In the wake of another brutal loss to the culturally inescapable Donald Trump, Democrats — ever-eager to internalize all the lessons from their failures except the main ones — have been hitting the podcast circuit.
Voters think we’re elitist, insincere, ineffective, & out of touch? If only we’d done Rogan!
Jokes aside, Dems’ podcast embrace is a step in the right direction. To compete in today’s media landscape, you simply must leverage all mediums to authentically make your case to all possible audiences. Longer, more casual formats are particularly valuable, pushing pols beyond their canned talking points; drawing out their humanity, stress-testing their mettle, and giving listeners a real sense of who they are.
That’s why I’ve been tracking this space so closely. I’ve now listened to & catalogued nearly 400 podcast hits from 21 top 2028 Dem contenders (a totally normal, very cool way to spend one’s time!) and I wanted to give you an exclusive look at the landscape:
Top Dems’ most frequented pods include the flagships from 3 budding progressive media empires – content machine MeidasTouch, Crooked Media’s Pod Save America, and The Bulwark Podcast with Tim Miller – as well as one-man shows from YouTube behemoths David Pakman (3.4M subs), who’s been at this for two decades, and 36yo creator Brian Tyler Cohen (4.8M subs), who’s become a trusted digital strategy & messaging guru for Dems. Then you’ve got I’ve Had It – in which two OKC moms who got their break on Bravo mercilessly roast Trump (and increasingly, Dem leadership) – Katie Couric, Vox Media’s Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway & Jessica Tarlov, and The People’s Cabinet with Dan Koh, a former White House senior aide.
It makes sense, but the full list of top pods, and their audiences, are strikingly homogenous: the vast majority are political news & commentary shows, hosted by Dem politicos or left-of-center media figures, aimed at hyper-engaged partisans.
To be clear, that’s not meant as an indictment of these creators; many of them are quite good, and doing essential work to counter the right’s dominance online. Any Dem with national aspirations should be hitting these platforms to reach the base & younger non-MAGA folks. But if we are exclusively doing Democrat-aligned politics pods, we’re kinda missing the point – failing to learn the main lessons, as it were.
There are several problems with staying in safe and explicitly political spaces.
First, you miss out on much-needed practice & feedback that more adversarial interviews and exposure to new audiences provide. Living in an echo chamber may offer temporary comfort, but it’s ultimately fatal, leaving candidates ill-prepared for the superior challenges endemic to the presidential stage.
Second, it’s hard to create newsy moments, gain traction, & reach persuadable voters. Which is bad! These aren’t just platforms for 2028 auditions; they’re where top Ds are making the case on everything from the shutdown to Trump’s militarization of cities. So, uh, you wanna reach people beyond BlueAnon-ers & Indivisible chapter leads.
Third, and most bigly – politics is downstream of culture; Trump’s been savaging us in the culture wars for a decade; and we sure as shit can’t MeidasTouch & Pod Save our way out of normies thinking we’re weak woke wackjobs that want little girls to play tee-ball against men who identify as antifa furries or whatever.
It’s worth re-examining Trump’s much-celebrated 2024 podcast tour. It was hardly a parade of hyper-partisan political platforms. To the contrary, what made it so effective – especially as Ds cast Trump as Hitlerian – was that it was mostly just Trump shooting the shit for hours with huge culture / biz / comedy / sports influencers, giving more off-color uncle than protofascist. Here’s a partial rundown of his tour:
Comedy: Andrew Schulz’s Flagrant; Joe Rogan Experience; This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von, Impaulsive with Logan Paul; the Nelk Boys’ Full Send Podcast
Sports: Bussin’ with the Boys (football); Let’s Go! (football); Six Feet Under with Mark Calaway (wrestling), Break 50 (golf)
Tech & Business: All-In Podcast; Lex Fridman Podcast; PBD Podcast
Culture & Society: The Shawn Ryan Show; The Dr. Phil Podcast; Outkick’s Maintaining with Tyrus; livestream with Adin Ross
Some of these people are now criticizing Trump; some voted for Obama or love Bernie. But more broadly, the point is it would be malpractice to focus only on lefty political venues right now. There are infinite outside-the-box communities Dems should engage if they want to reestablish cultural relevance & lead the party out of the wilderness.
The good news is, some Ds are doing interesting things. A few that stand out:
PETE BUTTIGIEG, still a media pioneer. His 3-hour sitdown with Andrew Schulz in April was a big deal, and gave other contenders permission to venture to formerly shunned places. He’s done the faith podcast The Spiritual Life; the comedic biz pod Good Work; TrapDraw, a golf-adjacent pod from the No Laying Up guys; Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan, and more. Beyond pods, he’s also hit The Breakfast Club; interviews on Gray TV & Nextstar that are syndicated across the country; held a bunch of IG Live convos; and is actively Substacking, posting yesterday about The Cost of Trump’s Politicization of the Military.
GAVIN NEWSOM has hit an interesting mix of platforms with distinct audiences, with an emphasis on young men. This includes 4 hours on Shawn Ryan Show; popular biz pod Diary Of A CEO; Don't Worry I'll Ask with (ex-NFLer) Isaac Rochell; a chat over Fortnite with streamer ConnorEatsPants, and more. On his own pod, he’s hosted right-wing voices like Steve Bannon, Charlie Kirk, Michael Savage, & Newt Gingrich, along with Dr. Phil, Twitch streamer Atrioc, and five fellow 2028ers.
RO KHANNA has done at least 60 podcasts this year, including Theo Von, Barstool’s Macrodosing, Andrew Schulz's Flagrant, The Adam Friedland Show, & PBD; he’s joined right-wingers like Dave Rubin, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Ben Shapiro, & Tim Pool; and also popular left-wing platforms other Ds have skipped, like The Young Turks & Mehdi Hasan’s Zeteo. On Israel & the Epstein files in particular, he’s managed to reach Rs & indies who agree with him, though he’ll talk to anyone about anything.
Quick hits
The huge ‘No Kings’ moment. Some 5M people showed up to the June ‘No Kings’ protests, and as Trump’s abuses of power escalate, Saturday’s (10/18) turnout promises to be bigger – especially after top Rs have absurdly cast the events as “Hate America” “terrorist” “antifa” rallies. his will be a huge moment – likely be the largest single-day protest in America in over 50 years – and top Ds will surely deliver fiery speeches to massive crowds in their states.
AOC’s weeknight at Bernie’s. Tonight (10/15) at 9pm ET, AOC & Bernie Sanders are holding a live town hall on CNN. This comes after a well-received video w/Bernie framing the shutdown as a fight for people’s health care, and joint appearances on their Fighting Oligarchy tour this spring. It’s increasingly clear she’s positioned to inherit much of the left’s most powerful movement. I’ll be tuning in to see how the potential 2028 frontrunner handles the spotlight; she has limited experience on the national stage in this format.
Rapid fire potpourri. Q3 FEC filing day is today & I’ll update the fundraising tab of the Big, Beautiful Tracker this week… Justin Pearson is primarying Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), and may well be on your 2032/36 POTUS radar… The DNC is holding its 2024 autopsy until post-November, but based on early reporting, they should just kill it?... Zero major Ds have called on VA AG nominee Jay Jones to drop out despite revelations he fantasized about the death of GOP colleagues & their kids, which seems bad for the brand in the ongoing political violence debate… GAVIN NEWSOM signed a first-in-the-nation ban on ultraprocessed foods in school lunches, backed by MAHA-friendly Rs… Jen Psaki’s great podcast on Ds’ path forward returns today, now with Lis Smith, and ANDY BESHEAR will be one of this season’s guests.
BIG, BEAUTIFUL TRACKER HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK:
Travel: ELISSA SLOTKIN did multiple events in Western PA last weekend, headlining dinners for the Beaver County Dems & local AFL-CIO affiliate, and campaigning for PA Supreme Court justices; she’s also keynoting the Manchester Dems’ dinner tonight in NH… PETE BUTTIGIEG heads to Virginia next week to campaign for Abigail Spanberger.
Media: JB PRITZKER on This Is Gavin Newsom, Pod Save America, The Bulwark Pod, & The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent… GAVIN NEWSOM on Higher Learning with Van Lathan & Rachel Lindsay… RUBEN GALLEGO on Punchbowl’s Fly Out Day… RAHM EMANUEL alongside Mike Pence on the inaugural episode of C-SPAN’s Ceasefire with Dasha Burns.
