Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast

Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, the federal government’s catastrophically inadequate response, and the uncertainty that hangs over us all as a result, Chris decided to do something a little different this week. He wanted to revisit a conversation that feels extremely relevant and prescient right now given the state of the country. Prolific nonfiction author Michael Lewis, the man behind “The Big Short” and “Moneyball”, wrote an amazing account of what happens when the keys to the White House are handed over to people who have no idea what they’re doing. Now more than ever, it’s important to hear not only about the Trump administration’s attacks on crucial federal agencies, but also about what becomes of the dedicated civil servants trying to keep the government – and country – running. RELATED READING:The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis

In April of 1986 a nuclear accident occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the then Soviet Union. The fallout from the accident and the Soviet government’s response compounded into one of the worst manmade disasters of the nuclear era. In his masterful work of nonfiction, Midnight In Chernobyl, Adam Higginbotham weaves together the stories of the individuals and systems that contributed to the creation of one of the worst disasters in human history. It is not only a sharp eyed and empathetic look at Chernobyl, but it is a particularly timely story about all the things that fall together to create disaster.RELATED READING:Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster by Adam HigginbothamSeeing Like a State by James C. Scott“How the Coronavirus Revealed Authoritarianism’s Fatal Flaw” by Zeynep Tufekci

Enes Kanter is a wanted man in his home country of Turkey. He’s long been a vocal critic of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and it’s come at a high cost. At 6′ 10″, Kanter also happens to play for the Boston Celtics in the NBA. How he came to sit at this intersection is a riveting story, one that involves an NBA draft at age 19, a failed coup d'état, and a system of retribution by the Turkish government that targets not only Kanter but the family he left behind.YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:The Uneven Playing Field with Howard Bryant (Jan 24)

The future of our courts will be decided in the 2020 election. While the Trump administration grabs headlines with scandal after scandal, gaffe after gaffe, behind the scenes they are quietly chipping away at their central agenda of reshaping the courts. It’s a transformation happening at an historic rate, where one in four circuit judges is now a Trump appointee. They’ve already flipped the balance of the Supreme Court to a 5-4 conservative majority. If given another four years, Donald Trump would lock down the federal judiciary for decades to come. Senior legal correspondent for Slate Dahlia Lithwick has reported on all of this. From the President’s affinity for using the courts as a weapon to the changed dynamic of the Supreme Court in the wake Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation, Lithwick documents what the rule of law looks like in the Trump years. Listen as we discuss exactly what’s at stake this November.RELATED:Why I Haven’t Gone Back to SCOTUS Since Kavanaugh by Dahlia LithwickTrump’s Lawyers’ Impeachment Defense Will Reshape the Office of the President by Dahlia LithwickWhy Trump's Lawyers Should Talk Like Lawyers by Kate ShawSPEECH, INTENT, AND THE PRESIDENT by Kate ShawPlaintiff in Chief: A Portrait of Donald Trump in 3,500 Lawsuits by James ZirinYOU MIGHT ALSO LIKEThe Meaning of Impeachment with Kate Shaw (Jan 6)Trans Rights with Chase Strangio (Sept 23, 2019)The Rule Of Law in the Era of Trump with Kate Shaw (May 22, 2018)Separating Immigrant Families with Lee Gelernt (June 5, 2018)

"What if you were a man, sort of?" In his new memoir, author Daniel M. Lavery remembers how, in the early days of his transition, he would say it was as if a demon ambushed him in the night, whispered this question into his ear, and then disappeared without another word. It was an immediate and instantaneous revelation, but also exceptionally vague on what was supposed to happen next. "Something That May Shock and Discredit You" (published under Daniel Mallory Ortberg - he got married!) is a sprawling collection of essays, pop culture pulls, comedic historical re-tellings, and personal reflections on Lavery's life as a transgender man. It is equal parts hilarious, poignant, weird and beautiful, jumping from the Rapture to transition to Mean Girls to sobriety and then over to Marcus Aurelius, for good measure. Together they form an evocative and personal look at Lavery's own journey, and what happens when you stop letting "I dare not" wait upon "I dare".RELATED READING:Something That May Shock and Discredit You

Democrats can beat Donald Trump in the 2020 election. Another four years of a Trump White House is not a foregone conclusion. With nine months to go before the general election, there’s a tremendous amount of fear and uncertainty hanging over many of us about the future of the American republic. Amidst this fear, Democratic voters are deciding which candidate is best suited to run against the President. But a lot of the fights over who that person could be are actually fights over how to build a coalition of voters big enough to beat Donald Trump in the electoral college. In envisioning how to build that coalition, you have to look at the margins. If the solid-blue, never-Trump contingency make up the reliable core of the voting bloc, then the folks on the margins are key to solving the puzzle of 2020. Former Obama speechwriter and Crooked Media co-founder Jon Favreau spent time talking with members of this crucial group in four battleground states for the second season of his podcast, "The Wilderness". He joins to discuss what a winning coalition could look like.RELATED LINKS:The WildernessPolitics is for PowerYOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:Organizing in Trump Country with George GoehlBuilding a Progressive Majority Dorian Warren

This is an intimate portrait of what addiction looks like in America. From the board rooms of pharmaceutical companies to the living rooms across America, Beth Macy traces the path of devastation wrought by opioids. Her latest book, “Dopesick” gives life to the urgency of the epidemic, illustrating just how woefully insufficient the national response has been to the scale of the crisis. She lays out the often-insurmountable barriers that stand between someone suffering and the treatment they need, and why stigma may be the biggest obstacle of them all.RELATED READING:Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth MacyDying to Be Free by Jason CherkisIn Pain: A Bioethicist's Personal Struggle with Opioids by Travis RiederMy friend and I both took heroin. He overdosed. Why was I charged with his death? By Morgan GodvinYOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:Dying of Whiteness with Jonathan Metzl

The title says it all on this one, folks. What is it about the American political system that cultivated this deeply dysfunctional and polarized climate? Last year, we had Ezra Klein on the show to assess how bad things were in the Trump era (conclusion: not great). Now, Klein is back to discuss his new book "Why We're Polarized" which provides a systematic look at the deep structural defects in American democracy that are manifesting themselves in two coalitions that are increasingly at each other's throats. Why We're Polarized by Ezra KleinYOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:White Identity Politics with Michael TeslerThe Information Crisis with David RobertsHow Bad Is It? with Ezra Klein

Professional sports are never more than an inch away from the deepest core of what's happening in America. They are an amazing crucible of politics and culture that manage to reflect the issues we are working through as a country. And because these spaces are so integrated, particularly in football and basketball, racial politics quickly come to the foreground. This is the intersection ESPN writer Howard Bryant examines in his new book "Full Dissidence: Notes from an Uneven Playing Field". In it, he explores what it means to be black in an industry hostile to blackness. Why isn't Colin Kaepernick playing in the NFL, why do football games have military flyovers, and when do opinions become dangerous? What is happening with the Houston Astros cheating scandal? And why should non-sports fans care about what happens to players with multi-million-dollar contracts? Howard Bryant has the answers.RELATED READING:Full Dissidence by Howard BryantTwilight of the Elites by Chris Hayes

Why do white evangelical Christians support President Trump? They delivered him 81% of their votes on election day and consistently give him higher favorability ratings than any other voting bloc. As former Christianity Today editor-in-chief Mark Galli puts it, white evangelicals elected Trump to be their champion. So these were the exact people Galli hoped were listening when he published a stunning op-ed titled “Trump Should Be Removed from Office”. It was a daring departure for the signature publication of white evangelicals and the piece immediately attracted huge amounts of attention. For Galli, the President had crossed a line and he felt it was time his community reckoned with that fact. But will they?RELATED READING:Trump Should Be Removed from Office by Mark GalliThe Scandal of the Evangelical Mind