The Political Scene | The New Yorker

The Washington Roundtable explores how Donald Trump’s wars of choice abroad, whether using tariffs or bombs, are dragging down his popularity at home. The panel looks at the baffling trade fight with Canada, the deepening quagmire in Iran, and the President’s recent embrace of data centers—all of which, they argue, could cost Republicans in the midterms. “He is seen as so toxic that a number of Republican candidates in districts that Trump won significantly before are saying, ‘Don’t send him here. We don’t wanna campaign with him,’ ” the staff writer Jane Mayer observes. “That, in politics, is the ultimate kiss-off. Goodbye.”

This week’s reading:

“Donald Trump’s Capital Makeover,” by Antonia Hitchens

“How Donald Trump Outmaneuvers the Supreme Court,” by Ruth Marcus

“How Much Is the Iran War Costing Americans?,” by John Cassidy

“What If Canada Joined the E.U.?,” by Ishaan Tharoor

“Was ‘Defund the Police’ Crazy?,” by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine’s writers and editors as they put into context the latest news—about elections, the economy, the White House, the Supreme Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week. Show less
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

During the height of Roy Cohn’s friendship with Donald Trump, according to the historian Kai Bird, “they were on the phone with each other a dozen times a day.” Bird’s new book, “American Scoundrel,” details Cohn’s profound influence on Trump—whom he met as a young real-estate heir in the nineteen-seventies—and how Cohn is “haunting” politics in our time. “I had written about Roy Cohn in [previous biographies] as this nefarious, minor, awful figure who was disruptive and divisive and unethical. And I suddenly realized that the establishment that I’d been writing about for forty years is gone. Their values and culture, the politics, the bipartisanship . . . that’s all gone,” he tells David Remnick. “Roy Cohn explains something about the dark side of America that I just didn’t understand.” They discuss Cohn’s early career as a prosecutor and his role as the “mastermind” of the McCarthy purges; his service as a lawyer and fixer for Mafia members, politicians, and celebrities; and an allegation of being involved in sex trafficking.

Further reading and listening:

“How Roy Cohn Taught Donald Trump Everything,” by Kai Bird and Susan Goldmark

“The Mobster Cosplay of Donald Trump,” by David Remnick

“Adapting Oppenheimer’s Life Story to Film, with Biographer Kai Bird,” an episode of The New Yorker Radio Hour

“Roy Cohn and the Making of a Winner-Take-All America,” by Naomi Fry

The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine’s writers and editors as they put into context the latest news—about elections, the economy, the White House, the Supreme Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Washington Roundtable will be back next week. In the meantime, we’re pleased to bring you the Season 2 premiere of “Master Plan,” the award-winning investigative podcast from The Lever. In its second season, titled “The Kingmakers,” the host, David Sirota, a former speechwriter for Bernie Sanders and an Oscar-nominated co-writer for “Don’t Look Up,” examines the decades-long building of an all-powerful American Presidency.

This episode explores how Richard Nixon’s secret expansion of the Vietnam War, along with his attempts to seize the power of the purse from Congress sparked a constitutional crisis and a backlash, setting the stage for many of the legal battles that dominate today’s political landscape.

We hope you’ll enjoy it. For the rest of “Master Plan” ’s second season, follow and listen to the show:

https://play.megaphone.fm/lzjeitnbt6ikozz2aydzrw

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The New Yorker contributing writer Eren Orbey joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss the trial of Lindsay Clancy, who is accused of murdering her three children during a period of severe postpartum mental-health struggles. They talk about the tragedy at the center of the trial and the question of whether Clancy’s mental state at the time meets the legal standard for a lack of criminal responsibility. They also discuss Eren’s experience reporting on the case in 2024, including his extensive conversations with Clancy’s now ex-husband, Patrick; the intense public reaction to the case and the proliferation of conspiracy theories surrounding it; and how cultural understanding—and misunderstanding—of women’s mental health and postpartum psychosis have shaped the coverage and discourse.

This week’s reading:

“The Lindsay Clancy Conspiracy Spiral,” by Eren Orbey

“Why People Want to Believe the Lindsay Clancy Conspiracy Theories,” by Jessica Winter

“Is R.F.K., Jr., Winning or Losing?,” by Dhruv Khullar

“Adam Hamilton and Taking Back Religion from the Right,” by Bill McKibben

“Does Anybody Know Who Darline Graham Is?,” by Charles Bethea

The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine’s writers and editors as they put into context the latest news—about elections, the economy, the White House, the Supreme Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the 2026 midterm elections, close finishes in crucial swing states have put a spotlight on the divide between the Democratic Party’s moderate and progressive wings. Jon Lovett straddles that divide. He was a longtime speechwriter for Hillary Clinton and then for Barack Obama, but, as a host of the podcasts “Pod Save America” and “Lovett or Leave It,” he’s been critical of the Party’s establishment. Lovett sat down with David Remnick to answer listeners’ questions about the midterms and what they suggest about the 2028 Presidential election. In a “broad trend,” Lovett says, centrist Democrats “put up candidates, and they say, ‘Vote for us, or else.’ And [voters] just keep picking ‘or else.’ . . . Across the board, I don’t know what this establishment of the Democratic Party stands for, and neither does the country.”

Further listening:

“ ‘Pod Save America’ ’s Jon Lovett on Trump: ‘The Threat of Jail Time Sharpens the Mind,’ ” an episode of The New Yorker Radio Hour

The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine’s writers and editors as they put into context the latest news—about elections, the economy, the White House, the Supreme Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices