Best WNYC Studios and The New Yorker Podcasts (2025)

1
Biden, Trump, and the Challenges of Covering an Aging President 43:51

2h ago43:51

43:51

The Washington Roundtable discusses new information that has emerged about Joe Biden’s decline while in office, and his advisers' efforts to downplay it, as chronicled in several new books. The group also discusses the challenges faced by members of the press as they report on Donald Trump’s signs of aging and his long-standing incoherence. “I thin…

1
Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson on President Joe Biden’s Decline, and Its Cover-Up 49:50

21h ago49:50

49:50

Nearly a year ago, a Presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, moderated by Jake Tapper and Dana Bash of CNN, began the end of Biden’s bid for a second term. The President struggled to make points, complete sentences, and remember facts; he spoke in a raspy whisper. This was not the first time voters expressed concern about Biden’s ag…

1
What Is Jeff Bezos’s Plan for the Washington Post? 42:17

9m ago42:17

42:17

The New Yorker staff writer Clare Malone joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss the changes that Jeff Bezos, the owner of the Washington Post, is making at the paper. They talk about why Bezos decided to purchase the paper, in 2013, how his recent exertion of editorial influence has caused the paper to hemorrhage both staffers and subscribers, and the futu…

1
Percival Everett’s “James” Wins a Pulitzer 20:17

4d ago20:17

20:17

A year ago, Percival Everett published his twenty-fourth novel, “James,” and it became a literary phenomenon. It won the National Book Award, and, just this week, was announced as the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. “James” offers a radically different perspective on the classic Mark Twain novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”: Evere…

1
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English” 28:11

1d ago28:11

28:11

When Elissa Slotkin narrowly won her Senate seat in Michigan last fall, she was one of only four Democratic senators to claim victory in a state that voted for Donald Trump. It made other Democrats take note: since then, the Party has turned to her as someone who can bridge the red state–blue state divide. In March, Slotkin delivered the Democrats’…

1
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English” 28:38

8d ago28:38

28:38

When Elissa Slotkin narrowly won her Senate seat in Michigan last fall, she was one of only four Democratic senators to claim victory in a state that voted for Donald Trump. It made other Democrats take note: since then, the Party has turned to her as someone who can bridge the red state–blue state divide. In March, Slotkin delivered the Democrats’…

1
Decoding Donald Trump’s Love of A.I. Imagery 27:51

6d ago27:51

27:51

The New Yorker staff writer Katy Waldman joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss Donald Trump’s fondness for A.I.-generated memes and what it tells us about our current political climate. They talk about how Trump uses these images to bend the cultural narrative to his will, why the MAGA aesthetic is tailor-made for the age of A.I., and how the proliferatio…

1
How Donald Trump Is Trying to Rewrite the Rules of Capitalism 18:10

11d ago18:10

18:10

For a long time, Republicans and many Democrats espoused some version of free-trade economics that would have been familiar to Adam Smith. But Donald Trump breaks radically with that tradition, embracing a form of protectionism that resulted in his extremely broad and chaotic tariff proposals, which tanked markets and deepened the fear of a global …

1
How Donald Trump Is Trying to Rewrite the Rules of Capitalism 17:34

9d ago17:34

17:34

For a long time, Republicans and many Democrats espoused some version of free-trade economics that would have been familiar to Adam Smith. But Donald Trump breaks radically with that tradition, embracing a form of protectionism that resulted in his extremely broad and chaotic tariff proposals, which tanked markets and deepened the fear of a global …

1
Lillian Fishman Reads “Travesty” 42:04

10d ago42:04

42:04

Lillian Fishman reads her story, “Travesty,” from the May 12 & 19, 2025, issue of the magazine. Fishman is the author of the novel “Acts of Service,” which was published in 2022. She is currently at work on her second novel, from which this story was adapted. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices…

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Donald Trump Is Using the Presidency to Get Rich 29:03

12d ago29:03

29:03

The Washington Roundtable discusses the unprecedented corruption of the federal government, including Trump Administration members’ self-enrichment through cryptocurrency schemes and the inaugural committee, and the gutting of parts of the government that are responsible for rooting out self-dealing from public life. It is a level of corruption so …

1
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and the Confounding Politics of Junk Food. Plus, Kelefa Sanneh on the Long Influence of Kraftwerk 32:29

15d ago32:29

32:29

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services, has been undermining public trust in vaccines and overseeing crippling cuts to research across American science. And yet his “make America healthy again” highlights themes more familiar in liberal circles: toxins in the environment, biodiversity, healthy eating. Kennedy has put jun…

1
Yiyun Li Reads William Trevor 1:11:01

15d ago1:11:01

1:11:01

Yiyun Li joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “The Piano Tuner’s Wives,” by William Trevor, which was published in The New Yorker in 1995. Li has published eight books of fiction, including the novels “Must I Go” and “Book of Goose,” a winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, and the story collection “Wednesday’s Child,” which was a fina…

1
How Bad Is It?: Andrew Marantz on the Health of Our Democracy 55:28

13d ago55:28

55:28

In a new recurring series on The Political Scene, the staff writer Andrew Marantz joins Tyler Foggatt to assess the status of American democracy. How does one distinguish—in the blizzard of federal workforce cuts, deportations, and executive orders that have defined the first hundred days of Donald Trump’s second term—actions that are offensive to …

1
A Historical Epic of the Chinese in America 19:30

18d ago19:30

19:30

In recent years, there’s been a stark uptick in the level of violence and hate crimes that Asian Americans have experienced, but the “precarity of the Asian American experience is not new,” Michael Luo tells David Remnick. Luo is a longtime New Yorker editor, and the author of a new book about the Chinese American experience. He looks at how tensio…

1
Cory Booker on America’s Crisis of “Moral Leadership” 30:00

18d ago30:00

30:00

As Donald Trump continues to launch unprecedented and innovative attacks on immigrants, civic institutions, and the rule of law, the Democratic response has been—in the eyes of many observers—tepid and inadequate. One answer to the sense of desperation came from Senator Cory Booker, who, on March 31st, launched a marathon speech on the Senate floor…

1
Saïd Sayrafiezadeh Reads “Nocturnal Creatures” 34:25

18d ago34:25

34:25

Saïd Sayrafiezadeh reads his story “Nocturnal Creatures,” from the May 5, 2025, issue of the magazine. Sayrafiezadeh is the author of several plays, the memoir “When Skateboards Will Be Free,” and the story collections “Brief Encounters with the Enemy” and “American Estrangement,” a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize, which was published in 202…

1
A Politics of Fear Defines Trump’s First Hundred Days in Office 30:38

18d ago30:38

30:38

The Washington Roundtable discusses the first hundred days of President Trump’s second Administration, and the fear, pain, and outrage reverberating through U.S. politics. The clinical psychologist and longtime Department of Justice official Alix McLearen is helping distressed government workers connect with service providers during this time. She …

1
Cory Booker: “America Needs Moral Leadership, and Not Political Leadership” 30:27

22d ago30:27

30:27

As Donald Trump continues to launch unprecedented and innovative attacks on immigrants, civic institutions, and the rule of law, the Democratic response has been—in the eyes of many observers—tepid and inadequate. One answer to the sense of desperation came from Senator Cory Booker, who, on March 31st, launched a marathon speech on the Senate floor…

1
Pope Francis’s Legacy and the Coming Conclave 31:17

20d ago31:17

31:17

Paul Elie, who writes about the Catholic Church for The New Yorker, joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss the life and legacy of Pope Francis, his feuds with traditionalist Church figures and right-wing political leaders, and what to expect from the upcoming papal conclave to determine his successor. This week’s reading: “The Down-to-Earth Pope,” by Paul …

1
David St. John Reads Larry Levis 41:30

23d ago41:30

41:30

David St. John joins Kevin Young to read “Picking Grapes in an Abandoned Vineyard,” by Larry Levis, and his own poem “The Shore.” St. John is the author of many poetry collections and the recipient of honors including the Rome Fellowship and an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the O. B. Hardison Prize from the Folg…

1
Nikki Glaser at the Top of Her Game 26:36

25d ago26:36

26:36

In the past few years, the comedian Nikki Glaser has breathed new life into the well-worn comedic form of the roast. Last year, she performed a roast of the football legend Tom Brady for a Netflix special, to much acclaim—with Conan O’Brien opining that “no one is going to do a better roast set than that.” Glaser has been on a hot streak since then…

1
How Science Fiction Led Elon Musk to DOGE 19:06

24d ago19:06

19:06

Elon Musk, who’s taking his chainsaw to the federal government, is not merely a chaos agent, as he is sometimes described. Jill Lepore, the best-selling author of “These Truths” and other books, says that Musk is animated by obsessions and a sense of mission he acquired through reading, and misreading, science fiction. “When he keeps saying, you kn…

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WNYC Studios And The New Yorker Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen