'Captive of the crazy': Trump's dubious primary picks add to GOP's midterm burden episode artwork

EPISODE · May 27, 2026 · 43 MIN

'Captive of the crazy': Trump's dubious primary picks add to GOP's midterm burden

from The Briefing with Jen Psaki · host Jen Psaki, Ali Velshi, Senator Cory Booker, Rep. Greg Casar, Jim Messina, Chuck Rocha

As Texas Republicans follow Donald Trump's direction and give a primary victory to deeply flawed candidate, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Jim Messina, campaign manager for Barack Obama's 2012 reelection campaign, and Chuck Rocha, former senior advisor to the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, talk with Jen Psaki about how the Republican Party's inability to break away from unpopular Trump is setting them up for and even more difficult midterm election. Ali Velshi offers insights from the election data. Jen Psaki describes the basic contours of some of the many scandals that make the newly selected Texas Republican candidate for Senate, Ken Paxton, endorsed by Donald Trump, a disastrously difficult candidate for voters to support, even Trump-era Republican voters with a high tolerance for corruption, disgrace and dishonor. Rep. Greg Casar, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, joins to discuss. And Senator Cory Booker joins to discuss the potental shift in power in Congress after this year's midterms and how lame duck legislators burned by Trump may haunt him as their terms run out. To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published May 27, 2026

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As Texas Republicans follow Donald Trump's direction and give a primary victory to deeply flawed candidate, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Jim Messina, campaign manager for Barack Obama's 2012 reelection campaign, and Chuck Rocha, former senior advisor to the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, talk with Jen Psaki about how the Republican Party's inability to break away from unpopular Trump is setting them up for and even more difficult midterm election.

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'Captive of the crazy': Trump's dubious primary picks add to GOP's midterm burden

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