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How is it that Democrats were able to buck historical trends and avoid the kind of midterms massacre traditionally suffered by the party in power? And why did so many election forecasts miss the mark? Ryan Grim talks with Tom Bonier of Democratic data firm TargetSmart about what the media got wrong in 2022. https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
This week Elon Musk gave Twitter employees an ultimatum: commit to a new, “hardcore” workplace culture of “long hours at high intensity,” or get out. Jon Schwarz talks with Bloomberg reporter Mike Leonard about how Musk is trying to squeeze profit out of the company and whether he’s likely to succeed. Then, Jon and fellow Intercept reporter Ken Klippenstein discuss how Twitter has enriched their journalistic lives. https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy f...
On Tuesday, Democrats miraculously avoided the sort of major rout at the polls normally associated with a new president’s first midterms. Most surprisingly, Democrats still have a narrow path to maintain control of the House of Representatives if a few outstanding races swing their way. That path would be even wider if not for a disappointing set of losses in New York. Ryan Grim speaks with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and to Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families ...
In August, Kansas voters overwhelmingly rejected a ballot measure that would have removed abortion rights from the state’s constitution. In a few days, voters in Kentucky will weigh in on a similar measure that will decide the future of abortion in that state. Jazmin Smith and Robert Kahne, co-hosts of the "My Old Kentucky" podcast, which covers Kentucky politics, join Ryan Grim to discuss how the vote is likely to unfold. https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/p...
The race for Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District pits Rep. Matt Cartwright, a populist Democrat, against Jim Bognet, a Trump-endorsed Republican. The district is one of a small handful nationwide that voted for Donald Trump in 2020 while electing a Democrat to the House of Representatives; it’s now a test case for whether a progressive candidate can win over enough Trump voters to prevail in a swing district in 2022. One such Trump voter is John Petrizzo, a local restaurant owner who’s sup...
In their new book “Unchecked: The Untold Story Behind Congress's Botched Impeachments of Donald Trump,” reporters Karoun Demirjian and Rachael Bade lay out how Democrats put political self-preservation ahead of a genuine effort to hold President Donald Trump accountable for his abuses of power. The authors join Ryan Grim to discuss the missed opportunities and historical what-ifs of Trump's two impeachments. https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more...
The last two times a new president confronted his first midterm election, it turned out to be a wave year for the opposition party. 2022 is confounding that pattern, with Democrats slightly favored to hold the Senate and Republicans slightly favored to take the House. Journalists Jon Ralston and George Chidi join Ryan Grim to discuss two potentially pivotal states, Nevada and Georgia, where tight races for the Senate are underway. https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See aca...
“I want you all to know that among progressives, it has become clear that you cannot claim to hold progressive values yet back Israel’s apartheid government.” Those words, spoken by Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., at a Palestine Advocacy Day event, created a firestorm within the Democratic Party last month. When journalist Katie Halper decided to discuss the comments in one of her regular editorials for Hill TV’s “Rising,” she had no idea that she was about to ignite a firestorm of her own. Ryan Gr...
This Sunday, Brazilian voters head to the polls to decide between incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro and former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Earlier this week in Italy, Giorgia Meloni of the right-wing Brothers of Italy party won election as prime minister on an anti-immigration platform. Academic and translator Arthur Goldhammer joins Ryan Grim to discuss the Italian election. Then Grim is joined by Brazilian sociologist Sabrina Fernandes, who breaks down the election in her country. ht...
Last week, the White House released a proposed framework for the regulation of cryptocurrency. The document gives the green light to regulators to continue crafting rules around the industry, and even explores the creation of a “CBDC”: a central bank digital currency. Actor, writer, and crypto skeptic Ben McKenzie joins Ryan Grim to discuss the framework and the future (or lack thereof) of the crypto industry. https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See ac...
When Helena Andrews-Dyer joined a local mom group in her gentrifying Washington, D.C., neighborhood, she found that being one of the only Black mothers in the mix gave her a new outlook on race and motherhood. In her new book, “The Mamas,” she chronicles the socioeconomic and racial tensions lurking beneath the surface of her relationships with white liberal parents. https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
If Democrats can add a single seat in the Senate and hold their majority in the House in the midterm elections, they could actually write Roe v. Wade into law. Tom Bonier is a data analyst who dives deep on the shocking surge of women registering to vote in the wake of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision. Brandi Calvert is a Kansas real estate agent who became a key leader in the fight to defend abortion rights in Kansas. Ryan Grim talks to both about this new women's march...
January 6 committee hearings are expected to resume in September. This week’s guest, documentary filmmaker Alex Holder, was subpoenaed by the House select committee in June to hand over any raw footage his team filmed on January 6, 2021, and all interviews conducted during filmmaking of former President Donald Trump, his family members, and then-Vice President Mike Pence. Ryan Grim talks to Holder about his new docuseries, “Unprecedented,” on Discovery+ that follows Trump and his family campaign...
The Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the precedents set by Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which established the right to abortion in the U.S., has created a chaotic legal situation as conservative states rush to ban the procedure. On this week’s show, Vanessa A. Bee talks with Idaho physician Caitlin Gustafson, an advocate with Physicians for Reproductive Health, and University of Pittsburgh Law School professor Greer Donley about the future of abortion in red-stat...
Since it was founded 23 years ago, the Center for Economic and Policy Research has sought to challenge the right-wing consensus that often rules economic policymaking in Washington, D.C. CEPR co-founder Dean Baker joins Jon Schwarz to discuss his career, his thoughts on the Biden economy, and his ideas for the future. https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
By the time the Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency in response to monkeypox last week, there were already nearly 7,000 cases in the U.S. Microbiologist Joseph Osmundson joins The Intercept’s Maia Hibbett to discuss the failings of U.S. medical infrastructure in confronting this latest viral epidemic. They also discuss his book "Virology: Essays for the Living, the Dead, and the Small Things in Between," which uses queer theory to shed a novel light on our ...
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi< landed in Taiwan on Tuesday, ending speculation about whether she would visit the island during her tour of east Asia. Political reactions in the U.S. have been divided, particularly among progressives. Tobita Chow of Justice is Global and Matt Duss, foreign policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders, join Intercept reporter Mara Hvistendahl to discuss. https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
On Wednesday evening, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., put out a joint statement announcing the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The more than 700-page bill the two came to terms on includes $369 billion for “energy security and climate change.” If it passes, that substantial level of investment is projected to reduce carbon emissions in the U.S. by 2030 by 40 percent. “An initial review of the agreement indicates that this will mark a historic direct ...
This week’s hearing of the House Select Committee on the January 6, 2021, attack revealed embarrassing new details about President Donald Trump and his supporters, including footage of Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., fleeing the U.S. Capitol moments after encouraging the rioters. The hearings have undoubtedly been good TV, but what have they added to our substantive understanding of the legal questions surrounding Trump’s conduct? Washington Editor Nausicaa Renner talks with Intercept reporters Ken Kli...
A new collection of work by the late investigative reporter Robert Parry, titled “American Dispatches,” chronicles the late journalist’s career, from his origins as a student activist to his later reporting on corruption and wrongdoing at the highest heights of government. Parry’s son Nat, who edited the book, joins Jon Schwarz to discuss his father’s life and work. https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Former Missouri Senate candidate Jason Kander was in the middle of a promising run for mayor of Kansas City when he unexpectedly dropped out of the race to seek treatment for mental health problems he was experiencing as a consequence of his time in Afghanistan. In a new book, “Invisible Storm: A Soldier's Memoir of Politics and PTSD,” Kander explains how he finally realized that he needed help — and how that realization led him to a whole new life. https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hoste...
In Robert Kuttner’s new book, “Going Big: FDR’s Legacy, Biden’s New Deal, and the Struggle to Save Democracy,” he explains how we got to our present political inflection point, how high the stakes are, and what comes next. Kuttner — who co-founded the Economic Policy Institute as well as The American Prospect — joins Jon Schwarz to discuss. https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
After this week’s runoff elections in Colombia, former Bogotá Mayor Gustavo Petro is set to become the South American country’s first leftist president. Gimena Sánchez-Garzoli, director for the Andes at the Washington Office on Latin America, joins Ryan Grim to discuss what Petro’s election means and how it happened. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
In the Biden era, progressive groups in Washington have increasingly found themselves paralyzed by internal tumult at the very moment when their efforts are needed to push the more ambitious elements of the president’s agenda through Congress. Behind the scenes, the leaders of these groups express frustration with the organizational culture wrought by their younger employees and fear of becoming embroiled in a “callout” scandal. Ryan Grim talks with The Intercept’s Nausicaa Renner about his new ...
This week the select Committee to investigate the January 6th attack on the capitol began hearings. We thought this would be a good time to revisit the interviews we did after January 6th, 2021. First, Ryan spoke with photographer Jon Farina and reporter Matt Fuller, who were reporting from inside the Capitol that day. Then he spoke to Rep. Pramila Jayapal about her experiences during the attack. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
In her new book, “Dirt Road Revival: How to Rebuild Rural Politics and Why Our Future Depends On It,” Maine state Sen. Chloe Maxmin tackles one of the most pressing problems confronting the modern Democratic Party: how to reverse its decadeslong backslide in rural support. Maxmin and her co-author and campaign manager Canyon Woodward join Ryan Grim to discuss. https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
In March, the Commerce Department announced that it would be investigating Chinese solar firms suspected of illegally dumping low-cost panels onto the international market. Some of the same companies are also suspected of employing Uyghur forced labor in making their products. That announcement has gotten <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/05/11/1097644931/solar-panels-solar-power-u-s-investigates-china-trade-rules">pushback</a> from even President Joe Biden’s close allies, who worry ...
Progressive Democrats scored a number of high-profile wins in the Pennsylvania primaries this week. State Rep. Summer Lee seems poised to win her race in the blue-leaning 12th District and become the first Black woman to represent Pennsylvania in Congress; meanwhile, Izzy Smith-Wade-El, associated with the grassroots group Lancaster Stands Up in southern Pennsylvania, won his Democratic primary for a seat in the state legislature. Smith-Wade-El joins Ryan Grim to talk about what Pennsylvania’s a...
As their country’s economic crisis continues to spiral out of control, Afghans are finding themselves forced to resort to increasingly desperate measures just to get enough food for their families. The crisis is driven by the US refusal to release frozen Afghan central bank reserves , a measure that might restore some semblance of normalcy to the economy. Afghan journalist Masood Shnizai rejoins the podcast to discuss the situation in his country. https://join.theinte...
In the early days of the pandemic, the theory that Covid-19 may have originated in a virology lab was often dismissed as a xenophobic right-wing conspiracy theory. Over the intervening months and years, new information has cast a different light on the idea. Reporters Katherine Eban, Mara Hvistendahl, and Sharon Lerner join Ryan Grim to discuss the lab-leak theory. https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
