Shows / Political Theater
Political Theater
Have you ever asked, “WTF?,” about politics? Or, “who are these people making decisions about my life?” Political Theater pulls back the curtain on the stunts, antics and motivations that drive Washington. Host Jason Dick and the Roll Call team spotlight the spectacle, the players and what’s going on behind the curtain in Washington’s long-running drama: Congress.
Episodes
- Political Theater
Errol Morris on documentaries in the age of COVID-19 and chaos
Documentary filmmaker Errol Morris discusses his latest movie, "My Psychedelic Love Story," history as chaos, whether Donald Trump believes his own lies, the…
- Political Theater
The Transition: The ‘Against all odds’ inauguration
The presidency of Donald Trump is over. The presidency of Joe Biden has started. The inauguration happened -- against all odds, is how one staffer succintly…
- Political Theater
The Transition: A new chapter for ‘America's Big Day’
Presidential inauguration historian Jim Bendat discusses the unprecedented preparations of Wednesday's inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, from the…
- Political Theater
The Transition: Where do we go from here?
As Washington gears up to host the inauguration of the 46th President of the United States next week, the country is on edge. After the insurrection on January…
- Political Theater
The Transition: The ‘Who’s on First’ impeachment trial
As the baseball and life philosopher Yogi Berra said: It’s like déjà vu all over again! Why? Because it’s January and we’re preparing for an impeachment trial…
- Political Theater
The Transition: "It was surreal": A second impeachment in the time of COVID-19
These days, every day feels historic. But Jan. 13, 2021 is a big one: The House impeached President Donald Trump for a second time. That's the only time a…
- Political Theater
The Transition: Chaos and mistrust on Capitol Hill
We are learning more about what law enforcement knew before the insurrection at the Capitol last week and it’s not a pretty picture. The Washington Post…
- Political Theater
The Transition: Congress in turmoil
With less than 10 days before Joe Biden gets sworn in as president, Congress is reeling from the assault on the Capitol and what it will mean to govern. House…
- Political Theater
The Transition: President Trump's death rattle
If anyone thought 2021 would come in like a lamb this week's events prove otherwise. Insurrection, treason, 25th amendment are all terms being tossed around in…
- Political Theater
The Transition: Doing the job under duress
The shock of the violent overrunning of the U.S. Capitol this week featured a lot of people knuckling down, thinking on their feet and doing their jobs amid a…
- Political Theater
Get ready for the hump day from hell
Wednesday's joint session of Congress will be a long, potentially tortuous affair to count the Electoral College votes that certify Joe Biden's win in the 2020…
- Political Theater
The Transition: Meet the new Congress, more weird than the old Congress
The 117th Congress is under way, and it is already weird. A time usually filled with ceremony, celebration and at least a faint trace of optimism is clouded…
- Political Theater
Political Theater: The year we will never forget
While many of us might want to put 2020 in the rear view mirror, CQ Roll Call's three award winning photographers documented the year that was from impeachment…
- Political Theater
The Transition: A showdown over Fed powers stalls deal for COVID aid
We're looking at a dispute that is threatening the delicate coronavirus relief bill negotiations that are also tied to a Friday at midnight government funding…
- Political Theater
The Transition: Trump's norm-busting. Let us count the ways
Among the accomplishments of President Donald Trump is a crash-course in civics that showed the public that a lot of government business and transparency…
- Political Theater
The Transition: Sorry, but 2020's political drama will be leaking into 2021
With the Electoral College certifying Joe Biden’s victory, and Senate Republicans acknowledging that fact, is the presidential race finally over? Not a chance!…
- Political Theater
The Transition: Will White House officials and Congress be among the first to get the COVID-19 vaccine?
We're delving into why White House officials and members of Congress may be at the head of the line to get a COVID-19 vaccine. CQ Roll Call's Niels Lesniewski…
- Political Theater
The Transition: The bureaucrats are back
President Donald Trump loved to hate the swamp, or official Washington. President-elect Joe Biden is bringing a different approach by bringing on a group of…
- Political Theater
The Transition: Ag, HUD at forefront of equality debates
President-elect Joe Biden's picks to head the the Agriculture Department and HUD follow a fairly familiar pattern: a former farm-state governor for Ag and a…
- Political Theater
The Transition: Biden finds you can't please all the people all the time
The incoming Biden administration continues to come into focus. The president-elect's nomination of retired Gen. Lloyd Austin to be Defense secretary, who…
- Political Theater
The Transition: Let's make a deal
In this episode of Political Theater's The Transition, Congress is still in a tug of war over a possible COVID-19 aid package. CQ Roll Call's David Lerman…
- Political Theater
The Transition: Congress is racing to finish must-pass bills before the New Year
As the holiday season is upon us, so too is a time honored tradition. Congress working at the last minute to shore up must-pass bills. CQ Roll Call's Jim Saksa…
- Political Theater
The Transition: Inauguration 2021 -- It could get weird
Jim Bendat has literally written the book on our Inauguration Day traditions and history. And one thing he is pretty confident of predicting: between Donald…
- Political Theater
The Transition: Congress begins decorating its end-of-year legislative tree
Congress is very good at putting off its most important business until the end of the year. The current spending measure funding the government expires on…
- Political Theater
The Transition: Joe Biden and the Dare to be Dull approach to governing
The first full official day of the transition from the Trump administration to the Biden administration featured President-elect Joe Biden introducing several…
- Political Theater
The Transition: It's been a long week
We're delving into President Donald Trump's latest moves to block President-elect Biden from moving forward, why foreign policy towards Europe may be thorny…
- Political Theater
The Transition: Trump team briefs senators on Operation Warp Speed, but not Biden team
With a COVID-19 vaccine in sight, it's more important than ever the Trump administration and the team of President-elect Joe Biden coordinate on the pandemic…
- Political Theater
The Transition: The ‘traffic jam’ gets worse every day that Trump delays
David Marchick, director of Center for Presidential Transition, has a traffic report for us: If the Trump administration doesn’t start doing its part in the…
- Political Theater
The Transition: Richmond is Biden's gain and Congress' loss
President-elect Joe Biden has poached the first member of Congress for his administration — Louisiana Democrat Cedric Richmond. The lawmaker will become a…
- Political Theater
The Transition: "More people may die"
President-elect Joe Biden says that "more people may die" if President Donald Trump doesn't soon share what the current plans are to combat COVID-19 and…
- Political Theater
The Transition: Trump's post-election moves spark anxiety
In a little over a week, President Donald Trump has launched legal action to try to counter election results, fired the Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and…
- Political Theater
The Transition: Congress isn't putting its own transition on hold
President Donald Trump might be holding off on his participation in the transition process, but Congress is not. New members report to Capitol Hill this week…
- Political Theater
The Transition: Was Election Day really a week ago?
We're looking at the fallout from the Trump administration fueling the myth that the president didn't lose the election. President-elect Joe Biden and his team…
- Political Theater
The Transition: The Biden team wastes no time
President-elect Joe Biden launches his transition with a marquee roster to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. We also look at what is likely to happen to immigration…
- Political Theater
The Transition: The tipping point
At the time of this recording, five states have still not been called in the presidential election, with former Vice President Joe Biden leading in three of…
- Political Theater
The Transition: Release the Trump campaign lawsuits!
The country is on edge as battleground states continue their vote count in the race between Donald Trump and Joe Biden for the presidency. But that has not…
- Political Theater
The 2020 election is a story that just won't end
If you like tidy stories, then 2020 is not for you. As election officials continue counting votes for the presidency and Senate and House races, it's tough to…
- Political Theater
The future of the presidency
With only days to go before Election Day, my colleague Shawn Zeller was thinking about the last 4 years and whether the way President Trump has governed will…
Political TheaterJust in time for Halloween: Worst case scenarios for the election
The 2020 Election is “rounding the corner” — sorry, I could not resist — but here we are, just a few days out from Nov. 3, which means that it’s almost…
Political TheaterBrent Roske, ‘Iowa’s political bartender,’ talks Hawkeye State races
Brent Roske is a political animal, but it wasn’t supposed to be that way. A veteran Hollywood creative type, his series “Chasing the Hill,” about a fictional…
- Political Theater
Lo-tech crashes hi-tech political campaign tactics
Technology increasingly defines modern life, and that is especially so in political campaigns. But for all the sophisticated polling models and ways of raising…
- Political Theater
The odd, hybrid world of the vice presidency
The vice presidency is a strange office, a hybrid of both the executive branch and the legislative branch, someone who breaks ties on Senate votes and can…
- Political Theater
How this SCOTUS fight will be very different
As if the 2020 presidential campaign wasn’t already tense enough, we now have a high-profile Supreme Court confirmation fight playing out in the Senate. But…
- Political Theater
SCOTUS fight scrambles Senate schedule, campaigns
We thought we were in the home stretch of the 2020 campaign season, with the primaries over and early voting beginning, and then on Sept. 18, another political…
- Political Theater
'The consulting class is going ape-s***' -- The Lincoln Project, explained
If you’ve been anywhere near cable news or social media in the last few months, you have probably seen an ad by the Lincoln Project. The group of Republicans…
- Political Theater
‘Surge’ part of ongoing surge in political documentaries
If you ran for Congress in 2018, there was a pretty good chance you are part of a political documentary. First came “Knock Down the House,” which featured a…
- Political Theater
Keynote candidates and no-shows: Who we talk about when we talk about political conventions
One of the few things that is not different about this year’s political conventions is that the parties are providing valuable national airtime to candidates…
Political TheaterVirtually the same? This year’s unconventional Democratic National Convention
We don’t need hindsight to see that 2020 is a year unlike any other in recent memory. The coronavirus pandemic has touched every fiber of our lives and woven…
- Political Theater
'It's just history': Kamala Harris' historic run as VP
Kamala Harris' historic run as vice president comes at a time of big societal and generational changes. Roll Call columnist Mary C. Curtis, who covers the…
- Political Theater
‘It is exhausting’: Women in Congress recount shared experiences
Congress has a record number of women in its ranks, and it doesn't matter if they are Democrats or Republicans, junior members or elected leaders: They share a…
- Political Theater
From middle school to Congress: Jamaal Bowman’s journey
Jamaal Bowman isn’t your average former middle school principal. That’s because the 44-year-old recently beat veteran Congressman Eliot Engel in the Democratic…
- Political Theater
Remembering John Lewis, in his own words
Since Rep. John Lewis' death on July 17, his colleagues have paid tribute and remembered him in ways big and small. And his own words, like the ones we…
Political TheaterFor Rep. G.K. Butterfield, the fight for voting rights goes way back
The struggle to ensure people have access to the ballot box is one that G.K. Butterfield and his family have been involved in dating back to the early 20th…
- Political Theater
‘Just come home’ — Black lawmakers reflect on their interactions with the police
It doesn’t matter if you went to Morehouse, or if you were an undercover CIA officer or even a police officer yourself, if you are a Black man, odds are your…
- Political Theater
Watching John Lewis Watch Himself: Dawn Porter's documentary on the civil rights icon
Filmmaker Dawn Porter had a unique challenge in making a documentary about Rep. John Lewis, the Georgia Democrat who recently turned 80 and has been a civil…
- Political Theater
Eleanor Holmes Norton’s brass ring: DC Statehood
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton is a third-generation Washingtonian who has been witness to the biggest turning points for the Capital city’s long struggle for…
Political Theater'There are no degrees of separation' -- How the Mother Emanuel church shooting hangs over the current debate about racial justice
It's been five years since the deadly, racist-motivated shooting at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. But the scars are still present in the current…
- Political Theater
A long way in a short time: What George Floyd spurred
It might not seem like it, but we’ve come a long way as a country in the last couple of weeks. On May 25th, George Floyd, a black man, died at the hands of…
- Political Theater
A good time for a film about ‘Good Trouble’
Filmmaker Dawn Porter's new documentary "John Lewis: Good Trouble" arrives at a time when racial justice is on everyone’s mind. Protests over the death of…
- Political Theater
What if social media was run like a bar?
Social media was supposed to connect people by bringing them into a common shared space to exchange views, jokes and news. It has become a dominant force that…