Ben and Beleh sit down with Michael LaRosa, former press secretary to First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, for an unfiltered post-mortem on 2024—and a blueprint for how Democrats stop losing the media war.

Michael opens with the core problem: Trump treats media as an opportunity; Democrats treat it as a hazard (02:20). He walks through Harris’s 107-day handoff and the culture of caution that followed (07:30), explaining why the old “answer the question you want to answer” playbook dies in long-form formats (10:12).

From there, the guys break down the biggest self-inflicted wounds. The Tim Walz “pick-six” tweet and how authenticity theater backfires (39:40). The fracking layup Harris wouldn’t take—“just run on your record” (43:55). And the decision to skip the Super Bowl interview, which Michael calls pure malpractice (55:35).

They finish with the questions Democrats keep ducking and why yes/no answers beat hedges—even on hot-button topics like trans sports (59:35). Plus: what a “central casting” Cabinet would look like, and how to build a team that can actually sell policy on Fox, podcasts, and everywhere in between (1:01:20).

Follow Michael LaRosa ⁠@MichaelLaRosaDC⁠, Beleh ⁠⁠⁠@Btoma15⁠⁠⁠, Ben ⁠⁠⁠@BenBartlettt⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠ and Brogressive Podcast ⁠⁠⁠@BrogressivePod⁠⁠⁠ on Twitter/X.