The Axe Files with David Axelrod

Sports broadcaster Bob Costas loved baseball from an early age. As a kid, Bob would sit in his father’s car, tuning the radio to find baseball games taking place hundreds of miles from his home on Long Island. Since his first full-time broadcasting gig at 22, he has called NBA Finals and World Series, hosted Super Bowls and Olympic Games and been inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame. He joined David to talk about the intersection of politics and sports, the magic of baseball on the radio and the difficulty athletes, leagues, and sportscasters face in finding balance between advocacy and entertainment. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown announced his first campaign for public office as a college senior at a one dollar-per-plate fundraiser in a Yale dining hall. He won that race and joined the Ohio state legislature at just 22 years old. He went on to serve as Ohio Secretary of State, U.S. representative and finally U.S. senator. He joined David to talk about how he became a champion for the working class, his views on trade and why he thinks the upcoming election could be an electoral college landslide for Joe Biden.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nicolle Wallace, host of MSNBC’s Deadline: White House got into Republican politics partly by chance. After a brief stint in broadcast news, she applied to work for both a Democratic and Republican member of the California assembly. The Republican offered her a job. She has since worked in communications for Jeb Bush and John McCain, and served as White House communications director for President George W. Bush. She talked with David about her fondness for the 43rd president, how Sarah Palin was the precursor to the present-day Republican Party and what she thinks President Trump fundamentally misunderstands about the job of president.  To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Journalist Tim O’Brien took a winding path to reporting. He built bridges in Peru, studied karate in Japan, taught in New York City, and earned three graduate degrees before landing in journalism for good. His reporting eventually led him to develop a relationship with Donald Trump, talking and traveling with the future president as Tim researched—and was subsequently sued for—his 2005 book, TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald. Tim joined David to talk about what it’s like to be sued by Trump, the reverence he has for public service, and why he suspects the next month could be rife with chaos. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Senator Bernie Sanders first got involved in social justice movements as a University of Chicago student fighting against segregated housing. Today Sen. Sanders is one of the most recognizable figures in Washington, widely credited with pushing more progressive policies into the mainstream of the Democratic party. He joined David to talk about why he believes Donald Trump is the most dangerous president in US history, the trouble he has defending the Electoral College and how young voters can transform America.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Growing up in small-town Michigan, Jeff Daniels seemed destined to join the family lumber business. But after a teacher spotted his acting talent, his life took a turn down a different path. Jeff’s award-winning career has spanned nearly three decades and more than 80 films and television appearances, as well as highly acclaimed Broadway roles. Through it all, he’s made Chelsea, Michigan his home base, proving he could be a Hollywood success outside of the limelight. Jeff spoke with David about his early theater days in New York City, why Aaron Sorkin’s writing in The Newsroom on the hope and optimism of America still resonates today, and his latest role playing former FBI director James Comey in the Showtime miniseries The Comey Rule.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Everybody knows Michael Phelps as the most decorated Olympian of all time. Phelps’ hard work, determination, athleticism, and competitive drive were on full display in the pool as the world watched him smash record after record. Motived by his own battles with depression, Phelps is now a champion for a different cause: mental health awareness. This week, we revisit our 2018 conversation with Phelps about his tremendous career and why he decided to use his platform to destigmatize mental health.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Nikole Hannah-Jones was a high school student at a predominantly white school in Waterloo, Iowa, she complained to a teacher that the school newspaper wasn’t covering stories that mattered to Black students. He told her she had two options: stop complaining or start writing for the paper and telling her own stories. She joined the paper, launching what became a celebrated career writing for publications like ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine. Nikole is well known for her reporting on segregation and racial inequities in education but recently won a Pulitzer Prize for The 1619 Project, which traces the legacy of slavery throughout American history. She joined David to talk about what it was like growing up in working-class Iowa, how she finds motivation in being underestimated, and the inspiration and creation of The 1619 Project.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vladimir Kara-Murza was just 10 years old during the Russian Democratic Revolution in 1991. Witnessing a revolution was a formative experience that led to a lifetime of pro-democracy activism. In 2018, Vladimir sat down with David to discuss Putin’s Russia, the importance of the Magnitsky Act and what it’s like to put his life on the line for democracy. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Brian Stelter, CNN chief media correspondent and host of Reliable Sources, got his start in journalism at a young age. At just 8 years old he would call up the local news station after a blizzard to report how much snow he had measured in his yard. Later, as a freshman at Towson University, he started a blog tracking the cable news industry, which quickly became a must-read website for those in the media and helped him land a job at The New York Times upon graduation. He joined David to talk about his lifelong interest in media; the impact of losing his dad at a young age; and the symbiotic relationship between the Trump administration and Fox News, the topic of Brian’s new book, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices