#Pod Save America

[political-us]

Racial profiling of Native Americans during Trump immigration raids

[victusinveritas]

Top quote is from Robert Reich.

[beauty-funny-trippy]

Cutting healthcare from those who need it, to pay for tax cuts for the super rich who don't need it. What twisted logic is this?

[saywhat-politics]

I Got in a Fight with JD Vance

[mystardustmelodyyy]

Psaki x Schlossberg Pod Review

As mentioned I was apprehensive queuing up this interview. Because I loved Jack’s approach to social media up until January. Post Baldoni was a shitshow. I appreciated the interview and was interested that while I found the way he presented his strategies and takeaways shortsighted and flawed, I found his insights on the state of the union spot on. Here are some highlights. The good (girl yes!) and the bad (diva down). Trust, I have more thoughts than what I’m saying here so if you wanna gab further my inbox is open.

GIRL YES!

Don’t waste your time qualifying anything on the internet. That’s not the place for it.

+ people need clear reasons and clear messaging for why they should support a party. I think this applies to young and old people. Media literacy is in crisis for all demographics.

Being risk averse is damaging and looses voters, especially young men. For sure- the last time I remember seeing young men really excited about a Democratic candidate was the Bernie Bro movement.

We need a 24/7 social media team active for the Democratic Party / the left like we had during the Kamala campaign. Investing in progressive media is huge, and social media is setting the tone for traditional media. I met a lot of people from Kamala HQ at the DNC and they should 1000% be leading the charge on reaching the public.

Our messaging leans too academic- this is something Jen has been saying on a lot of media outlets that really resonates with me. People who are stressed about affording medication don’t want to hear a lecture on fascism.

We need to start manipulating media in our favor.

+ the one quote I had to write down- “We can’t rely now on the pendulum swinging back and forth. They’re going to produce a tv show, online, every single day that says they’re winning and says a different version of reality. And we can no longer expect people to understand what’s going on and to react to the outcome of policy when it’s completely divorced.” - great stuff

DIVA DOWN

Jack focusing on people who are in on the joke and like his content VS people who are outraged because they’re not in on the joke but not even touching people who get the joke, are aligned with him politically, and still don’t think it’s funny or valuable was a glaring disconnect.

+ furthermore, Jack didn’t make any distinction on his content pre election VS. post election. His post election, specifically post Baldoni content, was significantly more chaotic and vulgar. It didn’t work on me personally but I want to hear the logic behind it and his takeaways from shifting his approach. A LOT of his fans stepped back, way before he deleted his socials.

You’re frustrated with how the left is handling social media? Name names. Be specific. What do you think the Pod Save America guys are doing wrong? What are your thoughts on influencers like Hasan Piker? Bernie Sanders & AOC are great examples of elected officials that use their social platforms effectively- even if you don’t agree with their views they should be mentioned (you can even critique them! People love gossip!).

+ Jack not mentioning any other left influencers when he’s so new to the content creator game came off as self important and out of touch. Like have you even heard of @hellicity_merriman ???

It needs to be said- everything about the Baldoni bit was tone deaf. Presenting the general public being more invested in that trial VS the changing administration as a bad thing overlooks the fact that it was a sexual harassment lawsuit. Reproductive health is under attack and a sexual predator was just elected back into office. It’s not hard to see the link here as to why people, women specifically (who make up the majority of Jack’s fan base), were upset. Also, it’s not something that was forgotten- the Baldoni bit is the most common thing that I see online as what turned folks off to his schtick.

I say this as someone who has a hodgepodge of career/education experience: be specific about the demographics you want to reach and how you can reach them. Having less than a year of content creator experience, not practicing law and never having held public office makes some of this advice hard to take at face value. But growing up in the Democratic Party, going to school with other members of the 1%, and spending months campaigning directly on college campuses is incredibly valuable in its own right. I think Jack speaking more to personal experience can give a clearer picture as to why he’s come to these conclusions.

That’s it for now. Leaving with some wise words from Leo.

[multiple-man-tears]

IZZY ROLAND MADE AN UNPROMPTED JON FAVREAU REFERENCE WHAT THE HELL CROSSOVER OF THE CENTURY

[lenbryant]

Pod Save America on the first interview.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Waleed Shahid and Francesca Fiorentini at Waleed's Substack:

A recent Media Matters study confirmed what many have long suspected: right-wing media has thoroughly colonized the digital entertainment ecosystem. Whether it’s comedy, sports, or long-form podcasts, conservative voices dominate. Nine of the ten most-followed online shows lean right, with figures like Joe Rogan, Theo Von, and Charlie Kirk commanding audiences that dwarf their progressive counterparts. The right isn’t just winning the media war—it’s setting the terrain of politics through it. The liberal response to this dominance has been, frankly, unserious. Rather than building a robust, independent, and ideologically coherent media infrastructure, Democratic-aligned institutions and progressive philanthropy have defaulted to a strange overcorrection: either (1) investing in entertainment that only lightly brushes against politics, hoping progressive values seep in through cultural osmosis, or (2) funding party-sanctioned messaging that reinforces Democratic orthodoxy, without grappling with the anti-establishment and populist appeal that gives right-wing media its edge. Both approaches are failing because both fundamentally misunderstand how the right actually wields media power. Conservative media isn’t just successful because it’s entertaining. It’s successful because it is a parallel political infrastructure—one that fuses ideology, entertainment, donor money and mobilization into a self-reinforcing loop. Right-wing media does not react to the Republican Party; it defines it. Figures like Ben Shapiro and Charlie Kirk don’t wait for RNC talking points—they create them. They shape the conservative worldview from the outside in, disciplining elected Republicans through relentless pressure while radicalizing audiences against mainstream institutions. Progressive media, by contrast, remains trapped in a reactive, defensive posture, often litigating GOP narratives rather than setting its own. And unlike its conservative counterpart, it is too often tethered to party elites, hesitant to challenge institutional Democratic power, and still operating as if gatekeepers hold the same influence they did 30 years ago. Unlike their right-wing counterparts, most political content creators on the center-left and left operate as independent freelancers, without institutional backing, full-time salaries, or basic benefits like healthcare. Many juggle multiple income streams—subscriptions, ad revenue, crowdfunding—just to sustain their work, leaving them vulnerable to burnout and reactive rather than strategic in their output. They often work alone, without the support of editors, researchers, or political operatives who could sharpen their messaging and deepen their impact. In contrast, right-wing content creators are frequently embedded within a well-funded ecosystem, backed by think tanks, billionaire donors, and political organizations that provide research, staff, and media connections. The result? Right-wing media functions as an ideological machine, while left-wing content creation remains scattered, precarious, and too often detached from the movements and institutions that could amplify its reach. This is the real asymmetry: the right’s media ecosystem is unabashedly ideological, intentionally insurgent, and generously resourced. The left’s remains reactive, scattered, and deferential to the Democratic Party. Until that changes, the left will continue losing the battle for public opinion—one podcast, one news cycle, one election at a time.

The Liberal Fantasy: Entertainment as Politics and the Limits of DNC Cheerleading

At the heart of the progressive media dilemma is both a category problem and a scope problem. Many right-wing creators have found success by labeling their content as “comedy” or “culture”—even when that’s a stretch—and eagerly diving into the world of pop culture, celebrity gossip, and viral controversies. The left, by contrast, often treats these realms as unserious or beneath them, despite their enormous influence on low-information and swing voters. While figures like Canadce Owens, Andrew Schultz, and Ben Shapiro use The Barbie Movie or the Blake Lively/Justin Baldoni discourse to subtly reframe the #MeToo movement—as Taylor Lorenz has noted—progressive media often cedes this terrain entirely. Entertainment and celebrity news are still viewed by many liberal commentators as frivolous, rather than as battlegrounds where public values are shaped and political narratives are tested. To be sure, the left needs to engage in pop culture, needs humor and needs to be entertaining. But right-wing media is also powerful because it is structured as an ideological project, not a content strategy.

[...]

The Left Needs to Build Power, Not Just Content

The lesson of right-wing media dominance isn’t that progressives need “a Joe Rogan.” It’s that the left needs its own ideological infrastructure—permanent, expansive, and independent of Democratic Party control that can build and represent working class populism. Until progressives recognize this, they will remain trapped in a cycle of reactive, defensive, and ultimately ineffective media engagement. The right has already built its machine. If the left doesn’t catch up, it will keep losing—not just in elections, but in the deeper contest over who defines political reality itself.

Read this column from Waleed Shahid and Fran Fiorentini on why the right-wing media apparatus is kicking our butt to the turf.

[political-us]

[aphraelsan]

Watching Vote Save America’s Trek the Vote.

Jon Lovett: Do you think Donald Trump is giving off big Borg energy?

Jeri Ryan: NO. The Borg’s whole thing was perfection. We would stay as far away from this guy as we *possibly* could.

[deanwasalwaysbi]

Republican talking heads are trying to blame Biden for Easter moving to trans visibility day, which has been celebrated on March 31st since 2009.

Trans Day of Visibility and Easter also coincided in 2019, when Donald Trump was president. Obviously, he will be issuing his sincere apology any moment now.

See, while calendar days do not move, Easter moves to follow the full moon, passover, and the days of the week. Passover is in April this year, but Easter is falling a month early as Christianity doesn't account for Hebrew leap years. So really, it's the Catholic Crutch that decided to combine the two holidays celebrated by finding and cracking pastel eggs.

They're also claiming to be upset about the language requesting artwork not be overly religious or political. Language that has not changed for the last 45 years, and was in place when Trump was President.

Fox and Trump are understandably upset that Dark Brandon has such sway over the calendar, the Catholic church, and, of course, the literal phases of the moon. But maybe if Pope Francis trusts him with such important decisions, we should too.

[endapartypod]

Some honorable mentions from our episode on our favorite podcasts!

LISTEN HERE

[mystardustmelodyyy]

@youngmodern24 Tysm 💜💜💜 I feel the same way! I think he has a lot of potential and given how automatically huge his platform is I hope something good/productive comes of it.

If you’re interested, @organizermemes on Insta & X have been making astute observations about the state of Left content creators recently too

[always-rolling-my-eyes]

Well, Aysha has won the battle between the podcasters 😂

[slightestprovocation]

Outraged social justice freak and the two nerds that missed him.

[foolishmortal]

The fact that Hasan Minhaj and Pod Save flapped their jaws for nearly 15 minutes about the mystery of why people who voted for Obama twice then voted for Trump, without ever ever broaching the topic of misogyny against both the female candidates, is why I've stopped seriously listening to them in the past few years.