Podcast Summary

The New Yorker Radio Hour — Episode 55: Final Notes on the 2016 Election
Date: November 4, 2016
Host: David Remnick (WNYC Studios and The New Yorker)

Overview

This episode of The New Yorker Radio Hour explores the unpredictable, turbulent, and emotionally charged atmosphere leading up to the 2016 presidential election. Through satirical sketches, high school simulations, interviews with evangelical leaders, and reflections on cyber politics and email scandals, the show presents a multifaceted look at the election’s impact on politics, journalism, religion, and American society. The episode concludes with a musical piece capturing the hopes and anxieties of a divided electorate.

Episode Structure & Key Segments

1. Satirical “Studio Notes” on the 2016 Election (00:39–05:59)

Format: Scripted comedy sketch Key Voices: Emily Bottin, Sarah Larson, Alex Baron, Russell Moore

Highlights

• The 2016 election is imagined as a movie script, subjected to studio “notes” for plausibility, clarity and storytelling.
• The writers mock the surreal characters and moments: “Does Donald have to be orange?”, “If Ben is the world’s best brain surgeon, why is he written like Pauly Shore with carbon monoxide poisoning?” (01:13–02:09)
• Lampooning memorable real quotes (“blood coming out of her wherever”, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody”), and the implausibility that Trump could still be a contender after multiple scandals.
• Suggested punch-ups (“Basket of Deplorables is clunky… How about cornucopia of reprehensibles?” [04:27])
• Satirical alternative endings, including Obama returning as “Barack from the first film” to save the day, poking fun at fantastical plot solutions.

Tone

Playful, absurdist, sharply satirical—it underscores how real-life events of the election felt stranger than fiction.

2. Editorial Reflection & Mock Election at Townsend Harris High School (05:59–20:16)

Format: Editorial comments, feature reporting
Key Voices: David Remnick, Josh Rothman, Alex Baron, students Daniel Kaldorov (Trump), Mizba Pochi (Clinton)

Key Points

• David Remnick editorializes about the toxic political climate:

  “On the one hand, you’ve got a flawed but deeply intelligent and committed politician. On the other, a demagogue, the likes of which we’ve never encountered in presidential politics, not ever.” (06:10)

• The show immerses listeners in a mock election at a diverse, majority-female NYC high school:
  • Students role-play as major candidates, with Daniel as Trump and Mizba as Clinton.
  • Mizba, the student Clinton, relates personally to Trump’s rhetoric as a Muslim American.
  • Daniel, whose parents are Soviet immigrants, strives to perform Trump “respectfully... I want it to still be kind of light-hearted and fun in a way. I don't really want anybody to really be upset by what I said.” (11:12)
  • Notable incident: Last year’s “Trump” told the Hillary character to “stop PMSing,” leading to outrage—a real moment reflecting the tension of playing controversial figures.
• The simulation includes campaign rallies, media moments, and heated debate:
  • Example: Student Trump barges into a simulated radio show to attack Clinton over emails (“You committed a crime. Hillary Clinton needs to be put in prison, all right? She’s a criminal.” [14:46])
  • Teachers discuss the challenges of modeling empathy and civility in an election where incivility is so prominent.

Notable Quotes

• “He's trying to embody the opposite of what America embodies… and he's ruining it all.” —Mizba Pochi (student “Clinton”) [09:25]
• “I have a lot of sympathy for Daniel the student playing Trump. A few weeks ago, it was incredibly fun to be Trump. Now it’s definitely not. It’s scary, it’s unsettling, and it's uncomfortable.” —Alex Baron [19:32]

Insights

The simulation exposes students to real moral and social questions at the heart of the 2016 election and highlights the challenge of engaging difficult political realities in an educational context.

3. Evangelicals, Politics, and the Election — Interview with Russell Moore (20:16–33:06)

Format: In-depth interview
Key Voices: David Remnick, Caliph Hassaneh, Russell Moore (Southern Baptist Convention)

Key Points

• The traditional alliance between evangelical Christians and the GOP is scrutinized, with special focus on Russell Moore’s dissent from that alliance.
• Russell Moore’s critique of “cultural Christianity” and call for evangelicals to see themselves as a “moral minority,” not a political majority.
  • “The church doesn’t rise and fall with American culture. The church is resilient because the church is bigger than America and bigger than culture and rests in the promises of Jesus himself.” (23:38)
• Moore highlights a generational divide:
  • Older evangelicals support Trump based on Supreme Court nominations and tradition.
  • Younger evangelicals, according to Moore, are “deeply worried about what this awful choice means for the future of America and the church.” (28:46)
• Discussion of racism, religious freedom, and the dangers of political power:

Notable Quotes

• “What I don’t want to see is the kind of Bible Belt cultural Christianity where people are joining churches because it does them some social good. I think that’s harmful to people. I think it’s harmful to the witness of the church.” —Russell Moore [27:32]
• “Christianity is more Christian in a certain sense when it is a minority… power and political power corrupts.” —Caliph Hassaneh paraphrasing Moore [32:48]

Insights

Moore’s position signals a major shift in American religious politics, as prominent Christian leaders question the cost of political entanglement for faith communities.

