There was a time, not long ago, in which most people might have scoffed at the idea that Elon Musk, an entrepreneur with aspirations to save the world from climate change, would become a right-wing folk hero. And yet, that's precisely the transformation he underwent this year. The billionaire CEO of Tesla—now known for his ardent support of Donald Trump and his endless philippics against the “woke mind virus”—has become a major power player in the MAGAverse, and is set to head up a new...

On this post-election episode, host Brian Stelter checks in with Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Radhika Jones and contributing editor Jeff Sharlet, getting their gut-level reactions to Donald Trump’s triumph and perspective on the evolving MAGA movement, which now include the likes of Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. They discuss the language of fascism, male identity politics, and the need to cut through the Trumpian noise to uncover what’s really happening in a second term at a national and...

With the election just days away, host Brian Stelter is joined by Vanity Fair executive editor Claire Howorth and politics correspondent Bess Levin to talk about the vibes going into November 5, why this particular election is so close and so stressful, some down-ballot races you should keep an eye on, and how the media will likely approach election night. The team agrees, "Hope is a terrible thing to waste," and confidence is too terrifying to project. Instead, they discuss some good reasons...

The Republican Party has long been lacking in courage. But profiles in it can still be found among the scores of Trump administration staffers who have come out against their former boss, at potentially immense personal cost. One among them: Sarah Matthews, who served as Donald Trump’s deputy press secretary until January 6th. On the latest episode of Inside the Hive, Matthews opens up about the “cognitive dissonance” she experienced as a spokesperson for Trump, recalls how the Capitol riot...

Kamala Harris is making the media rounds in the final weeks of the 2024 face, talking to everyone from Howard Stern to Fox News, “Call Her Daddy” to “The Breakfast Club.” On this episode, Brian Stelter catches up with senior spokesman Ian Sams about the campaign’s campaign strategy and the creative ways they’re trying to reach, and persuade, the small sliver of undecided voters who may tip the election. Plus, Stelter talks with Hive editor Michael Calderone about Donald Trump’s attempt to...

Host Brian Stelter is joined by author, organizer, and former Georgia representative Stacey Abrams to examine Kamala Harris’s chances this November inside the swing state, ongoing efforts by Republicans to suppress voting rights and sow chaos across the country, and Abrams’ plans to help salvage democracy. Abrams, whose playbook and organizing power in 2020 helped Joe Biden deliver Georgia, a red–now purple–state that hadn’t voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in more than 20 years,...

James Carville is not known for mincing words. Back in 2021, the legendary Democratic strategist ruffled quite a few feathers when he blamed “wokeness” for the party’s electoral defeats. He still hasn’t backed down from that belief—but he’s also willing to accept that Kamala Harris has a lot more to worry about than safe spaces and language policing when it comes to trouncing Donald Trump. One challenge in particular, he tells Brian Stelter on the latest episode of Inside the Hive, is...

With less than six weeks until Election Day, host Brian Stelter discusses the historically close race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump with Nate Silver, the renowned polling expert, statistician, and author of the “Silver Bulletin” Substack newsletter. Silver breaks down the latest numbers in swing states, warns against rapidly shifting media narratives, expresses frustration with his former site, and details the community of risk-takers at the center of his new book, "On the Edge."

Host Brian Stelter is joined by Barbara F. Walter, an expert on violent extremism and domestic terror, to examine what exactly political violence is and why it’s becoming more common, including factors that may have been at play in the two recent assassination attempts. Walter, a professor at the University of California, San Diego and the author of How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them, tells Stelter there’s a cancer growing in America because a subset of the population doesn’t think...

Podcasts are hardly a new medium in American politics. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t disrupting the dynamics of the 2024 presidential race. Consider hotshot hosts like Theo Von, Ezra Klein, and Adin Ross; all of them have been able to give listeners an intimate glimpse at politicians from Donald Trump to Tim Walz, says Atlantic staff writer Helen Lewis on the latest episode of Inside the Hive. Lewis, who is joined by Bloomberg reporter Ashley Carman, contends that podcasts can offer the...

Host Brian Stelter is joined by Amanda Becker, Washington correspondent for The 19th, to examine the battle over abortion rights in America, including the Florida ballot measure, former President Trump’s all-over-the-place messaging, and the Republican Party’s conflicting views about in vitro fertilization and fetal personhood. The two also discuss the origins of abortion politics and how it’s impossible to disentangle abortion bans from the history of patriarchy in this country. Becker is...

On this episode, host Brian Stelter wraps up the exuberant finale of the Democratic National Convention with Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Radhika Jones and author and contributing editor Ta-Nehisi Coates, who has been reporting this week from Chicago. They discuss how this historic, four-day spectacle, which concluded with Kamala Harris’s stirring acceptance speech, showcased the party’s next generation of political stars, while also showing its limitations, with no Palestinian American...

