The Political Scene | The New Yorker
Channel Details
The Political Scene | The New Yorker
Join The New Yorker’s writers and editors for reporting, insight, and analysis of the most pressing political issues of our time. On Mondays, David Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker, presents conversations and feature stories about current events. On Wednesdays, the senior editor Tyler Foggatt g...
Recent Episodes
283 episodes
Why Is Donald Trump Picking a Fight with Canada?
The Washington Roundtable explores how Donald Trump’s wars of choice abroad, whether using tariffs or bombs, are dragging down his popularity at home....
Kai Bird on Roy Cohn, a Founding Father of Donald Trump’s America
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 tim...
Introducing “Master Plan: The Kingmakers,” from The Lever
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-winnin...
Can We Learn Anything from the Lindsay Clancy Trial?
The New Yorker contributing writer Eren Orbey joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss the trial of Lindsay Clancy, who is accused of murdering her three childr...
Jon Lovett Answers Your Questions
In the 2026 midterm elections, close finishes in crucial swing states have put a spotlight on the divide between the Democratic Party’s moderate and p...
General David Petraeus on the New Rules of War
The Washington Roundtable’s Susan B. Glasser interviews General David Petraeus about where the conflicts in Iran and Ukraine might be headed and what...
The Shifting Meaning of “Moderate”
The New Yorker contributing writer Jon Allsop joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss the shifting meaning of the word “moderate” in the 2026 election season....
Bernie Sanders and Erin Brockovich Take on Data Centers
1. The data centers that power artificial intelligence are being built at a rampant pace, and are spurring resistance all over the country. Apart from...
Gina Raimondo on Reclaiming the American Dream in the Age of A.I.
The Washington Roundtable’s Evan Osnos interviews the former Commerce Secretary and Rhode Island governor Gina Raimondo about a problem she’s been wor...
What Is Ibogaine and Why Is Trump Talking About It?
The journalist Michelle Lhooq joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss her reporting on ibogaine, a psychedelic that has recently been embraced by the right—inc...
How Socialist Is the D.S.A.? Megan Romer Explains
One of the biggest stories of this election cycle is the emergence, for the first time in a long time, of socialism as a force on the national stage....
Andrew Weissmann Thinks Donald Trump Can Be Held to Account
The Washington Roundtable’s Jane Mayer interviews Andrew Weissmann, a former prosecutor for the Department of Justice who served as a lead member of t...
Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed Is “Not a Burn-It-Down Kind” of Candidate
Michigan’s Senate seat is a must-win for Democrats hoping to take control of the Senate in 2026. The midterms are reflecting a surge of energy behind...
Obsession-Worthy Stories: A Washington Summer Roundtable
The Washington Roundtable reflects on the stories they’ve been following this summer, touching on the “power mourners” at Lindsey Graham’s funeral, An...
The Woman Who Took On the N.R.A. After Two Gun Suicides
The New Yorker contributor Mike Spies joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss the story of a woman who lost two partners to suicide by firearm and then spent y...
One Refugee’s Journey Through ICE Detention
In 2025, as ICE was struggling to meet an impossible goal of three thousand immigration arrests per day, the agency took an unprecedented step: pickin...
Congress Used to Work. What Happened?
The Washington Roundtable is joined by Carl Hulse, the New York Times’ chief Washington correspondent, to discuss Congress’s dwindling role in the Ame...
What Biden Officials Wish They Had Done Differently in Gaza
The New Yorker staff writer David D. Kirkpatrick joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss the Biden Administration’s failure to restrain Israel during its milit...
Rahm Emanuel Says Israel’s Path Is “Not Sustainable Politically”
Rahm Emanuel is a Democratic Party elder, having served in the Clinton and Obama Administrations and as mayor of his native Chicago for two terms. He’...
Donald Trump Can’t Quit the 2020 Election
The Washington Roundtable discusses Donald Trump’s latest attempt to relitigate the 2020 election. In a prime-time speech on Thursday, he argued that...
Can California Actually Make Billionaires Pay?
Dave Regan, the president of the prominent California union S.E.I.U.-United Healthcare Workers West, joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss Proposition 40, a...
How an Estimated Seven Hundred Thousand People Have Died from DOGE’s U.S.A.I.D. Cuts
The Department of Government Efficiency, better known as DOGE, has officially been terminated. Its July 4th sunset date was part of Donald Trump’s ori...
The Platner Implosion, and What It Means for Democrats
The Washington Roundtable digs into the stunning collapse of Graham Platner’s Senate campaign in Maine, and what it means for the Democratic Party’s p...
How the Supreme Court’s Conservative Supermajority Is Reshaping Executive Power
The New Yorker contributing writer Ruth Marcus joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss the Supreme Court’s now concluded term and what some of the recent decis...
From Critics at Large: An American Playlist
The Washington Roundtable will return next Friday. To commemorate two hundred and fifty years of the American experiment, the hosts of The New Yorker’...
America at 250: A View from Britain, with “The Rest Is History”
Americans tend to see the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War as milestones in world history that inaugurated the era of modern demo...
Donald Trump's Dangerous Politicization of America's Spy Agencies
The Washington Roundtable is joined by Jeff Stein, the veteran political reporter and founding editor of the newsletter “Spytalk,” to examine Donald T...
Robby Hoffman Thinks There Are Worse Things Than Being Offended
The comedian and actor Robby Hoffman, known for her role on the HBO show “Hacks” and her début Netflix comedy special, “Wake Up,” joins Tyler Foggatt...
Hillary Clinton on How Donald Trump Lost the Iran War
The former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sat down with David Remnick at the 92nd Street Y, in New York, on Monday evening, after the Trump Admini...
The Politics of the Big Game
The New Yorker staff writers Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Louisa Thomas join Tyler Foggatt to discuss three recent collisions of sports and polit...
Rachel Goldberg-Polin on Losing a Son in Gaza.
When Rachel Goldberg-Polin’s son, Hersh, was taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023, she became a prominent spokesperson for the families of Israel...
Donald Trump’s Imperial Birthday Spectacle
The Washington Roundtable discusses Donald Trump’s eightieth birthday, on Sunday, with a look at the pageantry and spectacle surrounding the planned U...
The Abuse That Fueled Andrew Tate's Media Empire
The New Yorker investigative reporter Heidi Blake joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss her reporting on Andrew Tate, the British American influencer and fig...
Jack Schlossberg, the Kennedy Running for Congress in New York
Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of John F. Kennedy, was one of a number of Kennedy family members who spoke out against the policies and the character...
The Washington Roundtable Live: The Backlash Midterms
The Washington Roundtable discusses the 2026 midterm elections and the prospects of a comeback for the Democratic Party with The New Yorker’s editor,...
Trump’s Self-Dealing and the Question of Kleptocracy
The New Yorker staff writer David D. Kirkpatrick joins Tyler Foggatt and Andrew Marantz to discuss his investigation—published in August, 2025—into th...
Dan Osborn, the Independent Senate Candidate Who Could Tip Nebraska
As control of the Senate hangs in the balance, many eyes are on Dan Osborn, of Nebraska. He’s a dream candidate for the Democrats: a mechanic in the f...
The Whiplash of the U.S.-Iran Peace Talks
The New Yorker contributing writer Robin Wright joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss the state of peace talks between the U.S. and Iran. They talk about the...
The U.F.C. President, Dana White, on Donald Trump: “He’s Not a Racist”
There will be a variety of celebrations to honor America’s two-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary this year. Much of it is to be expected: fireworks, re...
Is Washington Up to the Challenge of A.I.?
The Washington Roundtable discusses the growing political backlash to artificial intelligence, especially among young Americans, and asks whether Wash...