The U.S. Is Giving the Rest of the World Abandonment Issues

The upcoming midterms will depend on the voices and votes of those in the suburbs, according to hosts Molly Jong-Fast and Andy Levy on this episode of The New Abnormal. After a key win for Democrats in New York’s 19th Congressional District, where Pat Ryan defeated Republican Marc Molinaro in Tuesday’s special election, Levy says that despite the bad news for the party, the Dems still need the suburban vote to get them across the line. Then, Dahlia Lithwick, who writes about the courts and the law for Slate and hosts the podcast Amicus, talks former President Donald Trump’s little dust-up with the National Archives. This week, Politico revealed that the Archives had recovered more than 700 pages of classified documents from Mar-a-Lago in January and that federal investigators were concerned “by Trump’s resistance to sharing them with the FBI.” Also, Max Fisher, who writes The Interpreter column for The New York Times and is the author of The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World, discusses how social media “is distorting you in ways that you are probably not quite aware of.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

26 Elo 202259min

Dr. Oz is failing the unofficial Twitter war against PA Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the loss coming after Fetterman dunked on Oz for using the term crudite in an April video. But his campaign has a problem that goes deeper than veggie platters and NBC’s Jonathan Allen joins the pod to explain why (and tells host Molly Jong-Fast about his encounter with Dennis Rodman in a cigar lounge.) Plus! Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), frequent flyer on the pod, joins this episode to talk midterm candidates he’s excited about in California and holds no punches when it comes to calling out MAGA Republicans. Of course, hosts Andy Levy and Molly also discuss a very interesting (and bad, in Molly’s opinion) take that involves some sort of bargain where President Biden pardons Trump with the caveat he never runs for president again. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

23 Elo 202250min

Author and war veteran Elliot Ackerman holds a very unpopular opinion about the draft: he supports it, but only because he thinks it could be a good thing for Americans. He joins this bonus episode of The New Abnormal to explain why he holds this take and how he sees it ultimately helping create more peace and less war. Plus, he shares his experience trying to evacuate people, including the Afghan girls’ robotics team, out of Afghanistan and what his new book The Fifth Act: America’s End in Afghanistan is all about. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

21 Elo 202224min

As the polls closed in Wyoming, the focus over Rep. Liz Cheney became not if she would win the Republican primary for Wyoming’s sole congressional seat, but by how much she would lose. And that loss was colossal. On this episode of The New Abnormal, hosts Molly Jong-Fast and Andy Levy discuss whether the left loves Cheney and why she has no chance at becoming president. Then, Jeet Heer, a national affairs correspondent for The Nation magazine and host of the Time of Monsters podcast, joins the discussion to explain why he thinks we need more Republicans like Cheney. Also, Cristina Tzintzun Ramirez, executive director of NextGen America, the country’s largest organization mobilizing young voters, discusses how she’s inspiring the next generation to get involved. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

19 Elo 202250min

Democratic strategist James Carville has a message for people who are doubting Merrick Garland: Just wait. On this episode of The New Abnormal, he explains why Dems should have more faith in Merrick Garland—and also shares the long list of GOP candidates across the country that makes Molly Jong-Fast crack up. Then, Matt Castelli, a former CIA officer and Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council who is currently running for Congress against Trumpy Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), joins the pod to share his plan for taking Stefanik down and calls her an opportunist. Plus! Hosts Andy Levy and Molly dissect Trump’s latest Truth Social admissions, including that he has multiple passports. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

16 Elo 202249min

The seed of cruelty that the GOP has fully adopted, and nurtured, had been planted long before Trump took office, says Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank. Instead, he says on this bonus episode of The New Abnormal, someone else is to blame: Newt Gringrich. He explains why to co-host Molly Jong-Fast, along with more reporting on the GOP’s evolution that’s included in his new book, The Destructionists: The Twenty-Five Year Crack-Up of the Republican Party. Plus! Co-hosts Andy Levy and Molly listen to more clips of politicians saying dumb things, this time starring Fox News’ Jesse Watters and sad son Eric Trump. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

14 Elo 202225min

As former President Donald Trump endured one of his worst weeks yet, Republicans have been on our TV screens taking aim at everyone else—but themselves. On this episode of The New Abnormal, hosts Molly Jong-Fast and Andy Levy talk Trump and the sentence Republicans need to stop repeating. Then, Tim O’Brien, senior executive editor of opinion at Bloomberg, joins the show and reveals what he finds most compelling in the “ridiculous sideshow” that’s emerged in the wake of the search: “which is that he’s being unfairly targeted and that this is political. Also, Dr. Iman Alsaden, chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood Great Plains, talks about what it’s like in post-Roe America. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

12 Elo 202249min

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer got fellow Senator Joe Manchin to do something few have done before: convinced him to vote along Democratic party lines. Some are calling it The Manchin-Schumer bill, and even Schumer wasn’t sure it would happen until the end. Chuck tells Molly how he made it happen on the latest episode of The New Abnormal as well as why his flip phone is his secret weapon, how he is the opposite of Sen. Mitch McConnell, and his plans to bring back an insulin cap bill in September. Plus! Daily Beast Politics Editor Matt Fuller also breaks down the new “Dark Brandon” meme about Joe Biden that the White House has even embraced. Plus! Molly and co-host Andy Levy go after Republicans like Marjorie Taylor Greene for crying about Alex Jones being a victim and why the current behavior of former President Donald Trump is actually pretty scary. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

9 Elo 202240min