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Pod Save America
Presentation
Hosted by
Genre
Political

progressive talk radio

LanguageEnglish
Updatestwice-weekly (Tuesday, and Friday)
Length41–96 minutes
Publication
Original releaseJanuary 2017 (2017-01)
ProviderCrooked Media
Related
Related showsPod Save the World
WebsiteOfficial

Pod Save America is an American progressive[1][2] political podcast developed and distributed by Crooked Media.[3][4][5] The podcast debuted in January 2017 and airs twice per week, hosted by a rotating cast of former Barack Obama staffers Jon Favreau, Tommy Vietor, Jon Lovett, and Dan Pfeiffer.[6][7][8]

It is the flagship podcast of Crooked Media, a media company founded by Favreau, Vietor, and Lovett.[9] The show averages more than 1.5 million listeners an episode, and has been downloaded more than 120 million times as of November 2017.[10]

Four Pod Save America one-hour HBO TV specials aired in fall 2018 to cover the U.S. midterm elections.[11][12] Crooked Media also films the podcasts and releases them on their YouTube channel.[13]

History

[edit]

The podcast debuted in January 2017 as a successor to Keepin' It 1600, a political podcast produced by Bill Simmons' The Ringer and hosted by Favreau, Vietor, Lovett, and Pfeiffer which ran from March to December 2016. Pod Save America maintained the basic format of its predecessor.[14]

In an interview with Recode's Kara Swisher, the hosts have stated that, rather than continue the previous podcast, the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States spurred them to create a progressive media company with a network of podcasts.[15] They also wanted to be able to have the freedom to do more activism.[16] A goal is to inform their millions of fans and viewers that trust them as a reliable source.[15]

In the early days of the podcast they leaned heavily on their Obama staffer credentials and they even had him as their first guest. Soon after in May they would interview Democratic politicians like Amy Klobuchar.[17]

In the fall of 2017, Crooked Media took the podcast on its first live tour, Pod Tours America. Live shows were recorded and released as podcasts.[18] An international tour, Pod Tours the World, was announced for 2018, with live shows in Stockholm, Oslo, Amsterdam, and London.[19] In November 2017, the group combined their election organizing for Ralph Northam in the 2017 Virginia gubernatorial election with a sold-out live taping of an episode at the The National theatre in Richmond, Virginia. Around this time the show would average 1.5 million listeners.[17]

In 2023, the podcast interviewed Dean Philips for his presidential primary of the President.[20]

In the months prior to the first 2024 presidential debate they would openly discuss the negative polling on Biden's age and like most mainstream high profile Democrats they did not call for Biden to step aside.[20]

Jon Lovett, Jon Favreau, Tommy Vietor and Daniel Pfeiffer of Pod Save America speaking with attendees at a canvass launch for the Kamala Harris for President campaign in Phoenix, Arizona

Following the first 2024 presidential debate, Pod Save America was one of the first most influential Progressive talk shows, to openly discuss and call for President Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential election.[21] Following their podcast covering the immediate aftermath of the debate, they seriously critiqued Biden's debate performance and him being unfit to be the nominee. After the podcast Rob Flaherty, chief digital strategy director for Biden's re-election, called out the four hosts of Pod Save America as "Self Important Podcasters" in a fundraising email.[21][22][23] During their Democracy or Else Tour in Boston, Massachusetts, they held an event with political commentator Mehdi Hasan and Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, where they held a debate on whether Biden should drop out.[22][24][25]

In the leadup to the 2024 United States presidential election, the podcast would support canvassing and voting outreach efforts. They themselves appeared in an Arizona rally.

After the 2024 United States presidential election, Pod Save America had an exclusive interview with several Kamala Harris 2024 campaign leaders including Stephanie Cutter, Jen O'Malley Dillon, Quentin Fulks and former Obama official, and frequent podcast guest and coworker, David Plouffe.[26][27] The podcast generated extreme online backlash against the Kamala Harris presidential campaign as they demonstrated no amount of responsibility and kept claiming the "political headwinds" were too great to overcome with the campaign and not admitting to making any mistakes such as lacking to distinguish themselves from the unpopular policies of the Biden administration.[28][29][30]

Content

[edit]

The podcast typically covers recent news items relating to politics, including the Trump administration, the US government and the Democratic Party, as well as center-left grassroots activism.[31]

The show typically features interviews with politicians, activists and journalists, including Obama's last interview as president.[32]

Reception

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Favreau, Vietor, and guest Seth Meyers at a live taping at Radio City Music Hall

The show averages more than 1.5 million listeners an episode, and had been downloaded more than 120 million times by November 2017.[10] Edison Research ranked Pod Save America the tenth most listened-to podcast in the US in the fourth quarter of 2024. Making its first appearance in the top 10, Edison attributed the surge in popularity to the political news cycle.[33] The show was number 11 in the first quarter 2025 rankings.[34]

The New York Times described the podcast as "one of the big breakout hits of the nascent resistance movement",[7] and "the left's answer to conservative talk radio... with a shoestring budget and no organizational backing, its hosts seem to have created something that liberals have spent almost two decades, and hundreds of millions of dollars, futilely searching for".[10]

The San Francisco Chronicle called it "one of the nation's most popular podcasts".[35] GQ called it one of the "most popular strategies for coping with the looming death of the republic".[8]

Newsweek wrote that the show's hosts "do something far more rare [than political analysis], which is to make politics entertaining and even fun, without ever downplaying what they see as the threat posed to American democracy by the man elected to defend it."[36]

