Trump Faces Rare G.O.P. Revolt, and Democrats Mock Their Own Party’s Report

0:29This podcast is supported by WTTW. news. Cutting through the noise so you can see Chicago clearly. From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Will Jarvis in for Tracy Mumford. Today's Friday, May 22nd. Here's what we're covering.

0:47Republicans have gone along with Donald Trump for so many things for so long, but this week they reached their breaking point. In Washington, my colleague Luke Broadwater is covering a stunning political turn, with President Trump suddenly facing a wall of opposition from lawmakers in his own party. Yesterday, Republican senators abruptly hit pause on a major funding bill the president had been pushing, amid a wide range of concerns. This is a spit-in-the-eye insult to all my taxpayers in Louisiana to spend a billion on a ballroom. They balked at Trump insisting that the legislation, designed to fund immigration enforcement, also include money for his White House reconstruction project.

1:32Then… It sends a signal, hey, go breach the Capitol, destroy the building, assault police officers, and you may even get compensated for some day. That's absurd. There was even more outrage over the new$1.8 billion fund for people who say they were unfairly targeted by the government, including fears that it could be used to give payouts to January 6th rioters. Plus, tensions between the Senate and the White House were already high because Trump had recently criticized two prominent Republicans, Bill Cassidy and John Cornyn, and backed their opponents in the primaries. Luke says that Trump's lashing out, on top of the ballroom and the new fund, has threatened his ability to get policy passed on Capitol Hill.

2:13What you're seeing is Donald Trump push an agenda that is widely unpopular on these issues. It doesn't take a political scientist to tell you that in an election year, Republicans are going to want to position themselves as on the side of the everyman, on the working class person, and not on the side of people building luxury ballrooms. And if you've already alienated those people, you've taken away any incentive for them to want to do you a favor, then why would they vote for an unpopular item that's just going to hurt them? It doesn't make sense. I would never put it past Donald Trump to wield his power and influence once again over Republicans.

2:52But what I am saying is that given the current incentives on the Hill and the way he's been treating people, he should not be surprised when he has some really rocky weeks in the Senate. On Thursday, there was another striking setback for Trump. In the House, Republicans had been able to hold off efforts by Democrats in recent months to try and end the war in Iran or force the president to get congressional approval for it. But this time, it became clear they did not have the support to defeat the measure, and GOP leaders abruptly canceled the vote on the resolution.

3:29Yesterday, the Democratic National Committee released a highly anticipated report that was billed as an autopsy of what went wrong in the 2024 election. The rollout, though, became an embarrassing spectacle of its own. For months, the head of the DNC had resisted calls to make it public, hoping to avoid negative attention on the party. On Thursday, he finally decided to put out the document. Among other things, it blamed President Biden's political operation for not adequately helping Kamala Harris and criticized Harris's campaign for not having a more effective strategy to win over voters. But the document, written by an ally of the DNC chairman, was quickly mocked by many Democrats as a shoddy, incomplete, and inaccurate draft.

4:14For example, a bright red disclaimer on every page said the DNC, quote, was not provided with the underlying sourcing, interviews, or supporting data for many of the assertions, and the report's conclusion was left totally blank. In a post on Substack, the head of the DNC wrote that the report was not ready for primetime, but that the party needs to rebuild trust. Quote, I hope this is a start.

4:43Meanwhile, New Times Siena polling out this week shows that many Democratic voters and Democratic-leaning independents are unhappy with the party. More than half say it's not doing enough to push back on Trump and that Democrats need to shift direction. To the extent they want the party to move to the left or the right, they'd rather see it move a little toward the center, but not too much. Nate Cohn is the Times' chief political analyst. There aren't issues where they want the Democrats to embrace the conservative view on, say, transgender issues or something like that. But they would like to see the party somehow moderate a little bit on these cultural issues, maybe without moving to the right.

5:22And they would like to see some kind of economic populism. That's where they were likeliest to say they want to see the party to move to the left. On today's episode of The Daily, Nate has more about how voters think the Democratic Party should evolve.

5:40The Times has learned that one of the suspects in this week's deadly shooting at a San Diego mosque had been on the authorities' radar long before the attack. According to a police report from January 2025, the suspect, Caleb Vasquez, was involved in, quote, suspicious behavior idolizing Nazis and mass shooters. Police were so concerned they got a court order to confiscate more than 25 guns at his family's home. Even before that, Vasquez's father said in a court document that he'd been so worried about his son that he'd already put the weapons in a storage facility. It's not clear if those guns were eventually used in the attack on the mosque.

6:19According to police, the other suspect also grew up in a home with firearms. In a statement, the Vasquez family said that hateful online content had radicalized their son and was part of what led him to violence. They added that as much as they were mourning him, they were mourning the victims of the shooting, quote, even more deeply. Those victims were honored last night in San Diego where thousands of people showed up for a prayer service. The Islamic funeral prayer is typically recited at a mosque, but the showing was so large it had to be moved to a park. Some of the people in the crowd told The Times the large showing was about more than people just paying their respects.

6:58It was an act of defiance against anti-Muslim hate and rhetoric. One imam said, quote, We got hurt, but we are not scared.

7:11And finally. Chapter 1. The Boy Who Lived. On YouTube, there has been a flood of new pirated content. Unauthorized audiobooks. Ron, he's only a Quidditch player, said Hermione. Only a Quidditch player? Ron said, looking at her as though he couldn't believe his ears. Piracy has long been a problem for book publishers, but with interest in audiobooks surging in recent years, YouTube knockoffs have become a particular concern. That's in part because AI has made it easier than ever to crank out and post tons of videos with digital narrators who may or may not sound like a cheap robot. According to one estimate, in the month after a new bestseller is published, an average of more than 5 ,000 unlicensed audiobooks pop up online.

7:59While YouTube has sophisticated tools for finding and flagging copyrighted music and movies, publishers say the site's not keeping up with audiobooks. Many creators are able to get around the automated detection systems by adding pauses or music, or even slightly tweaking the text. A representative for YouTube said that ultimately, the publishing industry itself is responsible for flagging unauthorized works. Still, at least one publisher seems to think there's a silver lining to the whole situation. The president of Penguin Random House's audio team told The Times, People are going to a lot of trouble to pirate our books, adding, We just need to find a legitimate way to get them the content.

8:42Those are the headlines. But stick around, we've got the Friday News Quiz for you just after these credits. This show is made by Margaret Kadifa, Jake Lucas, Tracy Mumford, Jan Stewart, and me, Will Jarvis. Original theme by Dan Powell. Special thanks to Isabella Anderson, Larissa Anderson, Sam Dolnick, Miles McKinley, and Zoe Murphy.

9:05Now, time for the quiz. Every week, we ask you a few questions about stories The Times has been covering. Can you get them all? Here we go. First up. We're encouraging everyone to go take a road trip to celebrate America's 250th birthday. On Tuesday, a senior member of the Trump administration, who starred in a recent YouTube series called The Great American Road Trip, faced sharp questions from Democratic lawmakers about the show. It's more than a road trip. It's a civic experience. In it, the official and his family travel around national parks and other major landmarks. The administration says it's all part of the celebrations surrounding the country's 250th anniversary.

9:46But critics say it doubled as a paid vacation, funded by corporate sponsors that his agency is in charge of regulating. Your question, who was the official in the hot seat?

10:04The answer? Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who's brushed off all that criticism, saying the project was approved by ethics and budget officials at his agency. And if hearing Sean Duffy and Roadtrip in the same sentence is ringing a bell, yes, he was a cast member and met his future wife on MTV's Roadtrip reality show, Road Rules.

10:30Okay, next question. This week, the Times covered the life and death of a longtime inventor and toy maker named Greg Hyman. He crafted a whole bunch of popular kids' products, but in 1996, one toy he helped create became a national obsession. When you touched it, it made a delightfully deranged giggle. Your question, what was the name of that toy?

11:04The answer? That tickle. Tickle Me Elmo, which almost instantly became a runaway bestseller. This may very well be the last Tickle Me Elmo to be found in the Bay Area, but he's already sold. And when we brought him out into the store, we caused a near riot. At one point, the Times reported that the company behind the toy had four factories in China running at full tilt to keep up with demand. The retail price for the toy was$29.99, but at the height of Elmo Mania, as it was known, scalpers were reportedly selling them for as much as$7 ,000.

11:46And last question. If you're just tuning into The Late Show, you missed a lot. Stephen Colbert has signed off for the final time as host of The Late Show, marking the end of both his late-night career and a 30-plus-year-old franchise. One of Colbert's recurring bits on the show was firing off biting one-line descriptions of people in the news. We're going to play some. See if you can name who he is talking about. For example, if we play this. President Biden's trip abroad will end with his much-anticipated showdown on Wednesday with Russian president and cover model for Maritime Murders Monthly.

12:24Your answer would be Vladimir Putin. Got it? Okay, we will start with an easy one. A new book has some shocking revelations about the presidential campaign of Vermont senator and man who will not rest until the split pea soup is put back on the menu. The answer? Bernie Sanders. Next one. Speaking of other things billionaires own, The company founded by tech entrepreneur and man who comes pre-Madame Tussaudid.

12:57Elon Musk. Number three, this one's a little tougher. The dictator in question is Belarus strongman and evil nutcracker.

13:09Alexander Lukashenko. Here is number four. No matter what happens, the GOP has a bright future thanks to rising young stars like Iowa Senator and Nosferatu's accountant.

13:23Chuck Grassley. And last one here. This week, Biden got another huge endorsement. Miracle on the Hudson Pilot and AARP Magazine's Sexiest Man Still Alive. The answer to that one? Captain Sully Sullenberger. That is it for the news quiz. I'm Phil and host and guy who's so glad Tracy's back next week to write these corny jokes, Will Jarvis. The show will be back on Tuesday after the holiday weekend.

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