Popular Political Podcasts—Informative, Fun, and all for Free!
By Tanya Lolonis, Member and Grassroots Activist
Today’s fusion of media and politics, as well as media as a platform for politicians and movements, makes podcasts a terrific medium for exploring—and resisting—the Trump era. Some of the best discussions on U.S. politics are streaming through your speakers and headphones right now! Three standouts (all free on iTunes):
- Pod Save America is the ideological home of the resistance. Four former members of President Obama’s inner circle - Jon Favreau, Dan Pfeiffer, Jon Lovett and Tommy Vietor - enlist journalists, politicians and activists to discuss politics, the press, and the Trump presidency. Barack Obama’s last interview as president was here, and Tom Perez and Keith Ellison both featured in the run-up to the DNC election. Consistently at the top of iTunes podcast charts in the U.S.
- With Friends Like These is the cyber-space where political columnist and culture critic, Ana Marie Cox, conducts open, in-depth conversations with liberals and conservatives about what divides us. It’s billed as “a show about listening instead of arguing” and is a good place to get ready for those hard conversations with Trump-supporting family back home.
- Vox’s The Weeds is where wonkish journalists Ezra Klein, Sarah Kliff and Matt Yglesias tackle complex, weighty topics — perfect if you want to use your daily commute or run to understand Obamacare, the history of U.S. immigration policy, or SCOTUS (i.e. the Supreme Court of the United States). Billed as the podcast for people who “love thinking about health care, economics and zoning.”
For further details, please contact Tanya at [email protected].
Rational Readers Club
By Marcy Fowler, Treasurer
The Rational Readers Club of Vienna will be meeting on April 15 to discuss Hannah Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism. And since we're meeting on Tax Day, we’ll also talk about current issues related to transparency in government. We’ll share tips on effectively calling our government officials and then will try out our enhanced skills by making calls to demand that Trump release his tax returns.
Details: Saturday, April 15 at 11:00 am at Café Phil (Gumpendorferstraße 10-12, 1060 Vienna). We would enthusiastically welcome new book club members--please just contact us in advance at [email protected].
We’ll be meeting again in May (details TBA) to discuss our next book, The Captive Mind, by Czesław Miłosz.