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PODCAST

Why Trump’s Worsening Obsession With Verdict Has Unnerved Some GOPers

With Trump’s public rage over his conviction potentially alienating swing voters, a leading reporter on the MAGA movement explains the darker reasons why he and MAGA won’t soften their message.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump in Phoenix, on June 6

Some Republicans are reportedly worried that Donald Trump’s ongoing public attacks on his criminal conviction show that he’s overly focused on lathering up his base and refuses to grasp that the verdict will likely alienate swing voters. We think this highlights a deeper truth about Trump and the MAGA movement itself: They cannot acknowledge that such Trump-centrict obsessions might be unpopular with the broader electorate, as this would constitute showing weakness. We talked to Washington Post reporter Isaac Arnsdorf, author of the excellent new book Finish What We Started: The MAGA Movement’s Ground War to End Democracy, who helped us unravel this tangle of MAGA pathologies. Listen to this episode here.