Systemic Error Podcast

What happened Rachel Maddow argued on NBC’s “Late Night” that Donald Trump’s unpopularity is damaging Republicans’ midterm prospects because GOP candidates remain publicly aligned with him instead of distancing themselves. RawStory, citing The Daily Beast’s account of the Tuesday-night interview, reported that Maddow described Trump as “radioactive” and said his approval rating was in the low 30 p...

What happened AlterNet’s headline overstates the evidence: no one already knows who will win the 2026 midterms. Henry Olsen of the Ethics and Public Policy Center wrote in The Washington Post that his model, based on generic congressional-ballot polling and the previous three midterms, projected Democrats winning between 225 and 232 of the House’s 435 seats. That is a forecast, not a result. Polli...

What happened AlterNet reports that speculation about Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney receiving a Nobel Peace Prize nomination drew criticism from Fox News host Laura Ingraham and political commentator Ari Goldkind. Ingraham argued that Carney was being celebrated for confronting President Donald Trump despite Canada’s economic strain; Goldkind likewise dismissed the idea. The reporting does n...

What happened AlterNet reports that Republican Senator Eric Schmitt tried to accuse former Special Counsel Jack Smith of perjury during a Wednesday Senate hearing, only to reveal that his supposed evidence concerned the wrong basketball game. Schmitt claimed text messages placed Smith at an Atlanta Hawks game with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on February 3, 2024; the messages report...

What happened At a Wednesday press conference, Blanche repeatedly denied that Justice Department attorney Kurt Olsen had resigned or left his investigation. According to AlterNet, Blanche said Olsen remained employed “exactly where he was before” and blamed inaccurate media reporting for the dispute. A reporter had asked about reports that Olsen and Joe diGenova had departed a Florida-based invest...

What happened RawStory reports that Republican Florida gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds dismissed solar power as a “fad” at a campaign event in Daytona Beach Shores, arguing that it consumes land and cannot provide consistent electricity after dark. He promoted small modular nuclear reactors as a steadier alternative. His Democratic opponent, David Jolly, said solar should be part of Florida’...

What happened AlterNet reports that former Republican strategists Sarah Longwell, Jonathan V. Last, and Tim Miller challenged pundit and former McConnell staffer Scott Jennings’s claim that he had a substantive conversation with Sen. Mitch McConnell about foreign policy. Citing videos of McConnell using a wheelchair and appearing to struggle to communicate, Longwell questioned whether the conversa...

What happened AlterNet reports that Fox News polling gave President Donald Trump a blunt political warning: voters view the cost of living as the country’s leading problem and largely disapprove of his economic performance. In the September 11–14 survey of 1,211 registered voters, 34 percent named living costs as the most important issue, while 63 percent said the Trump administration had made the...

What happened AlterNet reports that Ken Paxton privately said Donald Trump’s September Republican convention in Dallas hurt GOP candidates rather than helping them. In leaked audio from a Washington fundraiser the following Thursday, Paxton said his numbers—and those of other Republicans—dropped after the roughly $50 million event. The New York Times obtained the recording from an attendee who str...

What happened AlterNet reports that the Trump administration expanded the amount of imported lean beef eligible for lower tariffs by 300,000 metric tons—about 661 million pounds—to restrain ground-beef prices. The White House said domestic supply could not meet demand at reasonable prices after ground beef cost about 8 percent more in August than a year earlier. Purdue economists estimated the imp...

What happened AlterNet reports that New Republic writer Ross Rosenfield used Italian historian Carlo Cipolla’s 1976 theory of human stupidity to interpret Donald Trump’s administration. Rosenfield argues that Cipolla’s warning becomes especially relevant when people who harm others without benefiting themselves acquire control over armies, monetary policy, media influence, and regulatory instituti...

What happened AlterNet, citing the Financial Times, reports that President Donald Trump and administration officials entered “emergency talks” over sharply rising diesel prices while the U.S. war with Iran continued. The administration considered restricting diesel exports, including a possible ban, but the White House said Trump was still evaluating options and had made no decision. According to...

What happened AlterNet reports that Atlantic writer Adam Serwer identifies Trump’s fear as the possibility that public criticism can influence Supreme Court justices. Serwer argues that Trump projects this fear when he attributes rulings against him to pressure from the “Radical Left,” then attacks the Court himself in hopes of shaping its next decision. During his 2024 campaign, Trump suggested t...

What happened RawStory reports that Sen. Eric Schmitt used a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to accuse former special counsel Jack Smith of meeting Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis at an Atlanta basketball game in early 2024. Smith said he attended a game in Maryland, not Georgia, undermining the premise of Schmitt’s accusation. After the hearing, reporters repeatedly asked whether S...

What happened AlterNet reports that an NBC News road trip along Interstate 80 in August found widespread voter anger that could damage President Donald Trump’s Republican Party in the midterm elections. Voters cited higher prices, rising interest rates, foreign wars, job anxiety tied to artificial intelligence, and collapsing confidence in federal officials. The reporting identified vulnerable Rep...

What happened AlterNet reports that Natalie Harp, President Donald Trump’s personal aide and so-called “human printer,” helps manage the information placed before him: flattering coverage, social-media material and other content aligned with his preferences. According to CNN’s reporting as quoted by AlterNet, Harp showed Trump media clips before he barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White Ho...

President Donald Trump speaking during a press conference with AI leaders. (Screengrab via CNN) What happened President Donald Trump said Tuesday that artificial intelligence should be subject to “tremendous self-regulation,” while also claiming that the Justice Department and FBI already provide some form of regulation. RawStory reported that he made the remarks after a White House summit with te...

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) gives remarks to the media following a vote in the House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 1, 2026. REUTERS/Aaron Schwartz What happened House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday on CNBC that Republicans would spend the next two years doing “exactly what we have been doing already” if they retained their House majority....

A supporter of Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump holds a MAGA hat during a rally at Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center in Aurora, Colorado, U.S., October 11, 2024. REUTERS/Isaiah J. Downing What happened RawStory reports that a Michigan focus group of 2024 Trump voters who now disapprove of his performance found several participants considering Democr...

President Donald Trump gestures at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, April 29, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein What happened Donald Trump is the “biggest culprit,” according to an anonymous Republican source quoted by Politico and relayed by AlterNet. The source blamed the political damage on Trump’s trade war and Iran war, saying both had hurt farmers and rural communities. Another GOP source said blu...

Conservative commentator Scott Jennings on CNN’s “The Arena.” (CNN screenshot) What happened RawStory reports that President Donald Trump played a leading role in creating two overtly political videos produced by the White House communications office and labeled “paid for by the U.S. Government.” The ads promoted Republicans ahead of the midterms; legal experts cited by the outlet said they clearl...

US President Donald Trump looks on as he attends the Presidents Cup golf tournament at Medinah Country Club, in Medinah Illinois, US, September 27, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard What happened President Donald Trump’s reported midterm strategy is to promote corporate investment announcements as evidence that his administration created jobs. RawStory, citing The New York Times, reported that Trump ann...

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on ahead of expected trilateral signing event with US President Donald Trump, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, regarding a deal on Greenland’s security, during the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), in New York City, US, September 22, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper What happened RawStory, citin...

Jack Smith, former special counsel at the Justice Department, attends a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., US, September 29, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard What happened RawStory reports that former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith refused three times to discuss his wife’s political views during a September 29, 2026, Senate Judiciary Committee hearing...

REUTERS/Aaron Schwartz What happened AlterNet’s answer is that President Donald Trump is reducing Americans’ chances of becoming richer by weakening the institutions that support long-term growth. Economist Justin Wolfers pointed to erratic tariffs, favoritism, attacks on democratic accountability, tax cuts favoring wealthy people, and spending cuts affecting poorer people. He argued that the dama...