4. Hacking, Journalism, and the Podesta Emails (33:06–43:03)

Format: Expert discussion
Key Voices: Nick Thompson (interviewer), Steve Coll (Columbia Journalism School), Fabio Bertoni (New Yorker’s lawyer)

Key Points

• Explores the legal, ethical, and journalistic challenges of covering politically significant “stolen” documents, particularly WikiLeaks’ release of John Podesta’s emails.
• Legal expert clarifies: Journalists can publish leaked or hacked documents as long as they did not participate in the original hack (37:09).
• Steve Coll emphasizes the difference between public interest and personal privacy violations, critiquing WikiLeaks’ approach of complete data dumps:

  “I come from a tradition and still believe in the value of filtering… it is indefensible to publish private information about people who are not public figures.” (40:40)

• The discussion reflects anxiety over growing incentives for hacking and the implications for transparency and privacy in politics:

  “The ecosystem that now exists is incredibly rewarding for hackers.” —Nick Thompson (41:31)

Insights

Raises questions about the evolving boundaries of journalistic responsibility, the risks of criminalizing reporting, and the future of digital political warfare.

5. Final Song Project: “Utopia” and Reflections on Voter Emotion (43:03–53:56)

Format: Musical performance & conversation
Key Voices: Michael Friedman (composer), Sarah Larson, Emily Bottin

Key Points

• Michael Friedman shares his closing “campaign song” for the project, “Utopia,” crafted from interviews with a far-left-leaning adult film performer who is ambivalent about voting and expresses both deep despair and utopian hope.
• The interviewee’s story—of homelessness, resilience, and a longing for a future marked by community—is presented as a microcosm of the radical uncertainty and intensity of 2016.
• Post-performance discussion underscores the role of family, emotion, and public schools in shaping political identity:
  • “Voting is so often more an emotional decision than it is a rational decision for a lot of people.” —Emily Bottin (50:52)
  • “For all that we talk about millennials... I felt like I met a lot of really thoughtful, really committed, really confused and sometimes even really upset but thoughtful young people... The kids are all right.” —Michael Friedman (53:16)

Notable Quote from the song:

• “...That is salvation, I think, in the future, like, for people to work less and travel the country and not have a lot of possessions… If we can imagine a world like that and can work towards a means to get there. And it’s beautiful. It’s beautiful.” —Interviewee/Michael Friedman (around 50:00)

Insights

Art powerfully translates the year’s anxieties, hopes, and the stark personal impacts of an environment defined by political and economic instability.

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “On the one hand, you’ve got a flawed but deeply intelligent and committed politician. On the other, a demagogue, the likes of which we’ve never encountered in presidential politics, not ever.” —David Remnick (06:10)
• “Does Donald have to be orange? We're just not sure how that would read visually.” —Emily Bottin (01:13)
• “I have a lot of sympathy for Daniel the student playing Trump. A few weeks ago, it was incredibly fun to be Trump. Now it’s definitely not. It’s scary, it’s unsettling, and it’s uncomfortable.” —Alex Baron (19:32)
• “The church doesn’t rise and fall with American culture. The church is resilient because the church is bigger than America and bigger than culture and rests in the promises of Jesus himself.” —Russell Moore (23:38)
• “I come from a tradition and still believe in the value of filtering... it is indefensible to publish private information about people who are not public figures that involves their medical condition, their psychological condition, or that puts them in imminent harm.” —Steve Coll (40:40)
• “For all that we talk about millennials... The kids are all right.” —Michael Friedman (53:16)

Conclusion

Final Notes on the 2016 Election successfully captures the emotional, social, ethical, and absurd elements of an unprecedented political moment. Through humor, observation, and diverse voices—from the satirical to the sincerely hopeful—the episode both documents and critiques the closing days of a campaign that left the nation changed and uncertain, but not without hope or resilience.