my private podcast channel
Nicolas Maduro and his wife face charges in American court. Financial markets react to President Trump’s designs on Venezuela’s oil supply. And Minnesota Governor Tim Walz drops his re-election bid amid accusations of fraud in his state’s daycare programs.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Alabama
National
What is America doing in Venezuela?
On Jan. 3, the Trump administration launched an operation that ended with the capture of President Nicolás Maduro, who is now in New York City on narcoterrorism and weapons charges. “We’re going to run it, essentially, until such time as a proper transition can take place,” Trump said.
Mr. Trump’s policy here is strange for a number of reasons: The U.S. is suffering from a fentanyl crisis, but Venezuela is not known as a fentanyl producer. Venezuela’s oil reserves are not the path to geopolitical power that they might have been in the 1970s. Mr. Maduro was a brutal and corrupt dictator, but Mr. Trump has left his No. 2 in charge. And Mr. Trump ran for office promising fewer foreign entanglements — not more.
So why Venezuela, and why now? That’s the question we look at in this conversation.
Jonathan Blitzer is a staff writer at The New Yorker. He has profiled Stephen Miller and has been following the U.S. military’s drug boat strikes in the Caribbean, as well as the Trump administration’s evolving agenda in Latin America. He’s also the author of the book “Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis.
Mentioned:
Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here by Jonathan Blitzer
“How Stephen Miller Manipulates Donald Trump to Further His Immigration Obsession” by Jonathan Blitzer
“Who’s Running Venezuela After the Fall of Maduro?” by Jonathan Blitzer
Book Recommendations:
The Known World by Edward P. Jones
What You Have Heard Is True by Carolyn Forché
The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre
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 Jack McCordick. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Mary Marge Locker and 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, Rollin Hu, Kristin Lin, Emma Kehlbeck, 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.
Theodore Karamanski joins fellow Lake Michigan enthusiast Jana Byars to talk about his new book, Great Lake: An Unnatural History of Lake Michigan. Looking down from outer space a vast expanse of blue appears in the heart of North America. Of the magnificent chain of inland seas, only one of those bodies of water--Lake Michigan--is entirely within the boundaries of the United States. Lake Michigan has been uniquely shaped by its relationship with humans, since its geological evolution took place at the same time as Paleo-Indian peoples interacted with the changing environment. Each generation of humans has altered the lake to suit society's changing needs, dredging harbors, building lighthouses, digging canals and channels, filling in shallows, and obliterating wetlands.
Great Lake is a comprehensive survey of the manifold ways Americans, from the first Native American communities to the present age, have abused, nurtured, loved, and neglected this massive freshwater resource. Extending 307 miles from north to south, the lake cuts across climatic, environmental, and physiographic zones, from the prairies of Illinois to the boreal forests of the north. Bordered by large cities like Chicago and Milwaukee as well as smaller Wisconsin resorts and northern Michigan mines and mill towns, the lake touches people in urban centers and countryside. Thus, the history of Lake Michigan combines the history of frontier resource extraction, agricultural abundance, industrialization, and dense urbanization in the American heartland. Great Lake is the story of the ever-escalating and divergent demands Americans have placed on Lake Michigan, how the lake's ecosystem responded to those changes, and how together they have shaped the modern American Midwest.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/native-american-studies
What kind of state does the UK find itself in as we start 2026? That’s the question Tim Harford and the More or Less team is trying to answer in a series of five special programmes.
In the second episode, we’re asking some interesting questions about health and the NHS:
Has life expectancy in the UK starting to go up again at last?
What statistics tell you about the health of the NHS?
After years of promises, are there actually any more GPs?
What’s happening to cancer rates in the UK?
What’s gone wrong with productivity in the health service?
