The NPR Politics Podcast
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The NPR Politics Podcast
Every weekday, NPR's best political reporters are there to explain the big news coming out of Washington and the campaign trail. They don't just tell you what happened. They tell you why it matters. Every afternoon.Political wonks - get wonkier with The NPR Politics Podcast+. Your subscription suppo...
Recent Episodes
1913 episodes
Florida passes new House map; Mills exits Maine Senate race
Florida lawmakers have approved a new congressional district map designed to flip four seats in the U.S. House of Representatives from Democrat contro...
Supreme Court deals another blow to Voting Rights Act
In a landmark ruling Wednesday, the Supreme Court effectively gutted the Voting Rights Act. We discuss what the ruling could mean for Black representa...
Trump mulls a Spirit Airlines bailout. Is this capitalism?
President Trump has suggested the United States “buy” the struggling Spirit Airlines. We discuss other ways Trump has blurred the lines between govern...
DOJ charges suspect in White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting
The Justice Department has charged 31-year-old Cole Allen with trying to assassinate President Trump during the White House Correspondents’ Associatio...
Trump, Vance evacuated after shots fired at White House Correspondents' Dinner
President Trump, Vice President Vance, and members of the administration were evacuated from the Washington Hilton Saturday night after shots were fir...
DOJ drops Fed chair probe to cap a busy week in politics
It was another busy week in politics. We discuss the Justice Department’s decision to drop its investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell,...
Civil rights group says federal charges are political
The Justice Department has charged the Southern Poverty Law Center, a prominent civil rights organization, with several financial crimes. We discuss w...
Virginia beats back Trump's redistricting gamble
Virginia voters narrowly approved a ballot measure to redraw congressional district lines, improving Democrats’ odds at winning back the House in Nove...
Trump backs psychedelic drug treatments
President Trump signed an executive order to fast-track medical research into psychedelic drugs, following a push by podcaster and influencer Joe Roga...
Does the president own presidential records?
The Justice Department has declared that the Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional and therefore, President Trump is allowed to destroy any rec...
Why Democrats have little leverage to reform ICE
Most of the Department of Homeland Security has been without funding for two months, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement got billions of dollars f...
These Georgia swing voters do not like the Iran war
NPR reporters observed focus groups of 13 Georgia voters who backed President Joe Biden in 2020 and President Donald Trump in 2024. We discuss what th...
Where Swalwell’s exit leaves the California governor’s race
A crowded governor’s race in California got a little less crowded when Democrat Eric Swalwell ended his campaign — and resigned his seat in Congress —...
The president versus the pope
President Trump launched new attacks at Pope Leo XIV over the weekend, calling the religious leader “Weak on Crime, Weak on Nuclear Weapons,” in a soc...
How does a blockade in the Strait of Hormuz help Trump?
Negotiations with Iran over the weekend ended without a deal. In response, President Trump announced that the U.S. military would effectively close th...
Is MAGA fracturing?
Leaders in the Make America Great Again, or MAGA, coalition are pushing back against President Trump’s decisions regarding the Iran war. We discuss th...
JD Vance stumps for Hungary’s Orbán
Vice President JD Vance was in Hungary this week campaigning for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who faces a tough path to reelection. We discuss why the...
What did the United States and Iran just agree to?
In the last day and a half, President Trump threatened to wipe out Iranian “civilization,” then announced a two-week ceasefire. We discuss what we kno...
Voters decide whether Virginia enters redistricting fight
Voting ends April 21 in Virginia's special election that will decide whether the state redraws its congressional districts to favor Democrats. We disc...
Trump says Iran can be "taken out" in one night
President Trump held a press conference at the White House Monday. He discussed the latest developments in the war with Iran, as well as other topics....
Trump tries to sell the Iran war, a month after it started
It was a particularly busy week in politics. We discuss President Trump’s prime-time address about the Iran war, Pam Bondi’s exit as attorney general,...
Trump tries to shape mail-in voting with executive order
President Trump signed an executive order that seeks to create federal lists of eligible voters and directs the U.S. Postal Service not to send mail-i...
Trump addresses war with Iran
In a televised, primetime address, President Trump discussed the ongoing U.S. war with Iran, and said the war would be over "shortly." We analyze what...
SCOTUS hears birthright citizenship arguments
At issue in the case is whether children born in the United States to people in the country without legal status should receive U.S. citizenship under...
Should all babies born in the United States be citizens?
The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments Wednesday in Trump v. Barbara, a case challenging President Trump’s executive order denying citizenshi...
The Senate DHS funding deal fell apart. Now what?
There was a glimmer of hope for the Department of Homeland Security after the Senate passed a funding bill early Friday morning. Then the House reject...
How young CPAC-goers feel about the war in Iran
This year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, lacks many of the big-name conservative stars typically in attendance, but there’s stil...
Will record TSA wait times spur a DHS funding deal?
Thursday marks the 41st day since funding for the Department of Homeland Security lapsed, and congressional negotiators seem to be at a stalemate. We...
In Iran, Trump is both escalating and deescalating
President Trump began the week with an announcement that administration officials were having “very good and productive conversations” with Iranian of...
Democrats’ long-shot bid to flip Alaska’s Senate seat
Democrats are hoping for an upset in Alaska’s Senate race. U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, a Democrat, is trying to unseat Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sulli...
Trump's name and face are on all the things
President Trump could soon have his face on two separate coins, a commemorative one to honor the country's 250th birthday and a $1 coin. We discuss th...
What's the Trump administration's strategy in Iran?
The United States has entered the third week of its war with Iran, but the end game is no clearer today than it was at the start of the war. We talk a...
Sparks fly at DHS confirmation hearing, but Trump’s pick clears committee
President Trump’s pick to run the Department of Homeland Security, Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin, advanced past the Senate Homeland Securi...
After Trump’s push, Senate debates the ‘SAVE America Act,’ but can it pass?
President Trump says he won’t sign any legislation until Congress passes the “SAVE America Act,” legislation that would require proof of citizenship t...
The race for a safe Democratic House seat offers clues about the party’s future
It’s Primary Day in Illinois, where 15 Democrats, spanning three generations, are vying to succeed longtime Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky in the state'...
Is there a link between political violence and leaders’ rhetoric?
There have been three incidents of political violence in the last two weeks — an attack on a synagogue in Michigan, a shooting at Old Dominion Univers...
Democrats had record turnout in Texas’ Senate primary. Can they flip the seat?
It was another busy week in the world of politics. We discuss record turnout among Democrats in Texas’ Senate primary, long airport security lines due...
These swing voters don’t like or understand the reason for the war in Iran
NPR reporters observed focus groups of 12 swing voters from Michigan. We discuss their thoughts on the war in Iran and what they wish President Trump...
The toll the war in Iran has on the U.S. economy
The United States’ war in Iran is roiling global oil markets. We discuss how that affects the American economy — not just at the gas pump — and how th...
ICE is keeping tabs on American citizens
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been using a variety of tools to keep tabs on not just immigrants the agency intends to deport but also U.S. c...