After four tumultuous years of the Trump presidency, President Joe Biden promised to put the chaos behind him and return the country to normalcy. While dysfunction and partisan gridlock in Washington were amplified during Trump’s tenure, it existed long before he arrived. Even so, it’s clear that the political divide has become deeper and democracy is more vulnerable than ever. On the final episode of Politics with Amy Walter, Astead Herndon , national political reporter for The New York Times, ...
Feb 26, 2021•55 min•Ep. 147
Over the past 25 years, the makeup of newsrooms—and the people covering politics—has changed significantly. As more women and people of color joined the media, newsrooms began to reflect the diversity of America. While newsrooms today are still overwhelmingly white, the lens through which we view politics has evolved largely due to the diversity of opinions. But there's still a long way to go. Amy Walter spoke with Errin Haines , co-founder and editor-at-large for the 19th*, Toluse Olorunnipa , ...
Feb 19, 2021•55 min•Ep. 146
March will mark one year since students began learning from home. Today, about half the students in the United States are still learning remotely. While Zoom classrooms filled the gap at the beginning of the pandemic, it’s not a sustainable measure. Many parents have grown exasperated trying to help their kids through online classes as their children deal with the lack of socialization and in-person interaction. Others fear that sending their child back to school could compromise the health and ...
Feb 12, 2021•47 min•Ep. 145
According to a recent Marist/NPR/PBS NewsHour poll , the proportion of Americans who think the nation is on track is at its lowest point in twenty years. A mob descended on the U.S. Capitol in a literal attempt to overthrow an election. And, thousands of Americans took to the streets this summer to protest longstanding police violence against Black and brown Americans. But, skepticism of the government didn’t start with President Trump’s attacks on the Deep State or his claims of voter fraud. Di...
Feb 05, 2021•49 min•Ep. 144
President Biden’s campaign message of unity is being tested in Washington during his first full week in office, particularly because Republicans and Democrats don’t seem to agree on what unity means. The scars from the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol are still fresh, a second impeachment trial is looming in the Senate, and Republicans and Democrats are seemingly miles apart from agreeing on a new COVID-19 aid package. Meanwhile, disharmony is evident among members of the GOP as Republican...
Jan 29, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 143
Joe Biden takes the helm as the 46th president of the United States during an unprecedented crisis. The coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 400,000 Americans, nearly 16 million remain unemployed, and the peaceful transfer of power was disrupted by a violent mob unleashed by the former president. Unity was the centerpiece of President Biden’s inaugural address, but he also acknowledged that unity cannot be achieved without addressing the division and anger that defined the last four years. ...
Jan 22, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 142
President Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives just one week after encouraging his supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol and disrupt Congress as they tallied Joe Biden’s Electoral College win. He is the first president to be impeached twice. Privately, many Republican members said that while they supported impeachment, they were worried about their physical safety and the political fallout from denouncing a president who remains popular among the base. Only ten Republicans joined ...
Jan 15, 2021•53 min•Ep. 141
This week, a violent mob of President Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. The insurrectionists were seeking to overturn the results of the general election during a joint session of Congress as members tallied the Electoral College votes. President Trump has routinely and falsely claimed that the presidential election was rigged and encouraged his supporters to reject the result. As Donald Trump prepares to leave the White House, politicians that will remain in Washington will have to c...
Jan 08, 2021•55 min•Ep. 140
Individual reactions to the coronavirus pandemic and the public health restrictions that have accompanied it have underscored how powerful negative partisanship can be in the formation of political opinions. In past crises, national shocks have urged partisans to put aside their personal grievances in pursuit of the greater good, but today, that doesn't seem to be the case. Jonathan Haidt , psychologist and professor of ethical leadership at New York University’s Stern School of Business, shares...
Dec 25, 2020•48 min•Ep. 139
Since Georgia flipped blue for President-elect Joe Biden, the gulf between the Old South and the New South has come into focus. Come January, the state’s closely watched runoff elections will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate. In one race, Republican Senator David Perdue will face Democrat Jon Ossoff. In the other race, Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler, who was appointed to her seat last year by Governor Brian Kemp, faces Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock, the senior pastor at Ebenezer...
