The Chuck ToddCast

Chuck Todd reacts to the breaking news that Trump has fired Attorney General Pam Bondi — the second Cabinet member ousted in a month after Kristi Noem — and warns that what should alarm Americans isn't Bondi's departure but what comes next. He explains that like Jeff Sessions before her, Bondi apparently had lines she wouldn't cross: Trump grew frustrated that she hadn't prosecuted eno...

Chuck Todd reacts to the breaking news that Trump has fired Attorney General Pam Bondi — the second Cabinet member ousted in a month after Kristi Noem — and warns that what should alarm Americans isn't Bondi's departure but what comes next. He explains that like Jeff Sessions before her, Bondi apparently had lines she wouldn't cross: Trump grew frustrated that she hadn't prosecuted eno...

Vanan Murugesan — executive director of Sahan Journal, Minnesota's only nonprofit newsroom dedicated to covering immigrants and communities of color — joins the Chuck Toddcast ahead of Local News Day on April 9th to discuss a dimension of the local news crisis that rarely gets attention: community news deserts. Murugesan explains that even in Minnesota — a state with relatively s...

Chuck Todd delivers a devastating week-by-week timeline of Trump's increasingly incoherent Iran war messaging that reads like a case study in presidential self-entrapment. He reports that military movements on the ground suggest escalation even as Trump's rhetoric promises de-escalation, that Defense Secretary Hegseth was allegedly looking into investments in defense stocks before the war began, t...

Chuck Todd delivers a devastating week-by-week timeline of Trump's increasingly incoherent Iran war messaging that reads like a case study in presidential self-entrapment. He reports that military movements on the ground suggest escalation even as Trump's rhetoric promises de-escalation, that Defense Secretary Hegseth was allegedly looking into investments in defense stocks before the war began, t...

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan — the moderate Democrat, former tech entrepreneur, and Harvard-educated candidate for California governor — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a policy-dense conversation about what's wrong with California governance and how to fix it. Mahan argues that California has enormous resources but isn't delivering better results, and that the best form of resistance to Tru...

Chuck Todd asks the most uncomfortable question in American politics: is the country's current dysfunction a problem that can be resolved at the ballot box, or are we living through a pre-Civil War style pressure buildup where fundamental divisions keep getting papered over rather than addressed? He draws a striking parallel between today's hyperpartisan era — where both parties are simultan...

Chuck Todd asks the most uncomfortable question in American politics: is the country's current dysfunction a problem that can be resolved at the ballot box, or are we living through a pre-Civil War style pressure buildup where fundamental divisions keep getting papered over rather than addressed? He draws a striking parallel between today's hyperpartisan era — where both parties are simultan...

Maryland Congressman Johnny Olszewski — the author of the Pardon Integrity Act, a proposed constitutional amendment that would give Congress the power to reject presidential pardons with a two-thirds supermajority vote — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a frank conversation about fixing a broken democracy and what Democrats should prioritize if they retake the House. Olszewski argues that...

Chuck Todd reveals that Trump's planned visit to Beijing on May 14th and 15th may function as a de facto deadline for wrapping up the Iran war, noting that Trump wants to end the conflict more than the Iranian regime does — a devastating negotiating position — and that his own voters are being hit hardest by soaring gas prices since they drive more than the average American, while lawm...

Chuck Todd reveals that Trump's planned visit to Beijing on May 14th and 15th may function as a de facto deadline for wrapping up the Iran war, noting that Trump wants to end the conflict more than the Iranian regime does — a devastating negotiating position — and that his own voters are being hit hardest by soaring gas prices since they drive more than the average American, while lawm...

Warwick Sabin — president and CEO of Deep South Today, the nonprofit news network that includes the Pulitzer Prize-winning Mississippi Today, New Orleans' Verite News, and Lafayette's The Current — joins the Chuck Toddcast to discuss what may be the most promising model for saving local journalism in America. Sabin, a former three-term Arkansas state legislator and publisher of the Oxf...

Chuck Todd opens by announcing the launch of "Dynastic," his new sports history podcast with J.A. Adande, before turning to what may be the most consequential inflection point of the Iran war: Trump is running out of patience and actively searching for an off-ramp, but every path forward carries serious risks and his definition of victory keeps shifting by the day. Chuck warns that the U.S. contin...

Chuck Todd opens by announcing the launch of "Dynastic," his new sports history podcast with J.A. Adande, before turning to what may be the most consequential inflection point of the Iran war: Trump is running out of patience and actively searching for an off-ramp, but every path forward carries serious risks and his definition of victory keeps shifting by the day. Chuck warns that the U.S. contin...

On the premiere episode of "Dynastic," Chuck Todd and J.A. Adande tell the full history of the Los Angeles Dodgers, from their Brooklyn beginnings, to Jackie Robinson breaking the MLB color barrier, to Kirk Gibson’s World Series heroics, and the Shohei Ohtani era. They examine all the front-office decisions and key turning points that turned the Dodgers into a baseball dynasty. Please FOLLOW...

Suzanne Kianpour — the Emmy-nominated journalist, Semafor columnist, and Iran specialist who joins the Chuck Toddcast for an extraordinarily personal and deeply informed conversation about what's actually happening inside Iran as the war enters its third week. Kianpour paints a picture of a country where people are terrified and staying home, where Persian New Year will not be a celebration,...

Chuck Todd opens with the two stories dominating the weekend: the Iran war's cascading economic consequences and Trump's vile celebration of Robert Mueller's death. On Iran, Chuck warns that rising energy costs with oil above $100 a barrel are not politically neutral — they function as a tax on existence that directly breaches the contract Trump's own voters signed up for — and that Tr...

Chuck Todd opens with the two stories dominating the weekend: the Iran war's cascading economic consequences and Trump's vile celebration of Robert Mueller's death. On Iran, Chuck warns that rising energy costs with oil above $100 a barrel are not politically neutral — they function as a tax on existence that directly breaches the contract Trump's own voters signed up for — and that Tr...

Former Oklahoma Congressman and now president of Americans for Responsible Innovation Brad Carson joins the Chuck Toddcast for a wide-ranging conversation about why AI may be the most consequential policy issue nobody in Washington is seriously addressing. They discuss why  Americans are uniquely pessimistic about AI compared to the rest of the world, and for good reason: huge AI money is pou...

Chuck Todd digs into the wreckage of the Illinois primary — where more than $50 million in outside money from crypto, AI, and AIPAC-linked groups flooded Democratic races — and asks what it means for the future of American democracy when PACs and outside groups are far outspending the actual campaigns they're trying to influence. He credits Stratton for being able to overcome the massi...

Chuck Todd digs into the wreckage of the Illinois primary — where more than $50 million in outside money from crypto, AI, and AIPAC-linked groups flooded Democratic races — and asks what it means for the future of American democracy when PACs and outside groups are far outspending the actual campaigns they're trying to influence. He credits Stratton for being able to overcome the massi...

Amy Littlefield — investigative reporter for The Nation and author of the new book Killers of Roe: My Investigation into the Mysterious Death of Abortion Rights — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a fascinating deep dive into the decades-long campaign that dismantled abortion rights in America, framed through the lens of an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery where the killers turn out to...

Chuck Todd opens with the bluntest assessment yet of the Iran war as it enters its third week: America's position as leader of the free world is unraveling in real time, the risk of mission creep is enormous, and we are now seeing exactly why every previous president chose not to attack Iran. Trump is ranting and begging allies to help secure the Strait of Hormuz. He notes that Trump is even angli...

Chuck Todd opens with the bluntest assessment yet of the Iran war as it enters its third week: America's position as leader of the free world is unraveling in real time, the risk of mission creep is enormous, and we are now seeing exactly why every previous president chose not to attack Iran. Trump is ranting and begging allies to help secure the Strait of Hormuz. He notes that Trump is even angli...

Faiz Shakir — Bernie Sanders' 2020 campaign manager, former DNC chair candidate, and executive director of the progressive media organization More Perfect Union — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a bracingly honest conversation about what's wrong with the Democratic Party and what it would take to fix it. Shakir diagnoses a party that is functionally leaderless, with its top figures stuck...