Midterm Crossfire (with Mark McKinnon and Billy Begala)

This tumultuous week in the news, the Hacks are joined by not one but two expert Hackeroos. First up, Mark McKinnon — former adviser to George W. Bush and co-creator and co-host of The Circus — jumps in with Axe and Murphy to break down the strikes in Iran: what led up to them, what’s happened since the initial attacks and retaliatory strikes across the region, and what the Trump administration is saying (and not saying) about its strategy amid shifting justifications and questions about long-term planning. Then they’re joined by Hacks kin Billy Begala, veteran Democratic strategist and co-founder of The Barbed Wire, to preview tonight’s Senate primary in Texas and what the outcome could signal for the midterms. Photo by Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week Axe and Murphy burned the midnight oil to break down Trump’s State of the Union with Hackeroo extraordinaire Jonathan Martin. No spoilers here — the Hacks have kept you waiting long enough. Hit play and find out what went down. Photo by Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week Murphy and Heilemann were joined by the one and only Dave Wasserman of the Cook Political Report. The Hacks dive into Trump’s polling, the standoff over ICE funding, and the attention economy — then put Wasserman on the map (literally) for a midterm check-in across Texas, Alaska, Ohio, Michigan, Iowa, and so much more. Photo by Joel Angel Juarez/Bloomberg via Getty Images Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, Axe and Heilemann were joined by Lis Smith, veteran Democratic strategist and political advisor. The Hacks dive into the Super Bowl and Bad Bunny’s halftime show, the battle for views, the Trump economy, inflation and mortgage rates, proposed voter ID laws, the latest Epstein files dump, ICE reform, Trump retweets, and—because it’s been that kind of week—so much more. Photo by Kevin Sabitus via Getty Images Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Happy Tuesday, Hackeroos! This week Axe and Murphy are joined by repeat guest and all-around savant Jonathan Martin of Politico. The Hacks dive into the latest news, including the FBI raid of a Georgia election center, Trump’s cryptocurrency exposé in The Wall Street Journal, Trump’s mixed messaging on the economy and inflation, what an increasingly abnormal election looks like, and a check-in on several key states as the midterms come into focus. Photo by Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week Axe and Heilemann are joined by former Chief Beast, current journalist, and author John Avlon. The Hacks dig into the aftermath of a tumultuous weekend in Minnesota — and across the Trump administration — following the killing of Alex Pretti. They unpack ICE and citizen accountability, the administration’s evolving claims versus video evidence that challenges them, and the tangled web the White House has woven around the Second Amendment, DHS funding, and the looming threat of another government shutdown. Plus, Greenland, Mamdani battling the storm (literally), and so much more. Photo by Arthur Maiorella/Anadolu via Getty Images Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week all three Hackeroos (or Quackeroos) convened to take on a full fire hose of breaking news. The Hacks dive into Trump’s Nobel Piece Prize acquisition, his Davos trip, ICE’s provocative tactics, pardon-palooza, NATO on the brink, Greenland becoming Orangeland, and so much more! Photo by Kevin Dietsch via Getty Images Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s only the second week of the year, and the news cycle is already moving fast. Luckily, Axe and Heilemann are joined by legendary political strategist — and The Circus alum — Mark McKinnon to help make sense of it all. The Hacks discuss ICE’s escalation in Minnesota, including the tragic killing of Renee Good, the influx of ICE officers to the state, and the ramping up of rhetoric around immigration enforcement. They also dig into Melania Trump’s new documentary, the politics of flooding the zone — and how it can both help and hurt Trump — affordability, Venezuela, and much more. Photo by Aaron Lavinsky/The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Happy New Year, Hackeroos — did we miss anything over the break? Luckily, Axe and Murphy reconvened bright and early with veteran journalist, columnist for Bloomberg Opinion, and senior political analyst for CNN, Ron Brownstein. The Hacks dig into Trump’s Venezuela takeover rhetoric and the politics of oil, Tim Walz bowing out of Minnesota’s gubernatorial race, rising health care costs and what they could mean for the midterms, and Pete Hegseth’s attacks on Mark Kelly’s military record — and so much more!  Photo by Molly Riley/The White House via Getty Images Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Happy New Year, Hackeroos! While the guys are taking a well-earned break with family, we’re bringing you a great conversation from our friend Kara Swisher’s podcast, On with Kara Swisher. Kara is joined by Beth Macy, a veteran newspaper reporter and author who has spent decades covering rural America, and Jacob Silverman, an investigative journalist focused on tech power and corruption. Together, they explore how two seemingly opposite forces—Silicon Valley billionaires and the rural poor—have converged under the MAGA umbrella, the role social media plays in fueling grievance and distrust, and what it would take to bridge America’s widening political divide. New episodes of On with Kara Swisher drop every Monday and Thursday. You can listen to the show in your favorite podcast app or watch on YouTube at youtube.com/@onwithkaraswisher. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices