Talking Strategy, Making History
Sep 20, 2026 · 46 min · 11 segments
#61: Talking with David Dayen about the New Majority Makers" David Dayen, executive editor of AMERICAN PROSPECT magazine, is one of the best political reporters. He recently published a detailed…
David DayenGuest
Dick FlacksHostDaraka Larimore-HallHost
Yeah, well, so the main media story, however, is quite the reverse, which is that, you know, the establishment and the centrists in the party are really mobilizing to beat the left.
So your piece is quite a revelation because... to see the possibility of a different path happening.
Valadao has a big problem because as I mentioned, 67% of the district is on Medicaid.
So there is a large section of the district that is personally affected by those Medicaid cuts.
And when I was up there You know, talking to people who were nurses in the area and just seeing like the incredible amount of traffic and people at the emergency rooms in the district.
You can see that this is this is a serious problem, that there are a lot of health care facilities that are at risk.
of closing and considering the amount of losses that they're going to have because of reduced Medicaid participation.
There's a couple of places up in Bakerfield have already laid off workers in advance of some of these cuts.
Many of these cuts don't happen until after the election, but they're already preparing these health care facilities for it.
And so rather than recalibrate for the general election where you you talk this progressive game in the primary and then you swing to the right in the general election, that's not what's happening.
Vegas is running on Medicare for all in a general election, in a swing state, swing seat.
And and and if he wins, that really changes the understanding of who can win in those kinds of seats.
And an understanding of how that is, how Medicare for all works as a political issue.
That is, I want to stress the fact that this particular district is one of very bad rates of health care, health rates, high rates of disease, high rates of
Yeah, well, so the main media story, however, is quite the reverse, which is that, you know, the establishment and the centrists in the party are really mobilizing to beat the left.
So your piece is quite a revelation because... to see the possibility of a different path happening.
Valadao has a big problem because as I mentioned, 67% of the district is on Medicaid.
So there is a large section of the district that is personally affected by those Medicaid cuts.
And when I was up there You know, talking to people who were nurses in the area and just seeing like the incredible amount of traffic and people at the emergency rooms in the district.
You can see that this is this is a serious problem, that there are a lot of health care facilities that are at risk.
of closing and considering the amount of losses that they're going to have because of reduced Medicaid participation.
There's a couple of places up in Bakerfield have already laid off workers in advance of some of these cuts.
Many of these cuts don't happen until after the election, but they're already preparing these health care facilities for it.
And so rather than recalibrate for the general election where you you talk this progressive game in the primary and then you swing to the right in the general election, that's not what's happening.
Vegas is running on Medicare for all in a general election, in a swing state, swing seat.
And and and if he wins, that really changes the understanding of who can win in those kinds of seats.
And an understanding of how that is, how Medicare for all works as a political issue.
That is, I want to stress the fact that this particular district is one of very bad rates of health care, health rates, high rates of disease, high rates of
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.