A Specter Looms Over Ukraine (+ Trump Wins a Plurality but NOT a Majority)

In this episode, Alex starts by reflecting on the golden era of reality stars making pop music in the early 2010s. Then he gets nostalgic talking about the former One Direction members finally reuniting at the funeral for Liam Payne. Getting serious, Alex argues that following his electoral victory, Trump does not have a mandate to enact all of his MAGA policy takeovers. It looks like Trump is not going to get 50% of the popular vote meaning he has a plurality but not a majority. Alex wonders if some of his extreme cabinet picks and campaign promises may not be palatable to everyone that voted for Trump and it could backfire. Finally, Alex breaks down the recent events occuring between Russia and Ukraine. Reports show that Russia is gaining ground and Putin is willing to talk about a ceasefire with Trump. All of this is complicated because the outgoing Biden Administration has finally authorized the use of long-range missiles, ATACMS, inside of Russia. Russia has responded by lowering its nuclear threshold.