Television & Radio
Evan Osnos is a regular contributor to television and radio programs including NPR's Fresh Air, WNYC's The New Yorker Radio Hour, MSNBC's Last Word and other programs.
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: aug 4, 2023
This week, in a federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to four charges in relation to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his role in the January 6th insurrection. Those include counts of conspiracy to defraud the United States, to obstruct an official proceeding, and to oppress citizens’ rights to vote. This third Trump criminal indictment is the most serious and far-reaching yet, going to the heart of the former President’s efforts to undermine American democracy. The trial, which will coincide with the height of campaign season, could create a number of “constitutional sci-fi” scenarios.
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: jul 28, 2023
This week, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy moved a step closer to calling for Congress to begin impeachment proceedings against President Biden, on the ground that Biden has used the “weaponization of government to benefit his family.” For years, Hunter Biden’s dealings with Ukrainian and Chinese companies have been the focus of Republicans’ efforts to undermine the President, although investigations in the House and Senate have found no evidence of wrongdoing by Biden in relation to his son’s business dealings. Also this week, the federal judge Maryellen Noreika, in Wilmington, Delaware, put the brakes on Hunter Biden’s plea deal for tax and gun-possession crimes. Hunter Biden is not the first family member of a President to cause political headaches; the brothers of Presidents Nixon, Carter, and Clinton preceded him. What should we make of the latest news about the President’s son? More broadly, how do Oval Office political scandals arise and take hold of the public’s imagination? Hosting this segment are the New Yorker staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos.
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: jul 22, 2023
The midsummer Presidential campaign is full of surprises, including a deluge of upcoming legal battles for the G.O.P. front-runner, former President Donald Trump. Recent federal disclosures have painted a preliminary picture of the race to raise money taking place between Republican primary contenders. The campaign of Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, who was initially viewed as a powerful competitor to Trump in the Republican primary, has spent much of its cash and been forced to lay off staff. Meanwhile, the centrist group No Labels hosted an event in New Hampshire this week co-headlined by Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a Democrat, and former Utah Governor and Republican Presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, raising concerns among Democrats of a possible third-party “unity ticket” shaking up the race. Plus, Trump may face his third indictment—this time, for his role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election. In a separate case against Trump, regarding classified documents, a federal judge in Florida has set the trial date for next May, shortly before the Republican nominee for President will be named in Milwaukee. Hosting this segment are the New Yorker staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos.
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: jul 7, 2023
The White House chief-of-staff role is the hardest gig in Washington, D.C. Dick Cheney blamed the job for giving him his first heart attack, during the Ford Administration. A hapless chief of staff can break a Presidency; an effective one was nicknamed the Velvet Hammer. In January, Joe Biden’s first chief of staff, Ron Klain, was replaced by Jeffrey Zients. In a conversation from last winter, the staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos use Klain’s departure as a jumping-off point to discuss what it’s actually like to run a White House.
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: Jun 30, 2023
The New Yorker staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos take a look at the political and financial forces behind the U.S. Supreme Court’s hard-right turn. This term saw significant rulings on affirmative action in college admissions, election law, immigration, and environmental protection, all in the shadow of the decision just a year ago to overturn the constitutional right to an abortion. Right-wing victories in those cases owe a lot to Leonard Leo, a conservative activist and lawyer who has played a profound role in reshaping the American legal system. With public approval of the Supreme Court at an all-time low, our political roundtable takes a look at Leo’s influence, and at the recent $1.6-billion donation his new nonprofit received.
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: Jun 16, 2023
The New Yorker staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos look at former President Donald Trump’s arraignment in Miami on thirty-seven federal charges, including obstruction of justice and the willful retention of national-security material. In a speech at his New Jersey golf club, the former President called the charges “fake and fabricated” and the prosecution “election interference” and “political persecution.” With few exceptions, congressional Republicans defended him and attacked the Justice Department and the F.B.I.; perhaps more surprising, nearly all of his opponents for the G.O.P. Presidential nomination have done the same. As Glasser puts it, “There have been so many norms shattered by Donald Trump, sometimes we can fail to notice when yet another is happening. But I feel like this week marked another Rubicon.”
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: Jun 9, 2023
On Friday, federal prosecutors unsealed the indictment against Donald Trump, revealing their case that the former President mishandled classified documents after leaving the White House. The indictment is Trump’s second in recent months, after the Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, charged him with thirty-four felony counts in relation to hush-money payments to the adult-film star Stormy Daniels. Trump said that he has been summoned to the Miami federal courthouse on Tuesday, just as the Republican primary race heats up. Three new contenders threw their hats into the ring this week: the former Vice-President Mike Pence, the former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum. How will Trump’s legal woes affect the race for the nomination? The New Yorker staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos spoke Friday morning, before the release of the indictment.
Pushkin’s Broken Record Podcast: Jun 4, 2023 (paywall)
Today Broken Record producer Leah Rose talks to New Yorker staff writer Evan Osnos about his story in the New Yorker's recent Music Issue called: "One For The Money: How to hire a pop star for your private party." In the piece Evan Osnos follows rapper Flo Rida to a series of private events including a bar mitzvah and a corporate gig for a private equity firm. Leah and Evan discuss why some artists are now publicly embracing making millions of dollars from private events, and the backlash people like Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez have received after performing for controversial people in power.
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: Jun 2, 2023
Policymakers have avoided a financial catastrophe just days before the “X-Date,” when the U.S. Treasury would have run out of money to pay its bills. Despite some opposition from members of both parties, the House and Senate chambers passed the Fiscal Responsibility Act, a compromise by Speaker McCarthy and President Biden that will raise the debt ceiling until January of 2025. While the Hill was consumed by these negotiations, the judiciary continued to hold insurrectionists accountable for their roles in the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers, was sentenced to eighteen years in prison for seditious conspiracy, which the sentencing judge called one of the most serious crimes that an individual in America can commit. The sentencing was a victory for democracy, but also a reminder of the anger that still courses through the country and fuels our political system. The New Yorker staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos analyze these two recent events and consider whether the political center can hold in such a rage-filled nation.
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: may 22, 2023
President Joe Biden was set to make a historic tour through the Indo-Pacific over the next week, becoming the first sitting U.S. President to visit Papua New Guinea, an island state that declared a national holiday for his arrival. But negotiations over the debt limit back home forced the President to cut his trip short, and he returned to Washington immediately after the G-7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan. Debate over the debt ceiling could not be postponed, the White House said, as the U.S. closes in on the day it will run out of cash. Biden’s cancelled tour would have taken place at a time of growing concern about China’s expanding military and economic influence in the region, and on the heels of G-7 discussions about competition with China and the war in Ukraine. Can the U.S. reassert itself as a leader on the international stage if it can’t take care of business at home? The New Yorker staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos analyze America’s global standing and the G-7 summit in this week’s roundtable discussion.
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: may 13, 2023
This week, Representative George Santos, the New York Republican, was indicted on thirteen counts of alleged financial crimes, including wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds, and making materially false statements to the House of Representatives. The congressman then took a page out of former President Donald Trump’s playbook by calling the prosecution a “witch hunt.” Trump himself was found liable this week for defamation and sexual abuse, in a Manhattan civil trial brought by the writer E. Jean Carroll; Trump was ordered to pay her five million dollars in damages. Amid those developments, the relationship between the billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow and the Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas continues to spark ethics concerns, following revelations about financial and real-estate transactions involving the two men. Despite the scandals, Santos, Thomas, and Trump maintain their respective positions of power as lawmaker, Justice, and Republican front-runner in the 2024 Presidential race. The New Yorker staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos look at changes in American political culture that allow leaders to survive scandals that would have ended earlier careers, and whether shamelessness is the dominant driving our politics.
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: apr 28, 2023
President Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris are officially in the race for the Oval Office—again. For the past three years, strategists, members of the press, and voters have speculated that Biden might serve only one term in office, after he had described himself, during the 2020 campaign, as a “bridge” to future Democratic leaders. But Biden’s announcement this week of his bid for reëlection confirms that the bridge does not lead to Harris in 2024. With voters worried about Biden’s age—eighty—eyes are on his running mate, who is the first woman, the first Black person, and the first South Asian person to serve as Vice-President. The New Yorker staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos look at why Biden chose to run again, whether Harris will be an asset or a drag on his campaign, and how the 2024 election will serve as a referendum on the character of America.
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: apr 22, 2023
At the eleventh hour, Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems resolved a defamation suit over the network’s coverage of the 2020 election, evading weeks of trial that would have brought the network’s biggest names, including Rupert Murdoch, Tucker Carlson, and Sean Hannity, to the witness stand. Although the court found that Fox aired falsehoods about Dominion, apologizing or retracting those falsehoods on air was reportedly not part of the settlement deal. Even as Fox was able to resolve its suit with Dominion just hours after jury selection, the network still faces other legal challenges. Fox News is being sued by Smartmatic for $2.7 billion in damages for defaming the voting-technology company in its coverage of the 2020 election, and a former producer has filed a pair of lawsuits against the company alleging a hostile work environment and claiming that the network’s lawyers pushed her to give misleading testimony in the Dominion case. With its reputation—and money—on the line, what is next for Fox News and the Murdoch family’s hold on the company? And what could the various pending defamation cases portend for libel law in the United States? The New Yorker staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos consider these questions, among others, in this week’s political roundtable.
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: apr 14, 2023
Ten months after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, access to abortion is once again before the United States Supreme Court, in a case that targets not only abortion medication but also the Food and Drug Administration. Last week, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, of the Northern District of Texas, invalidated the F.D.A.’s approval of the abortion medication mifepristone, which dates back to 2000, igniting a furor among pro-choice politicians and a backlash from biotech and pharmaceutical companies. The conservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily narrowed Kacsmaryk’s ruling, making the pill available but reducing the period of pregnancy when the drug can be taken from ten to seven weeks and barring its shipment by mail. The case is now before the Supreme Court. In this week’s political roundtable, the New Yorker staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos consider what is at stake in the newest battle over abortion access and how this moment reflects the right’s larger effort to reduce the regulatory state.
The New Yorker Radio Hour: apr 14, 2023
A ban of the Chinese social-media app TikTok, first floated by the Trump Administration, is now gaining real traction in Washington. Lawmakers of both parties fear the app could be manipulated by Chinese authorities to gain insight into American users and become an effective tool for propaganda against the United States. "Tiktok arrived in Americans' lives in about 2018 and in some ways it coincided with the same period of collapse in the U.S.-China relationship, the staff writer Evan Osnos tells David Remnick. "If you're a member of Congress, you look at TikTok and you say, This is the clearest emblem of my concern about China, and this is something I can talk about and touch.' "
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: apr 7, 2023
Donald Trump’s arraignment, on Tuesday, spurred a media frenzy that dominated the news. But the week also revealed a vacuum of leadership among current Republican Party leaders. Some G.O.P. members voiced wholehearted support for Trump. Some chose to only condemn the prosecution, in order to appease his followers. Some said nothing at all. One lawmaker who has offered no comment on the indictment so far is Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has been absent from the Senate since March 8th, when a fall sent him to the hospital with a concussion. Though the eighty-one-year-old senator has been weighing in on floor debates from rehab and his home, his absence has some colleagues worried about the future of the Party. In this week’s political roundtable, the New Yorker staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos consider who is actually in charge of the Republican Party right now, and where they might be taking it.
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: Apr 1, 2023
Agrand jury in Manhattan voted on Thursday to indict former President Donald Trump for his involvement in a hush-money payment, of a hundred and thirty thousand dollars, to the adult-film star Stormy Daniels. In the final days before the 2016 election, the payment was covered up. In the first part of this week’s political roundtable, the New Yorker staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos look at what the unprecedented indictment means. “I think that banana republics are getting a bad rap right now,” Osnos says. “If you want to know what really makes a banana republic, it’s not going and prosecuting a former President. It’s allowing certain people to live above the law.”
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: Mar 24, 2023
It’s the end of a week in which former President Donald Trump said that he would be indicted by the Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, for a hundred-and-thirty-thousand-dollar hush-money payment to the adult-film star Stormy Daniels—and still no charge. But just the prospect of an indictment has created a furor among Trump’s Republican allies in the House, who called Bragg’s investigation a “sham” and the District Attorney “radical.” Jim Jordan, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, led an inquiry into the Manhattan D.A.’s office—a move that the D.A.’s general counsel called an “unlawful incursion into New York’s sovereignty.” In this week’s political roundtable, the New Yorker staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos look at the political ramifications of the still-looming indictment, the terrifying threat of political violence, and what a Trump “perp walk” could mean.
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: Mar 18, 2023
Reverberations of the global “war on terror”—launched by the Bush Administration following the attacks of September 11, 2001—have rippled throughout the world, taking hundreds of thousands of lives and costing trillions of U.S. dollars. This week marks the twentieth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, conducted on the false pretext that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. The New Yorker staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos all spent time writing and reporting on the Iraq War and its aftermath—including from within Iraq. In our weekly roundtable, they look at the profound consequences of the war and how it has impacted today’s politics—through, for example, the rise of Donald Trump, debates over America’s role in the war in Ukraine, and widespread distrust of experts and the mainstream media. We are living in a world the Iraq War created, and Glasser, Mayer, and Osnos explain how.
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: Mar 3, 2023
The Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit against Fox News stems from the 2020 election and Donald Trump’s refusal to accept defeat. At stake is nearly $1.6 billion in damages. Filings released in the case contain a trove of e-mails and text messages from Fox hosts and executives. The documents reveal that many of the top decision-makers at the company didn’t seem to believe what their own network was saying about the 2020 election. Fox’s owner, Rupert Murdoch, admitted as much, in a deposition released this week. In our weekly roundtable, the New Yorker staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos look at what the filings tell us about how Fox News operates, the current state of Republican politics, and the 2024 election.
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: Feb 24, 2023
This week, Joe Biden visited Kyiv to mark the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion, and promised more American support for Ukraine. Although the United States has approved tens of billions of dollars of aid for Ukraine, largely with bipartisan support, the war is increasingly a focus in U.S. domestic politics, with some congressional Republicans and the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, raising objections. The staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos gather for their weekly conversation, discussing how the war has upended expectations and may also upend American politics, as the far right and far left appear to be coming together in opposition to U.S. support for Ukraine.
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: Feb 17, 2023
The California senator Dianne Feinstein announced her retirement this week. First elected in 1992, she became one of the most powerful senators in the chamber and was often spoken of as a possible Presidential contender, although she never ran. Also this week, Nikki Haley announced her bid to challenge Donald Trump for the Republican Presidential nomination. In Democratic circles, there have been new reports of hand-wringing over Vice-President Kamala Harris’s political prospects. That got the staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos thinking about 1992—the Year of the Woman, as it was known—and about what has and hasn’t changed for women in politics in the three decades since.
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: Feb 10, 2023
President Biden gave a boisterous second State of the Union address earlier this week, sparring with Republicans over Social Security and Medicare. Designed to advance the President’s agenda, a State of the Union address is always overstuffed. But there were several hot-button issues that Biden hardly discussed, including abortion rights, the United States’ relationship with China, and the war in Ukraine. The staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos gather for their weekly conversation and consider what barely got a mention, and what that tells us about the current balance of power in Washington and the 2024 campaign.
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: Feb 3, 2023
The Republican Nikki Haley is widely expected to announce a Presidential run later this month. As a former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina governor, Haley brings strong credentials to a sparse Republican field. The defeated former President Donald Trump is making his third bid for the White House. Governor Ron DeSantis, of Florida, is expected to run, but is so far waiting in the wings. Mikes Pence and Pompeo, Trump’s former Vice-President and Secretary of State, respectively, are also rumored to be contemplating bids. What can these nascent campaigns tell us about the state of the G.O.P.? The staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos gather for their weekly conversation to explore the 2024 race for the Republican nomination, and what it might take to dislodge Trump as the front-runner.
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: Jan 27, 2023
The White House chief of staff is the second most powerful but hardest gig in Washington, D.C. Dick Cheney blamed the job for giving him his first heart attack, during the Ford Administration. A hapless chief of staff can break a Presidency; effective ones get nicknamed the Velvet Hammer. On Friday, the Biden Administration announced that Ron Klain will depart as chief of staff, after two long years in the job. The staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos gather for their weekly conversation to look at what Klain accomplished and what to expect from his replacement, Jeffrey Zients.
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: Jan 20, 2023
President Biden has faced remarkable challenges in his first two years in office, from the overturning of the national right to abortion and the management of the U.S.’s covid response to the invasion of Ukraine. The staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos gather for their weekly conversation to look at what the Biden White House has accomplished in the past two years, and what the forty-sixth President can hope to achieve before 2024. Plus, the roundtable talks about the political implications of “The Getty Family’s Trust Issues,” Osnos’s latest article, which explores how the ultra-wealthy avoid paying taxes
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: Jan 13, 2023
The House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government was launched on Tuesday, with Representative Jim Jordan, a combative ally of Donald Trump and a co-founder of the far-right Freedom Caucus, at the helm. This powerful new committee has the authority to investigate the federal government and how it has collected, analyzed, and used information about American citizens. Its mandate includes access to sensitive documents and details about covert actions, all of which fall under Congress’s typical oversight authority. But the new committee also provides a way for Republicans to advance the narrative that conservatives are systematically under attack. The staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos gather for their weekly conversation to look at historical parallels of this new committee, and how it will likely handle issues such as Hunter Biden’s laptop and the recent revelation that Joe Biden had a number of classified documents in his possession.
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: Jan 6, 2023
By Thursday evening, Kevin McCarthy had lost eleven votes for Speaker of the House, the longest series of inconclusive ballots for the role since 1859. Until the next Speaker is selected, nothing can happen in the House of Representatives: no new legislation, no top-secret briefings, not even paychecks for lawmakers. McCarthy’s fate remained unclear when the staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos gathered for their weekly conversation, on Friday morning. Whatever the outcome, they say, the entire saga is instructive about the current state of the Republican Party—who wields true power, what the role of big money is, and even what the next two years of divided government might look like.
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: dec 30, 2022
2022 was the year that the contours of the post-pandemic world started to heave into view. Critical aspects of domestic and international politics were reordered. The staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos gather for their weekly conversation to consider the most important stories of 2022. They talk through the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, changing perceptions in Washington of the U.S.-China relationship, and the immense toll of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Plus, they offer some year-end reading and watching recommendations.
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: dec 23, 2022
On Monday, the House select committee investigating January 6th voted unanimously to refer Donald Trump to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation over the attack on the Capitol, including a charge of insurrection. The staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos gather for their weekly conversation to talk about the committee’s eighteen-month probe and what’s next for the forty-fifth President.
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: dec 9, 2022
It’s been a busy week in national politics: Raphael Warnock triumphed over Herschel Walker in the Georgia Senate runoff, Kyrsten Sinema left the Democratic caucus in the Senate, and the Democrats proposed a new calendar for the 2024 Presidential primaries. There are also the myriad investigations into Donald Trump, and criminal convictions of Trump Organization companies for tax fraud. The staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos gather for their weekly conversation, starting with Donald Trump’s recent call to “terminate” the Constitution so that he can be reinstated as President or have the 2020 election be “redone.”
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: dec 2, 2022
All week, Washington, D.C., has been talking about Donald Trump’s dinner with Nick Fuentes, a notorious white supremacist and Holocaust denier. A wave of prominent Republicans have repudiated the dinner and anti-Semitism, including Senators Mitch McConnell and Mitt Romney. Trump’s former Vice-President, Mike Pence, also condemned the meeting, with the caveat that he didn’t think his former boss was a bigot or an anti-Semite. But the issue goes beyond a single meal. The staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos gather for their weekly conversation, to look at the modern history of the far right in Republican politics.
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: Nov 25, 2022
Many of the most important and powerful people in Washington, D.C., are on the older side. Joe Biden turned eighty last week. Mitch McConnell is also eighty. Nancy Pelosi, who recently stepped away from a leadership position in her party, is eighty-two. All three of these leaders have delivered big victories for their respective parties. But there is a question of whether America is becoming a gerontocracy—a country ruled by the elderly. The staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos gather for their weekly roundtable conversation to ask: Do age and experience impart wisdom for troubled times, or can they create an inability to confront new ways of thinking?
Stay Tuned with Preet podcast, Nov 21, 2022
On this episode of Stay Tuned, Preet speaks with Evan Osnos, staff writer at The New Yorker and former Chicago Tribune Beijing bureau chief, about U.S./China relations following last week's meeting between President Biden and President Xi at the G20 summit in Indonesia.
The New Yorker’s Political Scene Podcast: Nov 19, 2022
Donald Trump announced his third bid for the White House this week. But the landscape is very different from when he glided down the Trump Tower escalator in 2015. He has lost the popular vote twice. He has been impeached twice. He is facing numerous criminal investigations, including for his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election. Many of his hand-picked candidates lost key midterm races. The staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos draw on their deep political reporting to break down the significance of this week’s announcement, along with the news that Nancy Pelosi is stepping down as the leader of the House Democrats.
Sinica Podcast: Oct 27, 2022
This week on Sinica, Evan Osnos, staff writer for The New Yorker, joins hosts Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn to talk about his new piece on one of the most puzzling figures to come out of China: Guo Wengui, a.k.a Miles Kwok, who took what he learned about dealing with power and money in China and applied those lessons to the U.S., insinuating himself with leading figures of the American right. Who is this mysterious man, and what is he really after? In an unscripted episode that will bring some listeners back to the grotty apartment in Beijing where Sinica recorded in its very early days, Evan, Kaiser, and Jeremy parse the mysteries of the strange phenomenon of Guo Wengui.
The New Yorker Politics & More Podcast: Oct 12, 2022
Thursday marked the last expected public hearing of the congressional January 6th committee. The eight previous hearings have already revealed extraordinary information about just how close American democracy came to being overturned during the insurrection. But what has yet to be revealed? Will we learn what Donald Trump was doing while the Capitol was stormed? Will action be taken? The New Yorker’s Washington bureau—Evan Osnos, Jane Mayer, and Susan B. Glasser—are joined at The New Yorker Festival by Representative Jamie Raskin, who is both a congressman and a constitutional scholar, to discuss the legal theory of the many possible cases against Trump.
Vox Longform podcast: Sep 14, 2022
Evan Osnos is a staff writer for The New Yorker. His new book is Wildland: The Making of America’s Fury. He says in this interview, “I'm always trying to get inside a subculture. That's the thing that I think has been the most enduring, attractive element for me. Is there a world that has its own manners and vocabulary and internal rhythms and status structure? And who looks down on whom? And why? And who venerates whom? Who's a big deal in these worlds? And if I can get into that, it doesn't even really matter to me that much what the subculture is. I'm fascinated by trying to map that thing out.”
The New Yorker Politics & more podcast: Sep 1, 2022
Joe Biden has had a remarkable reversal of fortune this summer. He signed three bipartisan bills, and the Inflation Reduction Act, a multibillion-dollar combination of climate and health-care legislation, was surprisingly revived and passed by Congress. That was accompanied by a drop in gas prices and a slowdown in inflation. Suddenly it seems as if the Democrats could hold on to the Senate, and even the House, in the upcoming midterms. But, according to the Harvard historian and New Yorker staff writer Jill Lepore, these successes do not make Biden the equivalent of Franklin Delano Roosevelt or Lyndon Baines Johnson, as some—the President among them—have suggested. Lepore speaks with the guest host Evan Osnos about this turning point in the Biden Administration, and about the inextricability of a President and his historical moment.
The New Yorker Politics & more podcast: Aug 11, 2022
The Senate’s passage of the Inflation Reduction Act this week marks a turning point in the Biden Presidency. After more than a year of negotiations, the Democratic caucus agreed on a sweeping package, worth hundreds of billions of dollars, which includes many of the Party’s long-sought climate and health-care initiatives. This was followed by the news that the F.B.I. executed a search warrant to look for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump’s primary residence. The staff writer Evan Osnos and Michael Luo, the editor of newyorker.com, break down these two momentous stories.
The New Yorker Politics & more podcast: Jul 22, 2022
On Thursday evening, the committee charged with investigating the January 6th attack on the Capitol presented what it has learned so far about President Trump’s behavior on that eventful day. As members of the President’s staff and family urged him to do something about the rioters, he watched television in the White House dining room. The hearing featured testimony from military and security officials and the President’s legal counsel, and it included an outtake from an address on January 7th in which Trump admitted, “I don’t want to say the election’s over.” In the fourth installment of a special series for the Politics and More podcast, three members of The New Yorker’s Washington bureau—Evan Osnos, Susan B. Glasser, and Jane Mayer—take us through the revelations from this week’s hearing, the last of the summer.
The New Yorker Politics & more podcast: Jun 24, 2022
Two hearings this week laid out the stark implications of President Trump’s efforts to stay in office. On Tuesday, members of the House select committee on January 6th heard testimony about attempts to deliver fake slates of electors to Congress. State election officials and poll workers spoke, in powerful terms, about the intense vitriol and harassment they were subjected to by Trump supporters, simply for doing their jobs. In the third installment of a special series for the Politics and More podcast, three members of The New Yorker’s Washington bureau—Osnos, Susan B. Glasser, and Jane Mayer—take us through the big developments at the hearings this week.
The New Yorker Politics & more podcast: Jun 17, 2022
This week, the House select committee held two more hearings to review its astonishing findings on the events of January 6, 2021, featuring testimony from onetime enablers of President Donald Trump: Bill Barr, the former Attorney General, and Bill Stepien, Trump’s former campaign manager. Three members of The New Yorker’s Washington bureau—Glasser, Evan Osnos, and Jane Mayer—take us through the big developments at the hearings this week.
The New Yorker Politics & more podcast: May 19, 2022
Last weekend, an eighteen-year-old white man killed ten people and injured three in a Tops grocery store located in Buffalo’s majority-Black East End. It was a deliberately planned attack, motivated by white-supremacist ideology. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is a contributing writer at The New Yorker and a professor of African American Studies at Princeton. She joins the guest host Evan Osnos to discuss the politics of housing, policing, and education in Buffalo, and how these structural forces relate to the rise of violent right-wing extremism.
The New Yorker Politics & more podcast: May 13, 2022
China’s “zero covid” strategy has brought the bustling metropolis of Shanghai to a standstill, with many of its twenty-five million residents sealed in their homes. These exceptionally strict measures are being met with some public resistance, but Xi Jinping’s government has largely doubled down on its approach. Longtime China watcher Peter Hessler joins guest host Evan Osnos to talk about teaching in China and how the pandemic has reshaped the public’s views about the government.
The New Yorker Politics & more podcast: May 5, 2022
For nearly fifty years, conservative groups have been laser-focussed on overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion. The recent leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito, indicates that a majority of the Justices seem ready to overturn Roe completely.Our guest host Evan Osnos speaks with the New Yorker contributing writer and Harvard Law School professor Jeannie Suk Gersen about what the draft ruling means for reproductive rights in America, and about just how far this Supreme Court might go in the future.
The New Yorker Politics & more podcast: March 17, 2022
In 2019, Franklin Tao, a professor of chemistry at the University of Kansas, was arrested on suspicion of spying for the Chinese government. Tao's case was the first under a program called the China Initiative, a collaboration between the Justice Department, the F.B.I., and other federal agencies to combat what was perceived as a growing vulnerability to Chinese espionage. Gideon Lewis-Kraus joins the guest host Evan Osnos to discuss Tao’s case, the origins and impacts of the China Initiative, and the complexities of battling international espionage.
Slate’s What Next Podcast, January 18, 2022
Dan Bongino is the most popular radio host you’ve probably never heard of, Evan Osnos tells Mary Harris of Slate. Conservative talk radio host Dan Bongino sits atop a media ecosystem that is fueling the fervor behind Trump and his big lie.
NPR’s Fresh Air, January 6, 2022
New Yorker writer Evan Osnos tells NPR’s Terry Gross that no one in media has profited more from the Trump era than Bongino, who hosts the country's fourth most listened to radio show and has 8.5 million weekly listeners.
The Bulwark Podcast, January 4, 2022
What's sustaining the belief that the election was stolen from Trump? It's rage-makers like Dan Bongino, who feed existential conflict to millions of Americans daily — in between ads for gun holsters and survivalist food rations. The New Yorker's Evan Osnos joins Charlie Sykes to discuss.
All Things Considered from nPR: December 30, 2021
NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Evan Osnos of The New Yorker about radio host Dan Bongino, who calls masks "face diapers," opposes vaccine mandates and says the 2016 and 2020 elections were rigged.
WGN’s Behind the Curtain with Paul Lisnek, Dec 2, 2021
Evan Osnos joins WGN’s Paul Lisnek to discuss his new book, “Wildland: The Making of America’s Fury.” In his search to explain the crises in 2020, a year of pandemic, civil unrest and political turmoil, Evan shares the lessons and experiences he learned from his homes in Greenwich, CT, Clarksburg, WV and Chicago, IL. He discusses his interview of a young Barack Obama during the one election fight he lost, his interview with Mayor Rahm Emanuel during the tensions following the death of Laquan McDonald, and the impact and changes in the country from Obama to Trump to Biden.
The Axe Files Podcast with David Axelrod: Oct 14, 2021
When journalist Evan Osnos returned to the US in 2013 after eight years in China, he experienced somewhat of a culture shock. He found the underpinnings of the country shaken, so he set off to find out why. Evan joined David to discuss his journey from small-town newspaper photographer to The New Yorker writer, how technology has made China more autocratic, the power of money in politics, how President Joe Biden defies expectations, and what he learned traversing the country, chronicled in his book "Wildland: The Making of America's Fury."
The background briefing podcast, sept 26, 2021
Background Briefing hosts Evan Osnos to discuss his new book Wildland: The Making of America’s Fury, which explores a divided country awash with tribal incomprehension and conspiracy theories whose people have lost their vision of the common good. The book follows Osnos’ path back to where he grew up in the Republican hedge-fund haven of Greenwich, Connecticut, got his first job at a newspaper in Clarksburg, West Virginia, and to Chicago where guns and gang fratricide on the South Side is a world away from the city’s prosperous downtown.
cNN’s Amanpour, sept 21, 2021
Journalist and biographer Evan Osnos speaks to Bianna Golodryga about his new book, Wildland, and how President Biden's foreign policy has taken shape in his first nine months in office.
NPR’s Fresh Air, sept 20, 2021
NPR's Terry Gross talks to Evan Osnos about his book Wildland: The Making of America's Fury. Osnos' new book focuses on coal country in West Virginia; hedge fund culture in Greenwich, Conn.; institutional racism in Chicago and why Democrat Joe Manchin holds remarkable sway in the Senate.
CNN’s The Lead With Jake Tapper, sept 20, 2021
Evan Osnos joins Jake Tapper on The Lead to discuss his book Wildland: The Making of America's Fury.
ABC’s This week: sept 19. 2021
The New Yorker’s Evan Osnos tells Martha Raddatz that Pres. Biden ”came into office talking about way of unity and sort of appealing to this idea that we might find our way back together again,” but “the blunt reality is, that's not happening.”
CNN’s Reliable Sources: Sept 19, 2021
Brian Stelter points out that the press outnumbered the protesters in Washington on Saturday. "Some of the images can get kind of ridiculous," Evan Osnos says, but rally attendance "is not a sign that these kinds of divisions have gone away."
The New Yorker's Politics and More Podcast, Sept 16, 2021
During the past year, public meetings have become scenes of chaos. Debates about the results of the 2020 election, race, abortion, voting access, and the COVID-19 vaccine have erupted in displays of frustration and rage, and sometimes in violence. Evan Osnos joins Dorothy Wickenden to discuss the roots of American fear and anger, and what the current manifestations of such emotions reveal about dangerous fault lines in the United States.
NPR’s Morning Edition, sept 14, 2021
NPR's Rachel Martin talks to Evan Osnos about his book Wildland: The Making of America's Fury. The book helps to illustrate the beginnings of political fury in America.
aBC’s Good Morning America, Sept 13, 2021
Evan Osnos joins Good Morning America to discuss his book Wildland, which traces the roots of American dysfunction from 9/11 to Jan. 6, showing readers how we got where we are as Americans and a glimpse at the path forward.
CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, Sept 13, 2021
Evan Osnos joins John Berman on Anderson Cooper 360 to discuss how the themes of anger in Wildland relate to the September 18 demonstrations.
The New Statesman’s World review podcast, sept 10, 2021
On this episode of the World Review podcast, Jeremy Cliffe is joined by guest co-host Sarah Manavis to talk with New Yorker columnist and author Evan Osnos. To mark the 20th anniversary of al-Qaeda’s 11 September attacks on New York and Washington, DC, they discuss the atrocities’ lasting impact, the effect they have had on the US’s national psyche, and Osnos’s new book Wildland: The Making of America’s Fury.
CNN’s The Lead With Jake Tapper, sept 1, 2021
Evan Osnos joins CNN’s Jake Tapper to discuss Joe Biden’s Aghanistan speech and domestic agenda for the remainder of 2021.
CNN’s The Lead With Jake Tapper, August 19, 2021
Evan Osnos joins CNN’s Jake Tapper to discuss Joe Biden’s decisionmaking on Afghanistan after 20 years of war.
The New Yorker Politics & more podcast: aug 12, 2021
This week, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report confirming what a summer of wildfires, floods, and record temperatures had suggested: the planet is warming fast, and human are unquestionably responsible. However, the window to take action to fight climate change is not yet closed. Elizabeth Kolbert joins Evan Osnos, filling in for Dorothy Wickenden, to discuss the I.P.C.C. report; the politics of climate change; and her recent reporting from the Utah-Arizona border, where climate change has had a surprising effect on a national landmark.
All Things Considered from nPR: May 21, 2021
President Biden has known Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for years. NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Evan Osnos of The New Yorker about the relationship's role in diplomacy over violence in the Mideast.
The New Yorker Politics & more podcast: Mar 22, 2021
American naval vessels routinely patrol the South China Sea. What if one of the ships was torpedoed? The retired admiral James Stavridis teamed up with Elliot Ackerman, a journalist and former marine, to write about how, in the shadow of an increasingly tense relationship between the U.S. and China, such an incident could spiral into catastrophe. The result is “2034: A Novel of the Next World War.” The writers tell Evan Osnos how they intend to deliver in fiction an ingredient that’s missing in military planning.
The New Yorker Radio Hour: Jan 25, 2021
With Donald Trump rated the least popular President in the history of modern polling, President Joe Biden might feel confident in claiming a mandate to advance his progressive agenda. Yet congressional Democratic majorities are slim in the House of Representatives and razor-thin in the Senate. What will this balance of power mean for the new Administration? David Remnick poses this question to Jane Mayer and Evan Osnos.
Stay Tuned with Preet podcast, Jan 21, 2020
On this week’s episode of Stay Tuned, “Who is Joe Biden?” Preet is joined by Evan Osnos, a staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of Joe Biden: The Life, the Run, and What Matters Now, to talk about President Biden’s long road to the White House.
The Prospect Interview: Jan 19, 2021
Prospect contributor Andrew Adonis and biographer Evan Osnos join the Prospect Interview to discuss the life and times of the incoming US President. They talk about Biden’s early life, long career in politics and also what to expect from his presidency.
All Things Considered: Jan 18, 2021
NPR's Audie Cornish talks with Evan Osnos of The New Yorker, who wrote President-elect Joe Biden's biography, about the arc of Biden's political career — from youngest senator to oldest president.
The mother jones podcast: Dec 23, 2020
Joe Biden’s biographer joins the Mother Jones Podcast to tell us about the man behind the public figure. Jamilah King talks with Osnos about Biden’s relationship with Mitch McConnell, his political evolution, and how his diverse cabinet picks square with his legislative record on racial justice.
CNN’s Reliable Sources: Dec 6, 2020
"The president-elect's media diet is what we would call the classics," says Biden biographer and CNN contributor Evan Osnos. He reads newspapers, often in print, and keeps an eye on coverage of his actions, but "doesn't parse every word that is written about him."
aBC’s This week, Nov 29, 2020
Evan joins ABC’s “This Week” to discuss the presidential transition, Biden's Cabinet picks and Donald Trump's political future.
