Best Alex Booker Podcasts (2025)

The relationship between Fox News and Donald Trump is not just close; it can be profoundly influential. Trump frequently responds to segments in real time online—even to complain about a poll he doesn’t like. He has tapped the network for nearly two dozen roles within his Administration—including the current Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, a fo…

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Rep. Sen. Katie Britt and Dem. Sen. Mark Warner 43:31

Play Pause

7d ago43:31

43:31

On CNN's State of the Union, Jake Tapper speaks to Republican Senator Katie Britt about the President's domestic policy agenda as it nears its final vote in the Senate. Democratic Senator Mark Warner slams Republicans for supporting this bill while also what he knows about the state of Iran's nuclear program. Finally Republican Rep. Riley Moore, De…

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How Bad Is It?: Trump Strikes Iran and His Base Hits Back 50:30

11d ago50:30

50:30

The New Yorker staff writer Andrew Marantz joins Tyler Foggatt for another episode of “How Bad Is It?,” a monthly series that examines the health of American democracy. They discuss whether the President’s recent strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities may threaten his “America first” coalition, how the threat of war may enable him to consolidate more…

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Why Israel Struck Iran First 42:36

14d ago42:36

42:36

The ayatollahs who have ruled Iran since 1979 have long promised to destroy the Jewish state, and had even set a deadline for it. While arming proxies to fight Israel—Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, the Houthis in Yemen, and more—Iran is believed to have sought to develop nuclear weapons for itself. “The big question about Iran was always: how…

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Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Dem. Sen. Adam Schiff and Former Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton 44:30

14d ago44:30

44:30

On CNN's State of the Union, Kasie Hunt speaks to Israeli President Isaac Herzog about the aftermath of the U.S. strikes against Iranian nuclear sites. Democratic Senator Adam Schiff speaks about the congressional response to President Trump’s order to strike Iran arguing the action was "not constitutional." And Trump's former National Security Adv…

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Where Is the Iran-Israel Conflict Headed? 39:37

17d ago39:37

39:37

The Washington Roundtable discusses the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, and the possibility that the United States will join the fray by bombing Iranian nuclear facilities. They are joined by Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a longtime Iran expert. “What is going to drive events is…

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The Rise And Fall of DOGE 40:37

18d ago40:37

40:37

The New Yorker staff writer Benjamin Wallace-Wells joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss the decline of DOGE, what Elon Musk’s exit from the White House means for its work, and the initiative’s legacy in the long run. Plus, the assassination of the Minnesota state representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, and the growing trend of imper…

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Waiting By The Phone: Was it something she said??? 6:06

20d ago6:06

6:06

OR was it the fact that she said "LIKE" 670 times on their first date

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The Unfolding Genocide in Sudan 19:26

21d ago19:26

19:26

The New Yorker recently published a report from Sudan, headlined “Escape from Khartoum.” The contributor Nicolas Niarchos journeyed for days through a conflict to reach a refugee camp in the Nuba Mountains, where members of the country’s minority Black ethnic groups are seeking safety, but remain imperilled by hunger. The territory is “very signifi…

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Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Former Vice President Mike Pence, California Sen. Alex Padilla and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass 47:57

21d ago47:57

47:57

On CNN’s State of the Union, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar joins Dana Bash to react to the shocking assassination of a Minnesota state legislator and her husband, as well as the manhunt for the suspect behind the attack. Then, former Vice President Mike Pence joins Dana to discuss the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. Dana also presses…

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Trump Makes a Big Show of Military Force 32:53

23d ago32:53

32:53

The Washington Roundtable discusses President Trump’s deployment of uniformed troops in Los Angeles, the Administration’s attempt to blur the distinction between the military and law enforcement, and this weekend’s parade in D.C. to celebrate the Army’s two-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary, which also happens to be the President’s seventy-ninth bir…

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What Broke the U.S.-China Relationship? 43:32

25d ago43:32

43:32

Michael Luo, an executive editor of The New Yorker, joins the show as guest host. He sits down with Peter Hessler, a staff writer who spent more than a decade living in and writing about China. They discuss the Sinophobic history behind the Trump Administration’s threats to revoke Chinese students’ visas, how the COVID pandemic reshaped the U.S.-Ch…

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Waiting By The Phone: He PROBABLY should've disclosed this from the start 6:40

27d ago6:40

6:40

How long should you wait to start dating again after getting out of being engaged???

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What Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Doesn’t Understand About Autism 30:09

28d ago30:09

30:09

When Donald Trump made an alliance with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., he brought vaccine skepticism and the debunked link between vaccines and autism into the center of the MAGA agenda. Though the scientific establishment has long disproven that link, as many as one in four Americans today believe that vaccines may cause autism. In April, Kennedy, now th…

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Rep. Nanette Barragán, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Markwayne Mullin and Sen. Ron Johnson 45:56

28d ago45:56

45:56

On CNN’s State of Union, Democratic Rep. Nanette Barragán sits down with Dana Bash to react to President Trump’s stunning decision to deploy thousands of National Guard troops to quell immigration protests in her district and elsewhere in Los Angeles County. Then, Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders joins Dana to react to the breaking news and lay out …

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The Oligarchs Are Fighting 33:09

30d ago33:09

33:09

The Washington Roundtable discusses the fallout from the messy rupture between Donald Trump and Elon Musk, how battles between maximalist rulers and the mega-wealthy have unfolded in history, and how this week’s fighting could portend a new, more combative phase of American oligarchy. They talk about America’s new Gilded Age, drawing on “The Haves …

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The Man Who Thinks Trump Should Be King 38:24

1M ago38:24

38:24

The New Yorker staff writer Ava Kofman joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss her recent Profile of the iconoclastic right-wing blogger Curtis Yarvin. They discuss Yarvin’s desire to end American democracy by installing a monarch, whether his provocations can be seen as trolling, and how his writings have found a receptive audience among conservative polit…

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Lesley Stahl on What a Settlement with Donald Trump Would Mean for CBS News 26:52

1M ago26:52

26:52

Lesley Stahl, a linchpin of CBS News, began at the network in 1971, covering major events such as Watergate, and for many years has been a correspondent on “60 Minutes.” But right now it’s a perilous time for CBS News, which has been sued by Donald Trump for twenty billion dollars over the editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris duri…

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White House Budget Director Russ Vought, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Chris Murphy 47:03

1M ago47:03

47:03

On CNN’s State of the Union, Dana Bash sits down for an exclusive interview with the man seen as the architect behind President Trump’s scorched-earth effort to upend the federal government, White House Budget Director Russ Vought. Then, House Democratic Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries joins Dana to detail his party’s plan to counter Trump’s agenda, as…

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Examining Trump's War on the Media, and a Warning from Hungary 48:04

1M ago48:04

48:04

This is the second installment of “How Bad Is It,” a recurring series in which the staff writer Andrew Marantz joins Tyler Foggatt to conduct a health check on American democracy. They discuss how Donald Trump has bullied media companies, why it’s troubling that some outlets are seeking to settle lawsuits with the Administration, and how the role o…

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Speaker Mike Johnson, Sen. Ron Johnson and Sen. Michael Bennet 42:58

1M ago42:58

42:58

On CNN’s State of the Union, Jake presses House Speaker Mike Johnson on the impact the GOP tax and spending bill will have on the national debt and on Medicaid. Next, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson joins Jake to detail his concerns about the bill and his threat to sink it unless there are steeper spending cuts. Then, Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet joi…

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Cyrus Tidwell | Average to Savage EP212 24:18

2M ago24:18

24:18

This is episode 212 of the Average to Savage podcast featuring boxing promoter Cyrus Tidwell . Paul Guarino talked with Cyrus Tidwell about how he got into boxing, his promotion company Victory Boxing League, and what's in store for the future. Follow Cyrus Tidwellhttps://www.instagram.com/victoryboxingleague…

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Waiting By The Phone: It's 2025 and some people STILL think therapy is a bad thing 7:26

2M ago7:26

7:26

He checked all the boxes on his dating profile BUT this ONE thing made her run. Is it even worth explaining for another date???

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How Experts Became the Enemy 41:26

2M ago41:26

41:26

The Northwestern history professor and New Yorker contributor Daniel Immerwahr joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss the ways in which the COVID crisis deepened Americans’ distrust of institutional experts and propelled R.F.K., Jr., to the height of political power in the Trump Administration. Plus, they talk about how Anthony Fauci’s clashes and eventual…

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Waiting By The Phone: Here's proof that men are bad at responding to texts 6:56

2M ago6:56

6:56

You can ONLY try to keep the text conversation going on for so long...GUYS get it together

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Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson on President Joe Biden’s Decline, and Its Cover-Up 49:30

2M ago49:30

49:30

Nearly a year ago, a Presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, moderated by Jake Tapper and Dana Bash of CNN, began the end of Biden’s bid for a second term. The President struggled to make points, complete sentences, and remember facts; he spoke in a raspy whisper. This was not the first time voters expressed concern about Biden’s ag…

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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Rep. James Clyburn, David Axelrod and Van Jones 43:58

2M ago43:58

43:58

On CNN’s State of the Union, Jake Tapper sits down with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to discuss Trump’s tariff policy, efforts to negotiate trade deals, and plans for the US to accept a luxury jet from Qatar. Then, Jake presses Democratic Rep. James Clyburn over his past support for Joe Biden’s re-election campaign amid new reporting about Bide…

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Biden, Trump, and the Challenges of Covering an Aging President 43:51

2M ago43:51

43:51

The Washington Roundtable discusses new information that has emerged about Joe Biden’s decline while in office, and his advisers' efforts to downplay it, as chronicled in several new books. The group also discusses the challenges faced by members of the press as they report on Donald Trump’s signs of aging and his long-standing incoherence. “I thin…

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Waiting By The Phone: THIS is why you need to be open from the start 5:32

2M ago5:32

5:32

Before you go on that first date it's SUPER important to be clear what you're looking for so you don't end up here!!!

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What Is Jeff Bezos’s Plan for the Washington Post? 42:17

2M ago42:17

42:17

The New Yorker staff writer Clare Malone joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss the changes that Jeff Bezos, the owner of the Washington Post, is making at the paper. They talk about why Bezos decided to purchase the paper, in 2013, how his recent exertion of editorial influence has caused the paper to hemorrhage both staffers and subscribers, and the futu…

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Waiting By The Phone: Bringing up your ex in a conversation is a bad idea 6:14

2M ago6:14

6:14

ESPECIALLY if you bring up not just one ex but MULTIPLE on a first date

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Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English” 28:11

2M ago28:11

28:11

When Elissa Slotkin narrowly won her Senate seat in Michigan last fall, she was one of only four Democratic senators to claim victory in a state that voted for Donald Trump. It made other Democrats take note: since then, the Party has turned to her as someone who can bridge the red state–blue state divide. In March, Slotkin delivered the Democrats’…

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Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Dem. Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, LaMonica McIver, and Rob Menendez, former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu 48:33

2M ago48:33

48:33

On CNN’s State of the Union, Dana Bash presses Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick for details on Trump’s trade negotiations with China and the impact tariffs are having on Americans. Then, Democratic Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, LaMonica McIver, and Rob Menendez join Dana to respond to the Trump administration’s threat that they could be arrested af…

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Decoding Donald Trump’s Love of A.I. Imagery 27:51

2M ago27:51

27:51

The New Yorker staff writer Katy Waldman joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss Donald Trump’s fondness for A.I.-generated memes and what it tells us about our current political climate. They talk about how Trump uses these images to bend the cultural narrative to his will, why the MAGA aesthetic is tailor-made for the age of A.I., and how the proliferatio…

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How Donald Trump Is Trying to Rewrite the Rules of Capitalism 17:34

2M ago17:34

17:34

For a long time, Republicans and many Democrats espoused some version of free-trade economics that would have been familiar to Adam Smith. But Donald Trump breaks radically with that tradition, embracing a form of protectionism that resulted in his extremely broad and chaotic tariff proposals, which tanked markets and deepened the fear of a global …

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Dem. Sen. Mark Warner, Rep. Sen. Ron Johnson and Stephen A. Smith 43:29

2M ago43:29

43:29

On CNN’s State of the Union, Jake sits down with Democratic Sen. Mark Warner to discuss Trump’s shake-up of his national security team. Then, Jake asks Republican Sen. Ron Johnson about a growing lead crisis in Milwaukee, as well as Americans’ unease over Trump’s handling of the economy. Next, Stephen A. Smith joins Jake to discuss whether he is co…

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Donald Trump Is Using the Presidency to Get Rich 29:03

2M ago29:03

29:03

The Washington Roundtable discusses the unprecedented corruption of the federal government, including Trump Administration members’ self-enrichment through cryptocurrency schemes and the inaugural committee, and the gutting of parts of the government that are responsible for rooting out self-dealing from public life. It is a level of corruption so …

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How Bad Is It?: Andrew Marantz on the Health of Our Democracy 55:28

2M ago55:28

55:28

In a new recurring series on The Political Scene, the staff writer Andrew Marantz joins Tyler Foggatt to assess the status of American democracy. How does one distinguish—in the blizzard of federal workforce cuts, deportations, and executive orders that have defined the first hundred days of Donald Trump’s second term—actions that are offensive to …

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Bayley Pulled from WM41; WWE Exit Rumors Swirl, Joe Hendry Quickly Defeated by Randy Orton 31:08

2M ago31:08

31:08

WrestleMania 41 brought major surprises! In this episode, we cover Bayley’s sudden removal from WrestleMania 41 and the growing rumors about her possibly leaving WWE. What caused Bayley to be pulled from the event, and is her time in WWE coming to an end? We also discuss TNA World Champion Joe Hendry’s quick loss to Randy Orton at WrestleMania, and…

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Cory Booker on America’s Crisis of “Moral Leadership” 30:00

2M ago30:00

30:00

As Donald Trump continues to launch unprecedented and innovative attacks on immigrants, civic institutions, and the rule of law, the Democratic response has been—in the eyes of many observers—tepid and inadequate. One answer to the sense of desperation came from Senator Cory Booker, who, on March 31st, launched a marathon speech on the Senate floor…

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins 46:23

2M ago46:23

46:23

On CNN’s State of the Union, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer joins Dana Bash for a wide-ranging interview on Ukraine peace talks, Trump’s handling of immigration and the economy, Schumer’s future as a leader in his party, and rising antisemitism in America. Next, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins joins Dana to discuss the continued economic…

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A Politics of Fear Defines Trump’s First Hundred Days in Office 30:38

2M ago30:38

30:38

The Washington Roundtable discusses the first hundred days of President Trump’s second Administration, and the fear, pain, and outrage reverberating through U.S. politics. The clinical psychologist and longtime Department of Justice official Alix McLearen is helping distressed government workers connect with service providers during this time. She …

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Pope Francis’s Legacy and the Coming Conclave 31:17

2M ago31:17

31:17

Paul Elie, who writes about the Catholic Church for The New Yorker, joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss the life and legacy of Pope Francis, his feuds with traditionalist Church figures and right-wing political leaders, and what to expect from the upcoming papal conclave to determine his successor. This week’s reading: “The Down-to-Earth Pope,” by Paul …

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WWE Fumbles Night 1: Triple Threat Saves the Show + AAA Takeover? 38:02

3M ago38:02

38:02

WrestleMania 41 Night 1 is in the books, and… yeah, it was a mixed bag. Questionable title changes, rivalries with no real heat, and some flat storytelling left fans scratching their heads. But just when the night seemed lost, the main event delivered big time. Rollins, Reigns, and CM Punk tore the house down in a must-see Triple Threat that may ha…

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How Science Fiction Led Elon Musk to DOGE 19:06

3M ago19:06

19:06

Elon Musk, who’s taking his chainsaw to the federal government, is not merely a chaos agent, as he is sometimes described. Jill Lepore, the best-selling author of “These Truths” and other books, says that Musk is animated by obsessions and a sense of mission he acquired through reading, and misreading, science fiction. “When he keeps saying, you kn…

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Sen. Chris Van Hollen, House Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer and Sen. Amy Klobuchar 44:04

3M ago44:04

44:04

On CNN’s State of the Union, Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen joins Dana Bash to discuss his trip to El Salvador to meet with deported migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Then, Dana presses House GOP Whip Rep. Tom Emmer on Trump’s standoff with the courts over his immigration policies. After, Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar tells Dana that she believes the…

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Will the Supreme Court Yield to Donald Trump? 27:31

3M ago27:31

27:31

Ruth Marcus resigned from the Washington Post after its C.E.O. killed an editorial she wrote that was critical of the paper's owner, Jeff Bezos. She ended up publishing the column in The New Yorker, and soon after she published another piece for the magazine asking "Has Trump's Legal Strategy Backfired?" "Trump's legal strategy has been backfiring,…

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Kevin Hassett and Sen. Elizabeth Warren 44:22

3M ago44:22

44:22

On CNN’s State of the Union, Jake Tapper presses National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett over the confusion and turmoil caused by Trump’s tariff rollout. Then, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren joins Jake to discuss how Democrats should respond to Trump’s economic chaos. Finally, CNN Political Commentators Brad Todd and Ashley Allison, Repu…

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REAL-LIFE HEAT: Stratton Says Flair Sabotaged Her! NJPW Stuck in the Past After Finlay Loss? 22:53

3M ago22:53

22:53

Reports are swirling that Stratton believes Charlotte deliberately sabotaged their storyline, leading to real backstage tension. Flair has allegedly been reprimanded by WWE management… is this a major shift for both women in the division?Meanwhile in NJPW, David Finlay falls short in his IWGP World Title challenge against Hirooki Goto at Sakura Gen…