Inside The Hive With Nick Bilton

With the election just days away, host Brian Stelter is joined by Vanity Fair executive editor Claire Howorth and politics correspondent Bess Levin to talk about the vibes going into November 5, why this particular election is so close and so stressful, some down-ballot races you should keep an eye on, and how the media will likely approach election night. The team agrees, "Hope is a terrible thing to waste," and confidence is too terrifying to project. Instead, they discuss some good reasons people might go into Election Day with a positive attitude and ways to keep calm as we await results. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The Republican Party has long been lacking in courage. But profiles in it can still be found among the scores of Trump administration staffers who have come out against their former boss, at potentially immense personal cost. One among them: Sarah Matthews, who served as Donald Trump’s deputy press secretary until January 6th. On the latest episode of Inside the Hive, Matthews opens up about the “cognitive dissonance” she experienced as a spokesperson for Trump, recalls how the Capitol riot became her breaking point, and unpacks why she has thrown her support behind Kamala Harris’s campaign, even if doing so puts a target on her back. “Donald Trump is so much bigger than just me,” she says. “The guilt that I would feel” from sitting on the sidelines,” Matthews adds, “would have been much greater than the fear that I might feel right now.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Kamala Harris is making the media rounds in the final weeks of the 2024 face, talking to everyone from Howard Stern to Fox News, “Call Her Daddy” to “The Breakfast Club.” On this episode, Brian Stelter catches up with senior spokesman Ian Sams about the campaign’s campaign strategy and the creative ways they’re trying to reach, and persuade, the small sliver of undecided voters who may tip the election. Plus, Stelter talks with Hive editor Michael Calderone about Donald Trump’s attempt to nail down the bro vote by stopping by podcasts geared toward young, male audiences. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Host Brian Stelter is joined by author, organizer, and former Georgia representative Stacey Abrams to examine Kamala Harris’s chances this November inside the swing state, ongoing efforts by Republicans to suppress voting rights and sow chaos across the country, and Abrams’ plans to help salvage democracy. Abrams, whose playbook and organizing power in 2020 helped Joe Biden deliver Georgia, a red–now purple–state that hadn’t voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in more than 20 years, and a trifecta in Washington with the state’s 2021 runoffs, says that part of her strategy is to find voters who wouldn’t otherwise turn out and encourage people to participate in the democratic process even if they don’t plan to vote for the Democrat. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

James Carville is not known for mincing words. Back in 2021, the legendary Democratic strategist ruffled quite a few feathers when he blamed “wokeness” for the party’s electoral defeats. He still hasn’t backed down from that belief—but he’s also willing to accept that Kamala Harris has a lot more to worry about than safe spaces and language policing when it comes to trouncing Donald Trump. One challenge in particular, he tells Brian Stelter on the latest episode of Inside the Hive, is presenting herself a bold persona with a bright new vision in a period of Trump-era malaise. "I think the best construct for her is ‘fresh versus stale,'" Carville says of Harris. "I've said the most thunderous sound in all of politics is the sound of a turning page." Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

With less than six weeks until Election Day, host Brian Stelter discusses the historically close race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump with Nate Silver, the renowned polling expert, statistician, and author of the “Silver Bulletin” Substack newsletter. Silver breaks down the latest numbers in swing states, warns against rapidly shifting media narratives, expresses frustration with his former site, and details the community of risk-takers at the center of his new book, "On the Edge." Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Host Brian Stelter is joined by Barbara F. Walter, an expert on violent extremism and domestic terror, to examine what exactly political violence is and why it’s becoming more common, including factors that may have been at play in the two recent assassination attempts. Walter, a professor at the University of California, San Diego and the author of How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them, tells Stelter there’s a cancer growing in America because a subset of the population doesn’t think democracy serves them anymore. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Podcasts are hardly a new medium in American politics. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t disrupting the dynamics of the 2024 presidential race. Consider hotshot hosts like Theo Von, Ezra Klein, and Adin Ross; all of them have been able to give listeners an intimate glimpse at politicians from Donald Trump to Tim Walz, says Atlantic staff writer Helen Lewis on the latest episode of Inside the Hive. Lewis, who is joined by Bloomberg reporter Ashley Carman, contends that podcasts can offer the pols an unique opportunity to get up close and personal with their voters. However, as we’ve seen in the case of JD Vance—whose past audio appearances have come back to haunt him—the medium can cut both ways. “They do kind of lure people into this much more kind of confessional chatty mode,” Lewis says. “And I think that's why maybe they could become quite dangerous…politicians might not realize how that might look in the cold light of day to other people.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Host Brian Stelter is joined by Amanda Becker, Washington correspondent for The 19th, to examine the battle over abortion rights in America, including the Florida ballot measure, former President Trump’s all-over-the-place messaging, and the Republican Party’s conflicting views about in vitro fertilization and fetal personhood. The two also discuss the origins of abortion politics and how it’s impossible to disentangle abortion bans from the history of patriarchy in this country. Becker is the author of the forthcoming book, You Must Stand Up: The Fight for Abortion Rights in Post-Dobbs America, and tells Stelter that it doesn’t matter if you aren't in Alabama–an abortion ban there or anywhere can impact you because of the legal pathway in which cases get decided. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On this episode, host Brian Stelter wraps up the exuberant finale of the Democratic National Convention with Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Radhika Jones and author and contributing editor Ta-Nehisi Coates, who has been reporting this week from Chicago. They discuss how this historic, four-day spectacle, which concluded with Kamala Harris’s stirring acceptance speech, showcased the party’s next generation of political stars, while also showing its limitations, with no Palestinian American getting a slot on stage. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Is all the hype real? It’s the uncomfortable question hanging over all the good vibes of the 2024 Democratic National Convention this week. And it’s one that Vanity Fair’s Claire Howorth and James Pogue, who is reporting from the ground, are more than willing to tackle on the latest episode of Inside the Hive. Pogue argues that while Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have electrified the party with a fresh new ticket, the event’s pomp and circumstance still feels “very produced,” with every Democrat in lockstep about how to communicate their message, avoiding any topic that might touch a nerve. Still, argues Howorth, there is an undeniable feeling that the party is getting its “swagger” back—and a sense that the Harris-Walz ticket might help Democrats “reclaim the idea of patriotism” from the GOP. “The Republicans have no problem being ultra-confident and cocky and smug,” she says, “and, you know, that’s not the worst stage direction for Democrats right now.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

As the 2024 Democratic National Convention rolls on, host Brian Stelter talks with Vanity Fair special correspondent Molly Jong-Fast, as she runs around Chicago, and Michael Calderone, editor of Vanity Fair’s the Hive, in New York. Jong-Fast describes the vibes around the United Center as Democrats appear both anxious about the election and pleased with their candidate. She notes the heavy police presence around the city and explains the difference between the fabulous convention parties (John Legend hosted by JB Pritzker) and the fake convention parties (read: panels). Calderone highlights the effectiveness of the programming so far, including the 2008 energy seen on night 2 as the Obamas take the stage. He remarks on how media coverage of the conventions and presidential candidates have changed, with the huge number of influencers and content creators present at this convention. The big question is whether Kamala Harris and Tim Walz can meet voters where they are, no matter the medium. Look out for special

As the Democratic National Convention kicks off, host Brian Stelter catches up with senior editor Maggie Coughlan, in New York, and special correspondent Joe Hagan, from the United Center in Chicago. Hagan finds attendees fired up on night one, which featured speeches from party stalwarts (Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton) and future stars (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jasmine Crockett), as Coughlan highlights how internet culture is coming to life in the convention hall. While the early weeks of Kamala Harris’s campaign, as well as the start of the party’s convention, have been a rousing success, the big question is whether the good vibes will continue. Look out for special editions of Inside the Hive each morning as the DNC rolls on. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

To say that there has been a “vibe shift” among Democrats is an understatement. Since taking Joe Biden’s mantle as the presumptive Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris has ushered in an unmistakable wave of positivity within the party. The joy and optimism suffusing her campaign have thus proven powerful antidotes to the fear and anger being sold by Donald Trump. That is, according to MSNBC analyst Anand Giridharadas, who has been writing extensively about the political potency of emotions in his popular newsletter, The Ink. In the latest episode of the Inside the Hive, Giridharadas discusses why everyone is picking up such “good vibes” from Harris and running mate Tim Walz—and how the duo pulled Democrats out of their anti-Trump doom loop. “You have to compete with authoritarianism by doing some of the things it does: by commanding attention, by catering to feeling, by making people feel like they can see a future,” he says. “The Harris campaign has somehow tapped into that.” Learn about your ad choices: dovet

On this episode, host Brian Stelter speaks about Kamala Harris’s surging campaign and new VP pick, Tim Walz, with Eugene Daniels, a Politico White House correspondent and Playbook co-author. Daniels, who has spent years closely covering the vice president, speaks about her challenges inside the Biden White House, relationship with the news media, and shifting communications style as she has ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

It used to be that Silicon Valley was considered a blue bastion, and supported social causes like education, public health and climate action. But, if that perception wasn’t already crumbling before now, then it was utterly shattered in 2024. This past month has seen countless tech elites flock behind Donald Trump as their candidate of choice in the presidential election, leaving many in the media scratching their heads—and wringing their hands. But not for Roger McNamee, the veteran venture capital investor, who, on the latest episode of Inside the Hive, breaks down all the financial incentives at play and unpacks why tech leaders are “abandoning” the values they seemingly once held. “Their belief in cryptocurrency and their belief that low taxes and lack of regulation are essential to the prosperity of the tech industry,” he says. “These guys historically had an omerta. They did not speak ill of each other. And basically over the past six weeks or so, the political disagreements have come out into the open.

Today, we're bringing you a special preview of the new season of the New Yorker investigative podcast In the Dark, hosted by Madeleine Baran. The series examines the killings of twenty-four civilians in Haditha, Iraq, and asks why no one was held accountable for the crime.In Episode 1, a man in Haditha, Iraq, has a request for the In the Dark team: Can you investigate how my family was killed?In the Dark is available wherever you get your podcasts. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Kamala Harris is up against a whole lot. As the presumptive Democratic nominee, she’s fighting against years of political malaise among her own voters, while competing against a man who has a cult-like following within his base. But these challenges, as Hillary Clinton learned herself in 2016, hardly get at the biggest question mark: Is America finally ready for a woman in the White House? That’s the subject of this week’s episode of Inside the Hive, which features NBC News Capitol Hill Correspondent Ali Vitali, who unpacks the long-standing gender inequities of performing on the national stage, the unique challenges faced by the vice president, and what a Harris victory might mean in the decades to come. “The more Black people, the more women who you see in positions of power, the more you realize, ‘Hey, this is normal. Of course, when they run, they can win,’” Vitali says. “And that's partly why we’re seeing this coalescing around Kamala Harris right now.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-c

Love thy neighbor: It’s one of the most commonly uttered Biblical verses in the Christian faith. But when it comes to Christian nationalism, the movement doesn’t always practice what it preaches. Such is the subject of Inside the Hive’s latest episode featuring Katherine Stewart and Sam Perry, two experts on the religious right who discuss why Christian nationalists are now “much more ideological than theological,” how Donald Trump has wielded them as a political voting bloc, and why the former president’s failed assassination only reinforces his messiah-like mythology. “Everybody's saying it’s providence, he was saved by God,” says Stewart. “We’ve had eight or more years of this…A sector of the movement has, frankly, consistently framed the contemporary political landscape as being one of spiritual warfare.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

What would America actually look like under a second Trump term? Few resources paint a clearer picture than the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, the right’s blueprint for a vast overhaul of the federal bureaucracy, as well as a playbook of immediate executive actions that could annihilate decades of Democratic progress in days. This week, the former president sought to disown the document, but Vanity Fair’s Molly Jong-Fast and Jeff Sharlet, are more than a little skeptical. And, on the latest episode of Inside the Hive, the two discuss precisely what voters should fear most in the 900-page plan—from mass deportations to crackdowns on reproductive rights—and whether the country truly condones or even wants a fascist MAGA makeover. “The majority will accept fascism,” says Sharlet. “I’ve never seen a country where that wasn’t true.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices