Category: Active

Ah, what a grab-bag episode, with one throughline: When Republicans stop paying any heed to the Washington consensus, they can really get things done. And the miracle of Jaws, now 50 years old. Give a listen.

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Tech millionaire, co-founder of Justice Democrats, and former chief of staff to AOC Saikat Chakrabarti joins Bad Faith to explain why he's running to oust Nancy Pelosi from the San Francisco congressional seat she has held for almost as long as he has been alive. Saikat offers his takeaways from Zohran Mamdani's success, and evaluates the replicability of Zohran's approach when it comes to social media, his "toxic positivity," and his army of volunteers. Saikat also addresses concerns from the left that he is not a DSA candidate and has, in fact, donated to opponents of DSA candidates in the past. Can Saikat do what former Bad Faith guest Shahid Buttar couldn't quite manage? Will Pelosi also ignore Saikat? Or can he capitalize on normie Democrat frustration with an establishment that's all talk and no action when it comes to fighting back against Trump?

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MAGA has been infighting over the Jeffrey Epstein files. And that’s because the conspiracy theories around Epstein hit at the very core of MAGA’s whole worldview.

Today’s episode looks closer at that worldview. Will Sommer has been tracking conspiracies for years now. He was a reporter at The Washington Post and is now at The Bulwark, and he’s the author of “Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America.”

In this conversation, we discuss the rise of QAnon, Donald Trump’s slippery relationship to the more conspiracy-minded factions of his base and how the intrigue around the Epstein files has challenged his credibility as an outsider taking on the “corrupt elites.”

This episode contains strong language.

Mentioned:

“MAGA Is Tearing Itself Apart Over Jeffrey Epstein” by David French

P.R.R.I. Survey

Nixonland by Rick Perlstein

Book Recommendations:

Buckley by Sam Tanenhaus

American Tabloid by James Ellroy

Low Life by Lucy Sante

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

You can find the transcript and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.html

This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Annie Galvin and Jack McCordick. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, Mary Marge Locker, Jack McCordick and Kristin Lin. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Aman Sahota and Isaac Jones. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, Rollin Hu, Elias Isquith, 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. Special thanks to Mia Bloom and Sophia Moskalenko.

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