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.
Eric Lach discusses why Eric Adams—who once personally welcomed buses of asylum seekers at Port Authority—is now saying that migrants are going to “destroy New York City.”
Egan spent a year chronicling a new supportive-housing building in New York. This kind of facility works to end homelessness. What would be needed to scale it up nationwide?
This week in Congress: a Biden impeachment inquiry, a frozen House of Representatives, and a looming government shutdown.
The author of “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “The Wager” on his writing and reporting process, and adapting his work to the screen.
Trump’s former chief of staff wants the Georgia racketeering case against him moved to federal court. What’s his strategy, and what does it portend for Trump?
A special episode from Slate’s Supreme-Court podcast, about a controversial Justice who was also a champion for the environment.
Susan B. Glasser discusses the baby-boomer generation’s hold on American politics, and the role that age may play in the 2024 election.
The legendary journalist has chronicled the White House going back to Nixon. He knows how to interview Presidents. But, with Donald Trump, Woodward got more than he bargained for.
Keith Gessen discusses whether the United States should encourage negotiations with Russia.
During the hottest summer in history, The New Yorker’s Dhruv Khullar undergoes testing in a specialized chamber where researchers monitor the effects of heat on the body.
As Republican Presidential hopefuls took the stage for the first debate of the primary, Donald Trump’s mug shot reclaimed the news cycle.
How the tech billionaire built a one-man monopoly over American infrastructure and became too powerful for the U.S. government to rein in.
Mariannette Miller-Meeks, an Iowa Republican, feels that the G.O.P. hasn’t engaged enough with this critical issue. But she won’t vote for Democratic bills that “take away choice.”
Will the Summer of Trump Indictments Shake Up the Election?
Will the End of Affirmative Action Lead to the End of Legacy Admissions?
The One-Per-centers Pushing Democrats to the Left
Emily Nussbaum on Country Music’s Culture Wars
“This is The Big One”: The Third Trump Indictment
How the Wagner Group Became Too Powerful for Putin to Punish
How to Buy Forgiveness from Medical Debt
Hunter Biden and the Mechanics of the “Scandal Industrial Complex”
The Historic Battles of “Hot Labor Summer”
Adapting Oppenheimer’s Life Story to Film, with Biographer Kai Bird
What Happens if Trump Is Elected While on Trial?
The Family Heritage That Led to Hunter Biden
A Mysterious Third Party Enters the 2024 Presidential Race
Will Record Temperatures Finally Force Political Change?
The Conspiracy Theories of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
What It Takes to Be White House Chief of Staff
Russia’s Accidental No-Good, Very Failed Coup
The Dark Money Supreme Court
What Comes After Affirmative Action
A Year of Change for a North Dakota Abortion Clinic
Why Ukrainians Targeted the Author of “Eat, Pray, Love”
Dexter Filkins on the Dilemma at the Border
Donald Trump’s Dangerous War on the Justice Department
The Battle Over Presidential Records, from Nixon to Trump
In a Divided Era, the New York Times’s Publisher Makes a Stand
Trump’s Latest Indictment Is Also About the Future of the Country
The Flimsy Legal Theory That Could Upend American Elections
The Creator of ChatGPT on the Rise of Artificial Intelligence
Is the Debt-Ceiling Deal a Template to Fix Washington, or a Mere Blip?
How “Succession” Captured the Trump-Era Hangover
E. Jean Carroll and Roberta Kaplan on Defamatory Trump
How Do You Interview Donald Trump?
How Climate Change Is Impacting Our Mental Health
What Washington Doesn't Understand about China
Jia Tolentino and Stephania Taladrid on a Year Without Roe v. Wade
Have State Legislatures Gone Rogue?
The Permanent-Scandal Phase of American Politics
The Existential Crisis at the Heart of the Hollywood Writers’ Strike
Joshua Yaffa on Evan Gershkovich, a Colleague and Friend
The Fugitive Princess Forced to Return to Dubai
What to Make of the Fall of Tucker Carlson
Joe Biden’s “Very Risky Choice” to Run Again Increases the Scrutiny on Kamala Harris
Jane Mayer on the Ethical Questions About Justice Clarence Thomas
With the Fox-Dominion Settlement We’re Still at the “Mercy of a Billionaire Dynasty”
The Political Fallout of a Tech Executive’s Murder
How Did the TikTok Ban Become a Bipartisan Issue?
Abortion Heads Back to the Supreme Court
How Waco Became a Right-Wing Rallying Cry
Israel on the Brink
As Trump Faces Charges, Who Is in Control of the Republican Party?
The Mood Inside the Courtroom Where Trump Was Arraigned
Jon Meacham: Indictment Won’t Break Trump Fever
Trump’s Indictment, and a Brief History of Election Dirty Tricks
The Hypocrisies of the TikTok Hearings
Jia Tolentino on the Celebrity Obsession with Ozempic
Trump’s Potential Trials Are a One-Man “Stress Test of the Legal System”
Donald Trump Braces for an Indictment in the Stormy Daniels Case
What Happens if the Supreme Court Ends Affirmative Action?
We’re Living in a World Created by the Iraq War
Masha Gessen on the War Against Trans Rights
Introducing: “In The Dark”
The “Woke History” Wars
The Russian Activist Maria Pevchikh on the Fate of Alexey Navalny
The Fox News Defamation Lawsuit: “Money, Ideology, Truth, Lies—It’s All Right There”
How ChatGPT Will Strain a Political System in Peril
COVID-19 at Three: Who Got the Pandemic Right?
Is Ukraine the Next Battle in American Politics?
What Does It Mean to Be “Indigenous”?
A Year of the War in Ukraine
The Glass Ceiling, Still Intact: Women and Power in Washington
A Historic Earthquake in Turkey, and the Saga of a Spy Balloon
Salman Rushdie On Surviving the Fatwa
What Biden Didn’t Say in the State of the Union
A New Primary Calendar Changes the Race for the Presidency
Chuck D on How Hip-Hop Changed the World
An "Anger Olympics" Between Trump and the Rest of the 2024 Republican Field
How the Memphis Police Controlled the Narrative of Tyre Nichols’s Killing
What Does “Woke” Mean, and How Did the Term Become So Powerful?
Why Chief of Staff Is “the Hardest Job in Washington”
The Competing Narratives of the Monterey Park Shooting
The Local Paper That First Sounded the Alarm on George Santos
Examining Biden's Second Year, and Tax Avoidance for the Rich
The Fraudster Mentored by New York’s Mayor
Bob Woodward on His Calls with Trump
House Republicans Launch Their Campaign Against the Bidens
A January 6th for the “Trump of the Tropics”
Kevin McCarthy’s Week in “Purgatory”
In the Trenches with the Foreigners Fighting for Ukraine
Did Black Lives Matter Change Broadway?
The Biggest Stories of 2022
The Queer Children’s Books Targeted by Conservative Lawmakers
As Poet Laureate, Tracy K. Smith Hit the Road
The January 6th Report and Donald Trump’s Criminal Referrals
David Remnick on the January 6th Committee’s Final Report
Nancy Pelosi’s Legacy, and Kevin McCarthy’s Challenges
Could Kyrsten Sinema's Party Switch Be Good for Democracy?
Politico’s New Owner on the Opportunity for “Nonpartisan” Media
Trump Calls to “Terminate” the Constitution, and Kyrsten Sinema’s Party Switch
DeSantis vs. Trump: A “Fight to the Death” for Florida
A Supreme Court Case That Could Upend Elections
The Historical Echoes of Trump’s Dinner with a White Supremacist
Do COVID Protests in China Pose a Threat to Xi Jinping?
Can America’s Aging Leadership Deliver the Future?
Hollywood’s Backlash to “Wokeness”
How Qatar Took the World Cup
Trump Tries to Return, and Nancy Pelosi Steps Aside
Are We In Denial About the End of Election Denialism?
Introducing The Political Scene
The Man Who Escaped from Auschwitz to Warn the World
How New York Became the Democrats’ Weak Link
The Theologian Russell Moore on Christian Nationalism
Judgment Day Appears Close for Affirmative Action
Mayor Francis Suarez’s View from Miami
Are the Midterms Still Anyone’s Game?
The Vulnerabilities of our Voting Machines, and How to Secure Them
Can Kanye West Buy Free Speech?
After Roe, a New Abortion Underground
The Political Scene Live with Jamie Raskin: January 6th and Accountability for Donald Trump
Major Decisions Ahead for the Supreme Court
Pro-Life, with One Exception—for Herschel Walker
Joshua Yaffa on What’s Next for Ukraine
Is Biden’s Student-Debt Relief Plan the Worst of Both Worlds?
Andy Borowitz on Our Age of Ignorance
The “Cynical, Disgusting” Migrant Flights to Martha’s Vineyard
The Legal Fight for Democracy
Can King Charles III Capture the Queen’s Popularity?
Keeping Score: A Year Inside a Divided Brooklyn High School
How Will Liz Truss Govern a Britain in Crisis?
Jill Lepore on Why Biden Is No F.D.R.
The Risk of a New American Civil War
Could Engaging the Taliban Help Afghan Women?
What’s Driving Black Candidates to the Republican Party?
Uncovering Biden Family Secrets
Is the Historic Climate Bill Enough to Save the Planet?
Trump’s and Biden’s Reversals of Fortune
Jane Mayer on Ohio’s Lurch to the Right
Can Suing Gun Manufacturers Reduce Gun Violence?
Did the U.S. Miss the Chance to Stop Monkeypox?
New Mexico Is a “Safe Haven” for Abortion Between Texas and Arizona
Trump’s Hundred and Eighty-seven Minutes of Inaction on January 6th
How White Christian Nationalists Seek to Transform America
The Queer Children’s Books Targeted By the “Don’t Say Gay” Bill
What Precedents Would Clarence Thomas Overturn Next?
Abortion and the Potential “Criminalization of Pregnancy” in the U.S.
Why Do Conservatives Love Hungary’s Viktor Orbán?
What the January 6th Committee Uncovered This Week
Dexter Filkins on the Rise of Ron DeSantis
The Bombshell Moments at the Second Week of the January 6th Hearings
Putting the Backlash Against Progressive Prosecutors in Perspective
Jane Mayer and Evan Osnos on the New January 6th Revelations
Sara Nelson on the Drive to Unionize Delta Flight Attendants
Why a Weakened N.R.A. Still Gets What it Wants
What Makes a Mass Shooter?
Normalcy Returns to Kyiv as Russia Doubles Down in Eastern Ukraine
The Attack on Gender-Affirming Medical Care
The Other Kind of Racism in Buffalo
The Battle After Roe v. Wade
How COVID Strengthened Authoritarianism in China
The Last Abortion Clinic in Mississippi: Rebroadcast
The Fate of Abortion After the Supreme Court Leak
A Ukrainian Diplomat on the Future of Russian Aggression
Can Liberal Democracy Survive?
Ronan Farrow on the Threat of Modern Spyware
Can Democrats Win Back Rural Voters?
“We’re All Going to the World’s Fair” and a Short History of Movies about the Internet
How Biden Stumbled on Immigration Reform
Anita Hill and Jane Mayer on Ketanji Brown Jackson, and the State of the Supreme Court
Can Genocide Be Prevented?
Investigating January 6th
An Ivy League Student Accused of Lying About Her Past
Jill Lepore on Parents’ Rights and the Culture War
The Good News About Renewable Energy
Radio Ukraine
How Do We Know When Someone Is a Spy?
Stephen Kotkin: Don’t Blame the West for Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine
The West Wages Economic War on Russia
Igor Novikov on Standing His Ground in Ukraine
What Does China Think of Putin’s War?
Hollywood’s Fraught History with Black Audiences
How Should President Biden Respond to Putin’s War?
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the Path Forward for the Left
What Putin Is Really After in Ukraine
Free Speech in Comedy Clubs and on Campus
What the Beijing Olympics Reveal About China
Black Thought Takes the Stage
The Joe Rogan Controversy and Spotify’s Stranglehold on the Music Industry
Russia’s Intentions in Ukraine—and America
Does America Still Trust the Supreme Court?
The Olympic Games Return to China, in a Changed World
Can “Partygate” Bring Down Boris Johnson?
The Biden Presidency, Year One
Can Biden Revive Martin Luther King, Jr.,’s Vision of Voting Rights?
A New Civil War in America?
The Great Resignation and the New Office Politics
Amanda Gorman on Life After Inauguration
Year-End Special: Don’t Despair
When Snow Came to San Juan
Will the Mark Meadows Revelations Change the January 6th Investigation?
Millennial Writers Reflect on a Generation’s Despair
Lina Khan vs. Big Tech
The Last Abortion Clinic in Mississippi
How to Respond to the Omicron Variant
Rachel Held Evans and Her Legacy
Mexican Abortion Activists Mobilize to Aid Texans
Britney Spears, Free from the Conservatorship, but Not from the Public Eye
The Essential Workers of the Climate Crisis
Politics and Justice at the Kyle Rittenhouse Trial
Will the Office Survive the Pandemic?
Was Last Week Really So Bad for the Democrats?
The Nobel Prize Winner Maria Ressa on the Turmoil at Facebook
Is the Virginia Governor’s Race a Preview of the 2022 Midterms?
How a Girls’ School Fled Afghanistan as the Taliban Took Over
The Complicated Legacy of Colin Powell
Jon Stewart: “That’s Not Cancel Culture”
Charlie Kirk and the Long Shadow of Political Violence
September 13, 202537min 14sec
The Washington Roundtable discusses the fatal shooting of the right-wing activist and Donald Trump ally Charlie Kirk, who was killed on Wednesday during a speech on a college campus. The panel considers whether the United States risks tumbling into a spiral of political violence, and how the Administration might use this moment to justify a crackdown on political opponents.
This week’s reading:
- “Did Trump Just Declare War on the American Left?,” by Susan B. Glasser
- “MAGA Reacts to the Assassination of Charlie Kirk,” by Antonia Hitchens
- “Charlie Kirk’s Murder and the Crisis of Political Violence,” by Benjamin Wallace-Wells
- “The Epstein Birthday Book Is Even Worse Than You Might Realize,” by Jessica Winter
Tune in wherever you get your podcasts.
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