The Conversation with Dasha Burns
The Conversation with POLITICO’s Dasha Burns is a fresh take on the traditional Sunday show format, going beyond conventional wisdom and short sound bites to broaden the political conversation. Each week, Dasha will sit down with one of the most compelling – and sometimes unexpected – power players in Washington and beyond for a real discussion about how they are shaping the current moment.
Episodes
February 6, 2026 • 59 mins
Venezuelan politician and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado says that Venezuela could have a new democratic election in less than a year. The Nobel Peace Prize winner joins POLITICO’s Dasha Burns for “The Conversation” in a compelling interview that occurred exactly one month after the US captured Venezuelan’s authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro. Machado opens up about her hopes for the nation’s future– and what her own path f...
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January 30, 2026 • 34 mins
Senator Thom Tillis calls for the resignation of Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller in a forthright interview with Dasha Burns for “The Conversation.” The North Carolina Republican made his comments after the shootings of two citizens by ICE agents in Minneapolis earlier this year. In a wide-ranging discussion, Tillis talked about tariffs, his hopes for President Trump and his worries for the future of the Republican Party.
Learn mo...
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January 22, 2026 • 48 mins
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent spoke with POLITICO's Dasha Burns at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in our first episode of 2026. The two spoke just after President Trump's speech that riled U.S. allies. Burns and Bessent spoke on tariffs, Greenland, America's changing role in the global economy and much more.
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December 26, 2025 • 19 mins
Happy holidays! "The Conversation" will return with a new season in January 2026. In the meantime, listen to some of the most memorable moments from the show in 2025 — including our interviews with President Donald Trump, Texas state representative and U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico (D), Trump 2024 and RNC Political Director James Blair, President of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Richard Grenell and Rep. ...
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December 12, 2025 • 38 mins
Gates Foundation co-founder Bill Gates joined POLITICO’s Dasha Burns on this week’s episode of The Conversation to discuss his continued support for vaccine philanthropy, the impact of government aid cuts in global health, AI, vaccine skepticism and much more. The interview took place shortly after the release of The Gates Foundation’s Goalkeepers Report projects, which predicts that child deaths will rise in 2025 for the first tim...
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December 9, 2025 • 47 mins
In this special edition of The Conversation, President Donald Trump sits down with POLITICO’s Dasha Burns at the White House to discuss his global influence, especially his involvement in trying to end the Ukraine-Russia war and his evolving relationship with America’s longtime allies in Europe and beyond. Plus, they discuss the situation in Venezuela, domestic issues like affordability and rising healthcare costs and more.
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December 5, 2025 • 70 mins
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is no stranger to President Donald Trump’s tariff-forward trade agenda. Greer served as chief of staff to Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. Trade Representative in Trump’s first administration. But now, it’s Greer who’s at the helm of the president’s tariff implementation strategy — one that has drawn both criticism and praise from surprising places.
“I've also had members of Congress come to me...
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November 21, 2025 • 46 mins
Dan Driscoll made history earlier this year when, at 38, he was sworn in as the youngest Army secretary in U.S. history.
And he just made news again this week when he became the highest-level Trump administration official to visit Kyiv for the White House’s secret peace talks in effort to end Russia’s war on Ukraine. Driscoll joined high-level talks with Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as news broke...
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November 14, 2025 • 36 mins
Rep. Seth Moulton (D–Mass.) is not one to shy away from criticism of his own party. He made waves in the past when he insisted that the Democrats’ approach to dialogue on transgender issues was stifling. Moulton has also been vocal about the need for generational change in an aging Washington.
This time, the Massachusetts congressman is speaking out about the deal that ended the longest government shutdown in history. And how Sen...
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November 6, 2025 • 59 mins
New Jersey’s governor-elect Mikie Sherrill and James Blair, the political director for the Trump 2024 Campaign and the RNC, break down the lessons learned from this week’s Democratic sweep
Election Night 2025 was a sweet one for Democrats nationwide. Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani won the New York City mayoral race. Former congresswoman Abigail Spanberger clinched the Virginia gubernatorial contest. California Governor Gavin...
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October 31, 2025 • 54 mins
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) hasn’t been in Congress for very long, but she’s transformed the way that Democrats are communicating with voters and energized her colleagues in the party.
Crockett is known for her willingness to frankly engage with Republican counterparts from Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green all the way to President Donald Trump. And while some critics in the Democratic Party worry that her way of messaging m...
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October 24, 2025 • 45 mins
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is known for being a firebrand when it comes to his conservative, small-government principles. He’s also known for being a longtime supporter of President Donald Trump, despite taking issue with some of the president’s policies.
But Paul takes issue with being what he says is the only Republican willing to stand up to Trump and his latest moves which, according to Senator Paul, fly in the face of GOP princ...
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October 17, 2025 • 44 mins
Nationwide, state and local officials are pushing back against President Trump’s plans to send the National Guard into various Democratic-run cities for crime and immigration enforcement support. One of the top Democrats leading the resistance is Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
Trump has recently said that he believes Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson should be arrested for what he believes is mismanagement of the Windy City....
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October 10, 2025 • 51 mins
Dan Rayfield is Oregon’s attorney general — and the latest state-level politician to be thrust into the national spotlight by a legal clash with the Trump administration. In this instance, it’s over the federal government ordering troops into Portland, where protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement have been deemed rebellion by the president.
I would invite anybody to come to Oregon and I think it's pretty clear that ...
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October 3, 2025 • 55 mins
Kevin Hassett is the director of the National Economic Council and arguably the economist closest to President Donald Trump. Right now, he’s also one of the top advisers tasked with explaining the economic fallout of the government shutdown and forging a path forward.
Hassett joins POLITICO’s Dasha Burns for this week’s episode of The Conversation, where he talks about the shutdown standoff on Capitol Hill, when Americans should s...
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September 26, 2025 • 39 mins
James Talarico is a Texas state representative who’s recently announced his candidacy for US Senate. He’s a Democrat, but not afraid to criticize some aspects of his party.
“National Democrats have talked about defending democracy or protecting institutions,” he said. “But, this democracy of ours doesn't work for a lot of people in this country. It doesn't work for a lot of people in Texas…. This is a deeply broken political syst...
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September 19, 2025 • 34 mins
Sriram Krishnan is a venture capitalist who once served as general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Now, he serves as White House Senior Policy Advisor for AI, where he has helped to develop President Trump’s American AI Action Plan.
In a live interview with The Conversation host Dasha Burns at POLITICO’s AI & Tech Summit, Krishnan discussed what it takes for the United States to win the AI race, how the White House wants to keep ...
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September 13, 2025 • 26 mins
Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, September 10. Kirk founded Turning Point USA, which became one of the most influential conservative grassroots organizations in the country. He was a larger-than-life figure in Republican politics who was controversial, provocative, and intrinsically tied to the movement of youth toward voting for Donald Trump in the 2024 election.
...
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September 5, 2025 • 1 min
The Conversation with Dasha Burns is back! In Season 1, Burns sat down with some of the most powerful players in Washington to get their perspectives on what’s really going on inside The White House. Join The Conversation again as Burns continues to explore how President Trump and his team are fundamentally reshaping the country, and how Democrats are tackling this new era of American politics. Full episodes will now air every Fri...
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August 3, 2025 • 52 mins
Freshman Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) is the first out transgender member of Congress. Within days of her election this past November, she faced attacks from Republican colleagues who tried to draw her into a public conflict. Nevertheless, McBride has continued to find ways to forge ties across the aisle.
In this week’s episode of The Conversation, Rep. McBride tells POLITICO’s Dasha Burns why she has prioritized bipartisanship: “...
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