❓WHAT HAPPENED: Speaking with Dinesh D’Souza on the Dinesh D’Souza Podcast, The National Pulse Editor-in-Chief Raheem Kassam argues the political backbone recently developed by Republican lawmakers—best illustrated by congressional redistricting fights in Texas and other states—is driven by increasing grassroots MAGA leadership.

👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Raheem Kassam, Dinesh D’Souza, the MAGA movement, GOP lawmakers, and President Donald J. Trump.

📍WHEN & WHERE: The podcast aired Wednesday evening, August 7, 2025.

💬KEY QUOTE: “I think what is happening in terms of the leadership that’s going on, yes, of course, there is so much leadership from the White House and President Trump, but, I think really, the leadership is coming from the base up at the moment.” — Raheem Kassama

🎯IMPACT: Kassam argues that while the GOP is taking up more and more of the MAGA Agenda, the Republican establishment has yet to “have had certain changes of heart” and is instead looking to conserve its power.

The National Pulse Editor-in-Chief Raheem Kassam argues the political backbone recently developed by Republican lawmakers—best illustrated by congressional redistricting fights in Texas and other states—is driven by increasing grassroots MAGA leadership. Speaking with Dinesh D’Souza on the Dinesh D’Souza Podcast, Kassam said that while President Donald J. Trump and his White House are providing leadership, the biggest boost driving the populist agenda is coming from the MAGA base outside Washington, D.C.

“Look, I’m a populist, but I’m also a bit of a cynic—as many probably know. I would love to say, ‘Yes, you know, clearly the GOP has grown a pair’—I don’t believe that to be the case,” Kassam explains, continuing: “I think this is what happens in a power vacuum, is that these politicians see the ability to take on more power, to keep out their enemies for longer.”

“I think what is happening in terms of the leadership that’s going on, yes, of course, there is so much leadership from the White House and President Trump, but, I think really, the leadership is coming from the base up at the moment,” Kassam told D’Souza. “The number of years now that I’ve spoken to my friends in Texas, our members at The National Pulse in Texas, who go ‘I can’t believe it, I don’t understand, we have dominance in this state, but we’re not doing the things we need to do. We’re certainly not doing it on the topic of Islam… we’re not doing it in terms of… redistricting.”

Kassam goes on to contend that the recent political action on these issues and others is driven by intensifying grassroots activism, while noting: “When the grassroots, the MAGA base, because I don’t think the MAGA base—for all that the good people here are in Washington, D.C., working in the Trump administration—I still don’t think the MAGA base is in D.C. The MAGA base is all around the country.”

Referring to the regular MAGA Americans outside the nation’s capital, Kassam emphasized that they “are the basis on which change is made. And that is the basis on which people keep their eyes on the prize, the closest, is in their communities, is in their neighborhoods, and all of that filters upwards.”

Despite the positive progress, Kassam contends healthy skepticism should still be directed at the GOP political establishment. “So yes, the GOP base is certainly pushing the institutional Republican Party in the directions it needs to go, I’m just not sure yet that the politicians themselves have had certain changes of heart, rather than realizing, you know, ‘Hey, this is how I hold on to my seat.'”

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Have Republicans across the nation grown a spine and a willingness to challenge the Dems? @RaheemKassam of @thenatpulse breaks it down pic.twitter.com/1KGwGC43vo

— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) August 6, 2025

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