Donald Trump wasn’t the only election surprise of 2016. Three months before he won the presidency, the United Kingdom also shocked observers by voting to leave the European Union. Ever since, Brexit has dominated British politics. But while Americans may have to wait another eleven months to see Trump’s name back on the ballot, British elections arrive much faster (and of late, much more frequently). Britain may not be terribly enthusiastic about heading back to the polls, but the stakes couldn’...
Dec 05, 2019•34 min•Ep. 120
During an impeachment hearing this week, President Trump's former top Russia adviser accused Republicans of peddling Russian propaganda. Anne Applebaum is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and historian who will join The Atlantic as a staff writer in January. As one of the world’s leading experts on pre- and post-Communist Europe, disinformation and propaganda, and the future of democracy, she joins Isaac Dovere to discuss impeachment through a global lens. How did a conspiracy theory concocte...
Nov 22, 2019•40 min•Ep. 119
The special December issue of The Atlantic focuses on a single theme: “ How to Stop a Civil War .” Two contributors to the issue, Harvard professor Danielle Allen and staff writer Adam Serwer, join Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg to discuss their arguments in the magazine. Allen’s piece, “ The Road From Serfdom ,” asserts that unity must be made a priority again and offers prescriptive steps for how it can be achieved. In “ Against Reconciliation ,” Serwer argues that the nation’s pursuits of c...
Nov 14, 2019•41 min•Ep. 118
Senator Tim Kaine discusses Democrats' historic win in Virginia and what it means for 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 07, 2019•43 min•Ep. 117
Mayor Pete Buttigieg discusses his unlikely presidential run. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 31, 2019•32 min•Ep. 116
James Fallows spent decades covering national politics for The Atlantic . For the last four years though, he’s traveled the parts of America typically left out of the national conversation. And he comes back with good news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 24, 2019•38 min•Ep. 115
The fourth Democratic debate this week highlighted Elizabeth Warren’s new front-runner status. It also marked the return to public events for Bernie Sanders, who showcased his energy following a heart attack and touted a key new endorsement from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The two progressive candidates haven’t gone after each other thus far. How much longer will that last? And where does the race go from here? Joining Isaac Dovere this week is Elaine Godfrey, who reports on progressive politics f...
Oct 18, 2019•37 min•Ep. 114
Staff writer Mike Giglio has been reporting on ISIS since before Americans knew what to call it. He documents his five years in the region for a new book, Shatter the Nations: ISIS and the War for the Caliphate . He joins Isaac Dovere to discuss the abrupt changes happening in Syria. How did a phone call upend American policy towards its Kurdish allies? What’s happening on the ground now? And where will this new cycle of violence lead? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoic...
Oct 11, 2019•39 min•Ep. 113
As a CIA officer detailed to the White House, Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin is one of the few people to have done the same work as the whistle-blower. She joins Isaac Dovere to discuss that experience, how it led her to play a key role in starting the impeachment inquiry, and how she’s now explaining that decision of conscience to the pro-Trump district she represents. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Oct 03, 2019•36 min•Ep. 112
As impeachment news comes in by the minute, The Atlantic hosts its annual festival in our nation’s capital. Minnesota senator and presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar joins Isaac Dovere on stage for a live taping of Radio Atlantic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sep 26, 2019•44 min•Ep. 111
The Montana governor talks about his presidential campaign, his personal connection to the gun control debate, and why running his home state has uniquely prepared him to run a divided country. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sep 19, 2019•42 min•Ep. 110
Begun with a gold-rush brothel in the Yukon, the Trump empire has long been passed down through generations. Donald Trump inherited a business from his father, who inherited it from his father. Now following in those footsteps are Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump — all brought into the family business, whatever that happened to be at the moment. When it was real estate, they worked at the Trump Organization. When it became television, they were in the cast of The Apprentice . And wi...
Sep 12, 2019•31 min•Ep. 109
This week, Beto O'Rourke took a bus out of New York. Not a campaign bus, just a regular old bus. Isaac Dovere joined for the trip and they talked about how the presidential candidate has been changed by the recent mass shootings in West Texas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sep 06, 2019•43 min•Ep. 108
In December, Defense Secretary James Mattis resigned in protest after President Trump announced plans to withdraw troops from Syria. As the last "adult in the room" at the White House, critics worried his departure would loosen the president’s behavior even further. Days after the news broke though, Christmas and the government shutdown pushed Mattis’ resignation into the background. Now, nine months later, he’s beginning to speak publicly again. For the latest issue of the magazine, Editor-in-C...
Aug 29, 2019•36 min•Ep. 107
This week showed increasing signs that a recession could be on the horizon. Manufacturing is shrinking . Job growth is slowing . The markets are spooked — and now so is the president . But what exactly is happening? Annie Lowrey joins Isaac Dovere to make sense of the recession news. (What exactly is the yield curve and why does it matter?) They discuss what a downturn would do to the 2020 race. And they explore why many voters don’t feel economically secure despite record growth. This June mark...
Aug 23, 2019•43 min•Ep. 106
Andrew Yang joins Isaac Dovere on the trail in Iowa. Yang’s campaign started as a long-shot from a first-time politician, but he’s found a following. His message about the bleak future technology’s bringing to America (and his plan to give everyone $1000 a month) has led to an enormous online fandom — one that’s actually translating into poll numbers and dollars. Unlike many more traditional candidates, he’s already qualified for the next Democratic debates. So, what does his campaign say about ...
Aug 15, 2019•42 min•Ep. 105
On Wednesday, Senator Cory Booker gave a speech on gun violence and white nationalism at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, the same church that lost nine of its members to a white supremacist gunman four years ago. Following his speech, the presidential hopeful sat down with Isaac Dovere in the pastor's office to discuss his plans for ending gun violence in America and why he believes that "we can't let these conversations devolve into the impotent simplicity of who is or isn...
Aug 08, 2019•36 min•Ep. 104
While in Detroit covering the Democratic debates, Isaac Dovere sits down with Dana Nessel, Michigan’s new Democratic attorney general and the state’s first openly gay statewide officeholder. Last year, Nessel was part of an all-women executive slate that many said couldn’t win. But every single woman candidate did and Nessel now holds a job that Republican men had controlled for 16 years. What lessons does Nessel’s victory have for Democrats trying to retake Michigan and other crucial states in ...
Aug 01, 2019•32 min•Ep. 103
Seth Moulton, the Massachusetts congressman and presidential candidate, joins Isaac Dovere this week. Moulton shares his thoughts on Nancy Pelosi, ‘the squad,’ and the direction of the Democratic Party. Speaking soon after Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s hearings on Capitol Hill, Moulton gives his reaction as an early proponent of impeachment. And the decorated Marine veteran discusses his campaign’s focus on national security issues and why the current commander-in-chief is “putting American l...
Jul 26, 2019•36 min•Ep. 102
On Sunday, President Trump told four members of Congress to “go back” to the countries “from which they came.” Journalists have spent the week working through how to discuss what is a textbook racist statement aimed at four congresswomen who—besides all being American citizens—are all women of color. Newsrooms faced hard questions: Do you call the president a racist? How do you not call the president a racist? Do you give him the attention he wants, and how do you modulate that, contextualize it...
Jul 19, 2019•45 min•Ep. 101
This week, the British ambassador to the United States resigned after private cables leaked with his frank assessment of the White House and its occupant. Sir Kim Darroch described the administration as “clumsy” and "inept" and said President Trump "radiates insecurity." In response, the president called Darroch “wacky,” a “very stupid guy,” and a “pompous fool.” The episode is another in a long string of public feuds for Trump. But the departure of the ambassador from America's closest ally is ...
Jul 11, 2019•50 min•Ep. 100
Former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld has experience taking down a Republican president. He began his career in politics as one of the first lawyers hired to investigate Watergate for the House. Working alongside another low-level staffer named Hillary Clinton, his job was to define what constituted an impeachable offense for a president. Now, he’s one of the rare Republicans who thinks Donald Trump’s actions have met that definition. He’s called for the president to be impeached, and even to ...
Jun 27, 2019•36 min•Ep. 99
On Wednesday—for the first time in a decade—Congress held a hearing on reparations for slavery. It was a crystallizing moment for an issue that has gained prominence since Ta-Nehisi Coates’s 2014 Atlantic essay . Coates and others testified before a House committee on June 19th—Juneteenth—a day the nation celebrates emancipation from slavery. Every year, Atlantic staff writer Vann R. Newkirk II writes a Juneteenth essay . He joins Isaac Dovere to discuss the history of the holiday, the importanc...
Jun 21, 2019•35 min•Ep. 98
The 2020 race is on. Staff writer Edward-Isaac Dovere, who covers Democratic politics, was in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for the unofficial kick-off of the fight to replace Donald Trump. Elaina Plott, who covers the White House, will be in Orlando on Tuesday when the president officially announces his re-election campaign. On this week’s Radio Atlantic: two reporters inhabiting two very different universes discuss what the coming months have in store. Who does President Trump want to face? Who has the ...
Jun 13, 2019•38 min•Ep. 97
In the coming days, the Supreme Court will announce its decisions on two cases that ask the same basic question: how far should partisan politics go? One will determine whether a citizenship question will appear on the 2020 census. The other asks whether partisan gerrymandering is constitutional. With these decisions imminent, that same question about partisanship in non-partisan institutions hangs over the court itself. Still wounded by Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation battle, the nation’...
Jun 06, 2019•34 min•Ep. 96
Recent weeks have seen unprecedented anti-abortion bills pass in states across the country. In Alabama, abortion is now banned under state law, without any exceptions for rape or incest. Georgia, Ohio, and Kentucky have all passed so-called ‘heartbeat’ bills making abortion illegal six to eight weeks into pregnancy. On Wednesday, Louisiana's legislature passed its own heartbeat bill without any exceptions for rape or incest. In Missouri, abortion has been outlawed after eight weeks. And on Frida...
May 30, 2019•34 min•Ep. 95
Privacy is now the most important idea on the internet—so what exactly is it? And if we care about our privacy, why aren’t we willing to pay to keep it? This week’s Radio Atlantic is a preview of the new season of Crazy/Genius, The Atlantic’s podcast about technology and culture. Staff writer Derek Thompson joins Isaac Dovere to discuss Season 3, which kicks off with an episode about privacy . Subscribe to Crazy/Genius: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Play Learn more about your ad c...
May 23, 2019•36 min•Ep. 94
Trump isn’t like most Republican presidents, but his views on trade have been an unusually firm departure from his party. Despite long championing free trade, the GOP is now led by a man who seems deeply skeptical of it. Last week, he upended trade negotiations with China by levying tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods, carrying out a threat he’d issued just before a Chinese delegation visited the White House. On Monday, China retaliated with tariffs on $60 billion in U.S. goods. A trade war...
May 16, 2019•33 min•Ep. 93
Franklin Foer joins Isaac Dovere to discuss his story in the June issue of The Atlantic about Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Orbán described his vision of Hungary as an "alternative to liberal democracy ," and, in recent years, cemented his power by undermining civil society. When Orbán’s party won a majority last year , it rewrote parts of the constitution, redrew parliamentary districts, and stacked courts. Foer details how one of the last independent institutions—a university in Bu...
May 09, 2019•48 min•Ep. 92
Last weekend’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner was the first one in years without a comedian. In the Trump era, comedians have struggled to adjust — are things too serious? Too biased? Too absurd? Is any of it funny anymore? Jordan Klepper has been on three very different political comedy shows in three years. He was a fake news correspondent on The Daily Show , then a parody conspiracy theorist on The Opposition , to now playing himself in a new documentary series called simply: Klepper . He...
May 02, 2019•41 min•Ep. 91
