Eye on Congress:The Big Story

Real estate magnates, secret societies, alternative means of communicating, psycheledic drugs used as therapy? It's not our world; it’s the world of Thomas Pynchon’s ”The Crying of Lot 49.”Jason Dick, Sean Carswell and Alan Tuszynski discuss Silent Tristero’s Empire and whether we’re living in it.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Dick and Molly Reynolds discuss the Brookings Institution’s latest update to Vital Statistics on Congress, the recent resignations of two members of the House for alleged misconduct and whether the legislative branch is truly representative of the U.S. population. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Dick and Jessica Wehrman wonder what members of Congress are doing on their two-week recess, coming as it does while the Homeland Security Department isn't being funded by Congress, as well as what they did, and observed, on recent trips back home to Arizona and Ohio, respectively. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Dick and Nathan Gonzales talk about what we learned from March's congressional primaries in Texas, North Carolina, Illinois, as well as special elections and what to expect as the primary season takes a little break before revving back up in May.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Dick and Brody Mullins talk about the ongoing disruption of politics, business and journalism, how history repeats itself, Brody's book and podcast, "The Wolves of K Street" and his new podcast, "The Deciders," which focuses on the lobbying and influence world.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Dick and Sean Carswell discuss Thomas Pynchon's 2013 novel "Bleeding Edge," and how its story about the dot-com bubble and 9/11 applies to the present day, with politics and society dominated by AI, technology and venture capitalism firms running wild and the national security apparatus pushing war here, there and everywhere. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Dick and Brandon Wetherbee discuss the artistic merits of the 2026 State of the Union, whether Hollywood or Washignton is the entertainment capital and the reasons for sitting through President Donald Trump’s one hour, 47-minute, 43-second event. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Dick and Mark Schoeff Jr. talk about Mark's new position as president of the National Press Club and the club's mission, press freedoms, how politicians and journalists interact and explain how legendary Purdue basketball coach Gene Keady fits into all this.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Dick and Jessica Wehrman digest their experience at the Washington Press Club Foundation dinner, which came at a time of trauma for the national press and frayed nerves in the nation's capital.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The ongoing conflict in Minneapolis has increased the chances of a partial government shutdown, and the stress of finding a solution is only building, with talk of impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem circulating, the public souring on the administration's immigration actions and a double-whammy winter storm in the mix.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Dick and Todd Ruger unpack the politics of a congressional committee's pursuit of Contempt of Congress charges against Bill and Hillary Clinton, how the process works, who's been prosecuted before for Contempt of Congress and why, and, of course, how it all relates to the Epstein files. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Dick and Mary Ellen McIntire look at the biggest political news of the new year and discuss how big a deal it is for the 2026 midterm election cycle, from Alaska's Senate race to Greenland -- and don't worry, they eventually discuss non-Polar climes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In politics, there is a lot going on, it can be hard to focus. But some polling and economic indicators are good guideposts for what is shaping the electorate as the 2026 campaign gets under way. Jason Dick and Nathan Gonzales talk about their favorite numbers to peruse, as well as some of their meh numbers.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The first session of the 119th Congress has been consequential: the legislative branch ceded much of its constitutional responsibilities to the executive branch, senators changed the process for confirming presidential nominees, and the House rank and file grew more emboldened to sidestep their leaders and force votes. Jason Dick and Molly Reynolds discuss these topics and much more as they put 2025 into context. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thomas Pynchon's latest novel, "Shadow Ticket," has a lot to say about politics, so Jason Dick checks in with Sean Carswell, the official Pynchon scholar of the Political Theater podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Despite its propensity for making itself look bad, some of the inner workings of Congress reveal lawmakers who are finding ways to work together. Can they cut through the noise and solve some real problems? Jason Dick and Justin Papp discuss the changing institution and the people who make it, or try to make it, function. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Dick and Nathan Gonzales talk about how multiple rounds of redistricting congressional boundaries and the lawsuits surrounding them are making a weird year and weird election cycle even weirder.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Dick talks with Daniela Altimari and Mary Ellen McIntire about the new Roll Call Most Vulnerable Incumbent list, Tuesday night's election results and the latest rounds of redistricting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Dick and Sean Carswell discuss how Thomas Pynchon’s novel “Vineland” led to Paul Thomas Anderson’s movie “One Battle After Another,” the conversation those two works have about American culture and politics, as well as the 1960s left, the Nixonian right, Reaganism, the drug war, Trumpism and, for good measure, Emerson's concept of the level of divine justice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Dick and Chris Johnson talk about how immigration and racial issues frame the action and plot in the Paul Thomas Anderson movie "One Battle After Another," the salience of those issues in American history and culture and why movies still matter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices