Before the official departure of Jim DeMint yesterday, John Hart’s Forbes column “The Political Assassination Of The Heritage Foundation’s Jim DeMint” discussed all the ins and outs of the ouster.

In the below podcast from Matt Lewis, via FTR, which also went live prior to the very end, Hart goes into more detail and the discussion is fascinating.

“The reason I described it as a political assassination, I mean that’s a loaded term obviously, but it was a very deliberate effort blame Jim DeMint and make him the fall guy, essentially, for strategic mistakes that other people made.”

The Trump question is one of the things at the center of this, of course. As with every shake-up at every conservative institution and website in the last year or so.

Also in this episode, Texas political insider Kevin Lindley discusses campaigns, including Rick Perry’s 2012 campaign (with a shout out to the RedState Gathering.)