The Takeaway

For transcripts, see individual segment pages.

For transcripts, see individual segment pages.

For transcripts, see individual segment pages.

President Donald Trump spent his first term undermining the credibility of the media. His tweets, campaign events, and press conferences were tools he used to cast doubt on the legitimacy of reputable news organizations while promoting unfounded lies and conspiracy theories that served his personal agenda. As President Trump prepares to leave office, members of the White House press pool have turned their gaze to President-elect Joe Biden.

Due to the virtual nature of campaigning in 2020, Biden was able to avoid much of the traditional back and forth with members of the media. There are some who argue that members of the press didn’t push hard enough to get Biden in front of reporters. But because Biden has spent a considerable amount of time in Washington, he has a track record that he can be measured against.

A core part of Biden’s campaign promise was a return to normalcy that would include a more traditional communications team and relationship with the press. Rick Klein, political director at ABC News, Caitlin Conant, political director at CBS News, and Ben Smith, media columnist at The New York Times discuss what the Biden administration’s relationship with the press could look like. 

Congressman-elect Ritchie Torres (D-NY) is a freshman member of the 117th Congress representing New York's 15th Congressional District. With the balance of the senate up for grabs come January, Congressman-elect Torres describes his expectations for his first months on the job. You can hear extended conversations with the newest members of Congress here.

In assessing how this once Republican stronghold has become a swing state, most of the attention has been on the influence of the state’s Black voters and white suburban voters. This makes sense given their share of the population. However, the fastest-growing group of voters in the state are Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. While they make up a significantly smaller share of the vote, their political influence can be seen at the congressional and statewide levels. An early analysis of the November elections by a Democratic firm found that voter participation by Asian American and Pacific Islanders in Georgia was up by 91 percent from 2016. 

Amy B Wang, a national politics reporter for The Washington Post, described the role Asian American and Pacific Islander voters played in 2020 and the role they might play during January’s special election.

For transcripts, see individual segment pages.

For transcripts, see individual segment pages.

For transcripts, see individual segment pages.

For transcripts, see individual segment pages.

As around 70 percent of Americans consider themselves to be middle class, it’s no surprise that Democrat and Republican candidates spend a considerable amount of time on the campaign trail attempting to make themselves more appealing to this bloc of voters.

One of the most enduring tales Americans tell about themselves is that America is the land of great economic opportunity and that anyone who wants it can make it into the middle class. But the path to the middle class has become tougher to navigate over the last three decades.

In 2016, candidate Donald Trump was able to build an effective narrative about how the great (mostly white) middle class had been hollowed out by elites and immigrants. In the aftermath of that election, reporters scurried across America, telling the stories of disgruntled white men in the heartland who were unable to access life in the middle class.

Jim Tankersley, tax and economic reporter at The New York Times and author of "The Riches of This Land: The Untold, True Story of America’s Middle Class," knows that these stories weren’t telling the whole story of how the middle class came to exist and how it’s been torn apart.

For transcripts, see individual segment pages.