MAGA’s hold on the GOP

Our strategists sift through the meaningless and noise and focus on what really matters and must be watched this week.

Rick Wilson: "They hate Donald Trump with the fire of a billion suns" but they'll be lining up at Trump's sloppy, crime and avarice-infested trough as soon as they accept the inevitable - Trump will be the GOP nominee for 2024.

Our strategists sift through the meaningless and noise and focus on what really matters and must be watched this week.

On this episode of The Enemies List, Rick is joined by Sherrilyn Ifill. Sherrilyn is a lawyer and author and former President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Together, they discuss America's historical issues with voting rights, predominantly in African American communities.

From Ruth Ben-Ghiat: "For the authoritarians of the GOP, who no longer see free and fair elections as valid ways of deciding America's leadership, that amounts to an "overthrow," to use Paxton's word. This is where the GOP is now."

While flamboyant characters within the GOP continue to draw focus during McCarthy's desperate push to pass anything, moderates within the party make it clear-the real issue is the party's extremism on abortion rights.

They just can't help themselves. Why impeachment (not to mention another shutdown attempt) will backfire on MAGA in the places they need help the most. 18 House Republicans in Biden-won districts will not like where this is going... and why John Fetterman's exactly right to call 'em out.

Rick Wilson and guest, former GOP Congressman Joe Walsh, imagine a post-Trump Republican Party – one that Walsh says can’t emerge until the GOP's MAGA cult dies. And while there will be a first GOP primary debate without Trump, Walsh explains why Trump will still loom large and has no reason to attend.

The team brought fire tonight in the aftermath of Trump's latest indictments - along with six co-conspirators. The stakes couldn't be higher for America; Rick, Reed, Stuart, and Joe pull back the curtain on those looking to end democracy.

As criminal indictments mount against former President Trump, his Republican allies have embarked on a disingenuous campaign to level spurious, mostly discredited, and often outright false allegations of corruption against President Biden.

Could the entire GOP field be having a worse week? Why the looming batch of indictments probably won't hurt Trump in the primary, but Joe thinks he could make the difference in the general. Yeah, Ron DeSantis is having a horrible week, is he the worst primary candidate ever? All of this is good news for Joe Biden, but why does Joe think his ceiling is even higher?

Rick Wilson: "There’s no blue pill for electile dysfunction, and Ron DeSantis suffers from that pernicious condition affecting politicians of a certain position in the political food chain."

Pres. Biden & Tommy Tuberville offer a sharp contrast in priorities, leadership, and intellect between Dems and the MAGA GOP. Could these opposing styles, viewpoints, and competency give us a glimpse into the strategies of either side going into ‘24? How do you fight stupid? Reed, Rick, Stuart, and Joe have got the answers.

Jen Mercieca warns of the propaganda power of nostalgia: Your memories about the past are incomplete, easily shaped by others, and a vulnerability to propaganda. Fascists know that.

Dueling egos. Name-calling. Insult swaps. Authoritarian ambitions. Hooves for hands? Ron and Don are a match made in Hell, but Ronna ROMNEY McDaniel is patchin' things up. Or not. By the brilliant and hilarious @HistoryFalls.

Ryan Busse spent 25 yrs in the gun industry and is a former exec of a major firearms manufacturer. He saw the number of mass shootings grow exponentially during his tenure, which prompted him to quit. Ryan’s book Gunfight exposes the gun industry’s “McCarthyesque” internal policing and its shift away from safety and ethics to fear, conspiracy, and intolerance.

Brynn Tannehill is a columnist, author, LGBTQ+ activist, and former Navy pilot. Her book, "American Fascism," details how the GOP has undermined democracy for decades. Brynn draws comparisons between Nazi Germany and modern America, citing successful attempts to undermine elections and persecute minorities.

Rick Wilson writes, "Sorry, Democrats and pro-democracy Republicans, but you don’t understand what’s happening." But fear not, Rick has some tough love to share.

Fear and fanaticism are part of it, explains Ruth Ben-Ghiat: "Accepting the leader's lies and violence ties them to him, making them partners in his crimes and thus vulnerable to being exposed."

Growth is strong, inflation is way down, stock market up - let's take the wins