Background Briefing: November 6, 2025
Mounting Evidence the MAGA Spell Has Been Broken
We begin with mounting evidence the MAGA spell has been broken and that the obvious damage Trump is doing to America is finally arousing a silent majority to end his destructive reign of error, incompetence and chaos. Joining us is Rick Wilson, a renowned political strategist, infamous ad-maker, writer, speaker, and political commentator. A 30-year veteran of national Republican politics, he got his start in the 1988 Presidential campaign of George Herbert Walker Bush. In December 2019, he co-founded the Lincoln Project and his books include Everything Trump Touches Dies and Running Against The Devil – A Plot To Save America from Trump And Democrats From Themselves. He writes at therickwilson.substack.com where his latest article we discuss is “About Last Night: MAGA Reeks of Death.”
As a Blue Wave Looms, What Will Trump Do to Rig the Next Election?
Then we assess what Trump could do to rig the next election and how the recent election results indicate it will be harder for Trump to overcome a Blue wave that could sweep the Democrats into control of the House and possibly the Senate next year. Joining us is Dr. Michael McDonald, a Professor of Political Science at University of Florida. He is a principal investigator on the Public Mapping Project, a project to encourage public participation in redistricting, and also is the Director of the United States Election Project. His latest book is From Pandemic to Insurrection: Voting in the 2020 US Presidential Election and he has done a voting analysis of the 2025 election for the University of Florida Election Lab available at michaelmcdonald.substack.com
Nancy Pelosi’s Former Chief of Staff on Her Decision to Retire
Then finally, with former Speaker Nancy Pelosi announcing she is retiring, we speak with John Lawrence, a visiting professor at the University of California, Washington Center who worked in the House of Representatives for 38 years and served as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s chief of staff for 8 years. He is the author of Arc of Power: Inside Nancy Pelosi’s Speakership, 2005-2010 and a new historical Sherlock Holmes novel, Sherlock Holmes and The Case of the Revolutionary’s Daughter. He blogs at DOMEocracy where his latest article is “What The Off-Off Year Elections Tell Us” and he also has an op-ed in The New York Times, “Nancy Pelosi is an American Political Giant.”
