The Washington Roundtable discusses the fallout of the White House releasing, and then rescinding, a memo intended to freeze trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans. The incident, as well as this week’s Senate confirmation hearings for controversial Cabinet nominees such as Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Kash Patel, offers Democrats an opportunity to seize control of the narrative—if they can get organized, Sheldon Whitehouse, the Democratic senator from Rhode Island, says. “If what Democrats are doing is running around calling them chaotic and incompetent, that’s not going to win the day unless those charges are connected to actual harms happening to regular people.”

This week’s reading:

• “Donald Trump’s Cabinet of Revenge,” by Susan B. Glasser
• “Trump’s Orders Sow Chaos Inside the Nation’s Enforcer of Equal Opportunity,” by E. Tammy Kim
• “Kash Patel’s Political-Persecution Fantasies,” by Tess Owen
• “Behind the Chaotic Attempt to Freeze Federal Assistance,” by Atul Gawande
• “The Junk Science of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.,” by Clare Malone
• “How Donald Trump Seizes the Primal Power of Naming,” by Jessica Winter
• “Trump’s Attempt to Redefine America,” by Benjamin Wallace-Wells

Tune in wherever you get your podcasts.

To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker, visit newyorker.com/podcasts. To send in feedback on this episode, write to [email protected] with “The Political Scene” in the subject line.

On Tuesday, the Trump Administration sent out a memo attempting to put a blanket pause on most federal funding, sowing confusion about financing for  student loans, SNAP benefits, nonprofits, and more. The next day, after a backlash, the Administration rescinded the memo, while maintaining that a freeze remains in “full force and effect.” The order created chaos across the federal government, threatening a power struggle between the President, Congress, and the courts. The New Yorker contributor and Harvard Law professor Jeannie Suk Gersen joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss how Trump’s directives are testing how far a President can go.  

This week’s reading:

• “Trump's Attempt to Redefine America,” by Benjamin Wallace-Wells
• “The Unchecked Authority of Trump's Immigration Orders,” by Jonathan Blitzer
• “Donald Trump Throws the Doors to the Patriot Wing Open,” by Antonia Hitchens
• “Trump Is Already Drowning Us in Outrages,” by Susan B. Glasser
• “Britain’s Foreign Secretary Braces for the Second Trump Age,” by Sam Knight

To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker, visit newyorker.com/podcasts. To send feedback on this episode, write to [email protected].

The Washington Roundtable discusses President Trump’s first week in office, during which he broke a record for the most executive orders any modern-day President has signed on Day One. The President’s inaugural address and barrage of orders seemed driven by a sense of grievance, accrued in the course of four years out of office, four criminal prosecutions, and a deep desire for revenge. Will an apparatus of rage, taking form as vengeance, ultimately inhibit the government from performing its functions? Plus, they discuss the Episcopal Bishop Marianne Buddy’s remarks at the interfaith prayer service, and the importance of speaking truth to power. 

This week’s reading:

• “Trump Is Already Drowning Us in Outrages,” by Susan B. Glasser
• “The Unchecked Authority of Trump’s Immigration Orders,” by Jonathan Blitzer
• “The Big Tech Takeover of American Politics,” by Jay Caspian Kang
• “Why Is the Mastermind of Trump’s Tariff Plan Still Sitting at Home in Florida?,” by Benjamin Wallace-Wells
• “How Much Power Does President Trump Have?,” by Jeannie Suk Gersen
• “Donald Trump Invents an Energy Emergency,” by Bill McKibben
• “What Trump 2.0 Means for Ukraine and the World,” by Isaac Chotiner

To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker, visit newyorker.com/podcasts. To send in feedback on this episode, write to [email protected] with “The Political Scene” in the subject line.

Within hours of his Inauguration, and shortly after proclaiming that his victory had been preordained by God, Donald Trump signed dozens of executive orders. These included exiting the World Health Organization, attempting to end birthright citizenship in the United States, and renaming the Gulf of Mexico. He also issued pardons for hundreds of the January 6th convicts. David Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker, joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss what Trump’s first days back in office portend for the next four years. “[Trump] hasn’t changed one iota,” Remnick says, “except that his confidence has increased, and his base has increased, and the obedience of the Republican Party leadership is absolute.”

This week’s reading:

• “Donald Trump’s Inaugural Day of Vindication,” by Susan B. Glasser
• “Donald Trump Plays Church,” by Vinson Cunningham.
• “ ‘An Oligarchy Is Taking Shape,’ ” by David Remnick
• “What Trump 2.0 Means for Ukraine and the World,” by Isaac Chotiner
• “Donald Trump Returns to Washington,” by Antonia Hitchens
• “Donald Trump Invents an Energy Emergency,” by Bill McKibben

To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker, visit newyorker.com/podcasts. To send feedback on this episode, write to [email protected].

The Washington Roundtable discusses this week’s confirmation hearings for Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense and Pam Bondi as Attorney General, and the potential for a “shock and awe” campaign in the first days of Donald Trump’s second term. Plus, as billionaires from many industries gather around the dais on Inauguration Day, what should we make of President Biden’s warning, in the waning days of his Administration, about “an oligarchy taking shape in America”? 

This week’s reading:

• ““The Trump Effect”: On Deal-Making and Credit-Claiming in Trump 2.0,” by Susan B. Glasser
• “The Pressure Campaign to Get Pete Hegseth Confirmed as Defense Secretary,” by Jane Mayer
• “Why the Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Is Happening Now,” by Isaac Chotiner
• “ ‘An Oligarchy Is Taking Shape,’ ” by David Remnick
• “How Much of the Government Can Donald Trump Dismantle?” by Jeannie Suk Gersen
• “The Shock of a Gaza Ceasefire Deal,” by Ruth Margalit

To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker, visit newyorker.com/podcasts. To send in feedback on this episode, write to [email protected] with “The Political Scene” in the subject line.

The Eaton and Palisades fires continue to wreak destruction across Los Angeles. They are predicted to become the most expensive fire recovery in American history. As the fires have burned, a torrent of right-wing rage has emerged online. Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and Charlie Kirk have attacked liberal mismanagement and blamed D.E.I. programs and “woke” politics for the destruction. Meanwhile, California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, has expressed concerns that the future Trump Administration may add conditions to federal financial-assistance relief for California, something that Republican Congress members have already floated. The New Yorker staff writer Jay Caspian Kang joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss what happens when disaster relief is swept up in the culture war. 

This week’s reading:

• “The Insurance Crisis That Will Follow the California Fires,” by Elizabeth Kolbert
• “On the Ground During L.A.’s Wildfire Emergency,” by Emily Witt
• “An Arson Attack in Puerto Rico,” by Graciela Mochkofsky
• “Elon Musk’s Latest Terrifying Foray Into British Politics,” By Sam Knight
• “The Pressure Campaign to Get Pete Hegseth Confirmed as Defense Secretary,” by Jane Mayer

To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker, visit newyorker.com/podcasts. To send feedback on this episode, write to [email protected].

Representative Ro Khanna of California is in the Democrats’ Congressional Progressive Caucus. And although his district is in the heart of Silicon Valley—and he once worked as a lawyer for tech companies—Khanna is focussed on how Democrats can regain the trust of working-class voters. He knows tech moguls, he talks with them regularly, and he thinks that they are forming a dangerous oligarchy, to the detriment of everyone else. “This is more dangerous than petty corruption. This is more dangerous than, ‘Hey, they just want to maximize their corporation's wealth,’ ”he tells David Remnick. “This is an ideology amongst some that rejects the role of the state.” Although he’s an ally of Bernie Sanders, such as advocating for Medicare for All and free public college, Khanna is not a democratic socialist. He calls himself a progressive capitalist. Real economic growth, he says, requires “a belief in entrepreneurship and technology and in business leaders being part of the solution.”

The Washington Roundtable discusses Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to end its fact-checking program across Meta’s social-media sites. Instead, Meta will release a tool that allows readers to add context and corrections to posts, similar to the way one can leave a “community note” on X. What does this choice mean for truth online in the coming Trump Administration, and have “alternative facts,” as they were dubbed by Kellyanne Conway in 2017, won out? Plus, free speech in the era of Donald Trump, lawsuits brought against the mainstream media, and how journalists will cover President Trump’s second Administration.

This week’s reading:

• “King Donald and the Presidents at the National Cathedral,” by Susan B. Glasser
• “Why the MAGA Fight Over H-1B Visas Is Crossing Party Lines,” by John Cassidy
• “Lauren Boebert’s Survival Instincts,” by Peter Hessler

Tune in wherever you get your podcasts.

After nearly a decade as Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau has resigned from office. His stepping down follows a years-long decline in popularity, which stands in sharp contrast to his meteoric rise in 2015. It now seems likely that the Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, whose far-right populist support some have likened to Trump’s MAGA movement, will attain Canada’s highest office. The New Yorker staff writer Adam Gopnik joins the show to discuss Trudeau’s descent, Poilievre’s ascent, expectations for the upcoming parliamentary election, and what the future of Canadian politics may hold. 

This week’s reading:

• “Why Justin Trudeau Had to Step Down,” by Adam Gopnik
• “How Much Do Democrats Need to Change?,” by Peter Slevin
• “Bourbon Street After the Terror,” by Paige Williams
• “How Sheriffs Might Power Trump’s Deportation Machine,” by Jessica Pishko
• “New Mexico’s Nuclear-Weapons Boom,” by Abe Streep 

To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker, visit newyorker.com/podcasts. To send feedback on this episode, write to [email protected].

The Political Scene will be back next week. In the meantime, enjoy a recent episode from The New Yorker’s Critics at Large podcast. Artists owe a great debt to ancient Rome. Over the years, it’s provided a backdrop for countless films and novels, each of which has put forward its own vision of the Empire and what it stood for. The hosts Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss the latest entry in that canon, Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator II,” which has drawn massive audiences and made hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office. The hosts also consider other texts that use the same setting, from the religious epic “Ben-Hur” to Sondheim’s farcical swords-and-sandals parody, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.” Recently, figures from across the political spectrum have leapt to lay claim to antiquity, even as new translations have underscored how little we really understand about these civilizations. “Make ancient Rome strange again. Take away the analogies,” Schwartz says. “Maybe that’s the appeal of the classics: to try to keep returning and understanding, even as we can’t help holding them up as a mirror.”

Read, watch, and listen with the critics:

“Gladiator II” (2024)

“I, Claudius” (1976)

“A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” (1966)

“The Last Temptation of Christ” (1988)

“Monty Python’s Life of Brian” (1979)

“Cleopatra” (1963)

“Spartacus” (1960)

“Ben-Hur” (1959)

“Gladiator” (2000)

“The End of History and the Last Man,” by Francis Fukuyama

“I, Claudius,” by Robert Graves

“I Hate to Say This, But Men Deserve Better Than Gladiator II,” by Alison Willmore (Vulture)

“On Creating a Usable Past,” by Van Wyck Brook (The Dial)

Emily Wilson’s translations of the Odyssey and the Iliad

New episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts.

The New Yorker staff writer Jay Caspian Kang joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss efforts by the U.S. government to rein in social media, including the latest attempt to ban TikTok. While Kang agrees that society should be more conscientious about how we, especially children, use social media, he argues that efforts to ban these apps also violate the First Amendment. 

“Social media has become the public square, even if it is privately owned,” he says. 

This episode was originally published in March, 2024.

This week’s reading:

• “The Misguided Attempt to Control Tiktok,” by Jay Caspian Kang

To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker, visit newyorker.com/podcasts. To send feedback on this episode, write to [email protected].