trump's impact

Former president Donald Trump is the frontrunner in the Republican presidential primary. And with a healthy lead in the polls, he's skipping the first Republican presidential debate on Wednesday.

So how do you prep for a big, televised debate when your biggest opponent decides not to show up?

That's been the question facing the eight Republicans who will be on stage in Milwaukee on Wednesday night.

In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

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For 30 years, Stuart Stevens was one of the most influential operatives in Republican politics. He was Mitt Romney’s top strategist in 2012, served in key roles on both of George W. Bush’s presidential campaigns, and worked on dozens of congressional and gubernatorial campaigns — building one of the best winning records in politics. Then Stevens watched his party throw its support behind a man who stood against everything he believed in, or thought he believed in.  Most dissidents from Trumpism take a familiar line: They didn’t leave the Republican Party; the Republican Party left them. But for Stevens, Trump forced a more fundamental rethinking: The problem, he believes, is not that the GOP became something it wasn’t; it’s that many of those within it — including him — failed to see what it actually was. In his new book, It Was All a Lie, he delivers a searing indictment of the party he helped build and his role in it.  This is a conversation about the Republican Party’s past, present, and future. We discuss the differences between the Democratic and Republican coalitions, whether party elites could have prevented Trump’s rise, the power the GOP base holds, the relationship between tax cuts for the rich and white identity politics for the poor, where the party can and can’t go after Trump, the GOP operatives trying to put Kanye West on the 2020 ballot, how Stevens played the race card in his first campaigns, why Romney lost while Trump won, and much more. Book recommendations: The memoirs of Franz von Papen Black Cross by Greg Iles  Please consider making a contribution to Vox to support this show: bit.ly/givepodcasts Your support will help us keep having ambitious conversations about big ideas. New to the show? Want to check out Ezra’s favorite episodes? Check out the Ezra Klein Show beginner’s guide (http://bit.ly/EKSbeginhere) Credits: Producer/Editor/Audio fanatic - Jeff Geld Researcher- Roge Karma Want to contact the show? Reach out at ezrakleinshow@vox.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Summary: In this episode I address the media's and the Democrats' continued attacks on Trump using “chaos,” and why these tactics are backfiring. I also address the Mueller probe and its failure to produce cooperating witnesses with evidence of “collusion.” Finally, I discuss the reasons that the Republican Party is losing in purple states like Arizona.    News Picks: Rick Scott lost votes in Florida because Broward County missed the deadline by two minutes.   Palm Beach County missed another deadline.    An important piece about the revenge of the RINOs.   If there’s evidence of Russian “collusion,” then why hasn’t a witness produced it?   Is Democracy dying in a leftist soft coup?   Governor Cuomo’s shameless war on the NRA.   Copyright CRTV. All rights reserved.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices