The Culture War - Tim Pool - September 28, 2026


Trump Unleashes SECRET WEAPON To Secure GOP Midterm Win

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22 minutes

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Word count

3,892

Sentence count

355

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Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 Your sales order says one thing, your inventory says another, your spreadsheet says good luck.
00:00:05.340 Odoo brings your business together on a single platform, from sales and accounting to inventory
00:00:09.700 and marketing. Visit odoo.com to book a demo. It's odoo.com. The midterms are not looking good
00:00:17.400 right now for the Republicans. So Donald Trump is unleashing his secret weapon,
00:00:23.080 giving the voters the opposite of what they want, or so that's what the media says.
00:00:29.660 Donald Trump's strategy right now with the GOP is it's multifaceted, but the two principal moves are
00:00:36.260 he is on the ballot. Donald Trump will be deployed to key conservative areas to rally the troops
00:00:43.600 and try and stave off a Democrat blue wave. And the GOP is putting tons of money into campaign
00:00:51.240 issues that seem to be outside the mainstream conversation. Now, it may seem stupid, maybe, 0.99
00:01:00.060 but I think the real strategy is they need to reframe things. So it's actually quite smart. 0.97
00:01:04.960 It doesn't mean it's going to work. But when you have a bad economy, an unpopular war,
00:01:11.160 you need to shift the debate into a different space. And this is exactly what Trump and the
00:01:17.440 GOP have been doing. And it could actually work. Now, I think based on the polls, based on the
00:01:24.300 way the Republicans are acting, I mean, they bailed on Congress and they're not coming back
00:01:28.720 until after the election. It seems that Republicans are convinced they're likely not going to win
00:01:35.600 this one. I think the reason the Republicans announced they're not going to be doing any
00:01:38.760 votes and they're going on recess until after the election is because they want every single
00:01:43.340 member of Congress to be in the battlefield. Go to your home district. Start making phone calls.
00:01:49.920 You must win. At the same time, let's not forget, Donald Trump still has his procedural options.
00:01:56.440 The post office, of course, facing tremendous pressure, despite the fact the Supreme Court
00:02:00.820 basically said Trump can't make the Supreme Court do nothing. They know they're not going to be able
00:02:06.500 to deliver mail-in ballots to illegal aliens or people who are not registered to vote.
00:02:13.480 So even if the Supreme Court says Trump can't do this, there is still a risk.
00:02:18.840 The argument here from people on the right is that Donald Trump's post office play creates
00:02:23.980 a sort of legal knowledge.
00:02:26.820 That is, there will be no plausible deniability when you hand a mail-in vote to someone you
00:02:31.720 know is not registered.
00:02:33.100 when you deliver ballots to houses where, you know, those people do not live anymore.
00:02:38.520 And thus, they want to make sure that in the event they find mail-in ballots going out to
00:02:43.600 homes where the person doesn't live anymore, they can say, you knew. Now, the Supreme Court said we
00:02:49.520 couldn't enforce this, but we can enforce voter fraud. Put the pressure on the postal workers
00:02:54.560 so they're too scared to actually hand mail-in votes to illegal aliens or otherwise.
00:03:00.500 The play is now, my friends, and the latest polls are not particularly good.
00:03:04.800 So let's jump into the news and break down what to expect just about one month from now.
00:03:11.920 By the way, we're going to be having an awesome party.
00:03:14.940 We're having our all-day midterm live election hangout for TimCast.
00:03:20.140 It's going to be an all-day thing with a bunch of different friends, guests.
00:03:23.160 We're going to have a lot of fun.
00:03:24.820 It's the midterms.
00:03:25.960 It's our Winter Olympics, everybody, not our Summer Olympics.
00:03:28.860 But let's grab the news. Before we do, my friends, go to TimCast.com and click Join Now. Support and join the TimCast Discord community. Community is our strength, ladies and gentlemen. When we come together, we can do anything. Many hands makes light work.
00:03:49.640 And the reason why they've pushed so hard for diversity is to keep all of us fractured and fighting and confused and ignorant.
00:03:59.020 Don't just sit there idly watching the world pass you by.
00:04:04.420 Be the change by joining TimCast.com.
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00:04:09.380 You'll be hanging out with tens of thousands of individuals in our Discord community, sharing ideas, debating.
00:04:14.560 We've got members only exclusive events.
00:04:16.620 Really cool stuff to come.
00:04:18.120 We're working on if we can do a giveaway for the monster truck that we have.
00:04:22.640 We have a we have a monster truck.
00:04:24.240 We bought it from Richie and the Daily Caller.
00:04:26.140 It's just sitting there.
00:04:26.740 So I'm like, let's just do a giveaway.
00:04:28.600 Got to check to see if we're allowed to do it.
00:04:30.080 But we're working on that.
00:04:31.920 So maybe we can.
00:04:33.000 I'm not sure.
00:04:33.740 But anyway, join us.
00:04:35.020 Smash the like button.
00:04:36.280 Share the show.
00:04:37.440 Let's get the news.
00:04:38.840 CNN says Trump's odd midterm strategy.
00:04:42.080 Give voters the opposite of what they want.
00:04:45.340 I'm going to say outright.
00:04:46.100 It's not odd.
00:04:46.520 Again, when the economy is not doing well and people are concerned about diesel shortages and gas prices, the last thing you want to do is come out and say, hey, look at the gas prices.
00:04:54.260 We did that.
00:04:55.640 You want to shift the conversation somewhere else.
00:04:58.980 They said there's a simple way to understand Republicans apparent plight ahead of the midterm elections.
00:05:03.280 A new CNN SSRS poll shows that voters are increasingly clear about what they want.
00:05:08.840 And President Donald Trump can't or won't give it to them.
00:05:11.800 The country craves economic relief.
00:05:13.800 People think groceries and the roofs over their heads are too expensive.
00:05:17.780 The vice tightened Thursday when mortgage rates rose above 7%. 0.98
00:05:22.240 Holy crap. 0.89
00:05:24.280 Good luck selling property now. 0.95
00:05:26.700 With their wages disappearing more quickly, Americans are even more angry about one of
00:05:31.180 the top causes, the Iran war.
00:05:33.780 Even GOP voters are increasingly losing confidence in the conflict amid soaring gasoline and
00:05:39.340 diesel prices.
00:05:40.240 The citizens are increasingly fearful about advances in AI.
00:05:43.800 That's no wonder after recent warnings from tech chiefs that their brainchild could threaten
00:05:47.960 humanity. Yet on this trio of issues and many others, Trump is offering a program that is
00:05:52.480 exactly opposite of what most Americans want. He's evoking an economic golden age, which only
00:05:57.520 he can see. He insists, you know, falsely. Why are you putting in that? That he's brought food
00:06:04.840 prices way down. Technically, that's true. I mean, prices were stupid during COVID,
00:06:10.180 but they are up still now after a few years. As for inflation, it's the fault of Joe Biden, 0.98
00:06:16.300 who left the presidency 19 months ago. Guys, that's the argument made by every president ever.
00:06:22.040 If somebody comes in and things improve, they immediately take credit. When things go bad,
00:06:27.040 they say the actions of the previous administration are still rippling through.
00:06:31.200 So if a Democrat gets in and they do bad, they say the policies take years to ripple through
00:06:37.180 the system. It's not our fault. We're fixing them. But if things are good, that's because we took
00:06:42.280 action decisively. We get it. The CNN poll shows that three quarters of Americans don't think the
00:06:48.640 president has a plan to exit the war that's about to enter its eight month. On Wednesday in a speech
00:06:54.000 at the UN General Assembly, he proved them right. He revealed that he was hovering between an effort
00:06:58.100 to annihilate Iran or to make a deal with it. His woolly prediction, the conflict will somehow end 0.97
00:07:03.940 after the midterms won't reassure two thirds of Americans who think the U.S. is winning.
00:07:08.140 Now, I've seen a lot of people, a lot of libertarians, to be honest, saying that this
00:07:12.520 is one of the most important issues. Guys, foreign policy has never been a big issue for Americans.
00:07:15.960 It just hasn't. Now, the war is bad, but it's only the immediate after after effects. So you
00:07:21.660 go to the average person and say war and they're going to say it's bad. I don't know, I guess
00:07:25.680 you say gas prices and they're going to slam their fist on the table and say the gas is too
00:07:30.940 damn high. Diesel shortages. It's 650 for diesel out by me. This is insane. But this is Trump's
00:07:38.660 secret plan. It's a couple of things. The GOP wants to talk about crime, immigration and trans
00:07:44.340 issues. Voters don't. Therein lies the point. The play is shift the conversation. This is why we've
00:07:51.080 seen a massive uptick in the trans debate, which Democrats and liberals have latched on to hook,
00:07:56.960 line and sinker. The Republicans are launching the trans debate issue again and their influencers
00:08:03.280 because they need to get people to think about something that they know they'll win on.
00:08:09.340 This was a major victory for Republicans back in 24. They know it. They're going to try and play
00:08:15.360 it again. CNN says Republican former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz summed up a large portion
00:08:22.280 of the GOP's midterm message this week when he responded to a man who said he was voting
00:08:27.020 Democrat for the first time ever. I hate the war, too, Gates told the man an expert. The
00:08:31.240 Democrats want to trans your kids. There it is. The trans issue seemed to be a potent one in the 0.99
00:08:36.860 election. President Trump's team cut an effective ad that professed Democratic nominee Kamala Harris
00:08:42.900 was for they them. Trump is for you. But a new CNN poll this week suggests that playbook won't
00:08:48.300 be as effective this time. Now, I'm going to go ahead and roll my eyes at CNN. It is an issue
00:08:54.120 that people are attached to. But can you reignite the debate? That's a bit more difficult. So when
00:09:01.800 they say it won't be as effective, what they're really saying is, yes, people hate this. Can Trump
00:09:06.740 center the conversation? Probably not. They say that seems to be the case for several other red
00:09:11.160 meat GOP issues as well. Republicans have well-established topics that voters favor them on
00:09:15.660 and that they've sought to focus on.
00:09:17.920 But right now, polls show those aren't voters' top priorities.
00:09:21.560 Perhaps more than in any other recent midterm,
00:09:23.920 other issues are simply being swamped by the economy. 0.89
00:09:27.580 The GOP focus on transgender policies
00:09:30.280 focused extensively in 24.
00:09:33.500 It was a fixture in its 26th campaign.
00:09:35.940 The new poll shows registered voters
00:09:37.360 only prefer the GOP by a small margin on that issue, 37 to 32.
00:09:42.080 And perhaps most strikingly,
00:09:43.400 just 25% called the issue extremely important for their vote. That was the lowest of 11 issues
00:09:49.600 tested behind abortion, tariffs, and crime. You know, and I want to say this too. It's one of
00:09:55.800 the most insane things imaginable that the tariff issue is brought up so often by liberals. Guys,
00:10:03.620 you, you, you, okay. I'm going to give advice to my liberal friends. Gas, gas prices. Thank you
00:10:09.920 and goodbye. Tariffs don't mean anything to anybody. They don't know what you're talking
00:10:13.280 about. Foreign policy war doesn't mean anything. They don't. This is why Trump is trying to
00:10:17.540 recenter things, because you have to talk about something that affects a person's daily life.
00:10:22.900 And you can argue tariffs, too. No, the after effects of tariffs do in the immediate. The
00:10:27.960 average person's not buying foreign goods. They're buying gas. They're buying milk, bread and eggs.
00:10:33.460 I mean, personally, we here at Timcast, we have the boonies HQ, our skate company. We've seen
00:10:39.340 our third factory go out of business. Insane. I'm getting ads on Instagram for Chinese made
00:10:45.720 skateboards. I don't know how we sustain this. I really don't. I really, really don't. It's bad.
00:10:52.760 The skateboard industry, guys, if you don't care about skateboarding, I know I'm talking about
00:10:56.300 manufacturing in general. It's been given away. So I'm with Trump on the tariffs. I'm with him.
00:11:02.100 Well, Frank Luntz, a man who has never sought to use Google, says that Trump's strategy is
00:11:07.560 very dangerous. He says, I'm looking at a turnout differential that advantages the Democrats by a
00:11:12.900 couple of points, which means that there are more people who oppose Trump who are planning to vote
00:11:18.040 than who support him. I don't know if this is the video. Pretend, please, that I'm on the ballot.
00:11:23.560 Pretend I'm on the ballot. I'm asking you to pretend that I'm on the ballot.
00:11:30.000 That's the president's pitch to Republican voters this November. It raises a big political
00:11:35.220 question? If Americans really do treat these midterms like Trump is running again, does that
00:11:40.340 help or hurt Republicans? Pollster and political consultant Frank Luntz joins me now. As we talked
00:11:47.760 about, the president has been seeing a historic low when it comes to his approval ratings. For
00:11:52.540 instance, in our own poll, his approval rating was down to 33%. You've also said, however, that he's
00:12:00.120 been down before and not to count him out. So how are you actually looking at the polling numbers
00:12:05.340 that are out there? I'm looking at a turnout differential that advantages the Democrats by
00:12:12.680 a couple of points, which means that there are more people who oppose Donald Trump who are planning
00:12:18.000 to vote than those who support him. There's always been a historical advantage to the party out of
00:12:24.120 power in the midterms, particularly in the first midterms. And we see that now, that there's an
00:12:32.100 energy effort, energy challenge for GOP voters. And that's what the president's trying to address.
00:12:41.060 Now, here's the issue. When he is on the ballot, his people come out. They participate.
00:12:46.060 They did in the on-year elections, 2016 and 2024, and they did not in 2018, and they did not as much even when Joe Biden was the president in 2020 for the 2022 election.
00:13:00.540 So that's what he's trying to do.
00:13:02.920 His numbers, his support is not as strong today as it has been in the past, so it's a very dangerous strategy, but he needs his people to vote in a place like Texas.
00:13:13.240 If the Trump voters participate, the Republican nominee in Texas is elected.
00:13:19.040 If the Trump voters don't participate, the Democrats will achieve an upset.
00:13:24.160 It's the same thing in states as small as Iowa, Alaska.
00:13:30.620 It even matters in a state like Ohio.
00:13:32.980 So I understand the strategy, but it has multiple impacts that we need to take.
00:13:38.420 Yeah, he's calling it dangerous, but I would actually say it's substantially more dangerous to not do this.
00:13:45.380 CNN reporting where Republicans are playing offense ahead of the midterms.
00:13:49.220 OK, so they just booted me from it.
00:13:50.980 Well, let's let's let's let's move on.
00:13:54.160 This is basically what the other story was inside the Trump campaign strategy to reverse Republicans dwindling hopes of winning the midterms.
00:14:02.720 The gist of it is, Donald Trump is heading down to places like Texas, to Florida, potentially Alaska, probably not, maybe far.
00:14:09.940 He is going to personally put himself out there to try and win this midterm.
00:14:15.440 That's his secret strategy.
00:14:17.900 It's the correct move.
00:14:19.300 Back in 2018, you know, Trump was enjoying this great 2016 victory, this upset against Hillary Clinton.
00:14:25.500 The Republicans had everything and nothing got done.
00:14:28.560 Trump was accused of being a Russian.
00:14:30.760 Investigations were launched against him.
00:14:32.240 It was insane. In 2018. Oh, boy, in 2018. I remember making videos about it. There was no
00:14:39.580 blue wave. The Democrats won by a thin margin. And it was like no blue wave, though. No blue wave.
00:14:46.860 However, over the coming weeks, Democrats started winning magically with mail in votes that just
00:14:51.000 started to come in. Republicans were so late to the party. They had no idea what's happening or
00:14:54.580 they did. And they're in on it. Whatever you want to believe. The truth is the simple truth.
00:15:00.000 Donald Trump wasn't on the ballot. 1.00
00:15:03.620 And so regular people, they look at a Republican Party that is pathetic, that is weak, that is ineffective, that is lazy. 1.00
00:15:12.260 And they won't vote for it. 1.00
00:15:13.800 I won't vote for it either.
00:15:15.280 I did not vote for any of these people in 16 or 18.
00:15:18.420 2020, that was the first time.
00:15:20.580 2020, I said, I can't let Joe Biden win because I was in favor of Andrew Yang and Tulsi Gabbard.
00:15:26.260 I said, no, no, I want a good Democrat to win.
00:15:29.080 I was that middle of the road, moderate liberal that was like the Democrats cannot go insane.
00:15:36.180 And then what happened? 0.95
00:15:37.000 Every single Democrat raised their hand, give free health care to non-citizens. 0.52
00:15:41.840 And I'm just like, what is what is this? 0.85
00:15:44.700 And then they all drop out.
00:15:45.900 So Joe Biden get the nomination.
00:15:47.240 And I'm like, I am not supporting that man.
00:15:50.300 So I vote a Republican.
00:15:52.420 Donald Trump is the person.
00:15:55.760 But without him, I don't know what Republicans have.
00:15:57.920 To be fair, Democrats don't have anything either.
00:16:00.840 Trump is the last vestige of this bygone era where there is a central figure.
00:16:06.340 I don't know what's going to happen after Trump.
00:16:07.840 I think most people are going to check out of politics because they already are starting to do so.
00:16:11.860 Trump's play right now.
00:16:13.400 He's got to go out personally.
00:16:15.920 That's the move, ladies and gentlemen.
00:16:17.240 That's the move.
00:16:18.400 Well, here we go.
00:16:19.620 The levy has been breached.
00:16:21.760 Here it is.
00:16:23.020 There's new reporting into CNN today that President Trump's advisers are essentially bracing for impact when it comes to November.
00:16:31.920 One telling CNN the best case scenario now is that Republicans can hold on to the Senate and likely still definitely lose the House.
00:16:41.120 Here's a quote for you from an adviser.
00:16:43.320 It's obviously going to be effing rough, end quote.
00:16:47.100 CNN's Harry Anton running the numbers on maybe what is driving that.
00:16:51.040 National polls is often what the focus is.
00:16:53.980 But you are looking at how the president is doing
00:16:56.840 in House battleground districts, and what are you seeing?
00:16:59.800 Yeah, I will tell you, they're right.
00:17:01.500 It's going to be effing rough
00:17:02.940 because the levy has been breached.
00:17:05.020 The blue wave is coming over the wall,
00:17:06.760 Speaker Johnson and President Trump,
00:17:08.260 and you can see it here.
00:17:09.340 You can just look at President Trump's approval ratings.
00:17:11.340 Isn't that approval ratings in the year's key House district?
00:17:13.420 You know, back in September of 2018,
00:17:15.480 when Democrats easily won back the House,
00:17:17.360 President Trump was at minus eight points.
00:17:18.980 not very good. His disapproval rating was
00:17:20.920 eight points higher than his approval rating. But look at this
00:17:23.120 year. Look at the key districts this year.
00:17:25.360 President Trump is even worse. He's
00:17:26.960 twice as unpopular in this year's
00:17:29.220 key races in the key districts this year
00:17:31.140 than he was back in 2018 when Democrats
00:17:33.300 easy got back majority. He's now
00:17:35.080 16 points underwater in
00:17:37.120 the key House districts. Simply put,
00:17:39.120 mathematically, this equals
00:17:40.760 a Democratic majority for the House of Representatives.
00:17:43.560 What's driving this? What are you seeing
00:17:45.320 is why it's worse than eight years
00:17:47.160 ago. It might be on purpose. Why is it worse than eight years ago? Why are you twice as underwater
00:17:50.780 as you were eight years ago, President Trump? Well, it comes to this. It's the economy. Given
00:17:55.480 your key House districts in September, look right now. Look at where President Trump's economic
00:18:00.620 approval rating is. It's just 37 percent. It is way, way under 50 percent. We're talking about a
00:18:06.560 net approval rating of about minus 26 points in the key House districts in terms of Trump's
00:18:11.920 economic net approval rating. But look back in 2018, a positive view of the economy. 77% in that
00:18:18.040 year's key House districts said they had a positive view of the economy. This, of course, is about a
00:18:22.980 40-point difference. Now, these are slightly different metrics, but they really tell you
00:18:26.600 that back in 2018, the clear majority of those in the key House districts viewed the economy
00:18:32.140 positively. Now, you see, when it comes to President Trump, the clear majority disapprove
00:18:37.740 of the job that President Trump is doing in the economy. Just 37 percent. We get it. So the
00:18:42.180 question is, how can the Republicans possibly win underwater this much? Well, I'll give you
00:18:48.040 one theory. I'm not saying I know it's true, but Republicans have been doing poorly. The polls
00:18:52.900 were slipping. One strategy may be stop resisting. That's it. Don't waste your resources trying to
00:19:00.640 swim against the current. You're being washed away. Let it happen. Why? We're gonna have to
00:19:05.560 come back after the fact. If Democrats take Congress, it gives Republicans the opportunity
00:19:11.980 to play victim, to say Democrats have gone mad with power to try and win in twenty twenty eight
00:19:17.780 again. Actually, I saw a funny video from Destiny. He was asked if Trump should be impeached and he
00:19:25.820 says that's his worst case scenario. Why? Imagine this. Democrats win. Small handful of Republicans
00:19:32.220 join Democrats to impeach Donald Trump. They actually somehow get a 60, 63 vote in the Senate
00:19:40.240 to convict and remove Trump. J.D. Vance becomes president. Those two years will not count against
00:19:46.540 him, and he could get 10 years as the president. More importantly, I don't think Trump will be
00:19:53.100 convicted if he's impeached. Impeached is like the indictment. Conviction is the removal.
00:19:57.800 It's going to be impossible to get two thirds of the Senate. 0.56
00:20:01.060 But let's imagine the Democrats take the House.
00:20:04.980 Now, what happens?
00:20:06.340 They'll they'll impeach Trump.
00:20:07.580 Some Republicans will join in.
00:20:09.280 Trump will then say, is this the point?
00:20:12.880 Voters are not voting for Democrats to impeach Trump.
00:20:16.320 They're voting for a better economy.
00:20:18.120 That's been the whole point of this segment.
00:20:21.240 So what happens when Democrats get in and they just impeach Trump or
00:20:27.400 Whatever it is they do, impeaching Trump is right on top.
00:20:30.820 The Republicans can come out and say, this is what the Democrats do when you give them power.
00:20:34.600 They don't seek to find solutions.
00:20:36.360 They didn't try to get your prices down.
00:20:37.700 They blocked us from the job that would have got the prices down and just yelled Trump bad.
00:20:44.620 And maybe that's the play.
00:20:46.380 They know they're going to lose anyway.
00:20:48.100 So let's just put the blame as much as possible on the Democrats.
00:20:53.000 We are one month out, my friends.
00:20:55.420 one month, about a month and a week, five weeks, is it? It's going to get wild. And if Democrats
00:21:02.120 win, it is going to get crazy because right now they're not really doing all that much. They don't
00:21:07.160 want to rock the boat. But if they get power, you better damn well believe they're going to drop
00:21:11.660 nuclear bombs on everybody. We will see. Smash the like button, my friends. Share the show with
00:21:17.240 everyone. You know, we got more coming up for you throughout the day. Thanks for hanging out.
00:21:20.140 We will see you tonight at 8 p.m. for Timcast IRL. Don't miss it.
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