Reasonably Optimistic

Americans don’t seem to have a shared understanding of when or how much to tip. Yet, millions of people rely on what we give to make a decent wage. Columnists Theodore Johnson, Heather Long and Molly Roberts talk about why things have become so confusing and get into the real issues beneath the campaign proposals to end taxes on tips.

Read more from The Washington Post:

“Tipping is more confusing than ever. Here’s how to handle it.”

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

In the final stretch of the presidential campaign, both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are turning to popular lifestyle and comedy podcasts to woo different audiences. We were curious whether the candidates sounded any different in these environments than at their rallies. So columnists Charles Lane, Molly Roberts and Perry Bacon listened in and discussed what they learned.

Listen to the podcasts we discussed in the episode here:

Donald Trump on “This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von”

Donald Trump on “Flagrant”

Kamala Harris on “Call Her Daddy”

Kamala Harris on “All the Smoke”

The National Archives might seem like a distant trove of documents and arcane laws for Americans far from Washington. But many of these national treasures are actually relevant to our lives. Author Sarah Vowell found the people inside the Archives who are making sure everybody can access these documents and find their stories. 

Read Sarah Vowell’s full story here: The Equalizer

And check out the rest of the “Who is government?” series.

The Canary, by Michael Lewis

The Sentinel, by Casey Cep

The Searchers, by Dave Eggers

The Number, by John Lanchester

The Cyber Sleuth, by Geraldine Brooks

The original version of this audio mistakenly referred to one of the Citizen Archivists as Bernard Weintraub, but his name is Joel Weintraub. We regret the error.

As tensions between Israel and Iran soar, columnists David Ignatius and Josh Rogin talk with Damir Marusic about the broader forces at play in the conflict, the lack of plans for a stable future and what a Trump victory would mean for the U.S.-Iran relationship.

Read more from David Ignatius on this issue: 

“What the Oct. 7 attacks didn’t change”

“Trump courts disaster by underestimating Iranian death threats”

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

The IRS may be one of the most hated departments in the federal government, but it turns out it does more than just collect taxes. Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Geraldine Brooks got to know the folks in charge of the IRS’s cybercrime unit which investigates criminals who use cryptocurrency. In this bonus episode, Brooks talks with Michael Lewis about what she learned. 

Read Geraldine Brooks’s full article here: Meet the black-belt, tattooed IRS official who saved 23 children from their abusers

And check out the rest of the “Who is Government” series. 

The Canary, by Michael Lewis

The Sentinel, by Casey Cep

The Searchers, by Dave Eggers

The Number, by John Lanchester

In the vice-presidential showdown JD Vance tried to remake himself by being nice, while Tim Walz directed his attacks at Donald Trump. Columnists Karen Tumulty, Dana Milbank and Ruth Marcus discuss the Jan. 6 moment and what Vance’s soft talk on abortion says about Republicans’ fear of how the issue will hurt them at the ballot box.

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

The skittish inflation number that flies across headlines might feel arbitrary; in fact, it’s anything but. To arrive at that number, it takes millions of calculations into granular details such as the chemical composition of turkey meat and the flavor notes of olive oil. In this episode, John Lanchester chats with Michael Lewis about what the government counts and how tracking these things tells us a lot about what a country values.

Read John Lanchester’s full article here: This number has shaped political debate and determined the fate of presidents 

Check out the rest of the “Who is Government” series. 

The Canary, by Michael Lewis

The Sentinel, by Casey Cep

The Searchers, by Dave Eggers

“Jeopardy!” has been on the air and wildly popular for 60 years. What makes it endure, and what does that say about American culture? Contributing columnist Amanda Ripley talks to Alexandra Petri, Drew Goins and Ryan Vogt — Post Opinions staffers who’ve been contestants on the show — about its staying power, and if “Jeopardy!” can still bring Americans together.

Correction: In this episode, we mistakenly said Bob Eubanks hosted The Match Game in the 1970s. Gene Rayburn was the host of that show. We regret the error. 

The scope of the federal government is vast, and in one corner lies NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, where the search for new planets and new life continues. As part of the Post Opinions “Who is government?” series, author Dave Eggers takes a look at the lab’s latest innovations and gets to know the people who are reaching for the stars. In this special episode, Michael Lewis talks to Eggers about what he learned.

Read Eggers' entire article here: The Searchers.

And be sure to check out the rest of the "Who is government?" series.

The Canary, by Michael Lewis

The Sentinel, by Casey Cep

Many economists and politicians are alarmed that Americans, like others around the world, are having fewer kids. But, apart from wanting a growing labor force, is this really a problem? Opinions columnists Shadi Hamid and Heather Long talk with Style columnist Monica Hesse about what’s really behind the baby bust and whether we just need to prepare for a lower fertility future. 

Read more from our columnists about this topic in the Washington Post:

Editorial board: A reader quiz on world birthrate -- and what it means for the future

Monica Hesse: The birth rate is still sluggish. Don’t blame the birth givers.