Political Theater

At Roll Call, we periodically update our list of most vulnerable senators and members of the House as we get closer to the election. It's a shifting list, and reflects a snapshot in political dynamics. So how does one land on the list? Roll Call campaign staff writers Daniela Altimari and Mary Ellen McIntire join the Political Theater podcast to discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is no way to spin being beaten and bloodied and scared. The history of the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 is still being written, which is an important and massive undertaking. Not everyone wants to talk about the bear spray and broken windows. But the new documentary “The Sixth” by Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine gives a fresh voice to some of the people on the ground and in the line of fire that day: police officers, a journalist, a congressional staffer, and a member of Congress. The film is from their perspectives; it’s a sense of what it felt like to be there. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This has been a momentous week for politics. Jury selection started in the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump. The Senate dispensed with impeachment articles against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. And the House considers a foreign aid package that has made Speaker Mike Johnson a target of his unhappy colleagues. But beyond those headlines: FEC filings show us who raised how much for 2024's election; runoffs in Alabama and another trial that could affect New Jersey races. Roll Call campaigns editor Herb Jackson walks joins the podcast to discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People feel so passionately about food that perhaps it is not a surprise it has yielded that rarest of things: A sequel to a documentary. The makers of 2008’s “Food, Inc.,” are, as the new movie’s tagline goes, back for seconds with “Food, Inc. 2,” a multi-layered look at the food industry, its farmers, workers, scientists, journalists and more. Co-directors Robert Kenner and Melissa Robledo are here to talk about it, from soup to nuts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does it mean when both Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and former President Donald Trump agree on the same candidate? Because that happened in Ohio’s Republican Senate primary. That was not the only win for the establishment, such as it is, during Tuesday’s elections. Roll Call campaign staff writer Daniela Altimari spent some quality time in Ohio recently, and she and Campaigns Editor Herb Jackson join the podcast to discuss the results in Ohio, Illinois and California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Covering the White House is one of the most high-profile beats in politics. Covering the Trump, then the Biden White House, and starting during a pandemic and an election year makes it even more high profile. Roll Call Chief Correspondent Niels Lesniewski has been at the helm for a little over four years and shares his experiences as he prepares for a new assignment in the newsroom: The highlights, the lowlights and the weirdlights. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lost in this year’s highly competitive presidential nominating contest (sarcasm detector!) is the coming-at-you primaries for House and Senate that kicked off with a bang on Super Tuesday. We got some clarity about fall matchups in some high-profile races on that most special of Tuesdays, and some of that clarity came from folks who were not even facing the voters. With us to discuss is Jacob Rubashkin, deputy editor of Inside Elections. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tuesdays can get a bad rap. Sometimes the best that can be said about them are that they're the day that's the furthest from next Monday. But not Super Tuesday! More than a quarter of the House of Representatives faces a primary race on March 5, and there are two high-profile Senate races as well. And while not all of Super Tuesday's races are competitive, there are major implications for November’s general election, especially in California, Texas, North Carolina and Alabama. We’ll discuss the major races and stories shaping up for Super Tuesday with Roll Call campaign reporters Mary Ellen McIntire and Daniela Altimari. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

S. Leo Chiang’s documentary films explore lives across continents and culture, from the first Vietnamese-American congressman to the first LGBT political party in the Philippines to a legendary Hawaiian ukulele player. His latest film, the documentary short “Island in Between,” has been nominated for an Academy Award. Its subject, Taiwan’s Kinmen Island and Chiang’s own relationship to his native Taiwan, couldn’t be more timely, in the wake of Taiwan’s recent presidential election and as Congress considers a foreign aid package with billions of dollars at stake for Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s not to like about political stories that encompass not only New York City, Queens specifically, but reach into Long Island’s northern shore in Nassau County. The special election in New York’s 3rd Congressional District to replace expelled GOP Rep. George Santos is over, with Democrat Tom Suozzi defeating Republican Mazi Melesa Pilip for the honor of representing the birthplace of Walt Whitman and the one-time home of F. Scott Fitzgerald when he was gathering string for “The Great Gatsby.” Roll Call Campaigns Staff Writer Mary Ellen McIntire and Inside Elections Deputy Editor Jacob Rubashkin take us on a tour. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The current congress started off last year with an historic show of dysfunction, taking 15 rounds of voting to elect a speaker. Things did not get better. And then this week we saw the House and the Senate devolve into what some observers dubbed “failure theater.” One senator, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, asked simply, “What the Hell just happened?” Helping us answer that question is Molly Reynolds, senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are not a lot of resumes that read like Bill Bradley’s. Gold medal Olympian. Rhodes Scholar. Pro basketball player. Author. Senator. Presidential candidate. Radio host. And now a documentary film storyteller. His latest project, "Rolling Along," premiered last June at the Tribeca Film Festival, appropriate for the iconic New York Knick, and started streaming on Max on Feb. 1. He joins the podcast to discuss the story of his life.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re off and running in a pivotal election year, but beyond the horse race coverage and hot takes, there are always big stories that will help define what is going on. Herb Jackson, Roll Call’s politics editor, and Political Theater host Jason Dick trade big ideas about what the big stories are for 2024.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Democrats are voicing concerns that the Biden re-election campaign needs to start getting on the road, but the question is, which direction? And who's driving? Dispatches from a fretting Capitol Hill, courtesy of Roll Call editor-at-large John Bennett, who joins the podcast to discuss his reporting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s January 2024. It’s cold, especially in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first stops on the presidential campaign voting calendar. We kick off this year by discussing the early contests, as well as setting the stage for the rest of this election year, particularly House and Senate races, with Roll Call’s elections analyst, Nathan Gonzales. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How big a deal is the pandas leaving the National Zoo? Or the sale of the Commanders? Or the Wizards and Capitals possibly leaving downtown DC? Or all the retail vacancies piling up? Recommend If You Like Editor Brandon Wetherbee gets local with the Political Theater podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As political journalists, it is easy to get wrapped up in the story of the day. Elections and court decisions. Wars and strikes. Retirements and deaths. But what news events will endure and mark this year as unique? Fifty years ago, in 1973, we had the Watergate, Roe v. Wade and more. Nathan Gonzales joins the podcast to consider what political stories will stand out in half a century.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The recent elevation of Rep. Mike Johnson to be Speaker of the House has brought up questions about the Louisiana Republican’s record and positions in several areas, particularly his opposition to equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community. Filmmakers Melinda Maerker and David Miller have a new documentary for Hulu, “We Live Here: The Midwest,” which gives voice to the LGBTQ+ community in places that are not hospitable to them, and they join the podcast to discuss their project and its message.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you know anyone who clings to antiquated notions that documentary films are dry affairs, kindly refer them to “Beyond Utopia,” Madeleine Gavin’s movie about the perilous paths North Korean defectors and their allies take to get them safely out of one of the world’s most repressive and cloistered countries. In addition to addressing the important issues about a geopolitical hot-spot, the filmmaking here makes for a compelling adventure. Director Madeleine Gavin and Producer Sue Mi Terry join the Political Theater podcast to discuss their project. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you’re feeling cranky about politics, you’re not alone. Public polling shows a remarkably wide swath of Americans with historically poor views of politics and politicians. Nathan Gonzales, Roll Call’s campaign analyst and publisher of Inside Elections, joins the podcast to discuss why and the campaign ramifications.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Washington is a city rooted in politics and history. It is also the home of one of the most iconic horror stories of all time, “The Exorcist.” The novel and movie, set in Georgetown, have been freaking people out for more than a half-century. Louis Bayard, author of "The Pale Blue Eye" and other novels, has written about growing up with "The Exorcist." He comes on the podcast to talk about that and why horror resonates, especially in places like D.C.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A speaker is deposed. Members of Congress gets indicted. A former president stands trial. Things feel unsteady, even dangerous. Has it ever been like this before? And will it change? Molly Reynolds, senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, discusses what’s going on in Congress.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The instability of the House of Representatives is on full display, with this week seeing the first-ever ouster of a speaker, which led to the first-ever use of continuity of government rules to install a speaker pro tempore to preside over the institution until the chamber can elect its next speaker. And, if you remember how that went in January, it is uncertain how long that will take. Political Theater podcast host pro tempore Herb Jackson and Roll Call editor at large John Bennett walk us through what has happened and what we'll be watching as the leadership race for a person in the presidential line of succession unfolds in an uncertain time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sen. Bob Menendez is a New Jersey institution, and in a familiar place, running for election while fighting federal corruption charges. He has always come out on top before, but times have changed, and his Democratic colleagues are pressuring him to resign. How did Menendez get to where he is, and what are his options? Roll Call Politics Editor Herb Jackson, a man of New Jersey, walks us through it all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Filmmaker Dawn Porter’s documentaries run the spectrum of the political world and process, including Bobby Kennedy’s 1968 presidential campaign, the legacy of Congressman John Lewis, the Tulsa massacre, Civil War spies, abortion and more. Her latest project, the mini-series “Deadlocked,” is a history of the modern Supreme Court, from the Warren Court to the present, and how politics have changed the court, and how the court has changed politics.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

September is always stressful around Washington. Congress rarely even tries to pass its spending bills in time for the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. Throw in the House GOP’s impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden, and you have even more stress. Both topics, along with another developing wild card, redistricting, are likely to help define the 2024 campaign. We discuss with Nathan Gonzales, Roll Call’s campaign analyst and the publisher of Inside Elections. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With “Golda,” director Guy Nattiv depicts the story of Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir’s leadership during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, bringing his affection for the paranoid thrillers of the 1970s to the screen during a time of heightened political tensions in Israel and the rest of the democratic world.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steve James is a documentary filmmaker whose body of work has taken him from "Hoop Dreams" to the 2008 financial crisis and more. His latest film, "A Compassionate Spy," is about Ted Hall, a physicist who worked at Los Alamos during World War II and helped develop the atomic bomb. You may have heard something or other about the bomb lately, with Christopher Nolan’s "Oppenheimer" in theaters now and creating buzz by the gallons. Hall’s story is just as important. He took what he learned at Los Alamos and shared it with the Soviet Union, an action that continues to reverberate.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's the difference between launching a political campaign on June 30 and July 10? Does it really matter? Here to explain why it does is Nathan Gonzales, Roll Call’s Election Analyst and the publisher of Inside Elections. We also talk about sharks, ditches and an unlikely double feature of "The Skulls" and "Back to School." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

June 24 marks the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned Roe v. Wade and the federal right to an abortion. Amanda Becker, a former Roll Caller who writes about politics for the 19th and just completed a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard, is writing a book about the immediate fallout of the decision. She joins the podcast to talk about her work and reporting.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Washington is a film capital, home to a diverse slate of festivals to match a diverse slate of interests and people. This week, the DC/DOX festival gets under way with dozens of documentary features on topics ranging from the war in Ukraine, the Supreme Court, Joan Baez, Steph Curry and more. DC/DOX co-founder Sky Sitney joins the podcast to talk about movies, creating a community and even Kim's Video. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Good documentaries tell stories that work on multiple levels. Filmmaker Ondi Timoner’s “Last Flight Home” does this by portraying a family as it prepares for the loss of its patriarch, who has chosen to end his life, and documenting a very specific time in our history, when the most personal medical and health care choices are the sources of monumental political debate. The fact that the family is Timoner’s gives the movie an extra resonance, and she is sharing not just the movie but her perspective on the politics surrounding it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Yellowstone" and its related series are a cultural phenomenon, and have provided Native Americans a voice and platform that breaks boundaries. Two of the actors in the series, Mo Brings Plenty and Michael Spears, discuss their recent visit to Capitol Hill, Native representation in movies and pop culture and what makes "Yellowstone" different.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The annual Capital Challenge foot race is a unique gathering of the three branches of government and the journalists who cover them: a three-mile, mid-week, morning race of about 600 people that raises money for youth financial literacy. But there is more going on beyond folks pounding the pavement. CQ Roll Call's Health Team Editor Jessica Wehrman, a long-time runner of the race herself, coordinated our many teams this year and lets us know how it all went. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It is a Roll Call tradition: identifying the most vulnerable House and Senate incumbents each election cycle. And for our first look at the franchise for 2024, we will discuss the 20 on the hot seat whom we have put on the list with Herb Jackson, Roll Call’s politics editor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The White House Correspondents Dinner, the crown jewel of Washington’s spring prom season, roared back this past week, freed from many of the physical and psychological restraints of the COVID pandemic. But the pandemic is but one of the many turning points in the dinner’s long history — which includes the Mummers. George Condon, the White House Correspondents Association historian and White House correspondent for National Journal, joins the podcast in the latest in our occasional series on D.C. institutions.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Joe Biden made it official this week: He is running for re-election. The 2024 presidential race will be determined largely in the same battlegrounds it did the last few elections. In some cases, that means the presidential race could have a down-ballot effect on competitive House and Senate races. Nathan Gonzales, publisher of Inside Elections and Roll Call’s elections analyst, joins the podcast to discuss.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ah, the Senate. Anything you think should be simple never really is. Democrats there are trying to figure out what to do about the extended absence of Sen. Dianne Feinstein from committee work. But they cannot just replace her on committees temporarily, as they sought to do this week. Why? Because the Senate is a continuing body subject to organizing resolutions that the chamber has to pass. And it is very easy to grind things to a halt in the Senate, even on something that seems routine.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The National Press Club is part of the fabric of Washington politics and news. It is a professional and social gathering place for people in the news, or people looking to make news, from Charlie Chaplin to Barack Obama. It’s got a complicated history, but it is also a key part of the battle for press freedoms across the globe. On this episode we’re dipping back into our series of explaining some of the institutions around Washington, this time with Herb Jackson, politics editor at Roll Call and vice chairman of the National Press Club’s board of governors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The country’s founders were big fans of separating the powers of the branches of government. The current tussles among Congress, the White House and the courts show that the debate over where one institution’s authority ends and another begins is as lively as ever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For decades, CQ has studied the votes of members of Congress and lined them up according to party unity, loyalty to the president, participation, and more. There is a lot that goes into it, and people around the world look to these studies to make sense of the legislative branch. Ryan Kelly and Herb Jackson from the CQ Roll Call newsroom discuss CQ’s annual vote studies.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Gridiron Club is one of Washington’s longest-standing journalism institutions. Founded in 1885, it is known for its annual dinner, a gathering of club members, fellow journalists and Washington elites. Normally shrouded in secrecy, the Gridiron is making news. National Journal’s George Condon discusses everything you wanted to know about the Gridiron, but were afraid to ask. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trump-first Republicans have CPAC. Never Trumpers have Principles First. And on one magical weekend, the two twain did meet, or at least met at roughly the same time. Roll Call political writers Mary Ellen McIntire and Daniela Altimari unpack these two disparate political hootenannies and their implications for the 2024 elections.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The documentary “The Smell of Money” chronicles several North Carolina families’ fight for environmental justice against pork producers whose facilities adversely affect their surrounding land. Senior CQ Roll Call writer Ellyn Ferguson discusses the film with its writer, Jamie Berger. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It might be early in the 2024 election season, but that doesn't mean there aren't significant events, candidates, polling and topics to tune into. Nathan Gonzales, Roll Call’s elections analyst and the publisher of Inside Elections, joins the podcast to discuss why it's so important to pay attention to what's going on now.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just when you think the State of the Union address is played out, we get one like Tuesday's: A call and response of political spectacle that very clearly defined differences in policy and approach between Democrats and Republicans, and might have previewed the 2024 campaign ahead for President Joe Biden and the GOP. Niels Lesniewski and Jim Saksa join the podcast to discuss the raucous caucus.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When we say “Hollywood,” it’s kind of like saying “Washington.” There’s more that makes up these places than just – these places. In many cases, the people who make things go in Hollywood, like in Washington, come from somewhere else, and they land in those places after long professional or personal journeys that start all over the globe. And sometimes those Hollywood scripts start in a place like Washington, where people toil in a variety of pursuits. Political Theater talks to three of those people today on Political Theater, denizens of the DMV, creatures of Washington, whose work just might land them in Hollywood. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s a reliable plotline. Old, battle-hardened wrestler left for dead and in exile mounts a comeback, looking to vanquish the people who always seem to underestimate him. Of course, we’re talking about Donald Trump. Or Vince McMahon. Or both. With us to discuss wrestling in politics and politics in wrestling is Brandon Wetherbee, host of the You Me Them Everybody Podcast, founder of Recommend if You Like magazine and co-author, with Chris Kelly, of the book, The Donald: How Trump Turned Presidential Politics into Pro Wrestling. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The flag of the United States is a worldwide icon. It’s a symbol of liberty with a complicated history. “The Flagmakers” a documentary from veteran filmmakers Sharon Liese and Cynthia Wade, profiles the people at Eder Flags in Wisconsin, a major manufacturer of flags and flagpoles in the United States. They are a diverse lot, in an influential, swing state, and they represent the tapestry of American society, all while they literally stitch together the tapestry that is the American flag.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Brent Spence Bridge over the Ohio River has long been a symbol of the country's crumbling infrastructure, a familiar prop politicians used as backdrop to call for needed repairs. Now through bipartisan legislation, the old bridge is finally getting a $1.6 billion makeover. And this week, while the House plunged into chaos over the election of its speaker, President Joe Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell gathered at the bridge to tout their records and offer a preview of the bipartisan approach that will be necessary to address the country's difficulties in the months and years ahead.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dror Moreh’s documentary “The Corridors of Power” is a chronicle of the American response to genocide in modern times. It combines difficult footage of atrocities and violence with Moreh’s one-on-one interviews with powerful U.S. officials, from such iconic figures as Colin Powell and Madeline Albright to contemporary ones who are still serving at the highest levels of government like Antony Blinken and Jake Sullivan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matthew Heineman is one of the pre-eminent documentary filmmakers working, and his movies have provided ground level views of the world not available to many: drug cartels in Mexico, journalists working in the Syrian civil war and COVID-19 wards in New York in the early days of the pandemic. His latest project “Retrograde” captures the U.S. withdrawal in Afghanistan last year, and the ensuing fallout among the Afghan military personnel left to fight the Taliban. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Dec. 6, the last race of the 2022 campaign will conclude, when voting in Georgia ends in the runoff between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker. This campaign has been close since the get-go; It is the first time the major parties have nominated Black men to run against each other in Georgia, and who these two are and where they come from means a lot to the state. Joining us on Political Theater is Clyde McGrady, an enterprise reporter at the New York Times (and former reporter at Roll Call), who has deep connections to Georgia.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Things we know about the 2022 midterms: There will be a House Republican majority and a Senate Democratic majority. Elections went pretty smoothly. Incumbents for the most part held on. Things we don't know: How big those majorities will be. What governing will look like in the coming 118th Congress. And what lessons public officials will take away from an anomalous campaign. Roll Call Elections Analyst Nathan L. Gonzales joins the podcast.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As we prepare for Election Day, what are the things we know that we know about the 2022 midterm election? As the late Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld once said, there are known knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns. Let's apply that to this campaign season with Nathan L. Gonzales, Roll Call’s election analyst and the publisher of Inside Elections. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The history of The Lincoln Project is a flash point in contemporary politics. A superPAC founded by high-profile Republican strategists who opposed then-President Donald Trump, the group set out to peel away GOP voters and deny Trump a second term in 2020. Filmmakers Karim Amer and Fisher Stevens chronicled their campaign and its aftermath in their documentary series "The Lincoln Project" on Showtime. The two discuss their project and the upcoming midterm election on Political Theater. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There has never been a better time to see how elections work. With intense interest in campaigns, and with the foundations of representative democracy at stake, filmmakers Sara Archambault and Margo Guernsey have brought us “No Time to Fail,” a behind-the-scenes look at the 2020 election that chronicles the experiences of election officials in Rhode Island, from the state level to the cities of Providence, Cranston and Central Falls. Navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, disinformation and threats spurred by former President Donald Trump’s baseless accusations of fraud, the documentary shows how public servants ensure voters are able to just, simply, vote.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congress is in its pre-election recess lull. The president is signing a bunch of bills people can’t remember. But the Supreme Court is running at full speed. Its last term is defined by the overturning of Roe versus Wade and the nationwide right to an abortion. The current term will likely continue redefining Americans’ participation in state and federal government and elections. Since the court convened, on the first Monday of October, it has already heard highly significant cases. With us to discuss is Todd Ruger, CQ Roll Call’s Legal Affairs Editor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell prefers to work behind the scenes. Rick Scott, chairman of Senate Republicans’ campaign arm is an outspoken, outgoing salesman for the GOP. Like with Neil Simon's "Odd Couple" -- Felix the neat freak and Oscar the slob -- we're asking: Can McConnell and Scott live together without driving each other crazy? Roll Call Editor at Large John Bennett, joins Political Theater to discuss this key duo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elections always come down to a choice. Someone wins, someone loses, and Roll Call has long chronicled the path to Election Day by reporting on Congress' most vulnerable incumbents. It’s an evolving cast, and with roughly a month-and-half to go, we take measure on Political Theater with our Politics Team, Herb Jackson, Kate Ackley and Mary Ellen McIntire.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Filmmaker Sierra Pettengill’s documentary, “Riotsville, USA,” examines the history of the government’s efforts to crack down on protest movements. The title refers to the ersatz towns the military built for counter-protest training, and the film's archival approach is a chronicle and meditation on politics then and now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Politics works in patterns. But we might be in one of those outlier election cycles, when politics don’t always match up with typical narratives. Roll Call Elections Analyst Nathan L. Gonzales joins the Political Theater podcast to discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

August can be a strange month, especially in a place like Washington. On one hand, things are slow. Congress goes on recess. People take vacations. On the other hand, kids head back to school. It’s peak political primary season. How different is it from other places? Brandon Wetherbee of Recommend If You Like magazine drops by to riff on the dog days, the Cubs’ microphone system, Michael Keaton, Dan Snyder and lost movies, among other topics.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amanda Becker is a veteran political journalist. The Washington correspondent for The 19th News has covered a variety of beats here in The Swamp over the last decade-plus for her current newsroom, as well as Reuters, and, once upon a time, for Roll Call. She is about to move to the Boston area to start one of journalism’s most prestigious fellowships, the Nieman, was kind enough to discuss some of her reflections on the job of political reporting, what she hopes to get out of her fellowship and any other odds and ends at this inflection point for her career. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Joe Biden will soon sign legislation that will give easier access to health and disability benefits to more than 3.5 million veterans who were exposed to toxic substances on overseas deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan and more. It wasn’t easy to get through Congress. The Senate passed that bill after weeks of delay, and not before high-profile advocacy from comedian Jon Stewart and others. But underneath those bigger headlines, folded into the bill, is a provision allowing families poisoned for decades at the Marine Corps' Camp Lejeune to get compensation from the federal government. Todd Ruger, legal affairs editor at CQ Roll Call discusses this story with Mike Magner, an editor at CQ Roll Call who has followed the stories of families from Camp Lejeune. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are at a pause in the congressional primary season, with several major states having selected their nominees for November’s general election, including Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. In August, things ramp back up, with more than a dozen states holding primaries and in battlegrounds like Arizona, Michigan and Florida. So what have we learned so far from the elections that have taken place? And what might we expect as the general election match-ups become clearer? CQ Roll Call Politics Editor Herb Jackson joins Political Theater to discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new documentary from filmmakers Betsy West and Julie Cohen “Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down” comes out amid a nationwide debate about gun safety, the animating crusade of the former congresswoman, and as her husband, Sen. Mark Kelly, runs for re-election in a race that will be key in this year's midterms. It also tells a good story and has a rockin' soundtrack. West and Cohen talk about their film on the latest Political Theater podcast.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Supreme Court justices have it made: Not only do they get to remake American society with a few opinions, they get to take three months off afterward! Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. has joked that ”only Supreme Court justices and schoolchildren are expected to and do take the entire summer off.” So what do they do during that quarter-year break, and is it changing now that the high court has stepped into a more prominent political role? CQ Roll Call Legal Affairs Editor Todd Ruger joins the Political Theater podcast to talk about the life jurisprudence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The walls sure are thin in the West Wing. That is just one takeaway from the testimony of former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. CQ Roll Call Editor at Large John T. Bennett covered the presidency of Donald Trump in sometimes very close quarters at the executive mansion. He joins Political Theater to discuss things you can overhear and see first hand at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Washington's professional football team has a long history of controversy, and Congress and local governments spend a lot of time picking apart its foibles. Would this happen in Jacksonville, though? With us to discuss in Brandon Wetherbee, managing editor of District Fray. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week marks the 50th Anniversary of the Watergate break-in, a scandal that eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. This is one of history's great dramas, and we're still telling and hearing great stories about it. Case in point: "The Martha Mitchell Effect," a new Netflix documentary about one Watergate's most colorful, and tragic, characters. Directors Anne Alvergue and Debra McClutchy discuss their project in all its colorful and poignant archival glory.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Top Gun: Maverick," the legacy sequel to the 1986 movie "Top Gun," has soared at the box office since its Memorial Day weekend opening, making more than 550 million dollars and counting. People might just be going to see Tom Cruise in action, but there might be something more going on here. The first "Top Gun" is an iconic piece of pop culture, a product of its times: a hot movie that came out at the coldest point of the Cold War. This "Top Gun?" It’s also a product of its times, a weirder, more asymmetrical one for geopolitics. With us to discuss in CQ Roll Call Editor at Large John T. Bennett. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In "The G Word with Adam Conover,” his new series on Netflix, the titular host explores government, how it works, what it does, and also how it fails. Among the topics he explores: food safety, weather prediction and disaster response, GPS, public health, the money supply, and more. On the latest Political Theater, Conover discusses the show, from its fun and enlightening moments to disheartening realizations and his interactions with one of its producers: a certain former president now in show biz, Barack Obama. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tuesday’s primary races in states — be they Idaho, North Carolina, Pennsylvania or Oregon — were good news for the establishment of both political parties. Or bad news. It kind of depends on how you define the establishment. Jacob Rubashkin of Inside Election joins the podcast to walk us through all the mixed messaging. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the November midterm elections continue to come into focus, several Senate and House incumbents are vulnerable in their bids for re-election. Some are Democrats in danger of getting caught up in a GOP wave. Some are Republicans facing tough primary challenges. And some are just plain unique. The CQ Roll Call political team breaks it down for the episode of Political Theater.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Reps. Derek Kilmer and Williams Timmons are under no illusion about the challenges to make Congress a more modern and efficient institution. But as the leaders of the House Selection Committee on the Modernization of Congress, the two are walking the walk: pursuing a bipartisan approach and setting an example for how to work together for the public interest. “Congress has been described as an 18th century institution using 20th century technology to solve 21st century problems,” Kilmer likes to say. But he and Timmons and their colleagues on the panel are making measurable progress in a way that the rest of the legislative branch could learn from. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the first time since 2019, the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner is back, stepping gingerly into the COVID-19 era, awkward jokes and all. CQ Roll Call Chief Correspondent Niels Lesniewski stops by to talk about what to expect.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's the year of our Midterm Election, 2022, and Q1 fundraising numbers are in. What's a million dollars get you these days? How are incumbent members running against other incumbents doing? How much are members targeted by former President Donald Trump doing in the money game? We run through all this and more on the latest Political Theater podcast.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're going to hear a lot about the congressional generic ballot as we get deeper into the 2022 midterm campaign. But, as Edwin Starr might ask, "What is it good for?" How much can we use it to make sense of the political path we are on? Nathan L. Gonzales, publisher of Inside Elections and Roll Call's elections analyst, joins the podcast to discuss.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Major League Baseball is back — and it's got some cryptocurrency-sportsbook-anti-competitive-business-practice baggage. District Fray's Brandon Wetherbee joins Political Theater to discuss our new baseball order, weird public art, tobacco and booze advertising and whether the National Baseball Hall of Fame should just start over.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When it comes to really geeking out about politics and campaigns, nothing beats redistricting. Jason Dick and Michael Macagnone break down how the pandemic-altered Census crashed into the decennial reapportionment of congressional seats, which sent the already typically crazy redistricting of House seats into a fine tizzy of gamesmanship, hard feelings, lawsuits and an out-and-out weird race against the 2022 midterm election clock.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christina Bellantoni, a former Roll Call editor who is now professor of professional practice at the University of Southern California, is training the next generation of journalists. Part of that is showing them how to report stories from out in the field, including congressional races in Texas and Virginia. Bellantoni discusses that and more, including the value of diverse backgrounds and sourcing and how politics have helped shape her students' worldviews. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The stakes for Supreme Court nominations have always been high. But starting in 2016, when Senate Republicans refused to consider the nomination of Merrick B. Garland, the high court confirmation process has been defined by deep partisan rifts, accusations of unfairness and hypocrisy and hard feelings. With that kind of background, what might Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson expect in her upcoming confirmation hearing? CQ Roll Call Senior Writer Todd Ruger discusses the topic with Political Theater host Jason Dick.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the remaining prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba detention facility, “time becomes elastic,” in the words of filmmaker Alex Gibney. One long-time detainee, for instance, Abu Zubaydah, just had his petition to get information from the CIA about his torture and treatment denied by the Supreme Court. But Gibney, in his most recent documentary, “The Forever Prisoner,” does interview key figures in the saga. Political Theater recently discussed with Gibney his techniques and motivations for that project. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the last 50 years, only six first-term presidents have been graced with their party in the majority in the House and Senate, and those majorities come under a lot of pressure in midterm elections. That brings us to Joe Biden, one of the six. Nathan Gonzales, publisher of Inside Elections and Roll Call’s political analyst, joins Jason Dick to talk about whether State of the Union speeches, or anything for that matter, can change current political dynamics — as well as the overall state of play in the contests for the House and Senate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rep. Jamie Raskin was already embroiled in a political struggle of titanic proportions when tragedy struck in late 2020: the death of his son, Tommy. Madeleine Carter’s documentary “Love and the Constitution” tells that story, one of personal tragedy against the backdrop of the future of the republic. Raskin and Carter discuss the film on the latest Political Theater podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This Super Bowl Sunday marks the conclusion of the one of the NFL’s mosts successful and entertaining seasons — and also one where its questionable business practices and work environment got amplified from the sports section to the halls of Congress. Jane Coaston, host of the New York Times podcast “The Argument” joins Political Theater to discuss the game she describes glowingly as beautiful, and a business that is infuriating. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Voting rights is about as hot a topic as it gets in politics right now, with the debate centered around whether voting laws pushed by Republicans amount to discrimination of minorities. One thing FEC filings are showing, though, is that amid the debate, several high-profile minority candidates and lawmakers are raising a lot of money for their 2022 campaigns. CQ Roll Call Senior Writer Kate Ackley explains on the latest Political Theater. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There has always been a risk to being a public figure, particularly a member of Congress. Beyond the violence of events like the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, members and their staff face threats all the time. CQ Roll Call’s own Jim Saksa reached out to every member of Congress to ask if they had received a death threat. The results were pretty shocking. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The White House and Congress get a lot of attention for their proposals to change public law, but the Supreme Court is having an outsize effect on society with its decisions, from determining where women can get abortions, what kind of guns will be allowed in cities, how much money can be spent in politics and whether tens of millions of people will need to get a vaccine to protect public health. CQ Roll Call Legal Affairs correspondent Todd Ruger joins us on Political Theater to discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The current fight over voting rights will help determine how long the United States endures as a republic, says Timothy Snyder, a historian and author of “On Tyranny" and other books about why democratic republics rise and fall. He discusses that and the stresses on the current political system through the lens of history on this episode of Political Theater. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For people just trying to do their jobs on Jan. 6, 2021, there wasn’t a lot of time to think. But bearing witness then and reflecting on it now are as important as ever during a time when the republic is so fragile. Three CQ Roll Call journalists look back on their coverage of the attack on the Capitol and what’s changed since then on Capitol Hill. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s that time of the year, when podcasts like Political Theater do their years in review. It’s a helpful frame. But 2021 in retrospect looks a lot like 2020, an extension of something that started, but did not finish. The bitter politics of 2020 crashed into the new year with an assault on democracy on Jan. 6, and hasn't really let up. And the COVID-19 pandemic continues to define daily life. And there was much, much more. We look back at our most enlightening conversations of the year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It has been, to put it mildly, a momentous year. It started off the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and has been defined by the continuing pandemic. But it's also seen the first woman vice president and other milestones. CQ Roll Call's Tom Williams and Bill Clark discuss their approach to their work, what moments stay with them and the images that defined the year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended our lives for years now and killed millions. What are the biggest changes it has caused? And could we have done things differently? CQ Roll Call Health Editor Rebecca Adams discusses, and we also discuss with Matthew Heineman "The First Wave," his documentary about the early days of the pandemic in New York. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The weather outside might not be so frightful, but Congress’ inability to do anything on time sure does suck. Here we are in December, and, as usual, there is a mess of legislative business to attend to. That makes the most wonderful time of the year, at least on Capitol Hill, not so wonderful. It also begs the question: Is working on Capitol Hill worth it? As the parties work furiously to recruit stars to run for the House and Senate, what's their selling point? Here to discuss on Political Theater are CQ Roll Call’s own Niels Lesniewski and Bridget Bowman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congressman Ruben Gallego’s new book, 'They Called Us "Lucky": The Life and Afterlife of the Iraq War's Hardest Hit Unit,' isn’t your typical political memoir. It’s earthy, candid and, in the words of our own Jim Saksa, a “warts and all account of war.” Jim sat down with the Arizona Democrat to talk about the book and the stories behind it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 2022 midterm elections are less than a year away, and CQ Roll Call politics team has been keeping an eye on vulnerable members, races to watch, and other dynamics and issues that will shape the battle for control of Congress. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's a good time to be Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. With President Biden about to sign an infrastructure bill into law, Buttigieg is one of its chief salesmen. CQ Roll Call's Jessica Wehrman joins the Political Theater podcast to discuss the bill, how Buttigieg is approaching it and what she has learned from covering the former South Bend mayor-turned-Cabinet secretary. And at the end of the week, the documentary “Mayor Pete” will start streaming, giving the public a look at his private life and political rise. We speak to “Mayor Pete” director Jesse Moss about his portrayal of Buttigieg. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices