Podcast appearances and mentions of Peter Baker

The first classified briefings on the deadly US boat strike that killed two survivors. Then, a grand jury refuses to reindict New York Attorney General Letitia James just weeks after her case was dismissed. Plus, a former MAGA warrior turns his back on the movement; why he's now helping other MAGA diehards defect. Peter Baker, Leigh Ann Caldwell, Tom Nichols, Joyce Vance, Natasha Sarin, Rohit Chopra, and Rich Logis join The 11th Hour this Thursday night. To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Trump administration's self-styled Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, has spent most of this week on defense, facing accusations that he committed war crimes and that he endangered the lives of U.S. pilots. Join moderator Jeffrey Goldberg, Peter Baker of The New York Times, Susan Glasser of The New Yorker and Nancy Yousef of The Atlantic to discuss this and more.

The first classified briefings on the deadly US boat strike that killed two survivors. Then, a grand jury refuses to reindict New York Attorney General Letitia James just weeks after her case was dismissed. Plus, a former MAGA warrior turns his back on the movement; why he's now helping other MAGA diehards defect. Peter Baker, Leigh Ann Caldwell, Tom Nichols, Joyce Vance, Natasha Sarin, Rohit Chopra, and Rich Logis join The 11th Hour this Thursday night. To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Litchfield Distillery (Litchfield, CT) WF078 Join me as I enter New England as part of the Great 48 Tour. Today I chat with Peter Baker, a co-founder of Litchfield Distillery in Connecticut. Along with his two brothers they made a decision to expand beyond their three-generation family bottled water business and get into the world of whiskey. We'll talk talk about their development of an American single malt, their use of Connecticut grain, taste a couple of whiskeys including their oldest release to date. And we'll dig a little into the history of bottled water (no, it isn't a recent phenomena). We'll also hear the story behind their logo and tagline, and the importance of legislative changes that allowed them to offer tastings and on-site sales. And, if you'd like to gift a signed copy of Whiskey Lore's Travel Guide to Experiencing Kentucky, The Lost History of Tennessee Whiskey, or Experiencing Irish Whiskey for Christmas, make sure to order at whiskeylore.org/shop before December 12th to get them for a great low price and free shipping. Cheers and slainte mhath, Drew

Peter Baker preaches from Galatians 3

A federal judge dismisses the criminal charges against former FBI director James Comey and NY AG Letitia James, ruling that U.S. Attorney Halligan was unlawfully appointed – White House doubles down on costs coming down, claiming America's “Golden Age” is coming – & questions over who drafted the original U.S.-backed peace deal between Russia and Ukraine: the U.S. or Russia? Peter Baker, Susan Glasser, Charles Coleman Jr, Ron Insana, Max Chafkin, Ivo Daalder, and Charlotte Alter join The 11th Hour this Monday night. To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Host Talmage Boston interviews Peter Baker and Susan Glasser: journalists, presidential historians and bestselling authors of The Man Who Ran Washington and the Divider. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Peter Baker continues our evening series in Ecclesiastes

President Trump is under considerable pressure and has been lashing out in fairly unprecedented ways, even for him. And then he called for the execution of Democratic members of Congress. Join moderator Jeffrey Goldberg, Peter Baker of The New York Times, Leigh Ann Caldwell of Puck, Jonathan Karl of ABC News and Toluse Olorunnipa of The Atlantic to discuss this and more.

Trump calls for the arrest of congressional Democrats who urged U.S. troops to refuse illegal orders. Then, polls show more voters are feeling the pain of skyrocketing prices, while JD Vance defends Trump's economic policies and asks the American people for “a little patience”. Plus, the White House is selling some of the America's most advanced fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, even amid warnings the move could threaten national security. Peter Baker, David Drucker, Doug Jones, Dan Nathan, Matt Peterson, Kevin Baron, and Laura Barron-Lopez join The 11th Hour this Thursday night. To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tim Cook and the other tech titans who dined with bone saw murderer MBS—and who've given millions to Trump to knock down our history for his gilded ballroom—expect the people who use their products every day to protect American democracy, while they reap its benefits to freely act against the public's interest. Meanwhile, Trump's special envoy is acting like an agent of the Russian government, and POTUS shows yet again that he is not a tough negotiator. Plus, Stephen Miller is spreading fear by design, Trump's Epstein capitulation is still worth savoring, and Tim shares his postmortem on his Kamala interview. The New Yorker's Susan Glasser joins Tim Miller. show notes Susan and Peter Baker's book, “The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021” Tim's interview with Kamala in Nashville TAKE THE SURVEY

Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of authors Peter Baker and Susan Glasser. Baker and Glasser are the bestselling authors of The Man Who Ran Washington and the Divider.

When I look around at the crumbling empire I helped build, I wonder how it all went so wrong. How did so many people lose their minds, the legacy media lose its objectivity, and so many so-called “educated” people lose their grip on reality?What is Trump Derangement Syndrome anyway? I think, as someone who lived it and has been online for the last 30 years, that the people with all of the power could not let go of that power, just like the South during the last Civil War. The South had built for itself a utopian version of America, one not rooted in reality, but one they deeply believed in. The same is true for the Left today. I know, I helped build it. I believed in it too and thought it would last forever. Trump's win in 2016 was a sign that half of the country was not happy with how things were going and wanted change, just as much of America understood that a country that proclaimed all men are created equal could not keep slaves.And just as the freeing of the slaves sent the South into mass psychosis that would lead to Jim Crow laws and the oppression of Black Americans, after eight years of deeply rooted propaganda that said Trump was a racist and for him to win would be an existential threat to our way of life, one our country could not survive, sent those of us inside utopia cascading into madness.And so we began fighting a Civil War. Not at Gettysburg or Shiloh, but on Facebook, Twitter/X, YouTube, and TikTok. But only one side is cutting off friends and family. Only one side has no plan for the rest of America on the outside. Only one side seems prepared to become violent to preserve their utopia. I thought November of 2024 was like the burning of Atlanta. Not quite the end of the war, but almost. Now, after Charlie Kirk's assassination and the fracturing of the Right, I'm not so sure.What I do know is that so much of what defines our Civil War, so much of what explains the Left's mass psychosis, took root in 2008.What is an American?2008 was the crisis that sparked the Fourth Turning, according to Neil Howe, who co-wrote the book with William H. Strauss. It wasn't just the election of the first Black president, or the launch of the iPhone, the rise of social media, or the $800 billion bailout of Wall Street that birthed two populist movements on the Left with Occupy and on the Right with the Tea Party. It was also the year an idea contagion began to spread.In April of 2008, Obama was recorded writing off half the country as people who were “bitter” and clinging to “guns and religion.”“Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton activated her entire campaign apparatus to portray Mr. Obama's remarks as reflective of an elitist view of faith and community. His comments, she said, were “not reflective of the values and beliefs of Americans.”Those comments were not seen as racist, yet months later, in October, when Sarah Palin said more or less the same thing, she was called an “Islamaphobe.” Seven years after 9/11, that is what the Left was worried about, not “Radical Islamic terrorism.”From the Washington Post, “Palin's words avoid repulsing voters with overt racism. But is there another subtext for creating the false image of a black presidential nominee “palling around” with terrorists while assuring a predominantly white audience that he doesn't see their America?”Race and racism became the dividing line after that. By 2010, the idea that the Tea Party was racist became a big story. ABC News still had some objectivity and attempted to tell both sides.Reason's Michael Moynihan made a video montage showing how widely accepted it was to call the Tea Party racist. Two years later, in 2012, amid Obama's re-election, Mitt Romney and the Republicans had no idea what they were up against. I was among those fighting Obama's media wars on Twitter, having followed him since the beginning. We were his loyal flock, building the narratives, correcting the bad news, reshaping, retooling, deconstructing, and reconstructing reality to push pure propaganda and keep our side in power.As wealth shifted leftward, thanks to the rise of Silicon Valley, Big Tech also leaned Left. Google, YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, Audible, and book publishing. It was in every university and every institution as society began migrating online. We were in control of all of it.To combat the idea of the racists and the “bitter clingers,” public schools and universities began teaching Critical Race and Gender Theory. It was the beginning of the Great Feminization and the Great Awokening. This contagion was seeded on sites like Tumblr with the oppressor/oppressed mindset, free Palestine, open borders, and a choose-your-gender worldview. It wasn't just Twitter by then. It was all of Hollywood, too, and most of our culture. That's why, in February of 2012, HBO released the movie Game Change, a retelling and repurposing of the 2008 election.Where Palin had been portrayed as a ditsy know-nothing we all laughed at on SNL…Now, Julianne Moore's version was darker and more sinister. A Never Trump narrative was just beginning as Steve Schmidt of the Lincoln Project and Nicolle Wallace were portrayed as the heroes, not to mention the only “good Republican,” John McCain, who stood up to the “racists” and “bitter clingers.” Our superpower in the Obama years was manipulating the flexible nature of words to make them mean anything we wanted them to mean, like “binders full of women.” That would become “Good people on both sides.” Or “Fight like hell.” “When you're famous, they let you do it.”The reality we shaped was everywhere - at gas stations, airports, and magazine covers in the check-out line. Having control of that - the background noise - is what the Left has been fighting to preserve. It is a fight they are losing thanks to the rising voices on the Right, and Trump himself, who are exposing them.But it was accusations of racism and Islamaphobia that would become Obama's most powerful weapon to win. It is the cryptonite of the Ruling Class and what has divided this country for ten years. What a difference 17 years makesBack in 2008, Obama was accused of being a Muslim Socialist, not born in America, who “palled around with terrorists.” Now, one of the new leaders of the Democratic Party is a Muslim socialist, not born in America, who pals around with terrorists. Zohran Mamdani not only feels no shame in admitting this, but he also won because of it. Identity is everything now, so why not scream it from the rooftops? Anyone who complains can easily be dismissed as a racist or an Islamaphobe. In Mamdani's New York, there is an oppressive ruling class keeping the Black and Brown workers poor, instead of the reality, an enclave for the guilty white liberals who fund their movement. But for those checks to keep flowing in, they have to give those guilty whites what they so desperately crave, confirmation that they are the Good White People Doing Good Things, and those “bitter clingers” over there are the “racists” who want to oppress the Black and Brown people they protect. Just give us absolution from our sins of wealth and privilege.Guys like Ken Burns live comfortably away from the harder realities of everyday life in America. Trust me, I know. I used to see him every year at the Telluride Film Festival. His telling of the American story must lead with race and must be yet another lecture to those with less wealth, less power, and less representation in culture - hated people in their own country, forced to accept that America is a corrupt, rotten, imperialist, and white supremacist empire. Making everything about race justifies the ruling class's place atop the wealth hierarchy. Nothing in that hierarchy can be disrupted, so the oppressed must remain oppressed. And for now, there is no way out except to do what I did, escape. Find the truth. Get to know the people they've been told to dehumanize. The Left's idea of utopia erases the value of being an American citizen. It seeks to align with a global world order of like-minded people. Yet, for so many in MAGA, being born American is hitting the jackpot. Nothing is more valuable than the rights all of us have as citizens, no matter our skin color. And yet, the ruling class in America for the past 17 years has decided none of that should matter because our identity is not where we were born. Our identity is whether we are white or not. If you oppose illegal immigration and support mass deportations, you are a racist, according to them, and your citizenship matters less than your white privilege. And that is how illegal immigrants became the oppressed group that governors like Gavin Newsom and JB Pritzker are willing to fight to protect. And ordinary American citizens can be thrown away like human garbage. The New York Times' Peter Baker loved reporting how bad the ticket sales are at the Kennedy Center, never once acknowledging how Trump tried to open it up to the underclass who'd been shut out for years. They see Trump's inclusion of the wrong half of America as taking something away from them, their glory days of utopia. The ballroom will be something lasting, a monument to the half of the country that fought for representation and a permanent structure to remind them of that fight. Here are Walter Kirn and Matt Taibbi from America This Week.The Bitter ClingersNow, it's the Left who are the bitter clingers. They can't accept defeat, and they won't let go of the past, of utopia. Hillary Clinton is a bitter clinger who can't get over the 2016 election. Barack Obama is a bitter clinger who had to call Charlie Kirk a racist when he felt his own legacy dimming. Nancy Pelosi is a bitter clinger who helped manufacture a delusion about January 6th just to obtain absolute power. Barbra Streisand, Rosie O'Donnell, Katie Couric, Richard Gere, Rob Reiner, Bruce Springsteen, Martin Sheen, Robert De Niro, and Jane Fonda are all bitter clingers who have never even seen the other half of the country, much less understood it.Those of us on the other side see the danger of utopia, what 17 years of it has done to the minds and bodies of children, what it's done to women and girls, and boys and men. What infusing propaganda into culture has done to truth and art. It is a manufactured reality that reflects an American utopia that doesn't exist and never did, just like the antebellum South. As the Southerners back then were the “bitter clingers,” so too are today's Woketopians, the virtue signaling army at war with the trolls. They are the ones who can't stand people who are not like them and the ones who can't move on from the past. So they fight on, hoping that this time it's not gone with the wind. end// This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sashastone.com/subscribe

Peter Baker preaches from Ecclesiastes 5 in our Sunday evening series

Peter Baker preaches on our Sunday dedicated to the Persecuted Church from Galatians 1

On tonight's Nightcap: The meeting between Trump and President Xi Jinping. Then, the financial costs of the government shutdown continue to grow. Plus, Trump's crypto venture gets promotion from Binance days after the President pardons its founder. Vaughn Hillyard, Peter Baker, Dan Nathan, Andrew Ross Sorkin, Nayyera Haq, and Arthur Brooks join The 11th Hour this Wednesday night. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

President Trump took a wrecking ball to the East Wing of the White House, and in so doing obliterated the line between metaphor and literal reality. Join moderator Jeffrey Goldberg, Peter Baker of The New York Times, Susan Glasser of The New Yorker, David Ignatius of The Washington Post and Toluse Olorunnipa of The Atlantic to discuss this and more.

Federal workers are set to miss their first full paycheck as lawmakers are nowhere close to ending the shutdown.  Then, the President pardons a convicted crypto titan who was critical in boosting the Trump family's crypto business. Plus, what American ranchers are saying about Trump's plan to import meat from Argentina. Peter Baker, Andrew Desiderio, Doug Jones, Ken Vogel, Max Chafkin, Art Cullen, and Joyce Vance join The 11th Hour this Thursday night. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Layoffs continue in week two of the government shutdown as Trump hosts Argentina's President Milei to discuss a $20b bail out. Then, new tariffs on key goods take effect and former FBI Director Comey asks a federal court to reject the Trump DOJ prosecutor handling his case. Peter Baker, Leigh Ann Caldwell, Sam Stein, David Gura, Brendan Greeley, Joyce Vance, Jeremy Saland and Bob Pittman join The 11th Hour. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Peter Baker is the Chief White House Correspondent for The New York Times and a political analyst for MSNBC. He has covered the last five presidents for The Times and The Washington Post. At The Post, he also served as Moscow Co-Bureau Chief and covered the opening months of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He is author of seven books, including the best-selling The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021, and The Man Who Ran Washington: The Life and Times of James A. Baker III, both with his wife, Susan Glasser of The New Yorker. He is a frequent panelist on Washington Week on PBS. Peter and I discuss the government shutdown, the Comey indictment and Trump's weaponization of the Justice Department, and Howard Lutnick's jaw-dropping new Epstein comments. Got somethin' to say?! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com Leave us a message: 845-307-7446 Twitter: @AndyOstroy Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud @ Radio Free Rhiniecliff Design by Cricket Lengyel

We approach the third day of the government shutdown with no end in sight, as Democrats and Republicans remain at an impasse on federal spending. Trump threatens sweeping layoffs and freezing billions in federal aid. Plus, the potential risk for the economy as the shutdown drags on. Peter Baker, Daniella Diaz, Dave Drucker, Natasha Sarin, Max Chafkin, Jonathan Cohn, and Marc Santia join The 11th Hour this Thursday night. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

EASY LISTENING DEP'T.: This is how Peter Baker decided to respond to the spectacle of the complete collapse of the rule of law, by somehow simultaneously assuming the posture of a kindergarten teacher and of a child sucking its thumb on a sleepy mat. Boy, those Republicans sure wouldn't like it if someone treated them the way that they're treating their opponents right now. Yeah, right. That's why they're trying to fix it so that political power never changes hands again. That's the heart of their entire approach. What even is the use of exploring the dumb hypothetical that the Democrats might prove equally lawless in the future? The real question that demands NEWS ANALYSIS right now is whether if the Democrats do manage to take power again, they will shed their own chronic inhibitions and ignore the hand-wringing of people like Baker, and take swift and decisive action not to emulate crimes of the Trump administration but to punish those crimes decisively, abandoning the presumption going all the way back to Gerald Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon, if not to the violent unwinding of Reconstruction after the Civil War, that the proper way to deal with lawlessness corruption and misrule is to grant the wrongdoers impunity so as not to stir up a fuss and provoke future bad behavior. Please visit, read, and support INDIGNITY! https://www.indignity.net/

The latest on the investigation into the assassination of right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk, and what the FBI is saying about DNA found at the crime scene. Then, the Epstein Estate turns over more documents to the House Oversight Committee – including a previously redacted name from his infamous fiftieth birthday book. Plus, the White House says the United States has the “framework” for a TikTok deal with China, however the terms of the deal remain a mystery. Peter Baker, Philip Bump, McKay Coppins, Gillian Tett, Max Chafkin, and Dan Kleban join The 11th Hour this Monday night. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and former Sec. Pete Buttigieg react to the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Kimberly Atkins Stohr, Peter Baker, Sara Fagen and Jeffrey Goldberg join the roundtable. 

Utah County Attorney prepares to file formal charges against the suspect accused of killing right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk - what to expect. Then, urgent pleas to turn away from the politics of rage as the country grapples with a violent week. Plus, graphic images of Kirk's assassination circulate online, raising new fears on the influence of social media, particularly on children. Peter Baker, Vaughn Hillyard, Kristy Greenberg, Jim Cavanaugh, Brandy Zadrozny, and Bryan Schott join The 11th Hour this Friday night.

The assassination Charlie Kirk, conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump, has raised new questions about escalating political violence in the country. Join moderator Jeffrey Goldberg, Peter Baker of The New York Times, Laura Barrón-López of MSNBC, Susan Glasser of The New Yorker and Tom Nichols of The Atlantic to discuss this and more.

Health Secretary RFK Jr. defends his vaccine policies and CDC firings as he faces tough questions on Capitol Hill from both sides of the aisle. Then, the DOJ opens a criminal probe into Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. Plus, we hear from former Democratic Senator Jon Tester on what rural America is saying about Trump's tariffs. Peter Baker, Dave Weigel, Jake Lahut, Peter Goodman, Ron Insana, Dr. Tom Frieden, Dr. Michael Osterholm, and former Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) join The 11th Hour this Thursday night.

Guest host Jonathan Alter convenes Peter Baker, Molly Jong-Fast, and Charlie Sykes to talk through Trump's latest lunge for unchecked power. The quartet dig into the week's flurry of controversial firings and the prospects for a long-promised, now long-overdue peace deal in Ukraine. They then put Trump's mafioso tactics under a microscope, investigating why they've worked so well, and what everyone can do to resist them.Mentioned in this episode:Jonathan's Substack: https://oldgoats.substack.com/Peter's reporting: https://www.nytimes.com/by/peter-baker#latestMolly's podcast: https://fastpoliticspod.com/Charlie's Substack: https://charliesykes.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A high stakes legal battle begins as Fed Governor Lisa Cook sues President Trump, as she fights to keep her job.  Then, ousted CDC Director Susan Monarez refuses to step aside. Meanwhile, the White House stands by their decision to oust her as they name her replacement. Plus, why more companies and consumers are feeling the squeeze from tariffs, while the market booms. Peter Baker, Natasha Korecki, Amy McGrath, Bill Cohan, Justin Wolfers, David Jolly, and Joyce Vance join The 11th Hour this Thursday night.

Hillsdale College Radio General Manager and Radio Free Hillsdale Hour host Scot Bertram fills in for Jim on Tuesday's 3 Martini Lunch. Join Scot and Greg as they cover the political comeback of former Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, furious left-wing reactions to President Trump federalizing the D.C. police, a new poll exposing a sharp partisan divide over pride in America, and troubling consequences from legalizing marijuana.First, after a quick discussion about Sherrod Brown running for U.S. Senate again, they highlight former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi blaming Pres. Trump for not activating the National Guard before the January 6th riots, the former U.S. Capitol Police Chief slams Pelosi for denying his request for National Guard forces leading up to that day. They also rip Peter Baker of the New York Times for claiming DC has a "non-existent crime crisis."Next, they examine a Cygnal poll revealing that 63 percent of Americans believe the nation is worth celebrating as it nears its 250th birthday. But the numbers split sharply along party lines. 89 percent of Republicans agree, compared to just 37 percent of Democrats. Scot and Greg try to explain why the difference is so stark.Finally, they groan over the menace that legalized marijuana is to our society. A New York Times report reveals that weed gummies are sending thousands of small kids going to the hospital. In fact, kids were 75 percent of the 22,000 people taken to the hospital for marijuana-related health problems in 2024 . Scot and Greg rip the greedy politicians who made pot legal and point out the threat marijuana presents to public safety and overall quality of life in a community.Please visit our great sponsors:Sleep on an award-winning mattress from Brooklyn Bedding. Get 30% off sitewide at https://BrooklynBedding.com with promo code 3ML, and don't forget to mention our show after checkout!No missed calls, no missed customers with OpenPhone. Get 20% off your first 6 months at https://Openphone.com/3mlIf your business can't adapt in real-time, you're in a world of hurt.  Get the free e-book “Navigating Global Trade: 3 Insights for Leaders” from NetSuite by Oracle.  Download today at https://NetSuite.com/MARTINI

Trump celebrates his sweeping new tariffs that took effect last night, which are the highest in nearly a century. Then, top White House officials held a meeting to discuss their strategy for handling the Epstein case, as the Justice Department faces a deadline tomorrow to decide whether to ask a judge to release the grand jury transcripts. Plus, a federal judge orders a two-week pause in the construction of Florida's immigration detention center. Peter Baker, Dave Weigel, Mark Leibovich, John Harwood, Max Chafkin, Joyce Vance, and John Meacham join The 11th Hour this Thursday. 

I sometimes wonder what it must be like at bedtime for the New York Times' Peter Baker and his wife, The New Yorker's Susan Glasser. Do they worry that the Gestapo will kick down their door and haul them off to Alligator Alcatraz for writing negatively about Trump?Do they watch out their window for the bright light of a circling Black Ops helicopter? Do they cling to each other in the dark and whisper like they're Anne Frank's family hiding from the Nazis?For them and millions just like them enjoying their lives at the top of the food chain, every day is the end of democracy, the end of America, the end of the world. They are afflicted with the disease of hyperbole, and they can't seem to find their way out of it.Once you use up threats to democracy, Hitler, fascist, dictator, Nazi, racist, rapist, pedophile - you have nowhere left to go. You've hit the wall. You can't get any more extreme than the most extreme.Because they can no longer distinguish between fantasy and reality, they are too crazy to lead this country, and Americans know it. Nothing they do now can fix the problem because the problem is everything - it's the empire. Americans rightly chose the less crazy side in 2024. They chose the real America, not America online.I got online 30 years ago. I helped build the empire. I fought like a good soldier for the Democrats until I could not stand living inside of what became a Doomsday cult anymore, and in 2020, I left.Since then, I've been sifting through the wreckage of the last ten years, trying to make sense of it. Was this just the unintended consequences of a movement rooted largely online? Is that how we became so disconnected from the truth and reality? Or was there more?As the Russiagate hoax unravels, and hungry reporters like Matt Taibbi excavate just how deep the rabbit hole goes, I have to wonder, was any of it real? Were we just tools of the establishment to prevent a populist uprising? Have they destroyed the collective mental health of millions of Americans just as a power grab?When a real revolution hit the streets in the Summer of 2020, a generation believed they were fighting the system because they were told that Trump was the system. They didn't realize they were the unwitting puppets of a much bigger system. A “hearts and minds” campaign that destroyed their sense of reality, this country's unity, and any hope of coming out of it.What the last ten years are starting to look like to me is that our government orchestrated the same kind of “color revolution” they've used to manipulate the elections in other countries. Only this time they did it here. They had the motive, the means, and the opportunity.Motive - to destroy the man who threatened our king, Barack Obama. Means - they controlled everything from the legacy media to Hollywood to social media. Opportunity — create an ongoing crisis that would require a “whole of society” approach to combat, such as communism or COVID-19.The same people who manufactured protests in other countries likely did the same thing here, at least to some degree. Why wouldn't they? All they had to do was sell Trump as an existential threat who only won because Putin meddled in our elections. And just like that, he's illegitimate.The press wasn't going to challenge them. They'd spend ten years going after Trump. No one in the #resistance would either because they couldn't be seen as “normalizing” a fascist. All institutions, corporations, and celebrities were all in on the war effort.And yet, they failed. Trump beat them at their own game. How did he do that? Because Trump was someone who didn't just build his platform online, as the Democrats have done. He also invested his time in America, the place. He built his house of bricks, and the Democrats did not.A New America OnlineIt all sounded good when Barack Obama built his coalition and his army of devoted followers on Twitter. I was one of them. The first record of an Obama Twitter account was in March of 2007. He signed up for it but hadn't used it and had just 23 followers.By May 5th of 2007, Obama was using Twitter to speak directly to his now 1,475 followers.On November 3, 2007, Obama was building a much bigger coalition, laying out his plans and appearances, and now had 5,000+ followers.Heading into the election, the last capture is on November 1, 2008.I got on Twitter around that time, too, because Obama was the new thing, and so was Twitter. They grew up together and, in doing so, birthed a new America online —a new empire, a new utopia. As of today, Barack Obama is followed by 130 million people, second only to Elon Musk.This might explain, at least in part, why all of us perceived Donald Trump as such an existential threat. Trump used Twitter, and he had been using the app himself since around 2010.Politicians speaking directly to the people, as though all of us could reach out and touch them, is without precedent in American history, at least in the modern age.It might have seemed like all of us were ahead of the game back then. We had complete control of the media narrative. If we wanted to spread the lie that Mitt Romney was a sexist because he said he had binders full of women, we could.But Trump had a platform and a voice equal to that of Obama's. That meant there was only so much we could do to shape the narrative. Trump did it all on his own as his Tweets began to drive the news cycle, especially after he won in 2016. And how could they not?It must have driven Hillary Clinton and the Democrats insane that Trump had access to Twitter and could say whatever he wanted to say, and they could do nothing about it.By the time the 2016 election rolled around, Trump had 13 million followers and Hillary Clinton had just 10 million. The differences between the two campaigns were stark. Hillary's side was all about identity-making history and centering on women and people of color.Trump's was about delivering for the people. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sashastone.com/subscribe

Stephanie Ruhle – in for Nicolle Wallace – is joined by Peter Baker, Dan Nathan, Gene Sperling, Sen. Adam Schiff, David Enrich, Mara Gay, Sam Stein, Matthew Dowd, Rev. Al Sharpton, and Elizabeth Castillo.  

Trump announces new tariff rates set to take effect in a week, as we reach his August 1st deadline. Then, growing backlash over Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's comments suggesting that Trump's child savings accounts could be a "backdoor for privatizing social security." Plus, Virginia Giuffre's family sits down with NBC News and urges Trump not to pardon former Epstein associate and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. Peter Baker, Leigh Ann Caldwell, Steve Liesman, Matthew Dowd, Rohit Chopra, Max Chafkin, and Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez join The 11th Hour this Thursday. 

An interview with journalists Peter Baker and Susan Glasser.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) talk about their bipartisan push to release the Epstein files. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) defends the administration's handling of the Epstein issue. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-Ga.) discusses his calls to investigate former President Obama. Amna Nawaz, Peter Baker, Jeh Johnson and Carlos Curbelo join the roundtable.

Epstein, Epstein, Epstein. Six months into President Trump's second term, lingering questions about his relationship with the sex trafficker are consuming his White House and paralyzing Congress. Join guest moderator Franklin Foer of The Atlantic, Peter Baker of The New York Times, Eugene Daniels of MSNBC, Susan Glasser of The New Yorker and Jonathan Karl of ABC News to discuss this and more.

New reporting breaks on Jeffrey Epstein's ties with Trump as NBC News reports that the White House is choosing silence as their best strategy amid the backlash. Then, top DOJ lawyer Todd Blanche meets with Epstein associate and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, and schedules a second visit with her tomorrow. Plus, Trump gets fact-checked live by Fed Chair Powell during the president's visit to the Fed's headquarters. Peter Baker, Amna Nawaz, Sam Stein, Joyce Vance, Steve Liesman, John Harwood, and Matt Goldstein join The 11th Hour this Thursday.

A national tragedy and a defiant Putin are threatening President Trump's agenda and exposing growing tensions with his base. Join guest moderators Ashley Parker, Peter Baker and Zolan Kanno-Youngs of The New York Times, Tarini Parti of The Wall Street Journal and Nancy Youssef of The Atlantic to discuss this and more.

Trump threatens 35 percent tariff on Canada, as the administration fails to announce any new trade deals. Then, Trump approves the delivery of more weapons to Ukraine starting tomorrow, as Russia launches a new attack on Kyiv today. Plus, young Democratic officials launch an initiative to reshape the party's image and recruit fresh faces. Peter Baker, Daniella Diaz, Nayyera Haq, John Harwood, Rohit Chopra, Mallory McMorrow, John Della Volpe, and Aaron Reichlin-Melnick join The 11th Hour this Thursday. 

House passes Trump's massive tax bill and both parties are pushing to shape public opinion. Then, the jobs report shows that U.S. job growth exceeded expectations this month. Plus, presidential historian Jon Meacham weighs in on where the country is heading on its 249th birthday. Peter Baker, Sam Stein, Basil Smikle, Ron Insana, Max Chafkin, Jon Meacham, and Emma Goldberg join The 11th Hour this Thursday. 

Senators get first classified briefing on Trump's strikes, as Pete Hegseth attacks the media for reporting on the intelligence community's cautious early assessments. Then, Trump's spending bill sees major setback in the Senate today. Plus, why Wall Street is freaking out -- not over trade wars and conflict with Iran, but Zohran Mamdani, the democratic-socialist who could be the next mayor of NYC. Jon Allen, Peter Baker, Mychael Schnell, Ron Insana, Bill Cohan and Mark Joseph Stern join The 11th Hour this Thursday.

For decades, Israel has wanted American support to bomb Iranian nuclear sites. But U.S. presidents, both Republican and Democrat, have resisted — until President Trump. So, what changed? And what are the likely consequences of that decision?Aaron David Miller is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a longtime diplomat in the region. He joins me to discuss recent events and how the latest attacks on Iran have changed the balance of power in the Middle East.This episode contains strong language.Book Recommendations:Master of the Game by Martin IndykThe Man Who Ran Washington by Peter Baker and Susan GlasserTomorrow Is Yesterday by Hussein Agha and Robert MalleyThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.You can find the transcript and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.htmlThis episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Annie Galvin. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris and Jack McCordick. 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, Rollin Hu, Elias Isquith, Marina King, Jan Kobal, Kristin Lin and Jack McCordick. 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.Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

White House sets new two-week deadline to decide on U.S. involvement in Iran. Then, Steve Bannon visits the White House as MAGA clashes over potential U.S. military action. Plus, White House border czar says immigration raids on worksites, including farms and hotels, will continue. Melanie Zanona, Peter Baker, Nayyera Haq, Ernie Tedeschi, Justin Wolfers, Joyce Vance and Joel Payne join The 11th Hour this Thursday. 

 Israel launches what it calls “preemptive strikes” on Iran. Then, Israeli Defense Minister declares nationwide state of emergency, warning that an Iranian attack may be imminent. Plus, California Senator Alex Padilla is forcibly removed from government press conference in LA. Courtney Kube, Hagar Chemali, Peter Baker, General Barry McCaffrey, Joyce Vance, Carol Leonnig, Jeremy Bash and Susan Glasser join The 11th Hour this Thursday.

Elon Musk and President Trump's public battle over the GOP megabill escalates with nasty exchanges over social media. Then, how the ongoing feud cost Tesla $152 billion dollars in market value. Plus, what this feud means for the U.S. military and national security. Peter Baker, Jessica Yellin, Max Chafkin, John Harwood, Ron Insana, Paul Rieckhoff and Gene Seroka join The 11th Hour this Thursday.

 Trump's tariffs are back, for now, after a federal appeals court paused yesterday's ruling to block many of them. Then, President Trump pressures Jerome Powell to lower interest rates during a face-to-face meeting at the White House. And, Harvard's commencement speaker sends a powerful message to its students as the White House continues to target the university. Peter Baker, Carol Leonnig, Ron Insana, Rohit Chopra, Tommy Barone, and Leo Cuello join The 11th Hour this Thursday.  

Wall Street reacts to Trump's budget bill that could add trillions to the deficit. Then, a look at what Moody's credit downgrade means for Americans. And, Democrats hit reboot ahead of next year's midterms. Peter Baker, Tyler Pager, David Drucker, Natasha Sarin, David Gura, Charlie Sykes, Molly Jong-Fast, and Dr. Kavita Patel join The 11th Hour this Monday. 

If you like your presidential travel mixed with $B self-enrichment for Trump and sons, this is the week for you, guided by a terrific only-on-Talking Feds panel of Peter Baker, Tara Setmayer, & Jacob Weisberg. Trump makes for the Gulf States with bags open for booty before coming back to face the unraveling of his big beautiful bill of tax breaks for the wealthy funded by sacrifices in health & welfare for the rest of us. We end w/ the legal landscape and the DOA scheme to suspend habeas corpus. Read Harry's Substack on the "Palace in the Sky": https://harrylitman.substack.com/p/trumps-palace-in-sky-is-a-clear-constitutional Check out Talking San Diego: https://www.talkingsandiego.net/events Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A look at how Trump's tariff policy is causing rising prices and concern among consumers. Then, POTUS announces another package of deals with Qatar amidst the ongoing jumbo jet controversy. Plus, the Supreme Court hears oral arguments over Trump's birthright citizenship order and weighs whether lower court judges have the power to block his policy moves. Peter Baker, Amna Nawaz, David Drucker, Courtenay Brown, Rick Newman, Mark Joseph Stern, and Ambassador William Taylor join as Symone Sanders hosts The 11th Hour this Thursday.