Is all the hype real? It’s the uncomfortable question hanging over all the good vibes of the 2024 Democratic National Convention this week. And it’s one that Vanity Fair’s Claire Howorth and James Pogue, who is reporting from the ground, are more than willing to tackle on the latest episode of Inside the Hive. Pogue argues that while Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have electrified the party with a fresh new ticket, the event’s pomp and circumstance still feels “very produced,” with every Democrat...

As the 2024 Democratic National Convention rolls on, host Brian Stelter talks with Vanity Fair special correspondent Molly Jong-Fast, as she runs around Chicago, and Michael Calderone, editor of Vanity Fair’s the Hive, in New York. Jong-Fast describes the vibes around the United Center as Democrats appear both anxious about the election and pleased with their candidate. She notes the heavy police presence around the city and explains the difference between the fabulous convention parties...

As the Democratic National Convention kicks off, host Brian Stelter catches up with senior editor Maggie Coughlan, in New York, and special correspondent Joe Hagan, from the United Center in Chicago. Hagan finds attendees fired up on night one, which featured speeches from party stalwarts (Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton) and future stars (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jasmine Crockett), as Coughlan highlights how internet culture is coming to life in the convention hall. While the early weeks of...

To say that there has been a “vibe shift” among Democrats is an understatement. Since taking Joe Biden’s mantle as the presumptive Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris has ushered in an unmistakable wave of positivity within the party. The joy and optimism suffusing her campaign have thus proven powerful antidotes to the fear and anger being sold by Donald Trump. That is, according to MSNBC analyst Anand Giridharadas, who has been writing extensively about the political potency of emotions in...

On this episode, host Brian Stelter speaks about Kamala Harris’s surging campaign and new VP pick, Tim Walz, with Eugene Daniels, a Politico White House correspondent and Playbook co-author. Daniels, who has spent years closely covering the vice president, speaks about her challenges inside the Biden White House, relationship with the news media, and shifting communications style as she has ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket. 

It used to be that Silicon Valley was considered a blue bastion, and supported social causes like education, public health and climate action. But, if that perception wasn’t already crumbling before now, then it was utterly shattered in 2024. This past month has seen countless tech elites flock behind Donald Trump as their candidate of choice in the presidential election, leaving many in the media scratching their heads—and wringing their hands. But not for Roger McNamee, the veteran venture...

Today, we're bringing you a special preview of the new season of the New Yorker investigative podcast In the Dark, hosted by Madeleine Baran. The series examines the killings of twenty-four civilians in Haditha, Iraq, and asks why no one was held accountable for the crime.In Episode 1, a man in Haditha, Iraq, has a request for the In the Dark team: Can you investigate how my family was killed?In the Dark is available wherever you get your podcasts.

Kamala Harris is up against a whole lot. As the presumptive Democratic nominee, she’s fighting against years of political malaise among her own voters, while competing against a man who has a cult-like following within his base. But these challenges, as Hillary Clinton learned herself in 2016, hardly get at the biggest question mark: Is America finally ready for a woman in the White House? That’s the subject of this week’s episode of Inside the Hive, which features NBC News Capitol Hill...

Love thy neighbor: It’s one of the most commonly uttered Biblical verses in the Christian faith. But when it comes to Christian nationalism, the movement doesn’t always practice what it preaches. Such is the subject of Inside the Hive’s latest episode featuring Katherine Stewart and Sam Perry, two experts on the religious right who discuss why Christian nationalists are now “much more ideological than theological,” how Donald Trump has wielded them as a political voting bloc, and why the...

What would America actually look like under a second Trump term? Few resources paint a clearer picture than the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, the right’s blueprint for a vast overhaul of the federal bureaucracy, as well as a playbook of immediate executive actions that could annihilate decades of Democratic progress in days. This week, the former president sought to disown the document, but Vanity Fair’s Molly Jong-Fast and Jeff Sharlet, are more than a little skeptical. And, on the...

Chris Hayes of MSNBC’s “All In with Chris Hayes" joins Inside the Hive host Brian Stelter for a special episode—unplanned on a holiday break, but here we are. As President Biden's disastrous debate performance and the "catastrophe" of the SCOTUS immunity ruling converge in an existential question about America's future, Stelter and Hayes—who recently launched a series called The Stakes in his Why Is This Happening? podcast feed—parse the crush of headlines, and offer new behind-the-scenes...

On this recent episode of The Political Scene, hosts Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos discuss the unusual and dangerous aspects of Donald Trump’s reëlection campaign, from his quid-pro-quo offer to oil executives to his daughter-in-law Laura’s new leadership position on the Republican National Committee.To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker visit newyorker.com/podcastsThis episode originally aired on May 17th, 2024