NPR's Don Gonyea reports from across the country, engaging with a wide range of people and in places as distinct and different as political rallies and automotive shops. Gonyea explains the importance of really listening, especially during this time of deep divides in America.
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
This episode was produced by Kira Wakeam. It was edited by Adam Raney. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
On September the 10th 2025, right-wing political activist and media personality Charlie Kirk was assassinated while speaking at an event in Utah. In the aftermath, his friend JD Vance, the US Vice President, hosted a special memorial edition of ‘The Charlie Kirk Show’, live from the White House, during which he called for unity, but said that could only be found by “climbing the mountain of truth”.
“While our side of the aisle certainly has its crazies, it is a statistical fact that most of the lunatics in American politics today are proud members of the far left,” he said. We investigate the statistical evidence around political violence – both in people’s attitudes and the crimes themselves.
Presenter: Tim Harford
Reporter: Lizzy McNeill
Series producer: Tom Colls
Sound mix: Hal Haines
Editor: Richard Vadon
It’s our first Saturday drop! Nate and Maria host former assistant US Attorney Elie Honig to discuss his new book, a brisk history of special counsels — plagued by politics, checked by presidents, declawed under Trump’s second term — and why rescuing the office matters.
A 30 second video clip shows a boat bobbing in the water.
Then, a fireball and a huge plume of smoke.
President Trump posted the footage on social media this week, saying he ordered the U-S military to attack what Trump called “narcoterrorists from Venezuela.”
It’s at least the second time this month that President Trump has ordered this sort of a deadly strike on a boat that he claims carried illegal drugs.
It's an example of the new ways Trump is deploying military force. The President has used the National Guard in American cities.
Do the strikes on Venezuelan vessels signal a new way of using the military abroad, and is it legal?
The fallout from the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel continues, with the revelation that, basically, no one watches his show—so why should Disney and ABC keep it on the air if he's more trouble than he's worth? That goes to the question of what to do when a heavy-handed government starts interfering in private business and going after someone who was exercising his free speech. The issue is more complicated than both left and right are willing to acknowledge. Give a listen.
The Utah governor is trying to model a different kind of leadership in a very dangerous political moment.
The Trump administration seems intent on using the assassination of Charlie Kirk to crack down on what it calls “the radical left.” But Spencer Cox doesn’t believe that suppression will make Americans safer.
For years now, Cox has been thinking seriously about our toxic political culture and what the path out of it could be. So I wanted to have him on the show to talk about how he responded in the hours and days after the shooting, what it has left him thinking about and what he thinks we should do now.
This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Rollin Hu. Fact checking by Michelle Harris, Kate Sinclair and Mary Marge Locker. 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, 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.
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Caving to a pressure campaign from Donald Trump's FCC, Disney pulls Jimmy Kimmel's show off the air. Jon and Dan are joined by newly minted Crooked contributor Alex Wagner to discuss Trump's attacks on Kimmel and his new lawsuit against The New York Times, the impending takeover of TikTok by MAGA-aligned billionaires, and new details from the White House about the coming crackdown on left-leaning nonprofits and organizations. Then they react to the CDC's dangerous new recommendations on childhood vaccinations, excerpts from Kamala Harris's forthcoming tell-all book about the 2024 election, and Trump's bracing candor about when plane crashes are okay.
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.
It’s … Indicators of the Week! Our weekly look at some of the most fascinating economic numbers from the news.
On today’s show: A rate cut and drama at the Federal Reserve, the average American gets a little less creditworthy, and those giant check sweepstakes winners? Well, they might have to get a job soon.
President Trump has said for years that he wants Jimmy Kimmel off the air.
Now, ABC and its parent company Disney have put the show on indefinite hiatus.
One key player here is the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr.
Today he applauded ABC’s decision, posting on X, “Broadcast TV stations have always been required by their licenses to operate in the public interest.”
Kimmel’s cancellation reopens questions about free speech, the role of the FCC, and the relationship between the commission and the White House.
NPR political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro and former FCC chairman Tom Wheeler shed some light on those questions.
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This week, Briahna interviews Matt Taibbi about a narrow concern she's had with the Twitter Files archive: Despite the obvious value that Matt and other twitter files reporters have created by exposing links between the intelligence agencies and online censorship, is it fair to characterize Twitter's bias as against the right and indifferent to the left given how little we know about which documents have been turned over by Elon Musk and why? Unlike Musk, most whistleblowers are not the heads of the organizations they're informing on. Does Musk's investment in and control over Twitter demand more journalistic scrutiny? Is it possible to characterize the files reviewed so far without making broader claims about about the total archive that, at this point, can't be substantiated? Has there been sufficient inquiry into bias against the left, and has their been sufficient disclosure about the limitations Musk has put on the journalists who've been given access to the archive? It's a difficult and nuanced discussion.