What A Day - How Trump Wants To Wield The Shutdown

Episode Date: October 1, 2025

Well, the Government has shut down and, as of Tuesday afternoon, President Donald Trump didn’t sound to worried about it. “A lot of good can come down from shutdowns," he said. "We can get rid of a lot of things that we didn't want, and they'd be Democrat things, but they want open borders. They want men playing in women's sports. They want transgender for everybody.” That statement is a lot of nonsense, as always. But the way Trump views forcing the government to close up shop is telling. Since Trump retook the Oval Office, he has assumed a mantle of overwhelming authority over what TV show hosts are allowed to say and which protesters get to have First Amendment protections, while refusing to take any responsibility for absolutely anything. It feels authoritarian, but it also feels incredibly, unbelievably stupid. So what can people who have studied authoritarianism and know what such movements do to other countries, teach us about what Trump is doing, what Trump wants to do, and how to fight back? To find out, we spoke to Zack Beauchamp. He’s a Senior Correspondent at Vox, where he covers the crisis of global democracy and right-wing populism.And in headlines, President Trump announces his latest business venture – TrumpRX, FBI Director Kash Patel smuggles guns into New Zealand, and Trump posts an extremely racist deepfake AI video of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.Show Notes:Check out Zack's work – https://tinyurl.com/3n93m437Call Congress – 202-224-3121Subscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/3kk4nyz8What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's Wednesday, October 1st. I'm Jane Koston, and this is what a day. The show that has experienced some cold rooms, but nothing quite as frigid as the response to this remark from Defense Secretary Pete Higgseth to a room full of top military brass. To our enemies, F-A-F-O. If necessary, our troops can translate that for you.

For Hegsef, I assume F-A-F-O means flail around and freak out. On today's show, President Donald Trump announces his latest business venture, Trump RX. And FBI director Cash Patel smuggles guns into New Zealand. Whoopsie. But let's start with the government shutdown. The government has shut down, and Trump even seemed to be looking forward to it. Curia is speaking in the Oval Office Tuesday afternoon.

So we're doing well as a country, so the last day, we want to do is shut it down. But a lot of good can come down from shutdowns. We can get rid of a lot of things that we didn't want. And they'd be Democrat things, but they want open borders. They want men playing in women's sports. They want transgender for everybody. They never stop. And they don't learn. We won an election in a landslide. They just don't learn. So we have no choice. I have to do that for the country. Nonsense town, as always. But it's telling how Trump views forcing the government to close up shop. Typically, a government shutdown is a sign of failure to get something important done, which

no president and no political party really wants. Because remember, no one really ever wins a shutdown. But to Trump, it's another opportunity to extend his power even further by potentially firing more government employees and pushing Congress out of the decision-making process altogether again. Since Trump retook the Oval, he has assumed a mantle of overwhelming authority over what TV show hosts are allowed to say, and which protest causes get to have First Amendment protections, while refusing to take any responsibility for absolutely anything. He wants to post mean videos about Democrats, celebrities, and pretty much anyone else, and he wants to make it illegal to say mean things about him. It feels authoritarian, but it also feels incredibly,

unbelievably stupid. Tuesday's much-Ballyhood televised meeting with America's military leadership is a great example. During the exact same speech in which the President of the United States seemingly declared war on American cities he doesn't like, he also had a lot of thoughts on paper quality. Beautiful paper, the gorgeous paper. I said, throw a little more gold on it they deserve. I want the A paper, not the D paper. We used to sign our piece of garbage. I said, this man's going to be a general, right? I don't want to use this. I want to use

the big, beautiful, firm paper. I want to use the real gold writing when you talk about the position, and they're beautiful. So what can people who have studied authoritarianism and seen what such movements do to other countries teach us about what Trump is doing, what Trump wants to do, and how to fight back? To find out, I spoke to a friend and former colleague, Zach Beecham. He's a senior correspondent at Vox, where he covers the crisis of global democracy and right-wing populism. Zach Beecham, welcome back to what a day. Jane Koston, I'm happy to see you again, old friend.

You've been writing about Trump and authoritarianism since we worked together like eight years ago. But can you define authoritarianism specifically and explain as briefly as you can how exactly Trump has moved the government in that direction since his second term began? Sure. So an authoritarian regime is any system of government in which the rulers are not elected, right? So all different kinds of non-democratic government. governments. Those are all authoritarian in one way or another, right? So China's authoritarian, Russia's authoritarian, Iran's authoritarian, Saudi Arabia's authoritarian. Those are very different governments, right? But in our context, right, when we're talking about democracies that are turning authoritarian, in the modern world, this usually turns into something, a specific kind of authoritarianism called competitive authoritarianism. This is a weird one because it pretends

to be a democracy. So you still have elections, you still have formal freedoms like freedom at the press who usually don't have the police rounding people up on the streets because they criticize the government. What you do have are subtle tinkering with the system that make it such that those elections are not held under fair conditions. So it's nearly impossible for the opposition to win. So the media is controlled by allies of the government. So civil society organizations that might be aligned with causes the government doesn't like, those folks are basically unable to do their work in an uninhibited way. And so no one of these. policies, you know, destroys a democracy. But when you put them together, it makes it such

that the incumbent government has an awfully difficult time losing, right? And there are models for this in Hungary, in Venezuela, in Turkey, and we're going there. We're moving there pretty quick. Yeah, I want to talk more about that because you wrote about how the FCC suspension of Jimmy Come Alive was proof that authoritarianism can come to America. And you said, and I quote, I mean that literally. Now, we've seen a lot of. lot of efforts by this government to stifle speech. I'm thinking about the arrests of pro-Palestinian activists, or in one case, the arrest of a woman who co-authored an op-ed, the government didn't like. Why this event specifically, of all the things that have happened in the last six months?

So the reason that Kimmel is important, it's not just that, you know, Kimmel himself was briefly forced off the air. It's the mechanism by which they did it, right? The FCC threatening to pull licenses from local television stations, and then the media conglomerates that owned those television stations, Nexstar and Sinclair, pulling Kimmel and strong-arming ABC, until ABC strong-armed them back, apparently, right? That is how competitive authoritarianism works in a very real and specific sense. It uses the power of the state to coerce private actors into doing their bidding, into doing the repression, so the state itself doesn't have to do it. It's about corrupting regulatory tools like the FCC to use them for essentially partisan political purposes for the

idea of repressing the opposition. And so that was a very specific example of how this strategy works. Now, the fact that it failed is just like a really great sign for American democracy. I don't know. I'm not a Kimmel fan. I never thought that I would be saying, Jimmy Kimmel, of all people, the old host of the man show, is the bellwether for American democracy. But that's a sign that there's still significant antibodies to this kind of authoritarianism

in the U.S. Right? And Brendan Carr in the Kimmel area, he was, I think his mistake in part was that he was too blunt, right? He was too honest about what he was doing. And that led to a mass pushback. But competitive authoritarianism is best when it operates in the shadows. And the Trump administration is stumbling towards figuring out how to do that, even if they're not very adept at it. Yeah, we'll get into this a little bit. But I think that one piece of this is that they don't like the shadows. Like they want you to know everything. Like Trump is going to live tweet himself, attempting to take control. of every entity available. But you cited another strategy that authoritarian leaders have used to take control of their countries called news distortion.

Now, you use this in reference to Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban. How did Orban use that strategy to take control in Hungary? Well, in reality, news distortion, this specific legal principle in the U.S. has not been used successfully because it runs into a series

of First Amendment problems. And I suspect that Brendan Carr would have as well. But the broader idea, right, of saying the news is biased. So therefore, the government is justified in going in and enforcing its own perspective. I mean, they wouldn't say that, right? They'd say it enforcing fairness, right? This is a strategy that Orban used, right?

He and various other different people, right? So Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel has complained about the media in that country. And then he was, you may know that he's on trial for corruption charges. The most serious ones relate to his efforts to. to try to correct for through corrupt means. So this is a very common tactic of would-be dictators, using claims of media bias as a shield for efforts to impose their own control over media entities. Now, we've talked about this before, but something that's struck me for a long time in my

work talking about the American right and American conservatism is how the American right fell in love with Orban specifically. Yes, there's been a lot of talk about how the far right loves Vladimir Putin, but it's Orban that got several conservatives to even move to Budapest. Tucker Carlson did a lauding trip to Hungary talking about how great it was. What do you think it is about Orbanism that is appealing to the American right in a way that other right-wing authoritarian movements might not be as appealing? What Orban represents for the American right is like two things. I think one, he's a culture warrior. like they are. The way that he presents himself is fighting an existential war for Western civilization,

one that he is waging against the left, which aims to corrode it, and specifically using mass migration as a tool for destroying the soul of the West. This is all very racial, obviously, but he presents it in race-neutral language most of the time. One time he said mixed race, and it was like, okay, we got you. We know what you're doing, right? And that brings me to the second point, right, which is that he represents a way of attacking your enemies that can be plausibly defended as democratic. When you talk to these people, they don't say we are authoritarian, right? They don't claim that the purpose of the Trump movement is to destroy democracy in America.

