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The Chuck ToddCast

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The Chuck ToddCast is back! If you're looking for smart, no-nonsense political conversation, you've come to the right place. The Chuck ToddCast goes beyond the headlines, featuring conversations with top reporters, insiders, and newsmakers from D.C. to the heartland. No scripts, no spin—just real discussions about what’s shaping our politics and why it matters.
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Episodes

Full Episode - The Redistricting “Race To The Bottom” + Winning A Landmark Case Against Big Tech

Chuck Todd digs into the aftermath of the Virginia redistricting vote and finds plenty of blame to spread around — Democrats are gloating, Republicans are upset, and the whole episode confirms that partisan redistricting has become a race to the bottom with no one coming out clean. Henotes the "no" campaign in Virginia performed about as well as it realistically could, argues that not a single Republican had the guts to call out Texas's initial redistricting as wrong — meaning he has zero sympat...

Apr 23, 20262 hr 30 min

Chuck’s Commentary - The Redistricting “Race To The Bottom” + Is Tucker Carlson Really Dumping Trump?

Chuck Todd digs into the aftermath of the Virginia redistricting vote and finds plenty of blame to spread around — Democrats are gloating, Republicans are upset, and the whole episode confirms that partisan redistricting has become a race to the bottom with no one coming out clean. Henotes the "no" campaign in Virginia performed about as well as it realistically could, argues that not a single Republican had the guts to call out Texas's initial redistricting as wrong — meaning he has zero sympat...

Apr 23, 20261 hr 26 min

Interview Only w/ Mark Lanier & Rahul Ravipudi - Winning A Landmark Case Against Big Tech

Veteran trial lawyers Mark Lanier and Rahul Ravipudi — the legal team that just won a landmark bellwether verdict against Meta and YouTube — join the Chuck Toddcast to explain how civil litigation is doing more to rein in big tech than the federal government has managed in a decade. They walk through how they persuaded a jury that these platforms engaged in negligent and punitive conduct toward children, systematically dismantling the "it's on the parents" defense by showing that parents simply ...

Apr 23, 20261 hr 4 min

Full Episode - A Good Day For Team Blue, A Horrible Day For Team Red + The Political Climate Is Terrible For Republicans, But Can Democrats Take Advantage?

Chuck Todd unpacks a night of significant Democratic wins — starting with Virginia voters passing the controversial redistricting measure, a result that hands Democrats a meaningful victory but at what Chuck argues is a steep cost. He questions whether Democrats are trading their most valuable brand asset, being seen as "the rule followers," for a short-term partisan gain they may not need: if Democrats narrowly win the House majority thanks to redistricting, then the gamble worked — but indepen...

Apr 22, 20262 hr 28 min

Chuck’s Commentary - A Good Night For The Blue Team, A Horrible Night For The Red Team + Trump Backs Down On TACO Tuesday

Chuck Todd unpacks a night of significant Democratic wins — starting with Virginia voters passing the controversial redistricting measure, a result that hands Democrats a meaningful victory but at what Chuck argues is a steep cost. He questions whether Democrats are trading their most valuable brand asset, being seen as "the rule followers," for a short-term partisan gain they may not need: if Democrats narrowly win the House majority thanks to redistricting, then the gamble worked — but indepen...

Apr 22, 20261 hr 22 min

Interview Only w/ Doug Sosnik - The Political Climate Is Terrible For Republicans, But Can Democrats Take Advantage?

Doug Sosnik — the veteran Democratic strategist, former Clinton White House political director, and one of the sharpest big-picture thinkers in American politics — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a sweeping conversation about where the country is headed and whether either party is prepared to meet the moment. Sosnik argues that every election cycle has a defining event that sets the political weather, and for 2026 it's unambiguously the Iran war — but with early voting expanding the calendar, the w...

Apr 22, 20261 hr 9 min

Full Episode - Trump Is Desperate For A Deal… And Iran Knows It + Is The Supreme Court Truly “The Last Branch Standing”?

Chuck Todd surveys a dire geopolitical landscape where the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, fuel rationing has begun in many places around the globe, and the Trump administration is scrambling to extend a fragile ceasefire with Iran — sending JD Vance back to Pakistan for another round of talks, a move Chuck says signals genuine desperation to end a war that has become a generational foreign policy disaster. Heargues that Iran's control of the strait is now a greater deterrent than nuclear weapo...

Apr 20, 20262 hr 37 min

Interview Only w/ Sarah Isgur - Is The Supreme Court Truly “The Last Branch Standing”?

Sarah Isgur — legal commentator, former DOJ spokesperson, and author of Last Branch Standing — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a comprehensive deep dive into the Supreme Court that challenges virtually everything the public thinks it knows about how the institution actually works. Isgur argues that the court's politics don't map neatly onto the current left-right spectrum, and that the court isn't really 6-3 but rather 3-3-3 — with a bloc of doctrinaire conservatives, a liberal minority, and a prag...

Apr 20, 20261 hr 12 min

Chuck’s Commentary - Trump Is Desperate For A Deal… And Iran Knows It + The FBI’s Kash Patel Problem

Chuck Todd surveys a dire geopolitical landscape where the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, fuel rationing has begun in many places around the globe, and the Trump administration is scrambling to extend a fragile ceasefire with Iran — sending JD Vance back to Pakistan for another round of talks, a move Chuck says signals genuine desperation to end a war that has become a generational foreign policy disaster. Heargues that Iran's control of the strait is now a greater deterrent than nuclear weapo...

Apr 20, 20261 hr 27 min

Full Episode - Trump Is In A Political Hole… And Can’t Stop Digging + How To Be A Dissident

Chuck Todd argues the Trump administration is in the political equivalent of a hole and can't stop digging, walking through a series of self-inflicted wounds that are damaging America's standing both at home and abroad. He reveals the administration is circulating a "trade for aid" package at the UN that would essentially privatize humanitarian assistance, a pretense to drop all foreign aid since the private sector obviously won't fill the gaps without extracting something in return — and warns ...

Apr 16, 20262 hr 4 min

Interview Only w/ Gal Beckerman - How To Be A Dissident

Gal Beckerman — author of the new book How to Be a Dissident — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a timely conversation about what it actually takes to resist authoritarianism, written explicitly for an American audience that he argues is now experiencing something abnormal and authoritarian for the first time. Beckerman, drawing on his years of reporting on historical resistance movements, identifies the qualities that successful dissidents across cultures and eras tend to share: the ability to step ...

Apr 16, 20261 hr 5 min

Chuck’s Commentary - Trump Is In A Political Hole… And Can’t Stop Digging + The Backlash Against Bibi Netanyahu

Chuck Todd argues the Trump administration is in the political equivalent of a hole and can't stop digging, walking through a series of self-inflicted wounds that are damaging America's standing both at home and abroad. He reveals the administration is circulating a "trade for aid" package at the UN that would essentially privatize humanitarian assistance, a pretense to drop all foreign aid since the private sector obviously won't fill the gaps without extracting something in return — and warns ...

Apr 16, 20261 hr 3 min

Interview Only w/ Zach Wahls - Why Can Democrats Put Iowa Back On The Map

Zach Wahls — the Iowa state senator, former minority leader, and U.S. Senate candidate who first went viral as a 19-year-old in 2011 for his moving speech defending his two moms before the Iowa legislature — joins the Chuck Toddcast to make the case that Democrats have a real shot at flipping statewide races in Iowa this cycle. Wahls explains how he realized at 13 that the GOP was targeting his own family, how he still considers marriage equality to be genuinely under threat today, and pushes ba...

Apr 15, 20261 hr 6 min

Chuck’s Commentary - Big Beautiful Bust: Why Tax Day Isn’t A Win For Trump + What Lessons Can We Take From Orban’s Defeat In Hungary

Chuck Todd opens on Tax Day — which the Trump team had planned as a political celebration showcasing bigger refunds, but which has instead become what he dubs the "One Big Beautiful BUST," with any gains from the tax cut completely eaten up by Trump's tariffs and the Iran war. Todd argues the economy isn't in recession but isn't good either, that voters simply won't feel the effects of Trump's tax cut, and that America now faces the genuine prospect of 1970s-style stagflation. H predicts we'll u...

Apr 15, 20261 hr 10 min

Full Episode - Big Beautiful Bust: Why Tax Day Isn’t A Win For Trump + Why Can Democrats Put Iowa Back On The Map

Chuck Todd opens on Tax Day — which the Trump team had planned as a political celebration showcasing bigger refunds, but which has instead become what he dubs the "One Big Beautiful BUST," with any gains from the tax cut completely eaten up by Trump's tariffs and the Iran war. Todd argues the economy isn't in recession but isn't good either, that voters simply won't feel the effects of Trump's tax cut, and that America now faces the genuine prospect of 1970s-style stagflation. H predicts we'll u...

Apr 15, 20262 hr 12 min

Full Episode - Trump Has Two Options For Iran: Escalate… Or Capitulate + Does Georgia Reveal The Future Of Post-Trump Republican Politics?

Chuck Todd opens with the unraveling of Trump's Iran peace talks and the president's threat of a naval blockade, breaking down why the administration has far less leverage than it's letting on, why Iran's control of the Strait of Hormuz puts Trump in a corner with only two real choices—escalate or capitulate—and why markets have been dangerously complacent as the economic hit accelerates and consumer confidence sinks below COVID-era lows. From there, Chuck digs into the collapse of Eric Swalwell...

Apr 13, 20262 hr 41 min

Interview Only w/ Martha Zoller - Does Georgia Reveal The Future Of Post-Trump Republican Politics?

Conservative talk radio host and Georgia political commentator Martha Zoller joins the Chuck ToddCast for a wide-ranging conversation about the state of politics in the Peach State and beyond. Martha and Chuck dig into why non-MAGA Republicans remain viable in Georgia, how Trump's influence has reshaped the GOP (and arguably handed Democrats two Senate seats), David Perdue's identity crisis between the Trump and Romney wings of the party, and the current landscape of Georgia's gubernatorial and ...

Apr 13, 20261 hr 12 min

Chuck’s Commentary - Trump Has Two Options For Iran: Escalate… Or Capitulate + The End Of Eric Swalwell

Chuck Todd opens with the unraveling of Trump's Iran peace talks and the president's threat of a naval blockade, breaking down why the administration has far less leverage than it's letting on, why Iran's control of the Strait of Hormuz puts Trump in a corner with only two real choices—escalate or capitulate—and why markets have been dangerously complacent as the economic hit accelerates and consumer confidence sinks below COVID-era lows. From there, Chuck digs into the collapse of Eric Swalwell...

Apr 13, 20261 hr 32 min

Interview Only w/ Megan Kate Nelson - The American West You Didn’t Get In History Class

Pulitzer Prize finalist and historian Megan Kate Nelson — author of the new book The Westerners: Mythmaking and Belonging on the American Frontier — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a fascinating conversation about how the story of the American West we all grew up with is largely a myth, and what the real history reveals about who actually built the country. Nelson explains that the dominant narrative was essentially invented by historian Frederick Jackson Turner in 1893, who argued the American cre...

Apr 09, 20261 hr 8 min

Full Episode - Republicans Warned Trump Would Be A Disaster… They Were Right + The American West You Didn’t Get In History Class

Chuck Todd unleashes a fierce indictment of Trump's Iran war, walking through a series of devastating prophetic quotes from Trump's own 2016 Republican rivals, now supporters — Lindsey Graham calling his foreign policy "gibberish," Marco Rubio warning that turning the nuclear codes over to an erratic individual "wouldn't end well," Ted Cruz suggesting Trump could "nuke Denmark," and Nikki Haley raising alarms about his "irresponsible behavior" — all of which now look less like campaign rhetoric ...

Apr 09, 20262 hr 17 min

Chuck’s Commentary- Republicans Warned Trump Would Be A Disaster… They Were Right + Democrats Massively Overperform AGAIN

Chuck Todd unleashes a fierce indictment of Trump's Iran war, walking through a series of devastating prophetic quotes from Trump's own 2016 Republican rivals, now supporters — Lindsey Graham calling his foreign policy "gibberish," Marco Rubio warning that turning the nuclear codes over to an erratic individual "wouldn't end well," Ted Cruz suggesting Trump could "nuke Denmark," and Nikki Haley raising alarms about his "irresponsible behavior" — all of which now look less like campaign rhetoric ...

Apr 09, 20261 hr 12 min

Interview Only w/ Lauren Gustus - How The Salt Lake Tribune Reinvented Itself & Local News

Lauren Gustus — executive editor of The Salt Lake Tribune — joins the Chuck Toddcast ahead of Local News Day on April 9th to discuss how a legacy daily newspaper completely reimagined itself as a nonprofit and is now taking its paywall down entirely in May, betting that free access and a members-based support model is the path to long-term sustainability. Gustus walks through the Tribune's fascinating history: the newspaper once had a 50-person desk dedicated just to youth sports, was heavily su...

Apr 08, 202658 min

Full Episode - Trump Looks For Off-Ramp After Threatening War Crimes + How The Salt Lake Tribune Reinvented Itself & Local News

Chuck Todd predicts Trump will look for an offramp after his shocking "civilization will die" threat, noting that even in an era where people are numb to Trump's rhetoric, this particular statement genuinely rattled supporters and critics alike — yet only two elected Republicans have expressed even mild discomfort, which he calls unacceptable when a sitting president is openly threatening a war crime and behaving, in his words, like a terrorist thug. He then unpacks a blockbuster New York Times ...

Apr 08, 20262 hr 21 min

Chuck’s Commentary - Trump Looks For Off-Ramp After Threatening War Crimes + Trump’s Inner Circle Disowns Iran War

Chuck Todd predicts Trump will look for an offramp after his shocking "civilization will die" threat, noting that even in an era where people are numb to Trump's rhetoric, this particular statement genuinely rattled supporters and critics alike — yet only two elected Republicans have expressed even mild discomfort, which he calls unacceptable when a sitting president is openly threatening a war crime and behaving, in his words, like a terrorist thug. He then unpacks a blockbuster New York Times ...

Apr 08, 20261 hr 28 min

Special Episode - Trump Threatens Civilizational Destruction Of Iran…Is He Serious???

On this special episode of the ToddCast, Chuck Todd delivers a chilling monologue in response to Trump's Truth Social post warning that "a civilization will die" — a phrase Chuck asks listeners to sit with, because a sitting American president is now openly threatening the annihilation of an entire civilization and getting almost no pushback for it. He notes the ominous context: Defense Secretary Hegseth has purged the top ranks of the military, potentially clearing the way for orders that caree...

Apr 07, 202615 min

Dynastic - Chuck Todd & J.A. Adande interview legendary Dodgers announcer Jaime Jarrin

In this special edition of "Dynastic", legendary Dodgers announcer Jaime Jarrin joins Chuck Todd and J.A. Adande to discuss his favorite games, the rise of FernandoMania, his relationship with Vin Scully, and the controversial move from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. Please FOLLOW for upcoming episodes. Follow the show on our social accounts: https://www.twitter.com/dynasticpod/ https://www.instagram.com/dynasticpod/ https://www.facebook.com/DynasticPod https://www.tiktok.com/@dynastic.pod See omnystu...

Apr 07, 20261 hr 31 min

Chuck’s Commentary - A Daring Rescue Can’t Distract From Disastrous Iran War + Trump’s Profanity Laced Easter Morning Message

Chuck Todd opens with the harrowing story of two F-15 operators who went missing over Iran and had to be extracted by U.S. Special Forces — a dramatic rescue the administration is now using to obscure the larger failures of a war that is clearly not going well, starting with the fact that Defense Secretary Hegseth's description of "uncontested airspace" was demonstrably false and raises the most important question nobody in the Pentagon wants to answer: why did we need a rescue mission in the fi...

Apr 06, 20261 hr 21 min

Interview Only w/ Mike Pesca - The Structural Reforms American Democracy Desperately Needs

Mike Pesca — the veteran journalist, podcaster, and host of The Gist — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a wide-ranging conversation that covers everything from the structural reforms American democracy desperately needs to why the NBA regular season is unwatchable. They dig into the emergence of the "never Trump media" ecosystem and argue that both parties have become fundamentally reactionary, with internal debates in each reduced to full resistance versus compromise. They make the case that partis...

Apr 06, 20261 hr 9 min

Full Episode - A Daring Rescue Can’t Distract From Disastrous Iran War + Trump’s Profanity Laced Easter Morning Message

Chuck Todd opens with the harrowing story of two F-15 operators who went missing over Iran and had to be extracted by U.S. Special Forces — a dramatic rescue the administration is now using to obscure the larger failures of a war that is clearly not going well, starting with the fact that Defense Secretary Hegseth's description of "uncontested airspace" was demonstrably false and raises the most important question nobody in the Pentagon wants to answer: why did we need a rescue mission in the fi...

Apr 06, 20262 hr 28 min

Chuck’s Commentary - Trump Fires Pam Bondi, What Comes Next Will Be Worse + Trump Has NO Good Options In Iran

Chuck Todd reacts to the breaking news that Trump has fired Attorney General Pam Bondi — the second Cabinet member ousted in a month after Kristi Noem — and warns that what should alarm Americans isn't Bondi's departure but what comes next. He explains that like Jeff Sessions before her, Bondi apparently had lines she wouldn't cross: Trump grew frustrated that she hadn't prosecuted enough of his political enemies and was dissatisfied with her handling of the Epstein files. He traces Bondi's comp...

Apr 03, 20261 hr 6 min
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