The New Yorker: Politics And More

The New Yorker staff writers Isaac Chotiner and Benjamin Wallace-Wells join Tyler Foggatt to discuss what Democrats might do after the midterms if they win a majority in the House or the Senate, and how Donald Trump might respond to attempts to check his power. If Trump has been willing to circumvent Congress on issues like military action and tariffs, how much difference would a Democratic majority make during the remainder of his second term? They also talk about how large a Democratic victory could be, and ask what the results might reveal about voters’ views of Donald Trump and the Republican Party. This conversation was recorded for a live video on Substack. Follow The New Yorker on Substack » Recommended reading: “Donald Trump After the Midterms,” by David Remnick “The Dumocrats Are Coming for Trump, and All He Can Do Is Call Them Names,” by Susan B. Glasser “Who Won the Redistricting War?,” by Jon Allsop “The Well-Funded Fight to Keep Latinos Voting Republican,” by Jesús Rodríguez “A

The economic punishment and threats of aggression that Donald Trump has launched against Canada are so severe that its government has looked at how to prepare for U.S. military action. David Remnick sits down with a former senior Canadian politician, Chrystia Freeland, to talk about the disintegration of a rock-solid partnership. Freeland served as the Deputy Prime Minister under Justin Trudeau, and has also held the roles of Minister of International Trade and Minister of Foreign Affairs; she helped negotiate a trade deal in Trump’s first term, which he subsequently broke. Freeland’s new book about the U.S.-Canada relationship is called “Unreliable Boyfriend,” but that title may soft-pedal it. “The vast majority of Canadians see this as a rupture” that will be permanent, she tells Remnick. “They think America is toxic and broken and can never be trusted again. . . . I actually am an outlier, because I think we shouldn’t write America off quite yet.”   Further reading: “What If C

The Washington Roundtable weighs in on how Donald Trump’s rampant corruption will play out at the polls. Although conventional wisdom in Washington suggests that graft doesn’t move voters, Democrats have nonetheless spent more than three hundred million dollars on ads that portray the President’s self-enrichment as a tax on everyone else. They are joined by a former commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, Rebecca Slaughter, who discusses what, if anything, can be done about corruption in the federal government, and why criminal prosecution may not be the most effective tool to combat it. Slaughter argues that officials must find ways to make corruption costly for those who engage in it. And though few Americans expect the powerful to face consequences, Slaughter says, “the only way to change that impression . . . is to start making people pay.” This week’s reading: “The Dumocrats Are Coming for Trump, and All He Can Do Is Call Them Names,” by Susan B. Glasser “The Battle for the P

The New Yorker staff writer Jonathan Blitzer joins Tyler Foggatt to talk about Donald Trump’s decision to delay the cancellation of Temporary Protected Status for Salvadoran immigrants. They discuss why the Administration, which has already terminated the T.P.S. designations of fourteen other countries, effectively opening up those communities to deportations, has yet to follow through on its promise to do the same for immigrants from El Salvador, and whether the decision was influenced by lobbyists from industries that rely on immigrant labor. They also discuss the tensions between the nativist wing of the Trump Administration and the pro-industry wing, and what Trump’s handling of T.P.S. reveals about how he makes decisions and exercises power in his second term. Does Trump’s unpredictability—and his susceptibility to being influenced even on his most deeply held beliefs—make his agenda more vulnerable to challenge? Recommended reading: “Why Trump Delayed Cancelling Legal Status for Salvadorans,” by

In 2023, Evan Gershkovich was working as a young reporter in Moscow for the Wall Street Journal, when he was arrested by Russian authorities. He was eventually convicted on blatantly false charges of espionage and spent nearly five hundred days in imprisonment. Gershkovich recounts the experience in a new memoir, “This Cursed Beautiful Land,” and in an essay in The New Yorker. He spoke with David Remnick about life inside a Russian prison, the international prisoner swap that freed him, and why the difficult process of reacclimating to his former life complicated how he viewed his incarceration.  Further reading and listening:  “The Russian Prisoner Who Didn’t Want to Be Freed,” by Joshua Yaffa “Evan Gershkovich Is Finally Coming Home,” by Joshua Yaffa “The Unimaginable Horror of a Friend’s Arrest in Moscow,” by Joshua Yaffa This segment was recorded live at the Temple Emanu-El Streicker Centers, in New York City.   The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis fo

The Washington Roundtable is joined by the Polish Foreign Minister, Radosław Sikorski, to discuss the war in Ukraine and Russia’s brazen tests of the NATO alliance, including drone incursions in Poland and a campaign of gray-zone tactics. “They are boiling the frog and watching what we will do,” Sikorski says. He weighs how much Europe can still count on the United States under President Trump, and whether the trust between America and its allies can be restored. The panel also reflects on how Poland pulled back from its own authoritarian slide, and what that history might say for Americans worried about the future of our democracy.  This week’s reading: “Pete Hegseth Just Declared Victory in the Wrong War,” by Susan B. Glasser “Why the War in Iran Is Likely to Heat Up Again,” by Isaac Chotiner “Why Trump Delayed Cancelling Legal Status for Salvadorans,” by Jonathan Blitzer “The President vs. the Press,” by Jelani Cobb The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The

The New Yorker staff writer Emma Green joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss the Senate race in Maine, where the Republican Susan Collins, who has served in the Senate for nearly thirty years, is facing off against the former state senator Troy Jackson. They discuss how Collins has leveraged her seniority—and her chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Committee—to bring considerable federal funding to Maine, helping her fend off Democratic challengers in the purple state. They also explore Collins’s reputation as a moderate Republican willing to break with her party on high-profile votes, despite siding with President Donald Trump roughly ninety-five per cent of the time, and ask what the results of the Maine race may suggest about two competing visions of a senator’s job. Will Collins’s focus on Maine-specific projects and bringing federal money home win out over Jackson’s focus on national issues such as abolishing ICE, Medicare for All, and protecting national abortion rights? This week’s reading: “Susan

Ari Emanuel is the executive chairman of W.M.E., one of the biggest talent agencies in Hollywood. He has overseen the careers of Oprah Winfrey, Taylor Swift, Meghan Markle, Martin Scorsese, Dwayne (the Rock) Johnson, and Donald Trump. His entertainment machine now includes the W.W.E., the U.F.C., live theatres, ticketing operations, and more. In a new memoir, “Roll the Calls,” Emanuel charts his rise from working in the mailroom to global power. He talks with David Remnick about his disappointment with Donald Trump’s self-enrichment during his Presidency; his close relationship with Elon Musk, whom he calls an “incredible human being”; and doing business within “shades of gray” with the de-facto Saudi leader Mohammed bin Salman.   Further reading: “Ari Emanuel Takes on the World,” by Connie Bruck The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine’s writers and editors as the

The Washington Roundtable travels to Madison, Wisconsin, for a conversation about the politics of artificial intelligence before a live audience at the Cap Times Idea Fest. The group discusses the stakes of Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington, D.C.; the potential for coöperation between the U.S. and China on A.I., which the staff writer Evan Osnos likens to “private nuclear weapons”; and whether American policymakers can even agree amongst themselves on how to approach regulating the technology. “The executive branch is approaching this not as an existential-level threat to our society,” the staff writer Susan B. Glasser says, “but as a pot of gold that our wealthy business leaders, and presumably the politicians who support them, win if they get to the end of the race first.”   This week's reading: “Our A.I. Problem,” by Gideon Lewis-Kraus “Is A.I. Above the Law?,” by Jill Lepore “There Is No A.I. ‘Race,’” by Chang Che “What China’s Vibe-Coding Capital Can Tell Us About the A.I. Boom,” b

The New Yorker staff writer Ruby Cramer joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss how the Make America Healthy Again movement is influencing debates within families over vaccines and medical care. They talk about the rise of vaccine skepticism, fuelled by Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and how measles cases have surged across the country, reaching their highest level in three decades. They also explore what happens when parents disagree over their children’s medical care, especially as concerns about parental rights and America’s worsening health, alongside growing distrust of the medical and pharmaceutical establishments, draw more people into the MAHA movement. This week’s reading: “The MAHA Custody Battle,” by Ruby Cramer “Is R.F.K., Jr., Winning or Losing?,” by Dhruv Khullar  “One Vaccine-Schedule Change That Actually Makes Sense,” by Rivka Galchen Tune in to The Political Scene wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Malcolm Gladwell, a longtime staff writer at The New Yorker, often uses ideas from the social sciences and epidemiology and applies them to surprising topics. But his new book tackles an issue that’s in the headlines every day. The book is called “The American Way of Killing,” and the subject is America’s unique association with gun violence. Death statistics, he says, fail to convey the scale of the problem because advances in medical care save countless lives that are nevertheless scarred by violence. Gladwell talks with David Remnick about how gun-control advocates have got the problem wrong, and why he thinks that a persistent dynamic of under-policing and over-incarcerating is at the root of America’s problem. “I can’t even utter the phrase ‘defund the police,’ ” Gladwell says, “without nearly blowing a gasket.” Further reading: “What We Get Wrong About Violent Crime,” by Malcolm Gladwell “Daniel Ellsberg, Edward Snowden, and the Modern Whistle-Blower,” by Malcolm Gladwell  “Threshol

The Washington Roundtable will be back next week. In the meantime, we would like to introduce “The Journey,” an audio investigation hosted by our colleague Ava Kofman. Throughout five episodes, it unravels the mystery of how Guojun Xuan and Silvia Zhang, a wealthy Los Angeles couple, obtained dozens of children through nearly as many surrogates—and exposes a scandal that threatens to undermine the entire surrogacy industry. In Episode 1, “Gifts,” a woman in Texas agrees to carry a child for the couple. She thinks she’s helping a family in need. Then she becomes a whistle-blower. In the Dark is an acclaimed investigative-journalism podcast that launched in 2016. Its third season won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for audio. To keep listening to “The Journey,” search for In the Dark wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The New Yorker staff writer Joshua Rothman joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss recent calls from industry leaders to slow the development of A.I. technology for safety reasons. They talk about an industry-wide fear that A.I. could disrupt or even end human life within a decade, what an A.I.-related extinction event might look like, and whether the people developing the technology can be trusted to play a role in regulating it. They also explore recent incidents involving A.I. models going “rogue” and the difficulty of making increasingly capable autonomous systems trustworthy and controllable. This week’s reading: “The Long Doomsday of A.I.,” by Joshua Rothman “My Weekend with an A.I. Agent,” by Brady Brickner-Wood The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine’s writers and editors as they put into context the latest news—about elections, the economy, the White House, the Supreme C

Colin Kaepernick had a stunning rise as an N.F.L. quarterback after becoming a full-time starter, in 2012. He was a legitimate dual threat—as effective running the ball as he was throwing it. And, to this day, Kaepernick still holds the record for rushing yards by an N.F.L. quarterback in a playoff game. But his formidable skills as a player were quickly overshadowed by his decision—quiet at first—to engage in protest for social justice a decade ago. He knelt during the national anthem at games, and that generated an enormous amount of controversy, with everyone from his fellow-players to a future President weighing in on his decision. In the aftermath of his demonstrations, the San Francisco 49ers told him that they were going to cut him, and no other team would sign him. In his new memoir, “The Perilous Fight,” Kaepernick describes how this wasn’t even the full extent of the league’s efforts to punish him. He and David Remnick discuss his new book and the consequences of his political activism. “I had footb

The Washington Roundtable is joined by Amy Walter, the editor-in-chief of the Cook Political Report and a political analyst for PBS NewsHour, to take stock of the midterms map. With Donald Trump’s approval rating at a historic low and economic issues squeezing voters nationwide, conventional wisdom suggests that a decisive Democratic blue wave is coming. But the margins are razor-thin. “The odds are definitely with Democrats here because of how few seats they need to actually flip,” Walter says. “They just don’t have a lot of room for error.” Plus, the hosts reflect on the quarter century since 9/11, and share their memories of that day. This week’s reading: “Troy Jackson Is Still Surprised That He’s Running for Senate,” by Jesús Rodríguez “Is the Democratic Party Still Too Woke?,” by Jason Zengerle “Has the A.I. Job Apocalypse Been Postponed?,” by John Cassidy “The U.S. Was Never Going to Win the ‘War on Terror,’” by Robin Wright Tune in to The Political Scene wherever you get y

The New Yorker staff writer Jennifer Wilson joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss how the right’s embrace of lingerie and cleavage signals the changing politics of sexuality. They talk about how the actress Sydney Sweeney’s appearance and political affiliation became a cause célèbre for a segment of the conservative movement, and how it reflects a broader right-wing backlash against more inclusive notions of beauty and body positivity. They also examine the rise of the magazine Evie, which has billed itself as the “conservative Cosmo,” and explore how the left has been grappling with the politics of sexuality and sex appeal in the wake of the #MeToo movement. This week’s reading: “Have Conservatives Taken Sexy Back?,” by Jennifer Wilson “The Warning Benjamin Netanyahu Ignored,” by Ruth Margalit “Remembrance of September 11th,” by Adam Gopnik “The America That 9/11 Made,” by Jill Lepore The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the

The political consultant Sarah Longwell runs focus groups of voters, and she has a lot of advice for Democrats seeking to wrest control of the government from MAGA. Longwell, a former Republican disaffected from Donald Trump’s party, presents her playbook to the New Yorker staff writer Evan Osnos: go on the offensive talking about corruption; make a positive case for immigration; and adapt to a podcast-driven media environment. “You can go on ‘Joe Rogan’ or not go on ‘Joe Rogan,’ ” she says. “The question is: can you sit for a long period of time and talk to someone who doesn’t know that much about politics and have an engaging conversation? . . . This is how trust is built now, in this screen-to-screen environment.” Longwell’s new book is called “How to Eat an Elephant: One Voter at a Time.”  Further listening:  “Can Trump Voters Still Change Their Minds?,” an episode of The New Yorker Radio Hour “A G.O.P. Strategist on the Republican Voters Who Could Aban

The Washington Roundtable explores how Donald Trump’s wars of choice abroad, whether using tariffs or bombs, are dragging down his popularity at home. The panel looks at the baffling trade fight with Canada, the deepening quagmire in Iran, and the President’s recent embrace of data centers—all of which, they argue, could cost Republicans in the midterms. “He is seen as so toxic that a number of Republican candidates in districts that Trump won significantly before are saying, ‘Don’t send him here. We don’t wanna campaign with him,’ ” the staff writer Jane Mayer observes. “That, in politics, is the ultimate kiss-off. Goodbye.” This week’s reading: “Donald Trump’s Capital Makeover,” by Antonia Hitchens “How Donald Trump Outmaneuvers the Supreme Court,” by Ruth Marcus “How Much Is the Iran War Costing Americans?,” by John Cassidy “What If Canada Joined the E.U.?,” by Ishaan Tharoor “Was ‘Defund the Police’ Crazy?,” by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor The Political Scene draws on the reporting and ana

During the height of Roy Cohn’s friendship with Donald Trump, according to the historian Kai Bird, “they were on the phone with each other a dozen times a day.” Bird’s new book, “American Scoundrel,” details Cohn’s profound influence on Trump—whom he met as a young real-estate heir in the nineteen-seventies—and how Cohn is “haunting” politics in our time. “I had written about Roy Cohn in [previous biographies] as this nefarious, minor, awful figure who was disruptive and divisive and unethical. And I suddenly realized that the establishment that I’d been writing about for forty years is gone. Their values and culture, the politics, the bipartisanship . . . that’s all gone,” he tells David Remnick. “Roy Cohn explains something about the dark side of America that I just didn’t understand.” They discuss Cohn’s early career as a prosecutor and his role as the “mastermind” of the McCarthy purges; his service as a lawyer and fixer for Mafia members, politicians, and celebrities; and an allegation of

The Washington Roundtable will be back next week. In the meantime, we’re pleased to bring you the Season 2 premiere of “Master Plan,” the award-winning investigative podcast from The Lever. In its second season, titled “The Kingmakers,” the host, David Sirota, a former speechwriter for Bernie Sanders and an Oscar-nominated co-writer for “Don’t Look Up,” examines the decades-long building of an all-powerful American Presidency. This episode explores how Richard Nixon’s secret expansion of the Vietnam War, along with his attempts to seize the power of the purse from Congress sparked a constitutional crisis and a backlash, setting the stage for many of the legal battles that dominate today’s political landscape.  We hope you’ll enjoy it. For the rest of “Master Plan” ’s second season, follow and listen to the show: https://play.megaphone.fm/lzjeitnbt6ikozz2aydzrw Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices