Government & Politics

A podcast cottage industry that first emerged in the 2016 presidential election is drawing to a close. Critic Nick Quah wonders if the shows, designed to help explain the chaos, simply added to it.

Less than three weeks into the new Biden administration, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease expert who has headed up the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, is encouraged by the new president's approach to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fauci has worked with seven presidents, from Ronald Reagan to Joe Biden. Much of his career has been devoted to researching viruses and the immune system.

Historian Russell Shorto, delved into his own family and his grandfather who was a mob boss in the industrial town of Johnstown, Pa. Shorto says his grandfather's involvement with the Johnstown mob initially began as an offshoot of Prohibition, which opened doors for Italian Americans facing employment discrimination.

Now that former President Donald Trump has left office, the community of believers in the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory are left wondering what will happen next. Washington Post national technology reporter Craig Timberg has written about QAnon and related subjects in recent months.

My Year Abroad is Chang-rae Lee's new exuberant novel that takes readers on an excursion out of the New Jersey suburbs and across the Pacific into some of the more luxurious reaches of Asian megacities.

Journalist Jon Fasman says local police are frequently able to access very powerful surveillance tools — including publicly accessible CCTV cameras, automatic license plate readers and cell phone tracking devices — with little oversight. Fasman embedded with different police departments across the country to see how officers integrate technology into their day-to-day job.

The Human Factor gives a behind-the-scenes view of the peace effort between Israel and Palestine. We talk with filmmaker Dror Moreh and Dennis Ross, President Clinton's point man in the effort.

Evan Osnos talks about Joe Biden's enduring quest to become president. He says Biden has a different mindset today than he once had: "He's a man who is at peace." Originally broadcast Oct. 27, 2020.

Trump called climate change a hoax. Biden calls it an existential threat. Washington Post journalist Juliet Eilperin talks about how Biden might reverse some of his predecessor's policies.

From the March on Washington in 1963 up until his assassination in 1968, the FBI engaged in an intense campaign to discredit Martin Luther King Jr. and his work. Film director Sam Pollard chronicles those efforts in the new documentary, MLK/FBI.

Trotter was a Black newspaper editor in the early 20th century who advocated for civil rights by organizing mass protests. Historian Kerri Greenidge tells his story in her new book.

Film critic Justin Chang shares reviews of two new movies to watch at home. The thriller "Promising Young Woman," starring Carey Mulligan, can be found on various on-demand platforms. And the drama "Pieces Of A Woman," starring Vanessa Kirby, is on Netflix.

Adam Jentleson traces the history of the filibuster, which started as a tool of Southern senators upholding slavery and then later became a mechanism to block civil rights legislation.

The U.S. has only four percent of the world's population — and yet it accounts for 20 percent of all COVID deaths. New Yorker writer Lawrence Wright discusses America's pandemic year.

Maria Ressa has faced criminal charges, death threats and internet trolls because of her coverage of the Philippine president. She's the subject of a new PBS FRONTLINE documentary, A Thousand Cuts.

Kai Strittmatter's new book, We Have Been Harmonized: Life in China's Surveillance State, examines the role of surveillance in China's authoritarian state. He warns that Chinese President Xi Jinping, who came to power in 2012, has embraced an ideological rigidity unknown since the days of Mao Zedong.

Richard Nixon's first vice president resigned amid charges of bribery and tax evasion. Maddow and Mike Yarvitz revisit Agnew's story in the podcast (and now book) Bag Man. Originally broadcast in '19.

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman covered Trump before he was President and during his presidency. She gives us her perspective on his tenure in office, and his behavior now that he has to leave the office.

Brittany Barnett works on behalf of people serving harsh sentences as a result of the war on drugs. Nine of her clients have been granted clemency. Her new memoir is A Knock at Midnight.