Dec 21, 2020•21 min•Ep. 138
Cliff Bentz was elected to represent Oregon's 2nd Congressional District this fall. He will fill the seat left open by retiring Congressman Greg Walden who served the district for more than 20 years. Oregon's 2nd encompasses a wide swath of eastern Oregon covering about 70,000 square miles it ranks among the largest congressional districts in the nation. Here Representative-Elect Bentz talks with host Amy Walter about climate change, how COVID-19 has affected the people of his district, and what...
Dec 19, 2020•13 min•Ep. 137
During the 2016 election, President Trump spent a considerable amount of time talking about immigration. On the campaign trail, he made racist comments about Mexicans and one of his first acts in office was to institute a Muslim ban. During the 2018 midterms, he directed his attention to migrant caravans headed towards the U.S. border in the hopes that the issue would animate his base ahead of Election Day. The child separation policy instituted by the Trump administration is among the crueler p...
Dec 18, 2020•36 min•Ep. 136
Nicole Malliotakis is one of a record number of Republican women who were elected to Congress this fall. She defeated first-term Democratic Congressman Max Rose in New York’s 11th Congressional District, which includes Staten Island and parts of South Brooklyn. In recent weeks, Staten Island has seen an increase in the number of COVID-19 infections and the COVID-19 death rate is now higher there than any other borough in New York City. Here Representative-elect Malliotakis speaks with Politics h...
Dec 13, 2020•17 min•Ep. 135
This week marked the so-called safe harbor deadline when states have certified their results for the U.S. presidential election. Typically, by the safe harbor deadline, election-related challenges at the state level are wrapped up. But, President Trump is continuing to claim - without proof - that the results in many of the states that voted for Joe Biden are fraudulent and should be tossed out. So, how can the election be both certified - and contested? Helping us to make sense of it all is our...
Dec 12, 2020•21 min•Ep. 134
In the nine months that the coronavirus pandemic has ravaged the U.S., the most vulnerable Americans have struggled to keep up with monthly expenses. Eight million Americans have fallen into poverty since May and today there are 10 million fewer employed people than there were before the pandemic. By quickly passing the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, Congress was able to stave off some of the initial impacts of the virus. Americans received one-time cash payments, businesses were offered a lifeline, a...
Dec 11, 2020•51 min•Ep. 133
President Donald Trump spent his first term undermining the credibility of the media. His tweets, campaign events, and press conferences were tools he used to cast doubt on the legitimacy of reputable news organizations while promoting unfounded lies and conspiracy theories that served his personal agenda. As President Trump prepares to leave office, members of the White House press pool have turned their gaze to President-elect Joe Biden. Due to the virtual nature of campaigning in 2020, Biden ...
Dec 05, 2020•21 min•Ep. 131
New York's 15th congressional district in the South Bronx has been called the poorest and bluest congressional district in America. Ritchie Torres, who served for seven years on the New York City Council announced his candidacy for the seat, left open by retiring Congressman José Serrano, in July 2019. He was one of a dozen in the primary field but came out on top with just over 32% of the vote all but assuring his success in November. Torres will make history as the first openly gay Afro-Latino...
Dec 05, 2020•15 min•Ep. 132
President Donald Trump spent his first term undermining the credibility of the media. His tweets, campaign events, and press conferences were tools he used to cast doubt on the legitimacy of reputable news organizations while promoting unfounded lies and conspiracy theories that served his personal agenda. As President Trump prepares to leave office, members of the White House press pool have turned their gaze to President-elect Joe Biden. Due to the virtual nature of campaigning in 2020, Biden ...
Dec 04, 2020•50 min•Ep. 130
As around 70 percent of Americans consider themselves to be middle class, it’s no surprise that Democrat and Republican candidates spend a considerable amount of time on the campaign trail attempting to make themselves more appealing to this bloc of voters. One of the most enduring tales Americans tell about themselves is that America is the land of great economic opportunity and that anyone who wants it can make it into the middle class. But the path to the middle class has become tougher to na...
Nov 27, 2020•25 min•Ep. 129
The priority for many Democratic voters in the most recent election cycle was removing President Donald Trump from the White House. This was clear after a crowded primary field coalesced around Joe Biden. But the world is a different place than it was in March and because the election cycle was dominated by the ongoing pandemic and economic crisis, it was difficult for other issues to gain traction. But for younger voters, environmental justice and climate policy are a top priority. Climate chan...
Nov 20, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 127
Republican Congresswoman-elect Ashley Hinson is one of a record-breaking number of Republican women who’ve been elected to Congress this year. Prior to becoming a congresswoman, she was a state representative and a news and television reporter. Hinson will replace Representative Abby Finkenauer, who flipped the seat from red to blue in 2018. Hinson, who ran on a message of bipartisanship, spoke with host Amy Walter on Monday while she was participating in virtual freshmen orientation and isolati...
Nov 20, 2020•10 min•Ep. 128
By refusing to concede, President Trump is not only disrupting the peaceful transfer of power, a cornerstone of American democracy, but he’s delaying the Biden administration access to pertinent information. The formal transition process we know today came to exist after the 9/11 Commission Report found that the delay in installing President George W. Bush hurt his administration. Kathryn Dunn Tenpas , a senior fellow at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center and senior research director at ...
Nov 13, 2020•59 min•Ep. 126
All week, election results have trickled in from across the country. With just a few states outstanding, Vice President Joe Biden has surpassed the 270 threshold of electoral votes to win the race for the presidency. Maya King , politics reporter at Politico, and Joel Payne , Democratic strategist and host of "Here Comes the Payne," weigh in on what a Biden win means and how political dynamics in Congress could shift....
Nov 07, 2020•14 min•Ep. 125
Not immediately knowing which candidate won the White House has long been a reality of a world changed by COVID-19. What campaigns, pundits, and pollsters failed to predict was the distance that would separate the results from the expectations. Tim Alberta , chief political correspondent at Politico, Sahil Kapur , national political reporter for NBC News, and Clare Malone , senior politics writer at FiveThirtyEight, analyze the incomplete election results and what Congress could look like when t...
Nov 06, 2020•53 min•Ep. 124
The ongoing campaign cycle was met by a number of twists that couldn’t have been predicted. A consequential presidential race, the pandemic, an economic downturn, and the killing of George Floyd by police. As the election cycle comes to an end, Heather Long , Economics Correspondent at The Washington Post, Maya King , Politics Reporter at Politico and Clare Malone , Senior Politics Writer at FiveThirtyEight analyze the last year of politics and dissect what it could mean for Tuesday’s outcome. A...
Oct 30, 2020•52 min•Ep. 123
This week marked the second and final debate between Joe Biden and President Donald Trump. What has felt like a never-ending election cycle is taking place against the backdrop of a pandemic, an economic crisis, and a groundswell for racial justice and police reform. With less than two weeks until Election Day, Joel Payne , Democratic strategist and Host of Here Comes the Payne, and Patrick Ruffini , Republican Party pollster and political strategist reflect on the rest of the race. It’s been si...
Oct 23, 2020•48 min•Ep. 122
After the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on September 18th and nomination of Amy Coney Barrett just a week later on September 26th, there’s been a lot of speculation about the political implications of a Supreme Court fight just days before Election Day. Democrats have seen a boon in fundraising with Jaime Harrison, the Democrat running against Republican Judiciary Chair Lindsey Graham, pulling in millions in the days after Ginsburg’s death. Graham himself, as well as several...
Oct 16, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 121
There are just over three weeks until Election Day and President Donald Trump is trailing Joe Biden in national polls by double digits. Sidelined with COVID-19 and unable to participate in traditional campaign events, the president has taken to Twitter, cable TV, and homemade videos to pitch voters on promises to deliver everything from free coronavirus drug cocktails to stimulus checks. Amidst the political theatre, more than six million voters have cast their ballots. Laura Barrón-López , nati...
Oct 09, 2020•56 min•Ep. 120
On Friday morning, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump said they had tested positive for the coronavirus. More than seven million people in the United States have been infected with the coronavirus and more than 200,000 have died as a result. With about a month to go before the election, this news could upend a cycle that has already been buffeted by major events on an almost weekly basis. White House Reporter for The Washington Post Toluse Olorunnipa describes what this could me...
Oct 02, 2020•51 min•Ep. 119
On Saturday, President Trump nominated 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat. If confirmed, conservative Judge Barrett would become the youngest member serving on the court. Senate Republicans will scramble to confirm Judge Barrett ahead of Election Day, while Democrats argue that Judge Barrett's nomination could hurt the Affordable Care Act and Roe v. Wade. The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to start hearings on October 12, ...
Sep 27, 2020•17 min•Ep. 118
