The Bill Press Pod

Bill discusses the implementation of Project 2025 with David Pepper, former Chair of the Democratic Party in Ohio and author of our special podcast series, Trump’s Project 2025: Up Close and Personal. Project 2025 is a draconian blueprint for a second Trump term prepared by the Heritage Foundation. And now we face the implementation across all elements of society. The discussion covers the da...

Bill and three top Washington journalists on the surprising result of the election, with Sudeep Reddy, Senior Managing Editor at Politico, Ginger Gibson, Senior Washington Editor at NBC News and Igor Bobic, Senior Politics Reporter at HuffPost.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

It's Election Day but we won't know the outcome for many hours, or even days. After we voted, there's not much more we can do. So today we're offering an alternative to politics, an interview with one of the most prolific spy novelists in history. He was Bill's producer at CNN and now Daniel Silva is the internationally acclaimed novelist whose main character Gabriel Allon, has captured the imagin...

Hate Fest at the Garden. Harris at The Ellipse. Trump: Shoot Liz. Women’s Secret Ballot. Which Issues Matter? Michelle Addresses Men. Who Will Win? With Philip Bump, Washington Post National Columnist and author of the How To Read This Chart newsletter, Lynn Sweet, Columnist and Washington Bureau Chief at the Chicago Sun-Times and David Jackson, National Political Correspondent for USA TODAY....

Chapter 12 chronicles the demise of our fictional magazine, Capital Monthly. The pressure from the White House, from advertisers and from Social Media algorithms kills the independent journalism that was documenting what life was like under Donald Trump's second term guided by Project 2025. As our host, Bill Press, of The Bill Press Pod says in the episode: “It’s not too late to change some m...

In Chapter 11, set in November in Tallahassee, fictional Florida, Governor Buck Bryce confidently addresses the press regarding Hurricane Timothy, initially predicted to be a manageable Category 1 storm. However, the hurricane unexpectedly strengthens to a devastating Category 4 upon landfall, causing widespread destruction and significant loss of life. The governor, previously assured by Washingt...

The two leading mental health professionals, Dr. John Gartner, formerly a Visiting Professor at Johns Hopkins Medical School and the man behind the Duty to Warn Twitter feed and Dr. Vincent Greenwood, Founder and Executive Director of The Washington Center for Cognitive Therapy, warn that Donald Trump exhibits signs of serious mental and cognitive decline, including malignant narcissism and early-...

Focus on Georgia. Trump to NYC. Harris to TX. Who’s Gonna Win? Kelly: Trump Fascist. Trump Sex Scandal. Trump Threatens Press. With Maya King, Politics Reporter covering the south for The New York Times, Gabe Debeneddetti, National Correspondent for New York Magazine and Jeff Dufour, Editor in Chief of The National Journal.  Today’s Bill Press Pod is supported by the American Federation...

The first part of Chapter10 introduces the fictional character Dr. Joy Brewer, a dedicated researcher focused on studying cancer clusters affecting Black Americans. Joy learns from her colleague, Dr. Matthias Kunz, that all federal grants linked to race or gender are being canceled, jeopardizing her life’s work. Despite her attempts to advocate for her essential research, the political climate for...

The story follows fictional Private Troy Marquis, who attends a tense early morning briefing at a military reserve base in Philadelphia. Troy is told that a radical group, Antifa, has invaded the city, prompting a second-term President Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act.  US law currently prohibits the military from operating on US soil. However, the Insurrection Act of 1807 gives the...

Today's guest on the Bill Press Pod is veteran journalist and presidential historian Jonathan Alter. His new book, American Reckoning: Inside Trump’s Trial―and My Own is out today. Alter believes this election is the most pivotal since the Civil War, with democracy itself at stake. A Trump victory could lead to the establishment of an authoritarian, even fascist government. The conviction of Trump...

Trump’s “Music Fest.” Trump Going Silent? Harris Everywhere. Trump: Use Military vs Political Foes. MD Senate Race Close. TX Senate Race Close. Sinwar Killing. Biden to Europe Now? With Jason Dick, Editor-in-chief at CQ Roll Call, Sarah Wire, Senior national political correspondent for USA TODAY, Tom LoBianco, National Politics Reporter 24sight News, and John Bennett, White House Corresp...

Project 2025 proposes to eliminate the Department of Education and divert federal education funding into universal school voucher programs, allowing public money to be used for private and for-profit schools. This would result in cuts to critical services and programs at public schools, including mental health counseling, school resource officers, after-school programs, reading/writing specia...

In this episode of Trump's Project 2025: Up Close and Personal, we see the real-life effects of this assault on unions and workers. In our fictional story, two legendary high school football players, Turk Foster and DeAndre McCollum, still relish their past glory. But they are struggling to navigate the rule changes proposed by Project 2025 that undercut the power of unions and tilt the...

Bill talks with David Noll, one of the co-authors of Vigilante Nation. How State-Sponsored Terror Threatens Our Democracy.   The new and important book examines the threat of state-sponsored vigilantism in the United States. The book traces the history of vigilantism in America, such as the Fugitive Slave Act, and Noll argues that the MAGA movement is now trying to institutionalize and normal...

Hurricanes Politicized. Harris Media Blitz. Gaffe on The View. Harris’s Billion. Trump’s Intensified Attacks. Melania Effect? GOP Senate vs Dem POTUS. Trump and Putin. With Ginger Gibson, Senior Washington Editor at NBC News, plus Senior Political Reporter Alex Seitz-Wald, White House Reporter, Katherine Doyle and Political Reporter Allan Smith, all from NBC News. Today’s Bill Press Pod is su...

The story that leads off Chapter 6 of Trump's Project 2025: Up Close and Personal, Mass Deportation Disaster captures the struggles of 12-year-old Alvaro and his mother in a fictional detention center in West Texas. Alvaro expresses his hunger to his mother, who is too weak to properly care for herself. As they navigate the deteriorating conditions of the camp—overcrowded with diminishing food sup...

In Chapter 5 of Trump's Project 2025: Up Close and Personal, Part one, the fictional characters Congresswoman Louise Getty and Senator Wade Stiller, former rivals, meet at the World War II Memorial in Washington D.C. They reflect on their pasts and express concern over a hostile political climate under Trump’s second term, feeling fear and paranoia about being surveilled and targeted by the govern...

The great columnist for The Washington Post Dana Milbank has a hilarious/frightening new book: Fools on the Hill: The Hooligans, Saboteurs, Conspiracy Theorists, and Dunces Who Burned Down the House .  Bill’s conversation with Dana highlights the perceived incompetence and extremism of the current Republican House members, including figures like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Kevin McCarthy. Milb...

VP Debate Fall-out: Re: 2020 Election Lie. Re: Abortion. Cheney’s Impact. Melania’s Pro-choice! Jack Smith Revives J6. Why is the Race Close? Trump’s Grifting. With Lynn Sweet, Columnist and Washington Bureau Chief at the Chicago Sun-Times, Philip Bump, National Columnist at The Washington Post author of the How To Read This Chart newsletter and Amanda Becker, Washington Correspondent fo...

This episode tells the fictional story of a middle school that opens its doors to unvaccinated students after a possible second -term President Trump eliminates Federal funding for schools with vaccine mandates. The story follows the school nurse, Stephanie Morris, as she navigates the influx of unvaccinated students and the resulting disease outbreaks that spread rapidly through the school and co...

In Chapter 3, the fact-based fictional story of Dr. Yvette Hardman and JJ Newsom depicts the dismantling of expertise and science-based decision making in the federal government under a possible second Trump administration guided by Project 2025. Dr. Hardman, an experienced infectious disease expert, is removed from her position at the CDC and replaced by JJ Newsom, an unqualified political loyali...

Bill talks with Karen Tumulty, Associate Editor and Opinion Columnist at The Washington Post about importance of the abortion issue in the 2024 presidential election, particularly in light of Donald Trump's comments on the topic. It highlights Trump's attempts to portray himself as a friend to women despite his role in overturning Roe v. Wade, and the backlash this has faced from the public. They...

Trump on Abortion. Moreno on Abortion. Men Care About Abortion. Trump: Off-Message. Harris=Change? Trump: Robinson Who? NYC Mayor Indicted. VP Debate. Another Pres. Debate? Trump Watches! With Sabrina Siddiqui, National Politics Reporter for The Wall Street Journal, Linda Feldmann, Washington Bureau Chief, White House/Politics Correspondent at The Christian Science Monitor and Kirk Bado, Editor of...

This is a special Bonus Episode: Chapter Two of Trump’s Project 2025: Up Close and Personal depicts the personal story of Eve, a nurse struggling with infertility, whose treatment is threatened by the new president's executive order banning certain fertility treatments. The episode explores how the president's policies would impact everyday Americans, particularly women and families, by interferin...