Pod Save America

Pod Save America

Pod Save America is a no-b******t conversation about politics hosted by former Obama aides Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Dan Pfeiffer, and Tommy Vietor. It cuts through the noise to break down the week’s news and helps people figure out what matters and how they can help. They’re regularly joined by journalists, activists, politicians, entertainers, and world leaders. You can watch on YouTube or listen to new episodes every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. Subscribe to Friends of the Pod! Your subscription makes Crooked’s work possible and gives you access to ad-free episodes of Pod Save America and Pod Save the World, plus exclusive content and a lively Discord community. Learn more and subscribe at crooked.com/friends or on Apple Podcasts. For a transcript of an episode of Pod Save America, please email transcripts@crooked.com.

Episodes

September 8, 2026 67 mins
Jon, Tommy, Lovett, and Dan answer listener questions, diving into what they’re most hoping to learn from the 2026 midterms, their favorite political ads of all time, and the groyper takeover of the Republican Party. Then, Vote Save America’s Shaniqua McClendon returns to the pod to talk to Tommy about the Crooked Dozen — VSA’s 12 most flippable and most annoying Republican targets — and the best ...
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Nate Silver, Clare Malone, and Galen Druke — the hosts of Crooked Media's new show Still Counting — join Lovett to talk about the Senate races they find most interesting and Trump doing everything in his power to help Republicans lose the midterms. The crew, who you may remember from the FiveThirtyEight podcast, dives deep into the numbers, breaking down what polling errors we should expect this November, what kin...

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September 4, 2026 98 mins

Dozens of Republican lawmakers tell the press that they won't be attending Trump's midterm convention next week, citing a variety of unconvincing excuses, but the president seems unfazed by his party's lack of enthusiasm for more Trump, announcing Trump midterm ads, Trump coins, and the possibility he may rename the Strait of Hormuz to the Trump Strait. 

Dan and Jon preview the pity party and then react to Ed Markey's pri...

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September 1, 2026 101 mins

Weeks after a Republican campaign committee called AI data centers the "anchor hanging around" GOP candidates' necks, Trump weighs in to say that all Americans who oppose data center construction are "backwards and poor" — while he digs in on the trade war with Canada and the hot war with Iran. 

No wonder a leading Republican senator tells Politico that Trump — and the whole party — are "in serious troub...

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Jon sits down with legendary Democratic strategist David Plouffe to assess the race for the Senate and House and — why not? — look forward to 2028. The two talk through the new roster of early primary states and the political dynamics at play in each, and then do some (very) early handicapping of the rumored '28 contenders, from Kamala Harris to AOC and Jon Ossoff.

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August 28, 2026 69 mins

With his approval rating 20 points underwater, Donald Trump previews his new midterm strategy: telling voters to pretend he’s on the ballot. Jon and Dan break down how that will play, react to the president renaming Lake Ontario to “Lake America,” and preview the Republican Party’s midterm convention. 

They also discuss Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s handling of a measles outbreak i...

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August 25, 2026 90 mins
As the Trump administration launches economic wars against Iran and Canada, the Washington Post reports on Trump's war with a third adversary: his weight. Jon, Tommy, and Lovett calculate Trump's BMI and then break down Scott Bessent invoking World War II when announcing new Iranian sanctions and Trump's new 50% tariffs on Canadian imports. They then turn to the midterms to discuss Susan Collins skipping out on a campaign even...
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August 23, 2026 74 mins

How can Democrats reach the elusive swing voter? Danielle Butterfield, executive director of Priorities USA, one of the most important PACs in Democratic politics, joins Dan to talk about Priorities' attempts to reshape how Democratic campaigns think about targeting voters on the internet. S

he breaks down their research into how voters are looking for information on search engines, why campaigns need to rethink how they talk ...

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August 21, 2026 86 mins

MAGA world continues to express outrage over Jon Ossoff's "travel with Natalie" remarks, including an over-the-top rant from Scott Jennings that is being seen as the pundit's shameless audition for the open White House press secretary job. 

Dan and Jon react to Harp-gate, an MS NOW report that says Harp declined to seek a security clearance, and the New York Times reporting that Pete Hegseth brings his wife to highly sens...

