Pod Save America

The Trump administration struggles to justify its new war with Iran, while Democrats struggle to effectively explain why Americans should oppose it. Jon, Tommy, and Lovett react to Trump's first live remarks following the killing of six American soldiers and dissect the administration's conflicting comments about the war's rationale, objectives, and timeline. Then, they discuss how Democrats are talking about it, why not even all of MAGA is on board, the Department of War declaring Anthropic a "supply chain risk," and the Ellison family's impending takeover of CNN. Then, Lovett talks to Senator Ruben Gallego about Iran and the Democratic Party's Senate primaries in Maine and Texas.

Graham Platner, a Democratic candidate running for Senate in Maine, stops by the studio to talk with Jon about Trump’s impending conflict with Iran, the future of Medicare for All, and what community organizing in rural Maine taught him about building political power in our polarized era. The two discuss new polls showing Platner leading Janet Mills in the Democratic Senate primary, how his tattoo controversy has resonated with Maine voters, and what he wants to change about the Democratic Party to rebuild a winning, working-class coalition.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

The White House debates going to extreme lengths to get the American public to stomach a war with Iran, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth tries to force Anthropic into letting him use their AI model to operate autonomous murder drones. Jon and Dan react with horror and then discuss the rest of the news, including the administration's new fraud-focused message, the draft executive order that the administration may use to declare a national emergency before the midterms, and a new report that Trump's Justice Department removed some documents from the Epstein files that accused the President of sexually abusing a minor. Then, Tommy talks to an organizer in Arizona about Vote Save America's effort to recruit people like you to run in down-ballot races in the Grand Canyon State and all over the country.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

Donald Trump breaks his own record for longest State of the Union in history, delivering a meandering, angry, tone-deaf speech that utterly fails at its single most important goal: laying out a clear plan for lowering prices. Jon, Lovett, Dan, and Tommy react to Trump's stunts—including bringing on the members of the USA Hockey men's team—what he said about his plans for Iran, the fights he tried to pick with Democrats, and the official Democratic response from Gov. Abigail Spanberger.

The State of the Union has arrived. Will war with Iran come with it? Jon, Tommy, and Lovett react to reports that Trump is considering launching air strikes against Iran in the coming days and then jump into the rest of the news, including the President's decision to impose a new fifteen percent global tariff—after the Supreme Court ruled his existing ones were illegal—Kash Patel's taxpayer-funded trip to party with the U.S. men's hockey team, and the various ways Congressional Democrats are planning to respond to tonight's State of the Union address. Then, Lovett chats with MS NOW's Symone Sanders-Townsend and Eugene Daniels about the Democratic Party's 2028 frontrunners, the Crockett-Talarico Texas primary, and their new podcast, "MS NOW Presents: Clock It."
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.