The Chuck ToddCast

In this episode of the Chuck ToddCast, Chuck digs into the stunning implosion of The Washington Post after Jeff Bezos ordered layoffs of nearly a third of its staff—breaking a decade-old promise to provide the paper with long-term financial runway. The conversation explores how Bezos treated the Post less like a civic institution and more like a trophy asset, useful for currying favor, protecting government contracts, and advancing Amazon and Blue Origin, but never truly prioritized for success. As newsroom cuts gut coverage across the board and the Post retreats from its role as D.C.’s essential local authority, the episode argues this isn’t just a media story—it’s a case study in billionaire power, tech hubris, and how America’s wealthiest figures play by a different set of rules, even as blue-collar and white-collar anger begin to converge.
Finally, Chuck previews the Super Bowl between the Seahawks & Patriots and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.
Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.
Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life!
Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order.
Timeline:
(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements)
00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction
01:00 Washington Post lays off 1/3rd of its staff on orders from Bezos
02:45 Bezos told Woodward in 2013 he’d provide financial runway to the Post
03:30 Bezos just did the opposite of what he said he’d do
04:45 Matt Murray, editor of the post, isn’t in charge of business strategy
06:15 Cuts will affect all areas of the Post’s coverage
08:15 Structural issues at the Post have existed for years
09:30 The NYT diversified and it worked brilliantly
10:15 DC is an educated affluent market, comfortable paying for news
11:00 Bezos needed a leg up for Blue Origin in the space race
12:45 So why did 2013 Bezos buy the Post? Government contracts.
13:45 Amazon held almost an American Idol style bid process for HQ
14:30 Wish Amazon would have chosen St. Louis for HQ
17:45 Buying the Post was a way to curry favor for Amazon
18:30 Bezos saw the Post as a trophy that would help his other businesses
19:45 Trump cancelled a Bezos contract over unfavorable Post coverage
21:00 Bezos wasn’t interested in the success of the Post
23:15 Why not sell the Post? Trump would blame him for negative coverage
25:30 Whether the Post fails doesn’t matter to Bezos, his other businesses do
27:00 Bezos has only done one thing well: Building Amazon
28:00 High net worth doesn’t mean high IQ
30:00 WaPo was the regional and local authority in DC & is giving that up
32:00 Post wants to retreat and become just offer political coverage
33:15 Bezos is behaving like the metaphorical rich guy villain
34:15 Rich people play by their own rules and get away with everything
36:45 Blue collar anger is about to be coupled with white collar anger
37:30 The tech titans don’t know how to read the room
39:00 Biggest trade for Washington Wizards in years not covered by the Post
40:30 The Post won’t recover from this
46:45 Super Bowl preview
52:15 Ask Chuck
52:30 What incentives allow congress to just fall in line behind the president?
56:30 Why aren’t we seeing bigger protests in the streets?
57:45 Is the divide between MAGA & liberal America unbridgeable?
1:05:00 Could Trump legally get a third term via the line of succession?
1:10:00 How concerned should we be with the FBI raid at Fulton county election office?
1:13:00 Is it unusual for the out party to get a bill through congress?
1:17:00 If the Senate ends up split, how is majority control determined?
1:19:45 If Talarico wins his primary, could he catch fire all the way to the White House?
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Author and Washington Post contributor Danny Funt joins the Chuck ToddCast to discuss his new book “Everybody Loses”, and for a sobering, wide-ranging conversation about how the rapid legalization of sports betting quietly reshaped American sports—and not in the ways fans were promised. What began as a state-by-state experiment after a 2018 Supreme Court ruling has exploded into a highly profitable, lightly regulated industry where sportsbooks are household names, leagues are financial stakeholders, and media companies are financially dependent on gambling ads. Funt explains how gambling turbocharged media rights deals, hooked viewers more deeply into games, and became politically untouchable as companies like FanDuel and DraftKings poured money into lobbying to block even modest regulation.
The discussion digs into the darker consequences that followed: inadequate funding for gambling addiction support, normalization of conspiracy talk about “rigged” games, threats and violence directed at athletes, and growing concerns about corruption—especially in individual sports and lower-profile leagues. Funt draws chilling parallels between today’s sportsbook advertising blitz and the early days of Big Tobacco, explores why American regulators ignored European guardrails, and explains how mobile betting and prediction markets have made gambling more potent and pervasive than ever. The result, he argues, is a system designed for maximum profit with minimal friction—one that has fundamentally altered how sports are watched, covered, and policed.
Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.
Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life!
Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order.
Timeline:
(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements)
00:00 Danny Funt joins the Chuck ToddCast
00:30 Rapid legalization of sports betting had unintended consequences
02:00 What made you want to cover the topic of sports betting?
02:30 Leagues took a hard pivot from anti to pro gambling
04:30 Major sportsbooks are household names, but very secretive
06:00 SCOTUS paved the way for state by state gambling with 2018 ruling
06:45 Courts provided gambling legislation due to inaction by congress
08:15 Gambling creating a massive increase in value for media rights
09:45 Adding gambling was a way to further hook viewers to sports
11:15 It’s hard to add new taxes, but vice taxes are able to pass
12:30 Legal betting is far more potent than betting through a bookie
14:00 Fanduel & Draftkings throwing money into politics to avoid regulation
15:30 Even modest regulation is rigorously opposed by gambling industry
17:00 Funding for support with gambling addiction is completely inadequate
18:15 Why wasn’t there a larger debate before rolling out mobile gambling?
19:00 Mobile gambling makes so much more money than physical books
20:15 Individual sports are more corruptible than team sports
21:00 Online betting is incredibly well geofenced
22:00 Putting “friction points” into the process helps with user safety
23:30 Gambling leads to rage & violent behavior & risks player safety
25:15 Gamblers have been arrested for threats to athletes over lost bets
26:00 Fans talking about games being “rigged” has been normalized
27:00 Individual players can collaborate on bets, trying to help friends
27:45 “Fixing” doesn’t necessarily mean “failing”
28:30 Prominent people in sports are alarmed & speaking out
29:30 Media won’t speak against it due to huge ad revenue from sportsbooks
32:00 NFL strongarmed reporters over concussions, gambling will be worse
35:30 Will we start regulating sports to make sure gambling is honest?
36:45 Referees in smaller, less visible conferences will be harder to police
37:15 Technology is being adopted to avoid corruptability of officials
38:45 Did writing this book change the way you watch sports?
40:30 Who controls Fanduel and Draftkings?
41:15 The leagues have equity stakes in the major sportsbooks
42:30 Major advertising similarities between tobacco and sportsbooks
43:30 What are the available gambling helpline resources/counseling like?
45:00 Stronger gambling culture in Europe, do they regulate it better?
46:00 American regulation completely ignored European precedent
47:00 Prediction markets are indistinguishable from betting markets
49:30 Legalization basically laid a trap for stupid people
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of the Chuck ToddCast, Chuck digs into the stunning implosion of The Washington Post after Jeff Bezos ordered layoffs of nearly a third of its staff—breaking a decade-old promise to provide the paper with long-term financial runway. The conversation explores how Bezos treated the Post less like a civic institution and more like a trophy asset, useful for currying favor, protecting government contracts, and advancing Amazon and Blue Origin, but never truly prioritized for success. As newsroom cuts gut coverage across the board and the Post retreats from its role as D.C.’s essential local authority, the episode argues this isn’t just a media story—it’s a case study in billionaire power, tech hubris, and how America’s wealthiest figures play by a different set of rules, even as blue-collar and white-collar anger begin to converge.
Then, author and Washington Post contributor Danny Funt joins the Chuck ToddCast to discuss his new book “Everybody Loses”, and for a sobering, wide-ranging conversation about how the rapid legalization of sports betting quietly reshaped American sports—and not in the ways fans were promised. What began as a state-by-state experiment after a 2018 Supreme Court ruling has exploded into a highly profitable, lightly regulated industry where sportsbooks are household names, leagues are financial stakeholders, and media companies are financially dependent on gambling ads. Funt explains how gambling turbocharged media rights deals, hooked viewers more deeply into games, and became politically untouchable as companies like FanDuel and DraftKings poured money into lobbying to block even modest regulation.
