Category: Politics

It was nice while it lasted. In 2019, Democrats, Republicans, and President Trump agreed to legislation suspending the debt ceiling through the 2020 election, kicking the can on a showdown over one of Washington’s most notorious and most dangerous sticking ...

Knock knock, McFly! Lars and Michael discuss their film picks for the Reagan era — how a decade of nostalgia viewed both the past and the future — through the lens of the films Back to the Future and Back ...

We have a tendency to think of elections as referendums — not just on the candidates running, but on the economy, other elected officials, and the prevailing political zeitgeist. The idea is that voters aren’t just selecting a leader or ...

Lars and Michael discuss their film picks for the Carter era — a blend of optimism, underdogs, and perhaps naivety over the coming backlash Jimmy Carter would face through the lens of Rocky and Star Wars.

This is part two of a series of pieces on premature deaths in America and the role our distance from the centers of power in this country have on that. Click here to read part one. Last week, we examined ...

Lars and Michael discuss the films of the Ford administration, exploring government incompetence and corruption (or maybe it’s just about a shark) through the lens of Jaws and Chinatown. But in true Gerald Ford fashion, they spend most of the ...

Lars and Michael discuss the films of the Nixon administration, reflecting on hippie culture, racism, a developing “us versus them” mentality within the United States — and a whole bunch of dirty tricks — through the lens of the films ...

To say presidents dominate our pop culture is an understatement. We often take for granted how ingrained they are in the American psyche and our comedic outlets, even when they epitomize the dull tepidness of Gerald Ford or George H.W. ...

Lars and Michael discuss the films of the Johnson administration, reflecting on dramatic domestic progress and a distrust of foreign policy apparatus through the lens of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and Dr. Strangelove.

Lars and Michael discuss the films of the Kennedy era, discussing themes of heroism and elitism in American society through the lens of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Lolita.

Lars and Michael discuss the films of the Eisenhower era, comparing the infamous The Blob and the more-critically-acclaimed Shane. The narratives on being driven from one’s home, McCarthyism, and generational strife give context to Eisenhower’s above-the-fray approach in his presidency.

With the confirmation of Marty Walsh as Labor Secretary on March 22, President Joe Biden’s core Cabinet is complete. With the vice president and the 15 heads of the executive departments, 16 officials sit in the president’s “core” Cabinet, with ...

The 2020 election opened several new electoral pathways for Democrats and expanded on Republican wins in 2016 and 2018. It also reinforced existing trends for formerly perennial swing states. How should the parties prioritize those states in the next few ...

In the first episode of Watching Mates, Lars and Michael team up to discuss the films of the Truman era, comparing film noirs The Third Man and The Hitch-Hiker. The international intrigue and sense of being lost in a new ...

Your favorite podcasting 20-something-year-old former DC boys are back on the air with their upcoming project, Watching Mates. Coming out later this March, each episode they’ll delve into postwar presidents, starting with Harry Truman, through the lens of the films of ...

After the disastrous Iowa Caucuses in 2020, there has been increased scrutiny of the first-in-the-nation competitions in the party primaries. Iowa (with the first caucus) and New Hampshire (with the first primary) are both disproportionately (90%) white, rural and not ...

In 2019, we ran a piece about President Trump’s upcoming reelection and his relationship with Vice President Mike Pence — who we dubbed “the one man in the administration that President Trump cannot fire.” The article centered on whether or ...

With every state now called in the race for the presidency, it’s official: Joe Biden has won the election, becoming the first nominee to successfully unseat an incumbent president in almost 30 years. The Biden ticket featured the first ever ...

Election Day is hours away, and after pushing out our final overview of the race for control of the Senate yesterday, we’re excited to give our final overview of the state of the presidential race.  Our two-person team here at ...

Election Day is days away, and if you’re not glued to FiveThirtyEight, Politico, and political Twitter, you probably have a life.  Our two-person team here at The Postrider certainly has been and we’re ready to stay up all night — ...

It’s been a couple weeks, and we’re really getting up against the wire here with less than one week until Election Day. But we have one last (probably) ratings change for our presidential map as we face down the election ...

Another week, another series of ratings changes. We’re three weeks away from Election Day and looking every day at the wave of new polls and information coming in. After playing it safe for the last few weeks, we’ve come to ...