The Political Scene | The New Yorker

The writers Charles Duhigg, Cal Newport, and Anna Wiener join Tyler Foggatt for a conversation about artificial intelligence and the promises, myths, and anxieties surrounding it. The discussion was recorded before a live audience at The New Yorker Festival this fall. They explore the gap between Silicon Valley’s sweeping claims and what generative A.I. can actually do today, how people are using the technology for work, creativity, and emotional support, and why the tech’s most immediate political consequences may be the hardest to grapple with. This week’s reading: “Trump Dishonors the Kennedy Center,” by David Remnick “The Biggest Threat to the 2026 Economy Is Still Donald Trump,” by John Cassidy “The Right Wing Rises in Latin America,” by Jon Lee Anderson “Peter Navarro, Trump’s Ultimate Yes-Man,” by Ian Parker “Americans Won’t Ban Kids from Social Media. What Can We Do Instead?,” by Jay Caspian Kang  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 Republican Susan Collins has held one of Maine’s Senate seats for nearly thirty years, and Democrats, in trying to take it away from her, have a lot at stake. Graham Platner, a combat veteran, political activist, and small-business owner who has never served in office, seemed to check many boxes for a progressive upstart. Platner, who says he and his wife earn sixty thousand dollars a year, has spoken passionately about affordability, and has called universal health care a  “moral imperative.” He seemed like a rising star, but then some of his past comments online directed against police, L.G.B.T.Q. people, sexual-assault survivors, Black people, and rural whites surfaced. A photo was published of a tattoo that he got in the Marines, which resembles a Nazi symbol, though Platner says he didn’t realize it. He apologized, but will Democrats embrace him, despite ugly views in his past? “As uncomfortable as it is, and personally unenjoyable, to have to talk about stupid things I said on the internet,” he told David Remnick, “it also allows me to publicly model something I think is really important. . . . You can change your language, change the way you think about stuff.” In fact, he frames his candidacy in a way that might appeal to disappointed Trump voters: “You should be able to be proud of the fact that you can turn into a different kind of person. You can think about the world in a different way.” 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 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