Inside the Hive

Host Brian Stelter takes the pulse of the Democratic Party with Vanity Fair contributing editors Chris Smith and Jennifer Palmieri. They discuss the party's strong bench and possible scenarios if the president and presumptive 2024 nominee, Joe Biden, were to exit the race before election day—from a governor like JB Pritzker or Gretchen Whitmer getting in the ring to Vice President Kamala Harris moving to the top of the ticket.

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Host Brian Stelter explores Donald Trump’s tangled relationship with Fox News with Sarah Ellison, national enterprise reporter at The Washington Post, and Oliver Darcy, senior media reporter at CNN. Trump’s decision this week to skip the first Republican debate on Fox News only escalates his war with the Murdochs, even as the cable channel’s hosts remain largely in the former president's corner. And given Trump’s commanding lead in the 2024 primary, it’s looking like Fox needs Trump more than he needs them.

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Host Brian Stelter breaks down the Georgia racketeering charges against Donald Trump with Anthony Michael Kreis, a professor at Georgia State College of Law, and Anna Bower, a Georgia native covering legal affairs in Fulton County for Lawfare. They discuss how the case brought by District Attorney Fani Willis differs from Trump's three previous indictments, the likelihood of any of the ex-president's 18 co-defendents flipping, the potential for cameras in the courtroom, and if this trial can even get underway before the 2024 election.

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Host Brian Stelter talks to Rudy Giuliani biographer Andrew Kirtzman and Vanity Fair executive editor Claire Howorth about the epic fall of “America’s Mayor” and his decades-long, symbiotic relationship with Donald Trump. “There's something about Rudy that makes Donald Trump swoon,” says Kirtzman, a veteran political reporter who recalled Giuliani as a “calm, fatherly general” in responding to the Sept. 11 attacks, only to spiral after his failed 2008 presidential bid and sink even lower in the aftermath of the 2020 election. They explore what's next for Giuliani, who may face charges in Georgia and Washington D.C., where he appeared to be co-conspirator #1 in the DOJ's latest indictment of Trump.

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Host Brian Stelter breaks down the latest indictment against Donald Trump with Andrew Weissmann, a former federal prosecutor, NYU professor, and co-host of MSNBC’s “Prosecuting Donald Trump” podcast. The “variety of sources of evidence” in the DOJ’s election case against Trump is “rock-solid,” says Weissmann, and the forthcoming trial, he adds, should not be viewed through a political lens, but about “whether we are going to adhere to the rule of law.”

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Host Brian Stelter talks with Marc Caputo, national political reporter at The Messenger, about Ron DeSantis’s early stumbles on the campaign trail, as he trims staff and shifts strategy. The Florida-based reporter breaks down why his state’s twice-elected governor (and Fox-friendly culture warrior) has so far failed to wrest the MAGA mantle from Donald Trump. 

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Host Brian Stelter discusses the cultural impact of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” with Vanity Fair Executive Hollywood Editor Jeff Giles and Senior Vanities Correspondent Delia Cai, along with the state of an industry in disarray as actors join writers on the picket line.

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The Trump-loving Congresswoman just got booted from the far-right Freedom Caucus, yet is wielding more power than ever on Capitol Hill. Host Brian Stelter talks with author and New York Times staff writer Robert Draper about Greene’s political path, from pushing QAnon conspiracies to working closely with Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (and feuding with Lauren Boebert.) “I’ve never seen this level of school-yard taunting and juvenile misbehavior,” Draper said, “that I’ve seen amongst these Republicans.”

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Host Brian Stelter talks with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Wesley Lowery about the historic challenges of building a multiracial democracy, the focus of his new book, American Whitelash: A Changing Nation and The Cost of Progress. The pair also address how race plays out in the courtroom, on the heels of the Supreme Court striking down affirmative action in college admissions, and in the newsroom, where journalists, at times, struggle to provide clarity and context.

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Host Brian Stelter goes deep on the state of California with Vanity Fair special correspondent Joe Hagan, whose feature on California’s crises is stirring debate this week, and Marisa Lagos, a government and politics correspondent for KQED in San Francisco. They discuss the state’s pressing issues, from homelessness to climate change to crime, along with how California’s challenges are perceived by locals and portrayed in the national media.

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