How to Save Democracy with Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor of Pod Save America

Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor, co-hosts of Pod Save America and founders of Crooked Media, remember when politics felt hopeful.Their latest venture, after working for Obama, starting Crooked Media, and launching a slew of great ventures and podcasts, is a user's guide to American government: Democracy or Else: How to Save America in 10 Easy Steps. They are some of the most informed, level-headed, and hilarious political voices around, and their book is the antidote to feeling stressed out, beat down, and powerless over politics. You certainly don’t have to be a political junky to appreciate that!

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[rfernandezlorain]

How soothing it is to hear so much sense in one place. ❤

[rfernandezlorain]

We need to stop talking about Trump and Biden and get people thinking about a Trump executive branch and a Biden Executive branch. Who are the people they will bring around them and what will they do. Too much information about these two individuals out there and not enough about the stuff that really matters. Media has hocus pocused us into thinking these two will single handedly have to run the country 🤷🏻‍♀️

[rissabiagi]

Oh fuck yeah! Three of my favorite political

[ronjones]

Let’s save our Republic & the Constitution!

[MyFavoriteColorIsBLUE]

Well, my 21 year old son came to me this week and asked me who was running for President, lol. So I hope that i rub off a little bit on him. Thanks Katie for the great podcast

[darondatoole]

Combination. Also exceedingly terrified.

[pattiderosamusic]

I love Jon, Tommy, and Katie. At the same time, the continual head-scratching about “why is this rightward shift happening?” and the limitations of the economic analysis that is the response is frustrating. It’s almost always missing serious attention to the key element of race. The MAGA phenomenon has been, and remains, an overwhelmingly white phenomenon. People of color have been hit by all the same devastating economic factors, negative effects of globalization, and most certainly have little trust in institutions that have never worked for them, yet by and large they’re not running to Trump. The question of what (the unnamed identifier of white) people see in Trump is this: he plays to white resentment and white fear and portrays himself as the “white savior” who is going to save them from the inevitable diversification of the country and the world (fear of all of it - race, gender, sexuality, non-Christians, immigrants, etc.) and convincing them to see that diversity as the cause of all their woes. If you leave that out, none of it makes sense. Unfortunately the Dems have still not learned how to effectively speak to this in a way that is healing and transformative. Utilizing the analysis, techniques, and strategies in Heather McGhee’s “The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together” and Ian Haney Lopez’s “Merge Left: Fusing Race and Class, Winning Elections, and Saving America” would be a good place to start. Jon nails it when he talked about Deep Canvassing. ❤

[ejjunkins]

Term limits already exist! Just people don't think about every election being a potential term limit!

[teseboudette]

Tommy looks fit in his shorts and knows his facts on any topic....

[nancychandler]

Yay, a moderate Democrat won NY16. Bye bye crazy, hello pragmatism 💙

[az]

00:54 why “we saw violence on January 6th” and not calling it what it was - an insurrection, civil war or however it is labeled? Have the real discussion using real words, not emotion.

[marijodennison]

How about changing laws for congress of age limits and term limits. We shouldn’t have to choose between two old past it millionaires for President, and old stupid congressional members that shouldn’t have more than two four year terms at the most. Oh, and not being able to run after age 60. And I’m a 70 year old white woman who is fed up. Millionaires don’t have to worry about $6 loaves of bread, or health care costs or high interest rates and Supreme Court justices serving for life and taking bribes. So many of my middle class retired friends are working in their 80’s. A lot of us lost our retirement with the 2008 crash. Millionaires and Billionaires are fine. Great.

[jhaychylla]

Katie, you make reference to the U.S. being a Democracy, but you must know that it's not; it's a Constitutional Republic. There's a stark difference. Would you consider posting a podcast on the difference?

[jessicafalstein]

I can’t listen to these guys anymore. All they do is bash biden.

[chrisbailey]

Jesus 👑 2024.
No more of this nonsense.

[marijodennison]

All people care about is their pocket book. Food costs, electricity, every freaking thing is way more expensive than 4 years ago. That’s what people care about. The economy sucks for normal Americans. Inflation is down? Yeah, then why is food 3 times more expensive than 3 years ago. You can’t afford to pay $6 a pound for apples, and don’t get anyone started about prices for everything else. Millionaire’s are fine. Wonderful.