Al and Norm Ornstein on The Blueprint for Trump's Cruelty
About this episode
Al Franken and Norm Ornstein discuss the implications of Project 2025 and the current state of the Trump administration's policies and corruption.
What's actually driving the Trump administration? Our good friend and emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, Norm Ornstein, joins Al to follow the blueprint laid out by Project 2025. The chief architect of Project 2025, Russell Vought, now runs the Office of Management and Budget, the perfect position to carry out The Project’s agenda. Norm and Al cover the human cost of gutting USAID, DOGE’s chaotic assault on the federal workforce, an immigration crackdown that's begun alienating the Hispanic voters who swung to Trump in 2024, and a cabinet culture so consumed with flattery that Ornstein calls it the "Lickspittle Olympics." Plus, Trump promised to keep us out of wars, but with the ongoing conflict with Iran, the Venezuela invasion, preparations around Cuba, and a growing rift with NATO, it seems like he might not have been fully honest with the American people. Norm discusses how this administration's corruption dwarfs every previous White House scandal combined. And what should Democrats actually do if they retake Congress? Is impeachment smart politics or a distraction? And what does a credible "Project 2029" look like? LISTEN to Norm's podcast "Words Matter"…
People in this episode
Host: Al Franken
Guest: Norm Ornstein
Topics covered
- Trump administration
- Project 2025
- immigration policy
- federal workforce
- political strategy
- corruption
- Congress
Sponsors
Quince
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: American Enterprise Institute, Project 2025, USAID, DOGE, NATO, Words Matter
Places: Iran, Venezuela, Cuba
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