Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast

By Chris Hayes, MSNBC & NBCNews THINK

Society & Culture

What's Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast about?

Every week Chris Hayes asks the big questions that keep him up at night. How do we make sense of this unprecedented moment in world history? Why is this (all) happening?

This podcast starts to answer these questions. Writers, experts, and thinkers who are also trying to get to the bottom of them join Chris to break it all down and help him get a better night’s rest. “Why is this Happening?” is presented by MSNBC and NBCNews Think.

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Prosecuting Donald Trump wi...

09.26.2023

We just got back from the first stop on our fall 2023 WITHpod tour. We’re thrilled to share a recording of our live event at the Texas Tribune Festival with Andrew Weissmann and Mary McCord, co-hosts of the MSNBC podcast, ...

Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast episodes:

09.26.2023 Prosecuting Donald Trump with Andrew Weissmann and Mary McCord We just got back from the first stop on our fall 2023 WITHpod tour. We’re thrilled to share a recording of our live event at the Texas Tribune Festival with Andrew Weissmann and Mary McCord, co-hosts of the MSNBC podcast, ...
09.19.2023 The Progressive Prosecutor Movement with Chesa Boudin The United States is one of the most incarcerated nations in the world. But why does the U.S. have so many people in prison and what are the biggest drivers of mass incarceration? One way to understand the answer to ...
09.15.2023 Introducing “How to Win 2024” Political insiders Claire McCaskill and Jennifer Palmieri share their insights into this unprecedented election on “How to Win 2024,” a new podcast from MSNBC.
09.12.2023 Hot Labor Summer with Alex Press It’s been a hot summer in more ways than one. From strikes in Hollywood to United Auto Workers voting in favor of strikes, the push for better working conditions isn’t showing signs of cooling down. It's been years since we've ...
09.05.2023 The Care Economy with Ai-jen Poo (2023) Given the Labor Day holiday, we're republishing one of our favorite episodes. From the original description: Every day in the United States, 10,000 people turn 65, according to the UN Population Division. We are about to have the largest older ...
08.29.2023 Answering Your Questions in Our #WITHpod Mailbag We're thrilled to share our summer #WITHpod mailbag, which was originally hosted on Instagram Live. Join as Chris and producer Doni Holloway talk about the upcoming #WITHpod tour, go through your questions, discuss feedback you’ve sent and share pod updates.
08.24.2023 Special Preview: “Velshi Banned Book Club” Ali Velshi gives a special preview of his new podcast, “Velshi Banned Book Club,” an act of resistance against the epidemic of book banning. In each episode, a different author of a banned book joins Ali—including Margaret Atwood, Nikole Hannah-Jones, ...
08.22.2023 “The Heat Will Kill You First” with Jeff Goodell This past July, Earth reached the hottest temperature since record-keeping began, according to the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Prediction. And the record-breaking temperatures are impacting everything from our bodies, to our food supplies to the habitability of the planet. ...
08.15.2023 The “Existential” Climate Crisis with Bill McKibben Much of Maui has been decimated following one of the deadliest wildfires in U.S. history, wildfires are still ravaging Canada, ice in the arctic is melting rapidly, sea levels are rising and we’ve had the hottest day measured on our ...
08.08.2023 “A Moral Moment in America” with Sen. Raphael Warnock “We are naive if we think that we don't have to fight for [our democracy] every single day,” says Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), in this week’s WITHpod. Given how imperiled our democracy is, we thought it would be good to ...
08.02.2023 BONUS: Prosecuting Donald Trump: The 2020 Election Indictment Read by Ali Velshi MSNBC host Ali Velshi reads the latest federal indictment against Donald Trump, charging him with 4 counts in connection with his efforts to try to overturn the 2020 election.
08.01.2023 AI: “An Exponential Disruption” with Kate Crawford (2023) Since Chris is just getting back from vacation this week, we're re-sharing one of our favorite episodes. You might be feeling that artificial intelligence is starting to seem a bit like magic. Our guest points out that AI, once the ...
07.25.2023 Being “Irrepressible” with Little Rock Nine Member Minnijean Brown-Trickey (2023) Since Chris is on vacation this week, we're re-sharing one of our favorite episodes. “I went because they didn’t want me there,” says Minnijean Brown-Trickey. It’s been more than 60 years since she made history. At 16-years-old, she and eight ...
07.18.2023 #WITHpod & Strict Scrutiny Crossover Another year, another pretty consequential Supreme Court term. SCOTUS recently ended its term with a number of big decisions including striking down affirmative action and issuing opinions in the 303 Creative case, in which the majority created a “constitutional right ...
07.11.2023 From Prison to Politics with Yusef Salaam Yusef Salaam was just 15 years old in 1989 when he, along with four other Black and Latino teenagers, were wrongly accused of the brutal rape and assault of a 28-year-old white woman who was jogging in Central Park. Salaam ...
