This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm This week, Matt and Brian break down the growing tension between Joe Biden and the New York Times and try to assess what impact it will have on the 2024 election and the deteriorating relationship between Democrats and mainstream media generally. * Is Biden right to be frustrated with the way the national political media has covered the election so far? * Should newspapers outsource editorial judgment to issue...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm This week, Matt and Brian look ahead to looming questions that, under normal circumstances, would be paint-by-numbers developments in a presidential election year: running-mate selection and debates. * President Biden recently confirmed that he intends to debate Donald Trump. Is this a wise decision, and how should he approach the task? * Do Biden’s communication and strategic arms have the right acumen to see...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm With Matt back from vacation, he and Brian discuss a bunch of important developments in the news, and zoom out to assess whether it’s really changed race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump: * Has polling data improved enough to make Biden the favorite to win? * Have developments like Biden’s patient victory in the fight over Ukraine aid, careful management of hostilities between Israel and Iran, and solid economic...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm With Matt on vacation this week, Brian hosts a conversation with Rebecca Roiphe, a New York Law School professor and former Manhattan prosecutor who enforced the very laws Donald Trump is charged with breaking in his first criminal trial. They discuss: * Why legal commentators who criticized District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s theory of the case were factually wrong about the laws at issue and how they are applied; *...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm This week on Politix, Matt and Brian step back from the news cycle to examine Donald Trump’s policy agenda, and the weird extent to which he’s getting a pass on toxic ideas: * His plan for an across the board 10 percent tariff would make Americans pay more for virtually everything, including groceries; * A big immigration crackdown like the one he’s promised would raise prices further; * But since these ideas are...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm This week on Politix, Brian returns from a long weekend in real America (western Mexico) with some fresh insight on how Trump-stalgia works. He and Matt discuss: * Why fewer people disapprove of Trump lately and why more people seemingly think his sharpest critics have overstated their case; * How lag effects (the persistence of the pandemic and the overturning of Roe after Trump’s term ended) has insulated him from...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm This week on Politix, Julian Sanchez joins Matt and Brian to discuss: * Donald Trump’s uncanny ability to evade justice; * Why a panel of New York appeals court judges let him mostly off the hook by staving off the seizure of his assets in his civil-fraud case; * What liberals and Democrats can do to make these civil verdicts a greater political liability for him. Then, paid subscribers get a lengthier debate over...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm This week on Politix, Matt and Brian discuss: * Donald Trump’s warning of “a bloodbath for the whole country” if he loses; * The relative political value of exploiting Trump’s authoritarian appeals vs. his agenda of tax breaks for rich people and big entitlement cuts; * The potential risk of attacking Trump in scattershot fashion, rather than homing in on his biggest vulnerabilities Then, paid subscribers get a...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm This week on Politix, Matt and Brian discuss: * The biggest political takeaways from Joe Biden’s State of the Union address; * Whether the press corps will do any soul searching after getting bamboozled by Republican special counsel Robert Hur; * Can Politix convince Merrick Garland to resign? Then, paid subscribers get a deep analysis of Trump’s apparent (and abrupt) decision to place Social Security and Medicare...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm This week on Politix, Matt and Brian discuss: * How Donald Trump wriggled away from his disastrous pandemic response and the horribleness of 2020; * Whether Joe Biden’s pandemic response made voters more inclined to forgive Trump; * The extent to which the switcheroo was the product of rational thinking vs. the political strategies of the two parties. Then, paid subscribers get a prospective look at how Democrats...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm In this special crossover episode, The Bulwark's joins Matt and Brian to answer burning questions like: * Why have most Never Trumpers have embraced liberalism and the Democratic Party to some degree or another, rather than remain conservative critics within the GOP? * If Republicans sincerely believe life begins at fertilization, why are they pretending to be the saviors of IVF? * How (and where) do Republican...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm This week on Politix, Matt and Brian discuss: * The nearly half-billion dollar judgment Trump owes New York for engaging in fraudulent business practices; * Why MAGA spin that this his fraudulent practices were “victimless” is both b******t, and irrelevant; * Similarities and differences between this scam and Trump’s other fraudulent schemes. Then, paid subscribers get a bigger picture look at where things go from...

This week on Politix, Matt and Brian discuss: * The Robert Hur report, and the fire storm the special counsel ignited with his rule-breaking, partisan attack on Biden; * How Biden could in theory alleviate concerns that he’s too old to be both president and candidate simultaneously—and why his advisers haven’t really tried; * The extent to which Biden’s age really is limiting his ability to throw his weight around in the partisan mosh pit, even if it isn’t limiting his ability to govern at...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm This week on Politix, Matt and Brian discuss: * How we reached the point where Republicans wrung a bunch of immigration-policy concessions out of Democrats, then reneged on their own deal. * What was actually in the deal and why? * Would the provisions of the bill have actually succeeded at the nominal goal of creating more order and better asylum screening at the border? Then, paid subscribers hear a more open...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm This week on Politix, Matt and Brian discuss: * The $83.3 million a New York jury ordered Donald Trump to pay E. Jean Carroll for sexually assaulting then serially defaming her. * The related GOP freakout that America’s most influential person (Taylor Swift) might not like Republicans very much! * Why Democratic Party leaders seem uninterested in pressing their “not led by a rapist” advantage. They also put a pin in...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm This week on Politix, Matt and Brian discuss: * Ron DeSantis’s humiliation. * What policy literalism and pandering to base activists (as opposed to grassroots voters) has to do with both DeSantis’s failure, and the underperformance of some high-profile Democratic Party politicians. * Is there an optimal middle ground between detailed policy laundry lists and Donald Trump-style bullshitting? Then, paid Politix...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm This week on Politix, Matt and Brian discuss: * Donald Trump’s predictable, big (but not actually all that big) victory in Iowa * Why leading Republicans (who know Trump is an electoral liability for the party) are trying to end the primary as quickly as possible, even with a semi-viable alternative who could make it a real race. * Whether the media screwed up by calling the caucuses for Trump minutes after they...

This week on Politix, Matt and Brian discuss: * Was Joe Biden’s January 6 speech a good speech? (No spoilers.) * Was Joe Biden’s January 6 speech good politics? (No spoilers.) * Was Joe Biden’s January 6 speech true? (Spoiler: Yes.) * How the truth of what Biden said affects the question of whether liberals should support Nikki Haley in open-primary states. * Glenn Greenwald’s imputation that Haley is worse than Trump, and only Democratic party hacks would prefer her to him. Plus, a Politix...

Thank you for listening to Politix. (Or for watching it, if you’re some kind of eccentric.) In our pilot episode, we discuss: * The state of the race as we kick off the new year: A dead-heat rematch between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, and a greater-than-usual level of uncertainty, given the candidates’ ages and Trump’s legal issues; * Why the early race is so tight, given how disastrously Trump’s single term ended; * Republican buy-in on Trump’s corruption, how it insulates him from what...

Politix will be a weekly podcast about the 2024 election hosted by Brian Beutler of Off Message and Matthew Yglesias of Slow Boring. We'll bring you good-faith disagreement, points of consensus, brilliant guests, and do our best to maintain a consistent focus on what's really at stake in November. Subscribe for new episodes each Wednesday. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.politix.fm/subscribe

Brian Beutler and Matthew Yglesias will team up to host the best political podcast in America through this enormously consequential election.

What's up Positively Dreadful fans, it’s me Brian. I know this feed has been quiet for a couple months now, as I’ve been getting my new venture Off Message up and running. (Come check it out!) But I’ve got something exciting in the works, and I want all of you Dreadheads to be the first to know about it.  So hopefully you can stay put just a little bit longer. Keep your eyes and ears on the feed. And I’ll share more details here in the coming days. Until then I also want to thank you all for...

Don’t smile because it’s over. Cry because it happened! In this final episode of Positively Dreadful, host Brian “Maverick” Beutler answers listener’s questions with the help of his trusty producer copilot, Emma “Rooster” Illick-Frank. It’s less of a goodbye than a see you later—so don’t unsubscribe from the feed! Brian shares what he wants listeners to take away from the show, explains his theory of politics, and reminisces about that one time he skewered John Boehner with a well-worded...

After a three-year hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans will have to begin repaying their student-loan debt this month. And after the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in June to strike down President Biden’s student-loan forgiveness program, mass relief probably won’t come anytime soon. Biden has adopted other, narrower programs, and may try to salvage a Plan B for broader forgiveness. But in the meantime, millions of Americans are financially unprepared to start making payments again,...