Best Curt Dc Podcasts (2025)

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Freddie deBoer: Charlie Kirk's Murder Reveals a Cultural Sickness 1:17:16

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6d ago1:17:16

1:17:16

Why must all good things come to an end? Just asking questions. This will be the final episode of the Just Asking Questions podcast. This discussion with Freddie deBoer about the assassination of Charlie Kirk and its aftermath felt like the kind of sincere, analytical, deeply meaningful conversation across an ideological divide that would be approp…

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Michael Tracey: Cutting Through the Jeffrey Epstein Fog 2:50:55

12d ago2:50:55

2:50:55

What is the Jeffrey Epstein story, and what does it mean? Just asking questions. Today's conversation is with journalist Michael Tracey, who has been picking apart what he calls the "Epstein mythology" for the past several weeks over at his Substack. In short, he thinks 90 percent of what most people believe about this case is false, and that this …

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Bob Murphy: Are We Flirting with Fascism? 1:12:13

27d ago1:12:13

1:12:13

What do you call it when the state takes partial ownership of a private company? Just asking questions. Ten percent of Intel now belongs to the U.S. government. Today's guest says it's time to start using the "F word." Economist Bob Murphy is no anti–Donald Trump #resistance fighter quick to shriek "fascism." In fact, he says he was relieved when T…

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Megan McArdle: Trump's D.C. Takeover Is Just the Beginning 1:14:59

1M ago1:14:59

1:14:59

How bad is crime and disorder in Washington, D.C.? Just asking questions. Local crime became a national issue following the assault of Edward Coristine—a former staffer at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) who is also known as "Big Balls"—during an alleged carjacking. Trump reacted on Truth Social, saying, "Crime in Washington, D.C., i…

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Deb Fillman: Why Do We Send Kids to School? 1:34:39

1M ago1:34:39

1:34:39

It's back-to-school season, and the very meaning of a proper education seems to be more up for grabs than ever before. K-12 education is still bobbing in the long, tumultuous wake of pandemic lockdowns that invited unprecedented parental scrutiny of what happens in the classroom, resulted in years of learning loss, and catapulted schools into the p…

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Rob Henderson: Why Elites Still Worship Socialism 1:28:59

2M ago1:28:59

1:28:59

Is Brooklyn-style socialism a "luxury belief"? Just asking questions. Today's guest coined that memorable phrase, and we're eager to talk with him today about how it applies to the triumph of socialist Zohran Mamdani in the New York Democratic mayoral primary and to discuss the odd, enduring allure of socialism for America's most highly educated cl…

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Patrick Eddington: How to 'Tyranny-Proof' America 1:13:05

2M ago1:13:05

1:13:05

Do you ever feel like you're being watched? Just asking questions. We're told modern surveillance tech will track criminals, illegal aliens, and terrorists while protecting the privacy of innocent Americans. You've got nothing to worry about if you've got nothing bad to hide. Today's guest says that's not true. His latest book, The Triumph of Fear,…

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Gary Taubes: MAHA, Ultra-Processed Foods, and Bad Science 1:20:58

2M ago1:20:58

1:20:58

Can Robert F. Kennedy Jr. put the country on a diet and Make America Healthy Again? Just asking questions. The MAHA Report is a 73-page document put out by a government commission headed by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary RFJ Jr. Its goal is to "study the scope of the chronic childhood disease crisis and any potential causes including the…

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Scott Lincicome: How Much Will You Pay To 'Buy American'? 1:26:27

2M ago1:26:27

1:26:27

How much are you willing to pay to "buy American"? Just asking questions. In April, President Donald Trump unilaterally unleashed a series of so-called reciprocal tariffs, using emergency powers to punish countries with a trade imbalance, meaning they export more to the U.S. than they import from the U.S. Markets panicked, and Trump pulled back, se…

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Curt Mills: Is Trump Still 'America First'? 52:34

3M ago52:34

52:34

What is the "Trump doctrine"? Just asking questions. President Donald Trump won his first term in office after breaking with the Republican establishment on a few fronts. One notable example: On the debate stage in 2016, he embarrassed Jeb Bush for his family's role in the disastrous Iraq War. Trump didn't start any new wars in his first term, thou…

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Inez Stepman: How Socialism Seduced New Yorkers 1:20:50

3M ago1:20:50

1:20:50

Is Zohran Mamdani's success in New York politics the mark of socialist resurgence or just a reflection of a deeply fractured party base? Zach Weissmueller is joined by two very concerned New Yorkers. Our own Liz Wolfe and Inez Stepman, who's a policy analyst at the Independent Women's Forum. Stepman critiques the ideological cocktail attracting you…

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Ro Khanna: Congress Must Take Back Its War Powers 43:14

3M ago43:14

43:14

Who's allowed to launch an attack on another country? Just asking questions. Rep. Ro Khanna (D–Calif.) joined Reason's Just Asking Questions podcast to discuss the War Powers Resolution he's co-sponsored with Rep. Thomas Massie (R–Ky.), which would require President Donald Trump to seek congressional approval before continuing to drop bombs in Iran…

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Paul Pillar: America Should Not Fight Israel's War 1:13:27

3M ago1:13:27

1:13:27

What's America's role in Israel's war with Iran? Just asking questions. U.S. forces aren't directly involved in the war with Iran…yet. But those of us who remember the 2003 Iraq invasion can't help but be struck by some of the unsettling similarities: A terrorist attack acting as an inciting event a year and a half earlier, sensational but unverifi…

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Laura Powell: Who's Most To Blame for the Latest L.A. Riots? 1:07:39

4M ago1:07:39

1:07:39

Protests and unrest erupted in Los Angeles following federal immigration raids of a Home Depot parking lot and a clothing manufacturer. President Donald Trump ordered National Guard troops, and later U.S. Marines, into Los Angeles against the wishes of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. Downtown Los Angeles and the communities of Paramount and Compton h…

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Debating the Science and Ethics of IVF: Emma Waters vs. Ruxandra Teslo 1:37:22

4M ago1:37:22

1:37:22

How should the government treat in vitro fertilization (IVF)? Should they regulate it more? Should they subsidize it? Just asking questions. The above are all questions that the Trump administration is actively considering in the wake of an executive order seeking to expand access to IVF. President Donald Trump previously declared himself "the fert…

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David Stockman: Trump Is a 'Faker' on the Debt 1:09:16

4M ago1:09:16

1:09:16

How will we ever get the national debt under control? Just asking questions. The U.S. national debt stands at a staggering $36 trillion. And while President Donald Trump assures us he's a "fiscal hawk," the GOP's latest fiscal plan, dubbed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, is a fiscal time bomb, says today's guest. David Stockman, the director of the…

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Gary Winslett: The American Dream Has Migrated South 1:05:59

4M ago1:05:59

1:05:59

Why did the Rust Belt really lose its manufacturing base? Middlebury College political scientist Gary Winslett has a provocative answer: It wasn't China or robots. It was Georgia, Texas, South Carolina, and Florida. In a recent Washington Post op-ed, Winslett argued that the South's pro-growth policies—not foreign competition or automation—were the…

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Noah Smith: I Owe Libertarians an Apology 1:17:20

4M ago1:17:20

1:17:20

Noah Smith, an economic commentator and Substack writer, once dismissed libertarianism as a relic of the past. But in a political climate increasingly defined by populist protectionism and authoritarian rhetoric, he's reconsidering. "There are worse monsters than the market," Smith recently wrote. With Reason's Zach Weissmueller and Liz Wolfe, Smit…

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Do These Libertarians Regret Voting for Donald Trump? 1:28:01

5M ago1:28:01

1:28:01

During the 2024 presidential election, a contingent of libertarians cast strategic, often reluctant votes for Donald Trump, arguing he was the lesser of two evils. Among them: Reason's own Liz Wolfe and J.D. Tuccille, alongside comedian and Part of the Problem host Dave Smith. Each thinks a Kamala Harris administration would have been more troublin…

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Ross Douthat: Why Digital Life Threatens Freedom and Family 1:03:33

5M ago1:03:33

1:03:33

In this episode of Just Asking Questions, we're joined by New York Times columnist Ross Douthat to discuss the cultural, political, and demographic pressures reshaping the modern world. His recent essay, "An Age of Extinction Is Coming. Here's How to Survive," explores how digital life—from AI companions to algorithmic distraction—is accelerating t…

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Glenn Greenwald: Americans' Liberties Are in Danger 1:28:35

5M ago1:28:35

1:28:35

Why was a man who was legally protected from deportation sitting in one of the world's most notorious prisons in El Salvador? This week on Just Asking Questions, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Glenn Greenwald returns to discuss a case that cuts to the heart of American constitutionalism and due process. Greenwald, known for his reporting on the …

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Michael Beckley: China Is Dangerously Weak 1:18:18

5M ago1:18:18

1:18:18

What if the new Cold War with China turns hot? Just asking questions. China's rise, decline, or potential for conflict is often clouded by propaganda and oversimplification. This episode of Just Asking Questions examines China's real economic, military, and geopolitical trajectory, focusing on Taiwan tensions, trade wars, and demographic challenges…

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Derek Thompson: Democrats Must Change 1:07:00

6M ago1:07:00

1:07:00

Derek Thompson, a senior writer at The Atlantic and co-author (with Ezra Klein) of Abundance: The New Politics of Growth, joins this episode of Just Asking Questions to make the case that if Democrats want to win in the future, they must first learn to build. In this conversation, Thompson challenges Democrats to reimagine themselves as the party o…

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Rand Paul: Why I Oppose Trump's Tariffs 23:24

6M ago23:24

23:24

Sen. Rand Paul (R–Ky.) has been speaking out against President Donald Trump's tariffs. He supported a bill to repeal the emergency powers that allowed him to levy tariffs on Canada and recently co-sponsored a joint resolution with Sen. Ron Wyden (D–Ore.) to immediately terminate the national emergency that Trump declared in order to impose the worl…

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Batya Ungar-Sargon: The Case for MAGA Leftism 1:17:39

6M ago1:17:39

1:17:39

Do people want President Donald Trump's deportation crackdown? And is the MAGA agenda actually a leftist one? Just asking questions. Batya Ungar-Sargon, a columnist at The Free Press, joins the show today to address these questions and spar with us on immigration, tariffs, and wealth inequality. She's a self-described MAGA leftist and the author mo…

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Phil Magness: The Problem With Trumponomics 1:09:27

6M ago1:09:27

1:09:27

What would a Mar-a-Lago accord look like? Just asking questions. Phil Magness is an economic historian with the Independent Institute who has deeply studied the history of tariffs and trade. We invited him on the show to talk about the "global economic reordering" described by Donald Trump's Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the president's escalat…

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Kelsey Piper: A Reasonable Approach to AI 1:19:03

6M ago1:19:03

1:19:03

Where's artificial intelligence headed in Trump's America? Just asking questions. In February 2025, Vice President J.D. Vance delivered a keynote speech at the AI Action Summit in Paris. He advocated for "AI opportunity" rather than "AI safety," promoting a deregulatory vision for AI that emphasized U.S. leadership and free speech while criticizing…

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Just Answering Questions: Live Q&A 47:13

7M ago47:13

47:13

To celebrate the growth of our new YouTube channel, the Just Asking Questions team livestreamed an Ask Me Anything episode, hosted by their producer, John Osterhoudt. It was a chance for our listeners to share their reactions to guests and topics, suggest ideas for future episodes, and pose some hard questions. Thanks for listening! If you like the…

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Tom Woods: The COVID Lessons We Can't Forget 1:33:10

7M ago1:33:10

1:33:10

Five years to the day after President Donald Trump declared a national emergency, what are the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic? Just asking questions. Tom Woods joins us today. He's a historian, host of The Tom Woods Show, and author of many books, including Diary of a Psychosis: How Public Health Disgraced Itself During COVID Mania, which has a f…

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James Pogue: What Ukraine Reveals About MAGA 1:31:08