07.04.2023 Decoding The Information Age with Scott Shapiro You’ve probably encountered phishing emails or computer viruses. Or maybe one or more of your accounts has been hacked or compromised. How and why do hackers hack and what are they generally seeking? Our guest this week points out that ...
06.27.2023 Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism with Jeffrey Toobin It’s been 28 years since the Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people and injured hundreds more. At 9:02 a.m. on April 19th, 1995, a bomb built by Timothy McVeigh, an American domestic terrorist, exploded in front of the Alfred ...
06.20.2023 Why Americans Are Dying So Young with Anne Case and Angus Deaton Life expectancy in the U.S. has been on the decline, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While the COVID-19 pandemic killed more than 1 million people in America, 2014-2015 was actually an inflection point for mortality rates. ...
06.13.2023 Leading Chicago with Mayor Brandon Johnson Not too long ago, Brandon Johnson was virtually unknown to many Chicagoans. Now, he’s the 57th mayor of America’s third-largest city. His path to power, fueled by a markedly progressive campaign, was pretty unusual. Before taking the helm of Chicago, ...
06.12.2023 BONUS: Rachel Maddow Presents: Déjà News As a bonus for listeners, we’re sharing a special preview of “Rachel Maddow Presents: Déjà News,” a new original podcast series from MSNBC. In each episode, Rachel Maddow and co-host Isaac-Davy Aronson seek a deeper understanding of a story in ...
06.11.2023 BONUS: Prosecuting Donald Trump: The Full Indictment Read by Ali Velshi MSNBC host Ali Velshi reads the entire 37-count federal indictment against Donald Trump.
06.06.2023 “The Phoenix Economy” with Felix Salmon We’ve experienced so much personal, social and economic disruption over the past few years. The pandemic reworked how we view some of the most fundamental and predictable aspects of our lives. How will we emerge from all of the trauma ...
05.30.2023 The Care Economy with Ai-jen Poo Every day in the United States, 10,000 people turn 65, according to the UN Population Division. We are about to have the largest older population ever. At the same time, nearly 4 million babies are born every year, leaving many ...
05.23.2023 “The Shadow Docket” with Steve Vladeck The Supreme Court has long had incredible authority to make decisions that affect millions of Americans. But in recent years, it has increasingly used its power to make stealth emergency decisions without public hearings or explanations. The cases that we ...
05.16.2023 A gun industry insider perspective with Ryan Busse (2022) We're republishing this episode, which was originally released in June of 2022. There are more guns than cars in the United States. And studies show that gun sales go up following mass shootings. Ryan Busse 30 years as a leader ...
05.09.2023 The Explosion of Online Sports Betting with Eric Lipton You’ve probably encountered an advertisement for sports betting in one form or another. In the past few years, there’s been a marked rise in the number of online sports betting ads from companies like DraftKings and FanDuel. Gambling companies now ...
05.02.2023 TikTok’s Uncertain Future with Jacob Ward TikTok is one of the fastest growing social media platforms in the world, and now has over a billion users worldwide. But its future in the United States remains in limbo. The Biden administration, citing national security concerns, has demanded ...
04.25.2023 The Abortionist “Written Out of History” with Jennifer Wright Content warning: This episode contains occasional explicit sexual references and depictions of graphic events that some may find disturbing. Madame Restell is a figure you’ve likely never heard of. Our guest this week points out that Restell, an abortionist who ...
04.18.2023 AI: “An Exponential Disruption” with Kate Crawford You might be feeling that artificial intelligence is starting to seem a bit like magic. Our guest this week points out that AI, once the subject of science fiction, has seen the biggest rise of any consumer technology in history ...
04.11.2023 What’s Behind Israel’s Unprecedented Protests with Edo Konrad If you’ve been following international news, you’ve noticed the marked rise of protests and conflict in Israel. An unprecedentedly right-wing governing coalition has been elected with Netanyahu at the helm. Hundreds of thousands of people have been taking to the ...
04.10.2023 Special Preview: New episode of Tiffany Dover Is Dead* Podcast As a preview for Why Is This Happening listeners, here’s a sneak peek from a special new episode of Truthers: Tiffany Dover Is Dead*, an NBC News podcast about misinformation and conspiracy theories. Nine months after the series ended without ...
04.06.2023 Bonus: Prosecuting Donald Trump As a bonus for listeners, we’re sharing a preview from Prosecuting Donald Trump, a new original podcast series from MSNBC. Donald Trump became the first ex-president to be arraigned on criminal charges Tuesday. MSNBC legal analysts Andrew Weissmann and Mary ...
04.04.2023 The Fixation on Anti-Trans Legislation with Chase Strangio State legislatures have significantly advanced a record number of attacks aimed at restricting LGBTQ+ rights this year. Our guest this week points out that “the number one priority, without any ambiguity” of Republicans has been attacking trans people. Nearly half ...
03.28.2023 WTH Happened at Silicon Valley Bank? with Mike Konczal Silicon Valley Bank’s recent failure marked the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history and the largest since the 2008 financial crisis. The run on the bank sent shockwaves through the financial world. Nearly 94% of its total deposits were uninsured, ...
03.21.2023 The Dire Threat of Global Authoritarianism with Rula Jebreal There’s been a marked rise over the last decade of nationalist and authoritarian politics. Global freedom declined for a 17th consecutive year in 2022, according to a Freedom House annual report. The rise of MAGAism in the U.S., neo-fascism in ...
03.14.2023 Introducing: The Girl in the Blue Mustang As a bonus for you, we’re sharing the trailer for The Girl in the Blue Mustang, an all-new original podcast series from Dateline and Keith Morrison. When 18-year-old Michelle O’Keefe is found murdered in her shiny new blue Mustang in ...
03.14.2023 Changing Cop Culture with Neil Gross The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act would’ve addressed racial profiling and use of deadly force, among other things. But the bill, which was crafted in 2020, still hasn’t passed and it’s unclear if it ever will. Progress has often ...
03.07.2023 Cities After Covid with Brad Lander Even if the worst of the pandemic is over, some of the changes it foisted on our lives seem like they're here to stay. In cities around the nation, office space in dense downtown areas is well below full utilization, ...
02.28.2023 Treating Trans Youth with Dr. Izzy Lowell (2021) Since Chris was on vacation last week and given the wave of recent anti-trans legislation, we’re revisiting and providing an update on our episode with Dr. Izzy Lowell, who runs Queer Med, a private clinic that specializes in providing accessible ...
02.21.2023 The ‘Havana Syndrome’ with Jon Lee Anderson and Adam Entous Starting in 2016, U.S. diplomats and spies began reporting a wide range of mysterious and debilitating medical symptoms, first in Cuba and then around the world. Doctors who initially treated patients couldn’t come up with a diagnosis and some just ...
02.14.2023 Being “Irrepressible” with Little Rock Nine Member Minnijean Brown-Trickey “I went because they didn’t want me there,” says Minnijean Brown-Trickey, our guest this week. It’s been more than 60 years since she made history. At 16-years-old, she and eight other black students found an angry mob and the national ...
02.09.2023 Special preview: Trymaine Lee on 50 years of hip-hop This Black History Month, MSNBC’s “Into America” podcast celebrates the 50th anniversary of hip-hop with a special mini-series, “Street Disciples: Politics, Power and the Rise of Hip-Hop.” Hosted by Trymaine Lee, the series explores how our country’s political and economic ...
02.07.2023 “The E-bike is Here to Stay” with Mike Radenbaugh You’ve probably encountered an e-bike in some form or another. Maybe you’ve ridden one. Perhaps one has buzzed passed you on the street, in a bike lane, or on the sidewalk. We’ve seen your requests and we’re glad to finally ...
01.31.2023 The Effects of the ‘Stop W.O.K.E’ Act with Jonathan Cox You’ve probably heard about what Florida governor Ron DeSantis is up to. One of the most controversial things he’s done is sign the Individual Freedom Act, also known as the “Stop W.O.K.E Act,” short for Stop Wrongs to Our Kids ...
01.24.2023 WTH Happened with FTX? with Tonya Evans Last year's Super Bowl featured a who's who of celebrities hawking cryptocurrency and crypto platforms like FTX. In retrospect that looks like the boom before the bust. This year, crypto prices have tumbled and one of the most valued exchanges, ...
01.21.2023 BONUS: Chris Hayes co-hosts National Day of Racial Healing town hall Hi #WITHpod listeners! We have a special bonus episode for you. In the “National Day of Racial Healing: An MSNBC Town Hall,” MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, Joy Reid and Trymaine Lee talk with activists, journalists, artists and experts to explore the ...
01.17.2023 Has the Lottery Played Us? with Jonathan Cohen The history of lotteries spans over four millennia. The modern version of them arose out of a need for a form of more state funding that wouldn’t raise taxes. Jackpots have reached record levels in the past few years. And ...
01.10.2023 Celebrating 250 #WITHpod Episodes Join as you help us celebrate our 250th #WITHpod! In our recent Mailbag episode, we asked you all to send over clips sharing why you listen to WITHpod, where you listen and or what’s your favorite ep. We loved hearing ...
01.10.2023 Strengthening America’s Immigrant ‘Resilience Force’ with Saket Soni The language that is used to talk about immigrants in America is something that really bothers Chris. A common and unproductive trope that’s heard in media is “a flood of immigrants to the border.” At the same time, there is ...
01.03.2023 The Debate Inside Progressive Politics with Maurice Mitchell “My argument is because [right wing authoritarianism] is the central struggle of the day, we need the most effective, principled and impactful progressive organizations that are seeking to challenge that,” says Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party. ...

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