Pod Save America won the 2025 Webby Award for News & Politics Podcast.[37]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Jarvey, Natalie (January 15, 2021). "After the Resistance, What's Next for the Crooked Media Podcasting Empire?". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on April 18, 2022. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  2. ^ Kilkenny, Katie (August 9, 2024). "After Walkout, Crooked Media Union Reaches Tentative Deal With 'Pod Save America' Company". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on October 7, 2024. Retrieved October 10, 2024.
  3. ^ Stuart, Gwynedd (August 14, 2019). "Pod Save America Has Moved Political Discourse to the Left...Coast". Los Angeles Magazine. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  4. ^ Pierce, Scott D. (July 12, 2019). "Obama-inspired 'Pod Save America' hosts can't wait to visit deep-red Utah". The Salt Lake Tribune. Archived from the original on June 7, 2020. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  5. ^ Luning, Ernest (July 15, 2019). "Tommy Vietor talks 'Pod Save America,' 2020 political landscape ahead of podcast's Denver show". Colorado Politics. Archived from the original on January 26, 2025. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  6. ^ Gillies, Craille Maguire (January 18, 2017). "Pod save America: 12 podcasts to get you through the Trump presidency". The Guardian.
  7. ^ a b Rutenberg, Jim (March 20, 2017). "Opposition and a Shave: Former Obama Aides Counter Trump". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on December 12, 2017. Retrieved March 22, 2017.
  8. ^ a b Willis, Jay (April 6, 2017). "The Pod Save America Guys Have Some Ideas About What President Obama Should Do Next". GQ. Archived from the original on June 13, 2017. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
  9. ^ Wilstein, Matt (January 9, 2017). "The 'Keepin' It 1600' Guys Launch Crooked Media to Counter Trump". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on May 31, 2017. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  10. ^ a b c Zengerle, Jason (November 22, 2017). "The Voices in Blue America's Head". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
  11. ^ "- HBO Announces Pod Save America Podcast Specials". HBO. Archived from the original on February 9, 2018. Retrieved February 8, 2018.
  12. ^ O'Connell, Mikey (February 8, 2018). "'Pod Save America' Getting HBO Treatment With Election Specials". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
  13. ^ Ugwu, Reggie (April 26, 2024). "With YouTube Booming, Podcast Creators Get Camera-Ready". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  14. ^ O'Connell, Mikey. "'Keeping It 1600' Podcast's Obama Alums Launch New Show and 'Crooked Media' Company". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on June 18, 2018. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  15. ^ a b Farnsworth, Meghann (March 14, 2017). "How to watch Kara Swisher's SXSW interview with the founders of Crooked Media". Vox. Archived from the original on August 21, 2024. Retrieved August 21, 2024.
  16. ^ Johnson, Eric (March 15, 2017). "Crooked Media's founders aren't paying themselves anything". Vox. Archived from the original on August 21, 2024. Retrieved August 21, 2024.
  17. ^ a b Zengerle, Jason (November 22, 2017). "The Voices in Blue America's Head". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 18, 2025.
  18. ^ "Pod Save America announces nationwide tour". Consequence of Sound. August 16, 2017. Archived from the original on July 3, 2019. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  19. ^ "Pod Save America and Lovett or Leave It are coming to London in January, here's how to get tickets". The List. December 1, 2017. Archived from the original on January 3, 2018. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  20. ^ a b Bernstein, Joseph (October 11, 2024). "'Pod Save America' Won't Quit". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  21. ^ a b "Why Democrats' favorite podcast turned on Joe Biden". Archived from the original on May 23, 2025. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  22. ^ a b Kaloi, Stephanie (June 30, 2024). "Pod Save America Hosts Defend Themselves From Biden Campaign's Thinly Veiled 'Self-Important Podcasters' Attack". TheWrap. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  23. ^ "Biden camp lashes out — and Obama alums push back". POLITICO. June 30, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  24. ^ Pod Save America (June 29, 2024). An Honest Debate On Whether Joe Biden Should Drop Out (w/ Mehdi Hasan). Retrieved July 17, 2025 – via YouTube.
  25. ^ "Healey, a top Biden ally, urges him to consider dropping out of the race". POLITICO. July 5, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2025. "It was a big fail. I mean, that was horrible," she said during a "Pod Save America" event in Boston
  26. ^ "Exclusive: The Harris Campaign On What Went Wrong". Crooked Media. Retrieved July 18, 2025.
  27. ^ Saric, Dave Lawler,Ivana (November 27, 2024). ""This political environment sucked": Harris campaign chiefs defend strategy". Axios. Retrieved July 18, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  28. ^ Brownstein, Ronald (December 2, 2024). "Why They Lost". The Atlantic. Retrieved July 18, 2025. In these interviews, and another one that these principals conducted recently with alumni of the Obama campaigns on the podcast Pod Save America, the senior Harris-campaign leadership was notably unremorseful about the choices it made in Harris's failed sprint to the White House
  29. ^ Zeleny, Gregory Krieg, Jeff (November 27, 2024). "Harris campaign leaders blame abbreviated campaign and headwinds for loss | CNN Politics". CNN. Retrieved July 18, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  30. ^ "Opinion | Harris's advisers blame everything but themselves for their loss". Washington Post. December 3, 2024. Archived from the original on December 5, 2024. Retrieved July 18, 2025.
  31. ^ Sawyer, Miranda (March 19, 2017). "The week in radio: Pod Save America; The Long View". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  32. ^ Verdier, Hannah (January 26, 2017). "Pod Save America – the podcast that won Obama's last interview". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  33. ^ Edison Research (February 5, 2025). "The Top 50 Podcasts in the U.S. for Q4 2024". Retrieved June 8, 2025.
  34. ^ Edison Research (May 2, 2025). "The Top 50 Podcasts in the U.S. for Q1 2025 from Edison Podcast Metrics". Retrieved June 8, 2025.
  35. ^ Garofoli, Joe (December 9, 2017). "'Pod Save America' about to take its next step". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on January 3, 2018. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  36. ^ Nazaryan, Alexander (March 26, 2017). "How the Crooked Media trio is taking on Donald Trump with "Pod Save America"". Newsweek. Archived from the original on January 10, 2018. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  37. ^ Webby Winner: Pod Save America. The Webby Awards. Retrieved June 8, 2025.
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