Podcast
Politix
Hosted by Politix · EN
Politix is a weekly podcast about the 2024 election from Brian Beutler, Matthew Yglesias, and some occasional guests. We’ll have some good-faith disagreement, some points of consensus, and an overall effort to focus on what’s really at stake in November. Subscribe for new episodes each Wednesday and listen wherever you get your podcasts.
www.politix.fm
www.politix.fm
33episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Ballroom Busters
1w ago00:35:05Tap to summarizeThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmLate in the game, Trump-loyal judges at the federal and state level joined his effort to rig the midterms. Democrats will thus enter this fall’s race for House control at a systemic disadvantage. But for Trump, that’s about the only good news. He’s lost the war he launched against Iran, and keeps falling asleep on the job as an eerie hantavirus outbreak slowly spreads here and abroad. Yet as the public grows more outraged, Trump only seems truly engaged on one highly eccentric suite of issues.In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss:* What the late break of Republican judicial activism means for the midterms, GOP efforts to steal the midterms, and the post-midterm race to gerrymander even more aggressively.* Now that the gerrymandering cycle is cooked for 2026, what more could Democrats do to pad their margins, so that biased maps don’t cost them the House?* Is the hantavirus outbreak something worth treating seriously, or something worth beating Trump over the head with?Then, given the bleak political outlook for the GOP, isn’t it weird that Trump’s only able to sustain focus on building a palace ballroom, and various other monuments to himself? Will Republicans vote to spend a billion dollars on the ballroom? Would it be better (politically, or in schadenfreude terms) for Dems to divide Republicans, so that the ballroom never gets built, or for Republicans to do Trump’s bidding, so that Democrats can tear down the ballroom in 2029? Would Democrats tear down the ballroom? And if they copped out on that, who would be to blame?All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed.Further reading:* Brian argues the Democratic surrender in Virginia, after the adverse, partisan gerrymandering ruling, is a very bad omen for November. * Matt argues the hantavirus outbreak is a reminder that the government should be preparing for the next pandemic, rather than dismantling pandemic prevention programs.* Robert Kagan argues Iran has Trump in checkmate.* Nate Silver on the risk that Democrats will underreact to Republican gerrymandering next year, and leave seats on the table.* Brian in December 2024: The New Gilded Age Will Be Streamed
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F*ck Gerry
2w ago00:44:35Tap to summarizeThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmDemocrats were winning the gerrymandering arms race Donald Trump kicked off last year, and still seem poised for a good fight. But then things changed.In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss:* What does the decision, by Sam Alito and the five other Republican Supreme Court justices to effectively end the Voting Rights Act mean for the gerrymandering fight, and the race for House control in 2026 and 2028?* Should the Supreme Court’s decision, which was widely predicted, make us rethink our assessment of the Democratic Party’s posture in the gerrymandering fight?* Should Democrats lean in to the race politics of the GOP’s campaign to eliminate black representation in the South, or should they heed misgivings within the party about increasing the salience of race in politics generally?Then, do things look any better in the Senate. Fixing this down the line will probably require a Democratic trifecta, which means putting up as many Senate wins as possible. So why have party leaders had such a hard time steering primary voters to viable candidates? Is the crisis in confidence among Democrats in Chuck Schumer feeding bitter infighting within state parties? And what, short of resigning and giving way to a new leadership team, could Schumer do to regain trust in his electoral judgment?All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed.Further reading:* Matt argues Ken Martin is doing a terrible job running the DNC. * Brian notes that even if Democrats win the midterms in a wave, the rump GOP will be the party’s most fascist incarnation yet, and they should prepare for opposition politics with that in mind. * TPM on the Democratic Party’s preparations for Trump-Republican midterm subversion.
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Inside Job?!?!
3w ago00:38:01Tap to summarizeThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmDonald Trump had to be evacuated from the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday, after a “gunman” “attempted” to breach the security perimeter around the dinner hall at the Washington Hilton. But unlike last year, when the entire GOP responded to the killing of Charlie Kirk by attempting a broad civil-society crackdown, this time Republicans have a somewhat different focus: Helping Trump get his palace ballroom built on White House grounds?In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss:* Are false flag conspiracy theories coming back into vogue on the left because it’s taboo to point out that Trump makes politics angrier and more violent?* Is it more that everyone knows Trump’s character is so poor that he would fake an attempt on his life to gain political advantage?* Are lesser forms of radicalism justified in response to his affronts, or is it all counterproductive?Then, what the f&ck has any of this got to do with the White House ballroom? Will Republicans bully Democrats into authorizing its construction? Will Republicans bite the bullet and finance the ballroom through budget reconciliation? Can we trust any Democratic presidential candidate who won’t commit to demolishing the ballroom? And what was the White House Correspondents’ Association thinking by extending an invitation to a president who wants to destroy journalism as a vocation?All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed.Further reading:* Brian argues politics in America are unusually violent not just because of Trump’s words, but because he governs like a tyrant, and oppression swells the ranks of indivdiuals who choose to take matters into their own hands. * Matt argues that lowering prices is a better approach to public anger than (e.g.) “microlooting.”* A Manhattan Institute survey found that 46 percent of Democrats believe “the assassination attempt against Donald Trump in July 2024 was orchestrated by his supporters to increase sympathy for him.”
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Matt And Brian Solve The Vibecession
4w ago00:49:10Tap to summarizeThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmDonald Trump has, in fact, damaged the economy. He’s juiced inflation and weakened the labor market and created deep uncertainty. But the public seems to think things are worse now than at any time since the Great Depression. And that is empirically not true. So in this episode, Matt and Brian try to unravel the mystery of why perception and reality have departed from one another so dramatically.* Does Trump in some sense deserve this economic discontent, for fanning it on the campaign trail and selling lies about lower prices, only to govern corruptly and incompetently?* Is Trump just as much a victim as Democrats of a new media era in which negativity drives attention?* And if smartphones and social media really are the main drivers of discontent, how much is due to viral misinformation, and how much is due to a more generalized malaise that arises from hours wasted scrolling?Then, if weak economic sentiment is only loosely tied to real economic conditions, what can Democrats do about it? This episode contains real, actionable ideas: how to message through economic challenges; how to instill confidence in voters across lengthy campaigns, without overpromising; how to exploit right-wing governing failures for maximum partisan benefit. All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed.Further reading:* Matt on the Tyranny of Democratic Plansmaxxing.* Brian on how MAGA is devouring itself before our eyes.* Arin Dube’s new book on persistent labor market weakness and how to fix it.
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Norm, Or Fascin'
Apr 1500:40:40Tap to summarizeThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmMatt’s away this week. Or since he’s in London, maybe we should say he’s “on holiday” with a funny accent. In any case, Brian’s piloting solo this week, and since he’s always going on about “fighting,” we wanted to give the concept clearer shape. In this conversation, Brian and the veteran political scholar Norm Ornstein discuss:* When did needed political reform in America stop pertaining to modernization and become a more existential campaign to fascism-proof democracy?* How have Democrats done so far, given that they’re the minority party in both the House and Senate?* What could change between now and the midterms to better discharge their obligations?Then, a look ahead. First: If Democrats win the midterms, what would resistance worthy of the Hungarian opposition look like in practice? What under-utilized tools should Democrats exploit? Where does impeachment fit in all this? Then: If Democrats have a chance to rebuild in 2029, what would it take to convince ourselves and the world that we’re really not going back this time? And—perhaps most important of all—is there any indication that the party, as currently staffed and led, has gamed this all out and begun preparing to act?All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed.Further reading:* Brian on what Democrats should—and shouldn’t—learn from Hungary.* Brian on Trump’s plan to conceal, destroy, or sell the evidence of his corruption, perhaps before the midterms.* Norm and Madeleine Dean on reining in the pardon power.
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The Hasan Of All Fears
Apr 800:39:43Tap to summarizeThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmAs we were all waiting on tenterhooks after Donald Trump threatened to wipe out Iranian civilization, Matt and Brian took a step back to examine why Democratic opposition to the Iran war hasn’t pierced public consciousness.* Is Democratic infighting over the status of Hasan Piker a proxy for internal divisions over the war and the U.S. relationship with Israel?* Is Matt right that Dems have opposed the war as aggressively as they oppose (e.g.) cuts to health care? Or is Brian right that they haven’t received much credit for their war opposition, because they aren’t really acting like you’d expect an opposition party to act in the midst of an existential crisis?* Would a more procedurally aggressive form of opposition—impeachment resolutions, calls for an arms embargo—allow Democrats to appeal to marginal voters without necessarily “legitimizing” specific influencers, who tend to have bad ideas about all kinds of issues? Then, are Dems stuck in an issue trap, or are they mainly uncertain of themselves because they’re leaderless? Do they need to make demonstrable moves to the right on issues like immigration, or do they need to echo charismatic figures like James Talarico and John Ossoff who have staked out mainline views on immigration and Israel with an unusually deft touch? Do they need a hard reset, the way Republicans did after George W. Bush’s presidency ended in failure, or is the Biden legacy mostly tarnished by his age, his allegiance to Benjamin Netanyahu, and the fact that he failed to vanquish fascism?All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed.Further reading:* Matt has progressive views about some things.* Brian thinks Hakeem Jeffries should use his power to force impeachment votes to stage a referendum on the Iran war.* On the attempted cancelation of Hasan Piker.
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Sui Generic?
Apr 100:42:34Tap to summarizeThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmDonald Trump hasn’t been this unpopular since he incited an insurrection. But he’s still at least a bit more popular than an entity called The Democratic Party.In this episode Matt and Brian discuss:* Do Democrats deserve any credit for Donald Trump’s political woes?* How should we square Democrats’ impressive performance in special and off-year elections with their underwhelming performance in the generic ballot?* If Democrats change nothing between now and November, would they win big by default, or disappoint, leaving everyone wishing they’d undertaken a more serious rebranding?Then, since nobody disagrees that Democrats have become toxically unpopular, we get at why? To what extent is it contemporaneous frustration with the weakness of the Democratic opposition, and to what extent is a longer-run disaffection with a party that’s moved left over the past couple decades. Have Democrats really changed stripes? Or are they right where they “should” be, given long-run liberal commitments to a robust welfare state and civil equality?All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed.Further reading:* Brian argues Dems don’t necessarily need to sweat their generic ballot woes, but can only fix them by picking more fights with Donald Trump.* Matt thinks Democrats’ uniform moves to the left since 2008-2012 are the culprit.* Ta-Nehisi Coates on the counterproductive aspects of intersectional political rhetoric: “If you can extend the the temporality out just a little bit of the struggle I think it makes the mistakes not better, but understandable. It’s very, very hard to get any movement of humans to always act right, speak right, talk right. I really, really wish people read more about the civil rights movement deeply because they were fucking up all the time.”
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Tempest In A TSA Cup
Mar 2500:37:35Tap to summarizeThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmDonald Trump seems to want out of the Iran war AND out of the Department of Homeland Security shutdown. But only if he can get out by being an even bigger asshole. In this Matt and Brian discuss:* Trump’s latest, inscrutable, and quite likely corrupt machinations to end his war of choice (or at least prosecute the war without throttling global oil supply);* Signs that Republicans are catching more heat than Democrats for the DHS shutdown (and the ensuing long lines at airports);* Whether it was wise or unnecessarily risk averse for Democrats to offer to fund TSA and other non-immigration components of DHS (to avoid blowback from weary travelers).Then, does the fact that Democrats have maintained unity in this fight for the past 40 days redeem Chuck Schumer at all? (No.) If not, does it suggest that the Senate Democrats who lost confidence in him aren’t really that interested in fighting after all? Will this kind of fighting help Democrats improve their abysmal approval numbers and lagging generic-ballot numbers? Or are they simply unpopular because they’re out of step, policy-wise, with the electorate?All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed.Further reading:* Brian argues that the real problem with Democrats’ policy agenda isn’t that it’s too far left, per se, but that it will, once again, crowd out the more pressing matters of democracy protection and accountability for fascism.* Matt on the most perverse reason Trump hasn’t quite chickened out of the war.* Perception of partisan ideology, by party ID.
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Mr. Hollen's Opus
Mar 1800:46:42Tap to summarizeThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmDemocrats are caught in a new and somewhat troubling fad, in which they promise working-class people extremely broad tax cuts, which, in practice, would make expanding the safety net all but impossible.In this Matt and Brian discuss:* The Oscars!* What are these policies, where do they come from, and what would they mean, in practice, for other elements of the Democratic agenda?* Is there tension between Revenuemaxxing™️ and Billionairemogging™️, and can it be resolved?* Given all that will need to be rebuilt post-Trump, should Democrats embrace fiscal responsibility, or might there be some advantage to playing chicken with Republicans over the future of the American welfare state?Then, Donald Trump seems pretty panicked about the consequences of his misbegotten Iran war. But not enough to chicken out. At least not yet. Why is that? What are the peculiarities of the global energy market that might explain it. If he’s waiting for global oil futures to hit crisis levels, what kinds of developments in the war might send it there? And can we count on Democrats to oppose war funding?All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed.Further reading:* Matt on quagmires. * Brian on how the Iran war exposes the shallowness of the U.S. elite.* The Yale Budget Lab on the Van Hollen tax plan.* Matt Zeitlen on the oil shock. (Spoiler: it’s bad.)
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Falling Off The TACO Truck
Mar 1100:38:57Tap to summarizeThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fmDepending on whether you believe Donald Trump, or Donald Trump, or Donald Trump, his war in Iran is “very complete” or “just beginning” or “both.”In this Matt and Brian discuss:* Has Trump finally set in motion a disaster he can’t contain?* What does TACO mean when others have a say over the disposition of events?* Are we doomed to reprisal attacks and a long-lasting energy crisis?Then, what the hell is Jared Polis thinking?! The governor of Colorado is apparently planning to commute the sentence of Tina Peters, a former election official who tried to help Donald Trump overturn the 2020 election. Should Polis’s partisan and ideological allies try to stop him? How? Is he acting purely in response to Trump’s threat of reprisals? And to the extent he really thinks it’s a good idea, what are his obligations as a retiring elected official serving at a time when liberal democracy is under severe threat?All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed.Further reading:* Brian asks why elites seem just as easily duped as MAGA nobodies. * Matt’s prescient piece on the moral failure of liberal leaders to not act selfishly.* Should Colorado Democrats impeach Jared Polis?
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