Political Theater
416 episodes - English - Latest episode: 9 days ago - ★★★★★ - 40 ratingsHave you ever asked, “WTF?,” about politics? Or, “who are these people making decisions about my life?” Political Theater pulls back the curtain on the stunts, antics and motivations that drive Washington. Host Jason Dick and the Roll Call team spotlight the spectacle, the players and what’s going on behind the curtain in Washington’s long-running drama: Congress.
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Episodes
Democrats Cashing In on 2018 Midterms
July 18, 2018 13:20 - 18 minutesMidterm elections typically have lower voter turnout than presidential ones. If that turns out to be the case in 2018, it won't be because of a lack of cash or candidates. In short, the midterm cycle is awash in campaign money. Breaking down some of the gobsmacking amounts and what it means for the control of Congress are Roll Call political correspondents Simone Pathé and Bridget Bowman on the latest Political Theater podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
When Political ‘Dark Money’ Rode to Town
July 11, 2018 11:00 - 22 minutesFilmmaker Kimberly Reed grew up in Montana with little anticipation her home state would be ground zero for a massive fight over money in politics. But her new documentary, “Dark Money,” tells a tale worthy of any Western, as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle fight for their own prerogatives in the face of out-of-state interests gunning for them. With the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, the high court’s role as the ultimate referee over money’s role in politics is bac...
A Peek at Congress
July 03, 2018 11:00 - 17 minutesRoll Call photographers Tom Williams @pennstatetom and Bill Clark @billclarkphotos describe their time covering Congress and how they came to take some of the most iconic Hill photos, featured in the new book Under the Dome by Political Theater host Jason Dick. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Joe Crowley Down
June 27, 2018 16:38 - 15 minutesNew York's Democratic primary has delivered the latest shock to the political system: the loss of House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joseph Crowley. Roll Call Elections Analyst Nathan Gonzales discusses how the results show the Democratic establishment just isn't what it used to be. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What the Congressional Softball Game Says About Lawmakers
June 20, 2018 09:00 - 16 minutesJournalists and lawmakers face off at the annual Congressional Women’s Softball Game, an event that Roll Call political Reporter Bridget Bowman and Texas Tribune Bureau Chief Abby Livingston say provides a respite from Capitol Hill partisanship. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Congressional Baseball Game Enters New Era
June 13, 2018 20:07 - 16 minutesThe annual Congressional Baseball Game has for years allowed lawmakers and staff a light-hearted outlet for their competitive drive. That changed a bit last year with a tragic shooting that ultimately helped cement the Capitol community, even though politics are never far removed. Roll Call Elections Analyst Nathan Gonzales discusses the game, politics and how it all fits on the latest Political Theater podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
No Recess For You!
June 06, 2018 18:47 - 14 minutesSenate Republicans cancelled the August recess, citing historic obstruction by Democrats. But when you crunch the numbers, the delay tactics are far from historic, according to CQ Senate Managing Editor Ed Pesce. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
50 Years Later, Bobby Kennedy for President Lives On
May 30, 2018 14:33 - 18 minutesThe Netflix documentary series “Bobby Kennedy for President” marks the upcoming 50th anniversary of the late senator and presidential candidate’s assassination in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968. The four-part series by documentarian Dawn Porter shows the evolution of Kennedy from campaign manager, attorney general, senator and presidential candidate, and outlines the evolution of his political beliefs from rough-and-tumble family fixer and anti-communist to civil rights icon. Porter discussed ...
Roseanne, Donald Glover and Desperate-Class TV
May 23, 2018 20:26 - 22 minutesPresident Donald Trump is a television fan and a polarizing figure in American culture. Two critically acclaimed television shows that just wrapped up their seasons reflect the political, cultural and economic anxieties of the era of Trump, CQ Staff Writer and cultural observer Clyde McGrady tells Jason Dick in this week’s Political Theater podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Keystone Races Now Set in Keystone State
May 16, 2018 17:38 - 16 minutesWomen were big winners in Tuesday's primaries as they are poised to change the midterm dynamics in states like Nebraska and Pennsylvania, explains Roll Call senior political reporter Bridget Bowman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Joe Manchin and the Mountain State Midterm Melee
May 09, 2018 20:20 - 16 minutesWest Virginia Republicans lined up for the right to take on incumbent Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin III, and after a knock-down, drag-out fight, state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey emerged as the victor. Roll Call Senior Political Reporter Simone Pathe talks about her recent trip to the Mountain State and what it told her about the midterm fight ahead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Unlikely Pop Icon
May 02, 2018 15:17 - 19 minutesSupreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a bona fide pop icon, perhaps strange territory for an 85-year-old, diminutive, reserved constitutional scholar. In the latest Political Theater podcast, filmmakers Betsy West and Julie Cohen speak about their documentary, “RBG,” including what it was like to be in the same theater when Ginsburg saw their movie at the Sundance Film Festival. The documentary opens in theaters on May 4. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Midterm Takeaways From the Duel in the Desert
April 25, 2018 18:52 - 16 minutesRepublican Debbie Lesko won a close House race in an Arizona district that is usually very friendly to her party. As the midterm election season continues to heat up, Political Theater looks at the takeaways from this duel in the desert with Roll Call Elections Analyst Nathan Gonzales and Senior Political Reporter Bridget Bowman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Tending to the Congressional Mind, Body and Spirit
April 18, 2018 20:10 - 17 minutesMembers of Congress are the players we see on stage, but the production that is politics would go nowhere without the backstage people making up the staff — the chaplains, sergeants-at-arms, chiefs of staff and more who make sure the show goes on. Ed Pesce, the editor of CQ Senate and a former congressional staffer himself, talks about those dynamics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Paul Ryan Departure Leaves GOP Spinning
April 11, 2018 20:32 - 17 minutesSpeaker Paul D. Ryan's announcement that he will not seek re-election once he finishes out his term has set off a scramble on several fronts including who will bring in the boatloads of cash that he raised for the GOP. CQ lobbying reporter Kate Ackley and Inside Elections' Nathan Gonzales explain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Trump Makes a Run for the Border
April 04, 2018 21:11 - 8 minutesPresident Donald Trump's desire to have the National Guard help patrol the Southern border is not all that different from actions taken by former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, but that does not mean there are not areas of concern about the action, says CQ's national security editor Megan Scully. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Looking Forward to Being a Former Member of Congress
March 28, 2018 13:00 - 16 minutesWondering what former members of Congress do after leaving Capitol Hill? Perhaps that's why the U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress was formed, to keep tabs. Roll Call's Niels Lesniewski attended the Association's recent Statesmanship Awards Dinner, where current and former members exchanged some fairly interesting ideas about Congress, and even gossiped a bit about the people who sleep in their offices. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Lessons for the Opioid Epidemic from the Ebola Fight
March 21, 2018 15:47 - 18 minutesThe opioid epidemic is a massive public health crisis that Washington is only now starting to grasp. Reid Wilson, national correspondent for the Hill, has a new book about the last time the U.S. government got things right in facing a deadly challenge, and it was only a few years ago. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Democrats Roar Over Conor Lamb
March 14, 2018 20:39 - 14 minutesThe special election result in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District has rocked the political world on its heels, with Democrat Conor Lamb’s success in the heavily Republican region setting off a fresh round of speculation about the 2018 midterms. Roll Call Senior Political Reporter Bridget Bowman, who reported from the area recently, was at the Capitol gauging reaction from members of Congress after the latest round of political jousting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megap...
Politics' Thin Line Between Laughing and Cringing
March 07, 2018 19:37 - 18 minutesIn light of Tuesday's 74th Annual Congressional Dinner, Political Theater talks to Washington Post humor columnist Alexandra Petri about when satire works and when it doesn't. Warning: we have politicians telling jokes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A Looming Warning From 'The Looming Tower'
February 28, 2018 14:00 - 16 minutesHULU’s new mini-series “The Looming Tower” traces the rising threat of Al Qaeda in the runup to the 9/11 attacks and is adapted from Lawrence Wright’s Pulitzer Prize winning book. For today’s audience, the series shows eerie parallels to conflicts within our government that are dominating our politics today. Actor Jeff Daniels portrays plays FBI Special Agent in Charge John O'Neill, a counterterrorism specialist who sounds the alarm about the threat posed by Osama bin Laden and who was kille...
Meet Jan Rader: A West Virginia Heroin(e) in the Opioid Fight
February 21, 2018 10:00 - 18 minutesAmong the stars at next month's Oscars will be Huntington Fire Chief Jan Rader, one of the subjects of the Academy Award nominated Netflix documentary "Heroin(e)". She's a first responder on the front lines of the opioid crisis, and she's taken her message on the issue not just to the screen, but also to Capitol Hill. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
It's the Economy Stupid? Maybe Not
February 14, 2018 20:05 - 19 minutesRoll Call Political analyst Stu Rothenberg explains why GOP gains in a generic ballot represent just a part of the overall political picture and political reporter Bridget Bowman previews Arizona's upcoming special election. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Lone Star Midterm Lowdown
February 07, 2018 19:33 - 16 minutesTexas kicks off primary season in less than a month, and will shape midterm contests that could help determine majorities in the House and the Senate. Roll Call Senior Political Writer Bridget Bowman and Jason Dick run down everything from the marquee Senate race to the House campaigns that lawmakers will definitely be breaking a sweat over. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Can The Trump Show Win Over a New Audience?
January 31, 2018 18:20 - 16 minutesBen Terris, national political reporter at The Washington Post, discusses with Roll Call how President Trump used his State of the Union to build congressional coalitions, and whether the speech will help or hurt the legislative agenda. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Senate Democrats’ High-Wire Act
January 24, 2018 19:19 - 15 minutesRoll Call political reporters Simone Pathé and Bridget Bowman discuss the Senate Democrats up for re-elections in the 2018 midterms in states won by Donald Trump and how that dynamic played in the recent government shutdown. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times in Obama's 'Final Year'
January 17, 2018 14:30 - 19 minutes“The Final Year,” director Greg Barker’s documentary about a year in the life of the Obama administration’s foreign policy team, opens this Friday in theaters. For this week’s Political Theater podcast, the filmmaker and President Obama's Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes recount the story they tell through a human lens. “I wanted to give a sense that these complicated policy issues are, in fact, being grappled with and decided on by ordinary people,” Barker says. Learn more about y...
Donald Trump Loves Football, But Does Football Love Him?
January 10, 2018 20:04 - 18 minutesThe Big Story Podcast is now Political Theater, in which we examine the spectacle of politics and how it fits, or doesn’t, into the nation’s culture. Brandon Wetherbee, managing editor of the arts and cultural website Brightest Young Things, and co-author of “The Donald: How Trump Turned Presidential Politics into Pro Wrestling,” discusses the president’s approach to sports and how it relates to politics and the pursuit of power. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A Big Finish for Trump's First Year; Can He Sell Conservative Accomplishments?
December 20, 2017 20:55 - 17 minutesThe biggest tax overhaul in three decades, a record roster of judicial confirmations, strikes at Obamacare and a regulatory rollback: White House correspondent John T. Bennett reviews how the president ended up winning much of what he campaigned for, but remains at record low approval ratings. Can he sell his agenda to midterm voters? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Alabama, Tangled Up In Blue
December 13, 2017 17:31 - 10 minutesRoll Call politics reporter Bridget Bowman, who is on the ground in Alabama, discusses how Democrat Doug Jones’ win is reverberating in the political sphere and how it could affect Congress in the coming year as lawmakers prepare for the 2018 midterm elections. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A Mystery PAC and the Rest of the Strange Alabama Senate Finale
December 05, 2017 20:14 - 15 minutesA week before Alabama's special election, Roll Call election analyst Nathan Gonzales describes how he unearthed an obscure political action committee supporting Roy Moore — just one more twist in a campaign where his alleged preying on teenage girls is the main issue, and has created a deep rift among his fellow Republicans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Why Democrats Are Willing to Play Ball With Trump
November 29, 2017 18:52 - 13 minutesEven though Democratic leaders snubbed President Donald Trump's invitation to the White House this week, it doesn't mean they don't want to negotiate with him. Roll Call's White House reporter John T. Bennett explains. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sexual Harassment in Congress: More to Come
November 22, 2017 18:36 - 15 minutesAllegations against current lawmakers, plus revelations of many taxpayer-funded settlements, are forcing leaders of both parties to confront the Hill’s backward culture before the election year, Roll Call columnist Patricia Murphy and reporter Simone Pathé explain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
All Politics Is State and Local
November 15, 2017 20:03 - 14 minutesRoll Call columnist Walter Shapiro and Leadership Editor Jason Dick discuss the political morass Congress finds itself in with the debate over state and local tax deductions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What Tuesday's Elections Signal for the 2018 Congressional Map
November 08, 2017 17:16 - 14 minutesWhile the Democratic surge in the off-year voting gives the party reason to smile, the midterm election is a long way off. Roll Call reporters Simone Pathé and Bridget Bowman detail what the results in Virginia, New Jersey and elsewhere mean for the Democrats' quest to take back the House. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Republicans Tinker With Tax Plan, As Lobbyists Dig In
November 01, 2017 20:41 - 13 minutesCQ lobbying reporter Kate Ackley explains how K Street and the business community are shaping the much-anticipated GOP tax overhaul. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Women's Political Power in the Age of Trump
October 25, 2017 16:34 - 15 minutesDonald Trump's presidency has encouraged women to make campaign contributions in unprecedented numbers. Will more women run for Congress, too? CQ lobbying reporter Kate Ackley and Roll Call political reporter Simone Pathé explain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Reading Is Fundamental, Just Not Always In Congress
October 18, 2017 19:15 - 14 minutesDo lawmakers read or understand the legislation they pass? They are about to pass a budget resolution they say isn't about the budget and passed legislation last year that defanged the DEA during an opioid epidemic. Roll Call Senior Senate Reporter Niels Lesniewski walks through what's going on. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Primary Elections and Steve Bannon's Role
October 11, 2017 19:06 - 18 minutesRoll Call political reporters Simone Pathé and Bridget Bowman explain how the primaries are shaping up ahead of the 2018 midterm elections amid a Republican Party civil war. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Cassidy Says He's Not Giving Up on His Health Care Plan
October 03, 2017 13:00 - 23 minutesLouisiana's Sen. Bill Cassidy, a key architect of the Graham/Cassidy health care overhaul proposal, tells CQ Roll Call that with some adjustments and time he believes he can gain enough support to pass the measure and end Obamacare. He talks to Roll Call leadership editor Jason Dick, political reporter Joseph William and CQ health reporter Mary Ellen McIntire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Quitting Congress When the 'Swamp is Constipated'
September 27, 2017 16:00 - 23 minutesCQ Roll Call lobbying reporter Kate Ackley and executive talent-hunter Julian Ha discuss the job market for lawmakers and staff members in the Age of Trump. "I think the system is constipated,'' says Ha. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What’s Moore Strange Than Alabama’s Senate Race?
September 20, 2017 22:35 - 18 minutesAlabama's Senate contest Tuesday is the first election skirmish in this year’s Republican civil war. Appointed Sen. Luther Strange is the candidate of the party establishment yet has the backing of the outsider president, Donald Trump. But former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore’s controversial conservatism has the ear of many Trump diehards. A preview from reporters who’ve seen the contest up close, Roll Call's Bridget Bowman and The Economist’s James Astill. Learn more about you...
Quitting Congress
September 13, 2017 20:26 - 18 minutesA recent spate of lawmakers have announced they're retiring from Congress, and they are likely to be followed by others, says Roll Call elections analyst Nathan Gonzales. Senior political writer Bridget Bowman and leadership editor Jason Dick discuss who else might retire, and how will that affect Capitol Hill? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How the GOP Congress Could Help ‘Dreamers’ Now
September 06, 2017 21:13 - 17 minutesHill Republicans lambasted President Barack Obama’s deportation protections for 800,000 young people brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents, but now they sound willing to heed President Donald Trump’s invitation to turn the DACA program into law. What’s changed? CQ Roll Call immigration reporter Dean DeChiaro and education reporter Emily Wilkins explain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Suburban House Districts of Brotherly Love?
August 30, 2017 18:48 - 11 minutesPhiladelphia's suburbs have long been political bellwethers, and any road to a House majority will likely run through them. Democrats are targeting three Republican House members in Philly's suburban districts. Roll Call Senior Political Reporter Bridget Bowman discusses the races with CQ Roll Call Leadership Editor Jason Dick on The Big Story Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jeff Flake Feels the Heat
August 23, 2017 18:12 - 16 minutesSen. Jeff Flake's path to re-election is complicated. The Arizona Republican was potentially vulnerable even before President Donald Trump touched down in Phoenix to criticize him at a campaign style rally. Now Flake, who has argued for more civility in politics, finds himself in a big fight in both the GOP primary and, if he gets past that, a compressed general election. Roll Call Elections Analyst Nathan Gonzales discusses the 2018 Senate race in Arizona with Roll Call Leadership Editor Jas...
After Charlottesville, Civil Rights Under Trump at the Fore
August 16, 2017 16:00 - 15 minutesLast weekend’s bloody Virginia demonstrations incited by white supremacists will focus new attention on how the Trump administration is altering the Justice Department’s approach to hate crimes and other civil rights issues, CQ legal affairs reporter Todd Ruger explains. It’s a big test for Attorney General Jeff Sessions, already under fire from the president and because of his own record on race. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Alabama's Strange Election Turns Anti-McConnell But Pro-Trump
August 09, 2017 18:44 - 11 minutesRepublicans competing for Jeff Sessions’ Senate seat in Alabama are striving to tell primary voters just how much they support President Donald Trump and, perhaps surprisingly, are using Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as a punching bag. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Inside the Senate’s Struggle With Civility
August 02, 2017 19:00 - 15 minutesSenators are heading home for summer break, after a health care implosion highlighted the partisan ill will that’s festered all year. Ed Pesce, who edits CQ’s Senate coverage, explains how hardline GOP procedural tactics have taken the chamber to a new low, and what could get civil deliberations back on track. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What's the Spiel With Democrats' Better Deal?
July 26, 2017 19:43 - 18 minutesThe Democratic Party rolled out a new platform to win back voters, but is the reboot going to work? Roll Call Columnist Jonathan Allen, Senior Reporter Bridget Bowman and Leadership Editor Jason Dick assess the strategy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices