The Aaron Rupar Show

On this week’s episode of the PN Pod, Paul and discuss the incredible midterm results and what they mean for the incoming Democratic majorities as well as for our toxically unpopular lame duck president. We also discuss why the clock is ticking on Pete Hegseth’s disastrous tenure as secretary of defense, how mad you should be about Hakeem Jeffries’s much-criticized Morning Joe hit, and throughout...

On this week’s episode of the PN Pod, we took any and all questions viewers of our livestream had on the midterms, including what a big blue wave next Tuesday could mean for MAGA and the Republican Party, whether Trump is intentionally trying to tank his party with his terrible campaign rallies, our sense of the likelihood of Democratic victories in places like Florida and Nebraska, and much more....

In this week’s episode of the PN Pod, Paul and I go deep on Trump’s shambolic midterm rallies, his devolution over the past decade, and how you can draw a straight line from his weird obsession with Jon Husted’s ass to Nazi propaganda. We also discuss Barack Obama hitting the campaign trail and why he’s remembered far more fondly than any other living president. We had a great live audience today...

In this week’s episode of the PN Pod, Paul and I discuss the October surprise of Trump suddenly trying to force Zelenskyy to surrender and how it’s a sign of desperation, the GOP’s terrible Senate candidates as an inevitable product of Trumpism, why Democrats should go on offense when Republicans bring up transgender issues, Katie Zacharia’s disastrous debut, and more. If you’d like to support the...

This week’s episode of the PN Pod features me and Paul discussing Pete Hegseth’s barbaric announcement about making public executions great again, the sad spectacle of Trump’s midterm rally tour, and why voters pretending he’s on the ballot is actually the last thing Republicans want. If you’d like to support the podcast and ask us live questions during future episodes, please become a paid subscr...

On this week’s PN Pod, Paul and I discuss Trump’s North Korea-style taxpayer-funded propaganda videos, why they’re likely to backfire, and then broaden the conversation out to an examination of Trump’s baffling midterm strategy. We also get into the Kansas and Iowa Senate races and our level of optimism that Democrats can win control of the chamber. If you’d like to support the podcast and ask us...

In this week’s PN Pod, Paul and I discuss the Trump-Xi summit and Trump’s pathetic thirstiness to be besties with authoritarian rulers, the president’s almost unfathomable ignorance about AI, taxpayers footing the bill for Trump propaganda ads the administration is placing on right-wing cable networks, why Paul expects the trickle of Republicans opposing Trump to become a flood, and more! If you’d...

This week’s episode of the PN Pod features me and the excellent Juliet Jeske of Decoding Fox News going deep on the growing indications that Fox News is starting to sour on Trump, Julet’s takeaways from watching 14 hours of Trumpapalooza, and Maria Bartiromo’s firing amid the ongoing Smartmatic suit. We close with some big picture thoughts about Fox News’s place in the rapidly changing media lands...

This week’s episode of the PN Pod features Paul and me unpacking the RNC, including two extremely culty moments and Vance’s audition as MAGA’s heir apparent. We also talk about how all 2028 Republican hopefuls — including JD — lack a key characteristic, why there might be method behind the madness of Trump’s ongoing humiliation of Ken Paxton, and more. If you’d like to support the podcast and ask...

This week’s episode of the PN Pod features Paul and me discussing “Trumpapalooza” and why it’s likely to backfire on Republicans, Trump’s self-defeating trade war with Canada, and Paul’s growing concerns about the administration’s tampering with mail voting and what it could mean for the midterms. We close by getting into how Supreme Court reform is becoming table stakes for the 2028 Democratic pr...

This week’s episode of the PN Pod features Paul and me going deep on the Natalie Harp saga, including why it’s causing Trump’s MAGA cronies to go ballistic on anyone who talks about it. We also discussed Trump’s dire polling and the likelihood his approval rating sinks into the 20s yet this year. Despite battling through some tech issues at the start of the show, a record 1,300+ viewers joined us...

The latest PN Pod features special guest Dan Shafer, author of the highly recommended Recombobulation Area , offering his expert insight into Wisconsin’s wild Democratic gubernatorial primary, the rise of Francesca Hong and underrated strength of her campaign, presumptive Republican nominee Tom Tiffany and why he may be even worse (if that’s possible) than Ron Johnson, why Trump’s numbers have rea...

In today’s PN Pod, Paul and I discuss Republicans coming down with a real bad case of FDS (Fauci Derangement Syndrome) and why they’re suddenly trying to rewrite the history of one of Trump’s signature failures, the unholy power of gas prices to shape American politics, why centrist Dems are mostly losing the fight with the left flank of the party, and much more. We had over 1,000 viewers join us...

In today’s PN Pod, Paul and I discuss the dud that was Trump’s primetime speech and how he’s lost whatever power of persuasion he once had, why his nominees have to obfuscate pathetically about who won the 2020 election, Low-T Pete Hegseth and his truly beyond parody testosterone announcement, and much more. We had another record live audience today, so thank you to all who tuned in! If you’d like...

In the latest edition of the PN Pod, Paul and I discuss Trump’s tantrum at the NATO summit and how nobody at home or abroad seems to really care at this point, Graham Platner’s spectacular implosion and what it says about the importance of vetting and appealing to voters with something more than vibes, Mitch McConnell’s health crisis and his sad legacy of obstruction, and more. We had a record liv...

In the latest edition of the PN Pod, Paul and I discuss the sad spectacle that was Trump’s rally commemorating America’s 250th birthday, then get into his housing bill tantrum and what it says about the sad state of public policy in Trump 2.0. We then turn to Paul’s piece about this week’s New York elections and why he thinks primaries are a good and health thing for the Democratic Party. If you’d...

In this week’s edition of the PN Pod, Paul and I unpack the Iran MOU and the unconditional humiliation it represents, how “chief negotiator” JD Vance is being set up by MAGA to take the blame, Israel’s newly precarious position vis-a-vis the Trump regime, our level of concern about Trump possibly refusing to leave power, and more. If you’d like to support the podcast and ask us live questions duri...

In this week’s PN Pod, co-host Paul Waldman and I discussed the outlines of the emerging Iran deal, which looks like something close to a complete Trump cave, and unpacked whether the president can sell his humiliating loss as a win to the American people. But before that, we got into this weekend’s UFC fight at the White House, how the whole thing seems like a deleted scene from Idiocracy, and wh...

The debut episode of the new PN Pod is in the books! I’m thrilled to have the great Paul Waldman onboard as my regular co-host. We had a lively conversation about why Trump’s insurrectionist slush fund went bust and corruption as the dominant narrative of the ‘26 cycle. We also talked at length about whether Graham Platner’s personal foibles are sabotaging Dem efforts to pick up a key Senate seat...

The first episode of the newly rebranded PN Pod features the tremendous Juliet Jeske of Decoding Fox News . We had lots of laughs while discussing topics like the increasingly debased state of Fox News during Trump 2.0, the moments of Fox programming that have made Juliet want to throw her computer into a dumpster and walk into the ocean, why people find Trump’s voice and visage so triggering — an...

On the latest episode of Nir & Rupar, David Nir of The Downballot and Aaron Rupar of Public Notice discuss Donald Trump’s latest disastrous foreign trip that saw him grovel before China’s president without notching anything that could be described as a win. We’re sad to say that this is David’s last episode, but the show is not going away! Aaron will be back at the same time, same place on Friday,...

On the latest episode of Nir & Rupar, our live weekly video show, David Nir of The Downballot and Aaron Rupar of Public Notice discuss the fallout from the Virginia Supreme Court’s decision to invalidate the state’s new congressional map. If you haven’t yet subscribed to The Downballot, which provides unparalleled coverage of the thousands of critical elections below the presidency, sign up below:...

On the latest episode of Nir & Rupar, our live weekly video show, David Nir of The Downballot and Aaron Rupar of Public Notice chat with Chris Geidner, the publisher of the must-read legal newsletter Law Dork , about the fallout from the Supreme Court’s detonation of the Voting Rights Act. If you haven’t yet subscribed to The Downballot, which provides unparalleled coverage of the thousands of cri...

This week’s Nir & Rupar features a very special guest — Matt Gertz, senior fellow at Media Matters and one of the foremost experts on right-wing media. Gertz and I discussed the ways in which Fox News is even worse now than it was during Trump’s first term, the Ellison family’s ill-conceived takeover of CBS, why Trump hosting the White House Correspondents dinner is an affront to the Constitution,...

On the latest episode of Nir & Rupar, our live weekly video show, David Nir of The Downballot and Aaron Rupar of Public Notice explain why Donald Trump’s beyond-unhinged crusade against Pope Leo XIV is such a disastrous move. If you haven’t yet subscribed to The Downballot, which provides unparalleled coverage of the thousands of critical elections below the presidency, sign up below: David and Aa...