During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump promised to make sweeping changes to federal agencies, including doing away with the Education Department. This is not a new threat. Closing the department has been an off-and-on Republican goal since it was created in 1979. It is also difficult to make happen since it would require congressional approval – and it’s unlikely Trump would have sufficient support. Still, Trump argues – and many Republicans are with him – that the department is un...
Nov 19, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today on “Post Reports,” how President-elect Donald Trump plans to make good on his campaign promise of mass deportations. Read more: President-elect Donald Trump has taken steps to fulfill his pledge to deport undocumented immigrants on a massive scale by naming top officials to lead the effort: Stephen Miller and Tom Homan . Miller — who helped shape policies during Trump’s first administration, including the ban on travel from many Muslim-majority countries and family separa...
Nov 18, 2024•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast There’s Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Former Republican congressman Matt Gaetz to head up the Justice Department. Former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard as the director of national intelligence. Trump has chosen some eyebrow-raising names to staff his Cabinet. But are there any Republicans in the Senate that would choose to block them? Congress reporter Liz Goodwin joins hosts Aaron Blake and Elahe Izadi to dig into Trump’s Cabinet appoin...
Nov 15, 2024•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Gaetz has been under investigation for allegations of sexual misconduct, illegal drug use and accepting improper gifts. The choice of Gaetz for attorney general stunned senators and even some of Trump’s own advisors and set up a test of loyalty for a Republican Senate that might be loath to confirm Gaetz. Host Elahe Izadi speaks with congressional reporter Marianna Sotomayor about why Trump would choose Gaetz – and why the former congressman is so controversial , even within his own party....
Nov 14, 2024•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Elon Musk invested millions of dollars to help Donald Trump’s reelection campaign through the political action committee America PAC. The result was a massive door-knocking campaign in critical swing states and million-dollar giveaways to voters who signed a petition. Musk held rallies and town halls across Pennsylvania, spoke at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally, and was alongside the president-elect at Mar-a-Lago on election night. Now Musk has been picked to help lead a new Department of Go...
Nov 13, 2024•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast When it comes to abortion, the results of last week’s election were decidedly mixed . Abortion protections passed in New York, Maryland, Montana, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado and Missouri but failed in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota. This means that 2 million more women now have access to abortion services across the country. But with Donald Trump’s second term as president nearing, there are questions about how a Republican-controlled government will approach the issue of abortion, and w...
Nov 12, 2024•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast On today’s “Post Reports,” how foreign leaders are reacting to Trump’s victory, and how they are preparing for a second Trump presidency. Read more: For months, foreign leaders have been anxiously awaiting the results of the United States’ presidential election. Now, with Donald Trump’s decisive victory, politicians and policymakers abroad are wondering what a second Trump presidency will mean for them , and for the complex issues facing the world right now . Today, host Martine Powers speaks wi...
Nov 11, 2024•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast “Post Reports” co-host Martine Powers, senior political reporter Aaron Blake and White House reporter Cleve Wootson break down the questions many Democrats are asking right now about why Harris lost: Should Biden have dropped out earlier? Did Harris run a bad campaign? Does America hate women? Today’s show was produced and mixed by Ted Muldoon. It was edited by Lucy Perkins and Mary Jo Murphy. Subscribe to Aaron’s newsletter, The Campaign Moment, here . Subscribe to The Washington Po...
Nov 08, 2024•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast On the campaign trail, Donald Trump promised to do a variety of things on “Day 1” should he win the presidency: mass deportations, tariffs on all U.S. imports, cutting federal funding for schools that discuss race and much more. Today, host Martine Powers speaks with White House reporter Yasmeen Abutaleb about what Trump’s second term could mean for America. Today’s show was produced by Emma Talkoff, with help from Ariel Plotnick and Bishop Sand. It was mixed by Rennie Svirnoskiy. And edit...
Nov 07, 2024•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast “Post Reports” co-host Martine Powers talks with senior political reporter Aaron Blake and senior national political correspondent Ashley Parker about how Donald Trump won over a broad swath of voters to defeat Vice President Kamala Harris. Plus, how Democrats are reacting to their election losses and what this defeat means for the party’s future. Today’s show was produced by Laura Benshoff and Sabby Robinson. It was edited by Lucy Perkins and Mary Jo Murphy and mixed by Sam Bair. Subscrib...
Nov 06, 2024•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Former president Trump is projected to win the White House – again. Martine Powers takes you through what we know about the results of a historic election. Read more: Very early Wednesday morning, former president Donald Trump stepped on stage in south Florida and claimed victory. Sounding surprised about how the election had gone, the former president promised to “fix everything” and praised his supporters, saying this was “the greatest political movement of all time.” This morning on Pos...
Nov 06, 2024•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast After an unprecedented campaign season, Election Day in America is finally here. Today, host Martine Powers talks with senior political reporter and host of “The Campaign Moment” podcast Aaron Blake about what to pay attention to as results start to come in this evening, including downballot races and potential scenarios for each candidate's path to victory . Plus: Election anxiety is real! Here’s how to manage stress throughout the day . Today’s show was produced by Ariel Plotnick and Emma Talk...
Nov 05, 2024•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s the day before the presidential election, and a lot of people have already voted – or at least made up their minds. But there are still undecided voters in key swing states who may or may not turn out. Last week, “Post Reports” producers interviewed some of these voters – whom we’re calling “The Deciders” – a key voting bloc that The Washington Post has been following all year . We’re bringing you their thoughts today. Host Martine Powers also speaks with Scott Clement, polling direct...
Nov 04, 2024•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast What the early voting numbers and final polling say in the last days of the 2024 campaign. “Post Reports” co-host Martine Powers and senior political reporter Aaron Blake talk with Amy Gardner, who covers early voting for The Post, about what early voting data can and can’t tell us right now about the election results. They also talk about whether looking at polls this weekend is helpful, and what to make of burned ballot boxes in Oregon and Washington. Today’s show was produced by Eliza D...
Nov 01, 2024•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the final days of a presidential election that polls show as extremely close, we wanted to know how supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump are feeling. Our host Martine Powers and producer Emma Talkoff went to Harris’s rally on the Ellipse in D.C. while producer Elana Gordon went to a Trump rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Today, we bring you dispatches from these two rallies that happened on the same day a week before the election. Also, we’...
Oct 31, 2024•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast San Luis, Arizona, has a population of around 40,000 people. Most still vote for Democrats, if they vote. But in the 2020 presidential election, Democrats saw their advantage drop by 36 percentage points here since 2016. This swing is one indicator of the inroads Republicans have made in recent years in traditional Democratic strongholds, gains that former president Donald Trump hopes will propel him back into the White House. That strategy relies on winning over young, non-college-educate...
Oct 30, 2024•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Patience Frazier said she had a miscarriage in April 2018. A month later, police were at her door, asking about a Facebook post and a cross in her backyard. Today, the story of Frazier, and what happens when someone is prosecuted under an abortion law. Read more: Patience Frazier was charged with manslaughter under an abortion law from 1911. It was a rare instance of a woman who sought an abortion facing prosecution. Host Martine Powers is joined by reporter Caroline Kitchener to tal...
Oct 29, 2024•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Former president Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have made vastly different proposals to address the housing shortage. Harris says that her administration will provide incentives to get millions of homes built while helping first-time homebuyers with their down payments. Trump says that deporting large numbers of undocumented immigrants will free up more housing for Americans, an idea that has been widely debunked by economists . Host Elahe Izadi speaks with housing reporter Rachel...
Oct 28, 2024•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, host Lillian Cunningham created the “ Presidential ” podcast, with one episode dedicated to each of the (at the time) 44 U.S. presidents. Now, in the thick of the 2024 election, Lillian is back. This is the second of two special “ Presidential ” podcast episodes released in advance of the presidential election on Nov. 5. The episodes examine how the candidates, former president Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, could make history if ...
Oct 26, 2024•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast Over the past few months, Elon Musk has heavily invested in the Trump campaign. Musk is hosting rallies in swing states, giving out million-dollar checks to registered voters in those states and organizing canvassers. Billionaires donating to presidential campaigns is nothing new, but Musk is putting much more than money into the race. Elahe Izadi speaks with technology reporter Trisha Thadani and national political reporter Michael Scherer about Musk’s political influence. Today’s show wa...
Oct 25, 2024•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast The morning after the 2020 election, then-president Donald Trump prematurely declared victory and claimed that a “fraud” was being perpetrated on the American public. He would go on to wage a campaign against the 2020 results, which culminated in rioters storming the U.S. Capitol . Now, with Trump back on the ballot, experts are concerned that Trump and his allies may use the same playbook they did in 2020 to challenge the 2024 results. Trump has already suggested that the 2024 election wo...
Oct 24, 2024•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast This year, several large unions withheld their endorsements for a presidential candidate – a move that upset Democrats, because the majority of unions have always endorsed Democratic candidates. This was reflective of a shift that’s been happening since the 2016 election, with more and more union members moving to the right. This division was on display when labor reporter Lauren Kaori Gurley visited the Ford auto plant in Wayne, Michigan, a factory in a critical swing state. Workers told her th...
Oct 23, 2024•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast In recent months, rapid advances in AI audio technology have made it possible to clone any voice, chat with artificial versions of celebrities like Judi Dench, and make a podcast on any topic in minutes. Those developments have raised ethical questions, opening the door for election disinformation and scams. And they’ve also raised philosophical questions about what complex constellation of qualities allows us to relate to a voice. Martine Powers speaks with technology columnist Geof...
Oct 22, 2024•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hamas’s leader Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israeli forces last week. The Israeli government had been searching for Sinwar ever since he helped orchestrate the deadly Oct. 7 terror attacks last year. While some celebrated Sinwar’s death – and see this moment as a potential catalyst for a ceasefire – Sinwar’s supporters see him as a martyr, Today, host Martine Powers speaks with The Post’s Jerusalem bureau chief, Steve Hendrix, about who Sinwar was , the fallout from his death , and whether i...
Oct 21, 2024•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast “Post Reports” co-host Martine Powers and senior political reporter Aaron Blake talk with national political reporter Marianne LeVine about the peculiar moments that she’s observed on the campaign trail this week with former president Donald Trump. From a music listening session on stage, to some eyebrow-raising interviews with both candidates, “The Campaign Moment” crew digs into the Trump and Harris campaigns’ final sprints before Election Day. Today’s show was produced by Eliza Dennis. ...
Oct 18, 2024•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jon Tester is one of the last Senate Democrats standing in a red state. First elected in 2006, he pitches his bipartisan record and his Montana roots as an antidote to national political warfare. He still farms the land his grandparents settled in the state and has a personal relationship with voters. But the state he represents is changing. The Republican candidate, businessman and veteran Tim Sheehy, has accused Tester of being too liberal for Montana, a state that voted for Trump by more than...
Oct 17, 2024•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Just 140 miles off the coast of the Philippines’ largest island is a sparkling blue lagoon that is rich with fish and minerals. This ring of reefs and rocks is called Scarborough Shoal. For centuries, it has been a place of open passageway and connection, drawing fishermen from all over the region. It’s a place that captain Jory Aguian, student activist Mathew Silverio and the rest of a small Philippine flotilla of wooden boats are determined to reach. They hope to follow in the steps of g...
Oct 16, 2024•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, site of the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history, could reopen in 2028. The plant’s owner, Constellation Energy, signed a deal with Microsoft that would allocate 100% of the plant’s power output to the tech company. Constellation is seeking a $1.6 billion federal loan guarantee to get the plant up and running. Microsoft hopes the power generated by the facility will help fuel the increasing energy needs of AI . It’s estimated that by...
Oct 15, 2024•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast This summer, at a small recruiting station in Toms River, New Jersey, Sgt. 1st Class Dane Beaston met with a team of Army recruiters to offer some encouragement. “ Let's change the places we're looking,” Beaston told his colleagues. “Let's change our messaging. Let's change what we're doing if it's not working, right? But the potential's out there.” Beaston has given a lot of talks like these lately. While his team has gotten closer to meeting its goals since he joined a couple years ago, i...
Oct 14, 2024•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, host Lillian Cunningham created the “ Presidential ” podcast, with one episode dedicated to each of the (at the time) 44 U.S. presidents. Now, in the thick of the 2024 election, Lillian is back. This is the first of two special “ Presidential ” podcast episodes that will be released in advance of the election on Nov. 5. The episodes examine how the two major party candidates, former president Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, could m...
Oct 12, 2024•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
