The Political Scene | The New Yorker

The Washington Roundtable is joined by Rahm Emanuel, the former White House chief of staff under Barack Obama, for a discussion about the Democratic Party’s odds heading into the midterm elections. In 2006, as chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Emanuel helped engineer his party’s sweeping electoral victories against an unpopular Republican President. Two decades later, he anticipates Democratic wins across the board, including in the Texas and Iowa Senate races. Emanuel lays out what he sees as an affirmative agenda for the Party, should they take control of Congress for the final two years of President Donald Trump’s term: ethics reform, a minimum-wage increase, an overhaul of the tax code, and a focus on corruption. “The way I talk about corruption is, He wants his ballroom and you’re getting the bill. He wants his arch, and you can’t afford a meal at the Golden Arches. He gets a $450 million plane from Qatar, and you get $4.50 a gallon of gas,” says Emanuel. “You gotta drive the corruption into the wallet.”

This week’s reading:

“Trump’s Repudiation Is at Hand, Right?,” by Susan B. Glasser

“How ICE Is Targeting the 2026 Midterms,” by Jonathan Blitzer

“Can Justin J. Pearson Win in Tennessee?,” by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

“How Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Gave Florida Democrats a Chance,” by Daniel Castro

“How the D.S.A. Learned to Love Elections,” by Benjamin Wallace-Wells

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 Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week.
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A growing portion of the electorate appears to recognize the mayhem President Donald Trump has instigated since returning to the Oval Office. That segment includes some of the people who put him back into office, including Rich Baris, who goes by the People’s Pundit on social media. Baris runs Big Data Poll, and appears regularly on “The Charlie Kirk Show” and other right-wing outlets. But he concurs with nonpartisan pollsters that MAGA is fracturing, and he talks with David Remnick about how the President lost the trust of his base; the contempt MAGA voters have for the old Republican Party; and who might take the reins after Trump.

Further reading:

“The Week Republicans Finally Panicked About Trump,” by Susan B. Glasser

“A Never Trumper and a Democrat on Beating MAGA for Good,” by Isaac Arnsdorf

“How the Internet Fringe Infiltrated Republican Politics,” by Antonia Hitchens

“Tucker Carlson’s Nationalist Crusade,” by Jason Zengerle

“Does MAGA Have Ideas?,” by Joshua Rothman

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 Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week.
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The Washington Roundtable is joined by Alex Gibney, the Oscar-winning filmmaker, to discuss his new documentary, “Musk.” Since July, Elon Musk has poured more than a quarter of a billion dollars into Republican campaigns, more than any other donor in the midterms by a wide margin, and all in plain view. Jane Mayer, the New Yorker staff writer and the author of “Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right,” explains how Musk is bringing political financing by the ultra-wealthy out of the shadows: “He’s the coming-out party for the billionaires.” Gibney argues that Musk’s flagrant spending is less a matter of ideology than one of self-preservation—a way to forestall investigations, protect his companies, and keep the federal contracts coming. How did a single person come to wield this kind of power over our elections, our technology, and even a war on the other side of the world? “He sold us all a dream,” Gibney says, “and we fell for it.”

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This week’s reading:

“Trump’s October Surprise Is a Pivot to Putin,” by Susan B. Glasser

“Who Won the Redistricting War?,” by Jon Allsop

“Kimberly Who?,” by Ruth Marcus

“Donald Trump After the Midterms,” by David Remnick

“Pity the Poor Passport,” by Adam Gopnik

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 Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 Populist Revival in Iowa,” by Peter Slevin

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 Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 Canada Joined the E.U.?,” by Ishaan Tharoor

“Canada, the Northern Outpost of Sanity,” by Bill McKibben

“The Historical Roots of Donald Trump’s Aggressive Nationalism,” by Isaac Chotiner

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 Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices