The Political Scene | The New Yorker
WNYC Studios and The New YorkerThe Political Scene | The New Yorker
Join The New Yorker’s writers and editors for reporting, insight, and analysis of the most pressing political issues of our time. On Mondays, David Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker, presents conversations and feature stories about current events. On Wednesdays, the senior editor Tyler Foggatt goes deep on a consequential political story via far-reaching interviews with staff writers and outside experts. And, on Fridays, the staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos discuss the latest developments in Washington and beyond, offering an encompassing understanding of this moment in American politics.
© Condé Nast. All rights reserved.
Join The New Yorker’s writers and editors for reporting, insight, and analysis of the most pressing political issues of our time. On Mondays, David Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker, presents conversations and feature stories about current events. On Wednesdays, the senior editor Tyler Foggatt goes deep on a consequential political story via far-reaching interviews with staff writers and outside experts. And, on Fridays, the staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos discuss the latest developments in Washington and beyond, offering an encompassing understanding of this moment in American politics.
© Condé Nast. All rights reserved.
Dexter Filkins on what motivates the Florida congressman to wreak havoc within his own party.
The co-host of the popular show explains how the withering of the media and the threat of political violence are warping the Presidential campaign, and what Biden’s team needs to do.
The Biden campaign’s response to a special-counsel report claiming the President has diminished memory may not quell voters’ growing concerns about his age. What’s next for the Democrats?
This week, a special counsel’s report renews worries about the President’s mental acuity, and the Senate Republican Leader, Mitch McConnell, seemingly loses his grip on his conference.
The New Yorker staff writer and historian Jill Lepore on how an obscure constitutional provision that will be interpreted by the Supreme Court could affect Donald Trump’s candidacy for President.
The passage of a wide-ranging national-security package is being held up by House Republicans and Donald Trump, leaving the Biden Administration in a delicate position ahead of the election.
Supporters of the Trump and Biden campaigns are trying to engineer viral moments to win the election through memes and social media.
Introducing The Runaway Princesses, from In the Dark
“American Fiction,” nominated for five Academy Awards, satirizes the literary world, and upends Hollywood conventions about Blackness.
As Israel continues its military campaign in Gaza, President Biden navigates a divided Democratic Party.
Evan Osnos untangles the real meaning of a term that has become a useful shorthand for a wide array of grievances.
The chair of the powerful Congressional Progressive Caucus looks at whether President Biden can put the Democratic Party back together again in time to achieve victory in the 2024 election.
New Yorker staff writers respond to listeners about the 2024 race for the White House.
Sarah Larson, reporting from Des Moines, discusses the meaning of the Florida governor’s lukewarm performance at the Iowa caucuses.
Whether he wins as expected or somehow underperforms, the former President has upended the Republican contest without participating in a single debate and having barely campaigned on the ground.
The 2024 Presidential primary officially begins with next week’s Iowa caucuses, but the race for the Republican nomination is already in its home stretch.
Antonia Hitchens, reporting from Des Moines, examines Haley’s surprising surge in the polls ahead of Monday’s caucus.
The Wisconsin-based Nation reporter wasn’t at the Capitol when it was attacked. That hasn’t stopped Donald Trump’s attorneys from holding him responsible.
The attack on the U.S. Capitol, in 2021, is set to be a central issue for both the Trump and the Biden campaigns in different ways.
How the tech billionaire built a one-man monopoly over American infrastructure and became too powerful for the U.S. government to rein in.
The last major overhaul of the immigration system was in 1986. Changing conditions and a political impasse have created a state of chaos that the Biden Administration can no longer deny.
From Vanity Fair: How Donald Trump’s Lack of Faith Attracts Conservative Christians
In 1979, a minister received a telegram from Iranian militants who had taken hostages in the American embassy, inviting him to perform Christmas services. Two days later, he was inside.
With an embattled House of Representatives, a four-time indicted former President, and wars raging overseas, 2023 was a year comparable to none.
Tyler Foggatt looks back on 2023 with The New Yorker’s infamously relentless interviewer, Isaac Chotiner.
The Palestinian writer and New Yorker contributor was wrongly accused of being a Hamas activist by Israeli forces while he tried to flee Gaza with his family.
Many Republicans are resisting calls for more U.S. aid for Ukraine. Part of the explanation is the right’s affinity for the projects of Viktor Orbán, in Hungary, and Vladimir Putin, in Russia.
The New Yorker staff writer discusses the enforcement of “memory culture” in Germany, and the ongoing battle over the definition of antisemitism.
Once a top Republican, Cheney is calling out her former colleagues in Congress—including Speaker Mike Johnson—for “enabling” a would-be dictator.
Former Representative Jim Cooper of Tennessee joins The Political Scene to discuss the rush of lawmakers leaving Congress and what’s driving them away.
Jill Lepore revisits the overlooked story of Jefferson Davis, an insurrectionist ex-President, and considers the lasting cost of leniency.
Jelani Cobb, Jill Lepore and Evan Osnos on the precarious state of American democracy and why—yet again—we risk losing it in the upcoming Presidential election.
Henry Kissinger, a shaper of the twentieth-century world order, died this week, at the age of 100. He leaves behind a complicated legacy.
The so-called godfather of A.I. believes we need to put constraints on the technology so it won’t free itself from human control. But he’s not sure whether that’s possible.
Geraldo Cadava, a historian and contributing writer at The New Yorker, considers the issues that might be attracting a traditionally Democratic voting bloc to the Republican Party.
Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt talks about antisemitism “from all ends of the political spectrum, and in between.” It threatens not only Jews, she says, but the stability of democracies.
What would a second Trump Administration look like in comparison to the first, and how would America’s democratic institutions fare?
Daniel Immerwahr, a history professor at Northwestern University, discusses why videos generated by artificial intelligence haven’t had more influence on electoral politics.
The Federal Trade Commission is suing the company. Lina Khan, the chair of the F.T.C., tells David Remnick that Amazon exploits its position as a monopoly to invisibly drive up costs.
Protecting access to abortion was a powerful motivator among voters during this week’s off-cycle elections, in which Democrats made significant victories. What do Tuesday’s results portend for 2024 elections?
Andrew Marantz discusses the divided political response to Hamas’s terror attack and Israel’s counter-offensive.
The mother whose teen-age boy’s death inspired a movement a little more than a decade ago continues to grieve his loss, and to demand accountability.
The High Court’s system of self-policing is in question as revelations about Clarence Thomas’s gifts lead the Senate to escalate its investigation into Supreme Court ethics.
Robert Samuels discusses his recent reporting on the South Carolina senator and Presidential candidate.
David Remnick hears from two sources about how Israelis and Palestinians feel about the October 7th attacks, and what the future may hold for the region.
In court, Donald Trump’s former associates renounce the fallacy of a stolen 2020 election in order to avoid prison time. But in Congress, standing by “the Big Lie” can make you Speaker.
Despite his failed bid for Speaker, the Ohio representative is the face of a Republican Party that is more interested in launching investigations than it is in passing laws
The iconic filmmaker tells David Remnick how he got his start, how to direct Denzel Washington, and when he wants to retire.
This week, President Biden made a diplomatic visit to Tel Aviv, and sought aid from Congress for both Israel and Ukraine.
The New Yorker reporters David Kirkpatrick and Adam Rasgon, who recently spoke with a political leader of Hamas, discuss the group's decision-making and evolution.
When an outrageous yet charismatic candidate for president promises to kill suspected criminals, reporter Patricia Evangelista says, we should listen: it may not be just a talking point.
Reporting from Tel Aviv, Ruth Margalit discusses Hamas’s massacre of Israeli civilians and Netanyahu’s siege of Gaza.
The former Vice-President and self-described “recovering politician” explains the stakes and the necessary response to our ongoing environmental emergency.
This week, Kevin McCarthy lost his Speakership in an ouster led by the Florida congressman. How did Gaetz become, briefly, one of the most powerful people in Washington?
The Russia scholar Stephen Kotkin says that Ukraine must exchange Russia-held territory for security guarantees. But the U.S. must also threaten Putin’s hold on power.
The Senate has lost its longest-serving female member; plus, President Joe Biden warns that MAGA Republicans threaten American democracy.
Following a trip to Dubuque, Benjamin Wallace-Wells considers why the former President has maintained such a significant lead in the race for the Republican Party’s nomination.
As President Volodymyr Zelensky lobbied Congress for more war-related aid, House Republicans continued to fight their own battle over government spending.
What Do We Know About How the World Might End?
June 5, 202430min 30sec
The New Yorker staff writer Rivka Galchen joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss a class at the University of Chicago with a tantalizingly dark title: “Are We Doomed?” It’s in the interdisciplinary field of existential risk, which studies the threats posed by climate change, nuclear warfare, and artificial intelligence. Galchen, who spent a semester observing the course and its students, considers how to contend with this bleak future, and how to understand the young people who may inherit it.
This week’s reading:
- “Are We Doomed? Here’s How to Think About It,” by Rivka Galchen
- “It’s a Climate Election Now,” by Bill McKibben
To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker, visit newyorker.com/podcasts. To send feedback on this episode, write to themail@newyorker.com.