, notes Trump's instinct for gimmicks (paying stay-at-home mothers is functionally welfare), and observes that the limited-government wing of the GOP has been fully eviscerated by a party that now wants to coerce social behavior. On the 25th anniversary of 9/11, he's blunt about the Islamophobia aimed at Zohran Mamdani and argues Muslim participation in American life post-9/11 is largely a good story. The security apparatus worked, intelligence sharing genuinely improved, but emergency powers should have expiration dates, the surveillance watchdog board is effectively defunct, and Congress has abdicated oversight. We traded privacy for security and then got used to it. Then, Lawfare senior editor Molly Roberts joins the Chuck Toddcast to walk through the "rogue clerk" scenario — the theory circulating online that House Republicans could hold power on January 3rd regardless of what voters do in November. Her piece on it has been called the most comprehensive analysis written to date, and her conclusion is genuinely nuanced: this is worth taking seriously without taking it too seriously. The mechanics matter. At noon on January 3rd the old House dissolves and, briefly, there is no House at all — only the clerk, who under 2 U.S.C. § 26 has a ministerial duty to place on the roll only those members whose credentials show they were regularly elected. Ministerial duties are enforceable by mandamus, which means courts can compel compliance before a speaker is ever seated. But the vulnerabilities are real: a speaker can unilaterally fire the clerk and install an acting one, a state certification delayed past January 3rd creates genuine chaos (Missouri is the obvious candidate), and once a speaker is elected the courts will likely bow out. She and Chuck walk through the historical precedents — the 1838 Broad Seal War, the 1984 fight over Indiana's "Bloody 8th" — and land on the reassuring and unsettling truth at once: pulling this off would require an enormous number of people at the state level and in the House conference acting in lockstep, and treating it as a foolproof hack implies it's lawful when it plainly isn't. The realistic ceiling for a rogue clerk isn't a stolen election; it's mayhem. The worry, as Roberts puts it, is that for some people mayhem is more than enough. Finally, he answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment and previews the upcoming weekend in college football. link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Get your wardrobe sorted and your gift list handled with Quince. Don't wait! Go to https://Quince.com/CHUCK for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too! For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd's introduction 02:00 AI alarmism may have hit its break-glass moment 03:15 The viral resignation post — and the colleagues who confirmed it 04:30 Chuck had assumed some of this was a marketing tactic 05:45 The public is begging government for AI guardrails 07:15 We have the worst possible president for this moment 08:15 We stopped nuclear war globally — we need the same for AI 09:15 Officials are bought off or afraid of tech money 10:00 The tech companies want regulatory capture 13:00 Shouldn't we pause everything to work on this? 16:30 The virality feels like a primal scream from the public 18:30 Only 45% of Americans think the midterms will be fair 21:00 Trump convinced supporters every election he lost was suspicious 23:30 Republicans have to win with oil prices at record highs 26:15 Obama could blame his predecessor — Trump can't 30:00 A convention Trump can only use to talk to his own voters 34:30 Trump's instinct for finding the right gimmick 36:00 Paying stay-at-home moms is basically welfare 38:00 The GOP now wants government to coerce social behavior 40:30 Democrats should have fought harder for the Child Tax Credit 42:30 Friday marks the 25th anniversary of 9/11 44:15 The blatant Islamophobia aimed at Zohran Mamdani 47:00 Muslim participation in America post-9/11 is mostly a good story 51:30 We gave up a lot of freedoms — it's time to get them back 54:45 More surveillance power was granted, but oversight never followed 56:30 Emergency powers should have an expiration date 59:30 The surveillance watchdog board is basically defunct 1:03:00 Trust has collapsed, and that's dangerous for a pluralistic society 1:07:15 The terrorists win if we fight each other 1:17:30 Molly Roberts joins the Chuck ToddCast 1:18:45 How Lawfare shifted from national security to rule of law 1:19:45 Could the administration steal the midterm elections? 1:22:15 The local certification weirdness that didn't work out 1:24:15 Many states tightened election procedures after 2020 1:25:45 A certification delay past January 3rd is the big "what if" 1:28:45 Why January 3rd is the key date — the 20th Amendment 1:29:30 At noon, the old House dissolves and there is no House 1:31:15 During that window, the clerk is effectively running things 1:33:00 What if Missouri's delegation can't get certified? 1:35:45 A late seating could flip the chamber 1:37:45 The 1984 fight over Indiana's "Bloody 8th" 1:39:45 If the clerk goes rogue, can courts step in? 1:40:45 Once there's a speaker, the courts likely bow out 1:43:45 The speaker can fire the clerk and install an acting one 1:47:30 The clerk's ministerial duty — and why it's enforceable 1:50:15 Can the House override a state certification? 1:52:45 How many people would have to cooperate to pull this off 1:54:30 The history of the Broad Seal War 1:59:30 Why the Senate is more immune to January 3rd chaos 2:05:30 The decisions that sustained democracy were mostly 52-48 2:06:15 What she tells people who ask "will the midterms be stolen?" 2:09:15 Ask Chuck 2:09:30 Where have you heard a musical performance that left an impression? 2:14:15 Examples of presidents making painful short-term decisions for long-term gain? 2:18:45 Reaction to Sen. Kennedy telling Kristen Welker he likes her better? 2:19:15 Who needs to sell their MLB team first? 2:22:30 Is there more Dems can do to sustain focus to counter Hegseth at the Pentagon? 2:26:15 Any question of which map will be used in Missouri election? 2:30:15 College football preview See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • Transcript
  • Yesterday · 1 hr 46 min

    Chuck’s Commentary - AI’s “Break Glass” Moment + We Gave Up Freedoms After 9/11… It’s Time To Get Them Back

    Chuck Todd argues AI alarmism just hit its break-glass moment. Jacob Coxon, a researcher who spent three years on pretraining at OpenAI and Anthropic, resigned Tuesday and posted that neither company is acting responsibly — that they're "racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives". Chuck had assumed some of this fearmongering was a marketing tactic. He no longer does. His argument is that the public is begging for guardrails while a government that's been bought off or is simply afraid of tech money does nothing, that the tech companies want regulatory capture, and that we have the worst possible president for this moment. We organized globally to prevent nuclear war; we need televised emergency congressional hearings and the same seriousness here. From there Chuck turns to trust — the connective tissue of the whole episode. Only 45% of Americans think the midterms will be fair, in part because Trump has convinced his supporters that every election he's lost was suspicious. Republicans have to win voters with oil prices at record highs, and unlike Obama, Trump can't credibly blame his predecessor: he inherited a recovery and made it worse. Chuck previews a convention that's a base-turnout exercise rather than a persuasion play, notes Trump's instinct for gimmicks (paying stay-at-home mothers is functionally welfare), and observes that the limited-government wing of the GOP has been fully eviscerated by a party that now wants to coerce social behavior. On the 25th anniversary of 9/11, he's blunt about the Islamophobia aimed at Zohran Mamdani and argues Muslim participation in American life post-9/11 is largely a good story. The security apparatus worked, intelligence sharing genuinely improved, but emergency powers should have expiration dates, the surveillance watchdog board is effectively defunct, and Congress has abdicated oversight. We traded privacy for security and then got used to it. Finally, he answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment and previews the upcoming weekend in college football. link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Get your wardrobe sorted and your gift list handled with Quince. Don't wait! Go to https://Quince.com/CHUCK for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too! For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd's introduction 02:00 AI alarmism may have hit its break-glass moment 03:15 The viral resignation post — and the colleagues who confirmed it 04:30 Chuck had assumed some of this was a marketing tactic 05:45 The public is begging government for AI guardrails 07:15 We have the worst possible president for this moment 08:15 We stopped nuclear war globally — we need the same for AI 09:15 Officials are bought off or afraid of tech money 10:00 The tech companies want regulatory capture 13:00 Shouldn't we pause everything to work on this? 16:30 The virality feels like a primal scream from the public 18:30 Only 45% of Americans think the midterms will be fair 21:00 Trump convinced supporters every election he lost was suspicious 23:30 Republicans have to win with oil prices at record highs 26:15 Obama could blame his predecessor — Trump can't 30:00 A convention Trump can only use to talk to his own voters 34:30 Trump's instinct for finding the right gimmick 36:00 Paying stay-at-home moms is basically welfare 38:00 The GOP now wants government to coerce social behavior 40:30 Democrats should have fought harder for the Child Tax Credit 42:30 Friday marks the 25th anniversary of 9/11 44:15 The blatant Islamophobia aimed at Zohran Mamdani 47:00 Muslim participation in America post-9/11 is mostly a good story 51:30 We gave up a lot of freedoms — it's time to get them back 54:45 More surveillance power was granted, but oversight never followed 56:30 Emergency powers should have an expiration date 59:30 The surveillance watchdog board is basically defunct 1:03:00 Trust has collapsed, and that's dangerous for a pluralistic society 1:07:15 The terrorists win if we fight each other 1:14:45 Ask Chuck 1:15:00 Where have you heard a musical performance that left an impression? 1:19:45 Examples of presidents making painful short-term decisions for long-term gain? 1:24:15 Reaction to Sen. Kennedy telling Kristen Welker he likes her better? 1:24:45 Who needs to sell their MLB team first? 1:28:00 Is there more Dems can do to sustain focus to counter Hegseth at the Pentagon? 1:31:45 Any question of which map will be used in Missouri election? 1:35:45 College football preview See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • Transcript
  • Wednesday · 1 hr 2 min

    Interview Only w/ Anthony Tommasini - Remembering The “Voice Of A Century”

    Anthony Tommasini — chief classical music critic for the New York Times from 2000 to 2021 — joins the Chuck Toddcast to discuss Voice of a Century: The Life and Artistry of Marian Anderson, out September 8th as part of the Significations series curated by Henry Louis Gates Jr. Tommasini didn't seek the project; he was asked to write it. His argument is that Anderson has been flattened into two civil rights milestones — the 1939 Lincoln Memorial concert before 75,000 people after the DAR barred her from Constitution Hall, and breaking the Met's color line — when the reason she mattered in the first place was the voice. He describes her extraordinary range, her European breakthrough (and the promoters who essentially whitewashed her race to sell her), her decision not to learn Italian because she knew American opera was closed to her, and the fact that had she been born thirty years later she'd have had an opera career. The human material is remarkable: conscripted into a church choir at six, largely self-taught at piano, denied a hotel room and put up by Albert Einstein, who became a friend and pushed her to speak out more than she wanted to. Anderson's aim was to be a great artist, not an activist. They also get into the state of classical music in 2026 — why symphonies are so expensive to sustain, why live performance can't be replicated, and which American orchestra he'd send you to first. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Timeline: 00:00 Anthony Tommasini joins the Chuck ToddCast 02:15 The origin of "Voice of a Century" 04:00 Marian Anderson as barrier breaker 06:15 Conscripted into the church choir at age six 09:00 Anderson became popular in Europe first 11:00 Promoters practically whitewashed her race to sell her 12:30 Why she never learned Italian 15:30 If born 30 years later, she'd have sung opera 18:30 Seeing Roland Hayes and the epiphany that followed 19:15 She wanted to be a great artist, not a civil rights activist 20:15 Denied a hotel room, invited to stay with Albert Einstein 22:30 Why she came back to America instead of staying in Europe 26:45 Ending every recital with negro spirituals 30:30 The Lincoln Memorial concert and the nerves behind it 37:00 What Anderson meant as a model for the Black community 38:45 Two Anderson recordings everyone should hear 44:30 The state of classical music in 2026 48:00 Why classical music has to be experienced live 53:45 The premiere symphony to attend in America 57:00 "Voice of a Century" is out September 8th See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • Transcript
  • Wednesday · 2 hr 42 min

    Full Episode - Decoding Missouri’s Election Map Mess + Remembering The “Voice Of A Century”

    Chuck Todd reads the New Hampshire results as a straightforward establishment win — the progressive dog didn't bark, outside groups largely stayed out, and Jeanne Shaheen's decades of organization-building still define the state party. He expects a four-to-six point Senate race and would be surprised, though not shocked, if it flipped, since Sununu's politics run a bit conservative for New Hampshire. Then he turns to the redistricting chaos in Missouri, where the state's electoral process has been thrown into genuine disarray: Secretary of State Denny Hoskins sat on 300,000 referendum signatures until primary election day before rejecting them, the state Supreme Court unanimously ruled the 2025 map never took effect and ordered November run on the old lines with the new map going to a statewide vote with the August primary already conducted on a map that isn't law. Chuck argues Hoskins created this mess through partisan hackery, points to Texas in 1996 as precedent, and says a special election would be the fairest resolution. He also flags Dan Osborn's tricky balancing act in Nebraska, and a New York Times report that Roger Marshall's practice sued roughly 700 patients over unpaid medical bills — some for just a few hundred dollars — before he later voted to limit hospitals' collection powers. Chuck’s read: damaging material doesn't land on a reporter's desk by accident, the timing could matter enormously in a race Democrats have put in play. Then, Anthony Tommasini — chief classical music critic for the New York Times from 2000 to 2021 — joins the Chuck Toddcast to discuss Voice of a Century: The Life and Artistry of Marian Anderson, out September 8th as part of the Significations series curated by Henry Louis Gates Jr. Tommasini didn't seek the project; he was asked to write it. His argument is that Anderson has been flattened into two civil rights milestones — the 1939 Lincoln Memorial concert before 75,000 people after the DAR barred her from Constitution Hall, and breaking the Met's color line — when the reason she mattered in the first place was the voice. He describes her extraordinary range, her European breakthrough (and the promoters who essentially whitewashed her race to sell her), her decision not to learn Italian because she knew American opera was closed to her, and the fact that had she been born thirty years later she'd have had an opera career. The human material is remarkable: conscripted into a church choir at six, largely self-taught at piano, denied a hotel room and put up by Albert Einstein, who became a friend and pushed her to speak out more than she wanted to. Anderson's aim was to be a great artist, not an activist. They also get into the state of classical music in 2026 — why symphonies are so expensive to sustain, why live performance can't be replicated, and which American orchestra he'd send you to first. Finally, Chuck presents his ToddCast Top 5 potential red state sweeps for the Democrats and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Get your wardrobe sorted and your gift list handled with Quince. Don't wait! Go to https://Quince.com/CHUCK for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too! Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Timeline: 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 02:30 The establishment got its way in NH primary elections 04:45 The progressive dog didn’t bark in New Hampshire 05:15 Outside groups mostly stayed out of NH races 06:45 Jeanne Shaheen built & basically is the NH Democratic Party 08:15 NH senate race will likely be in a 4-6 point range 09:45 Sununu’s politics are a bit conservative for NH 11:30 Would be surprised but not shocked if NH senate goes Republicans 13:30 Missouri election map battle risks disenfranchising voters 14:00 Federal court puts temporary restraining order on the map 14:45 Missouri Republicans drew new maps to achieve 7-1 or 8-0 result 15:45 Voters collected enough signatures for referendum on map 16:30 Missouri secretary of state delayed until day of primary election 18:30 State Supreme Court unanimously ruled new map didn’t take effect 19:30 The old map is still in effect, but primary voters voted on the new map 20:15 SCOTUS declined to intervene, it’s a state issue 21:00 After SCOTUS decision, federal judge in Missouri issued an injunction 23:45 The electoral process in Missouri has been thrown into chaos 25:15 Secretary of state created this mess with partisan hackery 26:30 Texas was in a similar situation in 1996, held a special election 29:30 The special election is the fairest way to resolve this problem 31:30 There could be voter backlash to the redistricting effort 33:30 Dan Osborne trying to pull off a difficult balancing act in Nebraska 34:45 Osborne admits there’s a difference between campaigning & governing 36:30 Dem candidate in Ohio joked he’d lie to voters about being DSA 37:45 Hitting your opponent with their own words is highly effective 40:30 Trump is doing everything he can to screw up the Kansas economy 42:00 NYT reports Roger Marshall sued 700 patients for unpaid medical bills 42:45 Some of the debts were small, in the hundreds of dollars 43:30 Later, Marshall voted to limit hospitals’ ability to collect debts 44:30 Damaging material doesn’t randomly appear on a reporter’s desk 45:30 Report raises a character & empathy question about Marshall 48:15 Story also raises questions about the state of U.S. healthcare 50:15 Timing of the story could seriously impact the election 59:00 Anthony Tommasini joins the Chuck ToddCast 1:01:15 The origin of "Voice of a Century" 1:03:00 Marian Anderson as barrier breaker 1:05:15 Conscripted into the church choir at age six 1:08:00 Anderson became popular in Europe first 1:10:00 Promoters practically whitewashed her race to sell her 1:11:30 Why she never learned Italian 1:14:30 If born 30 years later, she'd have sung opera 1:17:30 Seeing Roland Hayes and the epiphany that followed 1:18:15 She wanted to be a great artist, not a civil rights activist 1:19:15 Denied a hotel room, invited to stay with Albert Einstein 1:21:30 Why she came back to America instead of staying in Europe 1:25:45 Ending every recital with negro spirituals 1:29:30 The Lincoln Memorial concert and the nerves behind it 1:36:00 What Anderson meant as a model for the Black community 1:37:45 Two Anderson recordings everyone should hear 1:43:30 The state of classical music in 2026 1:47:00 Why classical music has to be experienced live 1:52:45 The premiere symphony to attend in America 1:56:00 "Voice of a Century" is out September 8th 1:56:30 ToddCast Top 5 red states where Dems could sweep statewide 2:00:00 #5 Florida 2:01:15 #4 Kansas 2:03:30 #3 Iowa 2:06:15 #2 Texas 2:09:15 #1 Ohio 2:12:00 Ask Chuck 2:12:15 How would history be different if we treated 9/11 as criminal acts rather than war? 2:19:30 Do voters have recourse if an elected official is refusing to do the job? 2:23:30 Why do you shy away from using racism as a voting motive? 2:29:30 If the senate ties 50-50 & one becomes incapacitated, does the chamber flip? 2:33:30 As a Steelers fan, which college QB should I be keeping an eye on? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • Transcript
  • Wednesday · 1 hr 42 min

    Chuck’s Commentary - Decoding Missouri’s Election Map Mess + A Damaging Story That Could Upend The Kansas Senate Race

    Chuck Todd reads the New Hampshire results as a straightforward establishment win — the progressive dog didn't bark, outside groups largely stayed out, and Jeanne Shaheen's decades of organization-building still define the state party. He expects a four-to-six point Senate race and would be surprised, though not shocked, if it flipped, since Sununu's politics run a bit conservative for New Hampshire. Then he turns to the redistricting chaos in Missouri, where the state's electoral process has been thrown into genuine disarray: Secretary of State Denny Hoskins sat on 300,000 referendum signatures until primary election day before rejecting them, the state Supreme Court unanimously ruled the 2025 map never took effect and ordered November run on the old lines with the new map going to a statewide vote with the August primary already conducted on a map that isn't law. Chuck argues Hoskins created this mess through partisan hackery, points to Texas in 1996 as precedent, and says a special election would be the fairest resolution. He also flags Dan Osborn's tricky balancing act in Nebraska, and a New York Times report that Roger Marshall's practice sued roughly 700 patients over unpaid medical bills — some for just a few hundred dollars — before he later voted to limit hospitals' collection powers. Chuck’s read: damaging material doesn't land on a reporter's desk by accident, the timing could matter enormously in a race Democrats have put in play. Finally, Chuck presents his ToddCast Top 5 potential red state sweeps for the Democrats and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Get your wardrobe sorted and your gift list handled with Quince. Don't wait! Go to https://Quince.com/CHUCK for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too! Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 02:30 The establishment got its way in NH primary elections 04:45 The progressive dog didn’t bark in New Hampshire 05:15 Outside groups mostly stayed out of NH races 06:45 Jeanne Shaheen built & basically is the NH Democratic Party 08:15 NH senate race will likely be in a 4-6 point range 09:45 Sununu’s politics are a bit conservative for NH 11:30 Would be surprised but not shocked if NH senate goes Republicans 13:30 Missouri election map battle risks disenfranchising voters 14:00 Federal court puts temporary restraining order on the map 14:45 Missouri Republicans drew new maps to achieve 7-1 or 8-0 result 15:45 Voters collected enough signatures for referendum on map 16:30 Missouri secretary of state delayed until day of primary election 18:30 State Supreme Court unanimously ruled new map didn’t take effect 19:30 The old map is still in effect, but primary voters voted on the new map 20:15 SCOTUS declined to intervene, it’s a state issue 21:00 After SCOTUS decision, federal judge in Missouri issued an injunction 23:45 The electoral process in Missouri has been thrown into chaos 25:15 Secretary of state created this mess with partisan hackery 26:30 Texas was in a similar situation in 1996, held a special election 29:30 The special election is the fairest way to resolve this problem 31:30 There could be voter backlash to the redistricting effort 33:30 Dan Osborne trying to pull off a difficult balancing act in Nebraska 34:45 Osborne admits there’s a difference between campaigning & governing 36:30 Dem candidate in Ohio joked he’d lie to voters about being DSA 37:45 Hitting your opponent with their own words is highly effective 40:30 Trump is doing everything he can to screw up the Kansas economy 42:00 NYT reports Roger Marshall sued 700 patients for unpaid medical bills 42:45 Some of the debts were small, in the hundreds of dollars 43:30 Later, Marshall voted to limit hospitals’ ability to collect debts 44:30 Damaging material doesn’t randomly appear on a reporter’s desk 45:30 Report raises a character & empathy question about Marshall 48:15 Story also raises questions about the state of U.S. healthcare 50:15 Timing of the story could seriously impact the election 56:30 ToddCast Top 5 red states where Dems could sweep statewide 1:00:00 #5 Florida 1:01:15 #4 Kansas 1:03:30 #3 Iowa 1:06:15 #2 Texas 1:09:15 #1 Ohio 1:12:00 Ask Chuck 1:12:15 How would history be different if we treated 9/11 as criminal acts rather than war? 1:19:30 Do voters have recourse if an elected official is refusing to do the job? 1:23:30 Why do you shy away from using racism as a voting motive? 1:29:30 If the senate ties 50-50 & one becomes incapacitated, does the chamber flip? 1:33:30 As a Steelers fan, which college QB should I be keeping an eye on? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • Transcript
  • Tuesday · 58 min

    The Paul Finebaum Interview: Alabama’s Past, Present & Uncertain Future

    Chuck Todd and J.A. Adande sit down with ESPN’s Paul Finebaum and dive into Alabama football. Finebaum shares his perspective on Bear Bryant’s complicated legacy and the integration of Alabama football, explains why Nick Saban succeeded where so many post-Bryant coaches failed, and reveals how Saban established total control over the program from the moment he arrived in Tuscaloosa. Plus, Finebaum offers a warning about Alabama’s future. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • Transcript
  • Tuesday · 1 hr 14 min

    Super Tuesdays - Can Trump’s Midterm Convention Prevent A Democratic Blue Tsunami?

    Eight Tuesdays out, Chuck Todd and Chris Cillizza open on the first midterm convention in modern American history — two nights at Dallas's American Airlines Center with 109 speakers, Trump appearing both nights, and House members getting billed $25,000 to attend. The guys are skeptical of nearly all of it: the event lands on NFL kickoff night, it butts up against the 25th anniversary of September 11th, and Politico found 45 of 70 Republican candidates and members skipping it. Their sharper point is that the whole thing is a microcosm of the party's bind — you cannot win without the MAGA base, and you cannot win with only the MAGA base — which is why swing-state nominees like Jon Husted and Mike Rogers will show up and try very hard to deliver a forgettable speech. Chuck argues nationalizing the election isn't crazy on its own terms, since the other side is going to run against Trump anyway, but doubts Trump can hit any register besides red meat, and doubts even more that he can find a second gear for the September 11th anniversary the following day. From there they dig into Texas, where MAGA Inc's first $10 million buy is running a half-negative, half-positive ad about taxes — a signal, Chuck says, that they know the target is suburban Romney Republicans, not the base. He walks through Greg Abbott's steadily declining margins, the four-to-eight-point scandal penalty that history says attaches to a candidate like Paxton, and lands somewhere that surprises Chris: he now likes Talarico's odds better than Sherrod Brown's in Ohio. They check the prediction markets, unpack the Missouri Supreme Court ruling that blocked the Republican-drawn map and effectively hands Emanuel Cleaver his seat back, and take apart Trump's request that the Supreme Court impose a national check on mail voting — a policy every Republican strategist will tell you privately hurts their own side. Then a long, unsparing conversation about the Wall Street Journal's reporting on John Fetterman and what it means for control of the Senate on January 3rd, a real case for a third Senate conference built around Murkowski and a possible independent, and a closing riff on Nick Saban, Pat McAfee, and why the Protect College Sports Act is doomed without collective bargaining. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Eight Tuesdays out — and why they actually prepare for these now 03:00 The first midterm convention since the early '80s 04:00 $25,000 a head, and Tim Burchett's surprise invoice 05:00 It lands on the opening night of the NFL season 07:00 The Trump trap — you can't afford to say no 08:00 Nationalizing the election isn't the crazy part 11:00 The convention as a microcosm of the GOP's whole problem 13:00 "Trumpapalooza" — so what's the actual message? 14:00 Conventions aren't for swing voters, and never have been 16:00 Husted, Rogers & the art of the deliberately forgettable speech 19:00 Trump as TV producer — and the 9/11 anniversary the next day 20:00 Will he turn the 25th anniversary into a political speech? 23:00 MAGA Inc's first $10M buy lands in Texas 26:00 They tried calling Talarico weird. It didn't take. 27:00 Trump throws Paxton under the bus in the Oval 29:00 Abbott's slipping margins and the blue tsunami scenario 31:00 South Texas Latinos appear to be shifting back 33:00 Clinton lost Texas by less than she lost Iowa in 2016 34:00 Blue-collar trade unions and the industrial Midwest problem 38:00 Trump asks the Supreme Court for a national mail-voting check 39:00 The rural voters his own rule would punish hardest 42:00 Democrats at 85-88% to take the House 43:00 The Missouri ruling 46:00 Why this is anti-voter, full stop 47:00 The Senate sits at 52-48 Republican. A year ago it was 71-29. 49:00 Alaska, and Dan Sullivan's troubling primary numbers 51:00 The Wall Street Journal's Fetterman story 54:00 The practical stakes: who controls the Senate on January 3rd 55:00 Does Fetterman leave the party? 58:00 He's already built the intellectual case for walking 1:00:00 January 3rd is the whole ballgame 1:02:00 Osborn, Bodner, Banks and the independent wave 1:03:00 The real case for a third Senate conference 1:05:00 Saban and McAfee push the Protect College Sports Act 1:07:00 No labor at the table means it dies in court 1:08:00 Ashley Moody's quiet ACC poison pill 1:12:00 The Nats chase the blown-save record. Sell the team. 1:13:00 Dynastic: Finebaum on why Alabama may not run it back See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • Transcript
  • Monday · 1 hr 5 min

    Interview Only w/ Bruce Mehlman - Debt, AI, & An Economy That Isn't Working for Everyone

    Bruce Mehlman — founding partner of the bipartisan Mehlman Consulting and the man behind the quarterly slide decks that circulate through half of official Washington — joins the Chuck Toddcast to assess a bifurcated economy and the bills coming due. Millennials are wealthier than their parents were at this age but far more stressed, housing is inflated by a supply shortage, and the central question hanging over everything is whether AI pays off before the investment bill comes due. Mehlman notes the dot-com bubble produced real productivity gains and still burst, and the harder worry isn't the bust itself but whether it arrives at a moment when government can't respond: the national debt has doubled from $20 trillion to $40 trillion in a decade, the Social Security and Medicare trusts run dry in 2032, and there's no political courage to touch any of it — because in a system where bipartisanship reads as betrayal, nothing gets done. His modest starting point: a 3% tax increase paired with a 3% spending cut. The back half turns to how business is bracing for a Democratic Congress. Mehlman says the business community knows the pendulum always swings, and an epic wave of oversight is coming — complicated by an OLC position that executive privilege extends to anyone who speaks with Trump, meaning everything gets litigated to the Supreme Court while companies weigh the risk of contempt. On Trump's pay-to-play demands, he argues there are usually paths to alignment without selling your soul, and notes wealthy individuals now carry more political punching power than corporations do. He's especially sharp on data centers, where polling shows tech, AI, and social media all deeply underwater and the backlash is "where Bannon meets Bernie" — the perception being that AI benefits only billionaires and shareholders. The fix is making local benefits visible, and finding a communicator who isn't a CEO, since tech executives are now viewed as villains. His prediction: the House flips and the Senate lands 50-50 — with Michigan the most interesting race on the board, because an El-Sayed win keeps DSA energy alive and makes AOC the 2028 frontrunner. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Bruce Mehlman joins The Chuck ToddCast 02:15 Assessing the bifurcated economy 02:45 Millennials are wealthier than their parents — and more stressed 04:15 We need AI to pay off before the investment bill comes due 05:45 Is the AI bubble the railroads or the dot com boom? 09:00 Could the bust come when government can't respond? 10:00 From $20T to $40T in national debt in ten years 12:15 Social Security and Medicare trusts run dry in 2032 13:30 If bipartisanship is seen as betrayal, nothing gets done 15:15 A 3% tax increase and 3% spending cut would be a start 17:00 How is the business community preparing for a Democratic Congress? 18:45 An epic amount of oversight is coming 19:45 OLC claims executive privilege covers anyone who talks to Trump 22:15 Companies won't risk contempt of Congress 24:30 Advising clients on Trump's pay-to-play demands 26:30 There are paths to alignment without selling your soul 28:45 We need reforms to get out of this Gilded Age 31:00 How should big tech make the case for data centers? 34:00 Voters are open to data centers if harms are mitigated 37:00 Tech CEOs are viewed as villains by the public 39:00 The data center backlash is where Bannon meets Bernie 42:15 Is there anyone in Silicon Valley who can sell this? 49:15 What Walmart got right about storytelling 50:30 Prediction: the House flips and the Senate goes 50-50 53:00 If it's 50-50 and Alaska flips… what does Murkowski do? 54:30 Michigan is the most interesting race on the board 56:30 The bull case for James Talarico is Roy Moore in Alabama See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • Transcript
  • Monday · 3 hr 6 min

    Full Episode - Blue Mirage, Blue Wave, Or Blue Tsunami? + Debt, AI, & An Economy That Isn't Working for Everyone

    With the fall campaign officially underway after Labor Day, Chuck Todd lays out three scenarios for November and assigns odds to each. A blue mirage (15%) — Democrats still take the House but net only two Senate seats, saved by Republican money from tech and crypto, because you can't buy a new national mood but you can absolutely save individual candidates. A blue wave (50%), the 2006 comparison, where individual races start behaving like one national election and Democrats win everything reasonable. And a blue tsunami (30-35%), where Texas and Florida governorships come into play, independents break hard, and MAGA voters stay home. What separates a wave from a tsunami, Todd argues, is whether corruption breaks through as a voting issue — and data centers may be the most tangible way in. The problem for Democrats remains what it's been all year: they're as unpopular as Republicans, they don't have an obvious agenda, and releasing one risks dividing the party — though not releasing one carries its own risk. He also flags the Missouri map being tossed by the state supreme court, notes the redistricting chaos Republicans started, previews a GOP midterm convention that's purely a base-turnout exercise many candidates may skip, and closes on John Fetterman. The Wall Street Journal report — sourced to more than a dozen former staffers and colleagues plus internal texts — details skipped committee hearings, blown-off constituent meetings, and reluctance to attend police funerals. Fetterman calls it a smear job from disgruntled staffers. His question isn't about the reporting: it's whether Fetterman is still a Democrat come January 2027, and which side of the aisle he and Lisa Murkowski end up sitting on. He also weighs in on week one in college football. Then, Bruce Mehlman — founding partner of the bipartisan Mehlman Consulting and the man behind the quarterly slide decks that circulate through half of official Washington — joins the Chuck Toddcast to assess a bifurcated economy and the bills coming due. Millennials are wealthier than their parents were at this age but far more stressed, housing is inflated by a supply shortage, and the central question hanging over everything is whether AI pays off before the investment bill comes due. Mehlman notes the dot-com bubble produced real productivity gains and still burst, and the harder worry isn't the bust itself but whether it arrives at a moment when government can't respond. The back half turns to how business is bracing for a Democratic Congress. Mehlman says the business community knows the pendulum always swings, and an epic wave of oversight is coming — complicated by an OLC position that executive privilege extends to anyone who speaks with Trump, meaning everything gets litigated to the Supreme Court while companies weigh the risk of contempt. On Trump's pay-to-play demands, he argues there are usually paths to alignment without selling your soul, and notes wealthy individuals now carry more political punching power than corporations do. He's especially sharp on data centers, where polling shows tech, AI, and social media all deeply underwater and the backlash is "where Bannon meets Bernie" — the perception being that AI benefits only billionaires and shareholders. His prediction: the House flips and the Senate lands 50-50 — with Michigan the most interesting race on the board, because an El-Sayed win keeps DSA energy alive and makes AOC the 2028 frontrunner. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit Gerald Ford’s decision to pardon Richard Nixon and why the conventional wisdom of it being the right decision… is wrong. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Timeline: 00:00 Chuck Todd's introduction 03:30 Fall campaign season kicks off after Labor Day 04:15 Why polling New Hampshire is so difficult 06:45 Democrats have a midterm advantage — the question is how big 07:30 Blue mirage, blue wave, or blue tsunami? 08:00 Evaluating the blue mirage — 15% chance 09:30 Under a mirage, Dems probably net only two Senate seats 11:30 Missouri map thrown out, could add a Democratic seat 12:30 The redistricting wars Republicans started 14:30 Dems raise better online, the GOP has the big-dollar donors 15:45 Tech and crypto money is flowing to Republicans 16:45 You can't buy a national mood, but you can save candidates 18:15 Both parties are equally unpopular — unlike 2018 19:15 Evaluating the blue wave — 50% chance 21:00 In a wave, individual races behave like a national election 23:15 How will the midterm GOP convention play out? 25:15 The convention is purely a base turnout exercise 27:00 Trump does better as an outsider than as an incumbent 29:15 Data centers have become a real political problem 31:00 The problem for Democrats: what are they actually offering? 33:15 Evaluating the blue tsunami — 30-35% chance 34:45 In a tsunami, Texas and Florida governorships are winnable 36:30 For a tsunami, corruption has to break through 37:30 Data centers may be the way into the corruption argument 38:45 The public is telling the tech industry to F off 41:45 If corruption becomes a voting issue, the wave becomes a tsunami 42:45 Will socialism and DSA attacks actually scare independents? 46:15 Independents will decide which scenario plays out 49:15 The WSJ report on John Fetterman 50:45 Will Fetterman still be a Democrat in January 2027? 52:15 Which side of the aisle will Fetterman and Murkowski sit on? 52:45 College football week one recap 1:16:30 Bruce Mehlman joins The Chuck ToddCast 1:18:45 Assessing the bifurcated economy 1:19:15 Millennials are wealthier than their parents — and more stressed 1:20:45 We need AI to pay off before the investment bill comes due 1:22:15 Is the AI bubble the railroads or the dot com boom? 1:25:30 Could the bust come when government can't respond? 1:26:30 From $20T to $40T in national debt in ten years 1:28:45 Social Security and Medicare trusts run dry in 2032 1:30:00 If bipartisanship is seen as betrayal, nothing gets done 1:31:45 A 3% tax increase and 3% spending cut would be a start 1:33:30 How is the business community preparing for a Democratic Congress? 1:35:15 An epic amount of oversight is coming 1:36:15 OLC claims executive privilege covers anyone who talks to Trump 1:38:45 Companies won't risk contempt of Congress 1:41:00 Advising clients on Trump's pay-to-play demands 1:43:00 There are paths to alignment without selling your soul 1:45:15 We need reforms to get out of this Gilded Age 1:47:30 How should big tech make the case for data centers? 1:50:30 Voters are open to data centers if harms are mitigated 1:53:30 Tech CEOs are viewed as villains by the public 1:55:30 The data center backlash is where Bannon meets Bernie 1:58:45 Is there anyone in Silicon Valley who can sell this? 2:05:45 What Walmart got right about storytelling 2:07:00 Prediction: the House flips and the Senate goes 50-50 2:09:30 If it's 50-50 and Alaska flips… what does Murkowski do? 2:11:00 Michigan is the most interesting race on the board 2:13:00 The bull case for James Talarico is Roy Moore in Alabama 2:16:30 ToddCast Time Machine - September 8th, 1974 2:17:00 Gerald Ford pardons Richard Nixon… a huge mistake 2:17:45 Ford earned a profile in courage award for pardoning Nixon 2:18:30 Did Ford’s pardon undermine the rule of law? 2:19:15 Nixon resigned because he lost his political support 2:20:15 Gerald Ford was never elected, he replaced Spiro Agnew 2:21:00 Ford declared our long national nightmare was over 2:23:30 There was a serious potential criminal case & pardon stopped it 2:24:15 Why Ford did have a valid argument for giving the pardon 2:26:00 It was not an easy call, Ford prioritized stability… but what was lost? 2:27:30 The alternative paths Ford could have taken 2:31:00 The normal pardon process wasn’t followed 2:32:30 Ford faced serious questions from congress about the pardon 2:35:30 Majority of the country supported prosecuting Nixon 2:37:00 Major backlash to the pardon 2:37:30 Eventually people thought Ford did the right thing 2:42:00 Ford created a serious dilemma for future presidents 2:45:00 We have the most corrupt president now because we punted on the last 2:45:15 Ask Chuck 2:45:30 Could AR-02 be won by Democrats in a wave year? 2:49:45 Why do voters support candidates that conflict with their economic interests? 2:54:45 What if a president was aggressive as Trump in doing things that are popular? 2:59:30 Would expanding the house restore power to members and committees? 3:03:00 How can Dems break through to working class & right leaning white voters? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • Transcript
  • Monday · 2 hr 5 min

    Chuck’s Commentary - Blue Mirage, Blue Wave, Or Blue Tsunami? + Could John Fetterman Defect?

