Mike and Mark discuss the 10 year span that has seen Donald Trump go from unlikely presidential assperations, to the most important figure of the 21st century.
Ten years after Trump descended the golden escalator, Mark and Mike look back at the decade that followed. From the media’s sneering dismissal in 2015 to today’s reshaped political landscape, they analyze how “Trumpism” turned critics into converts and shifted America’s political axis. The hosts reflect on their own political journeys, the appeal (and pitfalls) of candidates like Ted Cruz and Ron DeSantis, and the charisma factor that made Trump unstoppable. They also
00:06:03 The Resilience and Unflappability of Trump
00:06:13 Poll Reflections and Economic Perceptions
SPEAKER 02 :
Just 10 years ago today, we’ve gone through a decade of Trumpism that has completely reshaped politics, the culture. You cannot understate this. And I don’t like to spike the football or anything. But there’s a little clip I want to share with you. This was 10 years ago today, okay? The day after Trump came down the golden escalator, the day after, this is what all the familiar faces we know on TV sounded like. Hit it. I’m just really happy right now. I’m a millionaire vanity candidate. Mike Barnicle.
SPEAKER 01 :
right now. There are no words to describe what just happened.
SPEAKER 02 :
Ed Randall, do you have any doubt that this is anything more than a carnival show? It’s like, I can’t tell if this is politics or if this is just PR from a celebrity. I mean, it was one after another. Do you think they look back at that and say, oh boy, did we get it wrong?
SPEAKER 03 :
And they got it wrong. It’s not like that’s the first or the last time that people said something in the Trump era, including me. folks on our side who have said some things about the Trump era and then been completely and totally wrong, had to completely and totally reconfigure. Although I’ll tell you, not to join you in breaking our arm, patting ourselves on the back, is there anything… I haven’t. You haven’t. We signed. I was a Cruz guy. I was a Ted Cruz guy in 2016 until Ted Cruz wasn’t in the race anymore. And all the while in supporting Ted Cruz, it came it was winnowing down to Cruz and Trump, Cruz and Trump, Cruz and Trump. So I was talking about how great Ted Cruz was, which I will always do. But as people were bagging on Trump, bagging on Trump, attacking Trump, I was spending more time defending Trump against bullies. bizarre baseless attacks from both sides than I was talking about how awesome Ted Cruz was. So when Trump beat Cruz in Indiana in May of 2016, the time I spent immediately morphing over to the Trump train was about a millisecond where I’ve reigned every day since. And I haven’t had any weird curveballs. I haven’t had any huge lessons I’ve had to learn because I’ve been slow to grasp what was going on. Have you?
SPEAKER 02 :
I was thinking about the comparison between, in a way, on the presidential stage of Ted Cruz and Ron DeSantis. Both of them enormously effective. Both of them incredibly skilled. Ron DeSantis, arguably the greatest governor in America. And I think Ted Cruz, one of the greatest and most effective senators in America. They both lack… a factor and it’s hard to figure out what that it’s it’s a likability factor mark there’s something about both of these guys i think thin-skinned is probably unfair but like it or not that’s a bit of the perception and that’s what happened to desantis and i think that’s what happened to ted cruz there’s something you talk to people like who work with them and they claim very unfairly, I might add, but they claim this is not a guy, warm, fuzzy guy that you want to cozy up to and have a beer with. Same with Ron DeSantis. They’re very, I don’t know what the word is, officious. There’s a warmth factor that they lack that a guy like Trump possesses. And somebody else will come along probably one day and have that same warmth factor. But let’s face it, in 2025 America and beyond- You got to have that. You got to have that celebrity if it was. Maybe that’s the word. There’s a celebrity factor to Trump.
SPEAKER 03 :
But there’s a couple of things. I’m 90, 80, maybe 87 percent agree with you. And I know that this is meaningless because nobody spends life in person with everybody. Cruz in person is unbelievably likable, unbelievably funny, and unbelievably natural. And I think a lot of his reputational problems have been from the left that doesn’t like him and conservatives, insufficient conservatives, who are intimidated by him. I don’t know DeSantis personally. I haven’t spent time around him personally. You’ve got a couple of examples.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, and so, but I’ve got to tell you, so has Ted Cruz. They’re both a little prickly. And I know that from, that’s a nice way to put it. And again, I say this as a fan of both of them. But they are. Prickly is the word. They get irritable. They get rubbed the wrong way pretty easily. And that’s just part of their personality. And I think that translates to the American people. I think people kind of see it or sense it. And they just say, nah, we want the showman. We want the celebrity who’s got all the policy boxes checked. But also has that kind of personality. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
Meanwhile… Who has that? Oh, we ain’t done yet. So who has that moving forward? Does Vance have it?
SPEAKER 02 :
To some extent. I think he does. I don’t think he’s got that prickly factor. I think Don Jr. has it. I think Don’s got a great personality. And he’s got the old man’s charisma.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know what that is? And I don’t even know if it’s about… cultural fame, because in Democrat circles, it makes you think about the whole Stephen A. Smith thing, which may not be as ridiculous as we think, but I think it’s kind of an unflappability. There’s something about Trump that almost no politician ever has. He just doesn’t care. He just doesn’t care. He’s impossible to rattle. He is impossible to inflame. He’s impossible to trigger, and I don’t know how many human beings even have that. Anyway, didn’t mean to bog you down.
SPEAKER 01 :
Go ahead. Did she?
SPEAKER 02 :
oh was and it’s really oh and it’s and it’s really moving the needle what do they i’m really curious i’m not trying to be a smart aleck what did that accomplish what what trump isn’t going anywhere and he’s not running for anything how does he bring about change in any election does does does no kings mean that the midterms will be hugely great for democrats I don’t think so. I don’t see that at all. I don’t even see it connected. What we need to look at is the old proof in the pudding. Yesterday, Harvard-Harris came out with a poll, and this is not a right-wing poll. What percentage of Americans believe our U.S. economy is strong today? 52% first time in four years, a majority of Americans believe the U S economy is strong. Trump, it’s working. That’s right. No, it’s working. And when, and again, for the first time in four years, 52% of Americans, and that’s according to the Harvard Harris poll. So, and again, you know, I love a good old Jessica Tarloff over on the five. She loves to pull numbers out of her ear, but she won’t be quoting that poll.
