The Democratic and Republican conventions are finally over but most of the major credible pollsters are waiting for the dust to settle before tracking public opinion of both presidential candidates. The critical message pushed by the RNC this week was that Trump kept the promises he made to voters, but is that a real policy agenda moving into his second term? Is Biden’s “nice guy,” “Build Back Better” strategy winning over wobbly Republican voters? Do conventions even affect voters’ perceptions ...
Aug 29, 2020•49 min•Ep. 50
Widespread destruction of businesses and private property has devastated Kenosha, Wisconsin, in the wake of the police shooting of a Jacob Blake last week. As we explained in today’s Morning Dispatch , “Blake was airlifted to a hospital, underwent surgery, and is still alive, but reportedly paralyzed from the waist down.” The details leading up to Blake’s shooting are still murky, but protests, riots, and looting have ravaged the city for days in response. “Suppressing civil unrest is one of the...
Aug 26, 2020•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 49
When Politico reported on Republican congressional candidate Marjorie Greene’s racist and bigoted comments in June, several top GOP officials—including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy—condemned her campaign. But after she beat her Republican opponent Dr. John Cowan in Tuesday’s primary race, McCarthy immediately switched gears. A spokesman for McCarthy’s office told Declan that the GOP leader “looks forward” to her win this November. Why on Earth is the House minority leader welcoming a racist co...
Aug 14, 2020•53 min•Ep. 48
On Tuesday, Joe Biden tapped Kamala Harris as his running mate. But let’s be honest—we all saw this coming. As we wrote in The Morning Dispatch today, “D.C. conventional wisdom had Sen. Kamala Harris pegged as Joe Biden’s likeliest choice for months.” Despite Harris’ numerous attacks on Biden over his busing record and relationship with segregationist senators —not to mention her dicey criminal record as a prosecutor in California—she checks a lot of boxes. She’s a senator in one of the country’...
Aug 13, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 47
Last week, President Trump experienced one of the most challenging interviews of his presidency when he sat down with Jonathan Swan from Axios . Swan asked some tough follow-up questions, and Trump’s responses demonstrated that he is not used to this level of pushback. What’s more, the interview highlighted the fact that the White House’s media strategy revolves around reassuring the president rather than getting the facts straight. The gang breaks down the interview and Trump’s answers on the l...
Aug 05, 2020•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 46
As our colleague Jonah Goldberg always says, the parties have never been weaker than they are right now. Democratic political strategist Joe Trippi joins Sarah and Steve today on The Dispatch Podcast to discuss how parties no longer have the power to push out irrelevant, personality driven candidates from the establishment. According to Trippi, this phenomenon is here to stay: “You’re going to have 20 or 30 people in both parties running from now on,” he tells Steve and Sarah. Political outsider...
Jul 31, 2020•57 min•Ep. 45
This morning, Trump told Jonathan Swan from Axios that he has never confronted Vladimir Putin about Russian bounties that were paid to the Taliban to kill American troops, partly because the president doesn’t believe it happened in the first place. But we know from several credible intelligence reports that the president was briefed on the Russian bounties months ago. On today’s episode, Steve reminds us, “It’s been weeks since this was first reported, it’s been months since this was first brief...
Jul 29, 2020•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 44
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan had some blunt criticism for the incumbent president of his own political party on the latest Dispatch Podcast , and all but ruled out supporting Donald Trump in November. “This week the president said he was going to cut funding for testing,” said Hogan, in conversation with Sarah Isgur and Steve Hayes. “That was one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard.” Hogan continued: “My biggest criticism was at the beginning the president didn’t take it seriously enough, and was...
Jul 24, 2020•31 min•Ep. 43
During Tuesday’s press briefing, a reporter asked the president about Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite and confidante of Jeffrey Epstein who is facing charges for grooming and sexually abusing minors. When pressed on whether Maxwell will turn in other powerful people, the president said, “I just wish her well, frankly.” This took many by surprise, but as Steve reminds us in today’s episode, “it’s not as if this is the first time he has had kind words or well wishes for a moral bottom-dwell...
Jul 23, 2020•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 42
What is happening on the ground in Afghanistan and why are we still there? The Trump administration has closed five bases, reduced the number of American troops to 9,ooo, and signed a peace deal with the Taliban. But as Thomas Joscelyn points out in today’s podcast, the peace deal is really nothing more than a “pretext for justifying withdrawal.” While the United States reckons with its military presence in the Middle East, other foreign threats are lurking behind the scenes. From the Russian bo...
Jul 17, 2020•56 min•Ep. 41
Peter Navarro, director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy for the Trump administration, published a scathing hit piece against top epidemiologist Anthony Fauci in USA Today this morning. “Dr. Anthony Fauci has a good bedside manner with the public, but he has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on,” Navarro writes. For months now, Fauci has bickered with White House officials and pleaded with reporters to not turn his interview sound bites into a personality cont...
Jul 15, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 40
The day after his son was born on October 2, 2009, Jake Tapper watched a news report about a team of 53 American troops who were relentlessly attacked by 400 Taliban insurgents at the Combat Outpost Keating in Afghanistan. “In the haze of it all, there was a moment where I was sitting there holding my son and watching this news report about eight other sons, taken from this earth,” he said. Inspired by this story of American valor, Tapper began researching the story and eventually published a bo...
Jul 10, 2020•50 min•Ep. 39
An open letter published by Harper’s , signed by 153 prominent names, warning against illiberal behavior received swift pushback online. Sarah, Steve, Jonah, and David discuss which socio-political issues of our time are within the scope of reasonable disagreement while also addressing why illiberalism has become such a global phenomenon. Should schools reopen fully in the fall? Why has the fight over mask-wearing devolved into a culture war issue? Does Trump understand his own constituency? Sar...
Jul 08, 2020•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 38
Yascha Mounk, the founder of Persuasion , joins Sarah and David to discuss his new publication and the project of defending liberal democracy. Show Notes: - Persuasion - Stranger in My Own Country - Stop Firing the Innocent Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Jul 03, 2020•49 min•Ep. 37
Sarah and the guys discuss reporting about a Russian plot to pay bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill American troops, the battle for control of the Senate, and cancel culture's effect on our conversation about race in America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 01, 2020•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 36
Astead Herndon, national politics reporter at The New York Times , joins Sarah and Steve to discuss his reporting from the president's rally in Tulsa to the Biden campaign and veepstakes. Show Notes: - Astead's work at the Times - Follow Astead on Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Jun 26, 2020•52 min•Ep. 35
Sarah, Steve, Jonah, and David discuss the state of the 2020 race as we kick off the first week of summer, and what the revelations in John Bolton's book mean for the president's administration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 25, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 34
Martin Gurri, a former CIA analyst, joins Sarah and Steve to discuss our information overload, the loss of trust in institutions and figures of authority, and the role of tech platforms. Show Notes: - Gurri's book The Revolt of The Public - Gurri's piece on post-truth - Vaca Frita recipe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Jun 19, 2020•46 min•Ep. 33
Sarah, Steve, Jonah, and David discuss the president's executive order on policing, proposed reforms on Capitol Hill, the growing tension between China and India, and the Supreme Court's landmark Title VII decision. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 17, 2020•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 32
The Dispatch's own Andrew Egger and Declan Garvey join Steve for a discussion on the blow-up at The New York Times over its Tom Cotton op-ed, woke culture, Trump superfans, and the empathy gap. Show Notes: - The Wokening vs. the Trumpening - Barack Obama on woke culture - Andrew's piece on Trump superfans - Declan's piece on the empathy gap Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Jun 12, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 31
Sarah, Steve, Jonah, and David discuss the continued fallout over the death of George Floyd and the events of Lafayette Square, why this moment feels different, police reform on Capitol Hill, and the "defund the police" movement. Show Notes: - The crackdown before Trump’s photo op - David's Sunday newsletter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Jun 10, 2020•59 min•Ep. 30
Jane Coaston, senior politics reporter at Vox, joins Sarah and Steve for a wide-ranging discussion on racism and police violence as protests around the world continue over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Show Notes: - Read Jane's work at Vox - Follow Jane on Twitter - The story of Right Hand, Left Hand Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Jun 05, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 29
Sarah, Steve, Jonah, and David discuss the president's walk across Lafayette Square, protests around country sparked by George Floyd's death, Steve King's primary loss and what it says about the future of the GOP, protesting in the age of social distancing, and journalism ethics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 03, 2020•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 28
McKay Coppins, staff writer at The Atlantic, joins Sarah and Steve to discuss his piece on disinformation in the 2020 campaign, Trump, Twitter, and the social media wars, and his advice for young reporters. Show Notes: - McKay's piece The Billion-Dollar Disinformation Campaign to Reelect the President - McKay's book The Wilderness - McKay's piece on The Dispatch - Jonah's piece The Media Are Not on the Ballot - McKay's piece on flying during a pandemic - McKay's piece on the stockpile of food in...
May 29, 2020•57 min•Ep. 27
Sarah and the guys discuss the president's threats to crack down on Twitter, Joe Biden's ‘Breakfast Club’ controversy, the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and the president pushing a conspiracy theory that falsely accuses Joe Scarborough of murder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 27, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 26
Sarah, Steve, Jonah, and David discuss the debate over unemployment benefits, the firing of the State Department’s inspector general, the recently declassified email from Susan Rice, and the team makes their VP picks for Joe Biden. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 20, 2020•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 25
Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Romer joins Sarah and Steve to discuss his plan to safely and responsibly reopen the U.S. economy amid the coronavirus pandemic. Show Notes: - Roadmap to Responsibly Reopen America Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 15, 2020•50 min•Ep. 24
Sarah, Jonah, and David discuss Joe Biden's lead in the polls, the special election in California, what is "Obamagate," and the future of social distancing and coronavirus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 13, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 23
Sarah and Steve are joined by Thomas Joscelyn, who writes the Vital Interests newsletter for The Dispatch, to discuss the diplomatic battle between the U.S. and China, Afghanistan exit deal, and how a Biden administration might change our foreign policy. Show Notes: - Tom's newsletter Vital Interests - Explaining the Intense Diplomatic Battle Between the U.S. and China Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
May 08, 2020•53 min•Ep. 22
Sarah and the guys take a deep dive into China from coronavirus to the battle for missile supremacy, reopening businesses around the country, the new culture war over wearing a mask, and the political fallout of a second wave of the pandemic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 06, 2020•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 21
