The Political Scene | The New Yorker The New Yorker

The New Yorker staff writers and cultural critics Doreen St. Félix and Vinson Cunningham join Tyler Foggatt to discuss Kamala Harris’s sudden ascendence to the top of the Democratic ticket. How might her gender, race, and long political career from prosecutor to Vice-President shape the campaign ahead? “In a weird way, I think that she can run against both Trump and, implicitly, very subtly, against Biden, too,” Cunningham says. “I think her strongest way to code herself is: we're finally turning the page.” This week’s reading:
“Kamala Harris, the Candidate,” by Doreen St. Félix
“A Mood of Optimism at Kamala Harris’s First Campaign Stop,” by Emily Witt
“Who Should Kamala Harris Pick as Her Running Mate?,” by Amy Davidson Sorkin
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The Washington Roundtable: Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos discuss President Biden’s stunning exit from the 2024 Presidential election and his endorsement for Vice-President Kamala Harris to lead the Democratic ticket. How could this new matchup change the terms of the race, now that Biden’s age is no longer a key issue?This week’s reading:
“Joe Biden’s Act of Selflessness,” by Evan Osnos
“Joe Biden Leaves the Stage,” by Adam Gopnik
“Where Do Republicans and Democrats Stand After the R.N.C.?” by Benjamin Wallace-Wells
“The Spectacle of Donald Trump’s R.N.C.,” by Antonia Hitchens, photography by Sinna Nasseri
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.

The Washington Roundtable: Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos discuss takeaways from the Republican National Convention, which Glasser reports had the feeling of “a very polite Midwestern cult meeting.” Plus, Donald Trump's selection of J. D. Vance as his running mate and the mounting pressure for President Biden to drop out of the race.This week’s reading:
“Donald Trump’s Second Coming,” by Susan B. Glasser
“Doctors Are Increasingly Worried About Biden,” by Dhruv Khullar
“The Rise of the New Right at the Republican National Convention,” by Benjamin Wallace-Wells
“Are We Already Moving On from the Assassination Attempt on Trump?” by Jay Caspian Kang
“The Paralysis of the Democratic Party,” by Isaac Chotiner
“Why Donald Trump Picked J. D. Vance for Vice-President,” by Benjamin Wallace-Wells
“Bernie Sanders Wants Joe Biden to Stay in the Race,” by Isaac Chotiner
“Trump, Unity, and MAGA Miracles at the R.N.C.,” by Antonia Hitchens
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.

The New Yorker contributing writer Antonia Hitchens calls Tyler Foggatt from Milwaukee to offer some details and observations from the first night of the Republican National Convention, at which Donald Trump was formally nominated to be the G.O.P.’s 2024 Presidential nominee. An assassination attempt on the former President over the weekend only heightened the messianic feeling that surrounds Trump, and gave a strange poignancy to the anointing of J. D. Vance as Trump’s running mate and the potential next leader of the MAGA movement, Hitchens says. This week’s reading:
“Trump, Unity, and MAGA Miracles at the R.N.C.,” by Antonia Hitchens
“A Nation Inflamed,” by David Remnick
“Why Donald Trump Picked J. D. Vance for Vice-President,” by Benjamin Wallace-Wells
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The panic that gripped Democrats during and after President Biden’s performance in the June debate against Donald Trump didn’t come out of nowhere. In January of last year, the Radio Hour produced an episode about President Biden’s age, and the concerns that voters were already expressing. But no nationally prominent Democratic politician was willing to challenge Biden in the primaries. After the debate, Julián Castro was one of the first prominent Democrats to say that Biden should withdraw from the race, and he went on to tell MSNBC’s Alex Wagner that potential Democratic rivals and even staffers “got the message” that their careers would be “blackballed” if they challenged him. Castro—who came up as the mayor of San Antonio, and then served as President Obama’s Secretary for Housing and Urban Development—ran against Biden in the Presidential primary for the 2020 election. He talks with David Remnick about how we got here, and what the Democratic Party should have done differently. 

The Washington Roundtable: Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos discuss President Joe Biden’s struggle to retain voters’ confidence in his bid for reëlection and his animosity toward the “élites” he says are insisting that he step down. Plus, Donald Trump’s campaign strategy amid Democratic turmoil and ahead of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.“The problem is the meta-narrative, which seems to be centered on: Will Biden faceplant or won’t he?,” Jane Mayer says. “And, so long as that’s the narrative, the narrative is not on Donald Trump and the threat to democracy that he poses.”This week’s reading:
“Joe Biden’s Less-Than-Awful Press Conference Does Not Mean Everything Is Now O.K.,” by Susan B. Glasser
“The Controlled Normalcy of Kamala Harris’s Trip to Las Vegas,” by Antonia Hitchens
“A Congressional Democrat Explains Why He’s Standing with Biden,” by Isaac Chotiner
“Joe Biden’s Cynical Turn Against the Press,” by Jay Caspian Kang 
“Joe Biden Is Fighting Back—but Not Against Trump, Really,” by Benjamin Wallace-Wells
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.