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    Back to Press Play with Madeleine Brand

    Press Play with Madeleine Brand

    How a TV celeb with no political experience remade the GOP

    It is often said that Donald Trump has mounted a hostile takeover of the Republican Party, that he successfully forced the party to bend to his will and vision.  But what if it was the opposite? That the Republican party invited Trump in, and…

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    By Madeleine Brand • Jul 24, 2019 • 1 min read

    It is often said that Donald Trump has mounted a hostile takeover of the Republican Party, that he successfully forced the party to bend to his will and vision.

    But what if it was the opposite? That the Republican party invited Trump in, and created the moment where he glided down his gold-plated escalator to Neil Young’s “Rockin’ In The Free World” and declared his candidacy?

    The conditions that allowed Trump to take over the party were there for years. And Republicans are now all wearing the red baseball cap.

    That’s the argument in Tim Alberta’s new book titled “American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump.”

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    Robert Mueller testimony: highlights and analysis
    1. 0:00Robert Mueller testifies: What wasn't in his report?
    2. 19:23How a TV celeb with no political experience remade the GOPYou’re reading this
    3. 40:19How climate change is transforming California’s farms
    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Madeleine Brand

      Host, 'Press Play'

    • KCRW placeholder

      Sarah Sweeney

      Vice President of Talk Programming, KCRW

    • KCRW placeholder

      Michell Eloy

      Former Producer/Line Editor, Press Play

    • KCRW placeholder

      Alexandra Sif Tryggvadottir

      Associate producer

    • KCRW placeholder

      Tim Alberta

      Politico Magazine; author of “American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump”

      NewsPoliticsEntertainment

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    Robert Mueller testimony: highlights and analysis
    1. 0:00Robert Mueller testifies: What wasn't in his report?
    2. 19:23How a TV celeb with no political experience remade the GOPYou’re reading this
    3. 40:19How climate change is transforming California’s farms
    Back to Press Play with Madeleine Brand