Inside the Hive

Host Brian Stelter speaks with Stephen Shackelford and Davida Brook, two of the lead attorneys in Dominion Voting Systems' lawsuit against Fox. "We have so much work ahead of us," Shackelford says, because even though Fox paid $787.5 million earlier this year to settle the case, Dominion is still suing many other defendants, including Newsmax and Rudy Giuliani. Those cases are "all proceeding towa...

Host Brian Stelter joins Naomi Klein for a trip into the mirror world, the subject of her unsettling new book, “Doppelganger.” They discuss Klein’s own mirror self—the conspiratorial writer Naomi Wolf—how Steve Bannon shapes political narratives, and the challenges of understanding what’s happening on the ground in Israel and Gaza as an information war plays out alongside the carnage. Learn more a...

The GOP's least favorite party pooper had some choice words after Donald Trump complained about McKay Coppins' new book. Host Brian Stelter explores Mitt Romney's path from Republican standard-bearer to party pariah with Coppins, who interviewed Romney dozens of times for “Romney: A Reckoning.” Coppins discussed Romney’s decision to unburden himself after the January 6 attack; the senator's own co...

Host Brian Stelter breaks down the GOP dysfunction in Congress with Vanity Fair national political reporter Abigail Tracy, who has been covering the speaker fracas from the Capitol, and Brian Rosenwald, the author of “Talk Radio’s America.” They discuss Jim Jordan’s rise from fringe firebrand to the party’s pick, and the toxic synergy between House hardliners and right-wing media. Share your thoug...

Host Brian Stelter gets firsthand perspective on the Israel-Hamas war, first from Avi Mayer, the editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post, followed by Mohammed Mhawish, a Palestinian journalist reporting from Gaza City. Both journalists discuss the physical dangers and psychological toll of covering an unfolding tragedy, along with the challenges of combating disinformation.  Share your thoughts via...

With RFK Jr. expected to launch a third-party bid for president, Vanity Fair special correspondent Joe Hagan tells host Brian Stelter about visiting the Kennedy family compound in Hyannis Port and why he thinks the candidate isn't great for the Kennedy name and legacy. Hagan traces the once-celebrated environmental lawyer’s path down a conspiratorial rabbit hole and describes how Kennedy, despite...

Host Brian Stelter talks with WNYC’s Nancy Solomon and The Messenger’s Dan Merica about the corruption scandal dogging Bob Menendez and how the seemingly teflon senator from New Jersey may finally lose his grip on power. Allegations of gold bars and cash-filled envelopes have led Democrats to call for his resignation, with a 2024 senate race on the horizon. But what if Menendez doesn’t budge? Shar...

On a special episode, host Brian Stelter talks to Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman about Rupert Murdoch stepping down as chairman of News Corp and Fox, the 92-year-old media mogul’s legacy, and the future of his sprawling empire. Theories are flying as to why Murdoch officially passed the reins now to his oldest son, Lachlan, including that it might help the family patriarch avoid testifying in anoth...

Host Brian Stelter talks to Vanity Fair’s Abigail Tracy and veteran political journalist John Harwood about Kevin McCarthy’s failure to control his House GOP caucus as a government shutdown looms. Bombthrowers like Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Lauren Boebert are “not serious people,” says Harwood, a Polis Distinguished Fellow at Duke University. “They're on television, they have podcast...

Host Brian Stelter discusses the Republican Party’s anti-democracy trajectory with Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, Harvard professors and co-authors of the new book “Tyranny of the Minority.” The pair, who sounded the alarms with their acclaimed 2018 book, “How Democracies Die,” discuss increasing threats ahead of the 2024 election, and which constitutional changes could keep America on the pa...

Host Brian Stelter talked to Politico columnist Jonathan Martin about Mitch McConnell refusing to step down despite a couple on-camera, freeze-ups–and how Republican senators (for now, at least) are standing by him. They discuss the 81-year-old Minority Leader’s relationship with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the senate stalwart's response to Trumpism, and how he factors into America’s political g...

Host Brian Stelter takes the pulse of the Democratic Party with Vanity Fair contributing editors Chris Smith and Jennifer Palmieri. They discuss the party's strong bench and possible scenarios if the president and presumptive 2024 nominee, Joe Biden, were to exit the race before election day—from a governor like JB Pritzker or Gretchen Whitmer getting in the ring to Vice President Kamala Harris mo...

