{"href":"https://api.simplecast.com/oembed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcapitol-weekly-podcast.simplecast.com%2Fepisodes%2Fmike-madrid-the-rise-of-extremism-QDaTkPXm","width":444,"version":"1.0","type":"rich","title":"Mike Madrid: The Rise of Extremism","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/7f78d020-0ec7-4ea0-b2e4-793f60bea526/f757170e-67a1-48ea-ab9f-6269979cad9a/img-1058.jpg","thumbnail_height":300,"provider_url":"https://simplecast.com","provider_name":"Simplecast","html":"","height":200,"description":"Mike Madrid is a longtime Republican strategist, veteran of the Bush administration and acknowledged expert on Latino politics. After a lifetime as a GOP stalwart, he denounced the party's embrace of Trumpism in 2016, and later cofounded The Lincoln Project, an effort by disaffected Republicans working to derail Trump's re-election bid.\n\nWe invited him on the Podcast to talk about the recent flurry of recalls and whether this will be the \"new normal\" in California politics. He painted a much darker picture.\n\n\"The Republican Party is gone,\" he told us. \n\nIn its stead, he describes a coordinated effort seeking to delegitimize the government though disinformation, fraud and the threat of violence. Where extremist groups like The Proud Boys were formerly relegated to the fringes of political activity, they have now emerged as a significant force in Republican politics, seeking elected office and receiving support from party officials. Once described by Ronald Reagan as \"a Party of Ideas,\" the GOP has, according to Madrid, become a Party without principles, with White Nationalism at its core.\n\n"}