Impeachment, Explained

Democrats made a strong case against Donald Trump. Republicans are being punished for supporting it. Vox’s Zack Beauchamp explains.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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Vox’s Andrew Prokop previews the historic second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump. Law professor Alan Rozenshtein explains what the Justice Department can and cannot do to prosecute insurrectionists.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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Impeachment won’t stop the United States’ slide towards authoritarianism. Voter reform might.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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Welcome to Weeds 2020! Every other Saturday Ezra and Matt will be exploring a wide range of topics related to the 2020 race. 

Since the Nevada caucuses, Bernie Sanders has become the clear frontrunner in the 2020 Democratic primary, spurring lots of debate over whether he could win in the general election. We discuss where the electability conversation often goes off-the-rails, why discussing electability in 2020 is so different than 1964 or 1972, the case for and against Bernie’s electability prospects, and the strongest attacks that Trump could make against Sanders and Joe Biden. 

Then, we discuss Ezra’s favorite topic of all time: the filibuster. Ezra gives a brief history of this weird procedural tool, and we discuss why so many current Senators are against eliminating it.

Resources:

"Bernie Sanders can unify Democrats and beat Trump in 2020" by Matthew Yglesias, Vox

"The case for Elizabeth Warren" by Ezra Klein, Vox

"How the filibuster broke the US Senate" by Alvin Chang, Vox

"Running Bernie Sanders Against Trump Would Be an Act of Insanity" by Jonathan Chait, Intelligencer

"The Sixty Trillion Dollar Man" by Ronald brownstein, Atlantic

"The Day One Agenda" by David Dayen, American Prospect

Hosts:

Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias), Senior correspondent, Vox

Ezra Klein (@ezraklein), Editor-at-large, Vox

About Vox

Vox is a news network that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines.

Follow Us: Vox.com

Facebook group: The Weeds

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Jill Lepore is a Harvard historian, a New Yorker contributor, the author of These Truths, and one of my favorite past guests on this show. But in this episode, the tables are turned: I’m in the hot seat, and Lepore has some questions. Hard ones.

This is, easily, the toughest interview on my book so far. Lepore isn’t quibbling over my solutions or pointing out a contrary study — what she challenges are the premises, epistemology, and meta-structure that form the foundation of my book, and much of my work. Her question, in short, is: What if social science itself is too crude to be a useful way of understanding the political world?

But that’s what makes this conversation great. We discuss whether all political science research on polarization might be completely wrong, why (and whether) my book is devoid of individual or institutional “villains,” and whether I am morally obliged to delete my Twitter account, in addition to the missing party in American politics, why I mistrust historical narratives, media polarization, and much more.

This is, on one level, a conversation about Why We’re Polarized. But on a deeper level, it’s about different modes of knowledge and whether we can trust them.

New to the show? Want to listen to Ezra's favorite episodes? Check out The Ezra Klein Show beginner's guide.

My book is available at www.EzraKlein.com.

The “Why We’re Polarized” tour continues, with events in Portland, Seattle, Austin, Nashville, Chicago, and Greenville. Go to WhyWerePolarized.com for the full schedule!

Want to contact the show? Reach out at [email protected]

Credits:

Producer - Jeff Geld

Researcher - Roge Karma

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This episode, likely the final episode of this podcast, is a bit different: It’s a look not just at what happened this week, but at the deep lessons of impeachment, and the unresolved conflicts and contradictions we’re left with.

Put simply, the Senate will acquit Donald Trump. But in refusing to even hear witnesses, they have convicted American politics.

Want to contact the show? Reach out at [email protected]

Ezra's book is available for pre-order! You can find it at www.EzraKlein.com

You can subscribe to Ezra's other podcast The Ezra Klein Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts

Credits:

Host - Ezra Klein

Producer/Editor - Jeff Geld

Researcher - Roge Karma

Theme Music - Jon Natchez

EP - Liz Nelson

Special thanks to Andrew Prokop and Matt Yglesias

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The Senate trial is officially underway. What’s happened so far? How will the trial proceed from here on out? And will any Republicans defect? Vox’s Li Zhou has the answers.

Then Andrew Prokop and I talk Mitch McConnell: who he is, what motivates him, how he amassed so much power, and what his actions reveal about the underlying forces driving American politics. Contrary to much of the rhetoric on the left, McConnell is not the source of our political dysfunction; he is merely a manifestation of the dysfunction that already exists. 

References:

Andrew Prokop's profile of Mitch McConnell

Host(s):

Ezra Klein (@ezraklein), Editor-at-large, Vox

Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias), Senior politics correspondent, Vox

Guests: 

Li Zhou (@lizhou), Politics and policy reporter, Vox

Andrew Prokop (@awprokop), Senior politics correspondent, Vox 

Want to contact the show? Reach out at [email protected]

Ezra's book is available for pre-order! You can find it at www.EzraKlein.com

You can subscribe to Ezra's other podcast The Ezra Klein Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts

Credits:

Producer, Engineer, Editor - Jeff Geld

Researcher - Roge Karma

EP - Liz Nelson

Theme music composed by Jon Natchez

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This week, Chief Justice John Roberts was sworn in to preside over the third presidential impeachment trial in US history. What happens next? What’s Mitch McConnell’s game plan? And who the hell is Lev Parnas? Andrew Prokop breaks it all down. 

Then, a Senate impeachment trial is one of the rarest and least understood events in American politics. Constitutional expert Jeffrey Tulis explains how the trial works, what the founders envisioned when they designed it, and why things should look very, very different from the Senate per usual. 

And, at the end, the new evidence released by Lev Parnas was damning, but, then again, all of the evidence so far has been incredibly damning. The problem we face in this impeachment trial is not that we lack damning testimony, it’s that we lack Republican senators who are willing to put country over party.

Host:

Ezra Klein (@ezraklein), Editor-at-large, Vox

Guests: 

Andrew Prokop (@awprokop), Senior politics correspondent, Vox 

Jeffrey Tulis, Professor of Government, University of Texas at Austin

Want to contact the show? Reach out at [email protected]

Ezra's book is available for pre-order! You can find it at www.EzraKlein.com.

You can subscribe to Ezra's other podcast The Ezra Klein Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts

Credits:

Producer, Engineer, Editor - Jeff Geld

Researcher - Roge Karma

EP - Liz Nelson

Theme music composed by Jon Natchez 

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This week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced she would finally send impeachment articles to the Senate. Why now? What is the Senate trial shaping up to look like? And how will things change if former National Security Advisor John Bolton testifies before the Senate? Andrew Prokop has the answers. 

Then, the most popular question I’ve gotten over the past week is: Did Trump bomb Iran to distract from impeachment? This reflects a broader view that presidents routinely start foreign conflicts to distract from domestic political troubles. Is that true? And if it is true, does it work? MIT political scientist Adam Berinsky, author of In Time of War: Understanding American Public Opinion from World War II to Iraq, joins me with the facts.

And, at the end, a few thoughts on what the Senate Republicans’ resistance to hearing from witnesses reveals about the impossible problem this impeachment process has posed.

Want to contact the show? Reach out at [email protected]

Ezra's book is available for pre-order! You can find it at www.EzraKlein.com.

You can subscribe to Ezra's other podcast The Ezra Klein Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts

Credits:

Producer, Engineer, Editor - Jeff Geld

Researcher - Roge Karma

EP - Liz Nelson

Theme music composed by Jon Natchez 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Donald Trump became the third president in US history to be impeached. What does that mean? Why is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi waiting to send the articles of impeachment to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell? And what should we expect from the upcoming Senate trial? Vox’s Matt Yglesias explains it all.  

Then, we have something special this week. Vox teamed up with PerryUndem to conduct a focus group with undecided voters in Pennsylvania on the impeachment process. This conversation is different than our usual, but it is equally, if not more, crucial to understanding some of the most important forces at play in impeachment — and our politics more broadly. 

And, at the end, some reflections on what all of this means for not just American politics, but how, and whether, Americans feel they can participate in our politics.

Want to contact the show? Reach out at [email protected]

Ezra's book is available for pre-order! You can find it at www.EzraKlein.com.

You can subscribe to Ezra's other podcast The Ezra Klein Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts

Credits:

Producer, Engineer, Editor - Jeff Geld

Researcher - Roge Karma

EP - Liz Nelson

Theme music composed by Jon Natchez 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices