Interesting Times

If you believe JD Vance, the American family is in crisis. But are attacks on “childless cat ladies” and pitches for enfranchising kids actual policy platforms or merely culture war cudgels?

This week on “Matter of Opinion,” Jessica Grose joins Michelle, Ross and Carlos to debate the weird ways gender and family are showing up in the election and share their own roads to parenthood.

Plus, Jessica suggests a deep dive into a culture of “tin pot dictators wearing LoveShackFancy.”

(A full transcript of this episode will be available within 24 hours of publication on the Times website.)

Recommended in this episode:

• “Red Families vs. Blue Families: Legal Polarization and the Creation of the Culture” by Naomi Cahn and June Carbone
• “The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind” by Melissa S. Kearney
• “The Party of Julia” by Ross Douthat
• “Welcome to Bama Confidential,” Anne Helen Peterson’s essay series on her Culture Study newsletter

Thoughts about the show? Email us at [email protected] or leave a voicemail at (212) 556-7440.

Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

This week on the show, Michelle Goldberg joins Michelle  and Ross to debate the gambles or gains Kamala Harris has made by picking  Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota as her running mate. They also discuss the ways the Trump-Vance ticket could recalibrate to regain their lead. Plus, Goldberg is sunny on a new show you probably haven’t heard of.

(A full transcript of this episode will be available within 24 hours of publication on the Times website.)

Recommended in this episode:

• Don’t Listen to the Right. The Kamalanomenon Is Real. by Michelle Goldberg
• The Focus Group Podcast episode “Kamala Needs a DEI Pick (Straight White Dude)” with Sarah Longwell
• Sunny from Apple TV+

Thoughts about the show? Email us at [email protected] or leave a voicemail at (212) 556-7440.

Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The 2024 presidential race is officially in its identity politics stage. From “White Dudes for Harris,” to “D.E.I. candidate” accusations, the hosts debate how race and racism are being deployed in the second week of the Harris v. Trump election.

(A full transcript of this episode will be available within 24 hours of publication on the Times website.)

Mentioned in this episode:

• “Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance” by Barack Obama
• “Rising Stare: The Making of Obama” by David J. Garrow
• “Barack Obama: The Story” by David Maraniss
• “The Olympic Flame Isn’t a Flame at All” by Andrew Keh

Thoughts about the show? Email us at [email protected] or leave a voicemail at (212) 556-7440.

Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Vice President Kamala Harris has gone from being one of President Biden’s many problems to the hope of the Democratic Party. This week Ross, Lydia and Carlos dissect the seismic campaign vibe shift in both parties. Plus, Ross criticizes another self-indulgent addition to the modern era’s Western canon.

(A full transcript of this episode will be available within 24 hours of publication on the Times website.)

Mentioned in this episode:

• Ross Douthat, David French, Michelle Goldberg, and Lydia Polgreen: Is It a Mistake for Democrats to Go All In on Harris? Four Columnists on the Party’s Moves.
• Harris’s Michigan event on abortion
• Harris’s first presidential rally in Milwaukee speech

Thoughts about the show? Email us at [email protected] or leave a voicemail at (212) 556-7440.

Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The former president was expected to offer “unity” in his convention acceptance speech. But, after a wild week, the speech revealed the same old Donald Trump. In this episode, the hosts debate: Is Trump a “man of destiny”?

(A full transcript of this episode will be available within 24 hours of publication on the Times website.)

Recommended in this episode:

• Donald Trump, Man of Destiny

Thoughts about the show? Email us at [email protected] or leave a voicemail at (212) 556-7440.

Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

“The dam is breaking!” Have the Democrats reached their “break glass in case of emergency” moment? This week, Michelle, Ross and Lydia dig into the Democratic Party fissures, consider what could happen if President Biden refuses to bow out, and debate just how much this moment mirrors the Republican scramble against Trump in 2016.

(A full transcript of this episode will be available within 24 hours of publication on the Times website.)

Mentioned in this episode:

• George Clooney: I Love Joe Biden. But We Need a New Nominee.
• The Case for Joe Biden by Ross Douthat
• Ezra Klein: A Path to Defeat from “The Bulwark Podcast”

Thoughts about the show? Email us at [email protected] or leave a voicemail at (212) 556-7440.

Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Matter of Opinion is off this week, but the news hasn’t stopped. So this week we’re bringing you something from columnists across New York Times Opinion. With President Biden’s candidacy in question, we asked them: Who would you like to see as the Democratic nominee? These are their answers.

• Lydia Polgreen on the case for Vice President Kamala Harris
• Nicholas Kristof on the case for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan
• Ross Douthat on the case for Senator Joe Manchin
• Pamela Paul on the case for Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland
• David French on the case for Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania
• Charles Blow on the case for President Biden

(A full transcript of this episode will be available within 24 hours of publication on the Times website.)

If your opinion has changed on President Biden since the debate, we want to hear from you, too. What do you hope to see happen before the Democratic convention? Leave us a voice mail at 212-556-7440 or email us at [email protected]

This audio essay was originally made for the NYT Audio App, free for Times subscribers in the Apple App Store.

Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Ezra Klein joins Ross and Michelle to dissect the first presidential debate of 2024: “At some point Democrats have to decide if they want to try to win this election, or it is simply too uncomfortable for them to do anything but be on this train as it derails.”

(A full transcript of this episode is available on the Times website.) 

Thoughts about the show? Email us at [email protected] or leave a voicemail at (212) 556-7440.

Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

We’re getting ready for this week’s presidential debate. In the meantime, we wanted to share an audio essay from Michelle Cottle on a make-or-break vote for the MAGA warrior Lauren Boebert. The controversial lawmaker is facing a primary in Colorado that will determine her political future. Michelle visited a biker bar in Douglas County, Colo., to understand the ways Boebert is tweaking her image in a new district in hopes of winning over more traditional conservatives. Can she do it without losing hard-core Trump fans?

This audio essay was originally made for the NYT Audio app, free for Times subscribers in the Apple App Store.

Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Populism, offered as a solution to economic and cultural woes, has gained ground in Europe following a slew of recent elections. Across the pond, the Ohio senator and potential Trump running mate J.D. Vance is championing an American version of populist politics that is also gaining traction. On this week’s episode, the hosts discuss Vance’s embrace of the ideology and consider why many voters find it so appealing.

Plus, Ross shares a literary deep cut that not even Carlos has heard of.

(A full transcript of this episode will be available within 24 hours of publication on the Times website.)

Recommended in this episode:

• “What J.D. Vance Believes” by Ross Douthat in The Times
• “Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans,” “Fire and Blood: A History of Mexico” and “Comanches: The History of a People” by T.R. Fehrenbach
• “What Will Become of American Civilization?” by George Packer in The Atlantic

Thoughts about the show? Email us at [email protected] or leave a voicemail at (212) 556-7440.

Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.