What A Day

Crooked Media

If you’re looking for hype, fake outrage, and groupthink, kindly keep moving. Our mission at What a Day is simple: to be your guide to what truly matters each morning (and the fun stuff you might have missed) in just 20 minutes. Host Jane Coaston brings you in-depth reporting and substantive analysis on the big stories shaping today and the creeping trends shaping tomorrow—and when she doesn’t know the answers, she asks someone even smarter to fill us all in. Radical, right? New episodes at 5:00 a.m. EST, Monday–Friday in your favorite podcast app and on YouTube. Being informed was never this easy.

  • 21 minutes 48 seconds
    Trump Launches Tariff-Palooza

    Wednesday was ‘Liberation Day’ in Trump’s America. For everyone else, it was a day of sheer economic panic, as President Donald Trump unveiled heavy 'reciprocal' tariffs on dozens of countries, on top of a 10 percent blanket tariff on all imports. Trump billed it all as a fool-proof strategy to bring back American jobs that have moved overseas, and said specifically the levies would be a boon for unionized workers at domestic car companies. But Trump is no friend to unionized labor. He's spent the days since his inauguration slashing thousands of unionized government jobs. Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, talks about how unions are fighting back.

    And in headlines: Wisconsinites gave Elon Musk the middle finger by sending a liberal judge to their state Supreme Court, a federal judge dismissed corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and Amazon makes an eleventh-hour bid to buy TikTok.

    Show Notes:

    3 April 2025, 7:30 am
  • 25 minutes 1 second
    Why Planned Parenthood Is Back In Front Of SCOTUS

    The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments today in a big case about healthcare access and Planned Parenthood. The years-long court fight centers on South Carolina’s bid to push the reproductive care provider off the state’s Medicaid program. The actual question in front of the justices is a technical one, but a decision in South Carolina’s favor could prompt a wave of states to strip Medicaid funding away from Planned Parenthood. Alexis McGill Johnson, Planned Parenthood’s president, explains what’s at stake in the case.

    And in headlines: Attorney General Pam Bondi said she would seek the death penalty for the man charged with murdering UnitedHealthcare’s CEO, the Trump administration admitted it made an ‘administrative error’ in deporting a Maryland father with protected legal status to El Salvador, and mass layoffs began at the Department of Health and Human Services.

    Show Notes:

    2 April 2025, 7:30 am
  • 25 minutes 38 seconds
    Trump's TBD Tariffs

    Economists, Wall Street traders — really, anyone who has a stake in the health of the U.S. economy — are all holding their breaths right now ahead of President Donald Trump’s planned ‘Liberation Day’ Wednesday. That’s when he’s promised to put in place a slew of new tariffs on imported goods from all over the world. But the scope of Trump’s plans is still unclear, and that’s injecting a ton of uncertainty into an already uncertain economy, all while polls show voters are losing confidence in the president’s ability to bring down prices. Neil Irwin, chief economic correspondent for Axios, explains what Trump’s murky tariff plans could mean for average Americans.

    And in headlines: Republicans sweat over a pair of special Congressional elections in Florida today, the Trump administration said it deported more alleged gang members to El Salvador, and Attorney General Pam Bondi told the Justice Department to drop a Biden-era lawsuit against a Georgia voting law.

    Show Notes:

    1 April 2025, 7:30 am
  • 25 minutes
    Musk Throws Millions Into Wisc. Supreme Court Race

    Wisconsin voters will head to the polls Tuesday (if they haven’t already) to choose a new member of the State Supreme Court. The race between two state circuit court judges — liberal Susan Crawford and conservative Brad Schimel — is now the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history, in no small part because the winner will decide control of the key swing state's highest court. But also because Elon Musk and his allies have been pouring millions into the race. Ben Wikler, chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, explains what's at stake in Tuesday's race.

    And in headlines: President Donald Trump called up NBC to say some crazy shit, Iran rejected direct negotiations with the U.S. over its nuclear program, and the death toll from a massive earthquake in Myanmar climbed to around 1,700.

    Show notes:

    31 March 2025, 7:30 am
  • 26 minutes 50 seconds
    Is Any Immigrant Safe In Trump's America?

    The Trump administration spends a lot of time trumpeting all the ways it’s cracking down on immigrants in the United States. From the very public raids in sanctuary cities that defined the first few weeks of Trump’s second term, to sending Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem down to El Salvador this week to pose in front of alleged gang members at a massive prison, the White House wants people to believe it’s nabbing all the bad guys. But arrest data shows that we may be seeing a shift in who the administration is targeting for deportation. Ted Hesson, immigration reporter for Reuters, explains what’s happening on the ground.

    And in headlines: The Health and Human Services Department said it wants to lay off 10,000 full-time employees, Attorney General Pam Bondi suggests the Justice Department won’t pursue criminal investigations over Signal-gate, and President Trump withdrew his nomination of Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik to be the next U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

    Show Notes:

    28 March 2025, 7:30 am
  • 26 minutes 27 seconds
    Trump’s Next Chat Scandal: The Coverup

    The Atlantic published the entire Signal conversation centered on strikes on Houthi militants in Yemen between multiple administration officials and, mistakenly, Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg. Paul Rosenzweig, the former deputy assistant secretary for policy at the Department of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush, joins us to give us some context on the scale of the Signalgate scandal and what it would mean under any other president.