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August 18, 2026 84 mins

Jon Ossoff attacks Trump for sidestepping his duties to "travel with Natalie," the White House aide known as Trump's "Human Printer," who has a suspiciously close relationship to the president.

Jon, Tommy, and Lovett discuss the new line of attack and the president's response, the end of the 60-day cease-fire agreement with Iran, Trump's decision to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea, and his reaction to the...

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August 16, 2026 58 mins

Is AI set to destroy the world, or could it all just be a bubble? Why does Sam Altman want ChatGPT to monitor everything you do on your computer? Who is set to win the AI Game of Thrones? 

Casey Newton, editor of the tech newsletter Platformer and co-host of Hard Fork, joins Tommy to talk about the hype and doom surrounding the world-changing technology and to unpack what could happen to us now that AI models are learning...

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August 14, 2026 76 mins

Donald Trump hides in a catering truck and boards a secret plane to evade an Iranian security threat, leaving reporters, White House officials, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio alone aboard Air Force One to fend for themselves. 

Dan and Jon discuss the President's profile in courage and the rest of the latest, including a series of shocking new developments with ICE, the discourse around electability after David Crowley...

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August 11, 2026 108 mins

Republicans amp up the fear-mongering on "communism" as Democrats try to move past some of their nominees' most controversial past statements. In the words of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: "Woke 1 was crazy." Jon and Lovett discuss how Democrats can pivot, today's Democratic primaries in Wisconsin and Minnesota, Trump's desperation to end the war he started, and his newest executive order on vaccines. 

They also react to...

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August 9, 2026 64 mins

MS NOW's Chris Hayes joins Alex Wagner to talk about what Democrats should take away from the progressive movement's big primary win in Michigan and how the party's reaction may predict what's ahead in the 2028 presidential election. 

They debate whether Abdul El-Sayed should continue to campaign with leftist Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, discuss how AIPAC's media strategy is backfiring with voters and how ideals of mascul...

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August 7, 2026 82 mins

Tucker Carlson, with the help of Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie, explores launching a third-party bid for president. 

Jon and Dan discuss how his candidacy could upend the 2028 election and the latest from the 2026 midterm elections, including Trump debuting the Republican strategy against Abdul El-Sayed, a centrist think tank's $15 million war against the Democratic Socialists of America, and the disgusting all...

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Abdul El-Sayed wins Michigan's democratic Senate nomination, defeating Rep. Haley Stevens by one point after a heated campaign about the future of the Democratic party. 

Jon and Dan sit down for a bonus pod to talk about how El-Sayed overcame $60+ million in outside spending against him, make sense of the closer-than-expected results, and to preview the general election message against Mike Rogers, the Trump-endorsed Repu...

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August 4, 2026 74 mins

Trump trashes Jeanine Pirro — and may be on the brink of firing her — for admitting in court that his narrative about "vandalism" in the Reflecting Pool is a lie. Todd Blanche secures his path to confirmation after  offering holdout Senators a meaningless written assurance on the weaponization slush fund. 

Trump backs down from yet another threat to completely destroy Iran, RFK Jr. lashes out at CNN's Dan...

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August 2, 2026 63 mins

Jonathan V. Last, editor of The Bulwark, stops by the show to talk to Lovett about his "Grand Unified Theory of Trumpism" — that Trump's opponent "will always choose surrender over discomfort." Together, they try to make sense of America's rotting political culture, breaking down when and where it all went wrong, and debate what it'll take for the nation to heal from this moment, be it a reckoning of virtue, kindness, o...

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July 31, 2026 71 mins

Progressive candidates have serious momentum going into the upcoming primaries in Michigan and Wisconsin — but they'll have to figure out how to explain away some problematic old tweets. 

Meanwhile, Democrats land on a novel strategy for competing in deep red states (hint: it doesn't involve Democrats). Jon and Dan discuss the latest in all the key races, as well as Todd Blanche's failing nomination for attorney gen...

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July 28, 2026 108 mins

A slew of new reporting details big problems at the DNC, from deepening financial woes to leaks, paranoia, and an allegation that Chairman Ken Martin threw his phone at a staffer. 

Jon, Tommy, and Lovett react to the disarray inside the Democratic Party, debate whether it's possible  to replace Martin before the midterms, and discuss how the DNC's new 2028 primary calendar, which starts with  South Carolina, cou...

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