The Washington Roundtable reflects on the stories they’ve been following this summer, touching on the “power mourners” at Lindsey Graham’s funeral, Anthony Fauci’s diaries and Senate hearing, and China’s usurping of the U.S. in global power. Plus, the hosts share what books they’re reading. 

This week’s reading:

• “The Outlandish Case Against James Comey,” by Ruth Marcus

• “Which Way Should the Democratic Party Go Now?,” by Benjamin Wallace-Wells

• “Will Left-Wing Democrats Reinvent the Party or Hurt Its Chances in November?,” by Isaac Chotiner

• “How Donald Trump Silenced the Voice of America,” by Marc Fisher

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The New Yorker contributor Mike Spies joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss the story of a woman who lost two partners to suicide by firearm and then spent years in a legal battle with the National Rifle Association over her late partner’s retirement savings. They talk about the role that gun ownership and decades of messaging from the N.R.A. played in her second partner’s descent into paranoia, extremism, and abuse. They also explore the link between firearm access and suicide, how gun-rights organizations have sought to cast doubt on research connecting the two, and the current state of the debate over gun rights and gun safety.

This episode mentions suicide and suicidal thoughts. If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 or chat at 988Lifeline.org. 

This week’s reading:

• “A Woman Lost Two Partners to Guns—Then the N.R.A. Came to Collect,” by Mike Spies
• “Trump’s Isolationism Is Losing the Great E.V. Race,” by Bill McKibben
• “The Department of Labored Content,” by Brady Brickner-Wood
• “How Netanyahu’s Top General Became His Strongest Challenger,” by David Remnick
• “Which Way Should the Democratic Party Go Now?,” by Benjamin Wallace-Wells

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1. 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. 
2. 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.”

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The Washington Roundtable is joined by Carl Hulse, the New York Times’ chief Washington correspondent, to discuss Congress’s dwindling role in the American political system. Why are Congress members passing fewer bills than their predecessors? Why can the institution no longer complete basic tasks of governing, such as passing a budget on time? Are representatives more interested in being social-media stars than crafting legislation? The panel analyzes why Congress has increasingly surrendered its power to the President, in areas as diverse as tariffs and the war in Iran. “Once you give up power, you never get it back in Washington,” Hulse says.

This week’s reading:

• “The White House Press Corps in the Second Trump Era,” by Katy Waldman
• “The Complications of Graham Platner’s Veteran Identity,” by Jasper Craven
• “Maine’s Mad Scramble to Replace Graham Platner,” by Jason Zengerle
• “Trump’s War on Journalists,” by Ruth Marcus

The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine’s writers and editors as they put into context the latest news—about elections, the economy, the White House, the Supreme Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week. 

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The New Yorker staff writer David D. Kirkpatrick joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss the Biden Administration’s failure to restrain Israel during its military campaign in Gaza. They talk about what Kirkpatrick has learned from former senior members of Biden’s national-security team—some of whom spoke on the record about key decisions during the conflict for the first time—and how previously undisclosed documents and revelations point to the Administration’s failure to rein in the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and to reduce Palestinian civilian casualties. They also explore why the former officials are now speaking candidly about their missteps, and whether the Administration’s approach to Israel helped shape the conditions that led to the current war with Iran.

This week’s reading:

• “How Biden Enabled Israel’s Aggression Toward Gaza—and Iran,” by David D. Kirkpatrick
• “María Corina Machado’s Opposition in Exile,” by Stephania Taladrid
• “Donald Trump’s Election-Fraud Bait and Switch,” by Ruth Marcus
• “Can Andy Burnham’s Manchesterism Save the U.K.’s Center Left?,” by John Cassidy
• “Donald Trump’s Ad-Lib Strategy on Iran,” by Robin Wright 

The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine’s writers and editors as they put into context the latest news—about elections, the economy, the White House, the Supreme Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week. 

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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

The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine’s writers and editors as they put into context the latest news—about elections, the economy, the White House, the Supreme Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week. 

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The Washington Roundtable discusses Donald Trump’s latest attempt to relitigate the 2020 election. In a prime-time speech on Thursday, he argued that newly declassified documents suggest that U.S. election systems are vulnerable. “He described interference in the election in alarming terms,” the staff writer Jane Mayer says. “But there was absolutely no final bottom line where he was able to prove that a single vote was stolen.” The panel explores how false claims about past elections could serve as a pretext for federal intervention in the midterms, especially if issues like the war with Iran continue to depress the President’s approval rating and hurt Republicans’ chances.

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Dave Regan, the president of the prominent California union S.E.I.U.-United Healthcare Workers West, joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss Proposition 40, a ballot measure that would impose a one-time, five-per-cent tax on the net worth of the state’s billionaires. They talk about the origins of the initiative—which came in response to cuts to health care from Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act—and how the political fight over the proposition fits into the broader wave of populist politics and a growing appetite for challenging the wealthy. They also explore the opposition from a handful of wealthy Silicon Valley figures, who have spent more than a hundred million dollars to defeat the measure. California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, and some health-care organizations have expressed concerns that the tax could drive the ultra-wealthy out of the state and would fail to provide a long-term funding solution for public services. Whether the ballot measure fails or passes, does the fight over Proposition 40 signal a broader shift toward more ambitious efforts to tax the wealthy?

This week’s reading:

• “How Ukraine Brought the War to Russia,” by Joshua Yaffa
• “Inside ICE’s Largest Detention Center,” by Jonathan Blitzer
• “Democratic Schadenfreude and the Latino Vote,” by Jack Herrera
• “The Remaking of Lindsey Graham,” by Ruth Marcus
• “An O.M.B. Plan to Defund Science—and Anything Trump Doesn’t Like,” by Elizabeth Kolbert

The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine’s writers and editors as they put into context the latest news—about elections, the economy, the White House, the Supreme Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week. 

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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

The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine’s writers and editors as they put into context the latest news—about elections, the economy, the White House, the Supreme Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week. 

Tune in to The Political Scene wherever you get your podcasts.

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The Washington Roundtable digs into the stunning collapse of Graham Platner’s Senate campaign in Maine, and what it means for the Democratic Party’s performance in the upcoming midterms. The hosts are joined by Neera Tanden, the president and C.E.O. of the Center for American Progress and a former adviser to President Joe Biden. The panel grapples with the pressing question of how the Party might resolve some of its ideological divisions and position itself to attract voters looking for an alternative to Donald Trump. Across the board, Americans are seeking a break from the status quo, Tanden argues—regardless of where a given candidate falls on the political spectrum. “People want action,” she says. “It’s not ideological as much as people are hungry for ideas.” 

This week’s reading:

• “Graham Platner’s Point of No Return,” by Jon Allsop

• “Michigan Is the Next Big Test for the Democratic Party,” by Jason Zengerle

• “Trump and NATO Court Erdoğan, Turkey’s Strongman,” by Ishaan Tharoor

• “How Political Is This Supreme Court?,” by Isaac Chotiner

Tune in to The Political Scene wherever you get your podcasts.

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The New Yorker contributing writer Ruth Marcus joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss the Supreme Court’s now concluded term and what some of the recent decisions indicate about the bench’s willingness to check President Trump’s use of executive power. They talk about the Court’s rulings on immigration, transgender athletes, the President’s authority to fire heads of independent federal agencies, and what various opinions reveal about the Republican-appointed justices’ tendency to side with the Trump Administration. They also explore the Court’s rejection of Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship, and whether the ruling should be seen as a reassuring defense of settled law or a warning that even long-established constitutional protections may be more vulnerable than they once appeared.

This week’s reading:

• “The Supreme Court Enables Trump’s Cruel Immigration Agenda,” by Ruth Marcus
• “The Supreme Court’s Check on Trump’s Power Was Too Close for Comfort,” by Ruth Marcus
• “How Political Is This Supreme Court?,” by Isaac Chotiner
• “Behind the Supreme Court’s Ruling on Transgender Athletes,” by Jeannie Suk Gersen
• “The Supreme Court Upheld Birthright Citizenship—but the Fight May Not Be Over,” by Amy Davidson Sorkin

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