Elon Musk’s A.I.-Driven Government Coup

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

#Politics #News #WNYC Studios and The New Yorker #WNYC Studios #President #Obama #Barack #Washington #Lizza #Wickenden #New Yorker #WNYC

38:44

The Craziest Serial Rapist In British History 200 Victims | The Case Of Reynhard Sinaga A terrible true crime story about how a quiet honors student in Indonesia became an insane maniac with over 200 victims. For more than two years he had been operating in Manchester, UK, and when he was caught, everyone was shocked! The heartbreaking case of Reynhard Sinaga! The Craziest Serial Rapist In British History | The Case Of Reynhard Sinaga | True Crime Documentary Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/full-police-interrogations-911-calls-and-true-crime-investigations-true-crime-podcast-2025--6463449/support .…

about a year ago 38:35

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The New Yorker staff writer Kyle Chayka joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss Elon Musk’s seizure of power within the U.S. government, the tech industry’s slide into right-wing politics, and how the ideology of techno-fascism is taking root in Silicon Valley. Can the populists and the technologists coexist in Donald Trump’s Washington?

This week’s reading:

“Elon Musk’s A.I.-Fuelled War on Human Agency,” by Kyle Chayka
“The Second Trump Administration’s New Forms of Distraction,” by Kyle Chayka
“Make South Africa Great Again?,” by Isaac Chotiner
“Elizabeth Warren Fights to Defend the Consumer Protection Agency She Helped Create,” by John Cassidy
“A Fistfight Over Donald Trump at the Evangelical Version of Harvard,” by Emma Green

To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker, visit newyorker.com/podcasts. To send feedback on this episode, write to themail@newyorker.com.

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154 episodes

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

Elon Musk’s A.I.-Driven Government Coup

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

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published about a year ago

MP3•Episode home

This week’s reading:

“Elon Musk’s A.I.-Fuelled War on Human Agency,” by Kyle Chayka
“The Second Trump Administration’s New Forms of Distraction,” by Kyle Chayka
“Make South Africa Great Again?,” by Isaac Chotiner
“Elizabeth Warren Fights to Defend the Consumer Protection Agency She Helped Create,” by John Cassidy
“A Fistfight Over Donald Trump at the Evangelical Version of Harvard,” by Emma Green

To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker, visit newyorker.com/podcasts. To send feedback on this episode, write to themail@newyorker.com.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

154 episodes

#Politics #News #WNYC Studios and The New Yorker #WNYC Studios #President #Obama #Barack #Washington #Lizza #Wickenden #New Yorker #WNYC

All episodes

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

1
Trump Makes a Big Show of Military Force 32:53

3 days ago32:53

32:53

The Washington Roundtable discusses President Trump’s deployment of uniformed troops in Los Angeles, the Administration’s attempt to blur the distinction between the military and law enforcement, and this weekend’s parade in D.C. to celebrate the Army’s two-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary, which also happens to be the President’s seventy-ninth birthday. Plus, the handcuffing of California Senator Alex Padilla at a press conference given by Kristi Noem, the Secretary of Homeland Security. “To suddenly see this guy being thrown around on the ground—it really brought back all of the feelings I’ve had about living in places like Egypt and in China,” says the staff writer Evan Osnos. “When the highest office-holders in the land start to get brutalized, that just tells you that really anybody out there is being treated in much harsher ways.” This week’s reading: “ Donald Trump’s Dictator Cosplay ,” by Susan B. Glasser “ Donald Trump Enters His World Cup Era ,” by Jon Allsop “ Looking for the National Guard in Los Angeles ,” by Emily Witt “ Immigration Protests Threaten to Boil Over in Los Angeles ,” by E. Tammy Kim “ The Farmers Harmed by the Trump Administration ,” by Peter Slevin “ The Victims of the Trump Administration’s China-Bashing ,” by Michael Luo “ The Department of Veterans Affairs Is Not O.K. ,” by David W. Brown To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker , visit newyorker.com/podcasts. To send in feedback on this episode, write to themail@newyorker.com with “The Political Scene” in the subject line. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices…

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

1
What Broke the U.S.-China Relationship? 43:32

5 days ago43:32

43:32

Michael Luo, an executive editor of The New Yorker , joins the show as guest host. He sits down with Peter Hessler, a staff writer who spent more than a decade living in and writing about China. They discuss the Sinophobic history behind the Trump Administration’s threats to revoke Chinese students’ visas, how the COVID pandemic reshaped the U.S.-China relationship, and how escalating tensions between the United States and China stand to change the global order. This week’s reading: “ The Victims of the Trump Administration’s China-Bashing ,” by Michael Luo “ The Uncertain Future of a Chinese Student at Harvard, ” by Peter Hessler “ Looking for the National Guard in Los Angeles ,” by Emily Witt “ The Farmers Harmed by the Trump Administration ,” by Peter Slevin “ The Private Citizens Who Want to Help Trump Deport Migrants ,” by Jessica Pishko “ An Inside Look at Gaza’s Chaotic New Aid System ,” by Isaac Chotine To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker , visit newyorker.com/podcasts . To send feedback on this episode, write to themail@newyorker.com . Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices…

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

1
What Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Doesn’t Understand About Autism 30:09

8 days ago30:09

30:09

When Donald Trump made an alliance with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., he brought vaccine skepticism and the debunked link between vaccines and autism into the center of the MAGA agenda. Though the scientific establishment has long disproven that link, as many as one in four Americans today believe that vaccines may cause autism. In April, Kennedy, now the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shocked the medical community and families across the country when he said that his agency would uncover the cause of autism—the subject of decades of research—once and for all. That news came even as Kennedy oversees drastic cuts to critical medical research of all kinds. Dr. Alycia Halladay, the chief science officer of the Autism Science Foundation, talks with David Remnick about the initiative, and the problems with focussing on environmental factors such as vaccines or mold. She also discusses why debunked claims and misinformation have such a powerful hold on parents. “You will do anything to help your child, so if it means a bleach enema”—referring to one extremely poisonous and falsely touted treatment—“and you think that’s going to help them, you’ll do it. It’s not because these people don’t love their children. It’s because they’re desperate.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices…

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

1
The Oligarchs Are Fighting 33:09

10 days ago33:09

33:09

The Washington Roundtable discusses the fallout from the messy rupture between Donald Trump and Elon Musk, how battles between maximalist rulers and the mega-wealthy have unfolded in history, and how this week’s fighting could portend a new, more combative phase of American oligarchy. They talk about America’s new Gilded Age, drawing on “The Haves and Have-Yachts: Dispatches on the Ultrarich,” a new book by Evan Osnos, just out this week. This week’s reading: “ The Musk-Trump Divorce Is as Messy as You Thought It Would Be ,” by Susan B. Glasser “ Donald Trump’s Politics of Plunder ,” by Evan Osnos “ The Sublime Spectacle of Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Social-Media Slap Fight ,” by Jessica Winter “ The Private Citizens Who Want to Help Trump Deport Migrants ,” by Jessica Pishko “ Can Public Media Survive Trump? ,” by Jon Allsop Tune in wherever you get your podcasts . Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices…

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

1
The Man Who Thinks Trump Should Be King 38:24

12 days ago38:24

38:24

The New Yorker staff writer Ava Kofman joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss her recent Profile of the iconoclastic right-wing blogger Curtis Yarvin. They discuss Yarvin’s desire to end American democracy by installing a monarch, whether his provocations can be seen as trolling, and how his writings have found a receptive audience among conservative politicians and the tech élite. “Obviously, Yarvin’s influence on the right is great, and maybe can’t be overstated,” Kofman says. “But, at the same time, a lot of these ideas he’s getting from having conversations with powerful people in Silicon Valley and with powerful people in Washington.” This week’s reading: “ Curtis Yarvin’s Plot Against America ,” by Ava Kofman “ Democracy Wins a Referendum in South Korea ,” by E. Tammy Kim “ Josh Hawley and the Republican Effort to Love Labor ,” by Eyal Press “ Trump Makes America’s Refugee Program a Tool of White Racial Grievance ,” by Jonathan Blitzer “ Elon Musk’s Vanishing Act ,” by Jon Allsop To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker , visit newyorker.com/podcasts . To send feedback on this episode, write to themail@newyorker.com . Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices…

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

1
Lesley Stahl on What a Settlement with Donald Trump Would Mean for CBS News 26:52

15 days ago26:52

26:52

Lesley Stahl, a linchpin of CBS News, began at the network in 1971, covering major events such as Watergate, and for many years has been a correspondent on “60 Minutes.” But right now it’s a perilous time for CBS News, which has been sued by Donald Trump for twenty billion dollars over the editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris during the 2024 Presidential campaign. Its owner, Paramount, seems likely to settle, and corporate pressure on journalists at CBS has been so intense that Bill Owens, the executive producer of “60 Minutes,” and Wendy McMahon, the head of CBS News, resigned in protest. Owens’s departure was “a punch in the stomach,” Stahl tells David Remnick in a recent interview, “one of those punches where you almost can’t breathe.” And far worse could happen in a settlement with Trump, which would compromise the integrity of the premier investigative program on broadcast news. “I’m already beginning to think about mourning, grieving,” Stahl says. “I know there’s going to be a settlement. . . . And then we will hopefully still be around, turning a new page, and finding out what that new page is going to look like.” Although she describes herself as “Pollyannaish,” Stahl acknowledges that she is “pessimistic about the future for all press today. . . . The public has lost faith in us as an institution. So we’re in very dark times.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices…

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

1
Examining Trump's War on the Media, and a Warning from Hungary 48:04

19 days ago48:04

48:04

This is the second installment of “How Bad Is It,” a recurring series in which the staff writer Andrew Marantz joins Tyler Foggatt to conduct a health check on American democracy. They discuss how Donald Trump has bullied media companies, why it’s troubling that some outlets are seeking to settle lawsuits with the Administration, and how the role of social media in public discourse has changed during the second Trump Administration. Plus, an interview with the prominent Hungarian journalist Márton Gulyás, who’s on the show to discuss a new bill making its way through the Hungarian parliament which is designed to quell the free press, and what a potential crackdown may tell us about the future of American media. This week’s reading: “ Donald Trump’s Politics of Plunder ,” by Evan Osnos “ Donald Trump’s War on Gender Is Also a War on Government ,” by Paisley Currah “ The Criminalization of Venezuelan Street Culture ,” by Oriana van Praag “ J. D. Vance Warns Courts to Get in Line ,” by Ruth Marcus “ In Chicago, Will the Pope Bump Last? ,” by Geraldo Cadava To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker , visit newyorker.com/podcasts . To send feedback on this episode, write to themail@newyorker.com . Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices…

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

1
How Experts Became the Enemy 41:26

26 days ago41:26

41:26

The Northwestern history professor and New Yorker contributor Daniel Immerwahr joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss the ways in which the COVID crisis deepened Americans’ distrust of institutional experts and propelled R.F.K., Jr., to the height of political power in the Trump Administration. Plus, they talk about how Anthony Fauci’s clashes and eventual reconciliation with AIDS activists in the nineteen-eighties and nineties could serve as a guide to repairing the rift between Americans who are skeptical of experts and the officials who set public-health policy today. This week’s reading: “ R.F.K., Jr., Anthony Fauci, and the Revolt Against Expertise ,” by Daniel Immerwahr “ Who Gets to Be an American? ,” by Michael Luo “ The Stakes of the Birthright-Citizenship Case ,” by Ruth Marcus “ Donald Trump’s Culture of Corruption ,” by Isaac Chotiner “ The Mideast Is Donald Trump’s Safe Place ,” by Susan B. Glasser Tune in to The Political Scene wherever you get your podcasts . To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker , visit newyorker.com/podcasts . To send feedback on this episode, write to themail@newyorker.com . Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices…

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

1
Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson on President Joe Biden’s Decline, and Its Cover-Up 49:30

29 days ago49:30

49:30

Nearly a year ago, a Presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, moderated by Jake Tapper and Dana Bash of CNN, began the end of Biden’s bid for a second term. The President struggled to make points, complete sentences, and remember facts; he spoke in a raspy whisper. This was not the first time voters expressed concern about Biden’s age, but his decline was shocking to many, and suddenly Trump seemed likely to win in a landslide. New reporting by Tapper and Thompson reveals that the debate was no fluke at all. In “How Joe Biden Handed the Presidency to Donald Trump” (an excerpt from their new book “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again”), they lay out a case that the latter half of Biden’s Presidency was carefully stage-managed by his top aides; Biden would often end the workday as early as four-thirty. “What [aides and] others would say is, ‘His decision-making was always fine.’ The job of the President is not just decision-making. It’s also communication,” Tapper tells David Remnick. “If you are a President . . . and you’re not able to go into a room full of donors and speak extemporaneously for ten minutes, then there’s something wrong. And that was happening in 2023.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices…

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

1
Biden, Trump, and the Challenges of Covering an Aging President 43:51

4 weeks ago43:51

43:51

The Washington Roundtable discusses new information that has emerged about Joe Biden’s decline while in office, and his advisers' efforts to downplay it, as chronicled in several new books . The group also discusses the challenges faced by members of the press as they report on Donald Trump’s signs of aging and his long-standing incoherence. “I think that’s where we run into trouble,” the staff writer Susan B. Glasser says. “Donald Trump has always been quite ignorant. He’s always been a fact checker's nightmare. He’s always rambled. He’s always lied. And, yes, he’s always not known basic facts about the American system of government. So where do we discern a trajectory with him? How does age factor into it?” This week’s reading: “ The Mideast Is Donald Trump’s Safe Place ,” by Susan B. Glasser “ How Joe Biden Handed the Presidency to Donald Trump ,” by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson “ The Real Audience for Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Spectacles ,” by Jon Allsop “ Donald Trump’s Culture of Corruption ,” by Isaac Chotiner “ Justice David Souter Was the Antithesis of the Present ,” by Jeannie Suk Gersen “ How an Election Denier Became the U.S. Treasurer ,” by Charles Bethea “ The Astonishing Threat to Suspend Habeas Corpus ,” by Ruth Marcus To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker , visit newyorker.com/podcasts. To send in feedback on this episode, write to themail@newyorker.com with “The Political Scene” in the subject line. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices…

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

1
What Is Jeff Bezos’s Plan for the Washington Post? 42:17

5 weeks ago42:17

42:17

The New Yorker staff writer Clare Malone joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss the changes that Jeff Bezos, the owner of the Washington Post , is making at the paper. They talk about why Bezos decided to purchase the paper, in 2013, how his recent exertion of editorial influence has caused the paper to hemorrhage both staffers and subscribers, and the future of a news media dependent on the support of “benevolent” billionaires to support it. This week’s reading: “ Is Jeff Bezos Selling Out the Washington Post ? ” by Clare Malone “ How Joe Biden Handed the Presidency to Donald Trump ,” by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson “ How an Election Denier Became the U.S. Treasurer ,” by Charles Bethea “ Will the First American Pope Be a Pontiff of Peace? ” by Paul Elie “ Brazil’s President Confronts a Changing World ,” by Jon Lee Anderson To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker , visit newyorker.com/podcasts . To send feedback on this episode, write to themail@newyorker.com . Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices…

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

1
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English” 28:11

5 weeks ago28:11

28:11

When Elissa Slotkin narrowly won her Senate seat in Michigan last fall, she was one of only four Democratic senators to claim victory in a state that voted for Donald Trump. It made other Democrats take note: since then, the Party has turned to her as someone who can bridge the red state–blue state divide. In March, Slotkin delivered the Democrats’ rebuttal to Trump’s speech before Congress , and she’s been making headlines for criticizing her own party’s attempts to rein in the President and the Republican Party. She thinks Democrats need to start projecting “alpha energy,” that identity politics “needs to go the way of the dodo , ” and that Democrats should drop the word “oligarchy” from their vocabulary entirely. Slotkin prides herself on her bipartisanship, and she believes that Democrats must use old-school collegial collaboration in Congress. And, as different Democratic leaders have appeared on The New Yorker Radio Hour in the past few months, discussing what the next four years might have in store, Slotkin tells David Remnick about a different path forward. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices…

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

1
Decoding Donald Trump’s Love of A.I. Imagery 27:51

6 weeks ago27:51

27:51

The New Yorker staff writer Katy Waldman joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss Donald Trump’s fondness for A.I.-generated memes and what it tells us about our current political climate. They talk about how Trump uses these images to bend the cultural narrative to his will, why the MAGA aesthetic is tailor-made for the age of A.I., and how the proliferation of A.I. slop is damaging our brains. This week’s reading: “ Trump Is the Emperor of A.I. Slop ,” by Katy Waldman “ My Brain Finally Broke ,” by Jia Tolentino “ How Is Elon Musk Powering His Supercomputer? ,” by Bill McKibben “ Is This the End of the Separation of Church and State? ,” by Ruth Marcus “ Twelve Migrants Sharing a Queens Apartment ,” by Jordan Salama “ How Russia and Ukraine Are Playing Trump’s Blame Game ,” by Joshua Yaffa To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker , visit newyorker.com/podcasts . To send feedback on this episode, write to themail@newyorker.com . Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices…

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

1
How Donald Trump Is Trying to Rewrite the Rules of Capitalism 17:34

6 weeks ago17:34

17:34

For a long time, Republicans and many Democrats espoused some version of free-trade economics that would have been familiar to Adam Smith. But Donald Trump breaks radically with that tradition, embracing a form of protectionism that resulted in his extremely broad and chaotic tariff proposals, which tanked markets and deepened the fear of a global recession. John Cassidy writes The New Yorker’s The Financial Page column, and he’s been covering economics for the magazine since 1995. His new book, “ Capitalism and Its Critics: A History ,” takes a long view of these debates, and breaks down some of the arguments that have shaped the U.S.’s current economic reality. “Capitalism itself has put its worst face forward in the last twenty or thirty years through the growth of huge monopolies which seem completely beyond any public control or accountability,” Cassidy tells David Remnick. “And young people—they look at capitalism and the economy through the prism of environmentalism now in a way that they didn’t in our generation.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices…

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

1
Donald Trump Is Using the Presidency to Get Rich 29:03

6 weeks ago29:03