1A - The News Roundup For January 16, 2026

The Trump administration sent hundreds more ICE agents to Minnesota this week as protests continue. President Donald Trump referred to the demonstrators as “professional agitators” and threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act.

Diplomats from Denmark and Greenland traveled to the White House to meet with Vice President JD Vance after President Trump once again threatened to annex Greenland following major foreign intervention in Venezuela.

Meanwhile, protesters in Iran are attempting to keep up their demonstrations against the country’s theocracy after a week of bloody crackdowns by authorities.

In an interview with Reuters this week, Donald Trump says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the one holding up peace negotiations for the war in Ukraine, not Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Find more of our programs online. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

The Gist - Funny You Should Mention: Liza Treyger

Comedian Liza Treyger explains why she prefers the 1:30 a.m. Comedy Cellar crowd—the drunk, the horny, the post-Broadway undead—and why bombing early is harder than thriving late. Her Netflix special Night Owl doubles as a thesis on power, hypocrisy, and why men who "hate Taylor Swift" seem uniquely unable to stop talking about her. Treyger argues that worst moments often are the résumé, that comedy works better when it sounds unwritten, and that moral panic is usually just bad joke construction in disguise. Plus: owls, tattoos, true crime, and just a little but about Luigi.

Produced by Corey Wara

Coordinated by Lya Yanne

Video and Social Media by Geoff Craig

Do you have questions or comments, or just want to say hello? Email us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠thegist@mikepesca.com

For full Pesca content and updates, check out our website at https://www.mikepesca.com/

For ad-free content or to become a Pesca Plus subscriber, check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/

For Mike's daily takes on Substack, subscribe to The Gist List https://mikepesca.substack.com/

Follow us on Social Media:⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4_bh0wHgk2YfpKf4rg40_g⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/pescagist/ X https://x.com/pescami TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@pescagist

To advertise on the show, contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠ad-sales@libsyn.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ or visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://advertising.libsyn.com/TheGist

The Bulwark Podcast - Wright Thompson: The Ghosts of Mississippi

Official Mississippi doesn't really want to talk about the murder of Emmett Till—or teach about the murder of Emmett Till. Almost 71 years later, the intentional attempt to erase the crime lives on. On this MLK Day weekend, Wright joins Tim to discuss the role of history and black history in our public consciousness. Meanwhile, Trump and MAGA are busy trying to rewrite the history of modern-day political violence, including the thuggery of ICE agents. Plus, a ranking of the best SEC college towns, a tribute to Bob Weir, the impact of tariffs on farmers—as well as this year's Mardi Gras— and even the White House is starting to get concerned about the optics of Trump's deportation operation.

 ESPN's Wright Thompson joins Tim Miller for the holiday weekend pod.

show notes


  • Text BULWARK to 64000 to get 20% off all IQBAR products, plus FREE shipping. Message and data rates may apply.
  • For their buy 1 get 1 50% off deal, head to 3DayBlinds.com/THEBULWARK.

Federalist Radio Hour - Chris Bray On Chaos In Minneapolis And The Future Of The Culture War

On this episode of The Federalist Radio Hour, Chris Bray, a journalist, former soldier, and author of the "Tell Me How This Ends" Substack, joins Federalist Senior Elections Correspondent Matt Kittle to explain what Minneapolis provocateurs' interactions with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents tell us about the state of the culture war. Bray and Kittle also discuss whether California can be politically redeemed. 

Read Bray's analysis here

The Federalist Foundation is a nonprofit, and we depend entirely on our listeners and readers — not corporations. If you value fearless, independent journalism, please consider a tax-deductible gift today at TheFederalist.com/donate. Your support keeps us going.

Chapo Trap House - BONUS – I Want My M(amdani)TV

Over the holiday, Will and Chris caught up with Donald Borenstein, Andrew Epstein and Debbie Saslaw of the Mamdani media team to discuss how their video and online strategy helped win the campaign’s stunning victory. We look at their team’s success as the result of years of NYC organizing, how the candidate’s principles and policy informed the media strategy, the right and wrong lessons on political communication from their campaign, and the bizarre outsider art of Adams & Cuomo’s video output. PLUS: production, editing, color grading & gear talk for all you A/V heads.

The Commentary Magazine Podcast - Is Immigration Policy Hurting Trump Now?

Bad polling for the president raises the question of whether his pursuit of aggressive anti-immigration aims in Minneapolis and elsewhere is hurting his standing. Even more important: He's not convincing the American people he's good for the country when it comes to economics. And why are Hollywood opinion leaders going ballistic about a certain scene on the show Landman? Give a listen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Daily - An I.V.F. Mix-Up and an Impossible Choice

For millions of families, in vitro fertilization is a modern medical miracle. But the field is largely unregulated, and for a small number of parents, things can go terribly wrong.

Susan Dominus discusses her story about how two families navigated an unthinkable I.V.F. mistake that will connect them for the rest of their lives.

Guest: Susan Dominus, a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine.

Background reading: 

Photo: Holly Andres 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. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

The Ezra Klein Show - Has Trump Achieved a Lot Less Than It Seems?

We are one year into Trump’s second term. And it feels like so much has happened – more than the human mind, or the country, can absorb. But how much has Trump really accomplished? What policies have changed the country in a way that will last?

My guest Yuval Levin is one of the smartest thinkers on the right, and his verdict is: not that much. “There’s an important story to tell about the absence of action in the past year, too,” he tells me.

Levin is the director of social, cultural and constitutional studies at the American Enterprise Institute, the founder and editor of National Affairs and the author of several books on policy and political theory, including “American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation – and Could Again.”

Mentioned:

Charts

Buckley by Sam Tanenhaus

Book Recommendations:

Insecure Majorities by Frances E. Lee

Making the Presidency by Lindsay M. Chervinsky

Last Branch Standing by Sarah Isgur

Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.

You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.

This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Rollin Hu. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Kate Sinclair. 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, Kristin Lin, Emma Kehlbeck, Jack McCordick, Marina King and Jan Kobal. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

Pod Save America - ICE’s Reign of Terror

Minneapolis residents describe the city as a war zone as 3,000 federal agents terrorize citizens and non-citizens alike. Jon and Dan react to the situation on the ground and discuss the latest, including federal agents shooting another person, six federal prosecutors' decision to resign over the Justice Department's push to investigate Renee Good's widow, and President Trump's threat to invoke the Insurrection Act and send actual troops into Minneapolis. Then, the two discuss some hopeful polling on ICE, the FBI's raid of a Washington Post journalist's home, and the administration's "fundamental disagreement" with Denmark over the future of Greenland. Then, Senator Ruben Gallego talks to Jon about what Congress can do to rein in ICE and Trump's plans for hemispheric domination.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

1A - How Change Affects Our Brains And Identities

Life can bring major, unexpected changes without warning. How can we adapt when our best-laid plans are suddenly upended?

Maya Shankar is a cognitive scientist. Her latest book, “The Other Side of Change,” attempts to answer this question by looking at how change affects the brain and our identities.

She joins us to talk about the neuroscience behind how we deal with different circumstances.

Find more of our programs online. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy