The Al Franken Podcast16 Nov 2025

Catherine Rampell on The End of The Shutdown

After 43 days, the longest government shutdown in American history has finally ended. We're joined by Catherine Rampell from The Bulwark and MSNBC to talk about how it finally came to a close and why a lot of Democrats are mad at their party. Catherine details how the Trump administration used the shutdown as an excuse to inflict as much pain as possible on SNAP recipients. Not only did the administration go to court to stop SNAP payments, they also punished any stores that might have tried to help them with discounts. As always, the cruelty is the point.

Trump’s promise to fix the economy was one of the biggest reasons he was re-elected, but prices are higher on nearly everything around the country. Trump's approach is to lie about affordability while Americans struggle with economic anxiety. All the while, he's flopping around on his tariff policies, creating more and more chaos and confusion.

Plus, the average age of first time homebuyers is now 40 years old and the Trump administration has floated the idea of a 50-year mortgage plan. Catherine explains why that could be disastrous for would-be homeowners.

READ Catherine in The Bulwark: https://www.thebulwark.com/p/how-the-supreme-court-could-save-christmas-trump-tariffs

WATCH Catherine on MSNBC's The Weekend Primetime: https://www.msnbc.com/weekend-primetime

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Al and Dahlia Lithwick on The Monarchic Supreme Court

For the final episode of The Al Franken Podcast, we're joined one last time by our good friend Dahlia Lithwick, Senior Editor at Slate and host of the Amicus podcast! As we await the Supreme Court’s r...

28 Juni 1h 13min

Al and Franklin Foer on Iran, Ukraine, Soccer, and The World

We’re joined by our longtime friend, Franklin Foer of The Atlantic! We have a deal in Iran or at least an agreement to have an agreement. Even some Republicans are calling this an unconditional surren...

21 Juni 48min

Al and Mark Leibovich on The Midterm Landscape

We're joined by our friend Mark Leibovich of The Atlantic to break down Trump's sinking approval ratings, the approaching midterms, and whether Democrats are overconfident.We begin by looking at Trump...

14 Juni 50min

Al and Norm Ornstein on The Blueprint for Trump's Cruelty

What's actually driving the Trump administration? Our good friend and emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, Norm Ornstein, joins Al to follow the blueprint laid out by Project 2025.Th...

7 Juni 59min

BEST OF: Kevin Nealon on His Career in Comedy!

In this Best Of episode, we revisit our July 2025 conversation with an old friend from Al’s SNL days, comedian Kevin Nealon! Kevin and Al trade stories from working together on Saturday Night Live and...

31 Maj 1h 2min

Catherine Rampell and Scott Lincicome on Trump's Tariffs

It’s been over a year since Trump’s “Liberation Day” when he rolled out his global tariffs, but the Supreme Court struck those down resulting in chaos and confusion about what happens next. Guest Host...

24 Maj 52min

BEST OF: Kasie Hunt on Her Career & Trump

In this Best Of episode, we revisit our June 2025 conversation with CNN Anchor and Chief National Affairs Analyst Kasie Hunt! It's a very fun conversation covering her work and what inspired her to fo...

17 Maj 55min

Rep. Rosa DeLauro on Congressional Chaos

Guest Host Norm Ornstein welcomes Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) to cover all the news happening in Congress. We cover the war in Iran and how it’s driving prices up across the country and the world, conseq...

10 Maj 53min