Voters in the seven swing states that elected Trump in 2024 thought he'd make the economy better. His perceived strength on the economy is the cornerstone Jenga piece of the whole Trump Tower. And he keeps making the economy worse. Meanwhile, Democratic voters are highly engaged—but just not with the party, whose brand is struggling. Plus, Republicans are still trying to steal the House, and how a stronger, re-imagined local news media can help restore trust in national news.
On this episode of "The Federalist Radio Hour," Lawrence M. Krauss, a theoretical physicist, author, and president of the Origins Project, joins Federalist Senior Elections Correspondent Matt Kittle to discuss the free speech crackdown on scholarship and science and explain why it is dangerous not only to academic freedom, but also to the future of the nation.
You can find Krauss' book The War on Science: Thirty-Nine Renowned Scientists and Scholars Speak Out About Current Threats to Free Speech, Open Inquiry, and the Scientific Processhere.
If you care about combating the corrupt media that continue to inflict devastating damage, please give a gift to help The Federalist do the real journalism America needs.
Today we talk about the radicalism of Zohran Mamdani, his standing among New York Jews in a new poll, and how it is that bad ideas and failed concepts keep coming back. Give a listen.
August 2025 marks 20 years since Hurricane Katrina altered New Orleans forever. Much has been written about the storm’s destruction and the city’s long road to recovery. But tucked behind those headlines is another story. One that shaped the lives of thousands of children.
From The Branch in partnership with The 74 and MeidasTouch, Where the Schools Went is a five-part documentary series about what happened to the city’s schools after the levees broke, and how it led to the most radical education experiment in modern American history.
The first episode drops next Tuesday, August 12! Listen and subscribe on Apple here and on Spotify here.
For many Americans, the government’s monthly jobs number was a pretty dull statistic — until a few days ago, when President Trump angrily fired the person responsible for producing it, the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Now, from Washington to Wall Street, many people are wondering whether you can still trust federal statistics if the president is willing to just get rid of people who give him facts he doesn’t like.
On this episode, Ben Casselman joins The Daily to discuss how the government’s economic data suddenly turned into a national drama.
Guest: Ben Casselman, the chief economics correspondent for The New York Times.
For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.
Photo: Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times
Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Mahmoud Khalil was a leader in Columbia University’s pro-Palestinian protests. In March, he was arrested by ICE agents and held for more than 100 days in a Louisiana detention facility. The Trump administration claims Khalil is deportable — even though he has a green card, married to a U.S. citizen — because he poses a threat to U.S. foreign policy goals.
Khalil’s alleged offense here is speech.
Khalil is out now on bail, and he’s still speaking. I wanted to hear what he had to say.
This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Rollin Hu and Jack McCordick. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Aman Sahota. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, Annie Galvin, Elias Isquith, Kristin Lin, Marina King and Jan Kobal. Original music by Carole Sabouraud, Aman Sahota and Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.
Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
The question of who represents the working class is probably the hottest debate in American politics. Is it Republicans? Democrats? Or socialists like Zohran Mamdani?
Pundits can debate that question all they want, but the undeniable test is: Who do the unions believe stand for working people?
For a century, unions were undeniably Democratic. And in 2021, Biden tried to carry on that tradition. He went as far as to say: “I intend to be the most pro-union president leading the most pro-union administration in American history.” Then in 2023, he became the first sitting president to walk a picket line, joining United Auto Workers in their strike against General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis.
But as the Democratic Party went left, and then further left, many union members—who were reliable Democratic voters—broke the mold and voted for Trump—nearly half of union households, to be exact.
Was it Trump’s hatred of NAFTA? His promise to bring manufacturing back? His unbridled vibrato? Or was it the left’s preoccupation with boutique issues?
The shift was palpable when Teamsters president Sean O’Brien spoke at the 2024 RNC despite being a lifelong Democrat. It felt like a new era.
We’ve reported extensively on how the Democratic Party lost the working class. But now, six months into Trump’s second term, are working-class Trump voters happy with their choice? And how has Trump been for labor in America?
Sean O’Brien—the voice you heard at the RNC—is the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, representing 1.3 million union workers. It’s one of the biggest unions in the country. As Sean puts it, “They represent airline pilots to zookeepers and everyone in between.” That “in between” includes truck drivers, warehouse workers, mechanics, baggage handlers, construction workers, and UPS drivers—UPS is their largest employer. Basically, Teamsters have organized workers in every occupation imaginable.
And more than his role as Teamsters president, Sean himself is a fourth-generation union member, having joined the Local 25 at 18 as a heavy-equipment driver in Boston. He’s spent 34 years in the union and has a unique vantage point from which he sees American labor.
Today on Honestly, Bari asks Sean: Why did he speak at the RNC? How has Trump been for labor—given his coziness to Elon Musk, DOGE, and his new big, beautiful bill? Can Democrats win union workers back? And can unions find their footing again? How does he plan to organize Amazon—he has some choice words for Jeff Bezos. And how do we ensure more American workers have access to middle-class wages, quality healthcare, and strong pensions?
Go to groundnews.com/Honestly to get 40% off the unlimited access Vantage plan and unlock world-wide perspectives on today’s biggest news stories.
Visit chevron.com/America to learn more about how Chevron is building a stronger future powered by American energy,
Texas Democrats, in an attempt to block Trump's redistricting effort, shut down a special legislative session by fleeing the state. Texas State Rep. James Talarico joins the show to explain what happens now and why he and his Democratic colleagues believe that getting out of town is the best way to serve their constituents in this moment. Then, Jon, Lovett, and Tommy discuss Trump's decision to fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Ghislaine Maxwell's transfer to a cushy minimum-security prison, new reporting about who's sending all those annoying fundraising texts, and, of course, Trump's comments on the most important story of the moment: Sydney Sweeney's jeans.
Osita Nwanevu stops by to discuss his new book The Right of the People: Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding. Osita leads us through his case that American “democracy” as it currently stands isn’t that democratic at all. We discuss the real intentions of the founders, the actual American revolution of the Civil War, and the stalled re-founding of reconstruction. We also look at the potential for economic democracy, the political reforms needed to re-found the country, the problem of the judiciary, and the challenges of a new media environment to democratizing movements. Yes, today the wacky morning DJ actually does say democracy’s a joke.
Pick up Osita’s book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/704686/the-right-of-the-people-by-osita-nwanevu/
AND, we’ve secured ONE MORE WEEK to get your pre-order in for YEAR ZERO: A Chapo Trap House Comic Anthology at badegg.co/products/year-zero-1
The controversial immigration detention center — dubbed by Florida officials and the Trump administration, "Alligator Alcatraz"-- has already hit some legal snags since opening earlier this month.
Civil rights groups are suing the Trump administration over due process complaints. The lawsuit alleges detainees are being held without charges and aren't being given access to their attorneys.
