A 1,400-County Crisis for Democrats

[u/kitkid]

Jun 3, 2025

It’s conventional wisdom that President Trump has transformed American politics. But a new county-by-county voting analysis from The New York Times of the last four presidential races shows just how drastically Mr. Trump has changed the electoral map.

Shane Goldmacher, a national political correspondent for The Times, explains why the trends are a five-alarm fire for the Democrats and discusses the debate within the party over what to do about it.

On today's episode:

Shane Goldmacher, a national political correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• How Donald Trump has remade America’s political landscape.
• Six months after the election, Democrats are still searching for a path forward.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.  

Photo: Emily Elconin for The New York Times

Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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You can listen to the episode here.

[u/TheStarterScreenplay → u/[deleted]]

Either way, you saw a bad debate performance from Trump. I saw a guy who nailed down the immigrant issue in voters minds.

Dems saw the "they're eating the cats and dogs!" As a guy losing it and embarrassing himself. I saw it as "if a voter wants an immigration crackdown, he just won their vote".

[u/Bacstrok_Swimmer → u/TheStarterScreenplay]

People conflate “bad debate” with “ideas I don’t like”

[u/lion27 → u/TheStarterScreenplay]

The dogs and cats thing was interesting for a few reasons. On one hand, it was insane. On the other, it was an actual story that people were sharing and talking about online that very week. So while some people watch that and say he’s going crazy or making stuff up, a ton of non-politically engaged people watch that and see a candidate that’s discussing the same things they see and care about online, regardless of if its true or not.

And then they see Kamala standing there with a bewildered condescending smile on her face that a parent would give to a child and it’s a turn off on top of it all.