They claim the left is doing that, and they're saving it. And that's what every kind of competitive authoritarian system does, right? It's its whole legitimation strategy. But the key point is that Orban gives them a model for governance that allows them to use the power of the state against their enemies without feeling like they're Nazis or whatever. So you wrote, quote, we are where Hungarians were in 2010, where Russians were in 2000, and where Germans were in 1933. But here's my concern. And something I want to hear your thoughts on because I think that it's worthwhile for the people listening. I hear that. And lots of people hear that. and think, we are fucked.

There's no way out. And you and I have both encountered a lot of liberal dumerism, both online and in person. How can we operate in a world in which we are in a very dangerous place for democracy? And there are ways out, so you shouldn't just give up on everything and move into your basement.

Yeah, I mean, the answer is that you need to redouble your efforts to participate in democratic politics. Like, that's the way that you beat competitive authoritarianism is you win elections and you engage in activism that prevents their ability to consolidate control before those elections. Right. So, what do you do? You know, go join local protests. Find an activist group that's doing significant work. If you're thinking about running for office, do it.

Right. But when I chose those dates, I did that really deliberately. Right. It was before the system of control and those countries had been fully consolidated. where there was an opportunity for effective resistance and choices of political actors and people in society could be really significant. You know, I heard a story from a Russian protester from around the time that Putin was inaugurated who said something like, we didn't know what was going to happen.

At one point, we attended a protest and we left a little bit after it because it was cold and we didn't want to be here anymore and we thought we'd get to do this again and it would matter. And then we didn't. We couldn't, right? And that story stuck with me because, of course, they didn't know, right? How could they have anticipated that, right? Putin, it was a different time in history, but now we have 25 years of examples of competitive authoritarian regimes, or in Russia's case, actual outright authoritarian regimes, taking power.

We know what it looks like, and we know what's happening, and we don't have the same excuse. So we have to do something. We have to act. I have actually one final question for you. And, but I also think it's useful to be thinking about this. Okay. What do you think Trump's end goal is? I don't think Trump personally has a well-thought-out end goal.

I mean, if there is one, it's, you know, the quote from Conan the barbarian. It's to crush your enemies to see them driven before you and hear the lamentations of their women. Like, I think that's how Donald Trump thinks about the world. He wants revenge. He wants to destroy everyone who opposes him. The end result of that is authoritarianism. But I don't think Trump is like, I have an ideological goal for revolution, right? In America, he just thinks, I want to win.

And winning means crushing my enemies. And so that's why all of this is happening. Other people in the government have more sophisticated ideological goals, J.D. Vance, Stephen Miller, Russ Vaughn, right? Those folks, yeah, they've got plans. Trump, he just does things. Zach Beecham, thank you so much for joining me. Thank you, Jane. That was my conversation with Zach Beecham, a senior correspondent at Vox with a focus on global democracy and right-wing populism.

We'll link to his reporting in the show notes. We'll get to more of the news in the moment, but if you like the show, make sure to subscribe, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, watch us on YouTube, and share with your friends. More to come after some ads. What a day is brought to you by Ali. My dog is a family member, a source of joy and love, and yes, a lot of fluff we have to vacuum. And I'd do just about anything for him. So I switched his food to Ollie. They offer fresh, protein-packed meals made with real human-grade ingredients, a win for my dog's health,

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and that means more adventures and even more fun for all of us. Your dog's well-being starts with their food, and that's why Ollie delivers fresh, human-grade food that your dog will love. Had to ollie.com slash Wad, tell them all about your dog, and use code Wad to get 60% off your welcome kit when you subscribe today. Plus, they offer a happiness guarantee on the first box, so if you're not completely satisfied, you'll get your money back. That's O-L-L-I-E dot com slash Wad, and enter code Wad to get 60% off your first box. Here's what else we're following today. Headlines.

I can't tell you how big this is. Sure. Trump announced Tuesday that Pfizer, one of the largest U.S. drug makers, has agreed to lower the cost of prescription drugs for Medicaid. He spoke at the White House just hours ahead of the government shutdown after a partisan standoff over, what was it again?

Oh, yeah. Healthcare. Under the deal, Trump said Pfizer, Pfizer will charge most favored nation pricing to Medicaid and guarantee that pricing on newly launched drugs. That involves matching the lowest price offered in other developed nations. This is a critical step forward to our work and to improve health care and hardworking, low-income Americans, especially low-income Americans, who will be helped so greatly. But wait, there's more. Pfizer also agreed to participate in a new website the administration said it plans to start called, you guessed it, Trump RX.

The website would be operated by the federal government. and allow people to buy drugs directly from manufacturers. Will the prescriptions come in gold tea bottles? Will RFK Jr. show up to personally yell at you if he doesn't like what you're taking? The whole thing is a little ironic, though, because while Trump was supposedly focusing on drug costs, Democrats were focused on reversing Medicaid cuts in the sweeping law Trump signed the summer. We are fighting to lower the high cost of living and to protect the health care. of everyday Americans.

