To the Contrary Podcast

Mar 09 2025 19 ep. 39 mins 76
To the Contrary Podcast artwork

Just like the newsletter, an oasis of sanity.

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Are Trump and Musk Breaking Up?

Mar 09 2025 41 mins  
Short answer: Not yet. But something is afoot. On today’s podcast, I’m joined by Jonathan Martin, the politics bureau chief and senior political columnist at Politico. He was co-author of The New York Times bestseller “This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America’s Future” — a must-read book about the 2020 election.You can listen/watch right here, or: Wa

Karen Tumulty: Our Twilight Zone Politics

Mar 06 2025 44 mins  
Breaking news this morning: “Trump 'planning to revoke legal status of 240,000 Ukrainian refugees'“Because cruelty is the point. Brutality is the tactic. And vengeance is the motive.**In today’s ‘To the Contrary” Podcast, I talk with the Wapo’s Karen Tumulty about the fallout from Tuesday’s unpresidential address, which she wrote about here: Trump’s address to Congr

Susan Glasser: "Why Aren't We In The Streets?"

Mar 04 2025 56 mins  
On the docket today: Trump cuts off military aid to Ukraine, sparks a trade war with our allies, prepares to address a gelded Congress, and hands out yet another massive grift to his cronies. Happy Fat Tuesday.Here’s a modest suggestion: why don’t we give up the insanity for Lent; and remember that we are not the crazy ones.I know that there are a lot of claims on your time and

Kinzinger-Sykes, Part 2: Vindication?

Mar 02 2025 35 mins  
“Let me tell you, Putin went through a hell of a lot with me. He went through a phony witch hunt where they used him in ‘Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia.’ You ever hear that deal that was a phony, that was a phony Hunter Biden, Joe Biden scam, Hillary Clinton, shifty, Adam Schiff, it was a Democrat scam, and he had to go through that. And he did go through it.” — Donald Tr

Kinzinger-Sykes: Today's Oval Office Disgrace

Feb 28 2025 17 mins  
This afternoon I violated one of my key rules: Never podcast angry. But Adam Kinzinger and I recorded this emergency pod just minutes after a moment of national shame — a stunning episode in which Donald Trump berated and insulted Ukraine’s Volodymir Zelensky; and affirmed his fealty to Vladimir Putin.A quick note: This is the first of a two-part pod with Adam Kinzinger. The se

Kara Swisher on Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk: Our Toddler Oligarchs.

Feb 27 2025 39 mins  
So much the legacy of Katherine Graham and Ben Bradlee. On Wednesday, Jeff Bezos, the Wapo’s billionaire owner took control of his paper’s editorial section, ousted its top editor, and proclaimed that henceforth it will only publish opinion pieces that mirror his support for “personal liberties and free markets”. “We’ll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints o

Paul Rieckhoff: Trump's Assault on the Military

Feb 25 2025 51 mins  
Shortly before we began recording the podcast, this news broke: An infamous vote on the anniversary of a day that will live in infamy.General Mark Hertling reacted: “This vote by the US is just staggering. Not standing against a violation of international law and not condemning the massive numbers of war crimes of Russia will affect US security and damage our alliances and nation

Ben Wittes: The U.S. Just Switched Sides

Feb 20 2025 55 mins  
On today’s “To the Contrary” Podcast, I’m joined by Lawfare’s Ben Wittes, to talk about (1) our betrayal of Ukraine, (2) Europe’s new burden, and (3) the fate of the Department of Justice.From the transcript: BEN WITTES: At another level, I was trying to think of the last time the U.S. had, essentially sided with the bad guys. We've betrayed allies before. You know, you

Brian Rosenwald: One Month of Trump 2.0

Feb 18 2025 65 mins  
On today’s ‘To the Contrary” Podcast I’m joined by Brian Rosenwald, a political historian who specializes in the role of media in shaping — and distorting — our political culture.A while back Rosenwald wrote: “The Left Needs to Abandon Hysteria & Scolding if it Wants to Stop Trump.”I AGREE with the people making these critiques on the substance of what Trump is doin

Tim O'Brien: A Deep Dive Into Trump's Shallow Mind

Feb 16 2025 44 mins  
“Well, Charlie, living inside Donald Trump's head, you discover there's not many things in there other than a putter, a cheeseburger, a porn video, and somebody else's credit card. And it never extends very far beyond those items because he's focused always on the most basic and visceral of things, his various appetites, his various needs.“You can usually understand him through