Inside the Hive

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Each week, Vanity Fair special correspondent Brian Stelter examines the powerful forces driving today’s news and politics. Through incisive conversations with newsmakers, journalists, politicians, and Vanity Fair’s own experts, Stelter reveals the story behind the story.

6 DAYS AGO

Why Did Joe and Mika Really Visit Mar-a-Lago?

Host Brian Stelter is joined by Ian Bassin, a lawyer who served in the Obama administration and co-founder of Protect Democracy, and Michael Calderone, editor of Vanity Fair’s the Hive, just days after Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough revealed their Mar-a-Lago detente with Donald Trump, to discuss what the meeting suggests about the president-elect’s influence on the media and, more broadly, how news outlets are already reeling from Trump’s potential retaliatory efforts. The group also discusses how the press will respond in courageous ways, telling the truth loudly in the face of a president known to threaten journalists.

34 min
14 NOV

Why the Elon Musk-Donald Trump Bromance Might Be On a Collision Course

There was a time, not long ago, in which most people might have scoffed at the idea that Elon Musk, an entrepreneur with aspirations to save the world from climate change, would become a right-wing folk hero. And yet, that's precisely the transformation he underwent this year. The billionaire CEO of Tesla—now known for his ardent support of Donald Trump and his endless philippics against the “woke mind virus”—has become a major power player in the MAGAverse, and is set to head up a new initiative in Trump’s second administration, so called the "Department of Government Efficiency." In the latest episode of Inside the Hive, VF special correspondent Nick Bilton and New York Times tech reporter Kate Conger unpack what brought Musk into the MAGAverse, how he plans to gut the regulatory state under Trump, and why the duo’s ego-fueled bromance may be destined to blow up. “I think we are on a collision course of personalities with these two,” Conger predicts. “[Musk is] going to want complete control...and I don't think Trump is going to be willing to give him that."

29 min
7 NOV

Are We Going to Be Ok?

On this post-election episode, host Brian Stelter checks in with Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Radhika Jones and contributing editor Jeff Sharlet, getting their gut-level reactions to Donald Trump’s triumph and perspective on the evolving MAGA movement, which now include the likes of Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. They discuss the language of fascism, male identity politics, and the need to cut through the Trumpian noise to uncover what’s really happening in a second term at a national and local level.

29 min
31 OCT

To Panic, or Not to Panic? VF’s Pre-Election Rundown

With the election just days away, host Brian Stelter is joined by Vanity Fair executive editor Claire Howorth and politics correspondent Bess Levin to talk about the vibes going into November 5, why this particular election is so close and so stressful, some down-ballot races you should keep an eye on, and how the media will likely approach election night. The team agrees, "Hope is a terrible thing to waste," and confidence is too terrifying to project. Instead, they discuss some good reasons people might go into Election Day with a positive attitude and ways to keep calm as we await results.

31 min
24 OCT

Trump Alum Turned Harris Advocate Says She Knows There Is A 'Target' On Her Back Now

The Republican Party has long been lacking in courage. But profiles in it can still be found among the scores of Trump administration staffers who have come out against their former boss, at potentially immense personal cost. One among them: Sarah Matthews, who served as Donald Trump’s deputy press secretary until January 6th. On the latest episode of Inside the Hive, Matthews opens up about the “cognitive dissonance” she experienced as a spokesperson for Trump, recalls how the Capitol riot became her breaking point, and unpacks why she has thrown her support behind Kamala Harris’s campaign, even if doing so puts a target on her back. “Donald Trump is so much bigger than just me,” she says. “The guilt that I would feel” from sitting on the sidelines,” Matthews adds, “would have been much greater than the fear that I might feel right now.”

31 min
17 OCT

Fox News & Everything After: Inside Kamala Harris’s 11th Hour Media Blitz

Kamala Harris is making the media rounds in the final weeks of the 2024 face, talking to everyone from Howard Stern to Fox News, “Call Her Daddy” to “The Breakfast Club.” On this episode, Brian Stelter catches up with senior spokesman Ian Sams about the campaign’s campaign strategy and the creative ways they’re trying to reach, and persuade, the small sliver of undecided voters who may tip the election. Plus, Stelter talks with Hive editor Michael Calderone about Donald Trump’s attempt to nail down the bro vote by stopping by podcasts geared toward young, male audiences.

37 min
10 OCT

Stacey Abrams: "Either You're a Patriot or You're Not"

Host Brian Stelter is joined by author, organizer, and former Georgia representative Stacey Abrams to examine Kamala Harris’s chances this November inside the swing state, ongoing efforts by Republicans to suppress voting rights and sow chaos across the country, and Abrams’ plans to help salvage democracy. Abrams, whose playbook and organizing power in 2020 helped Joe Biden deliver Georgia, a red–now purple–state that hadn’t voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in more than 20 years, and a trifecta in Washington with the state’s 2021 runoffs, says that part of her strategy is to find voters who wouldn’t otherwise turn out and encourage people to participate in the democratic process even if they don’t plan to vote for the Democrat.

33 min
3 OCT

James Carville on Ramping Up the Harris Ground Game and Defeating Trump

James Carville is not known for mincing words. Back in 2021, the legendary Democratic strategist ruffled quite a few feathers when he blamed “wokeness” for the party’s electoral defeats. He still hasn’t backed down from that belief—but he’s also willing to accept that Kamala Harris has a lot more to worry about than safe spaces and language policing when it comes to trouncing Donald Trump. One challenge in particular, he tells Brian Stelter on the latest episode of Inside the Hive, is presenting herself a bold persona with a bright new vision in a period of Trump-era malaise. "I think the best construct for her is ‘fresh versus stale,'" Carville says of Harris. "I've said the most thunderous sound in all of politics is the sound of a turning page."

36 min

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Brian Stelter

Host

Each week, Vanity Fair special correspondent Brian Stelter examines the powerful forces driving today’s news and politics. Through incisive conversations with newsmakers, journalists, politicians, and Vanity Fair’s own experts, Stelter reveals the story behind the story.