A Podcast With Purpose

Dear Reader, 

When Legal Affairs Editor Garrett Epps and I launched the Washington Monthly podcast last year, it was a shoestring affair—and still is. If you listen to our earliest episodes—please don’t, actually—you’ll hear uneven audio and cringe at my efforts to channel the honeyed smoothness of my audio hero, Fresh Air’s Terry Gross. (Garrett, however, sounds great.)  

Our first guest and guinea pig was Washington Monthly contributor Peter Shane. The legal scholar warned listeners of President-elect Donald Trump’s threats to use “recess appointments” to install a cabinet—an act that seems only mildly transgressive in retrospect—and that the 47^th president has used aggressively.  

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Since then, Garrett and I have spoken with the sharpest legal, political, and economic minds about Trump’s wrecking-ball presidency such as the popular YouTuber Natalie Wynn, who has dissected the allure of conspiracism; journalist Michael Grunwald, whose new book chronicles the environmental destruction caused by agriculture; and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ian Johnson, who offered lessons Americans can learn from China’s dissidents.  

We know that videos and podcasts are how many Americans get their news. We want the Monthly to be among the voices you turn to for fresh thoughts, new ideas about defeating MAGA and promoting a common-sense vision for America, or thoughtful analysis that puts our chaotic world into context. We’re building a community. And that goes for our newsletters, too. 

But we need your help. This is only possible with your support. Your contributions allow us to expand the Monthly’s presence online, on your feeds, and in your headphones. We hope you’ll take a moment to support us with a tax-deductible contribution. Please do it now. For only $50, you get a complimentary year of our print edition. Next year promises to be one of the most consequential in the history of our democracy. Join us. 

All the best, 

Anne Kim 

Senior Editor 

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