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The Political Scene | The New Yorker

WNYC Studios and 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.
80hr 18min
Thumbnail for "After the World Central Kitchen Attack, How Far Will Biden Shift on Israel?".
Thumbnail for "Is Trump’s “Shock and Awe” Transition Working?".
Thumbnail for "How the Trump Indictments Backfired".
Thumbnail for "Ketanji Brown Jackson on Ethics, Trust, and Keeping It Collegial at the Supreme Court".
Thumbnail for "How to Prepare for Trump 2.0".
Thumbnail for "What Is Donald Trump’s Cabinet Planning for America?".
Thumbnail for "The Authors of “How Democracies Die” on the New Democratic Minority".
Thumbnail for "Chris Hayes on the New Trump Coalition, and What Democrats Do Next".
Thumbnail for "Donald Trump Returns. What Now?".
Thumbnail for "How Trump Took Back America".
Thumbnail for "Liz Cheney on Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, and Jeff Bezos".
Thumbnail for "Why American Democracy is in Danger, with Michael Beschloss".
Thumbnail for "Is the Backlash to a Racist Joke Trump’s October Surprise".
Thumbnail for "Charlamagne tha God Has Some Advice for Harris and the Democrats".
Thumbnail for "The Lies Are Winning".
Thumbnail for "How Poll Watchers Could Help Trump Challenge the Election Results".
Thumbnail for "The Stakes for Abortion Rights, from the Head of Planned Parenthood".
Thumbnail for "What Billionaires See in Donald Trump".
Thumbnail for "How Hurricane Helene Has Fuelled Far-Right Conspiracies".
Thumbnail for "How Kamala Harris Became a Contender".
Thumbnail for "What Motivates Kamala Harris?".
Thumbnail for "What Some Gaza Protest Voters See in Trump".
Thumbnail for "Newt Gingrich on What Trump Could Accomplish in a Second Term".
Thumbnail for "How to Find Every Democratic Voter in Wisconsin".
Thumbnail for "Will J. D. Vance’s Debate Victory Matter on Election Day?".
Thumbnail for "Young Donald Trump, Roy Cohn, and the Dark Arts of Power".
Thumbnail for "The Election Dividing Husbands and Wives Across America".
Thumbnail for "From “Inside the Hive”: Behind Donald Trump's “Bro Podcast” Binge".
Thumbnail for "Timothy Snyder on Why Ukraine Can Still Win the War".
Thumbnail for "Is Eric Adams Impervious to Scandal? ".
Thumbnail for "Josh Shapiro on How Kamala Harris Can Win Pennsylvania".
Thumbnail for "How to Get Under a Strongman’s Skin, with George Conway".
Thumbnail for "Will Kamala Harris’s Debate Win Be Enough to Move the Needle? ".
Thumbnail for "Preparing For Trump’s Next “Big Lie,” with the Election Lawyer Marc Elias".
Thumbnail for "Will Harris Get Trump to Self-Destruct at the Debate?".
Thumbnail for " What Does “Election Interference” Even Mean Anymore? ".
Thumbnail for "The Writer Danzy Senna on Kamala Harris and the Complexity of Biracial Identity in America".
Thumbnail for "How Much is “Being Cool” Actually Worth in Politics?".
Thumbnail for "Kamala Harris’s “Different Kind of ‘Hope’ Campaign”".
Thumbnail for "Unity, Millennial Cringe, And Overwhelming Relief Abound at the 2024 Democratic National Convention.".
Thumbnail for "Why Are More Latino Voters Supporting Trump?".
Thumbnail for "What the Harris Campaign Needs to Win, with James Carville and Paul Begala ".
Thumbnail for "Elon Musk’s Pivot from Online Troll to Political Machinator".
Thumbnail for "Nancy Pelosi, the Power Broker".
Thumbnail for "The Harris-Walz Reboot".
Thumbnail for "Israel’s Other Intractable Conflict".
Thumbnail for "Decoding the “Compelling” Attack Ads of the 2024 Campaign".
Thumbnail for "J. D. Vance’s Rough Rollout and Kamala Harris’s Veepstakes".
Thumbnail for "From In the Dark: Season 3, Episode 1".
Thumbnail for "What Kamala Harris Needs to Win the Presidency".
Thumbnail for "Could Kamala Harris Be a Trump-Level Cultural Phenomenon? ".
Thumbnail for "The “Strange Charisma” of Kamala Harris".
Thumbnail for "Special Episode: Biden Passes the Torch".
Thumbnail for "Trump’s Triumphant R.N.C. and Biden’s Dilemma ".
Thumbnail for "A Dispatch from the Republican National Convention".
Thumbnail for "Julián Castro on the Biden Problem, and What the Democratic Party Got Wrong".
Thumbnail for "The Great Democratic Party Freakout of 2024".
Thumbnail for "The Case for Using the Twenty-fifth Amendment on Biden".
Thumbnail for "John Fetterman’s Move to the Right on Israel".
Thumbnail for "From “Inside the Hive”: How Steve Bannon’s Prison Sentence Could Help Trump Win".
Thumbnail for "The New Yorker’s Political Writers Answer Your Election Questions".
Thumbnail for "What Does Biden’s Disastrous Debate Mean for Democrats?".
Thumbnail for "What You Need to Know About 2024’s Most Significant Supreme Court Decisions".
Thumbnail for "Kevin Costner on “Yellowstone,” “Horizon,” and Why the Western Endures".
Thumbnail for "What to Expect from the Biden-Trump Debate, with the Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin".
Thumbnail for "Could the 2024 Election Be Decided by Memes? ".
Thumbnail for "Is Being a Politician the Worst Job in the World?".
Thumbnail for "Hunter Biden’s Conviction and Trump’s Risk to the Justice Department in 2024".
Thumbnail for "Biden’s Executive Order on Immigration and the Politically “Toxic” Puzzle of the Border".
Thumbnail for "Senator Raphael Warnock on America’s “Moral and Spiritual Battle”".
Thumbnail for "A G.O.P. Strategist on the Republican Voters Who Could Abandon Trump".
Thumbnail for "What Do We Know About How the World Might End?".
Thumbnail for "The Trans Athletes Who Changed the Olympics—in 1936".
Thumbnail for "A “Stunningly Decisive” End to Donald Trump’s Trial".
Thumbnail for "Sam Altman Dreams of an A.I. Girlfriend".
Thumbnail for "How the Reality-TV Industry Mistreats Its Stars".
Thumbnail for "Why Vladimir Putin’s Family Is Learning Mandarin".
Thumbnail for "Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., on Why He’s Running".
Thumbnail for "The Most Profoundly Not-Normal Facts About Trump’s 2024 Campaign".
Thumbnail for "Stormy Daniels’s Biggest Role Yet".
Thumbnail for "The TikTok Ban Is “a Vast Overreach, Rooted in Hypocrisy,” Wired’s Katie Drummond says".
Thumbnail for "Will Young Americans Tip November’s Election?".
Thumbnail for "The Pure Chaos Inside Donald Trump’s Criminal Trial".
Thumbnail for "Randall Kennedy on Harvard Protests, Antisemitism, and the Meaning of Free Speech".
Thumbnail for "Who Should Be More Worried about Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.– Biden or Trump?".
Thumbnail for "Why Is Marjorie Taylor Greene Trying to Oust House Speaker Mike Johnson?".
Thumbnail for "Georgia’s Secretary of State Prepares for Another Election".
Thumbnail for "Trump’s “Bonkers” Immunity Claim, with Neal Katyal".
Thumbnail for "A Student Journalist Explains the Protests at Yale".
Thumbnail for "Jonathan Haidt on “The Anxious Generation”".
Thumbnail for "The Morality Play Inside Trump’s Courtroom".
Thumbnail for "Ronan Farrow on the Scheme at the Heart of Trump’s New York Trial".
Thumbnail for "A Bipartisan Effort to Carve out Exemptions to Texas’s Abortion Ban".
Thumbnail for "Will an 1864 Abortion Law Doom Trump in Arizona?".
Thumbnail for "From WIRED Politics Lab: How Election Deniers Are Weaponizing Tech To Disrupt November".
Thumbnail for "What to Expect from Trump’s First Criminal Trial".
Thumbnail for "The Attack on Black History in Schools".
Thumbnail for "How Should Reporters Cover Donald Trump?".
Thumbnail for "Kara Swisher on Tech Billionaires: “I Don’t Think They Like People”".
Thumbnail for "Should Big Tech Stop Moderating Content?".
Thumbnail for "Adam Gopnik on Hitler’s Rise to Power".
Thumbnail for "The Political Books That Help Us Make Sense of 2024".
Thumbnail for "Why Robert Hur Described Joe Biden as an “Elderly Man with a Poor Memory”".
Thumbnail for "Judith Butler on the Global Backlash to L.G.B.T.Q. Rights".
Thumbnail for "How Gaza, Ukraine, and TikTok Are Influencing the Election".
Thumbnail for "What Biden’s Budget Means for His Reëlection Battle with Trump".
Thumbnail for "Vinson Cunningham on His New Book, “Great Expectations”".
Thumbnail for "At the State of the Union, Biden Came Out Swinging".
Thumbnail for "The Mood at Mar-a-Lago on Super Tuesday".
Thumbnail for "Biden Reveals His Thoughts on the 2024 Election".
Thumbnail for "Why the Primary System Is “Clearly Failing”".
Thumbnail for "With Navalny’s Death, Putin is Feeling More Confident than Ever".
Thumbnail for "Ty Cobb on Trump's Admiration for Putin".
Thumbnail for "Does Impeachment Mean Anything Anymore?".
Thumbnail for "Why Matt Gaetz Keeps Getting Away with It".
Dexter Filkins on what motivates the Florida congressman to wreak havoc within his own party.
Thumbnail for "“Pod Save America” ’s Jon Lovett on Biden’s Accomplishments".
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.
Thumbnail for "Do Democrats Have a Biden Backup Plan?".
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?
Thumbnail for "Can Joe Biden Squash Concerns About His Age?".
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.
Thumbnail for "Why the Trump Ballot Case Is the Ultimate Test of Originalism".
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.
Thumbnail for "The Last Real Legislative Battle of 2024".
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.
Thumbnail for "Why You Keep Seeing Biden Falling on Instagram".
Supporters of the Trump and Biden campaigns are trying to engineer viral moments to win the election through memes and social media.
Thumbnail for "Introducing The Runaway Princesses, from In the Dark".
Introducing The Runaway Princesses, from In the Dark
Thumbnail for "The Oscar Nominee Cord Jefferson on Why Race Is So “Fertile” for Comedy".
“American Fiction,” nominated for five Academy Awards, satirizes the literary world, and upends Hollywood conventions about Blackness.
Thumbnail for "Biden’s Dilemma in the Israel-Hamas War".
As Israel continues its military campaign in Gaza, President Biden navigates a divided Democratic Party.
Thumbnail for "How “the Élite” Became the Most Convenient Straw Man in Politics".
Evan Osnos untangles the real meaning of a term that has become a useful shorthand for a wide array of grievances.
Thumbnail for "Pramila Jayapal on Biden’s Fragile Coalition".
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.
Thumbnail for "Polling, Money, Trump Fatigue: Your 2024 Election Questions".
New Yorker staff writers respond to listeners about the 2024 race for the White House.
Thumbnail for "Where Does Ron DeSantis Go From Here?".
Sarah Larson, reporting from Des Moines, discusses the meaning of the Florida governor’s lukewarm performance at the Iowa caucuses.
Thumbnail for "How Donald Trump Broke 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.
Thumbnail for "The 2024 Primaries That Weren’t".
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.
Thumbnail for "Is Nikki Haley the G.O.P.’s Trump Contingency Plan?".
Antonia Hitchens, reporting from Des Moines, examines Haley’s surprising surge in the polls ahead of Monday’s caucus.
Thumbnail for "How the Journalist John Nichols Became Another January 6th Conspiracy-Theory Target".
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.
Thumbnail for "How Will January 6th Shape the 2024 Election?".
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.
Thumbnail for "Ronan Farrow on the “Shadow Rule” of Elon Musk".
How the tech billionaire built a one-man monopoly over American infrastructure and became too powerful for the U.S. government to rein in.
Thumbnail for "Dexter Filkins Reports on the Border Crisis".
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.
Thumbnail for "From Vanity Fair: How Donald Trump’s Lack of Faith Attracts Conservative Christians".
From Vanity Fair: How Donald Trump’s Lack of Faith Attracts Conservative Christians
Thumbnail for "Christmas in Tehran: Bringing the Holidays to Hostages".
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.
Thumbnail for "Was 2023 a Year of Denial?".
With an embattled House of Representatives, a four-time indicted former President, and wars raging overseas, 2023 was a year comparable to none.
Thumbnail for "The Year in Getting “Chotinered”".
Tyler Foggatt looks back on 2023 with The New Yorker’s infamously relentless interviewer, Isaac Chotiner.
Thumbnail for "Mosab Abu Toha’s Harrowing Detention in Gaza".
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.
Thumbnail for "How the American Right Came to Love Putin".
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.
Thumbnail for "Masha Gessen on the Holocaust, Israel, and the Politics of Memory".
The New Yorker staff writer discusses the enforcement of “memory culture” in Germany, and the ongoing battle over the definition of antisemitism.
Thumbnail for "Liz Cheney: Donald Trump Should Go to Jail if Convicted".
Once a top Republican, Cheney is calling out her former colleagues in Congress—including Speaker Mike Johnson—for “enabling” a would-be dictator.
Thumbnail for "Why Are House Republicans Leaving Congress?".
Former Representative Jim Cooper of Tennessee joins The Political Scene to discuss the rush of lawmakers leaving Congress and what’s driving them away.
Thumbnail for "The Post-Civil War Precedent for the Trump Trials".
Jill Lepore revisits the overlooked story of Jefferson Davis, an insurrectionist ex-President, and considers the lasting cost of leniency.
Thumbnail for "How Did Our Democracy Get so Fragile?".
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.
Thumbnail for "How Henry Kissinger Conquered Washington".
Henry Kissinger, a shaper of the twentieth-century world order, died this week, at the age of 100. He leaves behind a complicated legacy.
Thumbnail for "Geoffrey Hinton: “It’s Far Too Late” to Stop Artificial Intelligence".
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.
Thumbnail for "What Draws Latino Voters to Trump".
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.
Thumbnail for "A Rise in Antisemitism, at Home and Abroad".
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.

After the World Central Kitchen Attack, How Far Will Biden Shift on Israel?

Thumbnail for "After the World Central Kitchen Attack, How Far Will Biden Shift on Israel?".
April 5, 202436min 43sec

The Washington Roundtable: Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos discuss how the Israeli strike on World Central Kitchen workers in Gaza could factor into a policy shift by the Biden Administration on Israel and the war. President Biden realized that he needed to “catch up to where the country was,” Osnos says. Then the British barrister Philippe Sands, a prominent specialist in international law who represents the state of Palestine in the case against the Israeli occupation before the International Court of Justice, joins the group to discuss whether the laws of war have been violated in this conflict.

This week’s reading:

To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker, visit newyorker.com/podcasts. To send  feedback on this episode, write to themail@newyorker.com with “The Political Scene” in the subject line.

Thumbnail for "After the World Central Kitchen Attack, How Far Will Biden Shift on Israel?".
After the World Central Kitchen Attack, How Far Will Biden Shift on Israel?
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