Maggie Haberman & Barbara McQuade

**Molly Jong-Fast** (0:00)
Hi, I'm Molly Jong-Fast, and this is Fast Politics, where we discuss the top political headlines with some of today's best minds. An Pew Research poll shows that across 36 nations, 23% of adults express confidence in Trump's leadership of world affairs. We have such a great show for you today. The New York Times' own Maggie Haberman stops by to talk about the blockbuster revelations in her new book, Regime Change. Then we'll talk to former US. Attorney Barbara McQuade about her new book, The Fix Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government. But first, the news.

**Jesse Cannon** (0:42)
Somali Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene in 24 hours of both basically coming out saying that they're not Republicans. A lot of people are clapping back saying that they're going to still vote for them. I think that this is some people seeing the writing on the wall of Trump sinking ship and trying to make a new brand for their careers.

**Molly Jong-Fast** (1:04)
Yeah. I mean, I look, remember, Tucker Carlson is reflecting, just like Marjorie Taylor Greene is, reflecting the views of his constituents, of the people who listen to his podcast. He is as much a leader as he is a follower of his people. And his people do not like this war. His people are going to the gas station and finding gas to be $5 a gallon. His people are hurting. And so this is as much a reflection of where the MAGA base is as it is where Tucker Carlson is. And they are split. And this is the other thing that you have to remember about Trump. It's like there's no historical precedent for a president who runs on one thing, ending foreign wars and making things cheaper, and then immediately does what? Gets in foreign wars and makes things more expensive. So you can see how there's going to be blowback here.

**Jesse Cannon** (2:00)
Yeah, I think there is an interesting thing that, you know, everybody has their own opinions on if Tucker's running. We know Marjorie would love to just keep her career going in some way, but, you know.

**Molly Jong-Fast** (2:14)
All these people, you don't have to be running for president to want to be popular. Like, they're incentivized to want to be popular. They have books, they have podcasts. And again, listen to what Carlson says here. To act, you know, he says in this soliloquy, he says in this podcast, he says, and if I'm out, then I think a lot of people are out, right? This is not about Tucker Carlson. This is about all of the people who listen to Tucker Carlson, who comment on Tucker Carlson's social media. And they are saying loudly that they are not happy. So, you know, Democrats in disarray, this is the MAGA base in disarray.

**Jesse Cannon** (2:56)
Yeah. And I think there is an interesting point here that the gas sliders of Trump, there's a lot of them that really are losing a lot of audience, particularly ones known as the daily wire, which continued to pose more pathetic numbers every day to the point that, like, they're starting to rival YouTube videos I make where I talk about social media management and number.

**Molly Jong-Fast** (3:19)
So that is an important point here because the daily wire is Ben Shapiro, and Ben Shapiro is staunchly pro-Israel. And this is a real problem for both the Democrats, and we've seen it, but also for the Republicans, which is over the weekend, Marion Adelson, you may remember her as being the widow of Sheldon Adelson. So she donated over the weekend. Now there's a reason that she's basically a one-issue donor, and that issue is Israel. Marion Adelson gave $25 million to MAGA Inc's the Super PAC over the weekend. So remember what happened last week. JD Vance said that Israel, he basically gave a sort of little speech where he said that Israel was basically not running the show and that they were a country of 9 million people and they should just be happy with whatever America does. So the reason that Marion Adelson gives $25 million right after that to the MAGA Inc Super PAC has to have something to do.
The timing is just too coincidental otherwise. And so that's a really good example of how Trump has a real problem here, right? He has a donor group that is very, very ensconced with Israel and then he has a base that is not having it. And this is going to be a real problem for Trump and MAGA.

**Jesse Cannon** (4:45)
Yeah.
Another problem for Trump is this war just keeps on racking up prices. Trump likes to pretend that it's all getting resolved. So, oh, everything is going to be fine, just lies about the strait being open. But the Pentagon is saying, nah, bro, we need 80 billion.