    And in headlines: Trump announced 25% tariffs on imported cars, the Supreme Court upheld requirements to regulate ghost-guns, and a Democrat defied all odds and flipped a seat in the Pennsylvania State Senate.

    Show Notes:

    27 March 2025, 7:30 am
  • 24 minutes 32 seconds
    This Group Chat Should Have Been An Email feat. Sen. Mark Warner

    Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe were on Capitol Hill Tuesday for what was supposed to be a routine annual hearing in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Except it ended up being anything but routine, coming one day after The Atlantic published a damning report about how top Trump officials shared imminent battle plans in a private group chat on Signal. President Donald Trump and other top White House officials spent the day insisting no classified information was shared in that group chat. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, explains why their claims are hard to believe.

    And later in the show, Wall Street Journal National Security reporter Alex Ward talks about why Signal-gate is such a big deal.

    And in headlines: Russia and Ukraine agree to a partial ceasefire, the Department of Homeland Security said it has stopped processing some Green Card applications, and some Florida lawmakers have a solution to fill jobs vacated by deported migrants: child labor!

    Show Notes:

    26 March 2025, 7:30 am
  • 22 minutes 19 seconds
    Sec. Pete Hegseth Is In My DMs

    Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin has been busy since assuming office earlier this year. Zeldin's been pushing President Donald Trump's climate agenda by rolling back Biden-era climate protections, deregulating businesses, and cutting staff at the agency. Former EPA Administrator and White House National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy joins us to discuss how states and cities are stepping up to protect their communities and the planet.

    And in headlines: A reporter claimed that Trump administration officials disclosed war plans in a group chat on the messaging app Signal, the Supreme Court rejects challenge to a landmark freedom of the press case, and President Trump announced Susan Monarez as his nominee to lead the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    Show Notes:

    25 March 2025, 7:30 am
  • 27 minutes 48 seconds
    Trump Wants To Be King

    In just about two months, President Donald Trump has managed to thoroughly shake U.S. democratic structures to the core. From firing thousands of federal workers and plunging the U.S. into a trade war, to testing the limits of our three supposedly coequal branches of government, it's been a lot to process. And the constant chaos makes it hard to grasp what's actually happening, big picture: Are we watching a wannabe strongman fumble through enacting a policy agenda that will likely prove to be deeply unpopular, or are we actually watching the end of American Democracy as we've known it for roughly the last century. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a professor at New York University and author of the book 'Strongmen,' explains what history can tell us about our current moment and what we can do about it.

    And in headlines: Venezuela said it would start accepting deportation flights from the U.S. again, Palestinian health officials said the death toll in Gaza has topped 50,000, and the White House said Second Lady Usha Vance is heading to Greenland… just for fun… scout's honor.

    Show Notes:

    24 March 2025, 7:30 am
  • 24 minutes 51 seconds
    The Miseducation Of Donald Trump feat. Former Sec. Arne Duncan

    President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to officially start shutting down the Department of Education. The thing is... he can't do that, at least not unilaterally. Shutting down the Education Department will require an act of Congress. But the Trump administration has already done a pretty thorough job of gutting the department from the inside, cutting the DOE's staff in half earlier this month. Arne Duncan, who served as education secretary under President Barack Obama, talks about the potential catastrophes on the horizon.

    And in headlines: Maryland Congressman Glenn Ivey became the first sitting Democrat to call on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to step down, a federal judge blocked the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing personal information on the Social Security Administration's data systems, and the United Kingdom and Germany issued travel warnings for the U.S.

    Show Notes:

    21 March 2025, 7:30 am
  • 25 minutes 24 seconds
    The Trump Administration's All-Out Assault On Judges

    Are we in a constitutional crisis? That’s the big question on the minds of legal experts across the country right now, as President Donald Trump and his allies ramp up attacks on federal judges who rule against him. The president’s latest beef is with the federal judge who tried to block his administration from deporting more than 250 migrants, mostly from Venezuela. A swath of the American Right, including billionaire Elon Musk, has now decided that if federal judges won’t back Trump at every legal turn, they should be impeached and removed from the bench. Leah Litman, co-host of Crooked’s legal podcast ‘Strict Scrutiny,’ stops by to talk about this moment and its legal significance.

    Later in the show, Crooked Climate Correspondent Anya Zoledziowski breaks down the craziness happening at the Environmental Protection Agency.

    And in headlines: The Federal Reserve kept interest rates flat and warned Trump’s tariffs have thrown the economy's health into question, Trump said he had a ‘very good telephone call' with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about a ceasefire with Russia, and Attorney General Pam Bondi called a recent string of vandalism attacks on Tesla dealerships ‘nothing short of domestic terrorism.’

    Show Notes:

    20 March 2025, 7:30 am
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