7M ago1:31:08

1:31:08

What does the dramatic collapse of talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump and J.D. Vance reveal about Trump's foreign policy, Vance's ideology, and the future trajectory of MAGA? Just asking questions. James Pogue, who has written extensively about the American New Right and who predicted in 2022 that Vance would be …

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Matt Taibbi: The Collapse of the Censorship Regime 1:21:43

7M ago1:21:43

1:21:43

Are the online speech wars over? Just asking questions. Award-winning journalist Matt Taibbi joins Reason's Zach Weissmueller and Liz Wolfe on Just Asking Questions today to help analyze Vice President J.D. Vance's blistering speech at the Munich Security Conference, where Vance called on Europe's leaders to stop suppressing speech, banning populis…

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Randy Barnett: How Legal Is Trump's Agenda? 1:16:38

7M ago1:16:38

1:16:38

How legal is Trump's governing agenda? Just asking questions. Today's guest is Randy Barnett, a Georgetown constitutional law professor who has argued before the Supreme Court, was part of a legal team that challenged the constitutionality of Obamacare, is a contributor to The Volokh Conspiracy blog hosted at Reason, and is the author of several bo…

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Aaron Sibarium: Is DEI Over? 1:22:32

8M ago1:22:32

1:22:32

Is the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) movement over? Just asking questions. Aaron Sibarium is a good, old-fashioned muckraking journalist over at the Washington Free Beacon who exposes things the left would probably rather hide. He joins the show today to discuss President Donald Trump's executive orders relating to DEI programs. Sources Re…

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John Cochrane: How Will DOGE 'Disrupt' the Government? 1:09:35

8M ago1:09:35

1:09:35

Will President Donald Trump and Elon Musk actually cut the government down to size and pull us back from the fiscal cliff? Just asking questions. John Cochrane is joining Just Asking Questions today to talk about what it would actually take to get government spending under control permanently and discuss a few of the staggering number of government…

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Julia Gelatt: What Happens if Trump 'Seals the Border'? 1:18:57

8M ago1:18:57

1:18:57

What happens if President Donald Trump "seals the border"? Among Trump's Day 1 executive orders is one called Securing Our Borders, which promises to build the wall, detain and deport immigrants who violate federal or state law, prosecute illegal border crossers, and obtain "complete operational control" of the border. He also declared a state of e…

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Angela McArdle: What Role Did the Libertarian Party Play in Freeing Ross Ulbricht? 20:12

8M ago20:12

20:12

Today's bonus episode of Just Asking Questions is a conversation with Libertarian Party National Chair Angela McArdle about the role the party played in securing a presidential pardon for Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the dark web marketplace Silk Road. Ulbricht, who entered prison at age 29 and walked out at age 40, had served 11 years of a double…

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Mike Pesca: How Will Trump 2.0 Transform America? 1:22:43

8M ago1:22:43

1:22:43

How will the second Donald Trump presidential term transform America? Just asking questions. It's officially the Trump 2.0 era. One New York Times columnist called his inaugural address "American Carnage 2," while Trump promised a new American "golden age" in his speech. So how excited, hopeful, or anxious should we be as we enter these next four y…

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Meghan Daum: After the Fires, What's Left of L.A.? 1:04:12

8M ago1:04:12

1:04:12

What have the wildfires done to southern California and the people who live there? And could any of this destruction have been prevented? Just asking questions. The wildfires breaking out across Greater Los Angeles have so far killed at least 25 people and damaged or destroyed over 12,000 structures, according to the Los Angeles Times. Today's gues…

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Tyler Cowen: Why Do We Refuse To Learn From History? 1:06:10

9M ago1:06:10

1:06:10

Why are we forgetting history's lessons? We're told in school that we study history so as not to repeat its mistakes. But what if those lessons aren't sticking? Today's guest regularly invokes what he calls The Great Forgetting. The striking thing about this collective amnesia is that it doesn't apply only to distant, ancient history, but hard less…

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Isabelle Boemeke: Time for the Nuclear Option? 1:12:28

9M ago1:12:28

1:12:28

Is it time for the nuclear option? Just asking questions. A nuclear renaissance may be afoot. The partial reactor meltdown at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island plant in 1979 invigorated an anti-nuclear movement that forced the industry to a grinding halt for decades. But in 2023, the first reactor built from scratch since 1974 began operating. Big i…

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Byrne Hobart: What happened to progress? 1:17:39

9M ago1:17:39

1:17:39

How do we escape stagnation and accelerate progress? What if bubbles are actually good? Just asking questions. "They promised us flying cars. All we got was one hundred forty characters." Those were the words of Peter Thiel over a decade ago, lamenting technological stagnation. The character limit has since increased, but his point remains the same…

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Guillaume Verdon: Should We Have a 'Second Amendment for AI'? 1:27:33

9M ago1:27:33

1:27:33

Must we accelerate AI innovation? You've probably heard of "effective altruism," but how about "effective accelerationism," or e/acc? "You claim to be building an artificial god in the human image. We're building the conduit for the thermodynamic god that created us. We are not the same." Those are the words of Based Beff Jezos, a pseudonymous X ac…

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Brianna Wu and TafTaj: How Have Trans Issues Scrambled Our Politics? 1:09:38

10M ago1:09:38

1:09:38

About 0.5 percent of U.S. adults identify as transgender, according to a 2022 UCLA study. Among 13- to 17-year-olds, the figure has grown to about 1.4 percent. That uptick in the youth might help explain why trans issues are playing a growing role in American politics. Registered voters told Gallup pollsters that transgender issues ranked among the…

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Nic Carter: Did Bitcoin Win the Election? 1:09:13

10M ago1:09:13

1:09:13

Was bitcoin the winner of the 2024 election? Just asking questions. Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to protect bitcoin and the entire crypto economy. Major endorsements from the industry followed, including from the Winklevoss twins, who each made a $1 million bitcoin donation to a pro-Trump PAC. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong called Trump's win…

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Is Donald Trump a Hawk or Dove? With Curt Mills of The American Conservative 1:04:48

10M ago1:04:48

1:04:48

John and Justin sit down with Curt Mills, Executive Director of The American Conservative magazine. Curt, a former college classmate of John's, is an influential voice in the conservative intelligentsia's restrainer camp, advocating against the use of US military force abroad. The group discuss whether Donald Trump fits into this camp and what his …

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Vinay Prasad: What Does RFK Jr. Get Right and Wrong? 1:25:00

10M ago1:25:00

1:25:00

What does Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. get right and wrong about science, vaccines, and health? Just asking questions. President-elect Donald Trump announced Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. would be his pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the Food and Drug Adminstration, National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Contr…

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Yuval Levin: What is Trump's "Mandate"? 1:00:13

10M ago1:00:13

1:00:13

Is Trumpism America's new governing ideology? Just asking questions. Trump won decisively by modern standards, meaning for the first time in several cycles nobody is seriously disputing the results, but did he really win bigly? Does he have a governing mandate? Today's guest says, not really. Yuval Levin is the director of Social, Cultural, and Con…

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Why Trump Won and How Dems Can Win the Working Class 1:13:10

10M ago1:13:10

1:13:10

On this episode, John and Justin discuss why Donald Trump won the election, Where VP Harris and Democrats went wrong, and how they can improve their messaging and approaches to campaigning to win back working class voters. Please subscribe and rate our podcast wherever you listen. Justin's X: https://x.com/Justin_Higgins2 Justin's BlueSky: https://…

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Lee Fang: Will Democrats Ever Recover From 2024? 1:19:37

11M ago1:19:37

1:19:37

Subscribe to the new Just Asking Questions Youtube channel here! Donald Trump won the presidential election decisively, taking every single battleground state, and as we discussed last week with Patrick Ruffini, winning over new voters across all sorts of racial, age, and gender demographics. He's, once again, remade the electoral map, with Republi…

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Patrick Ruffini: Why Did Trump Win? 1:10:25

11M ago1:10:25

1:10:25

Why did Donald Trump win? Trump is back. Back again. He's secured the Electoral College majority needed to become America's 47th president and looks on track for a popular vote majority—the first Republican to pull that off in more than 20 years. A New York Times breakdown shows that across just about every type of county—urban, suburban, older pop…