The Political Scene | The New Yorker

The Washington Roundtable discusses Vice-President J. D. Vance’s week on the world stage: stumping for the Kremlin-aligned Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orbán and being tasked with leading American negotiations in Pakistan to resolve the war with Iran, a conflict he reportedly opposed. The panel explores the events and people that shaped Vance, and how his political evolution toward MAGA may not be enough to make him the Republican Presidential nominee in 2028. “Anyone who comes after Trump is going to have a really hard time inheriting a cult of personality and turning that back into a party,” the staff writer Susan B. Glasser says. Vance is “not this kind of charismatic movement leader.”
This week’s reading:

“The Costs of Trump’s Iran-War Folly,” by Susan B. Glasser

“Trump’s Strategic and Moral Failure in Iran,” by David Remnick

“The Global Stakes of Hungary’s Pivotal Election,” by Kapil Komireddi

“A U.S.-Iran Ceasefire Is Here, but Trump’s Stone Age Mentality Endures,” by Ishaan Tharoor

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

“Israel’s War in Lebanon Has Not Stopped,” by Isaac Chotiner

“An Economist’s Quest to Solve America’s Wage Problem,” by John Cassidy

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. 
Tune in to The Political Scene wherever you get your podcasts.

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The New Yorker contributing writer Ruth Marcus joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss Pam Bondi’s removal from her post as Attorney General. They examine the series of missteps and failures that led to her firing—from her continued mishandling of the Jeffrey Epstein files to her inability to effectively carry out Donald Trump’s efforts to target his political enemies. They also explore the long-term damage Bondi has done to the Department of Justice, and whether her ouster—alongside Kristi Noem’s dismissal as Secretary of Homeland Security—signals a new era of shakeups within the Trump Administration.
This week’s reading:

“Pam Bondi’s Legacy of Flattery and Destruction,” by Ruth Marcus

“A U.S.-Iran Ceasefire Is Here, but Trump’s Stone Age Mentality Endures,” by Ishaan Tharoor

“Sam Altman May Control Our Future—Can He Be Trusted?,” by Ronan Farrow and Andrew Marantz

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

“The Forest Service—a Force Across Rural America—‘Reorganizes’ Under Trump,” by Bill McKibben

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. 
Tune in to The Political Scene wherever you get your podcasts.

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In 2021, when Olga Rudenko and other journalists launched the English-language news outlet the Kyiv Independent, they were committed to making a publication that wouldn’t face political pressure from an owner. A few months later, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the Independent began reporting breaking news from the front lines, and conducting investigations of the Ukrainian government. David Remnick talks with Rudenko, the Independent’s editor-in-chief, about the challenges of reporting in wartime; President Volodymyr Zelensky’s pushback on independent journalism; how Iran and Russia have been providing military aid to one another; and why Ukraine cannot accept the peace deal with Russia that Donald Trump is insisting that it take. 
Further reading: 

“The Assault on Ukraine’s Power Grid,” by Michael Holtz

“What Are Putin’s Ultimate Demands for Peace in Ukraine?,” by Joshua Yaffa

“Ukraine Has ‘Irrefutable Evidence’ of Russia Providing Intelligence to Iran, Zelensky Says,” by Asami Terajima, of the Kyiv Independent

“China, Iran Help Russia Prop Up Economy in Occupied Ukrainian Territories, Report Says,” by Yuliia Taradiuk, of the Kyiv Independent

“Ukraine Heads to US with Drone Proposal Trump Dismissed Before War with Iran,” by Tim Zadorozhnyy, of the Kyiv Independent

“We Interviewed Iran’s Envoy to Ukraine and It Was Absolutely Wild,” by Polina Moroziuk, of the Kyiv Independent 

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. 
Tune in to The Political Scene wherever you get your podcasts.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The Washington Roundtable discusses Donald Trump’s address on the Iran war and the playbook that has defined his career in business and politics when confronted with a crisis: escalate and blame others. The panel discusses how that same playbook is being applied to the Iran conflict with potentially disastrous results. “He’s immune to any possibility of accountability,” the staff writer Evan Osnos says. “That became not just one of the ways he tells his own story but actually how he imagines history will unfold in his hands.”

This week’s reading:

“Donald Trump’s Case for War Fails to Mention How to Win It,” by Susan B. Glasser

“The Team Behind a Pro-Iran, Lego-Themed Viral-Video Campaign,” by Kyle Chayka

“He Helped Stop Iran from Getting the Bomb,” by David D. Kirkpatrick

“How Pakistan Became a Major Player in Peace Negotiations Between the U.S. and Iran,” by Isaac Chotiner

“The Spectacle of War and the Struggle to Protest,” by Jay Caspian Kang

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. 
Tune in to The Political Scene wherever you get your podcasts.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Thousands of federal prosecutors have been fired or have resigned from their roles since Pam Bondi took over as Attorney General. She has made no secret of weaponizing the Justice Department to pursue Donald Trump’s vendettas. One of those prosecutors is Troy Edwards, who quit a senior national-security position in the Eastern District of Virginia. As an assistant U.S. attorney in DC, Edwardshad won convictions against members of the Oath Keepers for January 6th-related offenses. Edwards is also the son-in-law of the former F.B.I. director James Comey, and, when the Justice Department indicted Comey on grounds widely seen as flimsy, Edwards knew he had reached his red line. (The charges were quickly dismissed, though without prejudice.) The New Yorker’s legal correspondent Ruth Marcus talks with Edwards about his decision to leave, how he broke it to his family, and why he thinks other prosecutors should not follow his lead. 
Further reading: 

“Pam Bondi’s Contempt for Congress,” by Ruth Marcus

“The Flimsy, Dangerous Indictment of James Comey,” by Ruth Marcus

“Pam Bondi’s Power Play,” by Ruth Marcus

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. 
Tune in to The Political Scene wherever you get your podcasts.

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