Politics and Polls

Is it too early to talk about the 2022 Midterm Elections? Julian and Sam don't think so, which is why they unpack some of the issues that may threaten Democratic power next year. They discuss the role redistricting will play and the complexities of gerrymandering — an issue that's always on Sam's mind. Thanks for tuning in!

Abraham Joshua Heschel was a Polish-born American rabbi, theologian, and civil rights and anti-war leader. To this day, Heschel remains a symbol of the fight to make progressive Jewish values relevant in the secular world. Julian Zelizer wrote a biography on Heschel's life from childhood to death, detailing his position at the intersection of religion and progressive politics in mid-20th-century America.

Sam Wang interviews Julian about the new book in this week's episode.

Pro-Trump extremists seem to have a tight grip on the Republican Party at both state and national levels. With elections around the corner, traditional Republicans are now calling for party officials to move the GOP away from "Trumpism." Some are even wondering whether a new center-right party may be needed — as a last resort. These concerns were expressed by Gov. Christine Todd Whitman and Miles Taylor in a recent Washington Post op-ed. They join Julian Zelizer and Sam Wang in this week's show. Todd Whitman is the former governor of New Jersey (1994 to 2001). Taylor served at the Department of Homeland Security from 2017 to 2019, including as chief of staff, and was the anonymous author of a 2018 guest essay for The Times criticizing President Donald Trump's leadership.

Since President Joe Biden pulled U.S. troops out of Afghanistan, many are sorting through whether a withdrawal was really necessary. Regardless, the decision marks a decided end to a long and protracted war, which began during 9/11.

Amb. Robert Finn joins Julian Zelizer in this week's episode to analyze the decision and its effects in this week's episode. A former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Finn is a former lecturer on Turkish literature at Princeton University's Department of Near Eastern Studies and Ertegun Professor of Turkic Studies. His distinguished foreign service career includes posts at U.S. missions in Turkey and as ambassador to Afghanistan and Tajikistan.

Big government is often attacked. In the 1960s and 1970s, social advocates like Ralph Nader and Rachel Carson led the charge in the form of public interest groups. While they disrupted a number of government plans, some unintended consequences emerged: the undermining of big government liberalism, which is the alliance between government, business, and labor.

A book by academic and author Paul Sabin traces the history of the public interest movement, showing the ways in which American liberalism has been at war with itself. Sabin is professor of history and American studies at Yale University where he teaches U.S. environmental history; energy politics; and political, legal, and economic history.

How are Congress and the courts exercising their powers on the issue of voting rights? Julian Zelizer and Sam Wang are joined by Wendy Weiser, vice president for democracy at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, for a conversation about voting rights from the Texas State legislature to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Weiser has appeared on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, PBS, and has written for The New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, and others. Before joining the Brennan Center, Weiser was a senior attorney at NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund and a litigation associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.

New daily Covid-19 infections in the U.S. are reaching 100,000+, yet, not too long ago, that number was 11,000. With everyone asking 'where do we go from here?', Dr. Leana Wen joins Julian and Sam to consider the path through the pandemic and the future of public health. The trio preview Wen's brand-new book, "Lifelines: A Doctor's Journey in the Fight for Public Health," which chronicles public health's successful innovations through the lens of Wen's personal journey from young immigrant to Baltimore Health Commissioner.

Throughout the pandemic, Wen's expertise has been front-and-center in her contributing columns for The Washington Post and medical analyses on CNN. She is an emergency physician, visiting professor of health policy and management at George Washington University, and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Behind almost every U.S. President there has been a First Lady... but we don't always hear much about them. This week, author Julia Sweig joins Julian Zelizer and Sam Wang to discuss her book and podcast, "In Plain Sight," which delves into the audio diaries of Lady Bird Johnson.

Julia Sweig is a New York Times bestselling author whose writing has appeared in the Washington Post, the Atlantic, the Nation, and more. She's a senior research fellow at the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas-Austin. Her most recent book, "Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight," was released in March 2021. Sweig is also the creator, host, and executive producer of In Plain Sight, a podcast developed with ABC Audio and Best Case Studios focused on the same topic.

How are partisan identity and misinformation connected? Sam Wang is joined by Brendan Nyhan to discuss misinformation, partisan identity, and the stability of America's democratic norms.

Nyhan is a professor in the Department of Government at Dartmouth College. He is a researcher on politics, polarization, and healthcare, with an emphasis on false beliefs. He's also a contributor to the Upshot from The New York Times and the co-founder of Bright Line Watch, a group that monitors the health of American democracy.

What in the world is going on? Julian Zelizer and Sam Wang catch you up on some of the biggest discussions happening in politics today: messaging about vaccines and the ongoing controversy about critical race theory and school curriculums.