Author: LaMonica McIver, Dan Pfeiffer, Jon Favreau

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What A Day - Migrants’ Legal Limbo

In the last few weeks, the Supreme Court has dealt more than half a million migrants a serious blow to their ability to live here in the U.S. legally. In separate orders, the court allowed the Trump administration to lift deportation protections for Venezuelans, Cubans, Nicaraguans and Haitians living here under two programs — humanitarian parole and Temporary Protected Status. While the court’s orders are only temporary, it’s little comfort to the hundreds of thousands of people who are now newly vulnerable to deportation. Dara Lind, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, explains what happens next.

And in headlines: Federal authorities charged a man suspected of an antisemitic attack in Colorado with a federal hate crime, the Supreme Court declined to hear two gun rights cases, and representatives for Ukraine and Russia met in Istanbul for peace talks.

Show Notes:

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Pod Save America - Can Trump’s Health Care Cuts Be Stopped?

The health care of 10 million Americans is at risk as President Trump's massive tax cut legislation makes its way to the Senate. Will Majority Leader John Thune be able to cobble together a bill that the "Medicaid moderates," budget hawks, and hardliners can all agree on? Meanwhile, Stephen Miller freaks out at ICE leadership for failing to detain and deport enough immigrants, corporate America begins cutting ties with law firms that bent the knee to Trump, and Democratic presidential hopefuls begin testing the waters. Jon and Lovett embrace the schadenfreude, discuss the lies Speaker Mike Johnson is peddling to win over his Senate colleagues, and evaluate Senator Joni Ernst's "we're all going to die" message to her constituents. Then, Jon talks to Senator Brian Schatz about putting an end to Democratic navel gazing and fighting to stop Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill."

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Strict Scrutiny - It’s Officially Bad Decision Season

Live from Capital Turnaround in Washington, D.C., Leah, Kate, and Melissa wade right into the swamp, breaking down the (very weird, very disturbing) sexual harassment claims against Texas’s ex-solicitor general, Judd Stone and holding their noses to read Coach Brett Kavanaugh’s opinion on the National Environmental Policy Act. Then, the hosts welcome special guests Ambassador Norm Eisen and Emily Amick, author of the Substack, Emily in Your Phone, to talk about the avalanche of litigation against the Trump administration and reproductive rights (and wrongs), respectively.

Hosts’ favorite things:

Leah: Taylor Swift's letter about buying back her art; Why Is This Supreme Court Handing Trump More and More Power?, Kate Shaw (NYT); Living by the Ipse Dixit, Steve Vladeck (One First); The New Dark Age, Adam Serwer (The Atlantic); Elon Musk’s Legacy Is Disease, Starvation and Death, Michelle Goldberg (NYT)

Kate: Beware: We Are Entering a New Phase of the Trump Era, M. Gessen (NYT), How YOU Helped Knock Musk Out of DC–& of Politics, Norm Eisen (Substack); On the Campaign Trail, Elon Musk Juggled Drugs and Family Drama, Kirsten Grind and Meghan Twohey (NYT); Cowboy Carter

Melissa: Her incredible shoes from the show; seeing Cowboy Carter; the newest season of Just Like That; Original Sin by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson

Emily: Nine Perfect Strangers (Hulu); Everyone Is Lying to You by Jo Piazza

Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 

  • 6/12 – NYC
  • 10/4 – Chicago

Learn more: http://crooked.com/events

Order your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes

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What A Day - How Trump’s Chaos Is Becoming Normal

Can you believe it’s already June? So much has happened since President Donald Trump returned to the White House four and a half months ago, it’s hard to process. In that short amount of time, Trump has unilaterally thrown the global trading system into chaos and tried to end the constitutional right of birthright citizenship. His administration has stripped billions in federal grants from universities, arrested international students, and put tens of thousands of federal workers out of jobs. The constant din of chaos is exhausting, and it’s easy to grow numb to it, to normalize it. New York Times opinion columnist M. Gessen explains the parallels they see with early 2000s Russia, when President Vladimir Putin consolidated power, and what we can — and can’t — learn from that period.

And in headlines: Ukraine said it destroyed dozens of Russian military bombers in a massive drone attack deep inside Russian territory, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump Administration to temporarily lift deportation protections for around half a million migrants, and Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst told constituents worried about proposed Medicaid cuts that ‘we all are going to die.’

