The Odd Years

Back in 2023, Republican pollster Patrick Ruffini wrote a book that laid out a path for how the party could win future elections with a working class multiracial coalition. So we wanted to have Patrick Ruffini back on for a conversation about how well that same coalition is holding up six months into Trump 2.0, whether these voters will show up for Republicans in 2026, and whether the next Republican nominee for president will have a similar appeal these voters.

Most of the political attention these days is centered in D.C, but there's a pretty fascinating primary contest happening just a train ride north of here in New York City.

When we booked this episode with Pod Save America co-host Dan Pfeiffer several weeks back, our plan was to talk about the Democrats and their strategy and messaging around Trump - something Dan's been writing about for his Substack, Message Box. Should Democrats just focus on the economy? Should they raise alarm bells over deportations? How loudly and strongly should they push back against Trump? And we do discuss that, but as it turned out, there was a lot more to talk about with Dan.

Josh Holmes two roles - as host of the popular podcast Ruthless and a seasoned Republican political hand - gives him unique perspective into our current political era. This conversation spans the gamut from what advice he'd give to down ballot Republicans for the upcoming midterms to his thoughts on the Trump tariff endgame. Josh also talks about how candidates can best navigate the new media landscape.

The person behind the Cook PVI and how it all works is David Wasserman, The Cook Political Report’s senior editor and elections analyst. We invited him on to explain what the Cook PVI is, how we calculate it, what we learned from it for 2025, and what it may tell us about elections in 2026.

Presidential elections in Wisconsin the last two cycles have been incredibly close. In 2016 and 2020, they were decided by less than one percentage point. Of course, polling in the state has been notoriously "off" - or maybe fickle - which makes it more important than ever to talk to people who have been covering politics in Wisconsin for quite some time and can help us understand the many whims and changes there. That's why we invited Craig Gilbert to talk today. He is a self-described chronicler of close Wisconsin elections and he calls it one of the "most enduring" of the battleground states.

Host Amy Walter confesses her love of Apple TV's For All Mankind and the magic of its decade-spanning montages and storytelling to none other than the show's Executive Producers and writers, Ben Nedivi and Matt Wolpert. As season 4 of the show launches, the trio goes deep into the show's origin [03:28]; whether we should consider the show science or fiction [06:57]; taking a closer look at Gary Hart, Al Gore, and Ellen Wilson's journey in FAMK to the highest office in the land [21:19]; the creative process, electoral maps and fictional news reports featured in the montages [16:33; where the show will go as it catches up to our actual reality [24:22]; grieving the loss of beloved characters [37:04]; favorite political reads [39:53]; and much, much more. Catch up on #ForAllMankind, and its Season 2, 3 & 4 montage openers, on AppleTV+.