Think from NPR, Nov 17, 2020
New Yorker staff writer Evan Osnos joins Think host Krys Boyd to talk about Biden's life, policy positions and the political circumstances that propelled him to become the 46th President of the United States.
washington Week from PBS, November 13, 2020
Evan Osnos of The New Yorker discussed his latest book on President-elect Joe Biden. The book discusses Biden’s life, career and the months prior to his victory in the 2020 election.
MSNBC’s Last Word, Nov 11, 2020
Evan Osnos, author of "Joe Biden: The Life, the Run and What Matters Now," joins Lawrence O'Donnell to discuss Biden's pick of Ron Klain as his White House Chief of Staff.
CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, Nov 10, 2020
"What we're seeing tonight is the natural result of a person who has been steeled by experiences," says The New Yorker staff writer Evan Osnos about Joe Biden's reaction to Trump's baseless claims of voter fraud. "He's not going to be put off by the delusions of Donald Trump."
BBC Newsnight, Nov 9, 2020
After the BBC projected that Joe Biden had won the 2020 US election, BBC Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis spoke to his biographer, Evan Osnos.
Presidential from the washington post: nov 8, 2020
The original "Presidential" podcast series culminated in 2016 with the election of Donald Trump. Four years later, Washington Post journalist Lillian Cunningham — the podcast’s creator and host — returns with featured guest Evan Osno. Osnos helps explain the way Biden operates, how both personal tragedy and political centrism have shaped his path over seven decades, and what that story of Biden’s past suggests about America’s likely future with him in the presidency.
CNN’s Reliable Sources: Nov 8, 2020
When it comes to the state-level polls that missed the mark this election cycle, pollster Ann Selzer notes that polls are estimates, so "it's always going to be a matter of degree to which you get it right and get it wrong." Selzer and Evan Osnos also discuss whether president elect Biden will be able to restore trust.
The Ezra Klein Show: Nov 7, 2020
Evan Osnos joins Ezra Klein to examine how Joe Biden, more so than most politicians, changes, and why that’s key to understanding his campaign, and his likely presidency.
Amanpour & Company: October 28, 2020
One week from election day, record numbers of citizens are voting early. Could it be “third time lucky” for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden? Few have covered the candidate as intensely as Evan Osnos, who profiled the former vice president in his new book. He joins Christiane Amanpour to discuss.
C-SPAN2 Book TV: Oct 27, 2020
Along with Pete Buttigieg, New Yorker staff writer Evan Osnos discussed the life and political career of 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and what a Biden presidency might look like on C-SPAN2. This virtual program was hosted by Politics and Prose and Bookstore in Washington, D.C.
NPR’s Fresh Air: Oct 27, 2020
Evan Osnos joins Terry Gross and Fresh Air to discuss Joe Biden, a candidate who has come to terms with the tragedies and mistakes that have shaped his life.
WNYC: August 31, 2020
In a wide-ranging conversation with Evan Osnos, Joe Biden compares his position—should he win—to that of Franklin Roosevelt: taking office during a disaster, he argues, he would have an opportunity to effect a hugely ambitious agenda, but driven by pragmatism rather than ideology.
All Things Considered: August 25, 2020
NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with reporter Evan Osnos of The New Yorker about President Trump's control over traditional power brokers within the Republican Party.
Amanpour & Company: May 7, 2020
The New Yorker’s Evan Osnos appears on Amanpour & Company to discuss his hometown of Greenwich, Connecticut and to explore how Republicans there came to support the president.
Morning Joe: May 4, 2020
Was the president's rise less a hostile takeover and more a joint venture with some of America's most prosperous citizens? The New Yorker's Evan Osnos discusses new reporting on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
The Ezra Klein Show: Mar 31, 2020
Evan Osnos appears on The Ezra Klein Show to discuss the past, present, and future of the US-China relationship. What are the chances of armed conflict? What might deescalation look like? And we know what the US wants — what, in truth, does China want?
CNBC’s Squawk Box: September 11, 2018
The New Yorker staff writer Evan Osnos speaks to "Squawk Box" about his profile of Facebook's history and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
MSNBC’s Morning Joe: September 10, 2018
The New Yorker's Evan Osnos profiles Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in the magazine's latest issue and whether or not Zuckerberg has the 'will' to fix the social media platform for the better. Osnos joins Morning Joe to discuss.
Face the Nation: June 10, 2018
Evan Osnos has reported extensively on North Korea and has a piece out this week on the historical context of the current diplomatic effort.
MSNBC's Morning Joe: January 22, 2018
China's ambassador to the U.S. and Jared Kushner discussed Kushner's business interests along with policy at Mar-a-Lago, according to reporting by Evan Osnos. Osnos joins Morning Joe to discuss.
MSNBC's Last Word: January 3, 2018
New Yorker reporter Evan Osnos, recently back from North Korea and China, explains how North Korea views Trump’s nuclear taunts and how China is flexing its muscles with Donald Trump in the Oval Office.
NPR's Fresh Air: January 3, 2018
New Yorker journalist Evan Osnos tells NPR's Terry Gross that Chinese leaders think of President Trump as a "paper tiger" who makes promises he can't deliver and who can be "managed" with flattery.
Morning Joe: January 2, 2018
The New Yorker's Evan Osnos discusses new reporting on how China learned to use President Trump to its advantage.
