A quasi-daily podcast from Slate that sets out to understand the real Donald Trump. Jacob Weisberg, chairman of Slate, along with writer Virginia Heffernan, and Slate chief political correspondent Jamelle Bouie will be talking to historians, psychiatrists, and other experts to help explain who this man is, and why this is happening, right now, in the United States of America.
Virginia Heffernan talks to ProPublica's Justin Elliot about his reporting surrounding Trump's lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, and the most recent developments in Trump's defense including the impending hire of Ty Cobb. Also, Jamie Gorelick is stepping back from the Russia investigation on Jared Kushner's side – what does this mean for his case? And what impact do all these different lawyers on all these different sides have on the collection of defenses building up inside the White House?
Slate Plus listeners stick around after the show to hear our producer, Jayson De Leon, chat with Slate's Ben Mathis Lilley about his cover story "The Wasted Mind of Ben Sasse." If you're not a Slate Plus member go to slate.com/trumpcastplus to join. That's slate.com/trumpcastplus.
Jamelle Bouie talks to Patrick Caldwell, a health care reporter at Mother Jones, about the latest iteration of the Senate health bill and the politics surrounding it.
Virginia Heffernan talks to Bob Bauer, former White House Counsel under Barack Obama, about the potential legal implications of Donald Trump Jr's story.
Jacob Weisberg talks to Masha Gessen about why she thinks the latest developments in the Donald Trump Jr. story aren't as revelatory as people are making it out to be.
Jacob Weisberg talks to Anne Applebaum, columnist at the Washington Post, about Donald Trump Jr's meeting with the Kremlin linked lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya and why she thinks this could be the story that finally begins to sink members of the Trump campaign.
Josh King talks to Max Bergmann, a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, about President Trump's trip to the G-20 and how Rex Tillerson is destroying the State Department. Read Max's latest Politico story, "Present at the Destruction: How Rex Tillerson is Wrecking the State Department," by clicking here.
Jamelle Bouie welcomes back Daniel Drezner, Professor of International Politics at Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, to chat about all the players in the North Korea game and the potential catastrophic effects if President Trump makes the wrong move.
Virginia Heffernan talks to Ashley Parker, a White House reporter at the Washington Post, about Mike Pence shaking up his staff and why Republicans in the Senate and the House are becoming less and less afraid of Trump.
Josh King guest hosts a weekend edition of Trumpcast. He talks to Frank Rich of New York Magazine about his latest feature, “Nixon, Trump, and How a Presidency Ends.”
Slate Plus members stay tuned after the show for a bonus segment with Trumpcast producer Jayson De Leon and Slate’s Video Editor, Aymann Ismail. The two discuss Aymann’s new video series running on Slate, “Who’s Afriad of Aymann Ismail?”
Jamelle Bouie talks to The Atlantic's Vann Newkirk about how the repeal of Obamacare and the rolling back of Medicaid in the Senate health bill strikes a significant blow to racial equality.