    With the fall campaign officially underway after Labor Day, Chuck Todd lays out three scenarios for November and assigns odds to each. A blue mirage (15%) — Democrats still take the House but net only two Senate seats, saved by Republican money from tech and crypto, because you can't buy a new national mood but you can absolutely save individual candidates. A blue wave (50%), the 2006 comparison, where individual races start behaving like one national election and Democrats win everything reasonable. And a blue tsunami (30-35%), where Texas and Florida governorships come into play, independents break hard, and MAGA voters stay home. What separates a wave from a tsunami, Todd argues, is whether corruption breaks through as a voting issue — and data centers may be the most tangible way in. The problem for Democrats remains what it's been all year: they're as unpopular as Republicans, they don't have an obvious agenda, and releasing one risks dividing the party — though not releasing one carries its own risk. He also flags the Missouri map being tossed by the state supreme court, notes the redistricting chaos Republicans started, previews a GOP midterm convention that's purely a base-turnout exercise many candidates may skip, and closes on John Fetterman. The Wall Street Journal report — sourced to more than a dozen former staffers and colleagues plus internal texts — details skipped committee hearings, blown-off constituent meetings, and reluctance to attend police funerals. Fetterman calls it a smear job from disgruntled staffers. His question isn't about the reporting: it's whether Fetterman is still a Democrat come January 2027, and which side of the aisle he and Lisa Murkowski end up sitting on. He also weighs in on week one in college football. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit Gerald Ford’s decision to pardon Richard Nixon and why the conventional wisdom of it being the right decision… is wrong. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd's introduction 03:30 Fall campaign season kicks off after Labor Day 04:15 Why polling New Hampshire is so difficult 06:45 Democrats have a midterm advantage — the question is how big 07:30 Blue mirage, blue wave, or blue tsunami? 08:00 Evaluating the blue mirage — 15% chance 09:30 Under a mirage, Dems probably net only two Senate seats 11:30 Missouri map thrown out, could add a Democratic seat 12:30 The redistricting wars Republicans started 14:30 Dems raise better online, the GOP has the big-dollar donors 15:45 Tech and crypto money is flowing to Republicans 16:45 You can't buy a national mood, but you can save candidates 18:15 Both parties are equally unpopular — unlike 2018 19:15 Evaluating the blue wave — 50% chance 21:00 In a wave, individual races behave like a national election 23:15 How will the midterm GOP convention play out? 25:15 The convention is purely a base turnout exercise 27:00 Trump does better as an outsider than as an incumbent 29:15 Data centers have become a real political problem 31:00 The problem for Democrats: what are they actually offering? 33:15 Evaluating the blue tsunami — 30-35% chance 34:45 In a tsunami, Texas and Florida governorships are winnable 36:30 For a tsunami, corruption has to break through 37:30 Data centers may be the way into the corruption argument 38:45 The public is telling the tech industry to F off 41:45 If corruption becomes a voting issue, the wave becomes a tsunami 42:45 Will socialism and DSA attacks actually scare independents? 46:15 Independents will decide which scenario plays out 49:15 The WSJ report on John Fetterman 50:45 Will Fetterman still be a Democrat in January 2027? 52:15 Which side of the aisle will Fetterman and Murkowski sit on? 52:45 College football week one recap 1:15:00 ToddCast Time Machine - September 8th, 1974 1:15:30 Gerald Ford pardons Richard Nixon… a huge mistake 1:16:15 Ford earned a profile in courage award for pardoning Nixon 1:17:00 Did Ford’s pardon undermine the rule of law? 1:17:45 Nixon resigned because he lost his political support 1:18:45 Gerald Ford was never elected, he replaced Spiro Agnew 1:19:30 Ford declared our long national nightmare was over 1:21:00 Why did Ford get to decide how much accountability we received 1:22:00 There was a serious potential criminal case & pardon stopped it 1:22:45 Why Ford did have a valid argument for giving the pardon 1:24:30 It was not an easy call, Ford prioritized stability… but what was lost? 1:26:00 The alternative paths Ford could have taken 1:27:30 Ford didn’t intend for investigations of others to stop 1:29:30 The normal pardon process wasn’t followed 1:31:00 Ford faced serious questions from congress about the pardon 1:34:00 Majority of the country supported prosecuting Nixon 1:35:30 Major backlash to the pardon 1:36:00 Eventually people thought Ford did the right thing 1:40:30 Ford created a serious dilemma for future presidents 1:43:30 We have the most corrupt president now because we punted on the last 1:43:45 Ask Chuck 1:44:00 Could AR-02 be won by Democrats in a wave year? 1:48:15 Why do voters support candidates that conflict with their economic interests? 1:53:15 What if a president was aggressive as Trump in doing things that are popular? 1:58:00 Would expanding the house restore power to members and committees? 2:01:30 How can Dems break through to working class & right leaning white voters? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • Transcript
  • September 3 · 1 hr 2 min

    Interview Only w/ Brian Knappenberger - 25 Years After 9/11: How The Attack Reshaped America

    Documentarian Brian Knappenberger joins the Chuck Toddcast to discuss Turning Point: Generation 9/11, out on Netflix September 2nd — a film built around a striking fact: more than half of Americans were either born after 2001 or were too young to remember it. Knappenberger's aim was to bring that generation into the moment, capturing not just the attack but the fear and uncertainty that followed, including the attacks everyone braced for that never came. He points to a news clip in the film where 63% of Americans said they'd trade freedom for security, and to the AUMF passed almost immediately with Barbara Lee as the lone no vote. He and Chuck revisit the genuine moment of global unity — the only time NATO's Article 5 has ever been triggered — and Bush's real effort to reassure American Muslims, progress on Islamophobia that Knappenberger argues has since been squandered. The back half is a hard-nosed accounting. Driving the Taliban out was a success; the Iraq war took America's eye off the ball; intelligence agencies genuinely do communicate better now. But al-Qaeda was only a few hundred people who exploited a vulnerability, and the domino effect produced ISIS, something far larger. Knappenberger talks about interviewing kids who lost parents that day — including a pilot's daughter still trolled online by a Truther movement that social media made possible — and about Marines at Abbey Gate, many not yet alive on 9/11, expressing real conflict about what it was all for. Chuck’s question hangs over it: after 25 years of Pentagon budgets, what exactly did we get? And with no meaningful congressional oversight of the Iran war, the founders' decision that a king shouldn't declare wars feels less like history than a warning. Knappenberger's hope is simple — that we remember the fear well enough not to repeat the mistakes it produced. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Brian Knappenberger joins The Chuck ToddCast 02:30 Many Americans are too young to remember 9/11 well 04:30 9/11 is moving from a lived memory into history 08:00 Wanted to capture the fear and uncertainty of that period in time 12:00 Want the next generation not to fall into the same trap of fear & suspicion 17:00 The rally around the flag effect after the attacks 19:45 There was a real moment of unity worldwide before the divisiveness 20:15 The only time Article V of NATO was triggered was from 9/11 24:30 Pre-Trump the country had made real progress on Islamaphobia 25:15 Talked to a lot of kids who lost parents on 9/11 for the doc 26:30 Social media emerged after 9/11 and the “Truther” movement came with it 28:30 Driving the Taliban out of Afghanistan was a positive 29:00 We took our eye off the ball with the Iraq war 32:00 Have we sufficiently answered why Bin Laden attacked us 36:15 The real damage was the divisiveness and attrition of two wars 37:15 Al-Qaeda was only a few hundred people, exploited a vulnerability 38:30 The domino effect created ISIS, which is much larger than Al-Qaeda 43:15 Marines at Abbey Gate express feeling conflicted 45:45 25 years of Pentagon budgets has gotten us…what? 48:00 There seems to be no congressional oversight with the Iran war 48:30 What other Turning Point projects do you have in the works? 50:00 Ukraine war is a weird blend of history and modern technology 53:00 9/11 changed our perception of ourselves and our vulnerabilities See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • Transcript
  • September 3 · 2 hr 44 min

    Full Episode -The Blue Wave Is Building… But How Big Will It Be? + 25 Years After 9/11: How The Attack Reshaped America

    Chuck Todd reads the tea leaves on a building Democratic wave: primary turnout is up 35% over 2022 while Republican turnout is down 4%, and Todd argues voter behavior is a far better predictor than polling — though it's a tea leaf, not a guarantee. He then digs into an underappreciated dynamic that could decide Senate control: governor's races make the weather. Texas, Chuck argues, is now more plausible for Democrats than Iowa. And South Carolina, which Republicans never expected to worry about, just got more expensive after Ralph Norman told supporters to write him in rather than back Darline Graham. The second half is a five-alarm fire at the Pentagon. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned this week over Hegseth blocking Army modernization by firing the generals leading it — the latest in a purge that has left the Army without a chief of staff for months and cut four-star positions from ten to five, all during an active war. Chuck’s read is that this is a deliberate gutting and argues the fired and recently resigned generals have an obligation to speak up, because silence doesn't protect the institution. He closes with what he calls the cancer in American politics — the House — using Jared Golden's lobster fishing bill as the perfect illustration: Golden had to vote for a Republican rule just to get a floor vote on his own legislation, then got accused by leadership of a breach of trust for representing his constituents. That's the disease, Chuck argues, and Democrats will inherit every bit of it. Documentarian Brian Knappenberger joins the Chuck Toddcast to discuss Turning Point: Generation 9/11, out on Netflix September 2nd — a film built around a striking fact: more than half of Americans were either born after 2001 or were too young to remember it. Knappenberger's aim was to bring that generation into the moment, capturing not just the attack but the fear and uncertainty that followed, including the attacks everyone braced for that never came. He points to a news clip in the film where 63% of Americans said they'd trade freedom for security, and to the AUMF passed almost immediately with Barbara Lee as the lone no vote. He and Chuck revisit the genuine moment of global unity — the only time NATO's Article 5 has ever been triggered — and Bush's real effort to reassure American Muslims, progress on Islamophobia that Knappenberger argues has since been squandered. The back half is a hard-nosed accounting. Driving the Taliban out was a success; the Iraq war took America's eye off the ball; intelligence agencies genuinely do communicate better now. But al-Qaeda was only a few hundred people who exploited a vulnerability, and the domino effect produced ISIS, something far larger. Knappenberger talks about interviewing kids who lost parents that day — including a pilot's daughter still trolled online by a Truther movement that social media made possible — and about Marines at Abbey Gate, many not yet alive on 9/11, expressing real conflict about what it was all for. Chuck’s question hangs over it: after 25 years of Pentagon budgets, what exactly did we get? And with no meaningful congressional oversight of the Iran war, the founders' decision that a king shouldn't declare wars feels less like history than a warning. Knappenberger's hope is simple — that we remember the fear well enough not to repeat the mistakes it produced. Finally, Chuck updates his ToddCast Top 5 list of senate seats most likely to flip, answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment, and previews week 1 in college football. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd's introduction 04:15 A Democratic wave is building… but how big? 06:15 Dem turnout up 35% from 2022, GOP turnout down 4% 08:30 A tea leaf, not a guarantee — and why behavior beats polling 11:15 New Hampshire primaries preview 13:15 Senate control may be decided by governor races in MI, TX and IA 14:30 Ramaswamy is the wrong avatar for a Republican to win Ohio 16:45 Republicans didn't think they'd have to worry about South Carolina 17:30 Ralph Norman tells supporters to write him in rather than back Graham 22:15 Governor's races make the weather and drag Senate candidates along 26:00 Ticket splitting hasn't disappeared since 2010, but it's less common 27:15 Breaking down the penalty for various candidate sins 30:00 Ken Paxton needs Abbott to win big — and Abbott's trending down 33:15 Todd Akin's voters fled to the Libertarians in 2012 35:00 El-Sayed's penalty isn't scandal, it's ideological — 2-3 points 36:00 Jocelyn Benson is running the best campaign of the cycle 38:45 Iowa hasn't split a governor/senate race since 1998 41:45 Texas looks more plausible for Democrats than Iowa 43:45 Problems at the Pentagon should be a five-alarm fire 45:30 Hegseth forced out the leaders modernizing the Army 47:45 Hollowing out the military during an active war 48:45 Hegseth wants the Pentagon to be a reality show about himself 52:00 Assets needed to deter Russia & China are being removed 54:15 Military leaders must be able to disagree with civilian leadership 57:00 An obligation to warn the country if the military is being weakened 59:45 The House of Representatives is the cancer in our political system 1:03:30 The Jared Golden lobster bill saga 1:06:30 Golden voted for a GOP rule to get a vote on his own bill 1:09:45 Leadership accused him of breaching trust… by representing their voters 1:13:00 If Democrats win the House, they inherit all of this dysfunction 1:18:00 The House is the cancer we have to cure first 1:22:45 Brian Knappenberger joins The Chuck ToddCast 1:25:15 Many Americans are too young to remember 9/11 well 1:27:15 9/11 is moving from a lived memory into history 1:30:45 Wanted to capture the fear and uncertainty of that period in time 1:34:45 Want the next generation not to fall into the same trap of fear & suspicion 1:39:45 The rally around the flag effect after the attacks 1:42:30 There was a real moment of unity worldwide before the divisiveness 1:43:00 The only time Article V of NATO was triggered was from 9/11 1:47:15 Pre-Trump the country had made real progress on Islamaphobia 1:48:00 Talked to a lot of kids who lost parents on 9/11 for the doc 1:49:15 Social media emerged after 9/11 and the “Truther” movement came with it 1:51:15 Driving the Taliban out of Afghanistan was a positive 1:51:45 We took our eye off the ball with the Iraq war 1:54:45 Have we sufficiently answered why Bin Laden attacked us 1:59:00 The real damage was the divisiveness and attrition of two wars 2:00:00 Al-Qaeda was only a few hundred people, exploited a vulnerability 2:01:15 The domino effect created ISIS, which is much larger than Al-Qaeda 2:06:00 Marines at Abbey Gate express feeling conflicted 2:08:30 25 years of Pentagon budgets has gotten us…what? 2:10:45 There seems to be no congressional oversight with the Iran war 2:11:15 What other Turning Point projects do you have in the works? 2:12:45 Ukraine war is a weird blend of history and modern technology 2:15:45 9/11 changed our perception of ourselves and our vulnerabilities 2:20:00 ToddCast Top 5 senate seats most likely to flip 2:20:30 #1 North Carolina 2:21:15 #2 Alaska 2:21:45 #3 Texas 2:23:15 #4 Ohio 2:25:00 #5 Tie between Maine & Michigan 2:27:00 Ask Chuck 2:27:15 Could the Bradley effect be in play in the Texas senate race? 2:29:30 Should congress be doing more to protect the mail-in vote? 2:32:30 Thoughts on proposal to add 12 at large senators? 2:34:45 College football preview 2:40:00 Column on Lane Kiffin being the “bad boy” of college football See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • Transcript
  • September 3 · 1 hr 45 min

    Chuck’s Commentary -The Blue Wave Is Building… But How Big Will It Be? + The Five-Alarm Fire At The Pentagon

    Chuck Todd reads the tea leaves on a building Democratic wave: primary turnout is up 35% over 2022 while Republican turnout is down 4%, and Todd argues voter behavior is a far better predictor than polling — though it's a tea leaf, not a guarantee. He then digs into an underappreciated dynamic that could decide Senate control: governor's races make the weather. Texas, Chuck argues, is now more plausible for Democrats than Iowa. And South Carolina, which Republicans never expected to worry about, just got more expensive after Ralph Norman told supporters to write him in rather than back Darline Graham. The second half is a five-alarm fire at the Pentagon. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned this week over Hegseth blocking Army modernization by firing the generals leading it — the latest in a purge that has left the Army without a chief of staff for months and cut four-star positions from ten to five, all during an active war. Chuck’s read is that this is a deliberate gutting and argues the fired and recently resigned generals have an obligation to speak up, because silence doesn't protect the institution. He closes with what he calls the cancer in American politics — the House — using Jared Golden's lobster fishing bill as the perfect illustration: Golden had to vote for a Republican rule just to get a floor vote on his own legislation, then got accused by leadership of a breach of trust for representing his constituents. That's the disease, Chuck argues, and Democrats will inherit every bit of it. Finally, Chuck updates his ToddCast Top 5 list of senate seats most likely to flip, answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment, and previews week 1 in college football. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd's introduction 04:15 A Democratic wave is building… but how big? 06:15 Dem turnout up 35% from 2022, GOP turnout down 4% 08:30 A tea leaf, not a guarantee — and why behavior beats polling 11:15 New Hampshire primaries preview 13:15 Senate control may be decided by governor races in MI, TX and IA 14:30 Ramaswamy is the wrong avatar for a Republican to win Ohio 16:45 Republicans didn't think they'd have to worry about South Carolina 17:30 Ralph Norman tells supporters to write him in rather than back Graham 22:15 Governor's races make the weather and drag Senate candidates along 26:00 Ticket splitting hasn't disappeared since 2010, but it's less common 27:15 Breaking down the penalty for various candidate sins 30:00 Ken Paxton needs Abbott to win big — and Abbott's trending down 33:15 Todd Akin's voters fled to the Libertarians in 2012 35:00 El-Sayed's penalty isn't scandal, it's ideological — 2-3 points 36:00 Jocelyn Benson is running the best campaign of the cycle 38:45 Iowa hasn't split a governor/senate race since 1998 41:45 Texas looks more plausible for Democrats than Iowa 43:45 Problems at the Pentagon should be a five-alarm fire 45:30 Hegseth forced out the leaders modernizing the Army 47:45 Hollowing out the military during an active war 48:45 Hegseth wants the Pentagon to be a reality show about himself 52:00 Assets needed to deter Russia & China are being removed 54:15 Military leaders must be able to disagree with civilian leadership 57:00 An obligation to warn the country if the military is being weakened 59:45 The House of Representatives is the cancer in our political system 1:03:30 The Jared Golden lobster bill saga 1:06:30 Golden voted for a GOP rule to get a vote on his own bill 1:09:45 Leadership accused him of breaching trust… by representing their voters 1:13:00 If Democrats win the House, they inherit all of this dysfunction 1:18:00 The House is the cancer we have to cure first 1:20:30 ToddCast Top 5 senate seats most likely to flip 1:21:00 #1 North Carolina 1:21:45 #2 Alaska 1:22:15 #3 Texas 1:23:45 #4 Ohio 1:25:30 #5 Tie between Maine & Michigan 1:27:30 Ask Chuck 1:27:45 Could the Bradley effect be in play in the Texas senate race? 1:30:00 Should congress be doing more to protect the mail-in vote? 1:33:00 Thoughts on proposal to add 12 at large senators? 1:35:15 College football preview 1:40:30 Column on Lane Kiffin being the “bad boy” of college football See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • Transcript
  • September 1 · 1 hr 11 min

    Super Tuesdays - Are Democrats Headed For A Blue Wave… Or A Blue Tsunami?

    Inside ten weeks to the midterms, Chuck Todd and Chris Cillizza start with the race Republicans have suddenly woken up to: Texas. With Talarico sitting on $21.5 million to Paxton's $1.75 million, Cornyn refusing to raise money in-state, and John Kennedy telling Fox News flatly that the Senate doesn't have the money budgeted for Texas, the guys argue the GOP's comfort blanket — that this is a Paxton problem, not a party problem — is wrong. Chuck's bet: no Republican on the Texas statewide ticket breaks 55%. From there they turn to the issue that's moved faster than either expected, data centers, framed by Trump's Monday Truth Social post declaring that communities rejecting them "want to end up being backwards and poor" and urging the country to "let Data Reign." Chuck and Chris place it in the rare category of issues voters force onto politicians rather than the reverse — the opioid crisis being the last one — and track the fallout from Wisconsin, where Tom Tiffany is already hitting David Crowley on it, to Shapiro and Hochul reversing course, to the blue-collar trade unions now cutting the other way. The heart of the episode is a long strategic read of the map. The Atlantic reported Trump wants to deploy MAGA Inc's roughly $400 million on ads touting his own second term, telling voters to "pretend I'm on the ballot" — and Chuck makes the counterintuitive case that it may be defensible where the fight actually is, even as they debate whether it gooses MAGA turnout or hands independents another reason to break left. They walk the four-seat path through North Carolina, Maine, Ohio, and Alaska, why Michigan is the state that keeps Democrats up at night, and what Abdul El-Sayed's ongoing Hasan Piker problem is costing him thirty days after the primary. Chris picks Texas as the GOP's nightmare on sheer cost; Chuck picks Iowa, where three House seats, a Senate seat, and a governorship all sit on the table. Plus: the 2028er welcome in both red and blue America (it's not who you'd guess), Trump's demand that the FCC punish Kristen Welker over a single mild remark, a blistering segment on Pete Hegseth and a munitions shortage nobody in Congress seems to be asking about, and the Nats' blown ninth-inning lead as a season in miniature. Timeline: 00:00 Inside ten weeks — and a college football appetizer 01:00 Why college football has become prime political ad real estate 02:00 The ads they spotted: anti-Whatley in NC, anti-Talarico in Texas 03:00 Republicans wake up to a real race a real money problem in Texas 04:00 The cash disparity — $21.5M for Talarico, $1.75M for Paxton 05:00 The Texas governor's race 06:00 A one-party state can't blame a party that doesn't exist 07:00 Is Paxton the problem, or is it the environment? 08:00 Trump's data center post: "let Data Reign" 10:00 Reid Wilson called data centers the sleeper issue six weeks ago 11:00 Washington is only discovering what voters have said for months 12:00 David Wallace-Wells & data centers as a vessel for tech frustration 13:00 Wisconsin: Tiffany already attacking Crowley on data centers 14:00 Big tech is the new big Pharma 15:00 The counter-trend: blue-collar trade unions saying these are jobs 16:00 Why is Trump this pro-data-center in an anti-data-center moment? 19:00 The Atlantic: Trump wants to spend the $400M and run his own campaign 20:00 "Pretend I am on the ballot" 21:00 Wave-year history: Clinton in '00, Bush in '06, Obama in '10 and '14 22:00 Where Trump can't go: Ohio, North Carolina, Maine, Michigan 23:00 The four-seat path — North Carolina, Maine, Ohio, Alaska 24:00 The fifth state problem: Iowa, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, Montana 25:00 The Darline Graham rescue mission and what it proved 26:00 Democratic gains are a given — the question is wave or tsunami 27:00 This election is about the cost of living 28:00 Cook's toss-ups always break in one direction 31:00 What if Republicans win New Hampshire and Democrats win Texas? 34:00 The state that keeps Democrats up at night 35:00 El-Sayed is still doing cleanup thirty days after the primary 37:00 The libertarian-candidate play red-state Democrats aren't running 38:00 The Hasan Piker problem 39:00 The Detroit synagogue comment and the apology he did make 42:00 The Trump-and-white-supremacists parallel 43:00 Alaska as the wild card: ranked choice, two Sullivans, Peltola 45:00 Josh Turek is a very hard candidate to attack 47:00 Rob Sand deserves 30% of the buzz Ossoff is getting 49:00 The Obama-in-'06 comparison and the asses-in-seats metric 50:00 Newsom went to Michigan and couldn't find anyone to campaign with 52:00 Trump demands the FCC punish Kristen Welker 54:00 What the meltdown says about how fragile he is 57:00 The Maggie Haberman attack, 48 hours apart 58:00 Hegseth gets the worst week in Washington 59:00 Sean Parnell, the influencer hires & a very online secretary 1:00:00 The cabinet primary: Lutnick, RFK Jr., Gabbard 1:02:00 Are we really out of munitions after one excursion against Iran? 1:03:00 Lake Ontario gets more coverage than troops without weapons 1:05:00 The Nats blow a 2-0 ninth-inning lead to the Marlins 1:07:00 No bullpen help at the deadline, and here we are 1:07:00 Becoming Statler and Waldorf 1:08:00 Tuesday night live: the Massachusetts primary See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • Transcript
  • August 31 · 47 min

    Interview Only w/ Governor Mike DeWine - A Republican Governor Says What He Really Thinks

    Ohio Governor Mike DeWine joins the Chuck Toddcast in his final months in office and, freed from ever facing voters again, says exactly what he thinks. The headline is his reversal on capital punishment: DeWine helped write Ohio's death penalty statute as a state senator in 1981 and defended it as attorney general, but in June he called on the legislature to abolish it, saying the moral justification he once had simply no longer exists. He walks Chuck through the practical case — roughly 20 years on average from sentencing to execution, a process that structurally cannot be sped up — and the harder question a Republican has to answer about whether you can be both pro-life and pro-death penalty. That flows into a broader argument about criminal justice that DeWine says has been driven by emotion rather than logic: truly violent offenders are a small percentage of the prison population and those are the people who need to be removed from society, but it's in society's direct self-interest to educate and rehabilitate everyone else. He's equally out of step with his party on immigration, arguing America needs legal immigrants, that we've been educating them and then failing to keep them, that Ohio's economic gains have come from immigrants, and that they're critical to caring for an aging population. On Springfield, DeWine is direct: the Haitian population created real challenges for the community, but they work hard, and it is not in America's interest to deport people who are here and working. The conversation turns to the economy and the state's political future. DeWine calls the Canada trade war a genuine problem for Ohio — Canada is a major customer — and argues the country needs a real balance between domestic manufacturing and importing rather than a grudge match. On the data center boom reshaping Ohio politics, he says tech companies have an obligation to invest in the communities they move into, notes the technology has improved and no longer requires as much water, and makes the case that nuclear power is what will actually have to underwrite the buildout. He and Chuck get into whether there's a genuine divide between the two factions of the Ohio GOP, and DeWine offers a thoughtful answer about how the nationalization of politics has flattened the local distinctions that once existed inside both parties — and how that nationalization is now in everyone's face every single day. He takes ownership of the COVID shutdown decisions (the buck stopped with him), assesses whether Ohio is genuinely back to purple status with both the governor and Senate races going down to the wire, weighs in on whether the state is in good hands with either Vivek Ramaswamy or Amy Acton — and, of course, whether this is finally Joe Burrow's year. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Governor Mike DeWine joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:15 More comfortable speaking out since not running for office 02:30 Mike’s argument against the death penalty 03:00 It takes 20 years on average from adjudication to execution 03:30 Death penalty process is not able to be sped up 05:00 We need to have legal immigrants admitted to America 06:15 We were educating immigrants, then not having them stay 07:00 Ohio’s economic increases have come from immigrants 07:30 Immigrants are critical to caring for our aging population 08:15 Can you be pro-life and pro-death penalty? 10:00 Putting an emphasis on rehabilitating prisoners 11:15 It’s in the self-interest of society to educate inmates 12:30 Emotion rather than logic & nuance drives the crime debate 13:30 Truly violent criminals are a very small percentage of the population 14:00 Violent criminals are the ones you have to get out of society 15:15 America goes through pro-immigration and anti-immigration phases 16:00 We need people who want to work 16:30 Haitians in Springfield created challenges, but they work hard 17:30 It’s not in our interest to deport people who are here and working 18:45 Haiti is a major challenge 21:45 Canada trade war is a problem, they’re a major customer for Ohio 23:30 Need a balance between manufacturing here and importing 25:45 Is there a divide in Ohio GOP between the two factions? 28:30 There used to be major distinctions within the parties 29:30 Nationalization of politics has stymied local distinctions within parties 30:30 The nationalization is now in everyone’s face everyday 33:00 Tech companies need to invest in communities where they put data centers 33:45 The data center tech is getting better, don’t have to use as much water 34:45 Need to invest in nuclear power in order to power the data center boom 35:30 Is Ohio in good hands with Ramaswamy or Acton as governor? 37:15 Shutdown decisions during COVID were the governor's choice. Buck stops with him 38:15 Is Ohio back to purple state status? 39:30 The governor and senate races will go down to the wire 40:00 Will this finally be Joe Burrow’s year? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • Transcript
  • August 31 · 2 hr 36 min

    Full Episode - Voters Hate The Trump Economy… And It’s Only Getting Worse + A Republican Governor Says What He Really Thinks

    Chuck Todd argues the entire 2026 election is collapsing into a single issue — prices — and that every other story is just a contributing factor. The problem for Republicans is that the economy is going to get worse, not better: price pressure is building across the food supply, the Iran war has disrupted fuel and fertilizer, JP Morgan is warning food inflation could hit 5% by 2027, and Kevin Warsh is going to be forced to raise rates, which will infuriate a president who Chuck argues is focused mainly on his own financial interests and could produce genuinely 1970s-like conditions. Chuck brings back reporting from a visit to the Black Locust Livestock cattle ranch to explain why beef prices can't be fixed by turning a dial: raising cattle is a years-long process, the American herd is historically small, only four companies process the country's beef and capacity is shrinking, and importing more is a short-term patch that damages domestic supply long term. It's the pattern of the whole administration — solving a price problem today by making it worse tomorrow, while the cost of producing food rises because of decisions Trump himself made. Underneath it all sits the number that explains the mood of the country: corporate pre-tax profits are at their highest share since just after World War II while workers take home the smallest share since the 1950s. There is no economic boom for most Americans, Washington keeps misreading the anger, and Trump's own voters are getting hit hardest at the pump. The war, Chuck argues, isn't just making life expensive — it's making America vulnerable. Defense leaders are warning Hegseth the Iran campaign is unsustainable: barely a quarter of the Navy's destroyer fleet is ready to deploy, advanced munitions stocks are largely burned through, and equipment and personnel are worn out, meaning fighting this war has left the country less capable of fighting the next one. China is the clear winner of Trump's second term, and Chuck’s real worry is Putin testing NATO while looking at an American president desperate for any win. Then there's Venezuela, where Trump has announced the U.S. has seized the country's oil reserves — a move Chuck calls British-empire-style imperialism and highway robbery at gunpoint, asking the obvious question: if Putin did this to a neighbor, what would we call it? The standard shouldn't change because we're the ones doing it, the windfall ought to benefit Venezuelans, and it's worth asking who's actually negotiating this and who stands to profit. It's exactly why two-thirds of South America resents the United States, and why Trump's imperial turn will only compound a credibility problem that's already severe. Chuck closes somewhere more personal: his old high school, Miami's Killian, is down from 3,000 students to 400. The kids didn't disappear — school choice killed the ambition to attend. Big public high schools once defined their communities and forced people to know each other; we traded that for choice and specialization without ever asking what a public school is actually for. We didn't try to fix public education, Chuck argues. We empowered people to escape it — and in doing so gutted one of the real sources of American strength. Then, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine joins the Chuck Toddcast in his final months in office and, freed from ever facing voters again, says exactly what he thinks. The headline is his reversal on capital punishment: DeWine helped write Ohio's death penalty statute as a state senator in 1981 and defended it as attorney general, but in June he called on the legislature to abolish it, saying the moral justification he once had simply no longer exists. He walks Chuck through the practical case — roughly 20 years on average from sentencing to execution, a process that structurally cannot be sped up — and the harder question a Republican has to answer about whether you can be both pro-life and pro-death penalty. That flows into a broader argument about criminal justice that DeWine says has been driven by emotion rather than logic: truly violent offenders are a small percentage of the prison population and those are the people who need to be removed from society, but it's in society's direct self-interest to educate and rehabilitate everyone else. He's equally out of step with his party on immigration, arguing America needs legal immigrants, that we've been educating them and then failing to keep them, that Ohio's economic gains have come from immigrants, and that they're critical to caring for an aging population. On Springfield, DeWine is direct: the Haitian population created real challenges for the community, but they work hard, and it is not in America's interest to deport people who are here and working. The conversation turns to the economy and the state's political future. DeWine calls the Canada trade war a genuine problem for Ohio — Canada is a major customer — and argues the country needs a real balance between domestic manufacturing and importing rather than a grudge match. On the data center boom reshaping Ohio politics, he says tech companies have an obligation to invest in the communities they move into, notes the technology has improved and no longer requires as much water, and makes the case that nuclear power is what will actually have to underwrite the buildout. He and Chuck get into whether there's a genuine divide between the two factions of the Ohio GOP, and DeWine offers a thoughtful answer about how the nationalization of politics has flattened the local distinctions that once existed inside both parties — and how that nationalization is now in everyone's face every single day. He takes ownership of the COVID shutdown decisions (the buck stopped with him), assesses whether Ohio is genuinely back to purple status with both the governor and Senate races going down to the wire, weighs in on whether the state is in good hands with either Vivek Ramaswamy or Amy Acton — and, of course, whether this is finally Joe Burrow's year. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the assassination of President William McKinley and the striking parallels between modern America, and America in 1901. He also answers listeners’ questions in the Ask Chuck segment. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 04:30 With return of college football, comes a ton of political advertising 05:00 Football attracts a wide array of potential voters 06:30 Pro-Paxton ad in Texas made China the central theme, blamed Talarico 07:30 GOP has controlled Texas for decades, blaming Talarico is ridiculous 10:00 Dems dismiss the ad as ridiculous, but some people will believe it 12:15 Massachusetts primaries coming up on Tuesday, Sept 1st 14:15 The electorate will be voting on one issue… prices & affordability 15:00 Every other issue is a contributing factor to the price issues 15:45 The problem for Republicans is the economy will get worse, not better 16:30 Price pressures are building across the food supply 16:45 Iran war is causing major issues with the fuel & fertilizer supply 18:00 JP Morgan warns food inflation could reach 5% by 2027 18:30 Kevin Warsh will be forced to raise rates, Trump will be furious 19:00 Trump is only worried about his own personal financial interest 19:45 Fed raising rates to combat inflation will create 1970’s like conditions 20:15 Went to the Black Locust Livestock cattle ranch for Noosphere interview 21:45 Beef prices can’t just be adjusted with the turn of a dial 22:15 Raising cattle is a long term process & our beef herd is historically small 23:00 Trump knows beef prices are hurting him & wanted to import more 24:15 Importing is a short term solution, hurts the long term domestic supply 25:00 Only 4 companies process American beef & we’re losing capacity 25:30 How we can lower beef prices and boost domestic production 26:30 Trump tries to solve price issues in the short term, makes it worse long term 27:00 The price to produce food is rising because of decisions Trump made 27:45 Corporate pre-tax profits are at highest share since aftermath of WW2 28:15 Workers are getting lowest take home share of profits since 1950s 29:00 This is why voters across the spectrum are so pissed off at the system 29:30 There’s no economic boom for most Americans 30:15 Washington continues to misunderstand the anger of the voters 30:45 Trump voters are getting hardest hit by higher gas prices 32:30 Iran war isn’t just making things expensive, it’s making us more vulnerable 33:00 Defense leaders warning Hegseth the Iran war is unsustainable 33:45 Hegseth has put America in more danger than it’s been in since Cold War 34:15 Barely 1/4th of the Navy’s destroyer fleet is ready to deploy 34:45 We’ve burned through most of our advanced munitions 35:15 We’ve worn out our military equipment and personnel 36:00 Fighting this war has made us less capable of fighting the next war 36:30 China has been the biggest winner of Trump’s second term 37:00 What are we no longer willing to do because of the Iran war? 38:00 We’ve spent all this money on the military… and we’re tapped out? 38:30 We should be incredibly concerned about Putin testing NATO 39:15 Putin sees an American president desperate for a win 40:00 Trump announced that we’ve seized Venezuela’s oil reserves 40:45 This feels like British empire style imperialism 42:00 If Putin had done this to another country… what would we call it? 42:30 The standards shouldn’t be different because WE are doing it 43:30 Who is doing this negotiation and who stands to benefit? 44:30 Shouldn’t the windfall from Venezuelan oil benefit Venezuelans? 45:00 Trump is taking Venezuela’s oil at gunpoint, it’s highway robbery 46:00 This is why 2/3rd’s of South America hates the United States 46:30 Trump wants to make America and empire… and the world will hate us 48:00 This compounds America’s credibility problem globally 49:00 The world is only going to hate America & Americans more due to Trump 51:00 Chuck’s high school, Killian is down to 400 students from 3,000 51:45 The kids didn’t disappear, school choice killed ambition to attend there 53:00 Big successful public high schools defined their communities 54:30 Connection between community and schools has broken down 55:00 School choice creates communities not based in their neighborhood 56:00 We haven’t asked “What do we want a public school to do for a community?” 56:45 A public school is central to creating a local community 57:30 We trade choice and specialization, for a community that isn’t forced to interact 59:00 Killian’s community is still a good one, but the character changed 1:00:15 What exactly is public education for? Is it purely for kids' education? 1:01:00 The public school system was a source of our power… and we’ve gutted it 1:01:30 We didn’t try to fix public ed, we tried to empower people to escape it 1:03:45 We created more choices, but did we make education better? 1:05:45 We lost a place where we were forced to get to know each other 1:10:15 Governor Mike DeWine joins the Chuck ToddCast 1:11:30 More comfortable speaking out since not running for office 1:12:45 Mike’s argument against the death penalty 1:13:15 It takes 20 years on average from adjudication to execution 1:13:45 Death penalty process is not able to be sped up 1:15:15 We need to have legal immigrants admitted to America 1:16:30 We were educating immigrants, then not having them stay 1:17:15 Ohio’s economic increases have come from immigrants 1:17:45 Immigrants are critical to caring for our aging population 1:18:30 Can you be pro-life and pro-death penalty? 1:20:15 Putting an emphasis on rehabilitating prisoners 1:21:30 It’s in the self-interest of society to educate inmates 1:22:45 Emotion rather than logic & nuance drives the crime debate 1:23:45 Truly violent criminals are a very small percentage of the population 1:24:15 Violent criminals are the ones you have to get out of society 1:25:30 America goes through pro-immigration and anti-immigration phases 1:26:15 We need people who want to work 1:26:45 Haitians in Springfield created challenges, but they work hard 1:27:45 It’s not in our interest to deport people who are here and working 1:29:00 Haiti is a major challenge 1:32:00 Canada trade war is a problem, they’re a major customer for Ohio 1:33:45 Need a balance between manufacturing here and importing 1:36:00 Is there a divide in Ohio GOP between the two factions? 1:38:45 There used to be major distinctions within the parties 1:39:45 Nationalization of politics has stymied local distinctions within parties 1:40:45 The nationalization is now in everyone’s face everyday 1:43:15 Tech companies need to invest in communities where they put data centers 1:44:00 The data center tech is getting better, don’t have to use as much water 1:45:00 Need to invest in nuclear power in order to power the data center boom 1:45:45 Is Ohio in good hands with Ramaswamy or Acton as governor? 1:47:30 Shutdown decisions during COVID were the governor's choice. Buck stops with him 1:48:30 Is Ohio back to purple state status? 1:49:45 The governor and senate races will go down to the wire 1:50:15 Will this finally be Joe Burrow’s year? 1:52:00 ToddCast Time Machine - The Assassination of William McKinley 1:52:30 Of all presidential assassinations, Americans know the least about this one 1:53:00 The assassin was Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist who felt system was unjust 1:53:45 After McKinley died, Teddy Roosevelt became president 1:54:15 Czolgosz actually produced some of the political change he wanted 1:55:00 Modern America echoes America in 1901 1:56:00 Czolgosz saw political assassinations create change in Europe 1:57:45 Other anarchists thought Czolgosz was too committed, maybe a plant 1:58:15 Emma Goldman argues that societal conditions explain the assassination 1:59:00 When people conclude politics won’t solve problems, they look to alternatives 1:59:45 The assassination happened at a fair showing celebrating technological advances 2:00:30 The United States was emerging as a world power, but there were two Americas 2:01:00 One America saw dynamism, the other saw exploitation 2:01:30 The setting of the assassination was almost poetic 2:02:15 Doctors treating McKinley were too afraid to use new X-ray technology 2:03:15 Lincoln’s son was actually nearby during the assassination 2:03:45 Roosevelt was installed as VP by party bosses to get rid of him 2:04:30 Roosevelt sworn in at age 42, and understood the conditions for political radicalism 2:05:00 Roosevelt argues for the “Square Deal” and goes after concentrated corporate power 2:06:00 The uncomfortable truth: Does assassination provide the sought political change? 2:06:45 Lincoln and JFK’s assassination both changed the political timeline 2:08:00 Czolgosz was convicted and executed weeks after McKinley’s death 2:08:30 Congress passes the Anarchist Exclusion Act, Goldman is deported 2:10:00 The forces that produced Czolgosz weren’t confined to America 2:10:30 Roosevelt’s policies helped prevent a Russian-style revolution 2:11:00 Roosevelt argues capitalism has to be regulated and restrained 2:12:15 America in 2026 isn’t America 1901, but it does rhyme 2:13:15 Ask Chuck 2:13:30 What do you make of James Talarico’s status in Texas? 2:19:30 Thoughts on Project 2025, is it a threat and is Trump following it? 2:21:45 Do you think the Trump administration will still act on Cuba? 2:24:00 Why not make the Attorney General an elected position? 2:27:45 Do you see your political independence as a protest against duopoly? 2:32:00 Takeaways from first week of college football See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • Transcript
  • August 31 · 1 hr 53 min

    Chuck’s Commentary - Voters Hate The Trump Economy… And It’s Only Getting Worse + America Hasn’t Been This Vulnerable In Decades

    Chuck Todd argues the entire 2026 election is collapsing into a single issue — prices — and that every other story is just a contributing factor. The problem for Republicans is that the economy is going to get worse, not better: price pressure is building across the food supply, the Iran war has disrupted fuel and fertilizer, JP Morgan is warning food inflation could hit 5% by 2027, and Kevin Warsh is going to be forced to raise rates, which will infuriate a president who Chuck argues is focused mainly on his own financial interests and could produce genuinely 1970s-like conditions. Chuck brings back reporting from a visit to the Black Locust Livestock cattle ranch to explain why beef prices can't be fixed by turning a dial: raising cattle is a years-long process, the American herd is historically small, only four companies process the country's beef and capacity is shrinking, and importing more is a short-term patch that damages domestic supply long term. It's the pattern of the whole administration — solving a price problem today by making it worse tomorrow, while the cost of producing food rises because of decisions Trump himself made. Underneath it all sits the number that explains the mood of the country: corporate pre-tax profits are at their highest share since just after World War II while workers take home the smallest share since the 1950s. There is no economic boom for most Americans, Washington keeps misreading the anger, and Trump's own voters are getting hit hardest at the pump. The war, Chuck argues, isn't just making life expensive — it's making America vulnerable. Defense leaders are warning Hegseth the Iran campaign is unsustainable: barely a quarter of the Navy's destroyer fleet is ready to deploy, advanced munitions stocks are largely burned through, and equipment and personnel are worn out, meaning fighting this war has left the country less capable of fighting the next one. China is the clear winner of Trump's second term, and Chuck’s real worry is Putin testing NATO while looking at an American president desperate for any win. Then there's Venezuela, where Trump has announced the U.S. has seized the country's oil reserves — a move Chuck calls British-empire-style imperialism and highway robbery at gunpoint, asking the obvious question: if Putin did this to a neighbor, what would we call it? The standard shouldn't change because we're the ones doing it, the windfall ought to benefit Venezuelans, and it's worth asking who's actually negotiating this and who stands to profit. It's exactly why two-thirds of South America resents the United States, and why Trump's imperial turn will only compound a credibility problem that's already severe. Chuck closes somewhere more personal: his old high school, Miami's Killian, is down from 3,000 students to 400. The kids didn't disappear — school choice killed the ambition to attend. Big public high schools once defined their communities and forced people to know each other; we traded that for choice and specialization without ever asking what a public school is actually for. We didn't try to fix public education, Chuck argues. We empowered people to escape it — and in doing so gutted one of the real sources of American strength. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the assassination of President William McKinley and the striking parallels between modern America, and America in 1901. He also answers listeners’ questions in the Ask Chuck segment. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 04:30 With return of college football, comes a ton of political advertising 05:00 Football attracts a wide array of potential voters 06:30 Pro-Paxton ad in Texas made China the central theme, blamed Talarico 07:30 GOP has controlled Texas for decades, blaming Talarico is ridiculous 10:00 Dems dismiss the ad as ridiculous, but some people will believe it 12:15 Massachusetts primaries coming up on Tuesday, Sept 1st 14:15 The electorate will be voting on one issue… prices & affordability 15:00 Every other issue is a contributing factor to the price issues 15:45 The problem for Republicans is the economy will get worse, not better 16:30 Price pressures are building across the food supply 16:45 Iran war is causing major issues with the fuel & fertilizer supply 18:00 JP Morgan warns food inflation could reach 5% by 2027 18:30 Kevin Warsh will be forced to raise rates, Trump will be furious 19:00 Trump is only worried about his own personal financial interest 19:45 Fed raising rates to combat inflation will create 1970’s like conditions 20:15 Went to the Black Locust Livestock cattle ranch for Noosphere interview 21:45 Beef prices can’t just be adjusted with the turn of a dial 22:15 Raising cattle is a long term process & our beef herd is historically small 23:00 Trump knows beef prices are hurting him & wanted to import more 24:15 Importing is a short term solution, hurts the long term domestic supply 25:00 Only 4 companies process American beef & we’re losing capacity 25:30 How we can lower beef prices and boost domestic production 26:30 Trump tries to solve price issues in the short term, makes it worse long term 27:00 The price to produce food is rising because of decisions Trump made 27:45 Corporate pre-tax profits are at highest share since aftermath of WW2 28:15 Workers are getting lowest take home share of profits since 1950s 29:00 This is why voters across the spectrum are so pissed off at the system 29:30 There’s no economic boom for most Americans 30:15 Washington continues to misunderstand the anger of the voters 30:45 Trump voters are getting hardest hit by higher gas prices 32:30 Iran war isn’t just making things expensive, it’s making us more vulnerable 33:00 Defense leaders warning Hegseth the Iran war is unsustainable 33:45 Hegseth has put America in more danger than it’s been in since Cold War 34:15 Barely 1/4th of the Navy’s destroyer fleet is ready to deploy 34:45 We’ve burned through most of our advanced munitions 35:15 We’ve worn out our military equipment and personnel 36:00 Fighting this war has made us less capable of fighting the next war 36:30 China has been the biggest winner of Trump’s second term 37:00 What are we no longer willing to do because of the Iran war? 38:00 We’ve spent all this money on the military… and we’re tapped out? 38:30 We should be incredibly concerned about Putin testing NATO 39:15 Putin sees an American president desperate for a win 40:00 Trump announced that we’ve seized Venezuela’s oil reserves 40:45 This feels like British empire style imperialism 42:00 If Putin had done this to another country… what would we call it? 42:30 The standards shouldn’t be different because WE are doing it 43:30 Who is doing this negotiation and who stands to benefit? 44:30 Shouldn’t the windfall from Venezuelan oil benefit Venezuelans? 45:00 Trump is taking Venezuela’s oil at gunpoint, it’s highway robbery 46:00 This is why 2/3rd’s of South America hates the United States 46:30 Trump wants to make America and empire… and the world will hate us 48:00 This compounds America’s credibility problem globally 49:00 The world is only going to hate America & Americans more due to Trump 51:00 Chuck’s high school, Killian is down to 400 students from 3,000 51:45 The kids didn’t disappear, school choice killed ambition to attend there 53:00 Big successful public high schools defined their communities 54:30 Connection between community and schools has broken down 55:00 School choice creates communities not based in their neighborhood 56:00 We haven’t asked “What do we want a public school to do for a community?” 56:45 A public school is central to creating a local community 57:30 We trade choice and specialization, for a community that isn’t forced to interact 59:00 Killian’s community is still a good one, but the character changed 1:00:15 What exactly is public education for? Is it purely for kids' education? 1:01:00 The public school system was a source of our power… and we’ve gutted it 1:01:30 We didn’t try to fix public ed, we tried to empower people to escape it 1:03:45 We created more choices, but did we make education better? 1:05:45 We lost a place where we were forced to get to know each other 1:09:00 ToddCast Time Machine - The Assassination of William McKinley 1:09:30 Of all presidential assassinations, Americans know the least about this one 1:10:00 The assassin was Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist who felt system was unjust 1:10:45 After McKinley died, Teddy Roosevelt became president 1:11:15 Czolgosz actually produced some of the political change he wanted 1:12:00 Modern America echoes America in 1901 1:13:00 Czolgosz saw political assassinations create change in Europe 1:14:45 Other anarchists thought Czolgosz was too committed, maybe a plant 1:15:15 Emma Goldman argues that societal conditions explain the assassination 1:16:00 When people conclude politics won’t solve problems, they look to alternatives 1:16:45 The assassination happened at a fair showing celebrating technological advances 1:17:30 The United States was emerging as a world power, but there were two Americas 1:18:00 One America saw dynamism, the other saw exploitation 1:18:30 The setting of the assassination was almost poetic 1:19:15 Doctors treating McKinley were too afraid to use new X-ray technology 1:20:15 Lincoln’s son was actually nearby during the assassination 1:20:45 Roosevelt was installed as VP by party bosses to get rid of him 1:21:30 Roosevelt sworn in at age 42, and understood the conditions for political radicalism 1:22:00 Roosevelt argues for the “Square Deal” and goes after concentrated corporate power 1:23:00 The uncomfortable truth: Does assassination provide the sought political change? 1:23:45 Lincoln and JFK’s assassination both changed the political timeline 1:25:00 Czolgosz was convicted and executed weeks after McKinley’s death 1:25:30 Congress passes the Anarchist Exclusion Act, Goldman is deported 1:27:00 The forces that produced Czolgosz weren’t confined to America 1:27:30 Roosevelt’s policies helped prevent a Russian-style revolution 1:28:00 Roosevelt argues capitalism has to be regulated and restrained 1:29:15 America in 2026 isn’t America 1901, but it does rhyme 1:30:15 Ask Chuck 1:30:30 What do you make of James Talarico’s status in Texas? 1:36:30 Thoughts on Project 2025, is it a threat and is Trump following it? 1:38:45 Do you think the Trump administration will still act on Cuba? 1:41:00 Why not make the Attorney General an elected position? 1:44:45 Do you see your political independence as a protest against duopoly? 1:49:00 Takeaways from first week of college football See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • Transcript
  • August 27 · 37 min

    Interview Only w/ Anthony Scaramucci - Why Trump Is Losing In Iran & Trying To Break The West

    Former Trump White House Communications Director and author of the upcoming book All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump, Anthony Scaramucci joins the Chuck Toddcast, picking up a conversation the two started in Abu Dhabi just before the Iran war — back when the gulf states were considered one of the safest places on earth. They discuss why America's military industrial complex is badly out of step with modern warfare, and that the circuit running between defense contractors and Washington is why nobody fixes it. He walks through Iran's mosaic defense doctrine and its decentralized command structure, the damage Iranian strikes did to U.S. naval logistics in the Gulf — reporting has traced the USS Abraham Lincoln's resupply crisis back to the destruction of the Navy's main Bahrain hub, which forced operations out to Diego Garcia — and the Pentagon's response to that story, which was to go after the press rather than answer for any of it. Hegseth's Pentagon fired Stars and Stripes publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin, and reporter Lara Korte, citing insubordination months after the department had already forced out the paper's congressionally mandated ombudsman, who sued over it. Firing the journalists at a publication created specifically to give troops independent information is, as Scaramucci frames it, exactly the instinct of an institution that can't withstand scrutiny. The structural problem underneath: a defense industry consolidated down to five giant companies that function like a cartel, operating in a post-Citizens United Washington where corporations reliably get what they want and lobbyists will smother any real reform. We spent enormous sums, he argues, to get embarrassed by Iran — and the countries hosting American bases are quietly concluding it isn't worth it, which means new defense pacts are going to form without the United States in them. From there the conversation widens into competition with China and the fracturing of the western alliance. Scaramucci argues China can plan for the long term in ways America simply doesn't, and that the Pentagon still can't pass an audit with nobody ever held accountable — but he's not a declinist: America's freedoms remain a real advantage over Beijing if the country gets its act together, which is precisely the argument in the op-ed on press freedom that started his rift with Trump, and precisely what the Stars and Stripes firings put at risk. He calls Mark Carney the leader of the western world now, credits Carney with understanding that Trump wants to sever the U.S. from the west, and offers the episode's sharpest line: if Trump were a Putin agent, he'd be getting an A+. On the collapsed Canada trade talks, Scaramucci thinks the dispute gets resolved within a couple of weeks, but he's clear that the Carney path — standing up to Trump directly — is not a path Democrats can simply copy. New coalitions have formed since 2016, and he doesn't see a coalition builder anywhere in the current Democratic Party; Gavin Newsom has been pilloried by conservative media for a decade, and the person capable of assembling something genuinely new may have to come from outside politics altogether. “Pre-order All The Wrong Moves now https://www.scaramucci.net/books Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Anthony Scaramucci joins The Chuck ToddCast 00:45 Last time seeing each other was in Abu Dhabi right before Iran war 02:15 Abu Dhabi was one of the safest places in the world pre-war 03:45 How much damage has been done to U.S. & gulf state alliance? 04:15 Our military industrial complex is out of step with modern warfare 05:00 There’s a circuit between defense contractors and D.C. 05:30 Iran will end up closer to their Sunni neighbors after the war 06:15 Iran’s mosaic defense doctrine created decentralized leadership 07:00 Our naval supply depots have been decimated by Iran 08:00 Hegseth’s response was to fire reporters who reported the story 10:30 Defense industry has been consolidated down to 5 big companies 11:30 Those 5 companies act like a monopoly cartel 12:15 Since Citizen’s United, corporations get what they want from D.C. 13:45 We’ve spent huge sums of money to get embarrassed by Iran 15:15 Countries that hosted U.S. bases finding out it’s not worth it 16:00 New defense pacts will be formed without the U.S. involved 17:00 The lobbyists will get in the way of any attempts at reform 19:15 China is able to plan for the long term in a way the U.S. doesn’t 20:15 Anthony’s rift with Trump began was op-ed about importance of free press 20:45 Our freedoms are advantage over China if we get our act together 22:15 China has some advantages over us, but we also have our advantages 23:00 Pentagon can’t pass an audit, but nobody holds them accountable 23:30 Mark Carney is now the leader of the western world now 24:00 Carney understands Trump wants to sever the U.S. from the west 24:30 If Trump was a Putin agent… he would get an A+ 26:15 The Canada trade deal stalled over dual language packaging 28:00 Trade dispute will likely get resolved in the next couple weeks 29:15 The Carney path is not a path for the Democrats 30:30 New coalitions have been formed since the 2016 election 31:15 Don’t see a coalition builder in the current Democratic party 32:00 Gavin Newsom has been pilloried by conservative media for a decade 33:00 Someone from outside of politics could potentially build a coalition See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • Transcript
  • August 27 · 2 hr 15 min

    Full Episode - South Carolina Delayed Trump's Lame Duck Status... For Now + Why Trump Is Losing In Iran & Trying To Break The West

    Chuck Todd digs into Darline Graham's 52-48 runoff win over Ralph Norman in South Carolina — a result that snapped Trump's ugly endorsement streak but only barely, and only because Trump personally recruited her, endorsed her, flew to Myrtle Beach for a rally, and dropped more than $800,000 in MAGA Inc. money on a race his PAC had sat out all cycle elsewhere. Chuck's read is that Trump clearly still moves Republican primary voters, but that a four-point squeaker for an appointed newcomer carrying one of the most recognizable names in state politics is not the show of strength the White House wanted. Graham inherited Lindsey's negatives with voters without inheriting his positives, remains an amateur candidate prone to gaffes, and may be dragged down further by resentment over how she got the seat in the first place. Against her is Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician with a real organization raising real money — and while no Democrat has won a Senate race in South Carolina since 1998, Chuck asks the honest question about a favorable environment: what's Andrews' actual ceiling, and can 48% be a winning number in a state where the Supreme Court gutting the Voting Rights Act has produced a surge in Black turnout? If the blue wave turns into a tsunami, South Carolina lands on the map. A Graham loss in this environment would be a genuine disaster for Trump. That leads into the broader strategic picture, where Chuck reports Trump met with advisors about how to deploy his enormous war chest — with the advisors trying to keep the midterms from becoming a referendum on him, and Trump insisting MAGA Inc. spend on ads touting his record. It's a plan built on turning out voters who show up only for Trump, which could either backfire badly or, Chuck concedes, prevent a tsunami. The deeper problem is that Trump is being told what he wants to hear: he thinks the economy is great, voters emphatically don't, and charts are meaningless to people staring at their grocery bills. Unlike Obama, who inherited a mess, Trump's central problems — the tariffs and the Iran war — were his own choices, which is why blaming Joe Biden won't land with any credibility. Chuck also notes that conservative media has spent the week obsessing over the WNBA, a classic look-over-here tactic from outlets that can't discuss the cost of living, and observes something genuinely changed about Trump's second-term psychology: more countries and institutions are willing to push back, and people simply aren't as afraid of him anymore. He is appalled by the reported plan to tear down the Kennedy Center — calling it disgusting to want your name on someone else's tombstone, noting the Kennedy Center was doing fine, and marveling that the Justice Department put any of this in writing. He closes with his argument that America no longer has two functional parties: Democrats are paralyzed, the GOP is owned by Trump, both are held together only by fear of the other side's extremes, nearly half the public identifies with neither, and state law now protects the duopoly from competition. We demand more choice everywhere else in life. His pitch: stop protecting the two parties, let them divorce, and let voters build something that actually looks like the country. Then, former Trump White House Communications Director and author of the upcoming book All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump, Anthony Scaramucci joins the Chuck Toddcast, picking up a conversation the two started in Abu Dhabi just before the Iran war — back when the gulf states were considered one of the safest places on earth. They discuss why America's military industrial complex is badly out of step with modern warfare, and that the circuit running between defense contractors and Washington is why nobody fixes it. He walks through Iran's mosaic defense doctrine and its decentralized command structure, the damage Iranian strikes did to U.S. naval logistics in the Gulf — reporting has traced the USS Abraham Lincoln's resupply crisis back to the destruction of the Navy's main Bahrain hub, which forced operations out to Diego Garcia — and the Pentagon's response to that story, which was to go after the press rather than answer for any of it. Hegseth's Pentagon fired Stars and Stripes publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin, and reporter Lara Korte, citing insubordination months after the department had already forced out the paper's congressionally mandated ombudsman, who sued over it. Firing the journalists at a publication created specifically to give troops independent information is, as Scaramucci frames it, exactly the instinct of an institution that can't withstand scrutiny. The structural problem underneath: a defense industry consolidated down to five giant companies that function like a cartel, operating in a post-Citizens United Washington where corporations reliably get what they want and lobbyists will smother any real reform. We spent enormous sums, he argues, to get embarrassed by Iran — and the countries hosting American bases are quietly concluding it isn't worth it, which means new defense pacts are going to form without the United States in them. From there the conversation widens into competition with China and the fracturing of the western alliance. Scaramucci argues China can plan for the long term in ways America simply doesn't, and that the Pentagon still can't pass an audit with nobody ever held accountable — but he's not a declinist: America's freedoms remain a real advantage over Beijing if the country gets its act together, which is precisely the argument in the op-ed on press freedom that started his rift with Trump, and precisely what the Stars and Stripes firings put at risk. He calls Mark Carney the leader of the western world now, credits Carney with understanding that Trump wants to sever the U.S. from the west, and offers the episode's sharpest line: if Trump were a Putin agent, he'd be getting an A+. On the collapsed Canada trade talks, Scaramucci thinks the dispute gets resolved within a couple of weeks, but he's clear that the Carney path — standing up to Trump directly — is not a path Democrats can simply copy. New coalitions have formed since 2016, and he doesn't see a coalition builder anywhere in the current Democratic Party; Gavin Newsom has been pilloried by conservative media for a decade, and the person capable of assembling something genuinely new may have to come from outside politics altogether. Finally, Chuck presents his ToddCast Top 5 list of 2028 GOP presidential candidates and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. “Pre-order All The Wrong Moves now https://www.scaramucci.net/books Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 05:30 Darline Graham wins South Carolina runoff w/Trump’s endorsement 06:00 Trump clearly has influence over GOP primary voters 06:45 The race was a test of Trump’s political strength & she barely won 08:15 Darline inherited Lindsey’s negatives with voters, but not the positives 09:15 It took Trump & his operation to get Graham over the finish line 09:45 May not be a path for Annie Andrews to win, but can make it close 10:30 In favorable environment for Dems, what is the ceiling for Andrews? 11:30 Can 48% be a winning number for Annie Andrews? 12:00 Graham is still an amateur candidate, prone to gaffes 13:15 SCOTUS gutting the Voting Rights Act has led to surge in black vote 14:30 Some voters may be turned off by Graham being appointed 15:30 Andrews has a strong organization & is raising real money 16:15 If the blue wave is a tsunami… South Carolina may be on the map 17:15 Trump desperately needed a Darline Graham 19:15 Candidates who ran as Trump candidates are pivoting for the general 21:00 A Graham loss in this environment would be a disaster for Trump 22:00 Trump met with advisors to discuss how to use his giant war chest 22:30 Advisors don’t want the midterms to be a referendum on Trump 23:15 Trump wants MAGA Inc to spend on ads touting his record 24:15 Trump is out of touch, told what he wants to hear 25:45 Trump thinks the economy is great, the voters certainly don’t 27:00 Economic charts are meaningless when costs are so high 27:45 Trump is not meeting voters where they are 28:15 While Obama inherited a mess, the problems now are caused by Trump 29:00 The tariffs and Iran war were Trump’s choices 30:00 Playing the “blame Joe Biden” card won’t land with credibility 31:00 The senate map is still pretty friendly territory for Republicans 31:30 Trump’s strategy is to turn out voters that show up for only for him 32:30 This plan could also backfire on Republicans 33:45 The plan could also possibly prevent a potential blue tsunami 34:15 Conservative media has been obsessing over the WNBA 35:00 They can’t talk about the serious issues, focused on culture wars 35:45 It’s an old political “look over here” tactic 36:45 Conservatives want voters focused on WNBA, not cost of living 37:30 Conservative media tries to change the subject, Trump doesn’t 38:00 Trump’s psychology has clearly changed in term two 38:45 More countries and institutions are willing to push back on Trump 39:30 People aren’t as afraid to stand up to Trump now 40:15 If Trump tears down the Kennedy Center, the symbolism would be powerful 40:45 It’s disgusting to want to put your name on someone else’s tombstone 41:30 The Kennedy Center was doing FINE before Trump 42:15 Trump isn’t nearly as much of a “builder” as he claims to be 43:15 Threatening to tear down the Kennedy Center is just appalling 44:30 It’s crazy that the Department of Justice put this in writing 45:00 Don’t have two functional parties, Dems are paralyzed, GOP owned by Trump 46:30 Both parties contain wings with diverging philosophies 47:45 Both parties stay together because they’re afraid of the other sides extremes 48:45 Nearly half the public doesn’t identify with either major party 49:30 Voters identify as independents to register protest with both parties 51:30 The “left” and “right” labels end up doing the thinking for us 52:15 Parties lost regional identities as politics became nationalized 53:45 State law now protects the two political parties from competition 54:30 We should stop protecting the duopoly 56:30 Every race shouldn’t have to collapse into the same two parties 57:00 There is a constituency for a multiparty democracy 58:30 We keep defending a political system that most agree isn’t working 59:45 Everywhere else in life we demand more choice. Just not in politics 1:00:45 Let the parties divorce and then let the voters decide 1:02:30 Politics should be more representative of what we are 1:07:00 Anthony Scaramucci joins The Chuck ToddCast 1:07:45 Last time seeing each other was in Abu Dhabi right before Iran war 1:09:15 Abu Dhabi was one of the safest places in the world pre-war 1:10:45 How much damage has been done to U.S. & gulf state alliance? 1:11:15 Our military industrial complex is out of step with modern warfare 1:12:00 There’s a circuit between defense contractors and D.C. 1:12:30 Iran will end up closer to their Sunni neighbors after the war 1:13:15 Iran’s mosaic defense doctrine created decentralized leadership 1:14:00 Our naval supply depots have been decimated by Iran 1:15:00 Hegseth’s response was to fire reporters who reported the story 1:17:30 Defense industry has been consolidated down to 5 big companies 1:18:30 Those 5 companies act like a monopoly cartel 1:19:15 Since Citizen’s United, corporations get what they want from D.C. 1:20:45 We’ve spent huge sums of money to get embarrassed by Iran 1:22:15 Countries that hosted U.S. bases finding out it’s not worth it 1:23:00 New defense pacts will be formed without the U.S. involved 1:24:00 The lobbyists will get in the way of any attempts at reform 1:26:15 China is able to plan for the long term in a way the U.S. doesn’t 1:27:15 Anthony’s rift with Trump began was op-ed about importance of free press 1:27:45 Our freedoms are advantage over China if we get our act together 1:29:15 China has some advantages over us, but we also have our advantages 1:30:00 Pentagon can’t pass an audit, but nobody holds them accountable 1:30:30 Mark Carney is now the leader of the western world now 1:31:00 Carney understands Trump wants to sever the U.S. from the west 1:31:30 If Trump was a Putin agent… he would get an A+ 1:33:15 The Canada trade deal stalled over dual language packaging 1:35:00 Trade dispute will likely get resolved in the next couple weeks 1:36:15 The Carney path is not a path for the Democrats 1:37:30 New coalitions have been formed since the 2016 election 1:38:15 Don’t see a coalition builder in the current Democratic party 1:39:00 Gavin Newsom has been pilloried by conservative media for a decade 1:40:00 Someone from outside of politics could potentially build a coalition 1:41:00 ToddCast Top 5 2028 GOP Presidential candidates 1:41:45 #1 JD Vance 1:43:15 #2 Marco Rubio 1:46:00 #3 Someone named Trump 1:47:00 #4 Nikki Haley 1:47:30 #5 Rand Paul 1:51:00 Ask Chuck 1:51:30 Thoughts on the long-shot Democratic 2028 candidates? 1:57:00 What would your dream bipartisan ticket look like? 2:00:30 What happened to the ideological principles of both parties? 2:04:15 Could Roger Marshall leave and then just be reappointed? 2:07:00 Are we missing shifts in areas we assume are safely red? 2:11:00 College football preview See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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