The Daily Beast Podcast

This week on The New Abnormal, MSNBC political analyst and pollster Cornell Belcher talks the science of polls before we all start pulling our hair out. Then we talk to Radley Balko, publisher of Substack page The Watch, about his latest piece discussing how medical examiners shield violent cops from scrutiny. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New York Times technology reporter Mike Isaac joins The New Abnormal to unpack the civil war currently roiling OpenAI. Plus! A conversation with Democratic strategist Kurt Bardella about Joe Biden's chances in the 2024 election. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Former Capitol Police Officer Sgt. Aquilino Gonell tells The New Abnormal that democracy is on the ballot in the next election and that America must be protected from a second Trump presidency. Plus former Daily Beast journalist turned communications consultant, Timothy Burke, talks about the FBI raid at his home following the leak of embarrassing videos of Tucker Carlson that ended up in the hands of Vice News and Media Matters for America. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

David Roth and Jeb Lund play the Thanksgiving edition of “America 20 Questions,” including answering how thankful they think Donald Trump is for each of his kids. Plus! Danielle Moodie talks to Amelia Nagoski about the book she co-authored with her sister, Emily Nagoski, Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle, which examines the scientific factors that determine the different ways men and women deal with stress. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Media Matters President Angelo Carusone joins The New Abnormal to talk through his organization’s recent sparring with Elon Musk and his social media platform, X. Plus! A conversation with award-winning author Nnedi Okorafor about her transformational africanfuturism and the importance of inclusive visions of science fiction. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bethann Hardison broke barriers in the 1970s by appearing in the top fashion magazines. Her new documentary Invisible Beauty shows how she championed diversity for a new generation of Black models. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Veteran Jason Kander tells The New Abnormal there are two main reasons why Republicans are afraid to take on Senator Tommy Tuberville’s military blockade. Plus, Andy Norma, founder of CIRCE, or the Cognitive Immunology Research Collaborative, talks about the Mental Immunity Project and how it is trying to combat the crisis of disinformation and people’s susceptibility to it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Spencer Ackerman stops by the program to talk about Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act—and why Congress should consider scrapping it entirely. Deepa Iyer of the Building Movement Project stops by the podcast to share her unique way of visualizing social movements as entire ecosystems—with each person playing a distinct role in various movements and communities. Plus! Guest host Maura Quint who serves as campaign and communications work for Americans For Tax Fairness. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tech columnist Brian Merchant tells The New Abnormal the Luddites got a bad rap following the Industrial Revolution but all they were trying to do was hold big tech to account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi tells The New Abnormal that Joe Biden’s sit down with the Chinese President next week will be the first in almost a year and the best chance to ease increased Chinese aggression. Plus, The Daily Beast’s Deputy Politics Editor Sam Brodey breaks down the “Idiot Symposium” otherwise known as this week’s Republican presidential debate. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Brian Kaylor, the president and editor-in-chief of Word&Way, joins The New Abnormal to discuss new House Speaker Mike Johnson—and why he thinks the longtime religious activist should be classified as a Christian nationalist. Plus! A conversation with reporter Anat Rubin about her recent story in ProPublica about Louisiana’s Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Marine combat photographer Miles Lagoze tells The New Abnormal why Americans were more concerned about the optics of exiting Afghanistan than the mission itself. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Michael Edison Hayden tells The New Abnormal why Chaya Raichik, the woman behind Libs of TikTok, is so dangerous and why the Anti-Defamation League needs to stand up against her. Plus, The Daily Beast’s political reporter Jake Lahut discusses Congressman Dean Phillips' not so great start to his presidential campaign. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The U.S. justice system is handling former President Donald Trump with kid gloves, The New Abnormal host Danielle Moodie says. Plus! A discussion about the disconnect between an increasingly technology-reliant world and the aging lawmakers who do not seem to understand the systems that make society tick. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Bennett, co-founder of national think-tank Third Way, tells The New Abnormal why a second Trump presidency would be a “catastrophe” and leave America “unrecognizable.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on The New Abnormal, Semafor’s Washington Bureau Chief Benjy Sarlin tells us the who, what, and why that is the Republican Speaker of the House, Rep. Mike Johnson. Then, MSNBC legal analyst Glenn Kirschner breaks down all the latest developments in the many legal troubles of Donald Trump. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on The New Abnormal, Democratic strategist Kurt Bardella makes sense of the clown show that has become the Republican Party—which he used to be a part of—and its attempt to find a new Speaker of the House. Then, The Intercept’s Natasha Lennard tells us about how Scholastic has caved to the far right and made it easier for schools to ban diverse books at their book fairs. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Walter Hickey explains how movies and TV affect everything from our biology to our beliefs and what happens when governments get involved. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

