Ramadan began Sunday night, and it was also the unofficial deadline by which the Biden administration hoped to have negotiated a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. But as fighting in Gaza rages on and the death toll there tops 30,000, President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amped up their criticisms of each other. Haiti’s government is on the brink of collapse after local gangs united in a coordinated attack on the nation’s capital city Port-au-Prince. The roots ...
Mar 11, 2024•14 min
Primaries elections are good, right? It’s how we hold the party accountable and raise up progressives! It turns out there’s more to the story. This week on “How We Got Here,” Max and Erin explore how party primaries have led to the success of more extreme candidates, the passage of fewer polices, and an increase in American polarization. From the Tea Party and Ron Paul to decidedly not "tea" parties with Texas House Speakers, this week’s episode probes the dangers of primaries, and why the U.S. ...
Mar 09, 2024•33 min
President Biden delivered his State of the Union Thursday night. He traded verbal blows with his conservative opponents inside the room, and also offered a preview of his 2024 campaign message. Pod Save America's Tommy Vietor assessed Biden's speech on topics such as abortion access, Gaza, immigration at the southern border and more. And in headlines: Sweden joins NATO, Trump can't delay his payment to E. Jean Carroll, and House lawmakers advanced legislation that could ban TikTok. Show Notes: W...
Mar 08, 2024•19 min
President Biden delivers his third State of the Union address Thursday night ahead of this November’s election. Part of the challenge for Biden is to show voters that he’s still got the energy for another four year term. But he also has to motivate his base, including progressives who are following his campaign with varying amounts of enthusiasm. Activists and organizers across the country told us about the issues they’re most concerned about, and what they want Biden to say when he steps up to ...
Mar 07, 2024•19 min
Super Tuesday was mostly a blowout on the Republican side for former President Donald Trump. Nikki Haley did manage to eke out a win in Vermont, but that's not enough to give her a clear path to victory. Danielle Deiseroth, the executive director of the progressive think tank Data for Progress, helps us interpret what the Super Tuesday results could mean for both Republicans and Democrats in November. And in headlines: Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed the GOP-backed Arizona Border Invasion Ac...
Mar 06, 2024•18 min
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Tuesday that former President Donald Trump can stay on Colorado’s primary ballot. This reverses a decision by Colorado’s Supreme Court, which ruled that Trump could be disqualified based on his actions on January 6th, and the 14th Amendment’s stipulation that insurrectionists cannot hold public office. To understand the Supreme Court’s rationale, we spoke to Leah Litman, co-host of Crooked’s “Strict Scrutiny” and professor at the University of Michigan Law ...
Mar 05, 2024•21 min
Oregon’s legislature has reintroduced criminal penalties for hard drug possession, effectively reversing course three years after voters passed the state’s Measure 110 and decriminalized possession in many cases. Many describe the reversal as a big setback for the criminal justice reform movement. But to understand how we got here, we look at where Oregon fell short in its implementation of Measure 110. Israel boycotted ceasefire talks in Cairo on Sunday after Hamas refused a demand to provide a...
Mar 04, 2024•21 min
I see London, I see France, I see Shohei Ohtani’s underpants. This week, the MLB kicked off Spring Training with brand new see-through uniforms — yes, you read that right. But it’s not just MLB players’ clothing that’s seemingly crappier, the uniform change is another story in a long line of corporate decisions that have made the clothing we wear worse and worse with each passing year. Max and Erin get to the bottom of how fashion got so fast, telling the story of a little Spanish retailer named...
Mar 02, 2024•31 min
More than 100 Palestinians were killed and hundreds more injured Thursday near Gaza City as people gathered around trucks to receive much needed food and aid. Hamas said in a statement that the Gaza Health Ministry had presented “undeniable” evidence of the Israeli Defense Force directly firing at civilians. Israel, for their part, denied that soldiers shot into the large crowd. Alabama’s legislature voted to protect in vitro fertilization, or IVF, following the ruling by the state’s Supreme Cou...
Mar 01, 2024•19 min
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Wednesday that he plans to step down as the Republican Senate leader in November. He has been the longest-serving Senate leader in American history, and is responsible for extensive damage to American politics and life. Congressional reporter Todd Zwillich explains why McConnell is leaving and why now. Both President Biden and former President Trump head to the southern border Wednesday as they jockey on the issue of immigration. Uriel García, imm...
Feb 29, 2024•24 min
Yet another government shutdown looms and lawmakers have until Friday night to avert it. Here's what's holding them up this time: House Republicans have refused to support a spending deal that doesn't cover some of their extremist priorities, like the reversal of a federal rule that broadens access to abortion medication. House Speaker Mike Johnson has said he's committed to avoiding a shutdown, but we're definitely not out of the woods yet. The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear arguments abo...
Feb 28, 2024•18 min
The Supreme Court on Monday heard oral arguments on a case that could upend the online world. At issue are laws championed and passed by Republicans in Florida and Texas which would prevent social media companies from banning users based on their viewpoints. Jason Koebler, co-founder of the tech publication 404 Media, believes that tech companies would leave both states if the Supreme Court allowed these laws to stand. Michigan holds its primary elections on Tuesday. From the war in Gaza to the ...
Feb 27, 2024•19 min
Former President Donald Trump cleaned up in the South Carolina Republican primary last Saturday, winning 60 percent of the votes to Nikki Haley’s 40 percent, in spite of the fact that the battle played out in Haley’s home state. For her part, Haley says she’s still not dropping out. The race now heads to Michigan which holds its Presidential primary on Tuesday. The results could demonstrate how much support President Biden maintains among a key demographic in the state: Muslim and Arab American ...
Feb 26, 2024•20 min
Republicans are coming after IVF? And no-fault divorce? This week, a Supreme Court ruling in Alabama and a new report from POLITICO unmasked an ascendant ideology taking over the Republican Party: Christian nationalism. Why does this ideology have Republicans waging war on public schools, failing marriages, and fertility clinics? And how did this movement go from the far fringes of the religious right to the center of the GOP? This week on How We Got Here, Offline’s Max Fisher and Hysteria’s Eri...
Feb 24, 2024•29 min
The mother of deceased Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said that authorities are “blackmailing” her over his remains to get her to agree to a secret funeral. Sanctions on more than 500 targets in Russia are expected from the U.S. State and Treasury Departments Friday for the Russian government’s suspected role in Navalny’s death. Saturday marks two years since Russia invaded Ukraine. The U.N. says that nearly 6.5 million Ukrainians have fled the country and become refugees in that time....
Feb 23, 2024•16 min
The University of Alabama health system became the first organization in the state to pause IVF treatments following the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that said frozen embryos can legally be considered “children.” Meanwhile, the future of IVF in the ten other states remains unclear as well because, like Alabama, they say life begins at fertilization. To learn more about how this fits into the larger fight for reproductive rights, we spoke with Dana Sussman, deputy executive director of Pregnancy ...
Feb 22, 2024•20 min
The U.S. vetoed a U.N. resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and stood alone on the 15-member U.N. Security Council in its vote. To understand the veto and the current state of hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas, we spoke with The Intercept’s Prem Thakker. A newly-overhauled website for FAFSA, or the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, is not working as intended and it’s creating chaos for students applying for college. Left in the dark about the size of their a...
Feb 21, 2024•20 min
Wisconsin’s Democratic Governor Tony Evers signed new legislative maps into law on Monday, and broke a Republican gerrymander that has shaped the state’s politics for years. That means Democrats are pretty much set to gain seats in the state Assembly and state Senate this November. John Bisognano, president of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, explains what Wisconsin’s win means for the state and the nation. Alexei Navalny, the head of Russia’s political opposition, died last Frid...
Feb 20, 2024•25 min
What do the 1970s crime wave, the endangerment of the California condor, and Gen Xers demanding to speak to the manager have in common? There’s a compelling case that all are exacerbated by lead exposure. This week How We Got Here unpacks the long and sordid story of how lead found its way into gasoline…and the organs of many Americans. But gas is just the tip of the iceberg—we still see lead in consumer products today, from drinking water to baby food to Stanley Cups. Why do we still use this p...
Feb 17, 2024•28 min
Fulton County DA Fani Willis and special counsel Nathan Wade both took the stand on Thursday about their prior romantic relationship. The hearing will determine whether it constituted a conflict of interest that disqualifies Willis from prosecuting Donald Trump for election racketeering in Georgia. Meanwhile, a verdict is expected Friday in New York’s civil fraud trial against Trump, and New York’s hush money criminal trial against Trump got a start date of March 25th. And in headlines: Kansas C...
Feb 16, 2024•19 min
A mass shooting at Wednesday’s Super Bowl parade for the Kansas City Chiefs left one person dead and 21 more injured. Authorities said they had three people in custody. Democrats took home some important wins earlier this week, including Democrat Tom Suozzi flipping the Congressional seat that once belonged to New York Republican George Santos. We’re joined by Shaniqua McClendon, Vice President of political strategy at Crooked Media, for more on what the victories could mean for Dems’ chances in...
Feb 15, 2024•21 min
House Republicans impeached Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday in a 214-213 vote. Meanwhile in New York, Democrat Tom Suozzi won the special election to replace ousted Republican Congressman George Santos, and Pennsylvania voters elected Democrat Jim Prokopiak in Tuesday’s state House special election. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may loosen Covid isolation requirements. Under newly proposed guidelines, Americans who test positive for Covid would no lo...
Feb 14, 2024•17 min
Control of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives hinges on a special election taking place today in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Democrats currently have a one-seat majority in the chamber. The results of today’s race will determine if Democrats can pick up one more seat or if they become tied with Republicans. We’re joined by Melissa Walker, head of Giving Circles over at The States Project, to learn more about who’s running and what’s at stake. It’s looking like a whirlwind of a week for T...
Feb 13, 2024•21 min
Tuesday is Election Day for the race to replace George Santos in New York’s third congressional district. The candidates running for the seat include former Democratic congressman Tom Suozzi and Nassau County legislator Mazi Pilip who’s been selected as the nominee for Republican and conservative parties. With Republicans holding a narrow 219-212 majority in the House, the stakes are high. We’re joined by Gabby Seay, the campaign director of Battleground New York, to learn more about what it wou...
Feb 12, 2024•22 min
It’s Week 2 of What a Day’s new series “How We Got Here,” in which Hysteria’s Erin Ryan and Offline’s Max Fisher pose a question about the week’s biggest headlines and comb through history to answer it. This week, they dive into the enemies-to-lovers story of the NFL and sports betting. Why did professional sports leagues disavow gambling for so long? How did the NFL go from hating Vegas to hosting a Super Bowl there? And who cares what color gatorade they dump on the field this Sunday? (Spoiler...
Feb 10, 2024•29 min
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Thursday in a case considering whether or not Donald Trump can be removed from the ballot in Colorado because of his role in the Jan. 6th insurrection. Most of the justices, including a number of the liberal justices, seemed convinced by at least one argument from the defense: that an individual state can't disqualify candidates in a national election without Congress specifically granting them that power. We’re joined by Melissa Murray, professor of law...
Feb 09, 2024•17 min
The Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday heard arguments about Amendment 4 — a constitutional amendment that would guarantee the right to abortion up until the point of fetal viability in the state's constitution. Justices must approve the language of the amendment proposed by abortion advocates before it can be put on the ballot in November. We’re joined by Anna Hochkammer, Councilmember for PineCrest Florida and Executive Director of Florida Women’s Freedom Coalition, to learn more about Amendme...
Feb 08, 2024•20 min
A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected Donald Trump's immunity claim and ruled that he can be put on trial over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. A three-judge panel issued the unanimous decision, writing, “for the purpose of this criminal case, former President Trump has become citizen Trump.” We’re joined by Leah Litman, co-host of Crooked’s legal podcast Strict Scrutiny and a professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School, to learn more about the case and what comes n...
Feb 07, 2024•22 min
Brittney Gilliam agreed to a $1.9 million settlement more than three years after police officers in Aurora, Colorado held her, her sister, her two nieces, and her six-year-old daughter at gunpoint. This comes on the heels of two new studies from the Journal of the American Medical Association that show the effect of police violence on Black communities. Educators in Durham, North Carolina held another “Day of Protest" on Monday that forced Durham Public Schools to close seven schools. It was the...
Feb 06, 2024•25 min
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis admitted to having a personal relationship with Nathan Wade, the prosecutor she hired to handle the election interference case against Donald Trump. Meanwhile, the federal case against Trump is being delayed. And the Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on Thursday deciding whether he can be left off the ballot in Colorado for his role in the January 6th insurrection. Police in the city of Dearborn, Michigan were on high alert this weekend after...
Feb 05, 2024•19 min
