Jonathan Chait: The World's Worst People

February 26, 2026

56 min episode · 2 min read

Jonathan Chait

Episode

56 min

Read time

2 min

AI-Generated Summary

Published Feb 27, 2026

Key Takeaways

✓Trump Voter Erosion: A longitudinal poll tracking 2024 voters found roughly 15% of Trump supporters already disapprove of his performance. Of that group, approximately one in four denied voting for him when re-asked, with 13% falsely claiming they voted for Harris — a historically unprecedented reversal of the typical "vote for the winner" memory bias.
✓Epstein File Suppression Pattern: Three of four FBI interviews involving allegations against Trump were withheld from the released Epstein files, while one was included. Observers across the political spectrum — from Megyn Kelly to manosphere commentators — broadly agree that Pam Bondi and Kash Patel are managing a cover-up, making this a genuine political vulnerability for Trump.
✓Canada Bridge Corruption Mechanics: The Gordie Howe International Bridge, fully financed by Canada to break a private monopoly held by the Maroun family, is being blocked by Trump after the Maroun family donated one million dollars to a MAGA PAC. This illustrates a direct transactional model where lobbyists explicitly solicit donations to Republican campaign committees in exchange for regulatory intervention.
✓Iran War Planning Without Objectives: A Wall Street Journal report indicates Trump has settled on bombing Iran as a tactic without determining the objective — whether to halt the nuclear program, destroy ballistic missiles, or topple the regime entirely. Starting military action before defining desired outcomes inverts standard strategic planning and signals dangerously haphazard decision-making at the executive level.
✓Southern Education Surge as Democratic Warning: Mississippi now ranks ninth nationally in reading scores, with Black students in Mississippi and Alabama outperforming peers in California, Oregon, and Massachusetts. The gains stem from mandatory third-grade reading retention policies and scripted phonics instruction. Democrats lost this political advantage by deferring entirely to teachers' unions, abandoning the Clinton-Obama era education reform coalition.

What It Covers

Tim Miller and Jonathan Chait cover the Trump administration's corruption patterns across crypto, the Canada-Michigan bridge deal, and CBS News, alongside analysis of Epstein file suppression, potential Iran military action, Democratic Party failures on education reform, and polling data showing early Trump voter remorse.

Key Questions Answered

•Trump Voter Erosion: A longitudinal poll tracking 2024 voters found roughly 15% of Trump supporters already disapprove of his performance. Of that group, approximately one in four denied voting for him when re-asked, with 13% falsely claiming they voted for Harris — a historically unprecedented reversal of the typical "vote for the winner" memory bias.
•Epstein File Suppression Pattern: Three of four FBI interviews involving allegations against Trump were withheld from the released Epstein files, while one was included. Observers across the political spectrum — from Megyn Kelly to manosphere commentators — broadly agree that Pam Bondi and Kash Patel are managing a cover-up, making this a genuine political vulnerability for Trump.
•Canada Bridge Corruption Mechanics: The Gordie Howe International Bridge, fully financed by Canada to break a private monopoly held by the Maroun family, is being blocked by Trump after the Maroun family donated one million dollars to a MAGA PAC. This illustrates a direct transactional model where lobbyists explicitly solicit donations to Republican campaign committees in exchange for regulatory intervention.
•Iran War Planning Without Objectives: A Wall Street Journal report indicates Trump has settled on bombing Iran as a tactic without determining the objective — whether to halt the nuclear program, destroy ballistic missiles, or topple the regime entirely. Starting military action before defining desired outcomes inverts standard strategic planning and signals dangerously haphazard decision-making at the executive level.
•Southern Education Surge as Democratic Warning: Mississippi now ranks ninth nationally in reading scores, with Black students in Mississippi and Alabama outperforming peers in California, Oregon, and Massachusetts. The gains stem from mandatory third-grade reading retention policies and scripted phonics instruction. Democrats lost this political advantage by deferring entirely to teachers' unions, abandoning the Clinton-Obama era education reform coalition.

Notable Moment

Chait notes that Republicans built their entire political brand around Epstein and foreign corruption, yet Trump turns out to be implicated in both. The pattern repeats across every issue the right chose to campaign on — each one circles back to expose Trump's own conduct.

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