Stateside with Kai and Carter

Jennifer Welch is a Democrat who isn’t afraid to call out her own party. Her podcasts I’ve Had It and IHIP News, which she co-hosts with friend Angie Sullivan, have attracted a loyal fan base that loves to hear them preach something they like call "fuck you politics". An influential voice within the leftwing media ecosystem, Welch believes "fuck you politics" may be the key to winning over voters in red regions of the US – such as her home state of Oklahoma. Carter Sherman speaks to Welch about why rage has come to define these midterms, and whether Democrats have done enough to harness it. Welch also reveals her own limits when it comes to going low, and her message to Democrats if a "blue wave" materializes

• How two blonde suburban moms gave Democrats an answer to the rightwing media ecosystem

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Are the Democrats really going to take Texas? If there is going to be a blue wave, as polling suggests, winning the Lone Star State is going to be essential. James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for US Senate, is currently leading against Ken Paxton, a scandal-ridden, political survivor. Even the governor’s race in Texas, pitting Greg Abbot, the current governor, against Gina Hinojosa is within the margin of error. These elections, and ultimately control of the US Congress, are likely to be decided by one key demographic – Latinos. Hispanic men were key to Donald Trump’s 2024 win. But news commentator Carlos Eduardo Espina and pollster Stephanie Valencia tellKai Wright there are signs that the economy, the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign and Republican redistricting efforts are backfiring and Latinos seem to be swinging back to Democrats this year. Espina and Valencia break down what we really mean by “the Latino vote” and how those voters might just swing right back next election if Democrats aren’t careful.

Image Credit: AP

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A nine-month Guardian investigation has revealed that when a landlord evicts someone in Louisiana, they can choose to file the eviction in a venue where a portion of the court fee goes directly into the pocket of the judge.The Guardian found one justice of the peace in the suburbs of New Orleans who may well be the highest paid judge in the country. His court took in nearly $1 million in revenue last year. And he personally took home over $400,000. Somehow, this is all legal. Kai Wright speaks with Guardian US southern bureau chief Oliver Laughland and data editor Will Craft about the real life ramifications of this system for tenants and Laughland and Craft explain how they dug through more than 11,000 pages of eviction records to discover this little noticed judicial system that evicts thousands of people a year. A former judge called the system “blatantly unconstitutional.”

• Oliver Laughland and Will Craft’s Guardian investigation on the “Big Business” of evictions

Image credit: Annie Flanagan

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Benjamin Netanyahu is in the fight of his political life. Voters in Israel are heading to the polls today to decide an election that could determine whether Netanyahu will remain the country's prime minister (and affect the outcome of the corruption charges against him). But the Israeli election also arrives at a time when voters around the world seem to be rejecting authoritarianism. A student-run movement stunned the world on Sunday when its candidates routed Serbia's long-serving leader, Aleksandar Vučić. That same day, Brazilians beat back a campaign by Flávio Bolsonaro — the son of Jair Bolsonaro, the disgraced former president — in a historic upset.Carter Sherman speaks toJulian Borger, the Guardian’s senior international correspondent, about how these four elections could reshape the political world order in just 10 days, and why the upcoming US midterm elections are the biggest test for global democracy.

• Julian Borger on ten days that could shake the world

Image credit: Amir Cohen/Reuters

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Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s You Can See Everything has packed movie theaters and set records at the box office. It’s also kicked off a debate about, well, pretty much everything that happens on screen – including whether the film's subjects, notorious fraudster Elizabeth Holmes and her mysterious partner Billy Evans, can ever be trusted. Carter Sherman and Guardian arts writer Adrian Horton break down Horton's five-star review of the film, analyze Evans's most shocking moments and chart Holmes' trajectory from girlboss to (maybe) tradwife. They want to know: how did ideas about gender and sex shape this film? Contains spoilers

Image credit: A24

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This week, the Department of Justice charged 28 green card holders in California over alleged voter fraud. It’s the latest move by the Trump administration to crack down on noncitizen voters, and part of a wider push to throw the results of the midterms into doubt. In today's episode, Carter Sherman and Kai Wright are joined by George Chidi and Sam Levine, two reporters who have spent years covering Donald Trump’s attacks on voting rights. They analyze the tactics being used to purge voter rolls, and look ahead to how Trump might react if the results on election day don’t go his way.

Image credit: AFP/Getty Images

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When the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022, millions of people got angry — and voted on it, making abortion was one of the top issues in the 2022 and 2024 elections. But now, during this year’s midterms, it seems like abortion has fallen out of the headlines. Candidates aren't discussing it nearly as much as they used to, while voters say it's no longer as important to them — even though four states are voting directly on ballot measures that deal with abortion access. One state could even reinstate its near-total abortion ban.

How did this happen? Co-hostCarter Sherman, a longtime abortion rights reporter, speaks with co-hostKai Wright about this election's effects on abortion rights, how bans are imperiling women and why the Trump administration might attack abortion rights after the midterms.

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The vast majority of Americans say they are struggling to pay for gas and groceries, and are cutting back on luxuries. But what or who is actually behind these price rises? We asked you to tell us what's gotten too expensive in your own life. Now, Kai Wright and Carter Sherman enlist Guardian columnist and former labor secretary Robert Reich to explain why you’re feeling the pinch. From breaking down the market factors behind the cost of a $16 cheesesteak, to explaining why AI is playing into the price of a Nintendo Switch 2, Reich reveals who you should point the finger at in this economy. Additional music by Epidemic Sound

• Robert Reich has written this week’s edition of How We Win, a pop-up opinion newsletter with bold ideas for defeating Trumpism. Sign up here
• Send us your questions on how the US economy is shaping the US election

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As the midterms approach, Donald Trump is continuing to make strongman moves: banning reporters from the White House; trying to remake Washington DC’s architecture in his name; putting "Dear leader"-style videos on television. But historian Timothy Snyder tellsKai Wright that what this really is, is a sign of weakness. And even as the Democrats seemed poised to win the midterms, Snyder argues that the Democrats need to take bold, decisive action if they do win. They have to investigate cases of obvious personal corruption among the people surrounding Trump and try everything they can to get money out of politics. Snyder is the author of On Tyranny and one of the first scholars to warn that the Trump movement presented a threat that looked like fascism.

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The biggest question in US politics may be whether Democrats can ever win in the south. In this year’s midterms, Georgia has once again emerged as a bellwether. The state has shifted from deep red to purple for the last several election cycles and remains a frontline state in the battle over voting rights. In a recent Stateside with Kai and Carter live event in collaboration On Air Presents, hostsKai Wright andCarter Sherman were joined by Guardian contributing writer Charles Blow and political reporterShrai Popat for a lively conversation about everything at stake in Georgia – including why Jon Ossoff needs Keisha Lance Bottoms to win the governor’s race if he hopes to run for president in 2028, what Donald Trump might do to intervene in the election, and how any voter suppression moves could backfire in the south.

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The internet is on fire with demands for justice for Jane Doe, the anonymous woman who alleges she was gang-raped at a Cornell fraternity house in 2024. Doe has filed a civil lawsuit, and law enforcement has reopened her case – but did Cornell fumble its Title IX investigation into her case? Title IX is a federal civil rights law that is supposed to protect against sexual discrimination in schools, including protecting young people against sexual assault and harassment. But in practice, it rarely works.Host Carter Sherman, a longtime sexual violence reporter, speaks with civil rights lawyer and Title IX expert Alexandra Brodsky about how the Trump administration has spent the last decade warping Title IX – and why #metoo never really made its way onto college campuses. If the law is broken, what can be done to fix it?

• Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organizations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at http://ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

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Earlier this year, the ACLU filed more than 50 legal claims across 17 states on behalf of people harmed by federal immigration agents. One of them is Norma Bowe. Norma is a nurse and grandmother who was working at her mobile medical clinic outside the Delaney Hall immigration center when protests broke out there in May. An ICE officer flung her to the ground while she was still wearing her stethoscope. In today’s episode Kai Wright speaks to Norma about why she is fighting back, and why her work continues to be vital for family members of people stuck in immigration detention.

• This nurse was assaulted by ICE - and it was caught on video. Now she wants her day in court

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After more than a year of legal limbo, Mahmoud Khalil is preparing to ask the US supreme court to hear his deportation case – and if they take it up, the outcome could have sweeping ramifications for political speech in the US. When Khalil was detained by ICE for his role in student protests at Columbia University, it was widely understood as a test case. Khalil was a legal permanent resident with a green card. The Trump administration claimed his advocacy on behalf of Palestinian people made him a threat to US foreign policy.Kai Wright speaks with Khalil about his new book, No Land To Stand On, which details what happened after ICE snatched him up, flew him across the country and deposited him in a for-profit detention center. Khalil and his wife, Noor Abdalla, share their family’s experience – how, with a newborn child, they fought to keep Khalil in the US, and how they’re facing the reality that the Trump administration is still trying to deport him.

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When the documentary NAZA premiered at the Venice international film festival earlier this month, it sent shockwaves across the globe. Composed of interviews with 24 anonymous Israeli intelligence officers and soldiers, NAZA is a haunting exposé of the tools that the Israeli military uses to carry out the remote killing of Palestinians in Gaza – including AI, mass surveillance, and devastating airstrikes that kill civilians and raze homes. Now, the Israeli government is treating NAZA like a national security crisis. Its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is even pushing for legislation that could strip the film's two directors of their Israeli citizenship. HostCarter Sherman speaks with the directors of NAZA, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, in one of their first interviews with an American journalist. The film, which was produced by the Guardian, will open in New York on September 30th and will play in theaters across the US starting October 9th. It will also stream, for free, on the Guardian website in November.

Read some of the Guardian reporting that NAZA builds on:

• ‘The Gospel’: how Israel uses AI to select bombing targets in Gaza
• Revealed: Israeli military creating ChatGPT-like tool using vast collection of Palestinian surveillance data

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Benjamin Netanyahu lands in New York today to speak at the UN general assembly. This visit marks the Israeli prime minister's first time in the city since Mayor Zohran Mamdani vowed to arrest him for war crimes – and it's happening as support for Israel among US voters is taking an unprecedented plunge. Sixty percent of Americans now have an unfavorable view of Israel. (In 2022, only 42% of Americans said the same.) But what does this mean for Netanyahu’s hold on US politics? And how will it play into Israel’s October elections? Kai Wright and Carter Sherman are joined by two reporters with different perspectives on the Netanyahu story. Andrew Roth spent time reporting from Israel and the West Bank this summer, and Alice Speri has covered the pushback against Israel in Democratic politics here in the US.

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John Green is probably as famous as an author can get. His 2012 young adult novel The Fault In Our Stars sold more than 20m copies, got adapted into a Hollywood hit film, and catapulted to a level of success that he’d always longed for. And yet, all that left him feeling empty. Now, after nearly a decade away from fiction, Green is back with his first novel for adults, Hollywood, Ending. In a very meta conversation withCarter Sherman, Green explains how interviews can be maddening, explores his own insecurities around fame, and argues that social media has trained all of us to sell our private lives as products. Carter and John also talk about his success as a pioneering YouTube creator alongside his brother Hank Green and Hank's recent dustup over his use of AI.

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In a new book, writers Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor have created a term to define the era we are living in: End Times Fascism. A response to the climate crisis, the rise of the far-right and advancing AI technology, they spell out how the damage being wrought by the super-rich is becoming normalized. Klein and Taylor join Carter Sherman to talk about the recent events that have made us all feel like we’re hurtling towards the apocalypse, and how we can fight back through ‘hereness’.

End Times Fascism And The Fight For The Living World is out now.

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A former Anthropic researcher’s apocalyptic declaration about artificial intelligence has led to a global panic that the technology might be the end of us all. At an event in Washington today to warn about the dangers of AI, US senator Bernie Sanders said that Congress has been ‘asleep at the wheel'. Oddly, Steve Bannon appeared at the same event. But is this response a distraction from the more immediate problems AI is already causing? Kai Wright and Carter Sherman are joined by Guardian tech reporter Johana Bhuyian to put this moment in context, and she explains why we should be cynical about industry calls for regulation

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What are we going to do about kids and social media? Lawsuit after lawsuit has accused the biggest social media platforms in the US of designing their products to be addictive and of endangering children. Meta recently settled one of those lawsuits, agreeing to pay up to $17.1bn in penalties and to limit how kids use its platforms, like Instagram and Facebook. (They did not admit to any wrongdoing.) The rest of the world is embracing a different solution that tech journalistTaylor Lorenz tellsCarter Sherman would forever change the way we use the internet: social media bans. Last year, Australia became the first country to ban people under 16 from social media, and this week, the European Union is expected to propose a similar ban. If it goes into effect, the EU ban would be, by far, the world’s biggest effort to block kids from social media. But, as Lorenz points out, these laws raise all kinds of questions about civil liberties, data privacy, and the future of free speech on the internet.

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Charlie Kirk's death created a vacuum of power that still consumes the Maga right a year later. Immediately after Kirk was shot and killed, his ultraconservative activist organization Turning Point USA announced that his widow, Erika Kirk, would replace her late husband as CEO. But as Guardian reporterJ Oliver Conroy tellsKai Wright, conspiracy theories pushed by Kirk's former allies and proteges have dogged both the organization and Erika Kirk herself. Real questions remain about whether Erika Kirk can maintain the enormous power and influence Turning Point holds on the right and what she is planning to do with the organization. Conroy spent months reporting on Charlie Kirk’s legacy talking to dozens of people within Turning Point USA and the larger Maga movement who view Charlie Kirk as a martyr. Conroy says martyrdom is a powerful force that can’t be controlled.

• J Oliver Conroy's Guardian story on Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA: Grief, fury, conspiracy: inside Turning Point USA after Charlie Kirk’s killing

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