Why is JD Vance so Annoying?

Pod Save America hits 1,000 episodes, and to celebrate, Favreau, Lovett, Tommy, and Dan sit down in studio to answer your questions. Among them: Why is JD Vance so grating? Should more Democrats take Newsom's lead on social media? And who would you rather be trapped in an under-sea habitat with—Don Jr., Stephen Miller, or Marjorie Taylor Greene? Plus, ranking the media platforms that matter in a preview of our subscription-only show: Inside 2025.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast. Get tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.com

Donald Trump and RFK Jr. team up to fire the CDC director after she voices concerns over Kennedy's dangerous policies—including his announcement that the FDA will limit access to this year's COVID vaccines and his promise to release a report on the "causes" of autism. Dan and Jon sort through the dismantling of America's gold-standard research apparatus and check in on the craziest comments from Trump's three-hour cabinet meeting. Then they discuss the latest polling on Trump's D.C. deployment, what happened at the DNC's summer meeting, and Charlie Kirk's unsolicited advice for Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast. Get tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.com

Trump's FBI raids the home of John Bolton—the former first-term Trump advisor turned vocal critic—as the President escalates his use of state power to target and threaten anyone who's criticized him, most recently Chris Christie, Wes Moore, ABC News, and NBC News. Jon, Lovett, and Tommy react to those threats and all of this week's fascist horrors, including the arming of the National Guard in D.C., the administration's pending deployment of troops to Chicago, and ICE's plan to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man they wrongly sent to CECOT, to Uganda unless he pleads guilty to a set of dubious charges brought against him in Tennessee. Then, economic writer James Surowiecki sits down with Lovett to talk about the Trump administration's unprecedented acquisition of Intel stock—and what it signals to other major companies.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.  Get tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.com

Marc Maron, comedian and podcast trailblazer, sits down with Lovett to discuss why the left always has to be such a buzzkill, whether Americans voted for Trump purely out of annoyance, and why the armies of online trolls love to do the president's bidding. Then they discuss whether we're living in an Age of Mania, if Democrats can shut down anti-woke comedy by simply being funnier, and whether Lovett can learn to stop catastrophizing every time his calls drop.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.  Get tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.com

Donald Trump heads out on "patrol" in Washington, JD Vance hosts a photo op with the National Guard at the Union Station Shake Shack, and Stephen Miller—taking a moment away from terrorizing immigrants—excoriates "communists" and "elderly white hippies" for daring to protest. Dan and Jon break down the latest news coming out of occupied Washington, including Trump's new history-erasing reforms at the Smithsonian, his new ideological screening program from green card applicants, and MAGA goon Bill Pulte's weaponization of the Federal Housing Finance Authority. Then, Congressman Jake Auchincloss stops by the studio to talk to Jon about why Democrats need to embrace big ideas again.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.  Get tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.com

Following an unproductive day of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders to discuss a potential deal to end Russia's war in Ukraine. Favreau, Lovett, and Tommy discuss the meetings, the MAGA press corp's bizarre questions for Zelensky, and Trump's latest Putin-inspired fixation—eliminating mail in ballots. Then, they react to Republican governors sending armed troops to DC, ICE saying the quiet part out loud, and Governor Newsom's new social media strategy. To close the show, Bridget Brink, the former United States Ambassador to Ukraine, joins Tommy to talk about Ukraine's reaction to Trump's unusual approach to peace talks.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast. Get tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.com

In response to Trump and Texas Republicans' attempt to rig the 2026 midterm elections, Governor Gavin Newsom calls a special election to redraw California's congressional map. The governor stops by the show to talk to Dan about why California Democrats decided to strike first—and what it will take for the ballot proposal to become law. But first, Jon and Dan discuss Trump's authoritarian power grab in the nation's capital, the January 6th attendee he appointed to run the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the President's negotiations in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast. Get tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.com

Flanked by half his cabinet and citing crimes against a DOGE staffer, Donald Trump announces that he’s deploying 800 National Guard troops to Washington and federalizing the city’s police department. Jon and Lovett react to Trump's desperate show of force, then break down his new plan to negotiate a Russia-Ukraine peace deal and JD Vance’s latest attempt to spin the Epstein files crisis as “full transparency.” Then, Lovett talks to The New Yorker’s David Kirkpatrick about his big new investigation into how much the Trump family is profiting off of the presidency. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast. Get tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.com

Pete Buttigieg—former South Bend mayor, 2020 presidential candidate, and Transportation Secretary—sits down with Jon Favreau to discuss how much of the status quo Democrats should aim to restore (if any) if they win in 2026, what the party needs to change to effectively message around Trump’s broken promises, and what Pete thinks of JD Vance’s rapid ascent to power—and the values he’s abandoned along the way. Then, Lovett joins Jon to answer listener questions about building a Democratic Project 2029, our nation’s new gerrymandering war, and whether Barack Obama is right about ketchup’s place on a burger.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast. Get tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.com

Reeling from the Epstein crisis, Donald Trump turns even more erratic and destructive—launching a grand jury investigation into the make-believe crimes of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, threatening to seize control of the D.C. police, and sharing some eugenicist theories about who's suited for what kind of work. Jon and Dan share how they're feeling eight months into Trump 2.0, check in on MAGA's efforts to rig the congressional map ahead of the 2026 midterms, and react to DHS reinstating its infamous family separation policy. Dan talks with epidemiologist Michael Osterholm about RFK Jr.'s decision to halt federal research into mRNA vaccines—and then confronts Jon about his ill-advised Twitter fight with Megyn Kelly.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast. Get tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.com