The Chuck ToddCast

With 84 days to the midterms and a six-state primary night ahead, Chuck Todd and Chris Cillizza open on Chuck's least-hedged read of the cycle: Democrats haven't had a good summer, but Republicans have had a worse one, and every macro trend points to something in the neighborhood of 30 House seats and six or seven Senate seats. The only thing holding him back from calling it a pasting is the Democratic brand problem — and they dig into the polling behind it, including why Hillary Clinton's warning that the socialism-and-communism attack could land is worth taking seriously. That leads to the sharpest segment of the episode: whether Abdul El-Sayed needs to give a version of the Kennedy "I don't work for the Pope" or Obama race speech about being a Muslim American, why the traditional consultant advice to ignore it is wrong, and where he'd give it. They then flip the question to the other side, asking whether Josh Shapiro, Jon Ossoff, Rahm Emanuel, or JB Pritzker will face a parallel demand to publicly separate loyalty to the Constitution from loyalty to Israel.
The back half is a clinic in reading political spin. Tim Scott's claim that Republicans will hold 54 Senate seats prompts a broader riff on why partisans now get punished for telling the truth, and why both the political industry and the media have built incentives against saying what's obvious. They break down AOC's remarkable weekend — announcing she's freezing her eggs, then telling Jon Karl she hasn't ruled out 2028 — and what it signals about staking a claim to the progressive lane before El-Sayed can. Chuck makes the case that parenthood is a real asset in presidential politics, and they assess whether Ossoff, now climbing the prediction markets, has the hunger and stamina for it, plus why Shapiro sometimes reads as a try-hard. They close with a genuinely angry exchange about Bill Cassidy's Blanche vote, the threats reshaping how senators vote, and a Nats-and-Reds baseball detour.
Timeline:
(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements)
00:00 84 days out and a six-state primary night ahead
00:45 Previewing the primaries
01:37 Republicans had a worse summer than Democrats
02:49 Trump makes it harder. Congress did nothing to earn reelection
03:14 Why the macro says 30 House seats and 6-7 Senate seats
04:02 Does the nominee even matter in an environment this bad?
05:14 Hillary Clinton's warning about the socialism-communism attack
06:14 In wave years, the losing party always thinks it's found a lifeline
06:45 Where the communism attack could actually work
08:27 Did "Comrade Kamala" actually help Trump in 2024?
09:42 The attack only lands if a seed has already been planted
10:47 The mailbag question: Islamophobia in the Michigan race
11:11 Using El-Sayed's full name isn't even a dog whistle
12:10 Should El-Sayed give an Islam speech?
12:55 Why the consultant advice — stay on affordability — is wrong here
14:13 The Obama-and-Reverend-Wright precedent
15:45 Mike Rogers, Hassan Piker & a false attribution in circulation
17:24 Jackie Robinson, Kennedy, and breaking barriers
20:15 The flip side: will a Jewish candidate face the same demand?
22:10 The line each of them may have to draw on Netanyahu
23:02 Fever swamp vs. what voters actually care about
23:33 The insulting premise, and the Catholic parallel from the 1950s
25:05 Tim Scott tells Manu Raju Republicans will have 54 seats
26:51 Why partisans now get punished for telling the truth
28:49 Scott on Paxton, and what you're required to say out loud
30:42 Why they do the live streams — no election-night patty cake
31:47 The rare politicians who still say it plainly
32:41 AOC announces she's freezing her eggs
33:26 AOC says she's open to 2028
34:45 The El-Sayed factor: a swing-state progressive with more juice
36:23 Chuck's argument: you're a stronger candidate if you're a parent
37:52 Bush, Obama, Biden & families as political assets
38:51 Even Trump's kids softened him in 2016
41:08 The Howard Stern statistic about listeners who hate you
41:24 Ossoff passes Newsom in the Kalshi and Polymarket 2028 odds
42:10 Why Ossoff clearly has the ambition
44:08 Ossoff and Pritzker could bridge the party's divide
45:17 Pritzker's own money and his own record
46:07 Does Mark Kelly have the hunger? Does Wes Moore?
47:47 Where Shapiro crosses from wanting it to trying too hard
48:28 Des Moines in November, and why nobody likes a try-hard
49:18 Cassidy & Blanche
50:40 The part that doesn't get reported: threats to families
51:21 You signed up to put the public ahead of yourself
53:15 Trump tells Punchbowl the voters are angry at Republicans, not him
53:46 Will he actually spend the super PAC money?
54:04 The truth-serum question: would Trump rather be replaced by a Democrat?
54:20 Nats sweep the Reds
55:32 What is wrong with the Cincinnati Reds?
57:42 The Nats' 34-year-old analytics manager
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oscar-nominated documentarian Rory Kennedy joins the Chuck Toddcast to discuss Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing, her Netflix follow-up to 2022's Downfall premiering August 19th — a film built around the death of whistleblower John Barnett and the current and former employees who came forward after it. Kennedy's central finding is damning in its simplicity: at the end of Downfall, Boeing swore it had learned its lesson and changed its ways. It hadn't. More incidents followed, whistleblowers reached out to tell her conditions had actually gotten worse, and she says she believes Boeing bears responsibility for Barnett's death. Kennedy walks Chuck through the structural rot she sees behind the headlines — a near-total lack of competition, a revolving door between the FAA and the company it's supposed to regulate, a McDonnell Douglas merger that reoriented the entire culture around quarterly earnings instead of engineering excellence, and the decision to leave Seattle in search of a non-union workforce — which matters enormously, she notes, because unions are what give workers real whistleblower protection. Boeing is simultaneously one of the most heavily subsidized companies in American history and, right now, one that isn't being held accountable in any meaningful way.
Kennedy is unusually direct about the practical takeaway: she won't fly on a 737 MAX and actively chooses flights on other aircraft, pointing out the counterintuitive reality that older model planes are often the safer bet — a consumer shift that has hit budget airlines hardest. She and Chuck get into the incidents that never made national news, including oxygen masks that failed to work, and she's blunt that the Trump administration hasn't provided anything resembling adequate regulatory oversight while families of the 346 crash victims are still fighting to hold the company responsible. Kennedy sees this fall's elections as a genuine chance to put people in place who care about the flying public, and reflects candidly on how she's feeling about American politics generally — that this administration is making choices that are hurting a lot of people. There's also a lovely detour into Ethel, her documentary about her mother, which she says holds a special place in her heart, plus a look at what she's working on next.
Upgrade your everyday. Go to https://Quince.com/CHUCK for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.

For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership

Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.

Timeline:
00:00 Rory Kennedy (Freefall) joins the Chuck ToddCast
01:30 Documentary “Ethel” about her mother holds special place in her heart
02:30 It became evident that Boeing knew about faulty systems on 737 MAX
03:15 Boeing swore they’d change, then more incidents happened
04:15 Believe Boeing is responsible for whistleblower John Barnett’s death
06:15 Lack of competition is one of the reasons Boeing has been sloppy
07:15 There’s a revolving door between the FAA and Boeing
09:00 Are Boeing’s problems coming from a single source, or multiple?
10:45 Boeing has long been a foundational American company
11:30 Parts for Boeing planes come from all over the world
13:00 Whistleblowers reached out to say problems had gotten worse
14:00 Right now, Boeing isn’t being held accountable
14:30 Haven’t seen Boeing make significant changes
16:15 Focus on profits and quarterly earnings outweighed safety
17:00 Boeing is one of the most subsidized companies in US history
18:00 McDonell-Douglas merger has contributed to Boeing’s downfall
20:30 Wouldn’t fly on a 737 Max and choose flights on other planes
23:00 Consumers choosing not to fly on the 737 Max hurt budget airlines
24:00 Older model planes are actually safer
25:30 Decision to leave Seattle was to find a non-union workforce
26:45 Unions protect workers, give them whistleblower protection
28:00 Airbus is a better run company than Boeing
29:30 Boeing and Airbus are the only two options
31:45 The Trump administration hasn’t provided proper regulation for Boeing
32:15 Families of crash victims are still trying to hold Boeing responsible
35:15 Elections this fall could put people in place who care about the public
36:45 Incidents where the oxygen masks weren’t working
38:30 How are you feeling about politics these days?
39:00 Administration is making choices that are hurting a lot of people
40:30 What projects do you have coming up next?
