The Political Scene | The New Yorker

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

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 Post-Trump Right,” by Emma Green

“The Battle to Pass a Billionaire Tax,” by Nicholas Lemann

“In ‘Musk,’ Alex Gibney Punctures Elon’s Self-Mythology,” by Sheelah Kolhatkar

“ICE Is Everywhere and Acting with Impunity,” by Jonathan Blitzer

“Will Netanyahu Escape His Reckoning?,” by David Remnick

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 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 Jonathan Blitzer

“ICE Is Everywhere and Acting with Impunity,” by Jonathan Blitzer

“The Quiet Unravelling of a Haitian Life in America,” by Ruby Cramer

“The Great Delegalization,” by Dara Lind

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

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 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