Who Is?

On Who Is?, Sean Morrow talks a lot about the system--and the powerful financial interests that exert a profound influence on it. But who are these check-writing billionaires, where do they make their money, and how do they spend it in order to influence our democracy? One of them, Paul Singer, runs a hedge fund, Elliott Management, whose business is activism--but not the activism you might think of. Elliott’s “activism” is activist investing, and the changes Elliott advocates for--at major main street companies like AT&T--often involve tens of thousands of layoffs, and result in the collapse of small towns and regional economies. That’s not all: Elliott is also in the business of using the courts to force entire countries, like Argentina, into default, making a handsome profit in the process. What does Paul Singer do with all of the money he makes at Elliott? Invest it in politics, and think tanks that seek to advance American militarism in the Middle East. On this episode of Who Is?, the story of one of America’s financial titans, and the power he wields over not only our economy, but our democracy.     

The views expressed in this podcast include opinion unless cited as fact and Paul Singer and his hedge fund firm, Elliot Management Corporation, have previously denied any claims of wrongdoing

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How did Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the son of Abraham Schumer, an exterminator, and Selma Schumer, a homemaker, become the most powerful Democrat in the Senate? Schumer’s path to power is, on the one hand, a case study in the American meritocracy elevating one of its best and brightest: a hardworking, public school graduate who worked his way to the top. On the other hand, Schumer’s politics are an object lesson in the demands American democracy makes of those who aim to reach such pinnacles of power. As the November election approaches--and Democrats aim to retake the Senate--this episode features a conversation with the last Democrat to run the Senate, former Majority Leader Harry Reid. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After serving as United States Ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump Administration, former Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley, the first woman to lead the state, has fast become one of the most prominent and powerful politicians in the contemporary Republican Party. Haley, the daughter of Punjabi Sikh immigrants, grew up in rural South Carolina, and first entered politics when she defeated a longtime incumbent in a longshot race after Hillary Clinton inspired her to run for political office. As a member of the South Carolina House, Haley fought for transparency. But as Governor, Haley was in line with some of the most antidemocratic positions of her party, from fighting to limit voting rights to seeking to attract jobs to South Carolina via toady corporate giveaways. To understand one of the most talented, compelling, and complicated women in conservative politics, Sean Morrow talks to the people who have observed--and served--with Haley during her meteoric rise to the top. Featuring a conversation with former member of the South Carolina House of Representatives and CNN analyst Bakari Sellers. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2018, after defeating a powerful corporate Democrat in one of the biggest political upsets in American history, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the most prominent progressive in the United States. In office, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez has proposed visionary policy, like the Green New Deal, and become famous for her willingness to challenge the status quo directly--a formidable poise she developed over more than a decade of experience in grassroots organizing. Ocasio-Cortez, who will turn 31 in October, is a politician with a long career ahead of her. As she cruises toward a second term, more than anything else, she has proven that it is possible to fight back against the moneyed political establishment and win. On the first episode of the second season of “Who Is?,” join Sean Morrow, host of “Who Is?,” as he talks with the journalist who first covered AOC’s longshot primary challenge, the volunteers who were with her from the start, and the activists fighting on the ground to propel the progressive movement forward. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Who Is?," an original podcast from NowThis News that explores the lives of the powerful, is back. On "Who Is?," host and NowThis correspondent Sean Morrow dives deep into the stories and backstories of the politicians, donors, media moguls and movements that shape our lives, from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Mark Zuckerberg, and #BlackLivesMatter to George Soros. Featuring conversations with the reporters, biographers, colleagues, confidantes--and occasionally adversaries--who know these world molders best, "Who Is?" is back for another season of sixteen episodes. It's an election year, and we're living through a pandemic. There's a lot to talk about.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A billionaire among billionaires, Charles Koch is one of the most powerful men in the world. By all accounts a brilliant businessman, Charles inherited his father’s company when Lyndon B. Johnson was in the White House, and, over decades, has transformed privately held Koch Industries into a massive multinational conglomerate with annual revenues of well over a hundred billion dollars. Since the 1970s, he’s not only reinvested that money in his company, but funneled it into American politics, financing ideas, organizations, and politicians, which together present a carefully engineered attempt to dismantle the regulatory state, and perhaps government itself. And he’s been very successful: Charles Koch, more than anyone else, may epitomize the pervasive influence of money on American democracy. On the final episode of the first season of Who Is, Sean Morrow explores the biography of Charles Koch, and the history of the Koch Network, for a look at how the very, very wealthy seek to control the political process, and what the rest of us can do about it.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vice President Mike Pence, who has described himself as “a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order,” for decades, was born a Catholic Democrat, but rose to prominence as an Evangelical conservative. Once elected to Congress, his friendly attitude toward big business attracted the attention of billionaire donors like Charles Koch. But as Governor of Indiana, Pence became infamous for how his faith informed his politics, from praying for an answer to an HIV outbreak in Scott County, to advocating for a religious freedom policy that enabled business owners to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people. Then came Donald Trump. On the penultimate episode of the first season of Who Is, Sean Morrow turns to Pence biographer Tom LoBianco, to try to understand the man who could be the next President of the United States.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Arkansas is one of America’s poorest states. Today, it’s also one of its reddest, and the politicians it sends to Washington, like its star senator, Tom Cotton, aim to cut the government assistance programs that many Arkansans depend on. But the state was once solidly democratic, and elected charismatic democratic politicians like former President Bill Clinton, for decades. In the second of three episodes exploring the contemporary Republican Party, and the future of the party after Trump, Sean Morrow digs into the forces that brought Sen. Cotton to power, including deep pocketed donors like Charles Koch, and untangles the complexities of white identity politics and the nationalization of Southern beliefs and attitudes.   

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Democrats nationwide consider who their party will nominate to challenge President Trump in November, Republicans look ahead -- to 2024. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, after a meteoric rise through Kansas politics to leading the CIA and the State Department, is widely believed to be preparing to run for higher office. A businessman; a veteran; and a committed Christian, Pompeo represents one possible future for the Republican Party. He’s also an object example of how conservatives, by and large, have accommodated themselves to Trump. On this episode of Who Is, Sean Morrow inspects the complex and contradictory beliefs and impulses of the man who rode the Tea Party to Congress and Benghazi to fame.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who is Stephen Miller? One of three Senior Advisors to the President--along with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump--Miller is arguably the person who has had the greatest impact on the most people. Policy that Miller has devised, and, thanks to a conservative-leaning Supreme Court, by in large been able to enact, has changed how immigration works in the United States. But that's not all: as one of President Trump's favorite speechwriters, Miller has crafted much of the language that brings "Make America Great Again" to life. On this episode of Who Is, Sean Morrow explores how a Jewish kid from liberal Santa Monica became an immigration hardliner, and dives deep into the history of immigration--and immigration control--in the United States. Airs 02/04/2020.    

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices