Ken Rudin is one of America’s foremost experts in politics and campaign history. He hosts the weekly podcast “Political Junkie” and has over 40 years of experience in political journalism, including as ABC News’ deputy political director and off-air Capitol Hill reporter from 1983 to 1991 and as political editor at National Public Radio from 1991 to 2013. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: You spoke at The Temporary (predecessor to TACAW) in 2018. What’s changed since that visit to our Valley?
A: Throughout my whole political life — and I love politics — I never had a point of view. I could always express why things are happening or why things happened, and I could say, “This is what should happen, and this is what somebody needs to do if they are to accomplish A, B or C,” until Donald Trump.
Mostly since the election of 2016 and certainly the events of Jan. 6, 2021, I’ve no longer been as objective. As somebody who loves politics as deeply as I do, who loves history as deeply as I do — the lore, the trivia, the fun stories — I’m a wreck, I really am a wreck. It’s just so disheartening, the cruelty and meanness, the things we’ve never seen before.
Now, as somebody who loves politics and loves history, it’s great in theory to see something that I’ve never seen before. By definition alone, something new happening in political history is wonderful. But I think everything is just negative with cruelty and anger and lies. It’s discouraging because I don’t know how it changes.
Q: What’s the role of the U.S. citizenry at this time?
A: The role is always that you can’t complain if you don’t vote. I feel that way very, very strongly. And I understand that both in 2016 when people hated Trump and Hillary, and in 2024 when neither candidate was particularly loved, a lot of people sat at home. But for a lot of people to sit at home and then say, “I can’t believe how terrible things are,” well, where were you when you had the chance to make a difference?
But you think of things that would disqualify a candidate in the past, like Rick Perry couldn’t think of a third cabinet agency he would eliminate, remember? He said, “Oops,” and everybody said, “That’s the end of his campaign.” Even Gary Hart, who just had this dalliance with this woman on a boat, his presidential campaign went nowhere.
Donald Trump violates everything, every norm, everything that is considered normal. Pat Schroeder of Colorado used to talk about Ronald Reagan being the “Teflon President.” There’s a lot of Teflon to Trump. As he once said famously, he could shoot a guy on Fifth Avenue and he wouldn’t lose any votes, which is just remarkable. And there’s truth to that, which is just remarkable.
Q: Do you see that support waning?
A: No, I don’t. The only way you can impeach Trump is if you have a Democratic House, and the only way you’re going to convict Trump is if you have a Democratic Senate. No Republicans in the House or the Senate, very few, will take him on because they’re afraid to, because if they do, they or their family have been met with death threats — which is just startling.
Even when Nixon nominated Judge Carswell and Judge Haynsworth for the Supreme Court, Republicans voted against Nixon’s justices. That’s just remarkable, because they had the opportunity, the freedom to decide how to vote. But now you can’t vote against your president or you’ll pay the price. Now Trump will finance a primary opponent to you; he’ll just write you out of the party. There’s some people who feel that country before party is the way to go, but most do not feel that way. Most say, “I don’t want to end my career, and therefore I’ll just keep playing, or at least I’ll be supportive enough.”
Unless you have people who have the courage to stand up to him, nothing is going to change. I thought Democrats were going to win the House this year, 2024, but even though they picked up seats, they didn’t win the House, which I’m shocked at. Even in 2026, you have to have two-thirds in the Senate to remove from office. Even if it’s a Democratic Senate, you’re not going to get two-thirds to remove a president. It’s never been done.
Q: What gives you hope?
A: I remember in the beginning of 1974, a lot of solidly Republican seats were starting to go Democrat in special elections. I remember thinking at the time that if this is the beginning of a wave, that the Republicans are going to pay a price for Watergate, we’ll see what happens. And that’s exactly what happened.
The same thing in 2010, when Obama was unpopular and Obamacare was unpopular. Republicans started winning special House elections in 2010.
I’m fascinated about these special elections, as they start to take hold, and to see if they go a certain way. Perception is always reality in politics. If Democrats start winning House seats, then people are going to look up and say, “Maybe Trump is starting to lose support.” If that’s the case, maybe more Republicans in Congress will start to speak up. I think we have to see what happens with these special elections first.
Concluding Rudin’s talk on April 11 will be a game he calls “ScuttleButton,” making use of his collection of more than 70,000 political buttons, followed by a Q&A. Buy tickets here.