 

Show Notes:

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Pod Save America - High Crimes and Piss-demeanors

Elon Musk is back in the news, with a New York Times investigation detailing his rampant drug use right as he hightails it out of Washington. Lovett and Dan compare notes on their own White House drug tests, then dig into Trump’s most recent comments on his Big Beautiful Bill, the legislation’s fate in the Senate, and Sen. Joni Ernst’s psychopathic consolation for people being kicked off Medicaid. Then Lovett sits down with author and history professor Erik Loomis to talk about whether the U.S. is still capable of mass mobilization—do liberals actually care about workers? How do we meet people where they’re at? And are we all too individualistic to show true solidarity?

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What A Day - In Israel And Gaza, War Opposition Grows

This week marked more than 600 days since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. In the wake of Hamas' horrific Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel, Palestinian health officials say at least 50,000 people – including thousands of women and children – have died from Israeli airstrikes and bombings in the Gaza Strip. As the war drags on, protesters on both sides are speaking out and demanding that their governments do more to end the conflict. Shaiel Ben-Ephraim, an Israeli academic and host of the 'History of the Land' of Israel podcast, talks about the nuances of the protests and what they could mean for a potential end to the war.

And in headlines: A federal appeals court temporarily reinstated most of President Donald Trump's Liberation Day tariffs, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. will begin "aggressively" revoking the visas of Chinese college students, and the White House acknowledges errors in the hotly anticipated 'Make America Healthy Again' report.

Show Notes:

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Pod Save America - Trump Always Chickens Out

Donald Trump loses his cool when a reporter asks him about a newly popular Wall Street phrase: TACO, aka Trump Always Chickens Out. A federal court unanimously rules that the majority of Trump’s tariffs are illegal — before an appeals court allows them to remain in place (for now). And after 128 days of destruction, Elon Musk's time as a Special Government Employee officially comes to a close. Jon and Dan discuss the future of DOGE after Musk, check in on Trump’s ongoing war with Harvard University, and deliver a new Corrupt-date — this time on Trump’s clemency spree. Then, Jon talks to Liz Oyer, a former DOJ Pardon Attorney, about her MAGA successor’s very political approach to a historically nonpartisan job.

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.

 

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What A Day - When The Conspiracy Theorists Become Bureaucrats

Before Kash Patel, Dan Bongino and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. were prominent members of the Trump Administration (FBI Director, FBI Deputy Director and Health and Human Services Secretary, respectively), they were conspiracy theorists. But now that these men hold positions of power in the government, the various conspiracies they pushed are coming back to haunt them. Because their longtime supporters want them to act on all the wild claims they made. Will Sommer, a senior writer at The Bulwark and author of the 'False Flag' newsletter, talks about the tension within the online community that propelled these men to power.

And in headlines: President Donald Trump issued a bunch of pardons for tax cheats, Elon Musk said the GOP's 'Big Beautiful Bill' undermines the work he did at DOGE, and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller reportedly wants more deportations.

Show Notes:

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What A Day - Are Trump’s Crypto Ventures Corrupt

To the average American, the world of cryptocurrencies can be completely inscrutable. Only about 17 percent of U.S. adults say they've ever invested, traded or used crypto, according to an October Gallup poll. But that relative obscurity might be exactly why President Donald Trump and his family have gone all in on crypto. From pay-to-play memecoin dinners to billion-dollar investments in bitcoin, the Trump family now has a huge stake in a growing industry with few regulatory guardrails — and mounting conflicts of interest. Allison Morrow, a senior writer for CNN Business, tells us what the Trump family is up to and why ethics experts are waving red flags.

And in headlines: The Trump administration ordered a pause on new student visa interviews, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stripped Covid vaccine recommendations for healthy children and pregnant people, and King Charles told Canada's Parliament 'that the true North is indeed strong and free' in a speech widely seen as a rebuke of President Trump.

Show Notes:

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What A Day - Abortion Access In Trump’s America 2.0

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy has long been a pusher of junk science, especially when it comes to research around vaccines and autism. So it should come as no surprise that he appears open to revisiting the decades-old FDA approval of the abortion drug mifepristone, at least in part based on a report from a conservative think tank that was neither peer-reviewed, nor published in a medical journal. What the report in question conveniently contradicts more than 100 peer-reviewed studies that show mifepristone is safe to use and effective. Jessica Valenti, author of book ‘Abortion: Our Bodies, Their Lives, And The Truths We Use To Win,’ joins us to talk about the state of reproductive rights in the U.S. with President Donald Trump is back in power.

And in headlines: Trump again walked back his threats for steep tariffs on the European Union, Russia unleashed another massive drone and missile attack on Ukraine, and Republican Senators throw cold water on the House version of Trump’s spending and tax plan — a.k.a. the Big Beautiful Bill.

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