Deconstructed

With runoff elections in Georgia next month poised to determine control of the US Senate, national media have turned their eyes south. To help you digest the coming avalanche of Georgia coverage, Ryan Grim sits down with Intercept contributor George Chidi to discuss his state’s raucous political history. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Come 2021 the Democrats are likely to find themselves in control of the Presidency and the House but not the Senate — meaning Mitch McConnell will be in a position to block any ambitious legislation from the new administration. But as Trump has shown us, there’s a lot a president can do without congress. Robert Hockett and Demond Drummer from New Consensus and Dave Dayen from the American Prospect join Ryan Grim to discuss just how much Biden can do on his own. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The circular firing squad over the Democrats’ underperformance in congressional races has already begun. Party leaders are blaming “the squad” and other left-wing figures for their talk of “defunding the police.” Meanwhile, progressives blame the establishment for refusing to adopt a more ambitious platform. Chuck Rocha, the head of Solidarity Strategies, and Jonathan Smucker, founder of Pennsylvania Stands Up, join Ryan Grim to discuss the debate. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

November 3rd, 2020 was supposed to be the Democrats’ moment of glory: polls predicted a comfortable victory for former Vice President Joe Biden, as well as gains in both the House and Senate. Instead, Biden seems set to eke out a narrow win while his party loses House seats and fails to gain control of the upper chamber. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and Texas Democratic House candidate Mike Siegel discuss what happened. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Women across the U.S. found themselves suddenly drawn to politics after the shock election of Donald Trump four years ago. On this week’s podcast, Ryan Grim speaks to three such women: Candace Valenzuela and Julie Oliver in Texas, and Annie Weaver in Pennsylvania, about how that day changed their lives and the course it set them on over the last four years. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Donald Trump and Joe Biden met for their final debate before the 2020 election on Thursday night. Trump continued his recent attacks on Biden’s son Hunter and his foreign business dealings, while Biden went after Trump’s mismanagement of the Covid-19 pandemic. Who got the best of the encounter? Rising host Krystal Ball and former Deconstructed host Mehdi Hasan join the show to break down the debate. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Republicans appear set to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Ryan Grim talks to Ilyse Hogue of NARAL Pro-Choice America about the last 50 years of right-wing legal activism. Then Luther Lowe, Senior Vice President for Public Policy at Yelp, breaks down what could become the biggest antitrust case since Microsoft. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When President Trump abruptly reversed an order penalizing the Chinese telecom company ZTE for selling to North Korea and Iran in 2018, it confused almost everyone. Why was the get-tough-on-China-president suddenly caving to their demands? As The Intercept’s Lee Fang and Mara Hvistendahl found out, the story behind Trump’s move on ZTE sheds new light on the role of lobbyists and foreign interests at the highest levels of his administration’s decision-making. And it involves a figure most Americans, even in his home state, have never heard of: Eric Branstad, son of former Iowa governor Terry Branstad. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wordpress entry text: A Georgia senator compares herself to Attila the Hun. An Alaska senate challenger brags about fighting a bear. While the president’s Covid diagnosis has dominated the headlines, local and state races have been getting interesting, and on this week’s podcast DC Bureau Chief Ryan Grim breaks them down with the Washington Post’s Dave Weigel. Then, Pennsylvania’s Lieutenant Governor, John Fetterman, clears up some myths about mail-in voting. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A special message from Deconstructed host Mehdi Hasan. Mehdi talks to Intercept DC Bureau Chief Ryan Grim about where he's headed and what's next for the podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.