How a Red-District Democrat Is Navigating Trump | The Ezra Klein Show

Video Description

Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is one of just 13 Democrats to represent a district that Donald Trump won. Her distinctive economic message, and a willingness to buck her own party, helped her win re-election. But now the reality of the Trump era is coming home. Gluesenkamp Perez faced raucous crowds at town halls in Washington State recently, with some of her more liberal constituents furious that she isn’t opposing the administration more forcefully. At the same time, the White House has started making economic arguments that sound very similar to ones that she’s made – that we should consume less, produce more and import less stuff from abroad. So I wanted to talk to her about how she’s navigating this moment. What does she think of Trump’s economic agenda? What reactions is she seeing across her district? How does a Democrat now represent both terrified liberals and loyal Trump voters? 0:00 Intro 2:30 Trump’s tariffs 6:33 What kind of economy do Americans want? 10:08 Trash pick-up, environmentalism and virtue 14:43 Localism 17:13 Out-of-touch elites 25:20 A better economic agenda 33:14 Her raucous town halls 36:44 Her divided constituency 46:17 The importance of due process 52:08 The fentanyl crisis 57:15 Book recommendations Read the full transcript here: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-marie-gluesenkamp-perez.html Watch more on @EzraKleinShow Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at [email protected]. You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.html