An incumbent mayor of Los Angeles normally faces smooth sailing for reëlection, but for the Democrat Karen Bass her term has been marked by criticism of her handling of last year’s devastating wildfires and the city’s ongoing homelessness crisis. The city-council member Nithya Raman was a former ally of Bass who now faces her in a November runoff election. Raman is aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America, and she talks with David Remnick about her frustration with Democratic leadership, which she says is lacking “urgency around the issues that I felt mattered most, and, in some ways, a moving away from the direction that I felt L.A. needed to be moving.” Further listening: “Mayor Karen Bass on Marines in Los Angeles,” an episode of The New Yorker Radio Hour New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Join host David Remnick as he discusses the latest in politics, news, and current events in conversation with political leaders, newsmakers, innovators, New Yorker staff writers, authors, actors, and musicians. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Michigan’s Senate seat is a must-win for Democrats hoping to take control of the Senate in 2026. The midterms are reflecting a surge of energy behind left-leaning Democratic candidates—sometimes known as the Mamdani effect—challenging their party’s establishment and its tarnished image. Abdul El-Sayed, a former health official, firmly supports Medicare for All and the abolition of ICE. He’s ahead of his moderate Democratic rival, Haley Stevens, in most polls. But that has some Democrats worried that El-Sayed is too radical to win the general election in a state that narrowly voted for Trump in 2024. El-Sayed talks with David Remnick about being “radicalized in medical school,” the trap of expressing righteous anger as an Arab candidate, how Robert F. Kennedy’s anti-science views have taken such a hold on the public, and why AIPAC and other lobbying groups have spent sixty million dollars opposing him in this election. Further reading and listening: “Michigan Is the Next Big Test for the Democratic Party,” by Jason Zengerle “Can the Democrats Get It Together?,” by Amy Davidson Sorkin “Governor Gretchen Whitmer on COVID-19, Trump, and the Accusations Against Joe Biden,” an episode of The New Yorker Radio Hour New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Join host David Remnick as he discusses the latest in politics, news, and current events in conversation with political leaders, newsmakers, innovators, New Yorker staff writers, authors, actors, and musicians. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Though President Donald Trump came back to the White House with broad support for his border policies, his Administration’s immigration crackdown has been broadly unpopular. The staff writer Jonathan Blitzer spoke with two representatives in Congress about the blowback: Jason Crow, of Colorado, and María Salazar, of Florida. Crow is one of the Democratic Party’s recruitment co-chairs for the midterm elections, a role that entails helping candidates figure out what to say about issues that have proved controversial for their party. Salazar, whose district includes much of Miami, is a diehard Trump supporter, but many of her Republican constituents are outraged at how ICE has been operating, and she remains hopeful that the Administration might make a sharp turn. “Mr. President, you’ve got to change the way when it comes to immigration,” she’d like to tell him. “Otherwise, we’re not going to have a Republican Party.” Further listening: “A Member of the ‘Seditious Six’ on Reviving the Democratic Party,” an episode of The Political Scene featuring Jason Crow New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Join host David Remnick as he discusses the latest in politics, news, and current events in conversation with political leaders, newsmakers, innovators, New Yorker staff writers, authors, actors, and musicians. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In 2025, as ICE was struggling to meet an impossible goal of three thousand immigration arrests per day, the agency took an unprecedented step: picking people up when they arrived at immigration court. These were immigrants seeking legal status through appropriate channels. The staff writer Jonathan Blitzer, who has been reporting on immigration for over a decade, tells the story of one man detained this way, a Guinean refugee who was seeking asylum after a severe beating and death threats by his government. His first name is Alsainy, and his story exemplifies the ways that the Trump Administration is sabotaging the system of legal immigration. Further reading: “Inside ICE’s Largest Detention Center,” by Jonathan Blitzer “For the Nation’s Birthday, Making It Harder to Become an American,” by Jonathan Blitzer “Trump’s Mass-Detention Campaign,” by Jonathan Blitzer New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Join host David Remnick as he discusses the latest in politics, news, and current events in conversation with political leaders, newsmakers, innovators, New Yorker staff writers, authors, actors, and musicians. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The film critic Richard Brody talks with David Remnick about three notable films this summer: Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” an epic adaptation of Homer’s poem, arriving amid buzz and huge advance ticket sales; the shoplifting comedy “I Love Boosters,” the second film from the sci-fi-inflected director Boots Riley; and “Remake,” the latest from the documentary legend Ross McElwee, in which he pays tribute to his late son, Adrian, an aspiring filmmaker. Further reading: “Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ Leaves the Gods in the Outtakes,” by Richard Brody “ ‘Remake’ Confronts a Father’s Grief and a Filmmaker’s Responsibility,” by Richard Brody “Why the Odyssey Keeps Defeating Filmmakers,” by David Denby “ ‘I Love Boosters,’ Reviewed: A Socialist-Surrealist Shoplifting Fantasy,” by Richard Brody New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Join host David Remnick as he discusses the latest in politics, news, and current events in conversation with political leaders, newsmakers, innovators, New Yorker staff writers, authors, actors, and musicians. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Rahm Emanuel is a Democratic Party elder, having served in the Clinton and Obama Administrations and as mayor of his native Chicago for two terms. He’s a centrist known for valuing political wins over ideology, making it especially notable that Emanuel recently gave a blistering speech in Israel, calling the country’s path “not sustainable politically.” He says that the United States should no longer grant Israel unconditional military support, and explains his own plan for a diplomatic Middle East solution that he calls a “twenty-three-state solution.” Emanuel, who hasn’t formally announced but appears to have embarked on a campaign for the 2028 Presidency, defends his position on trans rights, which has angered many on the left, and his contention that the Democratic Party is overly concerned with identity politics. Further reading: “Trump and Rahm Emanuel Both Love a Fight, Especially Against Each Other,” by Susan B. Glasser. “Rahm Emanuel’s Lessons for Hilary Clinton,” by Benjamin Wallace-Wells “The Sudden but Well-Deserved Fall of Rahm Emanuel,” by Rick Perlstein “Emanuel in Full,” by Lizzie Widdicombe New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Join host David Remnick as he discusses the latest in politics, news, and current events in conversation with political leaders, newsmakers, innovators, New Yorker staff writers, authors, actors, and musicians. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Department of Government Efficiency, better known as DOGE, has officially been terminated. Its July 4th sunset date was part of Donald Trump’s original executive order that created the agency, which Elon Musk ran. During his tenure, Musk oversaw the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D., which used to provide life-saving medical and nutritional programs around the world. Musk, who recently became the world’s first trillionaire, claims that there is no evidence that a single person died after DOGE cancelled more than eighty per cent of U.S.A.I.D.’s programs, cutting basic health-care access to some ninety-five million people. Atul Gawande disagrees. He was the assistant administrator for global health at U.S.A.I.D. until he stepped down, the same week Trump ended U.S. foreign assistance. Gawande says an estimated seven hundred thousand people have already died as a result of the cuts. David Remnick speaks with the longtime New Yorker contributor about the profound effects of ending U.S.A.I.D.’s work abroad, Musk’s involvement in these decisions, and the deaths it all has wrought. Further reading, viewing, and listening: “The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands,” film by Thomas Jennings and Annie Wong, text by Atul Gawande “Hundreds of Thousands Will Die,” an episode of The New Yorker Radio Hour “Behind the Chaotic Attempt to Freeze Federal Assistance,” by Atul Gawande New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Follow the show wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

With all the sports news at play this summer, from the New York Knicks winning the N.B.A. Finals to Donald Trump having a direct impact on FIFA’s decisions during the World Cup, it’s time for a deep dive into the biggest sports moments of late. The New Yorker sportswriter Louisa Thomas and David Remnick talk about the most significant stories of the week, and what to keep an eye on in the days and weeks ahead. Further reading, viewing, and listening: “The U.S. Crashes Out of the World Cup,” by Louisa Thomas “Serena Williams Returns to Wimbledon,” by Louisa Thomas “The Knicks Win the N.B.A. Title: A Post-Game Conversation,” with David Remnick, Vinson Cunningham, and Louisa Thomas New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Follow the show wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The comedian Fred Armisen has a thing for sound: he’s a former punk-rocker who gets a lot of comic mileage from doing accents, and he released an album of sound effects—a modern update of a novelty genre from his youth. “100 Sound Effects” came out last year, on the venerable indie label Drag City. The track titles are themselves little punch lines: “Guitar Tuned but Still Somehow Out of Tune,” “Supportive Booing at a Speech,” and “Terrified Audience at an Authoritarian Nation Official Event.” Armisen talked with the staff writer Michael Schulman about sound effects and the origins of his love for accents, and they went out to do some sound recording of their own on the summer streets of New York. This segment was produced with assistance from John DeLore. This segment originally aired on August 29, 2025. Further reading: “Fred Armisen Goes Bang! Zip! Zoop!,” by Michael Schulman “Shakespeare, Off the Cuff,” by Mike O’Brien and Fred Armisen New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Join host David Remnick as he discusses the latest in politics, news, and current events in conversation with political leaders, newsmakers, innovators, New Yorker staff writers, authors, actors, and musicians. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The unofficial anthem of New York City is “Empire State of Mind,” the Jay-Z song with that unforgettable hook, sung by Alicia Keys. So it was only fitting that when New York celebrated the Knicks’ N.B.A. Finals victory, Keys took the stage at City Hall to sing it. It was a classic New York moment, for an artist who is herself a true New Yorker. In her musical, “Hell’s Kitchen,” Keys uses her songs to tell the story of a teen-ager growing up, like Keys, in the titular Manhattan neighborhood, near Times Square—a “place of the have-nots,” as she told David Remnick, with “this unique balance between that grime, and the potential of Broadway.” They spoke when “Hell’s Kitchen” was in previews; it went on to win two Tony Awards, and recently began a national tour. This segment originally aired on March 29, 2024. Further reading: “‘Hell’s Kitchen’ Brings Alicia Keys’s Musical Power to the Public,” by Helen Shaw New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Join host David Remnick as he discusses the latest in politics, news, and current events in conversation with political leaders, newsmakers, innovators, New Yorker staff writers, authors, actors, and musicians. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.