Senate

It’s News Day Tuesday! Emma speaks with Daniel Nichanian, editor-in-chief of Bolts Magazine, to discuss the state of play of the 2024 election and what key races to watch out for in November. First, Emma runs through updates on the wake of Hurricane Helene and the progression of Hurricane Milton,...
It’s Hump Day! Sam hosts Ian Millhiser, senior correspondent at Vox, to discuss the upcoming cases that will be before the Supreme Court this term. Sam starts off by touching on the recent revelations surrounding Tucker Carlson’s text messages disclosed from the Dominion lawsuit, and how he still...
It’s Casual Friday! Sam and Emma host Dave Weigel, author of the “Americana” newsletter at Semafor, to discuss the state of play less than 2 weeks out from the midterm elections. Then, they’re joined by Matthew Film Guy! Emma and Sam first run through updates on the midterms, including Schumer’s ...
It’s Day 2 of Sam reporting from the Mass Torts Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada! He and Emma begin by running through updates on the 2022 midterm debate season, footage from Pelosi and Schumer on January 6th, before Sam meets with Ring of Fire Radio host Farron Cousins as they walk through the te...
Sam and Emma break down the biggest headlines of the day, and are joined by Dave Weigel, national political correspondent for the Washington Post, to discuss the hotly approaching midterm elections in November. First, Sam and Emma dive into the devastation in the wake of Hurricane Fiona’s continu...
It’s Casual Friday! Sam and Emma host Alex Pareene, Contributing Editor at the New Republic and proprietor of the AP newsletter on Substack, to round up the week in news. Then they are joined by Lucas Kunce, candidate for U.S. Senate in Missouri, to give us an update from the campaign trail. Afte...
It’s Casual Friday! Sam and Emma host Jamelle Bouie, opinion columnist at the New York Times and co-host of the Unclear and Present Danger podcast, to discuss his recent piece ”Joe Manchin Is a Symptom, but It’s the Senate That’s Sick”. Sam and Emma begin by diving into the advancing legislation ...
Sam and Emma break down some of the biggest stories from the weekend in news, from the ongoing situation in Ukraine to labor, the courts, COVID, and more! Beginning with updates on the Ukrainian border, Sam and Emma dive into the breaking news that a majority of the breaking news this past week h...
It is a jam-packed Casual Friday! Sam and Emma host Stephen Wertheim, Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment and Visiting Faculty at Yale Law School, to discuss the recent developments with Russia and Ukraine. Stephen  comes in to situate where the building Russia-Ukraine conflict is at, and wha...
Sam and Emma break down news from the weekend, from developments on COVID to the courts, the Jan 6th commission to labor, and more! They begin by reflecting on the 20th anniversary of the first prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, before discussing the absurd discourse around in-person education that pres...
Sam and Emma catch up on the big Thanksgiving weekend’s worth of news! They begin by looking forwards, running through what we might see in the upcoming Senate session, before Sam reflects on the anniversary of Mike Cernovich’s attempted canceling of him (also known as Sam’s birthday). Next, they...
It’s Casual Friday! Sam hosts Heather Digby Parton, contributing writer at Salon and proprietor of the Hullaballoo blog, to wrap up the week in news. Sam and Digby jump right into the completely meaningless victory of the debt ceiling raise that Schumer and Dem leaders are pushing in the hopes to...
It’s Casual Friday! Sam and Emma host Ryan Grim, Washington D.C. Bureau Chief at The Intercept, to wrap up the week in news. Emma, Sam, and Ryan dive right into yesterday’s developments with infrastructure and reconciliation as progressives successfully prevent the vote on the tiny infrastructure...
Sam and Emma host Alex Pareene, staff writer at the New Republic, to discuss the week’s top stories including Biden’s first foreign policy trip to the G7, Manchin’s voting rights bill, and the endless revolving infrastructure negotiations.  Alex, Emma, and Sam start with the Manchin leak, in whic...
Sam and Emma host Benjamin Dixon to discuss the week’s top stories including HR 1 and what GOP-held state legislatures efforts to repeal voting rights, reforming the Senate filibuster rule, and managing expectations for an incomplete Biden term. Then Paul Blest of Discourse Blog joins to discuss ...
Sam and Emma discuss the state of the Senate filibuster, what to expect from Covid relief negotiations and the second Trump impeachment trial. Nomiki joins on the fun half.
Sam hosts David Dayen (@ddayen) to discuss the policy agenda for the Biden administration and the senators that stand in its way.
Sam hosts Adam Jentleson (@AJentleson), former advisor to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, to discuss his new book Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy on how the filibuster negatively impacts American democracy.
Sam hosts Ben Dixon of the Benjamin Dixon Show (@BenjaminPDixon) to discuss a historic week where Georgia run-off brought Democrats control of the legislature and MAGA diehards stormed the US capitol, the first breach since 1814.
Sam hosts Daniel Nichanian (@Taniel) of “The Appeal: Political Report” to discuss how Democrats fared in under-reported local races and Paul Reickhoff (@PaulRieckhoff) joins Sam in the second hour of the show to debate how the Democrats should address their 2020 electoral failures in the coming e...
Sam hosts courts and law writer at Slate Mark Joseph Stern to discuss the Amy Coney Barrett hearings and what has transpired so far on the first day of questioning. Stern and Sam begin their conversation assessing the Democratic party’s strategy leading up to the Barrett hearings and why showing ...
On today’s show, Elie Mystal, Executive Editor at Above the Law, joins us to discuss his cover story in the Nation, “Donald Trump and the Plot to Take Over the Courts.”
We provide live coverage of the Comey hearings. Senator Kamala Harris indicates that evidence may have been destroyed. Senator Cornyn wants to talk Clinton email scandal. Senator Richard Burr does not follow the Republican script on Trump and Russia. Comey says Russia absolutely intended to influ...
Cliff Schecter explains how Trump is going full Alex Jones and full Fascist. Jared Kushner, Ivanka and the campaign’s anti semitism. The irony of Trump’s disgusting campaign. The Right’s fantasy life. Is Hillary’s surge going to start impacting down ballot races? Rob Portman’s political calculati...
Cliff Schecter explains why Trump’s horrible debate and awful tweeting has put the Senate back in play. Trump’s midnight tweeting. Arkansas Attorney General tries to spin for Donald Trump calling on America to look into a sex tape. How will Tim Kaine debate Mike Pence? The extremist Mike Pence re...
MSNBC reporter Irin Carmon explains the new radical anti abortion movement forming at the grassroots, the transparent radicalism of the Abolish Human Abortion movement, what the goals of the “abolition” movement are, why California is starting to base reproductive policy on science, why more heal...
The New Republic’s Jonathan Cohn explained the importance of early childhood education, the impact of poverty on educational outcomes, why daycare providers are so unregulated, the opportunity for smart policy in daycare, why some conservatives are open to improving daycare and the best models lo...