Get in touch if you’ve seen a number in the news you think we should take a look at: moreorless@bbc.co.uk
Contributors:
Stuart McDonald, Head of Longevity and Demographic Insights at the consultancy Lane Clark & Peacock (LCP) Jon Shelton, Head of Cancer Intelligence at Cancer Research UK Ben Zaranko, Associate Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies
Credits:
Presenter: Tim Harford Reporter: Nathan Gower Producers: Lizzy McNeill, Katie Solleveld and Charlotte McDonald Series producer: Tom Colls Production co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele Sound mix: Sarah Hockley and Neil Churchill Editor: Richard Vadon
Five years ago today, supporters of President Trump, emboldened by his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, stormed the Capitol. Now, with Trump back in the Oval Office, it feels like the January 6th insurrectionists got everything they could have wanted – but did they? On his first day back in office, Trump pardoned more than 1,500 of the rioters. But dozens of those pardoned went on to commit more crimes – and others are furious that they haven’t received restitution for so-called “malicious prosecution.” Many of the groups that helped foment what happened five years ago have never regained the strength they had back then. And in his second term, Trump has disappointed many of the people who backed his insurrection – including some of those willing to go to prison for him. To talk more about January 6th and where the far-right is now, we spoke to Will Sommer, a senior reporter for the Bulwark who focuses on the far right and conservative media.
And in headlines, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth escalates his beef with Arizona Democratic Senator Mark Kelly, Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz drops his re-election bid after weeks of mounting scrutiny over his handling of the state’s welfare fraud scandal, and the CDC announces an alarming overhaul to its childhood vaccine schedule.
Show Notes:
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Trump kicks off 2026 with a return to imperialism, launching a military assault in Venezuela and abducting President Nicolás Maduro. Jon, Lovett, and Tommy react to the news, the administration's open acknowledgement that they want Venezuela's oil, and Trump's hint that military action may be coming to more places in the Western Hemisphere—including Colombia, Mexico, and Greenland. Then, the guys discuss Minnesota Governor Tim Walz's decision to end his reelection campaign in response to a fraud scandal that has captured the attention of right wing media, what we've learned (and not learned) from the Epstein files that were released before Christmas, and the most online stories that you may have missed over the holidays. Then, Lovett talks to Senator Mark Kelly about Secretary Hegseth's move to censure him in response to his reminder to service members that they need not follow "illegal orders."
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
According to Sam Altman, OpenAI’s biggest rival isn’t Google, it’s Apple. WSJ reporter Rolfe Winkler says the AI startup has big ambitions to displace the App Store by growing into an operating system powerful enough to let you access the apps you use every day, from Uber to Instacart, without ever leaving ChatGPT. Plus, WSJ personal tech columnist Nicole Nguyen breaks down how AI might help you (finally) stick with your fitness resolutions. Patrick Coffee hosts.
Sign up for the WSJ's free Technology newsletter.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Our Venezuela situation is all about oil… So what will the CEO of ExxonMobil do next?
Sprinkles, inventor of Cupcake ATMs, shut down last week… Because Private Equity botched the recipe.
The big new year’s resolution is Digital Detoxing… So Twitter & Pinterest’s founders created an app for what we call Social Media Banuary.
Ozempic has a huge new market… your pet dog.
$CRMBQ $CVX $XOM
Buy tickets to The IPO Tour (our In-Person Offering) TODAY
Austin, TX (2/25): https://tickets.austintheatre.org/13274/13275
Arlington, VA (3/11): https://www.arlingtondrafthouse.com/shows/341317
New York, NY (4/8): https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0000637AE43ED0C2
Los Angeles, CA (6/3): https://www.squadup.com/events/the-best-one-yet-live
Get your TBOY Yeti Doll gift here: https://tboypod.com/shop/product/economic-support-yeti-doll
NEWSLETTER:
https://tboypod.com/newsletter
OUR 2ND SHOW:
Want more business storytelling from us? Check our weekly deepdive show, The Best Idea Yet: The untold origin story of the products you're obsessed with. Listen for free to The Best Idea Yet: https://wondery.com/links/the-best-idea-yet/
NEW LISTENERS
Fill out our 2 minute survey: https://qualtricsxm88y5r986q.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dp1FDYiJgt6lHy6
GET ON THE POD:
Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts
SOCIALS:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypod
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod
Linkedin (Nick): https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/
Linkedin (Jack): https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/
Anything else: https://tboypod.com/
About Us: The daily pop-biz news show making today’s top stories your business. Formerly known as Robinhood Snacks, The Best One Yet is hosted by Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.