What A Day - Media Braces For Trump’s Revenge

President-elect Donald Trump made good on his promise late Monday to sue The Des Moines Register, the newspaper's former pollster, Ann Selzer, and the paper's parent company, Gannett. His lawyers argue that Selzer's early November poll showing Vice President Kamala Harris beating Trump in Iowa amounted to "election interference." The suit comes on the heels of ABC News' decision to pay $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by Trump. Dylan Byers, media reporter and founding partner of Puck News, explains what it could mean for coverage of Trump's second term. 

Later in the show, Crooked correspondent and longtime climate reporter Stephanie Ebbs breaks down the Biden Administration's rush to spend funds for clean energy projects tied to the Inflation Reduction Act.

And in headlines: Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly beat New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez in the contest to be the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, the UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting suspect is charged with murder, and Ukraine claimed credit for the killing of a senior Russian general in Moscow.

Show Notes:

What Next | Daily News and Analysis - How Trump Got ABC to Pay Up

What ABC’s huge defamation settlement with Donald Trump says about the state of the media, heading into Trump’s second term. 


Guest: David Folkenflik, media correspondent for NPR.


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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther.

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What A Day - Will Senators Let A Vaccine Skeptic Run Public Health?

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. started making the rounds on Capitol Hill Monday to lobby Senators on his nomination to be the next secretary of Health and Human Services. There are plenty of reasons why he could face an uphill battle to confirmation, from his prior support for abortion access and background as an environmental lawyer to his hostility toward industrial agriculture. However, chief among the reasons why Senators may be hesitant to confirm RFK Jr. is that he's been one of the most prominent and pernicious sources of vaccine misinformation in the last decade. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, health officer for Wayne County, Michigan, and host of the podcast 'America Dissected,' explains the risks RFK Jr. poses to public health. 

Later in the show, Rachel Donadio, a Paris-based journalist and contributing writer at The Atlantic, explains the chaos engulfing France's government.

And in headlines. A New York judge rejected President-elect Donald Trump's bid to get his hush money conviction overturned, a teen killed a teacher and a student in a school shooting in Wisconsin, and Amazon workers threaten to strike right before the holidays.

Show Notes:

What Next | Daily News and Analysis - How Shaboozey Broke the Mold

After a tepid embrace of Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter and a back-and-forth over Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” country music fans are all in on Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy).” How has this hip-hop-inflected country hit perched atop the charts for a record-tying 19 weeks? 


Guest: Chris Molanphy, chart analyst, pop critic, host of the Hit Parade podcast, and author of Slate's “Why Is This Song No. 1?” series and the book Old Town Road.


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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther.


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What A Day - Biden Puts His Stamp On Federal Courts

President Joe Biden and Senate Democrats are expected to score a big win this week. If all goes to plan, they’ll get their 235th judge on the federal bench, one more than President-elect Donald Trump seated in his first term. But the story is bigger than the total number of judges earning lifetime appointments under Biden. The president is also set to appoint a record number of Black judges, and more than half of his appointments have been people of color and women — both firsts for a sitting president. Lena Zwarensteyn, senior director of the fair courts program at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, talks about the significance of Biden's judicial record.

And in headlines: ABC News agreed to pay $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit brought Trump, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is reportedly recovering from hip replacement surgery after falling down a flight of stairs, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. has officially made contact with the Islamist rebel group that has seized control of Syria.

Show Notes: