Stateside with Kai and Carter

In an interview this week, Donald Trump was asked to give his assessment of why Republicans lost so badly in the midterms. Along with gas prices, the president blamed 'a dislike for Israel' among voters. It’s an acknowledgment that might not be made by some senior figures in the Democratic party. For years, there have been calls for them to change their stance on Israel, and now those calls are coming from newly elected members in the House and Senate. Kai Wright speaks to Moustafa Bayoumi about why the fight over Israel in the Democratic party is just beginning, and what an influx of lawmakers winning on pro-Palestine platforms means for the future of AipacPhoto credit: AP Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Starting today, Stephen Miller is officially Donald Trump’s chief of staff. Now what? Kai Wright speaks with Ben Rhodes, co-host of Crooked Media’s Pod Save the World and a former deputy national security adviser to Barack Obama, about why Trump is handing even more power to Miller after Republicans’ thrashing in the midterms. Will Miller – the architect behind Trump’s mass deportation agenda – lead Trump to meddle even further in Cuba, the Panama canal and elsewhere? Plus, with Thomas Massie and others in Congress now threatening to impeach Pete Hegseth, Rhodes explains how Democrats will have to pull a “reverse Doge” if they want to restore the Department of Defense. (This episode was recorded at Crooked Media’s Crooked Con in DC.)Photo credit: AP Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The tech industry spent big on the midterms, but it turned out to be a poor investment. Elon Musk poured a staggering $446m dollars into Republican-aligned political action committees (Pacs) and groups since last year, but his efforts didn’t pay off. Democrats won every one of the five Senate races where Musk’s America Pac spent the most money backing Republican candidates. Carter Sherman and Kai Wright are joined by the Guardian’s US tech editor, Blake Montgomery, to ask what the ‘blue tsunami’ will mean for Musk and the wider tech industry. Will this spell the end of AI datacenters? And if so, what could this mean for the US economy? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The historic Democratic victories in the 2026 midterm elections were more than just a rebuke of Donald Trump and his Maga movement – they are a five-alarm fire for the Republican party itself, which may be on the verge of collapse. The sweeping wins in GOP strongholds like Texas, Iowa and Kansas reveal an electorate that is fed up and eager for change. But that anger could turn on Democrats – quick. Now that they run Congress, what can the fractured Democratic coalition achieve? And will they do enough to keep voters on their side in 2028? Kai Wright and Carter Sherman break down what we know about this once-in-a-lifetime election and how this new Congress has the potential to be the most consequential since Reconstruction.Image credit: Reuters Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jennifer Welch is a Democrat who isn’t afraid to call out her own party. Her podcasts I’ve Had It and IHIP News, which she co-hosts with friend Angie Sullivan, have attracted a loyal fan base that loves to hear them preach something they like call "fuck you politics". An influential voice within the leftwing media ecosystem, Welch believes "fuck you politics" may be the key to winning over voters in red regions of the US – such as her home state of Oklahoma. Carter Sherman speaks to Welch about why rage has come to define these midterms, and whether Democrats have done enough to harness it. Welch also reveals her own limits when it comes to going low, and her message to Democrats if a "blue wave" materializesHow two blonde suburban moms gave Democrats an answer to the rightwing media ecosystem Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are the Democrats really going to take Texas? If there is going to be a blue wave, as polling suggests, winning the Lone Star State is going to be essential. James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for US Senate, is currently leading against Ken Paxton, a scandal-ridden, political survivor. Even the governor’s race in Texas, pitting Greg Abbot, the current governor, against Gina Hinojosa is within the margin of error. These elections, and ultimately control of the US Congress, are likely to be decided by one key demographic – Latinos. Hispanic men were key to Donald Trump’s 2024 win. But news commentator Carlos Eduardo Espina and pollster Stephanie Valencia tell Kai Wright there are signs that the economy, the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign and Republican redistricting efforts are backfiring and Latinos seem to be swinging back to Democrats this year. Espina and Valencia break down what we really mean by “the Latino vote” and how those voters might just swing right back next election if Democrats aren’t careful.Image Credit: AP Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A nine-month Guardian investigation has revealed that when a landlord evicts someone in Louisiana, they can choose to file the eviction in a venue where a portion of the court fee goes directly into the pocket of the judge.The Guardian found one justice of the peace in the suburbs of New Orleans who may well be the highest paid judge in the country. His court took in nearly $1 million in revenue last year. And he personally took home over $400,000. Somehow, this is all legal. Kai Wright speaks with Guardian US southern bureau chief Oliver Laughland and data editor Will Craft about the real life ramifications of this system for tenants and Laughland and Craft explain how they dug through more than 11,000 pages of eviction records to discover this little noticed judicial system that evicts thousands of people a year. A former judge called the system “blatantly unconstitutional.”Oliver Laughland and Will Craft’s Guardian investigation on the “Big Business” of evictionsImage credit: Annie Flanagan Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Benjamin Netanyahu is in the fight of his political life. Voters in Israel are heading to the polls today to decide an election that could determine whether Netanyahu will remain the country's prime minister (and affect the outcome of the corruption charges against him). But the Israeli election also arrives at a time when voters around the world seem to be rejecting authoritarianism. A student-run movement stunned the world on Sunday when its candidates routed Serbia's long-serving leader, Aleksandar Vučić. That same day, Brazilians beat back a campaign by Flávio Bolsonaro — the son of Jair Bolsonaro, the disgraced former president — in a historic upset. Carter Sherman speaks to Julian Borger, the Guardian’s senior international correspondent, about how these four elections could reshape the political world order in just 10 days, and why the upcoming US midterm elections are the biggest test for global democracy.Julian Borger on ten days that could shake the worldImage credit: Amir Cohen/Reuters Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s You Can See Everything has packed movie theaters and set records at the box office. It’s also kicked off a debate about, well, pretty much everything that happens on screen – including whether the film's subjects, notorious fraudster Elizabeth Holmes and her mysterious partner Billy Evans, can ever be trusted. Carter Sherman and Guardian arts writer Adrian Horton break down Horton's five-star review of the film, analyze Evans's most shocking moments and chart Holmes' trajectory from girlboss to (maybe) tradwife. They want to know: how did ideas about gender and sex shape this film? Contains spoilersImage credit: A24 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, the Department of Justice charged 28 green card holders in California over alleged voter fraud. It’s the latest move by the Trump administration to crack down on noncitizen voters, and part of a wider push to throw the results of the midterms into doubt. In today's episode, Carter Sherman and Kai Wright are joined by George Chidi and Sam Levine, two reporters who have spent years covering Donald Trump’s attacks on voting rights. They analyze the tactics being used to purge voter rolls, and look ahead to how Trump might react if the results on election day don’t go his way.Image credit: AFP/Getty Images Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.