Speaker
Dan Pfeiffer
Appearances over time
4 episodes
Episodes
4
Podcasts
Quotes & moments
The 6-3 Supreme Court ruling allows the Trump administration to rescind Temporary Protected Status for 350,000 Haitian immigrants, potentially enabling their deportation.
A majority of Americans do not have passports, and those without them are disproportionately working class and non-college educated — the core of Trump's base.
From 1946 to 2024, more than 98% of House incumbents have won renomination, making two losing on the same night a rare and significant event.
A Gallup poll showed 66% of registered Democrats have a positive view of socialism, with men aged 30–44 showing the highest favorability.
Today, north of 54% of Democrats consider themselves liberal or very liberal, up from 42% when Obama ran for reelection.
Because the ruling only allows asylum claims for those physically inside the US, it perversely incentivizes migrants to attempt illegal crossings rather than present themselves lawfully at ports of entry.
Trump's national approval rating has fallen to 37%, reflecting the political cost of corruption, affordability concerns, and policy failures.
Susan Collins won Maine by 9 points in 2020 even as Biden was winning Maine by nearly 9 points — an 18-point overperformance.
In 2008, Susan Collins won Maine by 23 points when Obama won Maine by 17 — a 40-point overperformance illustrating her extraordinary home-state durability.
Currently, individuals can give approximately $7,000 directly to a candidate (split between primary and general), but the pending NRSC coordination case could eliminate contribution limits entirely.
A CBS poll found that 69% of Americans think the Iran war has not been worth the cost, making the $88 billion supplemental politically toxic for Republicans.
After the Dobbs decision, the number of Americans identifying as pro-choice reached an all-time high and has remained elevated four years later, even as abortion has dropped in political salience.
Sherrod Brown has a +8 favorable rating in Ohio, a Trump state that Trump won by 11 points, yet he is still down 3 points in the Senate race.
Walking through the center, Jon Lovett felt the pull of optimism — then immediately challenged himself to ask why it hadn't proven durable enough to stop Trump from winning twice. The honest reckoning: a hopeful vision of America isn't self-sustaining if the candidates who follow can't replicate it.
Michelle Obama's dedication speech at the Obama Presidential Center moved the audience to tears — including the sign language interpreter. Her remarks on the impossible standard applied to the first Black president, her barely-veiled indictment of the current administration, and her rallying cry that people of all backgrounds are America made it arguably the most powerful political speech of the year.
Trump signed his Iran MOU at the actual Palace of Versailles. The deal gives Iran a 60-day window, a $300 billion reconstruction fund, an immediate oil export license, and joint control over the Strait of Hormuz — while getting only a theoretical opening of the Strait and a reaffirmation of Iran's existing non-proliferation commitment in return. The hosts can't find a single concrete US gain.
JD Vance went on The View as part of his Catholic conversion book tour, trying to project bridge-building moderation. The result: gaslit the hosts about Trump's inflation comments, then called Democrats 'terrible people' on Fox that same night. Defending Trump is an impossible task, but Vance made it worse by having absolutely no charm.
Trump had the National Mall reflecting pool drained and painted American-flag blue — and it immediately turned green with algae again. The Department of Interior deployed hydrogen peroxide buckets into a 7-million-gallon tank (you'd need 5,000–7,000 gallons for even a week of cleanliness), declared victory anyway, and then blamed Democrats for sabotage. It's Trump's entire presidency in one petri dish.
Tommy Vietor went to a USA-Paraguay World Cup qualifier and felt something that's been missing from Democratic politics: unabashed love of country. Jon Favreau cited World Cup visitors from abroad who expected a dystopia and found a great nation. The message: just because Trump is president doesn't mean the country is bad — and Democrats need to stop ceding that terrain.
You can't just tell Democrats to be more like Obama — that's like telling someone to dunk more like Michael Jordan. But there are three things any communicator can steal: own patriotism unapologetically, always take the hardest question head-on, and frame everything as a values story rather than a policy list.
Under the JCPOA, Iran shipped 97% of its nuclear stockpile out of the country to Russia, the deal went through the UN Security Council with full P5+1 backing, and it had robust sanctions enforcement. Trump's MOU downblends material in-country, has no multilateral framework, and comes with a $300 billion slush fund. Democrats should stop throat-clearing about JCPOA's flaws and just say it was better.
The 2008 Obama campaign ran on 'change,' but what actually carried him to the White House in the final weeks was something quieter: a preternatural evenness and reliability that made voters comfortable taking a chance on him when the financial crisis hit and John McCain seemed erratic. That calm has only grown more striking in contrast to what Trump is.
While JD Vance was doing a book tour, Marco Rubio — the national security adviser and secretary of state — went completely dark during the Iran MOU saga. Tommy Vietor pointed out that Rubio, who once ran press conferences about Iran's ballistic missile threat, hadn't done a single interview about the deal he was photographed standing next to Trump to sign.
The Trump administration is asking Congress for an $88 billion Iran war funding supplemental — and 69% of Americans already think the war wasn't worth the cost. With gas prices still elevated and Medicaid cuts fresh in voters' minds, Republicans are being asked to cast one of the most unpopular votes imaginable heading into the midterms.
Men aged 30 to 44 — millennials — show the highest favorability toward socialism of any demographic group, outpacing even younger voters by 9 points. But Jon Favreau argues this isn't ideological: it's a verdict on capitalism. When people say 'socialism,' they picture Medicare for All — not abolishing prisons.
Minutes before a bipartisan housing affordability bill signing, Trump canceled it and demanded Congress pass the SAVE Act first. The SAVE Act has failed the Senate five times, and would disenfranchise the working-class voters who are the core of Trump's base — and none of his advisors or Senate allies would say so to his face.
Every Republican senator — except maybe Mike Lee and Rick Scott — knows the SAVE Act can't pass 50 votes, let alone 60. But not one of them told Trump that in the room. Dan Pfeiffer calls it a pure sign of weakness and failure from John Thune: you had him there, and you still said nothing.
The Obama Presidential Center opened its doors today in Chicago, and the PSA hosts were among the first inside. The museum is less a monument to the past and more a deliberate call to action, built around the idea that community organizing, not nostalgia, is what actually changes America.
Analysis
What they talk about
- Government 33%
- News 33%
- Society & Culture 20%
- Business 14%
Connections
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