The Muckrake Political Podcast

You’re hearing a preview of the Weekender. Get the full episode, bonus shows, and access to our community by subscribing here: http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast. Co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman dig into Trump’s latest authoritarian talk, from musing about skipping elections to floating Insurrection Act crackdowns. They break down reports of ICE ramp-ups in places like Maine, the ex...

Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman take on the Department of Justice opening an investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, a move they argue has nothing to do with accountability and everything to do with pressure and punishment. They break down how Trump’s long campaign against the Fed fits into a larger effort to control interest rates, bend institutions to his will, and reshape...

Support the show and get the full Weekender episode by subscribing to our Patreon at http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast. This is not an easy episode to record, and it is not an easy one to hear. Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman sit down early Thursday to talk about what happened in Minneapolis, where Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother and legal observer, was shot and killed by an ICE age...

On this episode of the Muckrake Podcast, Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman confront what may be one of the most audacious and disturbing moments of the Trump era, which is saying something. The United States uses special forces to abduct Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro while bombing Caracas, then casually announces it will run Venezuela and seize its oil. No congressional authorization. No...

This is a preview of our regular Weekender show released in full every Friday on our Patreon at patreon.com/muckrakepodcast Please support the show by subscribing and unlocking special content as well as access to our discord and live shows. Co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman ring in 2026 with resolutions, sugar hangovers, and a hard look at how a viral YouTube stunt and JD Vance’s meg...

Co-hots Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman return for the final Muckrake episode of 2025, and the vibes are… kinda emotionally stable. They look back on a year that somehow felt darker than 2020, then pivot straight into the current circus: Trump raging at the media, posturing about the Epstein files, hosting Zelensky at Mar-a-Lago, and then parroting Putin’s lines like the Oval Office has a Kr...

Co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman open with brisket talk, then carve into a darker holiday menu. First up, CBS pulls a reported 60 Minutes segment on El Salvador’s CECOT prison after Barry Weiss rides in to “center” the narrative. Then it’s over to TPUSA’s AmericaFest, where Vice President J.D. Vance serves up a white grievance stocking stuffer as conservative influencers snipe at eac...

Support the show by signing up to our Patreon and get access to the full Weekender episode each Friday as well as special Live Shows and access to our community discord: ⁠http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast⁠ Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman break down Donald Trump’s primetime White House address, a rambling, xenophobic meltdown delivered with approval ratings stuck in the mid-30s and no plan t...

A brutal weekend, and a brutal reminder of how broken this moment is. Co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman unpack the shocking killing of Rob Reiner and Michelle Reiner, then get into Trump’s grotesque response and what it reveals about the rot at the top. They also hit the GOP cracks in Indiana redistricting, another U.S. campus shooting, and the grim drumbeat of violence and paranoia t...

Support the show by signing up to our Patreon and get access to the full Weekender episode each Friday as well as special Live Shows and access to our community discord: http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast Co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman kick off the Weekender talking about the bad vibes in the air, which somehow leads to aliens because, honestly, it makes as much sense as anything e...

Co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman dig into Trump’s 2025 National Security Strategy, a 33 page blueprint that reads less like a sober policy document and more like a crypto fascist love letter to white nationalist demographics, spheres of influence, and an American retreat from the postwar liberal order. They break down what it means for NATO, Europe, Russia, China, and why no one in t...

Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman break down the rapidly spiraling Pete Hegseth scandal, the September strike on Venezuelan fishermen, and why the second “rescue” mission amounts to a tacit admission of wrongdoing. They dig into how a non-war became a war crime, the crumbling veneer of U.S. legitimacy, and the political panic now radiating through Trump’s cabinet. From there, the guys turn to...

Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman dig into the reported double-tap strike on fishermen ordered under Pete Hegseth, why both the first and second hits are war crimes, and how Trump somehow manages to both deny and admit responsibility in the same breath. From there they track the widening fallout, from a possible Venezuela strike and resource grab to corrupt pardons for drug traffickers and oli...

Support the show by signing up to our Patreon and get access to the full Weekender episode each Friday as well as special Live Shows and access to our community discord: ⁠http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast⁠ On this Black Friday Weekender, Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman pour a post-Thanksgiving drink and dive headfirst into Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film One Battle After Another, a loose ad...

Co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman break down Donald Trump’s demanded “Thanksgiving peace plan” for Ukraine, a proposal that hands Vladimir Putin everything he wants while threatening to cut off all U.S. aid if Zelensky refuses. They dig into the geopolitical fallout, the long history of American foreign policy blunders that led here, and why this deal rewards invasion, kidnapping, and...

Support the show by signing up to our Patreon and get access to the full Weekender episode each Friday as well as special Live Shows and access to our community discord: ⁠http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast⁠ Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman dig into the so-called “Epstein files” vote, why Trump suddenly wants everything released, and why everyone should expect a Mueller-style scrub instead of...

Co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman dive into the new Epstein email tranche, from Trump’s scramble to sic “his” DOJ on Clinton and Summers to the media’s polite amnesia about who looked the other way. They connect the dots on fixers, blackmail, and a culture of impunity, then pivot to what the fallout means for MAGA’s coalition and why shame no longer moves the needle. Plus, Marjorie Ta...

Support the show on Patreon and unlock special content like our Weekender show every Friday. As a bonus, today's show is released in full in order to hear co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman's analysis on the newly released Epstein emails and what they might, and we stress might, mean for Trump. Then, Nick interviews John Cavanaugh, who is running for Congress in Nebraska. Topics includ...

Nick Hauselman hosts while Jared Yates Sexton joins from the road to break down a “deal” that looks a lot like capitulation, the promised-but-pointless ACA vote, and a wave of fake-elector pardons that clears the board for the authoritarian project. They talk weaponized investigations into Adam Schiff, the media’s selective silence on Trump’s health, and a Gilded Age cosplay at Mar-a-Lago while SN...

This is a preview of our full Weekender. Support the show by signing up to our Patreon and get access to the full Weekender episode each Friday as well as special Live Shows and access to our community discord: http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast In a live Weekender taping, Jared Yates Sexton holds down the fort while Nick Hauselman battles the “Socialist Republic of New York,” then tags in for a f...

Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman kick things off by announcing a live Patreon Q&A this Thursday, November 6 at 5 p.m. ET, then dive into New York City’s mayoral shockwave. They break down Zoran Mamdani’s surge, Andrew Cuomo’s Trump-backed Islamophobic ad blitz, and why the Democratic establishment looks allergic to enthusiasm. From there, they game out what a Mamdani win could mean for AOC, p...

Support the show by signing up to our Patreon and get access to the full Weekender episode each Friday as well as special Live Shows and access to our community discord: http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast It’s a Halloween Weekender so co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman start with candy talk, then dive into the Pentagon’s plan for a 23,500-troop National Guard “reaction force” slated to...

Donald Trump just demolished the entire East Wing of the White House so he can build a $300 million gilded “Presidential Ballroom,” even after promising there would be “no structural damage.” At the exact same time, because of the shutdown, the USDA says SNAP will stop paying out on November 1 and more than 40 million Americans (about 1 in 8 people in this country) are about to lose their food ben...

Support the show by signing up to our Patreon and get access to the full Weekender episode each Friday as well as special Live Shows and access to our community discord: http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast With Jared Yates Sexton out, Coach Nick hosts a two-guest Weekender unpacking how “absolute immunity” is morphing into absolute impunity. Criminal defense attorney Greg Rosenfeld joins from Palm...

Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman unpack a wild weekend where millions protested authoritarianism under the banner of “No Kings,” and Trump responded by posting an AI video of himself as a crowned fighter pilot literally defecating on Americans. They break down what that grotesque image says about power, humiliation, and a party that calls it “satire.” Plus: the GOP’s shutdown strategy, live a...