CNN commentator S.E. Cupp joins The New Abnormal to discuss her recent article about how the right is broken–and nothing is being done to fix it. Then, psychiatrist and author Dr. Jonathan Metzl talks about the connection between the rise in hate crimes in the country and the amount of misinformation made readily available via social media at certain news channels. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trump’s legal team seems more concerned with leaving landmines in the court record than winning his New York fraud trial, The Daily Beast’s Jose Pagliery says on this week’s The New Abnormal. Plus! A frank talk about the current state of local politics with Nebraska state Sen. Megan Hunt. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week’s episode of The New Abnormal co-hosts Danielle Moodie and Andy Levy call out the former president for his latest rallying cry to white supremacists. Plus, Katherine Stewart details her observations since publishing The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week’s episode of The New Abnormal, Republicans have been scrambling to figure out who they could dredge up as House Speaker. Plus! U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY) adds her thoughts on GOP efforts to replace Kevin McCarthy. Then, Dannagal Young, an associate professor of communications at the University of Delaware, describes the “three Cs” behind the social nature of human knowledge. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week’s episode of The New Abnormal, extremism and violent terrorism researcher Alexander Ritzman describes the new, male only movement infiltrating America–and their thoughts on Jan. 6. Plus! NBC News Justice reporter Ryan Reilly provides an in-depth look into the civilian sleuths who have been invaluable in identifying many of the culprits of Jan. 6. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Author Jonathan Taplin tells The New Abnormal how Peter Thiel, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Marc Andreessen, are providing the tools to let fascism flourish. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week’s episode of The New Abnormal, professor and author Jennifer Taub gives us all the details on Trump's fraud case happening right now in New York. Plus! Journalists and podcasters Jeb Lund and David J. Roth talk to us about Kevin McCarthy's, ouster, Ron DeSantis’ floundering campaign and which fictional character Matt Gaetz looks like the most. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Don’t cry for Kevin—he knew what he was getting into when he took the job as House Speaker, The New Abnormal hosts argue. Then, an interview about dystopian police technology with WIRED staff writer Dhruv Mehrotra. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Aaron Kleinman, Director of Research for The States Project, tells The New Abnormal that if Republicans are able to win both houses in November’s state election, prepare to see a radical raft of policies by Gov. Glenn Youngkin as he sets his sights on the White House. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week’s episode of The New Abnormal, California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell talks to us about Colorado congresswoman Lauren Boebert’s latest shocking rant and how he contends with some of the louder members of the Republican Party on the House Judiciary Committee. Plus! The Bulwark’s Jonathan V. Last tells us about the contrast in Democratic and Republican responses to Sen. Bob Menendez’s recent indictment for corruption. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of The New Abnormal: Why Joe Biden is right to let Republicans shoot themselves in the foot during yet another idiotic shutdown fight. Plus! A look at Trump’s weekend of manic posting on Truth Social. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Run For Something has just pumped $10 million into electing left-leaning school board members. Co-founder Amanda Litman tells The New Abnormal the basic credentials you need. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week’s episode of The New Abnormal, MSNBC legal analyst Glenn Kirschner talks about Donald Trump’s latest legal challenges. Then a talk with Freedom of the Press Foundation executive director Trevor Timm about how the U.S. trying Julian Assange under the Espionage Act may prove to be a regrettable decision if Trump is elected president again. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dr. Peter Hotez joins The New Abnormal this week to discuss his new book, “The Deadly Rise of Anti-Science”—and why anti-vaccine conspiracies are so dangerous. Plus! An interview with labor reporter and author Kim Kelly about the United Auto Workers strike. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week’s episode of The New Abnormal highlights how Republicans are tying themselves up in knots while attempting to explain why we need an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week’s episode of The New Abnormal, hosts Andy Levy and Danielle Moodie delve deep into the lack of class shown by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) this week. Then, author Mike Rothschild is here to tell us all about his new book. Plus! Jeffrey Lewis, a scholar at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies on the Non-Proliferation and Terrorism Studies, joins us to share the reason we’re all still here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week’s episode of The New Abnormal, a reminder that the enemy of your enemy isn’t always your friend. Plus! A status check on the various groups protesting Atlanta’s “Cop City” project and a chat with Meagan Burrows of the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project about Alabama’s attempts to criminalize those who help young women seeking abortions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Daily Beast columnist David Rothkopf tells The New Abnormal’s Danielle Moodie that U.S. politicians should rethink their support of Elon Musk after his intervention to help Russia. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week’s episode of The New Abnormal, hosts Andy Levy and Danielle Moodie are shocked by just how much control billionaire Elon Musk has over the world. Plus! Executive Director of reproductive justice group the Yellowhammer Fund, Jenice Fountain, joins the show to talk about what’s going on in Alabama. Author Marc Tyler Nobleman also talks about his experience on a speaking tour of Georgia schools where school leaders found an issue with him saying the word “gay.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of The New Abnormal, hosts Andy Levy and Danielle Moodie discuss how crazy it is that Donald Trump keeps talking about jailing his political opponents and everyone has just accepted it as normal. Dare we say, the new abnormal. Plus! Blowback Podcast hosts Brendan James and Noah Kulwin pop in to talk about their newest season covering the ins, outs, and random stars of the crisis in Afghanistan and the US' involvement after 9/11. Then, Author, historian, and culture critic Ruth Ben Ghiat is here to answer the question Danielle Moodie thinks nobody is asking, what stage of the facist takeover are we in right now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Comedian Jesse Joyce tells The New Abnormal how his fascination with “the guy who cut his own balls off with a pair of scissors and then killed John Wilkes Booth” forced him into writing his new book. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week’s episode of The New Abnormal, hosts Andy and Levy and Danielle Moodie discuss the ramifications of Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s latest freeze. Plus! National opinion columnist for the “Philadelphia Enquirer,” Will Bunch, talks to us about his recent article surrounding the state of journalism. Then, The Daily Beast’s politics reporter Zachary Petrizzo stops by to let us in on what’s happening with G O P fundraising. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week’s episode of The New Abnormal, why Trump’s mugshot does nothing to endear him to the Black community—despite the insistence of a number of Fox News hosts. Plus, Ari Cohn, the free speech counsel at TechFreedom, joins the podcast to discuss a new bill that tries, and fails, to prevent kids from seeing harmful content online. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Professor Ted Parson tells The New Abnormal how we already have the technology to help cool the Earth by 1 degree within years and why lawmakers are fearful of embracing it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week’s episode of The New Abnormal, hosts Andy and Levy and Danielle Moodie discuss the fallout from the first Republican primary debate of the 2024 election season. Plus! Author Dr. Steven Hassan stops by to talk to us about what he’s seeing change in the cult of Trump, and Amanda Moore, who infiltrated the MAGA movement—and wrote about it—shares her experience. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of The New Abnormal, Law Dork newsletter’s Chris Geidner tells co-host Andy Levy about a Constitutional amendment that could prevent Trump from running again, and what it would take for that clause to actually be enacted against him. Also on this episode: Kate Briquelet, senior reporter at The Daily Beast, explains the connections between bank J.P. Morgan and Jeffrey Epstein as laid out in a recent piece she reported. Plus, she tells co-host Danielle Moodie who she thinks will be held accountable next in this saga. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of The New Abnormal, Daily Beast editor Andrew Kirell gives an inside look at one of the right’s biggest grifts: inflating conservatives’ crappy book sales, specifically to get on the New York Times’ bestseller lists, and breaks down why the biography of expelled Fox News star Tucker Carlson’s biography didn’t get it (plus other reasons the book’s sales are so bad.) Also on the show: hosts Andy Levy and Danielle Moodie react to Republican clips, and this week that includes the Republican reaction to Hillary Clinton going on MSNBC to talk Trump, Marjorie Taylor Greene saying that Georgia’s Fani Willis should go after rapists instead of Trump (Anyone want to tell her?), and Matt Gaetz getting his ass handed to him by MSNBC’s Ari Melber. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week’s episode of The New Abnormal, Mary Trump joins us to talk all about her uncle’s latest legal woes and her future predictions for both the Republican and Democratic parties. Plus! CNN legal analyst Elie Honig walks us through another round of Trump indictments. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Slate senior editor Dahlia Lithwick is noticing a tone change when it comes to how people are reacting to Donald Trump’s indictments. She describes this change on this latest episode of The New Abnormal podcast along with a huge decision that Trump’s Jan. 6 judge is going to have to make. Also on this episode: Hosts Andy Levy and Danielle Moodie discuss Trump’s looming Georgia indictment, the one (and possibly only) thing that’ll shut him up, and the clash of his and Gov. Ron DeSantis’ fans at the Iowa State Fair when one of Trump’s followers called DeSantis “Florida Pudding Fingers.” Plus! Dr. Nicholas Mitchell, assistant professor of Curriculum Studies at the University of Kansas, explains what it means now that a propaganda organization called PragerU was just approved to have its “educational” videos be used in Florida schools (and a few examples of its videos that show how bizarre they really are.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of The New Abnormal podcast, hosts Andy Levy and Danielle Moodie listen to some clips, which includes a right-winger who has a drug-related suggestion to make Ron DeSantis more human, Matt Gaetz speaking nonsense to get Trump out of his indictments, and Jesse Watters saying a possible stalking fantasy of his out loud. Plus, wildfire expert Matthew R. Auer of the University of Georgia has a warning: Get ready for more fires in unexpected places. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week’s episode of The New Abnormal, how the latest Ohio election should be a wake-up call to Republicans. David Pepper, the former chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, joins to discuss. Plus! Nick Suplina, senior Vice President of Law and Policy at Everytown for Gun Safety, describes how ghost guns are more terrifying than you can imagine. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The New Abnormal is back from vacation! And what a week to recap. A certain orange person named Donald Trump has been charged for alleged criming again and hosts Andy Levy and Danielle Moodie unpack it all. They also discuss how they think Trump is handling the pressure and Andy shares one of Ron DeSantis’ biggest failings in his presidential campaign. Plus, on this right-wing themed show: Madeline Peltz, Deputy Director of Rapid Response, shares the full arc of the right’s response to the ‘Barbie’ movie hate, including an unexpected twist: Female right-wingers are sticking up for the film. Plus, a brief history of the right-wing’s hatred of the USWNT. Then HuffPost Senior Reporter Christopher Mathias reveals to Andy how he was able to expose famed writer Richard Hanania’s secret right-wing and very hateful past, which includes incredibly dark eugenic ideas like forcing sterilization on low IQ people and opposing race mixing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices