Producer Zoe Chace talks with host Ira Glass about following Senator Jeff Flake, and how when he announced his retirement she thought her reporting had ended.
Host Ira Glass talks with Ben Calhoun about how Democrats are furiously trying to retake New York’s 19th congressional district. The sitting Republican is considered very vulnerable, and has been the subject of weekly protests that even have a house band.
When Jeff Beals learned who was going to run in the Democratic primary for NY-19, he was disappointed. Beals, a progressive, thought the Democrats jumping in were conventional candidates, ones who embodied what he thinks is a failed strategy for his party: raising lots of money from big donors and lobbyists, and buying TV ads.
Ben Calhoun spent months following some key leaders in the Democratic Party, to find out the party’s best strategy for the future. He got some answers.
As a teenager he saw himself as an historical figure, then that ended up becoming true. Producer Zoe Chace tells the story of Newt Gingrich, the man who either reinvented politics or broke it.
A bunch of high school students gets taken to see a movie that’s supposed to teach them about history. But they end up learning about a lot of other stuff instead.
Producer Neil Drumming has steadfastly avoided one bar in his neighborhood because of the controversy that surrounds it—until recently, when he noticed that lots of people he didn’t expect to go there were becoming regulars.
The story of two young people who, in their search to figure out who they were, pretended to be people they weren't. Both were from small towns; both took on false identities.
Ira wonders aloud, when it comes to DACA, with broad support from most Americans, including the majority of Trump voters, leaders of both parties and the president himself: Why is a permanent solution so hard? Why are politics so hard? (2 minutes)
Marshall Project reporter Julia Preston and producer Jonathan Menjivar visit an immigration court in Laredo, Texas to find out how one of Trump’s mandates—to quickly expel immigrants from the US—is going.This story was produced in collaboration with The Marshall Project where Julia is a contributing writer. Julia’s print version of the story, “Lost in Court,” is on the The Marshall Project website.
Senator Jeff Flake goes to the White House and discovers a president who seems to be very open to doing whatever immigration deal the senate brings him. He spends an optimistic 24 hours writing a bill with his bipartisan partners.
Reporter Steve Kolowich goes to the University of Nebraska where one new recruit to Turning Point goes out on campus to sign people up for her club. And that one act immediately devolves into a political battle of epic proportions.