POLITICO's Off Message
191 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 3 years ago - ★★★★ - 613 ratingsPOLITICO takes you behind the scenes with Washington's power players to uncover what's really driving politics and policy in the nation’s capital.
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Episodes
Bonus: The Senators at the center of the 50-50 split
April 23, 2021 17:17 - 27 minutes - 22.2 MB“If we miss this opportunity, God help us.” Joe Manchin and Lisa Murkowski. Two moderate senators smack in the middle — and on either side — of a split 50-50 Senate. On our first episode of Playbook Deep Dive, the two friends open up in a rare interview with POLITICO’s Burgess Everett. They get personal: about reconciliation, frustration over the Senate’s hurdles — even why Murkowski hogs the best fishing holes. And Manchin reveals a major endorsement, heard first on this show. Subscribe to o...
Sponsored Content: How Covid-19 accelerated the future of work
February 10, 2021 01:36 - 31 minutes - 28.9 MBPresenting a sponsored episode of “Global Translations”: Over the past year, businesses, employees and families across the globe were forced to rethink what it means to “go to work.” Now, with the COVID-19 vaccine rollout underway, many corporate leaders are focused on ensuring the return to work is equitable for all employees.
The page who took down the GOP
January 31, 2021 22:45 - 29 minutes - 23.7 MBIn 2006, a young man holding no political office brought down a 180+ years program and reshaped Congress forever. Scott Bland talks to POLITICO magazine reporter Zack Stanton, a former House page who leaked transcripts of sexual messages that former Congressman Mark Foley sent to teen pages... which resulted in his resignation and torpedoed the Republican hold on power for years. Scott Bland is a politics editor at POLITICO. Zack Stanton is an editor at POLITICO magazine. Annie Rees is a pr...
"I haven't been able to get this moment out of my head"
January 23, 2021 20:52 - 26 minutes - 21.2 MBOn a special episode of POLITICO's Nerdcast: "It became clear that Scott Pruitt had sought to purchase a used mattress from the Trump hotel. And I thought, 'This is not what I expected this job would look like.'" At the close of Donald Trump's presidency, POLITICO's reporters and editors share their strongest memories of the last four years. Shocking moments they witnessed, conversations they overheard and what will stay with them forever. Plus, new Playbook co-author Tara Palmeri talks to S...
Cures for an Ailing Labor Market
January 07, 2021 21:46 - 27 minutes - 22.2 MB"Off Message" presents Episode 9 of the new season of POLITICO's podcast "Global Translations": The pandemic sent shockwaves through a global labor market already upended by digitization and the green energy transition. It left tens of millions jobless and amplified skills gaps. Even as we spent trillions keeping the economy on life support, investment in the skills of the future has been scarce. So how do we get the right skills to the right people, to get the economy motoring again? Hosts...
Sponsored Content: Greening the Global Economy
December 21, 2020 20:04 - 36 minutes - 33.4 MB"Off Message" presents Episode 8 of the new season of POLITICO's podcast "Global Translations": [Sponsored Content] As the world looks to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to net zero by 2050, the financial sector is playing a critical role in facilitating this low-carbon transition through the deployment of innovative financing solutions and by rethinking how climate risk is analyzed and managed.
Digging for Solutions: Securing Minerals for Green Energy
December 16, 2020 00:55 - 34 minutes - 27.6 MB"Off Message" presents Episode 7 of the new season of POLITICO's podcast "Global Translations": What will it take to secure access to the critical minerals we need for the future — and can we solve one environmental challenge without creating a new one? Hosts Luiza Savage and Ryan Heath talk to political leaders around the world about what they are doing to shore up access to critical minerals. Luiza Savage is the host of "Global Translations". Ryan Heath is a host of "Global Translations"....
Why green energy means mining: the case of cobalt
December 07, 2020 23:48 - 28 minutes - 22.7 MB"Off Message" presents Episode 6 of the new season of POLITICO's podcast "Global Translations": To understand how essential critical minerals are to our world, we turn to a case study: cobalt. This mineral is proving key to the future of green energy, defense and high tech manufacturing — not to mention electric vehicles. But cobalt has its challenges. Hosts Luiza Savage and Ryan Heath look at China’s dominant role in global cobalt mining and the serious problems that can arise if other coun...
Critical Minerals: The next dirty fight over clean energy
November 23, 2020 19:04 - 24 minutes - 19.6 MB"Off Message" presents Episode 5 of the new season of POLITICO's podcast "Global Translations": The technologies that protect us, move us and power our daily lives require mining minerals and metalsin distant places. But access to these essential materials is increasingly under threat. Hosts Luiza Savage and Ryan Heath talk with experts who are sounding the alarm. Luiza Savage is the host of "Global Translations". Ryan Heath is a host of "Global Translations". Annie Rees is a producer for...
How can the US compete with China, Inc.?
November 10, 2020 19:01 - 35 minutes - 28.5 MB"Off Message" presents Episode 3 of the new season of POLITICO's podcast "Global Translations": The pandemic and the rise of China are prompting Republicans and Democrats to turn to government power to grow industries important to America’s security and place in the world. “Industrial policy” is an idea long reviled among Washington policymakers. Hosts Luiza Savage and Ryan Heath talk to the people trying to make industrial policy cool again. Luiza Savage is the host of "Global Translation...
Can we get enough vaccine?
November 02, 2020 05:00 - 36 minutes - 33 MB"Off Message" presents the second episode of the new season of POLITICO's podcast "Global Translations": Once there is a working Covid vaccine, manufacturers across the globe will need to scale up production to produce billions of doses — meaning billions of pharmaceutical-grade glass vials, rubber stoppers, packaging and storage and refrigeration. In a special airing of POLITICO's Global Translations podcast, hosts Luiza Savage and Ryan Heath look at the challenges of making enough vaccines...
Introducing... Global Translations: The world's vaccine tug-of-war
October 28, 2020 05:30 - 36 minutes - 33.6 MB"POLITICO's Off Message" brings you a special episode of POLITICO's new podcast series "Global Translations." From closed factories to closed borders, the Covid-19 pandemic exposed the fragility of our systems, creating a period of scarcity where demand skyrocketed — from freezers to PPE — and we couldn't supply items fast enough. In this episode of "Global Translations", POLITICO hosts Luiza Savage and Ryan Heath take a deep dive with experts into global supply chains and what "de...
Introducing... Global Translations: The world's tug-of-war
October 28, 2020 05:30 - 36 minutes - 33.6 MB"POLITICO's Off Message" brings you a special episode of POLITICO's new podcast series "Global Translations." From closed factories to closed borders, the Covid-19 pandemic exposed the fragility of our systems, creating a period of scarcity where demand skyrocketed — from freezers to PPE — and we couldn't supply items fast enough. In this episode of "Global Translations", POLITICO hosts Luiza Savage and Ryan Heath take a deep dive with experts into global supply chains and what "decoupling" ...
Rahm Emanuel weighs in on 2020
February 28, 2020 20:19 - 20 minutes - 16.2 MBRahm Emanuel — former Chicago mayor and former chief of staff to President Barack Obama — talks to POLITICO founding editor John Harris about his new book, "The Nation City: Why Mayors Are Now Running the World," his "toy phone" in Bill Clinton's White House and his thoughts on the 2020 field.
A new tone from some in GOP on climate change -- but mostly behind closed doors
August 23, 2019 09:05 - 34 minutes - 31.6 MBWe're bringing you an episode of POLITICO's Global Translations, a show about big global problems that will take a certain amount of creativity to solve. Driven by a public clamoring for action and pressure from corporate CEOs, lawmakers are noting an evolution in attitudes toward climate action among some of their Republican colleagues – a subtle but significant shift in tone that could pave the way for modest legislation this year. Guests include:Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)Rep. Francis Ro...
Which 2020 Democrat should Donald Trump most be afraid of?
June 26, 2019 09:00 - 39 minutes - 36.2 MBTo get the inside view from the only people in the world who know what it’s like to run in a primary field so large -- and do so in the shadow of Donald Trump -- we invited the strategists for four of the top GOP primary campaigns of 2016 into a Washington cigar bar, a literal smoke-filled room, to talk shop. Which Democratic candidate has the most raw political talent? What weaknesses of Donald Trump's would they exploit in 2020? And why is everybody still so ticked off about the Virginia pr...
This is what Kirsten Gillibrand hates about running for president
May 31, 2019 09:00 - 24 minutes - 22.3 MBKirsten Gillibrand is a U.S. Senator with a soaring national profile, but her presidential campaign has yet to take flight. She’s even at risk of failing to have enough donors to make the debate stage under DNC rules, leading her to ask people for just a dollar, to boost her numbers. But that’s not what bothers her most about running for president.
Is John Hickenlooper too normal to be president?
March 29, 2019 08:00 - 22 minutes - 20.7 MBIn a crowded field of Democratic presidential contenders, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper makes an impression on voters as a genuine candidate, even if he's a bit quirky. He colors outside the lines of the political conventions -- a geologist by training, a brewer and restauranteur by profession, and a politician only later in life. In this episode, he talks about his temper as a child, his pragmatic approach to politics, and how he's managed to succeed in a people-driven business de...
How it feels to win (and lose) a House majority
November 08, 2018 02:02 - 56 minutes - 51.4 MBFor our post-midterms edition of Off Message, we talked to Corry Bliss and Charlie Kelly, the two men who led the largest House campaign organizations in 2018. This election, Bliss led the Republican-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund, and Kelly led its Democratic counterpart, the House Majority PAC. They talk about what went on behind the scenes, their biggest regrets of 2018, and where things go from here.
David Axelrod: Voters don't want a ‘Democratic version of Trump’
October 30, 2018 09:00 - 56 minutes - 52 MBThe strategist behind Obama's presidential campaigns gives his midterms predictions, shares his lightning-round thoughts on 2020 candidates and tells Tim whether he thinks any politician can recapture the Obama magic. David Axelrod doesn’t like the path the country—or the Democratic Party—is on. The chief strategist who steered Barack Obama’s winning White House campaigns worries that President Trump has laid a trap—and that his party is walking right into it. “Escalation breeds escalation...
Meet the next Ted Cruz
October 23, 2018 09:00 - 45 minutes - 42.2 MBWhen Chip Roy was a top staffer for Ted Cruz, he was an architect of the Texas senator’s strategy to shut down the government over Obamacare. Now, in all likelihood, he’s heading for Congress with a House seat of his own, and top Republicans worry he’s going to make Cruz look like a squishy moderate. Roy is ready to play hardball with GOP leaders in Congress. He has pledged to support House Freedom Caucus founding chairman Jim Jordan for speaker, and is expected to quickly establish himself...
Steve Scalise thinks he knows who'll be the next House Speaker
October 16, 2018 09:00 - 48 minutes - 44.9 MBSteve Scalise was nearly killed last summer when a gunman opened fire at the Republican congressional baseball team’s practice. Last September, after months of surgeries and intensive rehabilitation, the Louisiana congressman was met with a thunderous ovation when he returned to work at the Capitol. The emotional scene—cathartic for Scalise and so many colleagues who were on the baseball field with him—might have obscured just how far he has to go. He’s still undergoing regular physical thera...
John Kerry on 2020, Trump and why we need to ask ourselves "what did you do?"
October 09, 2018 09:00 - 46 minutes - 42.8 MBIsaac's last episode: The former secretary of state has led a Forrest Gump-like life, from his high-school days playing hockey with Bob Mueller to introducing John Lennon at a Vietnam protest to running for president and almost winning. Some people think he should run again in 2020. He probably isn’t, but says he wants to be part of the future of the Democratic Party, and the country, no matter what. He’s sticking to his insistence that any White House talk distracts from 2018. But there’s...
Elijah Cummings is ready to investigate Trump
October 02, 2018 09:00 - 48 minutes - 44.1 MBIf Democrats retake the House, Maryland congressman Elijah Cummings will likely become the new chair of the Oversight committee. Here, a preview of what to expect from their coming investigations of the Trump administration. Cummings says President Donald Trump “is a person [who] calls a lie ‘the truth’ and the truth ‘a lie.’” He thinks the president violates the Constitution’s emoluments clause daily, and sees an abnormal tolerance for corruption and misconduct emanating straight out of the...
Ken Starr: If I was Trump's lawyer, ‘I would be very concerned’
September 25, 2018 09:00 - 45 minutes - 41.4 MBThe Clinton-era independent counsel weighs in on Brett Kavanaugh, why Trump has an obligation to answer Mueller's questions and whether he plans to support Trump in 2020. Ken Starr would love to hear from Donald Trump. He thinks he could help. The former independent counsel whose investigation into President Bill Clinton led to Clinton’s impeachment says President Trump has enough to be worried about that he’ll need good lawyers around him as he decides whether to sit down with special couns...
Mazie Hirono: Brett Kavanaugh is fudging the truth
September 18, 2018 09:00 - 58 minutes - 53.6 MBHawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono gets candid about why she believes Kavanaugh's accuser, what it's like being the only immigrant in the U.S. Senate, and shares her own #MeToo story. Mazie Hirono thinks Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is not telling the truth about the sexual assault he allegedly committed as a teenager. She thinks he wasn’t telling the truth to the Judiciary Committee when he claimed not to remember any sexual misconduct by a judge he clerked for who was forced to resign last ...
Ben Jealous: ‘Americans are suffering under the weight of half-measures’
September 11, 2018 09:00 - 56 minutes - 51.5 MBBen Jealous is a venture capitalist. Opponents call him a socialist. He says that’s the cost of wanting “people to be treated in a way that’s just.” Ben Jealous campaigned all over the country for Bernie Sanders, but he has a platinum American Express card in his wallet. He got his first campaign experience as a 14-year-old volunteer for Jesse Jackson in 1988, but the presidential candidate from that year he has since reconsidered is Steve Forbes, whose ideas about transforming schools into ...
Ben Jealous: ‘Americans are suffering under the weight of half-measures’
September 11, 2018 09:00 - 58 minutesBen Jealous is a venture capitalist. Opponents call him a socialist. He says that’s the cost of wanting “people to be treated in a way that’s just.” Ben Jealous campaigned all over the country for Bernie Sanders, but he has a platinum American Express card in his wallet. He got his first campaign experience as a 14-year-old volunteer for Jesse Jackson in 1988, but the presidential candidate from that year he has since reconsidered is Steve Forbes, whose ideas about transforming schools into v...
Seth Meyers: Trump wanted me to apologize for making fun of him (REPRISE)
September 04, 2018 09:00 - 42 minutes - 38.8 MBA reprise episode: It wasn’t all porn star hush money: Michael Cohen once tried to negotiate an appearance by Donald Trump on Seth Meyers’ show, for what the “Late Night” host pitched as a fun way of coming together after torching Trump at the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner. Meyers had invited Trump after running into him at the “Saturday Night Live” 40th anniversary special in February 2015, a few months before the real estate developer’s presidential campaign launched. Trump, Meye...
Tony Perkins: Trump gets ‘a mulligan’ on Stormy Daniels and other past indiscretions (REPRISE)
August 28, 2018 09:00 - 45 minutes - 41.6 MBA reprise episode: Donald Trump is still the answer to many conservative evangelical leaders’ prayers. Or at least to their continuing grievances. They embrace Trump the policymaker, despite being uneasy about Trump as a man, says Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, a prominent evangelical activist group. Perkins knows about Stormy Daniels, the porn actress who claimed, in a 2011 interview, that in 2006 she had sex with Trump four months after his wife, Melania, gave birt...
Why Michael Hayden says Trump is helping Russia (Reprise)
August 21, 2018 09:00 - 40 minutes - 37.4 MBMichael Hayden doesn’t know whether Donald Trump colluded with the Russian attack on the 2016 election—but he’s sure the president helped the Kremlin and is continuing to do so every day. Hayden, a retired general who led the NSA and the CIA under President George W. Bush, is sure, too, of what he calls a “convergence” of interests between Trump and Russia. And he thinks it risks destroying America. POLITICO's Off Message podcast is hosted by Isaac Dovere and is part of the Panoply network....
Randi Weingarten: For unions, this is a ‘which side are you on’ moment
August 14, 2018 09:00 - 52 minutesThe president of the American Federation of Teachers says that union members haven’t just cooled on Trump—they’ve turned on him. Union leaders and members now “know who the bad guys are,” says Weingarten, the longtime head of the American Federation of Teachers—President Donald Trump and the five justices who signed on to the court’s Janus decision in June. Early on, Trump’s support among organized labor was at astronomical levels for a modern-day Republican, with November 2016 exit polls sho...
Randi Weingarten: For unions, this is a ‘which side are you on’ moment
August 14, 2018 09:00 - 49 minutes - 45.4 MBThe president of the American Federation of Teachers says that union members haven’t just cooled on Trump—they’ve turned on him. Union leaders and members now “know who the bad guys are,” says Weingarten, the longtime head of the American Federation of Teachers—President Donald Trump and the five justices who signed on to the court’s Janus decision in June. Early on, Trump’s support among organized labor was at astronomical levels for a modern-day Republican, with November 2016 exit polls sho...
Shannon Watts: How to create an ‘army of angry moms and women’ from your own kitchen
August 07, 2018 09:00 - 50 minutes - 46.5 MBThe founder of Moms Demand Action talks about how she created one of the most successful gun control groups in the country—and where they go from here. Shannon Watts has a bodyguard who travels with her. He doesn’t carry a gun—his job is to scope out the local hospitals and know which one to rush her to if she gets shot. That’s been life for the mother of five since late 2012, when she founded Moms Demand Action, an organization that advocates for stricter regulation of guns. Watts says the ...
John Dean: Nixon ‘might have survived if there'd been a Fox News’ — Reprise
July 31, 2018 09:00 - 43 minutes - 40 MBThis week, an encore presentation of an interview we first brought you earlier this year. John Dean was the star witness of the Watergate investigation — the counsel to President Richard Nixon who famously flipped and became the prosecution’s star witness in the process that helped take down the president. The Russia scandal is far from over, said Dean, but Trump has advantages that Nixon didn’t. “There’s social media, there’s the internet; the news cycles are faster. I think Watergate would...
Marty Walsh: Working-class Trump voters ‘forgot where they came from’
July 24, 2018 09:00 - 45 minutes - 42.3 MBMarty Walsh is a college drop-out and recovering alcoholic who grew up in a union household and worked his way up through organized labor and local politics. In many ways, he fits the profile of the kind of white working-class man who put Donald Trump in the White House. He also happens to be the Democratic mayor of Boston, and he has a bracing assessment of the blue-collar white voters backing Trump: They “forgot where they came from.” Walsh says it bothers him how many of the people he gr...
Francis Suarez: Miami's almost-millennial, Latino mayor doesn't like labels
July 17, 2018 09:00 - 40 minutes - 36.9 MBFrancis Suarez believes he may be the first Miami-born mayor of Miami. He also has a front-row seat to his swing state's senate and gubernatorial races. He didn't vote for Trump, but Mar-a-Lago isn't far.
Kate Andersen Brower: Making sense of the Trump-Pence relationship
July 10, 2018 09:00 - 38 minutes - 35.3 MBHow does Mike Pence keep his boss happy? By staying out of the spotlight, for starters, says journalist Kate Andersen Brower, whose new book looks at the relationships between presidents and their vice presidents. She describes the Trump-Pence dynamic, and sizes up how Pence compares to his predecessor in the job, Joe Biden.
Tom Arnold: 'Donald Trump is a D-list president, and his enemies are D-list, like Tom Arnold'
July 03, 2018 04:01 - 49 minutes - 45.8 MBTom Arnold talks about his hunt for Trump tapes, his selfie with Michael Cohen, and the mad coincidences that have injected him into a handful of political scandals.
Seth Moulton: ‘We have a commander in chief that we fundamentally can’t trust.’
June 26, 2018 09:00 - 53 minutes - 48.6 MBCongressman Seth Moulton is amassing an army of service-oriented Democratic candidates. His goal isn’t simply to defeat Trump; it’s to change politics — and maybe form his own national campaign in the process. He joins us to talk about military service, Donald Trump, 2020, and how he's hoping the Democratic Party will change.
Kirsten Gillibrand: Trump is pushing the ‘devil’s schemes’
June 19, 2018 09:00 - 50 minutes - 46 MBThe New York senator has a different word for the family separation policy which the attorney general and White House press secretary call “Biblical.” Her word is “evil.” In the Biblical sense. Referencing the “devil’s schemes” from the Book of Ephesians, the New York senator said President Donald Trump’s administration qualifies for that label “if you were talking in Christian language.” “To me? Yes, these are all things that come from the darkness that are ripping children from their moth...
Kirsten Gillibrand: Trump is pushing the ‘devil’s schemes’
June 19, 2018 09:00 - 52 minutesThe New York senator has a different word for the family separation policy which the attorney general and White House press secretary call “Biblical.” Her word is “evil.” In the Biblical sense. Referencing the “devil’s schemes” from the Book of Ephesians, the New York senator said President Donald Trump’s administration qualifies for that label “if you were talking in Christian language.” “To me? Yes, these are all things that come from the darkness that are ripping children from their mothe...
Jenny Durkan: ‘The baton got dropped,’ and Obama alums are running to finish what he started
June 12, 2018 09:00 - 39 minutes - 36.3 MBSeattle Mayor Jenny Durkan was the first Obama appointee to win a major election after his presidency. She's part of a network of Obama administration officials that want his presidency to mark the start of a new progressive era — and in order to make it a reality, they’re focused on defeating Trump, not simply by opposing him, but by out-organizing him. “‘Resist’ is too passive,” said Durkan. “We’ve got to focus and build a progress and a movement going forward,” “We saw the immense amount...
John Delaney: The 2020 long-shot candidate who’s gaining ground in Iowa
June 05, 2018 09:00 - 40 minutes - 36.8 MBFor Congressman John Delaney, the 2020 campaign is already underway. The money is there. So is the commitment. And people in are starting to pay attention. The little-known Maryland congressman thinks that’s part of what will transform a presidential run that pretty much no one takes seriously into the next Jimmy Carter-style, out-of-nowhere explosion onto the presidential debate stage. Delaney, who made his fortune founding two commercial lending companies, has already spent $1 million out ...
Steyer: Pelosi is ‘normalizing’ Trump by not talking about impeachment
May 29, 2018 09:00 - 46 minutes - 42.4 MBThe billionaire California activist says Democratic leaders who don’t take up the cause aren't just writing off millions of potential voters, they are like those who told civil rights activists to be patient in the 1960s.
Jimmy Carter: ‘Democracy has reached its peak and is declining’
May 22, 2018 09:00 - 21 minutes - 19.6 MBFormer President Jimmy Carter joins us to talk about the lack of moral leadership in the White House, faith, and what it would take for Donald Trump to win the Nobel Peace Prize. We spoke to Carter at Liberty University shortly ahead of his delivery of the keynote speech at the school's commencement ceremonies. Though he and Jerry Falwell make an unlikely pair due to their very different politics (Falwell is a conservative Republican, Carter is a proud Democrat), Carter's deep and abiding Chr...
Benjamin: ‘I don’t know exactly what the president cares and doesn’t care about’
May 15, 2018 09:00 - 41 minutes - 38.5 MBTrump has lived his whole life in the city. So why does he have such an adversarial relationship with mayors? Mayor Steve Benjamin, the head of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, joins us to discuss what cities are doing next in their battles with the Trump administration.
Seth Meyers: Trump wanted me to apologize for making fun of him
May 08, 2018 09:00 - 42 minutes - 38.7 MBThe “Late Night” host talks about President Trump, the White House Correspondents Dinner, and the time Trump sent Michael Cohen to negotiate a mea culpa from the comedian.
Chris Matthews: ‘I’m not sure trust is what people want from Trump’
May 01, 2018 09:00 - 51 minutes - 47.6 MBThe host of MSNBC's "Hardball" and sharp observer of politics talks about 2020, what Trump understands about white ethnic politics and what you don't understand about cable news.
The millennial mayor who could make universal basic income a reality
April 24, 2018 09:00 - 41 minutes - 38.2 MBMichael Tubbs is the 27-year-old leader of one of California’s biggest cities. And he’s using that position to try out some truly radical policy ideas.