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Depending on who you talk to, Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen are either the swampiest of swamp creatures—the epitome of all that is wrong with political journalism—or, alternatively, two of the most interesting, successful entrepreneurs in the new media landscape.
In 2006, VandeHei left The Washington Post to co-found Politico, where he was executive editor. His first hire was Mike Allen, then of Time magazine.
Politico turned into a massive hit, with Allen as its star writer. During the Obama years, Allen was so well-sourced that he became, in the words of Mark Leibovich at The New York Times, “the man the White House wakes up to.”
But then, in 2017, Mike and Jim decided to start something new—a website called Axios, which, in the beginning, was really a newsletter Mike wrote every day. They delivered news straight to your inbox and kept it short, snappy, and heavy on emojis. They called it “smart brevity.”
Their emails are filled with invocations to “go deeper” and “be smarter.” And at the end of the day, they send you an email called “Finish Line” that’s essentially life advice for young professionals on the make. A recent one advised millennials nearing middle age to begin something new, like ice skating, while another advised readers to ditch Google Maps to keep their brains sharp. It’s like MAHA for D.C.’s professional-managerial class.
They were, in a sense, pioneers of a new kind of online journalism. Long before seemingly everyone had a Substack, they were using one of the oldest internet applications—email—to get news to subscribers.
So Mike and Jim are big deals in journalism and have been for a long time.
But in case you haven’t noticed, and we don't know how you would have missed this if you listen to this show, journalism is in deep trouble. This is in large part because Americans have lost faith in journalists. According to Gallup, roughly two-thirds of Americans had a great deal of faith in the news media in 1970. Today, only 31 percent of Americans say the same—while 36 percent say they have no faith in the news media at all.
How can that trust be rebuilt? Are we destined to live in a world of different realities and alternative facts? Should the mainstream media apologize for all they have ignored or covered up or gotten wrong over the past few years?
To boil it all down: Does real, honest journalism have a future in America?
If you liked what you heard from Honestly, the best way to support us is to go to TheFP.com and become a Free Press subscriber today.
The Solar System is a pretty big place. When most people think of our Solar System, they probably think of the Sun, the planets, and all their moons.
However, the solar system is much larger than most people realize. In fact, it is vastly larger than the model they have in their heads.
Only in the last few years, with the advent of larger telescopes and better techniques, have we been able to learn more about the outer edge of our Solar System.
Learn about the Kuiper Belt, Oort Cloud, and the outer reaches of the solar system on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) never signed a painting, and none of his supposed self-portraits can be securely ascribed to his hand. He revealed next to nothing about his life in his extensive writings, yet countless pages have been written about him that assign him an identity: genius, entrepreneur, celebrity artist, outsider. Addressing the ethical stakes involved in studying past lives, in Leonardo da Vinci: An Untraceable Life (Princeton University Press, 2025) Dr. Stephen J. Campbell shows how this invented Leonardo has invited speculation from figures ranging from art dealers and curators to scholars, scientists, and biographers, many of whom have filled in the gaps of what can be known of Leonardo’s life with claims to decode secrets, reveal mysteries of a vanished past, or discover lost masterpieces of spectacular value.
In this original and provocative book, Dr. Campbell examines the strangeness of Leonardo’s words and works, and the distinctive premodern world of artisans and thinkers from which he emerged. Far from being a solitary genius living ahead of his time, Leonardo inhabited a vibrant network of artistic, technological, and literary exchange. By investigating the politics and cultural tensions of the era as well as the most recent scholarship on Leonardo’s contemporaries, workshop, and writings, Dr. Campbell places Leonardo back into the milieu that shaped him and was shaped by him. He shows that it is in the gaps and contradictions of what we know of Leonardo’s life that a less familiar and far more historically significant figure appears.
This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose new book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s episodes on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts.
The stock market continued to have a not very good time Monday as a result of President Donald Trump's tariffs on everyone, even penguins. And counter to the desperate hopes of Wall Street executives, economists, and, really, most Americans, Trump reiterated that he is not, in fact, looking to pause them any time soon. To put it mildly, the whole thing is really freaking people out, and the word 'recession' is getting thrown around a lot. Jessica Roy, personal finance and utility columnist at the San Francisco Chronicle, shares some advice on how all of us should be thinking about our money right now.
And in headlines: The Supreme Court handed the Trump administration two temporary wins on its hard-ball immigration policies, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House for a second time since Trump returned to office, and the Social Security Administration's website is reportedly having technical issues.
We’ll tell you about a wild ride on Wall Street—why markets plunged, spiked, and then plunged again.
Also, how President Trump is defending tariffs, and what the U.S. Supreme Court decided about a Maryland man deported by accident.
Plus, who just became college basketball’s new national champion, why a massive military parade is being planned in the nation’s capital, and which new movie is breaking records all around the world.
Those stories and even more news to know in about 10 minutes!
Join us every Mon-Fri for more daily news roundups!
As Donald Trump's insane tariffs plunge America further into a trade a war, the MAGA faithful—with a few notable exceptions—fan out to defend Dear Leader. Meanwhile, Trump says he'd love to send Americans to El Salvador's mega-prison, anti-Trump protests sweep the country, and President Obama speaks out for the first time since the inauguration. Jon, Lovett, and Tommy discuss Republicans' new "suck it up" message on the economy, why Democrats should talk more about Trump's deportations, and how Interior Secretary Doug Burgum likes his cookies. Then, Lovett negotiates the intellectual rationale and practical impact of Trump's tariffs with conservative economist Oren Cass.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.
In this episode, Rivers and Sam are hangin' out with our good friend, L.A. comedy legend, Robert Yasumura! We kick this one off by testing out a Zevia energy drink and filling in Robert on their new corporate spokesman, Jelly Roll. Then we chat about the new horrifying song of the summer. Then we take a tour of Robert's Long Island hometown of Setauket, NY. AC/DC's "Back in Black" is our JAM OF THE WEEK! Tune in now. Robert ain't online. Follow the show on all the socials @TheGoodsPod Rivers is @RiversLangley Sam is @SlamHarter Carter is @Carter_Glascock Subscribe on Patreon for the UNCUT video version of this episode as well as TONS of bonus content! http://patreon.com/TheGoodsPod Pick up a Goods from the Woods t-shirt here: http://prowrestlingtees.com/TheGoodsPod
“The Best Idea Yet”: The untold origin stories of the products you’re obsessed with — From the McDonald’s Happy Meal to Birkenstock’s sandal to Nintendo’s Susper Mario Brothers to Sriracha. New 45-minute episodes drop weekly.
