Where It All Starts

Iran launched ballistic missiles at Israel this week, in the latest escalation between the two Middle Eastern powers. But would you believe that 40 years ago the two nations enjoyed a quiet diplomacy? What happened here? And why is the rest of the Middle East once more getting sucked into the rivalry? This week on How We Got Here, Max and Erin explain why “ancient hatred” isn’t to blame, what role...

While Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are vying for the White House, neither will be able to make good on their campaign promises if they don’t also get some help from their respective parties in Congress. Control of both the Senate and the House are up for grabs this election cycle. And right now, Democrats’ quickest path to victory in the House runs through two unl...

Fighting in the Middle East between Israel, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, and Iran dramatically ramped up this week. On Tuesday, Iran launched around 200 missiles at Israel in response to the assassination of longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last week. With the help of the U.S., Israel was able to defend against most of the Iranian airstrikes and prevent significant damage. Prim...

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance met Tuesday for the first and only vice presidential debate ahead of the November election. It’s also likely to be the final debate for both campaigns, making it one of the last big moments before voters decide who will take over the White House. The two men kept things pretty civil over their 90 minutes on stage, and neither committed the kind of e...

The death toll from Hurricane Helene topped more than 120 people on Monday across six states in the southeast. Hundreds are still unaccounted for, and the number of casualties is going up. Juliette Kayyem, faculty chair of the homeland security program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and the author of ‘The Devil Never Sleeps: Learning to Live in an Age of Disasters,’ explains what the ne...

Huge swaths of the Southeast are still digging out from Hurricane Helene after the storm made landfall Thursday night along Florida’s gulf coast. As of late Sunday, more than 90 people were reported dead across six states. Tampa and western North Carolina saw some of the worst damage from the storm. Blue Ridge Public Radio reporter Gerard Albert III joins us to talk about rescue and recovery effor...

The California Attorney General sued Exxon Mobil this week for misleading the public on the sustainability of single use plastics. How did plastics recycling go from an exciting promise to a scam perpetuated by Big Oil? Max and Erin tear into Exxon’s decades-long campaign to unwrap the truth—with help from journalist Oliver Franklin-Wallis and the AG himself, Rob Bonta. Why is it so hard to recycl...

Federal officials on Thursday unsealed an inducement charging New York City Mayor Eric Adams with a litany of corruption and illegal campaign finance crimes, making him the city's first sitting mayor to charged with a crime. But in good news, New York's WNBA team has made it to the league’s semifinals! While 2024 has been a banner year for the WNBA, players have also had to deal with a torrent of...

Vice President Kamala Harris laid out what she called her “pragmatic” approach to growing the economy during a speech in Pittsburgh Wednesday. While Harris has been closing the gap with former President Donald Trump, when it comes to which candidate voters trust more to handle the economy, most polls show he still has the edge on one of the top issues in the race. But it’s not like Trump has parti...

In his final address to the U.N. General Assembly Tuesday, President Joe Biden reflected on his foreign policy legacy and called on world leaders to “end this war” in Gaza. But privately, senior administration officials have reportedly acknowledged that Biden's time is running out to reach a deal for a ceasefire and the return of the remaining hostages to Israel before he leaves office. The prospe...

Let’s talk about polling! A bunch of new polls have us feeling a whole lot of feelings right now. 'Pod Save America' co-host Jon Lovett joins us for a vibe check on the state of the presidential race, and shares what he thinks we should all take away from the latest polls. Later in the show, New York magazine reporter Kevin Dugan explains former President Donald Trump's latest foray into the world...

A slew of new polls shows Vice President Kamala Harris with a slim lead over former President Trump in the must-win swing state of Pennsylvania. With just about a month until Election Day, both presidential running mates spent the weekend campaigning in the state to shore up support for their respective tickets. One person who definitely knows how to connect with voters in Pennsylvania, though, is...

Kamala has offered very few details on her climate and energy plans while openly promoting American fossil fuel production. Yet a lot of climate and environmental groups seem to adore her. What’s going on here?! Max and Erin explain how, even though Harris might sound pretty moderate on the campaign trail, Biden has actually tilted the energy economy so heavily that she’s set up for success. What’...

In a bombshell story Thursday, CNN reported that the Republican candidate for governor in North Carolina, Mark Robinson, made crazy statements on a porn website’s messaging board more than a decade ago. Robinson, who’s also the state’s sitting lieutenant governor, reportedly referred to himself as “a black NAZI” and a “perv.” He wrote about wanting to reinstate slavery, and he admitted to enjoying...

In the week since the presidential debate, former President Donald Trump’s lies about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, have sown chaos in the small city. Members of the Proud Boys, a right-wing extremist group, started showing up. Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said more than 30 fake bomb threats have been called in, forcing schools, government buildings and stores to close temporarily. Dr. R...

Questions continue to mount around the Secret Service two days after a second assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. On Monday, the interim director of the service admitted that agents did not search the perimeter of Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course, where the alleged gunman waited for 12 hours before he was spotted. Former Secret Service agent Michael Matranga talks about the...

Voters in more than 30 states will get to weigh in on elections for their state supreme courts this November, with 82 seats up for grabs. While state judicial races often get overshadowed in a presidential election year, the outcomes of these races have massive consequences on people's lives. It's often state supreme courts that get the final say on local abortion restrictions, redistricting and g...

We're officially fewer than 50 days out from Election Day. While most of the attention has been on the five states that decided the 2020 race for President Joe Biden – Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, and Arizona — there's another state that went for former President Donald Trump that Democrats are putting back in play this year: North Carolina. Trump won the state by a little more than...

2024 is on track to be the biggest year for public stadium subsidies we’ve ever seen. Billionaire team owners keep asking for—and receiving—more exorbitant arenas and upgrades from local governments. But who’s footing the bill? The taxpayers! Even though most economists say the returns from these facilities never live up to the hype, city officials continue to court teams and kowtow to their deman...

Thursday night kicked off the start of week two of the NFL season. And after years of ceding the proverbial playing field to Republicans, Democrats are trying to take back football! Drew Magary, columnist for Defector and SF Gate, explains how adopting the language of football became a winning strategy for Dems heading into November.  And in headlines: Former President Donald Trump insisted he won...

It’s been about a week since federal agents seized the phones of New York Police Commissioner Edward Caban and other top NYPD officials. Caban is one of a few top deputies in Mayor Eric Adams’ administration who are currently under investigation by federal authorities, though details are so far scant. But it’s yet another potential stain on the oldest, largest, and arguably most scandal-prone poli...

On Tuesday night, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump faced off in their first and currently only scheduled presidential debate. The candidates went back and forth on the biggest issues in the election, including reproductive rights, the economy, immigration, and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. But while VP Harris largely stayed on message, Trump often descended into consp...

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are set to square off tonight in their first — and so far only — scheduled debate before the election. The stakes are immense, especially for Harris, who entered the race less than two months ago. Many voters still say they need to know more about her before they cast their ballots. Errin Haines, editor-at-large for The 19th, explains...

Arizona is one of 10 states where voters will get to weigh in directly on abortion access in November in the form of a ballot measure that would enshrine the right to the procedure in the state's constitution. On today's show, we're welcoming our new host of 'What A Day," Jane Coaston. Jane tells us more about her recent trip to Arizona with the 'Pod Save America' guys and speaks with Chris Love,...

Brazil’s power struggle with Elon Musk over censorship on X (formerly Twitter) escalated this week, with the country’s Supreme Court upholding a ban on the platform. 40 million Brazilians lost access to the site, which had come under fire for allowing election deniers to incite an insurrection—sound familiar? Erin and Max take a look at other countries that have enacted similar social media bans,...