The founder of Moms Demand Action talks about how she created one of the most successful gun control groups in the country—and where they go from here. Shannon Watts has a bodyguard who travels with her. He doesn’t carry a gun—his job is to scope out the local hospitals and know which one to rush her to if she gets shot. That’s been life for the mother of five since late 2012, when she founded Moms Demand Action, an organization that advocates for stricter regulation of guns. Watts says the thre...
Aug 07, 2018•51 min•Ep. 150
This week, an encore presentation of an interview we first brought you earlier this year. John Dean was the star witness of the Watergate investigation — the counsel to President Richard Nixon who famously flipped and became the prosecution’s star witness in the process that helped take down the president. The Russia scandal is far from over, said Dean, but Trump has advantages that Nixon didn’t. “There’s social media, there’s the internet; the news cycles are faster. I think Watergate would hav...
Jul 31, 2018•43 min•Ep. 149
Marty Walsh is a college drop-out and recovering alcoholic who grew up in a union household and worked his way up through organized labor and local politics. In many ways, he fits the profile of the kind of white working-class man who put Donald Trump in the White House. He also happens to be the Democratic mayor of Boston, and he has a bracing assessment of the blue-collar white voters backing Trump: They “forgot where they came from.” Walsh says it bothers him how many of the people he grew up...
Jul 24, 2018•46 min•Ep. 148
Francis Suarez believes he may be the first Miami-born mayor of Miami. He also has a front-row seat to his swing state's senate and gubernatorial races. He didn't vote for Trump, but Mar-a-Lago isn't far. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 17, 2018•40 min•Ep. 147
How does Mike Pence keep his boss happy? By staying out of the spotlight, for starters, says journalist Kate Andersen Brower, whose new book looks at the relationships between presidents and their vice presidents. She describes the Trump-Pence dynamic, and sizes up how Pence compares to his predecessor in the job, Joe Biden. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 10, 2018•38 min•Ep. 146
Tom Arnold talks about his hunt for Trump tapes, his selfie with Michael Cohen, and the mad coincidences that have injected him into a handful of political scandals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 03, 2018•50 min•Ep. 145
Congressman Seth Moulton is amassing an army of service-oriented Democratic candidates. His goal isn’t simply to defeat Trump; it’s to change politics — and maybe form his own national campaign in the process. He joins us to talk about military service, Donald Trump, 2020, and how he's hoping the Democratic Party will change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 26, 2018•53 min•Ep. 144
The New York senator has a different word for the family separation policy which the attorney general and White House press secretary call “Biblical.” Her word is “evil.” In the Biblical sense. Referencing the “devil’s schemes” from the Book of Ephesians, the New York senator said President Donald Trump’s administration qualifies for that label “if you were talking in Christian language.” “To me? Yes, these are all things that come from the darkness that are ripping children from their mothers’ ...
Jun 19, 2018•50 min•Ep. 143
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan was the first Obama appointee to win a major election after his presidency. She's part of a network of Obama administration officials that want his presidency to mark the start of a new progressive era — and in order to make it a reality, they’re focused on defeating Trump, not simply by opposing him, but by out-organizing him. “‘Resist’ is too passive,” said Durkan. “We’ve got to focus and build a progress and a movement going forward,” “We saw the immense amount of p...
Jun 12, 2018•39 min•Ep. 142
For Congressman John Delaney, the 2020 campaign is already underway. The money is there. So is the commitment. And people in are starting to pay attention. The little-known Maryland congressman thinks that’s part of what will transform a presidential run that pretty much no one takes seriously into the next Jimmy Carter-style, out-of-nowhere explosion onto the presidential debate stage. Delaney, who made his fortune founding two commercial lending companies, has already spent $1 million out of h...
Jun 05, 2018•40 min•Ep. 141
The billionaire California activist says Democratic leaders who don’t take up the cause aren't just writing off millions of potential voters, they are like those who told civil rights activists to be patient in the 1960s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 29, 2018•46 min•Ep. 140
Former President Jimmy Carter joins us to talk about the lack of moral leadership in the White House, faith, and what it would take for Donald Trump to win the Nobel Peace Prize. We spoke to Carter at Liberty University shortly ahead of his delivery of the keynote speech at the school's commencement ceremonies. Though he and Jerry Falwell make an unlikely pair due to their very different politics (Falwell is a conservative Republican, Carter is a proud Democrat), Carter's deep and abiding Christ...
May 22, 2018•21 min•Ep. 139
Trump has lived his whole life in the city. So why does he have such an adversarial relationship with mayors? Mayor Steve Benjamin, the head of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, joins us to discuss what cities are doing next in their battles with the Trump administration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 15, 2018•42 min•Ep. 138
The “Late Night” host talks about President Trump, the White House Correspondents Dinner, and the time Trump sent Michael Cohen to negotiate a mea culpa from the comedian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 08, 2018•42 min•Ep. 137
The host of MSNBC's "Hardball" and sharp observer of politics talks about 2020, what Trump understands about white ethnic politics and what you don't understand about cable news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 01, 2018•52 min•Ep. 136
Michael Tubbs is the 27-year-old leader of one of California’s biggest cities. And he’s using that position to try out some truly radical policy ideas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 24, 2018•42 min•Ep. 135
Jennifer Rubin has become a leading voice for conservative intellectuals who don’t fit comfortably in either political party—and sees the party she left behind as ‘immoral’ and ‘anti-American.’ “Republicans have permanently eliminated themselves from credibility to govern,” says Rubin, who writes the Washington Post's "Right Turn" blog. “You can’t be willing to sacrifice core American values for the sake of a tax cut and be deemed to be worthy of trust going forward.” Learn more about your ad ch...
Apr 17, 2018•44 min•Ep. 134
Frustrated by Congress’s response to Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló is preparing to drop a ‘hammer’ in targeted states in 2018. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 10, 2018•38 min•Ep. 133
Rep. Matt Gaetz has emerged as Trump’s apprentice in Congress, receiving late-night phone calls from the president after his TV appearances defending him. He thinks the time has come for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to unrecuse himself, call up special counsel Bob Mueller and maybe even shut down Mueller's investigation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 03, 2018•42 min•Ep. 132
The 36-year-old South Bend mayor is an Afghanistan veteran, Rhodes Scholar, out gay man and plain-spoken Midwesterner. He also has a PAC spending money in Iowa, is staffing up with presidential campaign vets and quietly building key relationships ahead of 2020. Could he be the next president? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 27, 2018•53 min•Ep. 131
The Texas congressman talks about his campaign to oust Ted Cruz, the lyrics he wrote in his old punk band, and the ways he wishes he was more like his dad. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 20, 2018•55 min•Ep. 130
Live from SXSW, Arnold Schwarzenegger joins Isaac Dovere for a wide-ranging conversation on politics, the environment — and even the upcoming "Terminator" movie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 12, 2018•58 min•Ep. 129
Jay Inslee, the governor of Washington and head of the Democratic Governors Association, wants gubernatorial races to become a battlefield for the anti-Trump resistance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 06, 2018•41 min•Ep. 128
Retired General and former CIA Director Michael Hayden sees a "convergence" between the Trump campaign and Russia. He's ‘very concerned’ about it—and thinks you should be, too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 27, 2018•42 min•Ep. 127
Utah Governor Gary Herbert explains why he doesn't mind Romney's flip-flop on taking Trump's endorsement, the gun law changes he'd like to see, and why Utah is chasing another shot at hosting the Olympics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 24, 2018•30 min
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy talks about gun violence, what he has in common with Donald Trump, and his time working as a textbook salesman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 20, 2018•42 min•Ep. 125
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on the political rise of black women, what it would take for Democrats to win Georgia in 2020, and how it feels to visit your father in prison while you're just a child. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 13, 2018•37 min•Ep. 124
Rep. Joe Kennedy III sits down to talk about why Democrats need a big, messy primary in 2020, the reason he thinks Joe Biden would've defeated Trump, his time as Elizabeth Warren's student at Harvard Law, and what it's like to learn about your family members in history class. Last week, Kennedy gave the Democratic response to President Trump's State of the Union speech. The rebuttal heralded Kennedy's arrival in the national conversation at a time when Democrats are desperate to find the right m...
Feb 06, 2018•39 min•Ep. 123
Congressman Steve Stivers heads up the National Republican Congressional Committee, the House GOP's campaign arm. And that means that, among other things, he's faced with figuring out where—and how—President Trump can be helpful to Republican candidates. Here, he sits down with Isaac to talk about whether he'd send the president to campaign in a swing seat, how he convinces incumbents to run for reelection, and whether President Trump makes him proud to be a Republican. Learn more about your ad ...
Jan 30, 2018•45 min•Ep. 122
Tony Perkins, the head of the Family Research Council, says that evangelical conservatives are willing to overlook Trump’s past behavior—even his alleged affair with porn actress Stormy Daniels—so long as he delivers for them on policy. “I think they are finally glad that there’s somebody on the playground that is willing to punch the bully,” Perkins tells us. What happened to turning the other cheek? “You know, you only have two cheeks,” Perkins says. “Christianity is not all about being a welc...
Jan 23, 2018•46 min•Ep. 121