And Mr. President, the next time you have something to say about me, don't cop out through a racist and fake AI video. When I'm back in the Oval Office, say it to my face. Say it to my face. That's House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries

Jeffreys on the Capitol Steps Tuesday, responding to a deep fake AI video, the president of the United States posted on social media after shutdown negotiations stalled Monday. The video shows Jeffrey is in Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer outside of the West Wing, where they spoke to the press after their meeting with Trump. But instead of their real comments, the video shows Schumer talking about how much Democrats suck, while Jeffrey stands by with a superimposed mustache and sombrero. He's not Hispanic or a Latino. He's just not, you know. White. Here's the AI video in full. Head to our YouTube channel to see the insanely racist video, which again, the president of the United States posted online.

Look, guys, there's no way to sugarcoat it. Nobody likes Democrats anymore. We have no voters left because of all of our woke trans bullshit. Not even black people want to vote for us anymore. Even Latinos hate us. So we need new voters. And if we give all these illegal aliens free health care, we might be able to get them on our side so they can vote for us. They can't even speak English, so they won't realize we're just a bunch of woke pieces of shit, you know, at least for a while, until they learn English and they realize they hate us too.

That's a rendition of the Mexican hat dance folk song playing in the background in case you didn't think the video could get any more racist. Schumer responded to the video Tuesday in a press conference. If you want another indication of how serious Republicans are about funding the government, Look no further than the deep fake AI video the president tried to put up last night after our meeting when we were actually trying to fund the government. His video was dumb. It was childish. It was petty. It's something that a five-year-old would do, not a president of the United States, but it shows how unsurious they are. Yeah, sounds about right. In a rare moment of cooperation between the United States and Iran, the U.S. will deport hundreds of Iranians back to their native country.

The first 120 deportees were being prepared for a flight in the next day or two, Iran said Tuesday. At the time of this recording, the announcement has yet to be publicly acknowledged by the U.S. government. Tensions have been high between the two countries since the whole Trump blew up their nuclear facilities thing back in June. The deportations marked the latest effort by Trump to ship out migrants. regardless of human rights conditions in the receiving country. It's also a sharp reversal from decades of U.S. practice that welcomed Iranian exiles after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Hmm.

An anonymous U.S. official with knowledge of the plans told the New York Times, quote, Iran's foreign ministry was coordinating the deportees' return and that they had been given reassurances that they would be safe and would not face any problems. Again, we are talking about the Iranian government. Anytime a government official feels the need to say out loud that people will not face any problems, you can be sure they'll face problems. FBI director Cash Patel visited New Zealand to open the FBI's first stand-alone office in the country,

but that's not what's making headlines. Patel gave New Zealand's police and spy bosses 3D-printed inoperable pistols, because when America visits, we don't bring gifts, we bring guns. Unfortunately for Patel, inoperable weapons are treated as though they're operable in New Zealand if modifications could make them workable again and therefore illegal. New Zealand has extremely strict gun laws, laws that were strengthened after the horrific 2019 Christchurch mosque shooting.

It wasn't clear if he even tried to get permission to bring the weapons into the country. A spokesperson for Patel told the Associated Press Tuesday that the FBI would not comment. I guess we'll just have to wait for the Twitter rant. The pistols were judged by gun regulators in New Zealand to be potentially operable, so they were promptly confiscated and destroyed. The good news, America finally achieved gun control. The bad news, it was in the wrong country. And that's the news.

Before we go, the Supreme Court's new term is off to the races, and surprise, surprise, it's a mess. Crooked's legal podcast, strict scrutiny, is here to cut through the chaos with legal expertise and plenty of side-eye. New episodes drop every Monday. Listen to wherever you get your podcasts and watch on YouTube. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, contemplate how a self-driving Waymo got stopped for making an illegal U-turn but didn't get a ticket because, you know, self-driving car, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading, and not just about how police near San Francisco pulled over the Waymo on Saturday but couldn't write a ticket because, quote, citation books don't have a box for robot.

Like me, what a day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at cricket.com slash subscribe. I'm Jane Koston, and now I'm contemplating a gritty way. Waymo crime movie. Ro Waymo is run rampant, but there's no one to punish. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor. Our associate producers are Emily Four and Chris Allport.

Our video editor is Joseph Dutra. Our video producer is Johanna Case. We had production help today from Greg Walters, Matt Berg, Gina Pollock, and Caitlin Plummer. Our senior producer is Erica Morrison, and our senior vice president of news and politics is Adrian Hill. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East. Thank you.