Stay ConnectedWelcome to Audie Cornish and Ari Shapiro’s Engagement Party, where the hot takes are the smart takes.
After years of working side by side, Audie and Ari have made it official with their pop culture podcast. Party hopping between what you’re watching, reading and scrolling, these longtime friends unpack what matters in our endless feeds.
Copyright: © 2023 CNN
When Mike Johnson worked with Democrats to pass Ukraine war funding, he knew it would enrage the extreme right-wing and threaten his speakership. So far, Johnson has survived the challenge to his job, and as Doug Heye puts it, “survival is strength.” Heye has worked for Republicans in the House and Senate and is a former communications director for the Republican National Committee. He’ll describe the tightrope Mike Johnson must walk in order lead House Republicans back to a majority in November.
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Pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses have been met with suspensions, expulsions, and arrests. This week, Audie talks with two people in the middle of the story to understand how they view and talk about this moment. We hear from Krasimir Staykov, a junior and an activist at Pomona College in Claremont, California. He and others were arrested for staging a sit-in in the university president’s office. We also hear from Michael Roth, the president of Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, about his approach to campus protest, and his response to protest language he finds offensive.
Read all of CNN’s coverage on campus protests.
Read all of Pomona College’s statements about protests on campus.
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Jon Favreau and Jon Lovett were speechwriters in the Obama White House who, along with Tommy Vietor, decided to venture into media with a podcast now called Pod Save America. The show became a hit, so they founded a whole company around it called Crooked Media. Now, they produce a plethora of podcasts, host a full schedule of live shows, and even write books like their new title, Democracy or Else. Favreau & Lovett go behind the fights over messaging in the Democratic party, parse Joe Biden's campaign strategy, and explain the challenges of running a progressive media company in the age of Trump.
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And does Country need Beyoncé? The likely answer to both of those questions is no. But the discussion Beyoncé sparked seems to be the larger point of her new album, Cowboy Carter. Sidney Madden is a reporter for NPR Music, and has delved deep into the intricate dynamics of race, genre, and industry politics addressed on the album. Audie and Sidney talk about these bigger themes and explore the conversation that's been started by Beyoncé's latest bold venture.
Sidney Madden is also co-host of the podcast Louder Than a Riot.
Watch, “Call Me Country: Beyoncé & Nashville’s Renaissance,” available to stream in the U.S. on Friday, April 26 on Max (subscription required). The documentary examines this reckoning in the genre, straight from the country music capital of the world.
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While the political world fixates on Donald Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial, the Supreme Court is weighing two decisions that could re-define the November election and invalidate charges for hundreds of January 6th defendants. CNN’s Senior Supreme Court Analyst Joan Biskupic is here to explain what’s at stake and read the tea leaves as to which way the justices are leaning. Joan’s book, Nine Black Robes, is now out in paperback.
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This week, the Supreme Court ruled that Idaho could temporarily enforce a law that would ban providing gender-affirming care to minors. That means doctors who administer puberty blocking-drugs, hormone therapy, and perform certain surgeries could face up to 10 years in prison. It’s the latest move to prevent doctors from providing gender-affirming care to transgender youth. With politicians passing anti-trans bills and hospitals and doctors facing vitriol and threat, is this care on the line for trans kids? In this episode from the early days of our podcast, Audie speaks with two gender-affirming care providers to discuss the negative attention they’ve faced and understand the lifesaving care at risk.
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When Arizona’s Supreme Court upheld an 1864 law reinstating a near-total ban on abortion, it took most of the country by surprise. For plugged-in journalist Jim Smallof AZ Mirror, this was the expected result of a deliberate effort by Republicans to arrive at precisely this outcome. Now that the great backpedal is underway, Small tells Audie how we got here and how Arizona politics will affect the elections in November.
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The new movie “Civil War” asks: what could happen if the system of checks and balances that hold the United States together falls apart? Audie talks with the writer and director of the film, Alex Garland. It follows journalists as they make their way through a war-torn American landscape, one where Texas and California have gone to war against a three-term president who has disbanded the FBI and deemed journalists enemy combatants who may be shot on sight.
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Last week, “No Labels,” the centrist group seeking to field a “unity ticket” for the presidential election, announced that despite raising $70 million and securing ballot access in key states, they had failed to secure a candidate and would drop their effort for the 2024 cycle. This news elicited sighs of relief all over Washington, including at Third Way, a center-left think tank. Kate deGruyter is communications director at Third Way, and she argues that any third-party candidate in this race disproportionately hurts Joe Biden by muddying the otherwise clear choice between Biden and former president Donald Trump.
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What is driving the concern over online gambling? The lawyer who took on Big Tobacco, Richard Daynard, says it is an addictive product. The Public Health Advocacy Institute, which he heads up, is suing the sports betting platform DraftKings for deceptive advertising. Audie talks with Daynard, who’s made a career of bringing lawsuits in pursuit of public health, a strategy he calls “wholesale” rather than “retail.” We also hear from NBA star Rex Chapman, author of the memoir, “It’s Hard For Me To Live With Me.” Chapman gives us insight into both the world of sports and the world of gambling. While he’s never participated in sports betting himself, he reflects on his experiences gambling millions on horse racing and blackjack.
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Read DraftKings’ statement in response to Daynard’s Public Health Advocacy Institute’s lawsuit:
"As a customer-first organization, DraftKings takes consumer protection and responsible gaming seriously. DraftKings respectfully disagrees with the claims and allegations made by the Public Health Advocacy Institute. The disclosures and explanations provided to customers before they make an initial deposit are detailed, clear, conspicuous and informative. Multiple examples are provided. Regrettably, the Institute ignored our multiple attempts to engage in an in-person dialogue to carefully examine their concerns in light of these disclosures and, instead, filed suit.”
The company also said in a statement:
“DraftKings is committed to educating consumers about the importance of playing responsibly. We have created tools like “My Stat Sheet” an innovative feature that gives players the ability to assess, track and interact with their personal stats through intuitive charts and information that can help empower players to make data-driven decisions on their own play, as well as offer customers the ability to control how they engage with our app through cool-off periods, deposit and wager limits. Furthermore, we collaborate with organizations such as the National Council for Problem Gaming, Responsible Online Gaming Association, Kindbridge Behavioral Health and the American Gaming Association. A core priority for DraftKings is ensuring that customers are using our products as intended, for safe and responsible entertainment.”
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