Host Brian Stelter explores Donald Trump’s tangled relationship with Fox News with Sarah Ellison, national enterprise reporter at The Washington Post, and Oliver Darcy, senior media reporter at CNN. Trump’s decision this week to skip the first Republican debate on Fox News only escalates his war with the Murdochs, even as the cable channel’s hosts remain largely in the former president's corner. A...

Host Brian Stelter breaks down the Georgia racketeering charges against Donald Trump with Anthony Michael Kreis, a professor at Georgia State College of Law, and Anna Bower, a Georgia native covering legal affairs in Fulton County for Lawfare. They discuss how the case brought by District Attorney Fani Willis differs from Trump's three previous indictments, the likelihood of any of the ex-presiden...

Host Brian Stelter talks to Rudy Giuliani biographer Andrew Kirtzman and Vanity Fair executive editor Claire Howorth about the epic fall of “America’s Mayor” and his decades-long, symbiotic relationship with Donald Trump. “There's something about Rudy that makes Donald Trump swoon,” says Kirtzman, a veteran political reporter who recalled Giuliani as a “calm, fatherly general” in responding to the...

Host Brian Stelter breaks down the latest indictment against Donald Trump with Andrew Weissmann, a former federal prosecutor, NYU professor, and co-host of MSNBC’s “Prosecuting Donald Trump” podcast. The “variety of sources of evidence” in the DOJ’s election case against Trump is “rock-solid,” says Weissmann, and the forthcoming trial, he adds, should not be viewed through a political lens, but ab...

Host Brian Stelter talks with Marc Caputo, national political reporter at The Messenger, about Ron DeSantis’s early stumbles on the campaign trail, as he trims staff and shifts strategy. The Florida-based reporter breaks down why his state’s twice-elected governor (and Fox-friendly culture warrior) has so far failed to wrest the MAGA mantle from Donald Trump.  Learn more about your ad choices. Vis...

Host Brian Stelter discusses the cultural impact of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” with Vanity Fair Executive Hollywood Editor Jeff Giles and Senior Vanities Correspondent Delia Cai, along with the state of an industry in disarray as actors join writers on the picket line. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Trump-loving Congresswoman just got booted from the far-right Freedom Caucus, yet is wielding more power than ever on Capitol Hill. Host Brian Stelter talks with author and New York Times staff writer Robert Draper about Greene’s political path, from pushing QAnon conspiracies to working closely with Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (and feuding with Lauren Boebert.) “I’ve never seen this level...

Host Brian Stelter talks with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Wesley Lowery about the historic challenges of building a multiracial democracy, the focus of his new book, American Whitelash: A Changing Nation and The Cost of Progress. The pair also address how race plays out in the courtroom, on the heels of the Supreme Court striking down affirmative action in college admissions, and in the news...

Host Brian Stelter goes deep on the state of California with Vanity Fair special correspondent Joe Hagan, whose feature on California’s crises is stirring debate this week, and Marisa Lagos, a government and politics correspondent for KQED in San Francisco. They discuss the state’s pressing issues, from homelessness to climate change to crime, along with how California’s challenges are perceived b...

CBS News's Robert Costa joins Brian Stelter to dig into the existing indictments against the former President — and take a close look at the swirling waters ahead. "What has happened here with January 6," Costa says, "remains a systemic shock to the American system." Costa, who co-authored "Peril" with Bob Woodward, says "witnesses, lawyers to witnesses, people familiar with the investigation" int...

Michael Waldman, CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice and author of the new book, THE SUPERMAJORITY, joins VF’s Bess Levin and Claire Howorth to discuss new SCOTUS rulings from a polarizing, polarized court; the ongoing ripple effects of the leaked Dobbs opinion; and the way Donald Trump’s legal issues are shaping up.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The ousting of the CNN CEO Chris Licht on the heels of a damning magazine profile is just the latest symptom of an old order’s waning adroitness across legacy media, digital media, and social media. This week on Inside the Hive, Delia Cai and Hive staff writer Charlotte Klein discuss the prescient Licht profile and what it reveals about media’s larger state of crisis—one where Tucker Carlson has t...

On this week’s episode, Brian Stelter talks to Vanity Fair special correspondent Gabriel Sherman and NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik about how Rupert Murdoch’s empire is covering the early stages of the 2024 Republican race—and whether Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis will emerge as the Fox News favorite. Plus, the trio of Murdochologists assess threats to the 92-year-old patriarch's power co...