43:00 Had a screening at Boeing with top executives
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with the Greenland oil expedition, an episode so strange it borders on parody: an American oil company drilling in defiance of another country's laws, with Trump's blessing, and — the detail that breaks the brain — Dr. Phil hired to document the whole thing. It's a fitting overture for a week in which the Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as Attorney General 50-49 at four in the morning before fleeing town for recess, with only Collins and Murkowski defecting. Chuck admits he was wrong; he never thought Blanche would actually get there. What galls him is the surrender it represents. Bill Cassidy's rationale — that Trump "needs someone to tell him no" — is laughable given that Blanche has said outright that the rule of law belongs to Trump and the DOJ won't be independent. John Cornyn's shrug that "there's nothing we can do to rein in the president" is, Chuck argues, the confession of a coward: senators possess the authority and simply refuse to use it, giving away what little leverage they had. The debate has now been reduced to whether the Attorney General is the people's lawyer or the president's.
Then takes on the question of why Democratic voters keep rewarding progressives whose politics they don't actually share, and his answer is that half the Democratic electorate did not suddenly become socialist — they're furious about 2024, and specifically about leadership deciding the nominee for them. They didn't dislike Harris; they wanted a choice, and they'd watched the establishment coalesce around Biden in 2020 to produce a presidency that ended with Trump's return. Progressives are the only Democrats willing to say the party screwed up, and voters will give you enormous latitude on the cure if they trust your diagnosis. Chuck illustrates it with a Washington Post story about the Conn brass instrument factory in Ohio, bought by Trump-supporting, tariff-championing investor John Paulson and now closing as production moves offshore — where the disillusioned employees don't plan to vote at all, because they feel the system has failed them for decades. He believes the opening in American politics right now isn't centrism, it's breaking up an establishment that voters believe is more worried about losing donors than losing their votes. He wonders aloud whether the answer is a military leader — he's intrigued by retired General Chris Donahue, essentially Captain America on paper, pushed out by Trump and Hegseth, with credibility across the aisle. Americans are exhausted by being told the other half of the country is the bad guy, they're desperate for honesty and a reboot of a captured government, and the space is wide open for someone to fill it. But Chuck’s closing caution matters: the system is badly screwed up, and that still isn't a reason to burn it all down.
Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit two different but related events: the signing of the Social Security Act by FDR, and Richard Nixon announcing price and wage controls to combat inflation. Chuck argues that America has always flirted with socialism even if we call it by another name. He also answers listeners questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.
Upgrade your everyday. Go to https://Quince.com/CHUCK for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.
Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.
For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership

Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.
Timeline:
(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements)
00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction
00:30 Trump’s crazy Greenland oil adventure
01:15 Trump is just ignoring the laws of another country
01:45 Craziest detail is oil company hired Dr. Phil to document the expedition
02:15 Trump has gone out of his way to alienate European allies
02:45 Oprah gave us Dr. Oz & Dr. Phil… which is not a good thing
06:45 U.S. senate leaves town for recess after passing funding bill
07:15 Todd Blanche is now the confirmed AG for the United States
08:00 Republicans passed none of the things they said are priorities
09:00 GOP has a trifecta and still can’t get anything done
10:00 Was wrong about Blanche, didn’t think he’d actually get confirmed
10:45 Confirmed 50-49, not surprising Collins & Murkowski defected
11:45 Cassidy’s rationale was “Trump needs someone to tell him no”
12:15 Cassidy’s rationale is laughable
13:15 Even Bill Barr had a line he wouldn’t cross with Trump
14:45 The senate gave away what little leverage they have with Trump
16:00 John Cornyn says “there’s nothing we can do to rein in the president”
16:30 These Republicans are cowards, won’t exercise their authority*
17:00 These senators need to do their job
18:00 Blanche said the rule of law belongs to Trump, DOJ won’t be independent
19:00 Debate is now if AG is the people’s lawyer or the president’s lawyer
19:45 If he were alive, Trump would have nominated Roy Cohn
20:30 You don’t want presidents deciding who gets investigated
21:30 Trump got involved with Reflecting Pool vandal case THIS WEEK
22:30 Trump’s entire life has been about wearing people down
23:15 Republicans have politicized DOJ more than any previous admin
23:45 MAGA’s premise is that two wrongs do make a right
24:15 Does anybody in congress understand the constitution?
