The Muckrake Political Podcast

Unfortunately, the DeVos-funded Reopen America "Movement" is spreading like its own pandemic, helped along by Donald Trump, Fox News, and a mainstream media that should know better than treat it like a legitimate protest. Your co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman talk about the strategy behind the propaganda, how Americans are uniquely vulnerable to these appeals, and welcome Professor Daniel Drezner on to talk about his new book The Toddler In Chief: What Donald Trump Teaches Us About The Modern Presidency.

An anti-quarantine rally in Michigan stole headlines, but was it real? Co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman discuss a history of pseudo-events, psy-ops, and manipulation by American officials, politicians, and recently with Russian propagandists. It's a long, dark history, and helps explain just how we ended up in these odd, dangerous times.

Trump has named his "Committee to Reopen America" and, surprise!, it's full of his cronies and children. Co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman digest this and another week full of crimes and scandals and address just how a criminally incompetent president can get away with it all

With a holy weekend looming, Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman discuss how the Cult of the Shining City, a nationalistic, Neo-Confederate, white-identity evangelical cult has taken over American politics and the Republican Party, and the danger they pose during the coronavirus pandemic.

The pandemic gets worse as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is now in an ICU, but meanwhile Donald Trump and Republicans are pushing a miracle drug like they're set to profit from its sales. Co-hosts Nick Hauselman and Jared Yates Sexton dissect the history leading up to this pandemic and how the ceaseless need to profit has put all of our lives in danger.

The coronavirus pandemic spirals out of control while Donald Trump continues to lie and brag that damning a quarter of a million of Americans to a lonely, terrifying death is somehow an achievement worth bragging about. Co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman discuss the tragic events of the week, the maddening strategy of lying until it breaks the will of the people, and welcome Sarah Kendzior, one of the foremost experts on authoritarianism, to the podcast to discuss the very real dangers to our freedom and our lives.

Donald Trump's handling of the pandemic continues to worsen as it exacerbates the worst parts of his personality. His lying. His narcissism and cruelty. Co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman break down more enraging chapters in this enraging story and explain some of the more seemingly inexplicable aspects of this crisis.

Donald Trump is proposing reopening the country on Easter and the market and evangelicals love it. Nick Hauselman and Jared Yates Sexton discuss this, the looming danger of the pandemic, and welcome human rights activist Charlotte Clymer on to talk about the danger of an authoritarian in a time of crisis.

Donald Trump and Republicans are getting itchy and calling for social distancing and emergency procedures to expire, surely putting millions at risk. Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman discuss the dangerous mindset that powers the Right and corporations, as well as the possibility of more damage to our democratic institutions.

Literally every time Donald Trump addresses the coronavirus bad things happen. The stock market craters. Lives are put at risk. Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman examine the last few days of chaos, including the nightmarish press conferences and Republicans profiting off the pandemic. Author and historian Sarah Churchwell stops by to talk about her essential book Behold, America: The Entangled History of 'American First' and 'The American Dream' and how authoritarian rule in America isn't so farfetched.