Explain It to Me

Vox Senior Correspondent Zack Beauchamp talks with political scientist Lee Drutman, author of Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop. They discuss the history of the two-party system in American politics, and examine a number of possible structural reforms that could work to get the U.S. out of the morass it's in, looking to several other countries' democracies for inspiration.

Host: Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp), Senior Correspondent, Vox

Guest: Lee Drutman (@leedrutman), senior fellow, New America

References: 

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Dylan Matthews and Jerusalem Demsas are joined by Vox’s Andrew Prokop (@awprokop) to talk about the midterm elections. More specifically, why the president’s party almost always loses seats in Congress. They discuss the theories of this phenomenon and what, if anything, can work on the margins. Plus, a white paper about Obamacare and the 2010 midterm elections.

References:

Why the president’s party almost always has a bad midterm

The political science of door-knocking and TV ads

White paper: “One Vote Out of Step? The Effects of Salient Roll Call Votes in the 2010 Election”

Dylan’s old, wrong article arguing that congressional position-taking doesn’t matter much

Hosts:

Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, Vox

Jerusalem Demsas (@jerusalemdemsas), policy reporter, Vox

Credits:

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Dara Lind, engineer

Libby Nelson, editorial adviser

Amber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcasts

Sign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weedsletter 

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Dylan Matthews talks with Victor Cha (@VictorDCha) about the international politics surrounding the 2022 Beijing Olympics. The US and several other countries are boycotting the games to protest China’s human rights record, which brings up the question: What does this boycott mean for US-China relations?

References:

Beyond the Final Score by Victor Cha 

Cha on the politicization of the 2022 Games

Vox’s Jen Kirby on the Biden administration’s diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Olympics

Vox’s Bryan Walsh on the failure of the Games to promote international peace

Olympic sponsors are facing pressure over China’s human rights violations

Hosts:

Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, Vox

Credits:

Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineer

Libby Nelson, editorial adviser

Amber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcasts

Sign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weedsletter 

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Dylan Matthews, Dara Lind, and Jerusalem Demsas talk about affirmative action. They dig into the current Supreme Court case about Harvard’s admission rates and ask: How do we make sure our elite institutions adequately reflect the population? Plus, a white paper about the effects of education on mortality.

References:

Hosts:

Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, Vox

Jerusalem Demsas (@jerusalemdemsas), policy reporter, Vox

Dara Lind (@dlind), Weeds cohost, Vox

Credits:

Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineer

Libby Nelson, editorial adviser

Amber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcasts

Sign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weedsletter 

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Dylan Matthews talks with Mark Galeotti (@MarkGaleotti), director of Mayak Intelligence, about what’s going on in Ukraine. They discuss in depth the historical tensions between Russia and Ukraine, Russia’s NATO problem, and the calculations and motivations behind President Vladimir Putin’s moves.

References:

Today, Explained’s episode about Ukraine's pipeline problem 

Vox’s Jen Kirby wrote an explainer about Russia-Ukraine tensions

Adam Tooze on Russia as a petro-state

An excellent 2019 episode from NPR’s Throughline about the rise of Putin

The Weaponisation of Everything: A Field Guide to the New Way of War, by Mark Galeotti 

Hosts:

Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, Vox

Credits:

Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineer

Libby Nelson, editorial adviser

Amber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcasts

Sign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weedsletter 

Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts

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Dylan Matthews, Dara Lind, and Vox policy editor Libby Nelson discuss the findings of two recent studies on early childhood development. One study found that cash transfers increase brain activity in infants, while the other found a negative impact of universal pre-K on academic outcomes. So ... what’s actually going on here? Does one negate the other? The Weeds team talks it out. Plus, a white paper on the effects of parenthood on voter turnout.

References:

Dylan’s story on the cash-transfer study and his piece on the universal pre-K findings

The impact of a poverty reduction intervention on infant brain activity. PNAS

The New York Times’s Jason DeParle’s take on the cash-transfer study

Scott Alexander summarizes the skeptical takes on the cash transfer study

Noah Smith’s review of the research on pre-K, and Kelsey Piper’s

Effects of a Statewide Pre-Kindergarten Program on Children’s Achievement and Behavior Through Sixth Grade

White Paper: Parents, Infants and Voter Turnout: Evidence from the United States

Hosts:

Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, Vox

Dara Lind (@dlind), immigration reporter, ProPublica

Libby Nelson (@libbyanelson), policy editor, Vox

Credits:

Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineer

Libby Nelson, editorial adviser

Amber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcasts

Sign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weedsletter 

Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts

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Dara Lind talks with professor Gabriel Winant of the University of Chicago about the new Bureau of Labor Statistics report that showed a topline decline in union membership despite increasing labor-oriented momentum. And later, journalist Rachel Cohen (@rmc031) joins to talk about the importance of teachers’ unions in the labor movement and in Democratic politics. 

References:

The Next Shift: The Fall of Industry and the Rise of Health Care in Rust Belt America, Gabriel Winant 

Rachel Cohen’s recent article about school closures and Democrats 

The recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report on union membership numbers

Hosts:

Dara Lind (@dlind), immigration reporter, ProPublica

Credits:

Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineer

Libby Nelson, editorial adviser

Amber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcasts

Sign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weedsletter 

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Dylan Matthews and Jerusalem Demsas talk with Emily Rong Zhang, a PhD candidate in political science at Stanford and a former Skadden Fellow at the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, about the recent attempts in Congress to pass voting rights legislation. And, a white paper about voter ID laws, written by Emily herself!

References:

Recapping Congress’s failed voting rights push

Why some Dem strategists were skeptical of the effort

The case for fixing the Electoral Count Act

What happens after the voting rights fights

White Paper: “What the Debate over Voter ID Laws' Effects Teaches about Asking the Right Questions”

Hosts:

Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, Vox

Jerusalem Demsas (@jerusalemdemsas), policy reporter, Vox

Credits:

Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineer

Libby Nelson, editorial adviser

Amber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcasts

Sign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weedsletter 

Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts

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Jerusalem Demsas and Dylan Matthews talk with Joey Politano (@JosephPolitano), economics blogger and self-described "mid-tier take-haver," to go over one big question on people’s minds right now: are corporations profiting off of inflation? 

References:

Joey’s blog post about rising corporate prices and inflation

Sen. Elizabeth Warren on rising corporate profit margins

Paul Krugman’s newsletter from this week

Binyamin Appelbaum on the meatpacking industry

The White House’s statement on meat companies taking advantage of market power 

The letter from President Joe Biden to FTC chair Lina Khan

“Could strategic price controls help fight inflation?” in the Guardian

Rethinking Inflation Policy: A toolkit for economic recovery by JW Mason and Lauren Melodia

Hosts:

Jerusalem Demsas (@jerusalemdemsas), policy reporter, Vox

Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, Vox

Credits:

Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineer

Libby Nelson, editorial adviser

Amber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcasts

Sign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weedsletter 

Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts

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Weeds co-hosts Jerusalem Demsas and Dara Lind talk with Robinson Meyer (@yayitsrob), staff writer at the Atlantic, about the climate provisions in President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better bill. They discuss specific climate-focused policy proposals and the political stalemate Congress is in, thanks to the filibuster in the Senate. Plus, a white paper about building codes and wildfires in California.

References: 

Robinson Meyer on the climate gamble going on in Congress

Weeds alum Matt Yglesias on the Build Back Better Bill

Vox’s Rebecca Leber on why Joe Manchin may have doomed climate policy

A 2016 piece from Vox’s Dylan Matthews about money in politics

“Progressive leader calls on Biden to unilaterally act on agenda,” The Hill

“Manchin's $1.8 trillion spending offer appears no longer to be on the table,” The Washington Post 

“Noisy and Unsafe: Stop Fetishizing Old Homes,” The Atlantic

Hosts:

Jerusalem Demsas (@jerusalemdemsas), policy reporter, Vox

Dara Lind (@dlind) immigration reporter and Weeds host, Vox

Credits:

Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineer

Libby Nelson, editorial adviser

Amber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcasts

Sign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weedsletter 

Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts

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