25:30 Confirming Blanche will cause more public distrust in DOJ
26:30 Founders never wanted the president to determine rule of law
27:00 Senate didn’t get crypto or college sports bill passed before recess
27:45 Republicans claim SAVE act is existential, didn’t pass it
28:45 Why do voters entertain progressives that don’t align with them?
29:15 Half the democratic electorate didn’t suddenly become socialist
30:30 Democratic voters are pissed off, think party messed up in 2024
31:00 Voters are mad leadership decided who the ‘24 nominee would be
31:30 Voters didn’t dislike Harris, but they wanted a choice
32:30 In 2020, the establishment coalesced around Biden
33:15 Biden’s presidency was a failure since it resulted in Trump returning
34:00 Progressives are the only Dems saying the party screwed up
35:30 Like Trump, the progressives are saying leadership is full of shit
36:15 Voters will give you latitude on the cure if they trust your diagnosis
37:00 WaPo story about Conn factory closing & private equity
38:00 Factory is in Ohio, been making brass instruments
38:45 Factory is closing and laying off all the employees
39:30 Conn was bought by John Paulson, Trump supporter who supports tariffs
40:30 Paulson is moving production offshore after arguing against it
42:00 Plant employees were completely disillusioned with politics
43:00 Employees feel like the system has left them down for decades, won’t vote
44:30 Romney’s loss was due to millions of white voters sitting out entirely
45:15 Trump’s appeal brought those voters back into the electorate
47:15 Voters reward candidates that can diagnose & call out their problems
48:00 Trump proved politically dormant voters can be reactivated
48:30 There’s always a third destination for voters… the couch
49:00 If the two parties don’t reform themselves, they risk being replaced
50:15 The opening isn’t centrism, it’s breaking up the establishment
51:15 Politics requires huge amounts of money, results in capture
52:15 Voters believe reps are more worried about losing donors than their vote
53:00 Competence and morality are not the same thing in politics
53:45 Leaders need to admit that they screwed everything up
54:30 Americans are desperate for a reset & are embracing revolutionaries
55:00 A military leader might be exactly what we need in next president
55:45 Intrigued by retired general Chris Donahue & his resume
56:45 Donahue is basically Captain America & was forced out by Trump & Hegseth
58:15 Someone like Donahue could have the credibility across the aisle
59:30 Politics won’t acknowledge failure if they think it helps the other side
1:00:00 Americans are desperate for honesty & morality in politics
1:01:15 It’s exhausting being told the other half of America is the bad guys
1:03:15 Voters want to preserve the Republic, but don’t trust the leadership
1:04:00 Voters want a reboot, and a government that isn’t captured
1:05:00 The political space is waiting for someone to fill this vacuum
1:06:00 The system is screwed up, but we shouldn’t burn it all down
1:11:00 ToddCast Time Machine - Where America embraces socialism
1:12:30 Socialist policies have come from presidents of both parties
1:13:45 FDR signs the Social Security Act - Nixon announces price & wage controls
1:14:45 Americans worry about prosperity, not ideological consistency
1:17:15 Capitalism was being questioned after the Great Depression
1:17:45 FDR wanted to repair, not replace capitalism
1:18:30 Social Security started as a much smaller program than it is today
1:19:15 Congress continued adding to the program over the years
1:21:15 America imposed price & wage controls during WW2 that went beyond Nixon
1:22:00 August 15, 1971 - Nixon announces price & wage controls
1:23:15 Nixon was desperate to stop inflation
1:24:15 Administration announced ceilings on meat prices, caused shortages
1:25:30 The controls were lifted right before the election
1:26:45 We have plenty of socialist policies called by another name
1:27:45 The policies give the sense of individual control
1:28:30 Americans are allergic to government control over their choices
1:29:15 Government under Trump is acquiring stakes in American companies
1:31:00 America has always been more socialist than we like to admit
1:32:45 Ask Chuck
1:33:00 Are college educated Republican voters on the journey leftward?
1:37:00 How should Abdul El-Sayed respond to racist & Islamophobic attacks?
1:45:30 Do candidates on the same ballot create measurable coattails?
1:50:00 Any chance Republicans voted for El-Sayed thinking he’d be easier to beat?
1:53:00 Was Pirro’s dropping of Reflecting Pool case an offramp for Trump?
1:56:00 How does an everyday person help make real political change?
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with the Greenland oil expedition, an episode so strange it borders on parody: an American oil company drilling in defiance of another country's laws, with Trump's blessing, and — the detail that breaks the brain — Dr. Phil hired to document the whole thing. It's a fitting overture for a week in which the Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as Attorney General 50-49 at four in the morning before fleeing town for recess, with only Collins and Murkowski defecting. Chuck admits he was wrong; he never thought Blanche would actually get there. What galls him is the surrender it represents. Bill Cassidy's rationale — that Trump "needs someone to tell him no" — is laughable given that Blanche has said outright that the rule of law belongs to Trump and the DOJ won't be independent. John Cornyn's shrug that "there's nothing we can do to rein in the president" is, Chuck argues, the confession of a coward: senators possess the authority and simply refuse to use it, giving away what little leverage they had. The debate has now been reduced to whether the Attorney General is the people's lawyer or the president's.
Then takes on the question of why Democratic voters keep rewarding progressives whose politics they don't actually share, and his answer is that half the Democratic electorate did not suddenly become socialist — they're furious about 2024, and specifically about leadership deciding the nominee for them. They didn't dislike Harris; they wanted a choice, and they'd watched the establishment coalesce around Biden in 2020 to produce a presidency that ended with Trump's return. Progressives are the only Democrats willing to say the party screwed up, and voters will give you enormous latitude on the cure if they trust your diagnosis. Chuck illustrates it with a Washington Post story about the Conn brass instrument factory in Ohio, bought by Trump-supporting, tariff-championing investor John Paulson and now closing as production moves offshore — where the disillusioned employees don't plan to vote at all, because they feel the system has failed them for decades. He believes the opening in American politics right now isn't centrism, it's breaking up an establishment that voters believe is more worried about losing donors than losing their votes. He wonders aloud whether the answer is a military leader — he's intrigued by retired General Chris Donahue, essentially Captain America on paper, pushed out by Trump and Hegseth, with credibility across the aisle. Americans are exhausted by being told the other half of the country is the bad guy, they're desperate for honesty and a reboot of a captured government, and the space is wide open for someone to fill it. But Chuck’s closing caution matters: the system is badly screwed up, and that still isn't a reason to burn it all down.
Then, Oscar-nominated documentarian Rory Kennedy joins the Chuck Toddcast to discuss Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing, her Netflix follow-up to 2022's Downfall premiering August 19th — a film built around the death of whistleblower John Barnett and the current and former employees who came forward after it. Kennedy's central finding is damning in its simplicity: at the end of Downfall, Boeing swore it had learned its lesson and changed its ways. It hadn't. More incidents followed, whistleblowers reached out to tell her conditions had actually gotten worse, and she says she believes Boeing bears responsibility for Barnett's death. Kennedy walks Chuck through the structural rot she sees behind the headlines — a near-total lack of competition, a revolving door between the FAA and the company it's supposed to regulate, a McDonnell Douglas merger that reoriented the entire culture around quarterly earnings instead of engineering excellence, and the decision to leave Seattle in search of a non-union workforce — which matters enormously, she notes, because unions are what give workers real whistleblower protection. Boeing is simultaneously one of the most heavily subsidized companies in American history and, right now, one that isn't being held accountable in any meaningful way.
Kennedy is unusually direct about the practical takeaway: she won't fly on a 737 MAX and actively chooses flights on other aircraft, pointing out the counterintuitive reality that older model planes are often the safer bet — a consumer shift that has hit budget airlines hardest. She and Chuck get into the incidents that never made national news, including oxygen masks that failed to work, and she's blunt that the Trump administration hasn't provided anything resembling adequate regulatory oversight while families of the 346 crash victims are still fighting to hold the company responsible. Kennedy sees this fall's elections as a genuine chance to put people in place who care about the flying public, and reflects candidly on how she's feeling about American politics generally — that this administration is making choices that are hurting a lot of people. There's also a lovely detour into Ethel, her documentary about her mother, which she says holds a special place in her heart, plus a look at what she's working on next.
Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit two different but related events: the signing of the Social Security Act by FDR, and Richard Nixon announcing price and wage controls to combat inflation. Chuck argues that America has always flirted with socialism even if we call it by another name. He also answers listeners questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.
Upgrade your everyday. Go to https://Quince.com/CHUCK for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM.

For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck / *Paid Partnership

Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.

Timeline:
00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction
00:30 Trump’s crazy Greenland oil adventure
01:15 Trump is just ignoring the laws of another country
01:45 Craziest detail is oil company hired Dr. Phil to document the expedition
02:15 Trump has gone out of his way to alienate European allies
02:45 Oprah gave us Dr. Oz & Dr. Phil… which is not a good thing
06:45 U.S. senate leaves town for recess after passing funding bill
07:15 Todd Blanche is now the confirmed AG for the United States
08:00 Republicans passed none of the things they said are priorities
09:00 GOP has a trifecta and still can’t get anything done
10:00 Was wrong about Blanche, didn’t think he’d actually get confirmed
10:45 Confirmed 50-49, not surprising Collins & Murkowski defected
11:45 Cassidy’s rationale was “Trump needs someone to tell him no”
12:15 Cassidy’s rationale is laughable
13:15 Even Bill Barr had a line he wouldn’t cross with Trump
14:45 The senate gave away what little leverage they have with Trump
16:00 John Cornyn says “there’s nothing we can do to rein in the president”
16:30 These Republicans are cowards, won’t exercise their authority*
17:00 These senators need to do their job
18:00 Blanche said the rule of law belongs to Trump, DOJ won’t be independent
19:00 Debate is now if AG is the people’s lawyer or the president’s lawyer
19:45 If he were alive, Trump would have nominated Roy Cohn
20:30 You don’t want presidents deciding who gets investigated
21:30 Trump got involved with Reflecting Pool vandal case THIS WEEK
22:30 Trump’s entire life has been about wearing people down
23:15 Republicans have politicized DOJ more than any previous admin
23:45 MAGA’s premise is that two wrongs do make a right
24:15 Does anybody in congress understand the constitution?
25:30 Confirming Blanche will cause more public distrust in DOJ
26:30 Founders never wanted the president to determine rule of law
27:00 Senate didn’t get crypto or college sports bill passed before recess
27:45 Republicans claim SAVE act is existential, didn’t pass it
28:45 Why do voters entertain progressives that don’t align with them?
29:15 Half the democratic electorate didn’t suddenly become socialist
30:30 Democratic voters are pissed off, think party messed up in 2024
31:00 Voters are mad leadership decided who the ‘24 nominee would be
31:30 Voters didn’t dislike Harris, but they wanted a choice
32:30 In 2020, the establishment coalesced around Biden
33:15 Biden’s presidency was a failure since it resulted in Trump returning
34:00 Progressives are the only Dems saying the party screwed up
35:30 Like Trump, the progressives are saying leadership is full of shit
36:15 Voters will give you latitude on the cure if they trust your diagnosis
37:00 WaPo story about Conn factory closing & private equity
38:00 Factory is in Ohio, been making brass instruments
38:45 Factory is closing and laying off all the employees
39:30 Conn was bought by John Paulson, Trump supporter who supports tariffs
40:30 Paulson is moving production offshore after arguing against it
42:00 Plant employees were completely disillusioned with politics
43:00 Employees feel like the system has left them down for decades, won’t vote
44:30 Romney’s loss was due to millions of white voters sitting out entirely
45:15 Trump’s appeal brought those voters back into the electorate
47:15 Voters reward candidates that can diagnose & call out their problems
48:00 Trump proved politically dormant voters can be reactivated
48:30 There’s always a third destination for voters… the couch
49:00 If the two parties don’t reform themselves, they risk being replaced
50:15 The opening isn’t centrism, it’s breaking up the establishment
51:15 Politics requires huge amounts of money, results in capture
52:15 Voters believe reps are more worried about losing donors than their vote
53:00 Competence and morality are not the same thing in politics
53:45 Leaders need to admit that they screwed everything up
54:30 Americans are desperate for a reset & are embracing revolutionaries
55:00 A military leader might be exactly what we need in next president
55:45 Intrigued by retired general Chris Donahue & his resume
56:45 Donahue is basically Captain America & was forced out by Trump & Hegseth
58:15 Someone like Donahue could have the credibility across the aisle
59:30 Politics won’t acknowledge failure if they think it helps the other side
1:00:00 Americans are desperate for honesty & morality in politics
1:01:15 It’s exhausting being told the other half of America is the bad guys
1:03:15 Voters want to preserve the Republic, but don’t trust the leadership
1:04:00 Voters want a reboot, and a government that isn’t captured
1:05:00 The political space is waiting for someone to fill this vacuum
1:06:00 The system is screwed up, but we shouldn’t burn it all down
1:13:00 Rory Kennedy (Freefall) joins the Chuck ToddCast
1:14:30 Documentary “Ethel” about her mother holds special place in her heart
1:15:30 It became evident that Boeing knew about faulty systems on 737 MAX
1:16:15 Boeing swore they’d change, then more incidents happened
1:17:15 Believe Boeing is responsible for whistleblower John Barnett’s death
1:19:15 Lack of competition is one of the reasons Boeing has been sloppy
1:20:15 There’s a revolving door between the FAA and Boeing
1:22:00 Are Boeing’s problems coming from a single source, or multiple?
1:23:45 Boeing has long been a foundational American company
1:24:30 Parts for Boeing planes come from all over the world
1:26:00 Whistleblowers reached out to say problems had gotten worse
1:27:00 Right now, Boeing isn’t being held accountable
1:27:30 Haven’t seen Boeing make significant changes
1:29:15 Focus on profits and quarterly earnings outweighed safety
1:30:00 Boeing is one of the most subsidized companies in US history
1:31:00 McDonnell-Douglas merger has contributed to Boeing’s downfall
1:33:30 Wouldn’t fly on a 737 MAX and choose flights on other planes
1:36:00 Consumers choosing not to fly on the 737 MAX hurt budget airlines
1:37:00 Older model planes are actually safer
1:38:30 Decision to leave Seattle was to find a non-union workforce
1:39:45 Unions protect workers, give them whistleblower protection
1:41:00 Airbus is a better run company than Boeing
1:42:30 Boeing and Airbus are the only two options
1:44:45 The Trump administration hasn’t provided proper regulation for Boeing
1:45:15 Families of crash victims are still trying to hold Boeing responsible
1:48:15 Elections this fall could put people in place who care about the public
1:49:45 Incidents where the oxygen masks weren’t working
1:51:30 How are you feeling about politics these days?
1:52:00 Administration is making choices that are hurting a lot of people
1:53:30 What projects do you have coming up next?
1:56:00 Had a screening at Boeing with top executives
1:57:15 ToddCast Time Machine - Where America embraces socialism
1:58:45 Socialist policies have come from presidents of both parties
2:00:00 FDR signs the Social Security Act - Nixon announces price & wage controls
2:01:00 Americans worry about prosperity, not ideological consistency
2:03:30 Capitalism was being questioned after the Great Depression
2:04:00 FDR wanted to repair, not replace capitalism
2:04:45 Social Security started as a much smaller program than it is today
2:05:30 Congress continued adding to the program over the years
2:07:30 America imposed price & wage controls during WW2 that went beyond Nixon
2:08:15 August 15, 1971 - Nixon announces price & wage controls
2:09:30 Nixon was desperate to stop inflation
2:10:30 Administration announced ceilings on meat prices, caused shortages
2:11:45 The controls were lifted right before the election
2:13:00 We have plenty of socialist policies called by another name
2:14:00 The policies give the sense of individual control
2:14:45 Americans are allergic to government control over their choices
2:15:30 Government under Trump is acquiring stakes in American companies
2:17:15 America has always been more socialist than we like to admit
2:19:00 Ask Chuck
2:19:15 Are college educated Republican voters on the journey leftward?
2:23:15 How should Abdul El-Sayed respond to racist & Islamophobic attacks?
2:31:45 Do candidates on the same ballot create measurable coattails?
2:36:15 Any chance Republicans voted for El-Sayed thinking he’d be easier to beat?
2:39:15 Was Pirro’s dropping of Reflecting Pool case an offramp for Trump?
2:42:15 How does an everyday person help make real political change?
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Writer-director Michael Russell Gunn joins the Chuck Toddcast to discuss The Brink of War, his feature debut about the 1986 Reykjavík Summit, hitting theaters August 14th with Jeff Daniels as Reagan, Jared Harris as Gorbachev, and J.K. Simmons as George Shultz. The film's origin story is its own remarkable piece of history: Gunn interviewed Shultz before his death in 2021, and Shultz handed him the declassified summit transcripts that became the script — the first scene between Reagan and Gorbachev is verbatim from that record. Gunn's argument for why this story matters right now is simple and pointed: these were two men with every reason to hate each other who sat in a room and tried to build a better world, at a moment when Americans have gotten very good at yelling and very bad at talking. He walks Chuck through what most people get wrong about Reykjavík — that Gorbachev was far younger than memory suggests, with no personal recollection of World War II (he brought the last WWII-era Soviet general with him to Iceland), that adversaries are always more politically divided internally than we perceive from the outside, and that the summit is simultaneously remembered as a triumph and a failure because a deal to eliminate every nuclear weapon on earth collapsed over a single word. Gunn notes that Americans instinctively read everything through game theory — winners and losers — while the Soviets understood the talks as one point on a longer arc, which is why Gorbachev rushed to a press conference to declare the whole thing a success.
The conversation also works as a genuinely useful look inside how difficult political history gets made in Hollywood. Gunn explains that he assembled the actors and script first and only then went to a studio, that Simmons was hunting for a real challenge and nailed Shultz's accent on the first take, and that Daniels prepared by looping an hour of Reagan interviews through his headphones while biking around Chelsea, Michigan. He talks about the nervousness surrounding the idea of putting the two leaders alone in a room, the enormous goodwill Reagan carried into Reykjavík, and the fact that the whole world genuinely waited on that weekend with bated breath. Gunn is candid about the projects that didn't happen (he wanted to make a film about the Nunn-Lugar amendment and couldn't get it off the ground), the tradeoffs between film and limited series as formats, and why audiences have proven far hungrier for true history than the industry assumes. He and Chuck close on career advice — how Gunn broke in, why you have to "prove it" before anyone green-lights your dream project, and his observation that the things you don't get can end up mattering just as much as the things you do. And for anyone tempted to write off Reykjavík as a failure: the summit paved the way for the INF Treaty a year later, and the world's nuclear arsenals have since come down roughly 90%.
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Timeline:
(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements)
00:00 Michael Russell Gunn (The Brink of War) joins the Chuck ToddCast
02:30 How much time should elapse before telling a historical story?
04:45 How strong was Gorbachev viewed at the time of the summits?
05:30 We were saved by junior people/officers during the Cold War
06:00 We came very close to nuclear armageddon
07:30 Gorbachev is remembered as older than he actually was
08:30 Gorbachev didn’t have any memory of World War 2
09:30 Gorbachev brought last WW2 era general to Reykjavik
11:15 Adversaries are more politically divided than we perceive them
12:00 Reykjavik is considered both a success and a failure
12:30 There was a deal to get rid of every nuke, one word tanked it
13:00 Gorbachev rushed to a press conference to declare conference “great”
13:45 Reagan and Gorbachev built a relationship and some trust
14:15 This was one of the greatest diplomatic achievements in history
15:00 Americans view everything in a game theory context, winners & losers
15:30 Soviets viewed talks as one point in an arc
16:00 Transcripts of the meeting helped in creating the movie
18:00 Wanted to create a movie about the Nunn-Lugar amendment, but couldn’t
19:30 Visual of Reagan sitting across from Gorbachev was powerful
20:45 First scene between Reagan and Gorbachev was verbatim from transcript
22:30 There was something profound about their willingness to engage
24:15 There was nervousness about having them alone in a room
25:45 Reagan carried immense goodwill from Americans into Reykjavik
27:45 The whole world was waiting/waiting the summit with bated breath
28:30 How close were we to getting rid of nuclear weapons?
29:30 We did end up reducing nuclear arsenals by 90%
30:00 How did Jeff Daniels prepare to play Reagan?
31:45 Difficulty getting mainstream actors to participate in political history?
32:30 How’d you pull off getting a difficult topic approved and made?
33:15 Got the actors and script first, then went to the studio
34:00 JK Simmons was looking for a real challenge
35:15 George Shultz is an unsung hero of American history
36:00 JK Simmons nailed Shultz's accent on the first take
37:45 You’re given more breadth in film, but not more time to produce it
40:30 What is the better format to tell a story? Movie, limited series etc
43:00 Audiences have proven to be hungry for true history stories
45:15 What’s your dream project?
46:30 Need to “prove it” in order to get your dream project approved
49:15 Career advice? How did you break in and succeed in the business?
50:45 Things you don’t get can be just as important as what you do get
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