Isaac Chotiner Sums Up Politics in 2025

The New Yorker staff writer Isaac Chotiner joins Tyler Foggatt to reflect on several of the most notable interviews he conducted in 2025. They discuss competing theories about the origins of political violence over the past year, how to understand President Trump’s approach to power in his second term, and the challenges of covering an Administration that rarely appears to be driven by a coherent ideological framework. They also revisit two high-profile interviews: one with the former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, about her decision to leave the Democratic Party, and another with the legal scholar Cass Sunstein, on the limits of “big tent” politics and his curious friendship with Henry Kissinger. This week’s reading: “In the Wake of Australia’s Hanukkah Beach Massacre,” by Isaac Chotiner “The Federal Judge at the Trump Rally,” by Ruth Marcus “The Year in Trump Cashing In,” by John Cassidy “The Party Politics of Sovereign House,” by Emma Green “Want to Talk to Zohran Mamdani? Get in Line,” by Eric Lach The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine’s writers and editors as they put into context the latest news—about elections, the economy, the White House, the Supreme Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week. Tune in to The Political Scene wherever you get your podcasts.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

In the course of his long career, Leon Panetta was a lieutenant in the Army, a congressman from California, Bill Clinton’s White House chief of staff, Barack Obama’s director of the C.I.A., and later, his Secretary of Defense. David Remnick talks with Panetta about the current Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, the legality of the ongoing Navy strikes targeting civilian boats off the coast of Venezuela, and the problem with using the military as “the President’s personal toy.” The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine’s writers and editors as they put into context the latest news—about elections, the economy, the White House, the Supreme Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week. Tune in wherever you get your podcasts. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The Washington Roundtable discusses what surprised them in 2025, reflecting on the major shock-and-awe events that defined the first year of Donald Trump’s second term: the capitulation of major law firms, universities, and media companies; the evisceration of foreign aid; the sudden threats of war against Venezuela; and much more. The panel also considers the shape and state of resistance to Trumpism in 2025. “There is this tug-of-war going on about what kind of country we will be by the end of this process,” the staff writer Evan Osnos says. “It’s not just about how the big institutions will behave—it’s also about how regular people behave every day when they see things that are unbearable.”This week’s reading: “The Curse of Trump 2.0,” by Susan B. Glasser “Will Trump Torpedo North American Trade?” by Stephania Taladrid “How the Kennedy Center Has Been Transformed by Trumpism,” by Katy Waldman “The Trump Administration’s Chaos in the Caribbean,” by Jonathan Blitzer “Is the Supreme Court Unsure About Birthright Citizenship?” by Amy Davidson Sorkin To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker, visit newyorker.com/podcasts. To send in feedback on this episode, write to [email protected] with “The Political Scene” in the subject line.The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine’s writers and editors as they put into context the latest news—about elections, the economy, the White House, the Supreme Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The New Yorker staff writer Andrew Marantz is joined by the political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, who teach at Harvard, and Lucan A. Way, who teaches at the University of Toronto, for an installment of “How Bad Is It?,” a monthly series on the health of American democracy. In a new essay for the journal Foreign Affairs, “The Price of American Authoritarianism,” the scholars of government assert that President Trump’s rapid consolidation of power in the first year of his second term has tipped the United States into authoritarianism—specifically, into competitive authoritarianism, in which elections persist but the ruling party rigs the system in its favor. The panel discusses how they arrived at their conclusions and suggests that not all is lost: America’s authoritarian moment could be temporary. “The United States is in a very good place to resist,” Levitsky says. “Civil society is very robust and so there is a very high likelihood that Trump will fail.” The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine’s writers and editors as they put into context the latest news—about elections, the economy, the White House, the Supreme Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week. Tune in wherever you get your podcasts. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The New Yorker staff writer Katy Waldman joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss how the Kennedy Center, the premier performing-arts hub in Washington, D.C., has been transformed under President Trump’s second term—and under his chaotic and unprecedented chairmanship of the organization. They talk about this year’s Kennedy Center Honors, which featured a group of honorees that reflect the President’s personal tastes, as well as the past year of mass firings, boycotts, and programming changes that have followed the Trump-led upheaval inside the institution. They also examine Trump’s relationship to arts and culture, and how the planned White House ballroom reflects the kind of cultural legacy he hopes to leave behind. This week’s reading: “How the Kennedy Center Has Been Transformed by Trumpism,” by Katy Waldman “The Trump Administration’s Chaos in the Caribbean,” by Jonathan Blitzer “How to Leave the U.S.A.,” by Atossa Araxia Abrahamian “The Weird Spectacle of the World Cup Draw,” by Louisa Thomas “Is the Supreme Court Unsure About Birthright Citizenship?,” by Amy Davidson Sorkin  The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine’s writers and editors as they put into context the latest news—about elections, the economy, the White House, the Supreme Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week. Tune in to The Political Scene wherever you get your podcasts. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

As a California congressman, Adam Schiff was the lead manager during the first impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump. He later served on the January 6th committee. Trump has castigated him as “Shifty Schiff” and demanded that the Justice Department investigate him. In a conversation with David Remnick, Schiff discusses the current inquiry into his mortgage by federal authorities; the Supreme Court’s primary role in enabling this Administration; and why he thinks the rule of law in America is “hanging by a thread.” Unlike some Democrats, Schiff is not sanguine that the release of the Epstein files will damage Trump politically. “If there are ruinous things in the files . . . Bondi and company will make sure they never reach the public eye,” Schiff says. But also, “I think he’s almost impervious to dirt.” The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine’s writers and editors as they put into context the latest news—about elections, the economy, the White House, the Supreme Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week. Tune in to The Political Scene wherever you get your podcasts.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The Washington Roundtable discusses President Donald Trump’s health and the signs of his age-related decline: a noticeably reduced work schedule, fewer public appearances, and more rambling, profanity-laden outbursts. The panel examines how this undermines Trump’s self-styled image of strength and vigor, what lessons about aging Presidents can be drawn from the Biden and Reagan Administrations, and why America may be facing what scholars refer to as the “Bad Emperor” problem in Chinese history. “When strongmen get weak, watch out,” the staff writer Jane Mayer says. This week’s reading: “War Is Peace, the Dozing Don Edition,” by Susan B. Glasser “The Dishonorable Strikes on Venezuelan Boats,” by Ruth Marcus “Mikie Sherrill Intends to Move Fast,” by Gabriel Debenedetti “The Undermining of the C.D.C.,” by Dhruv Khullar “The Legal Consequences of Pete Hegseth’s ‘Kill Them All’ Order,” by Isaac Chotiner “In the Line of Fire,” by Benjamin Wallace-Wells “What Can Economists Agree on These Days? ” by John Cassidy  The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine’s writers and editors as they put into context the latest news—about elections, the economy, the White House, the Supreme Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week. Tune in wherever you get your podcasts. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The New Yorker staff writer Jon Lee Anderson joins Tyler Foggatt to talk about the Trump Administration’s military strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug boats in the Caribbean. They discuss the questionable intelligence and rationale behind the operation, the legal concerns raised by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s alleged order to leave no survivors in a September strike, and whether the attacks feels more performative than strategic. They also explore how Trump’s framing of the issue as a drug war intersects with his broader ambitions—from pressuring the Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro, to reasserting American dominance in the hemisphere—and how other Latin American countries may respond to further military action in the region.This week’s reading: “Can Trump’s Peace Initiative Stop the Congo’s Thirty-Year War?,” by Jon Lee Anderson “The Dishonorable Strikes on Venezuelan Boats,” by Ruth Marcus “The Legal Consequences of Pete Hegseth’s ‘Kill Them All’ Order,” by Isaac Chotiner “The Undermining of the C.D.C.,” by Dhruv Khullar “In the Line of Fire,” by Benjamin Wallace-Wells  The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine’s writers and editors as they put into context the latest news—about elections, the economy, the White House, the Supreme Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week.Tune in to The Political Scene wherever you get your podcasts.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Only thirty per cent of the American public identifies with the MAGA movement, according to a recent NBC poll, but that coalition remains intensely loyal to Donald Trump in the face of scandals and authoritarian measures. Defections seem rare and come with the risk of reprisal, even from the President himself. Rich Logis is trying to make them less rare with his advocacy organization, Leaving MAGA. The nonprofit’s  website features testimonials from former adherents, and offers advice for how friends and family can reconnect after ruptures over politics. Logis himself had been a true believer: he worked on Trump’s campaign, wrote articles, released a podcast, and called Democrats “the most dangerous group in the history of our Republic, foreign or domestic—more than Islamic supremacists, more than the Nazis.” He didn’t view MAGA as reactionary, but “very progressive and forward facing.” But somewhere along the way, Logis hung up his red hat. “Even today, talking about my past, the feelings are conjured—those feelings of being welcomed and feeling like you’re part of something, and the exhilaration that comes from that,” he tells the New Yorker Radio Hour’s Adam Howard. Logis emphasizes that leaving MAGA is difficult because, as much as it’s a political ideology, it’s also an identity that meets emotional needs. “I think that there’s a lot of trauma within the MAGA base, whether it’s political or economic. . . . I’m not qualified to make any kind of diagnosis. I’m not a therapist or a clinician, but there’s a lot of pain within MAGA. And I think that a better question [instead] of asking ‘What’s wrong with you?’ is ‘What happened to you?’” The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine’s writers and editors as they put into context the latest news—about elections, the economy, the White House, the Supreme Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The “Jeopardy!” host and former contestant Ken Jennings joins Tyler Foggatt to talk about America’s favorite game show. The wide-ranging conversation took place before a live audience onstage at the annual New Yorker Festival, on October 25th. Jennings discussed his historic seventy-four-game winning streak, how contestants’ game strategies have changed over the years, his relationship with the former longtime host Alex Trebek, and why a political career was not for him. Related reading: “Ken Jennings Has Some Questions About Death,” by Sarah Larson “The Rare Authority of Alex Trebek,” by Doreen St. Félix “The Hidden Depths of Alex Trebek’s Banter with ‘Jeopardy!’ Contestants,” by Beth Blum Tune in to The Political Scene wherever you get your podcasts. The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine’s writers and editors as they put into context the latest news—about elections, the economy, the White House, the Supreme Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices