Chatham House frets Trump will be “unshackled” after the midterms. Rubio says America is no longer defensive. Susan Kokinda on diesel, Yalta panic, and the executive tools that don’t need Congress.
A new Washington Post report raises questions ahead of the 2026 midterms. Mike Steger examines the officials, political networks, and election preparations behind the headlines.
After a week of pressure from President Trump, Zelensky said "yes" to a freeze on Fox. The same week, Data Republican released files that Barbara says lay out the Democrats' midterm chaos plan. With 11 days to go, here's the story and what you do about it.
Chatham House frets Trump will be “unshackled” after the midterms. Rubio says America is no longer defensive. Susan Kokinda on diesel, Yalta panic, and the executive tools that don’t need Congress.
Susan Kokinda opens with Chatham House's October 15 warning that President Trump could come out of the midterms "unshackled from electoral constraints," and Secretary of State Marco Rubio's answer in Mumbai: "we're no longer going to be defensive." The episode looks at the author of that warning, Dr. Andrew Payne, and his book War on the Ballot, at Halford Mackinder's doctrine, and at Chatham House director Bronwen Maddox on the members of Congress who have come to Chatham House in the run-up to their own elections, with Secretary Rubio on America First. It then turns to the reaction to the President's diesel deal with Russia and his openness to a meeting with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, from the Council on Foreign Relations to the Wall Street Journal's "Yalta 2" editorial, with President Trump and Secretary Rubio on talks about nuclear weapons, and the ASEAN, APEC and G20 summits ahead. It closes with what the President is doing without the Congress: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on the tariff authorities, the EPA's repeal of the 2024 power-plant rules, Defense Production Act funding for refining, federal loans for power, drug and manufacturing plants, the White House's $11.3 trillion investment count, and 21 new plant sites announced since October 1.
Barbara Boyd
00:00 The Saturday Wrap-Up - MIDTERMS CAN'T STOP HIM: Trump Unchained and the Empire's Nightmare - October 24, 2026
01:20 Off the Reservation
04:24 Yalta Panic
08:26 He Doesn't Need Their Permission
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A new Washington Post report raises questions ahead of the 2026 midterms. Mike Steger examines the officials, political networks, and election preparations behind the headlines.
After a week of pressure from President Trump, Zelensky said "yes" to a freeze on Fox. The same week, Data Republican released files that Barbara says lay out the Democrats' midterm chaos plan. With 11 days to go, here's the story and what you do about it.
Today's LIVE show is over. Catch the REPLAY and join us live next Thursday. Zelensky just said "freeze" the war. At home, leaked tapes game out a midterm "meltdown."
Leaked files from Data Republican expose a plan to turn midterm unrest against Trump, as the Washington Post reports officials advising 10 states. Barbara Boyd on the 2020 rerun and making November 3 too big to rig.
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