The discussion digs into the darker consequences that followed: inadequate funding for gambling addiction support, normalization of conspiracy talk about “rigged” games, threats and violence directed at athletes, and growing concerns about corruption—especially in individual sports and lower-profile leagues. Funt draws chilling parallels between today’s sportsbook advertising blitz and the early days of Big Tobacco, explores why American regulators ignored European guardrails, and explains how mobile betting and prediction markets have made gambling more potent and pervasive than ever. The result, he argues, is a system designed for maximum profit with minimal friction—one that has fundamentally altered how sports are watched, covered, and policed.
Finally, Chuck previews the Super Bowl between the Seahawks & Patriots and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.
Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.
Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life!
Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order.
Timeline:
(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements)
00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction
04:30 Washington Post lays off 1/3rd of its staff on orders from Bezos
06:15 Bezos told Woodward in 2013 he’d provide financial runway to the Post
07:00 Bezos just did the opposite of what he said he’d do
08:15 Matt Murray, editor of the post, isn’t in charge of business strategy
09:45 Cuts will affect all areas of the Post’s coverage
11:45 Structural issues at the Post have existed for years
13:00 The NYT diversified and it worked brilliantly
13:45 DC is an educated affluent market, comfortable paying for news
14:30 Bezos needed a leg up for Blue Origin in the space race
16:15 So why did 2013 Bezos buy the Post? Government contracts.
17:15 Amazon held almost an American Idol style bid process for HQ
18:00 Wish Amazon would have chosen St. Louis for HQ
21:15 Buying the Post was a way to curry favor for Amazon
22:00 Bezos saw the Post as a trophy that would help his other businesses
23:15 Trump cancelled a Bezos contract over unfavorable Post coverage
24:30 Bezos wasn’t interested in the success of the Post
26:45 Why not sell the Post? Trump would blame him for negative coverage
29:00 Whether the Post fails doesn’t matter to Bezos, his other businesses do
30:30 Bezos has only done one thing well: Building Amazon
31:30 High net worth doesn’t mean high IQ
33:30 WaPo was the regional and local authority in DC & is giving that up
35:30 Post wants to retreat and become just offer political coverage
36:45 Bezos is behaving like the metaphorical rich guy villain
37:45 Rich people play by their own rules and get away with everything
40:15 Blue collar anger is about to be coupled with white collar anger
41:00 The tech titans don’t know how to read the room
42:30 Biggest trade for Washington Wizards in years not covered by the Post
44:00 The Post won’t recover from this
50:15 Danny Funt joins the Chuck ToddCast
50:45 Rapid legalization of sports betting had unintended consequences
52:15 What made you want to cover the topic of sports betting?
52:45 Leagues took a hard pivot from anti to pro gambling
54:45 Major sportsbooks are household names, but very secretive
56:15 SCOTUS paved the way for state by state gambling with 2018 ruling
57:00 Courts provided gambling legislation due to inaction by congress
58:30 Gambling creating a massive increase in value for media rights
1:00:00 Adding gambling was a way to further hook viewers to sports
1:01:30 It’s hard to add new taxes, but vice taxes are able to pass
1:02:45 Legal betting is far more potent than betting through a bookie
1:04:15 Fanduel & Draftkings throwing money into politics to avoid regulation
1:05:45 Even modest regulation is rigorously opposed by gambling industry
1:07:15 Funding for support with gambling addiction is completely inadequate
1:08:30 Why wasn’t there a larger debate before rolling out mobile gambling?
1:09:15 Mobile gambling makes so much more money than physical books
1:10:30 Individual sports are more corruptible than team sports
1:11:15 Online betting is incredibly well geofenced
1:12:15 Putting “friction points” into the process helps with user safety
1:13:45 Gambling leads to rage & violent behavior & risks player safety
1:15:30 Gamblers have been arrested for threats to athletes over lost bets
1:16:15 Fans talking about games being “rigged” has been normalized
1:17:15 Individual players can collaborate on bets, trying to help friends
1:18:00 “Fixing” doesn’t necessarily mean “failing”
1:18:45 Prominent people in sports are alarmed & speaking out
1:19:45 Media won’t speak against it due to huge ad revenue from sportsbooks
1:22:15 NFL strongarmed reporters over concussions, gambling will be worse
1:25:45 Will we start regulating sports to make sure gambling is honest?
1:27:00 Referees in smaller, less visible conferences will be harder to police
1:27:30 Technology is being adopted to avoid corruptability of officials
1:29:00 Did writing this book change the way you watch sports?
1:30:45 Who controls Fanduel and Draftkings?
1:31:30 The leagues have equity stakes in the major sportsbooks
1:32:45 Major advertising similarities between tobacco and sportsbooks
1:33:45 What are the available gambling helpline resources/counseling like?
1:35:15 Stronger gambling culture in Europe, do they regulate it better?
1:36:15 American regulation completely ignored European precedent
1:37:15 Prediction markets are indistinguishable from betting markets
1:39:45 Legalization basically laid a trap for stupid people
1:42:00 Chuck’s thoughts on interview with Danny Funt
1:43:30 Super Bowl preview
1:49:00 Ask Chuck
1:49:15 What incentives allow congress to just fall in line behind the president?
1:53:15 Why aren’t we seeing bigger protests in the streets?
1:54:30 Is the divide between MAGA & liberal America unbridgeable?
2:01:45 Could Trump legally get a third term via the line of succession?
2:06:45 How concerned should we be with the FBI raid at Fulton county election office?
2:09:45 Is it unusual for the out party to get a bill through congress?
2:13:45 If the Senate ends up split, how is majority control determined?
2:16:30 If Talarico wins his primary, could he catch fire all the way to the White House?
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of the Chuck ToddCast, Chuck unpacks what may be the most brazen presidential corruption scandal in modern history—Donald Trump allegedly selling U.S. foreign policy to the UAE for personal gain—barely registered in the public conversation, drowned out by louder, more sensational distractions. The discussion explores why Trump’s election-interference rhetoric breaks through while substantive corruption stories vanish, how media incentives favor spectacle over consequence, and why Trump responds selectively to political, market, and institutional pressure. Chuck argues that while some democratic guardrails still hold, the deeper danger isn’t a dramatic coup but the slow erosion of norms—one where kleptocracy becomes normalized, foreign policy is treated as a personal asset, and Congress, not voters, remains the only institution capable of stopping it before the damage becomes irreversible.
Finally, Chuck gives his ToddCast Top 5 states Democrats need to target prior to 2032, when census reapportionment will greatly change the electoral college math needed to win the presidency and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.
Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.
Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life!
Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order.
Timeline:
(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements)
00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction
0:30 Worst presidential corruption scandal ever couldn’t break through
1:45 Trump sold American foreign policy to UAE for personal gain
2:45 Story was jaw dropping, but was completely overshadowed
4:00 Trump’s threat to federalize elections broke through over corruption
5:00 Should you worry about what Trump is saying, or what he’s doing?
6:00 Trump is desperate to sell the lie that he won in 2020
6:45 Election inference rhetoric can be as powerful as election interference
8:00 Trump shutdown Kennedy Center because he was being humiliated
9:15 Trump was losing control of Kennedy Center narrative, made a spectacle
10:15 Trump has turned America into a kleptocracy, THAT should be the story
11:45 The corruption story disappeared from news cycle after a couple days
12:30 Editors lean on stories that get more traction rather than importance
13:30 Some of the guardrails still work, some of the time
14:15 After two deaths in Minneapolis, Trump backed down a bit
15:00 Trump does respond to political pain in polling
15:30 Trump didn’t pick a sycophant for Fed Chair, cares about markets
16:15 Trump responds to three types of pressure
18:00 Worried less about Trump’s election rhetoric than his foreign policy
18:30 Trump doesn’t have the power to override state elections
19:15 Trump’s election threats supercharge opposition turnout
20:00 Voters won’t be the check on corruption, congress has to be
21:00 Democracies don’t fall from coups, they erode
21:45 The scariest stories get attention, the most consequential get ignored
26:00 Democrats will lose seats & electoral votes after 2030 census
28:30 Parties can work for realignment & flipping states
29:15 House of Representatives needs to be doubled in size
30:45 Base voters expect immediate results, leaders need to think long-term
31:15 Democrats need a Project 2032 and invest to win 5-10 new states
32:00 ToddCast Top 5 states Democrats should be targeting NOW
33:00 #1 North Carolina
35:30 #2 Texas
37:15 #3 Kansas
39:15 #4 Georgia
40:15 #5 Arizona
40:45 Honorable mentions
42:00 Democrats should use “first in the nation” primary status to advantage
42:45 Democrats had 12 states submit for first in the nation status
44:45 Tennessee as first in the nation would be interesting
46:45 Tennessee’s electorate seems gettable for Democrats eventually
49:00 Democrats have a major problem come 2032 if they don’t address it now
49:45 Ask Chuck
50:00 Thoughts on moving from network to independent journalist?
54:15 How to avoid being fatigued by the news and keeping hope alive?
54:45 Trump threatening troops to protect Iranians while attacking Minnesota?
59:30 What’s your take on NIL & transfer portal in college football?
1:04:00 Basis for your confidence in Jon Ossoff & thoughts on Auburn coach?
1:08:30 What issues will be top of mind for voters leading into midterms?
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Historian David S. Brown joins the Chuck ToddCast to unpack why Theodore Roosevelt remains a gravitational force for understanding American power—and why his era echoes so loudly today. Drawing from his book In the Arena, Brown explores what pulled him to Roosevelt, how TR reshaped the presidency, and the surprising parallels (and sharp limits) between Roosevelt and Donald Trump. From narcissism and disruption to populism, primaries, and the rise of the imperial presidency, the conversation digs into how Roosevelt’s wealth, ambition, and genuine concern for the working class produced a uniquely transactional style of politics at home and abroad.
The episode also zooms out to ask what Roosevelt might make of modern challenges like AI, extreme wealth concentration, and great-power competition—and whether he’d thrive or flounder in the television age. Brown traces Roosevelt’s foreign policy legacy in Latin America, the roots of American global policing, and how early 20th-century realignments mirror today’s fractured coalitions. The discussion closes with a hard look at the political center, the future of the Trump coalition, under-studied presidents, and how Americans should think about their country as it approaches its 250th anniversary.
Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.
Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life!
Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order.
Timeline:
(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements)
00:00 David S. Brown joins the Chuck ToddCast
02:00 Teddy Roosevelt is a magnet for historians
03:15 Research process for writing “In The Arena”
04:30 What drew you to Teddy Roosevelt as a book subject?
07:15 Large number of similarities between Roosevelt and Trump
08:15 Both Trump & Roosevelt are narcissists
09:15 Trump doesn’t have the crossover appeal of Roosevelt
10:30 Presidential primaries started under Roosevelt
11:45 Roosevelt was the rich guy who went after rich guys
14:00 Roosevelt never called himself a populist
14:30 Roosevelt wanted to do right by the working class
16:00 How would Roosevelt handle AI & concentration of wealth?
17:15 Roosevelt was very transactional in foreign affairs
17:45 He manufactured a separatist movement in Colombia
20:00 America didn’t have power to enforce Monroe Doctrine until 1900
21:15 Roosevelt wanted to police governments in western hemisphere
22:45 Goal was to indebt Latin American countries to the U.S.
23:30 He was always considered a disrupter despite wealthy connections
25:45 Roosevelt became a regular politician in 1884
26:15 Roosevelt was not a fan of William Jennings Bryan
27:45 Roosevelt was jealous of Bryan’s oratory skill
28:45 Would Roosevelt struggle in the TV era?
30:45 The imperial presidency originated under Roosevelt
33:15 Wilson & Roosevelt lamented not leading during seminal event
34:30 A Roosevelt government likely enters WW1 earlier
35:30 Roosevelt might have started the U.N. framework sooner
37:30 Political realignment was happening under Roosevelt
38:15 Parallels between now & Roosevelt era?
40:00 Roosevelt & Trump are mavericks not embraced by old guard
42:00 Multiple variables will affect the future of the “Trump coalition”
44:00 How do you define “the center” in American politics?
45:30 There are more base Republicans than Democrats, Dems need moderates
47:00 How much of the electorate resides in the political center?
48:15 The parties themselves are basically multi-party coalitions
50:15 Which president do we not have enough scholarship on?
54:00 How should citizens celebrate the 250th anniversary of America
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.