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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.
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Jason Dick and Mark Schoeff Jr. talk about Mark's new position as president of the National Press Club and the club's mission, press freedoms, how politicians and journalists interact and explain how legendary Purdue basketball coach Gene Keady fits into all this.
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Jason Dick and Jessica Wehrman digest their experience at the Washington Press Club Foundation dinner, which came at a time of trauma for the national press and frayed nerves in the nation's capital.
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The ongoing conflict in Minneapolis has increased the chances of a partial government shutdown, and the stress of finding a solution is only building, with talk of impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem circulating, the public souring on the administration's immigration actions and a double-whammy winter storm in the mix.
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Jason Dick and Todd Ruger unpack the politics of a congressional committee's pursuit of Contempt of Congress charges against Bill and Hillary Clinton, how the process works, who's been prosecuted before for Contempt of Congress and why, and, of course, how it all relates to the Epstein files.
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Jason Dick and Mary Ellen McIntire look at the biggest political news of the new year and discuss how big a deal it is for the 2026 midterm election cycle, from Alaska's Senate race to Greenland -- and don't worry, they eventually discuss non-Polar climes.
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In politics, there is a lot going on, it can be hard to focus. But some polling and economic indicators are good guideposts for what is shaping the electorate as the 2026 campaign gets under way. Jason Dick and Nathan Gonzales talk about their favorite numbers to peruse, as well as some of their meh numbers.
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The first session of the 119th Congress has been consequential: the legislative branch ceded much of its constitutional responsibilities to the executive branch, senators changed the process for confirming presidential nominees, and the House rank and file grew more emboldened to sidestep their leaders and force votes. Jason Dick and Molly Reynolds discuss these topics and much more as they put 2025 into context.
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Thomas Pynchon's latest novel, "Shadow Ticket," has a lot to say about politics, so Jason Dick checks in with Sean Carswell, the official Pynchon scholar of the Political Theater podcast.
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Despite its propensity for making itself look bad, some of the inner workings of Congress reveal lawmakers who are finding ways to work together. Can they cut through the noise and solve some real problems? Jason Dick and Justin Papp discuss the changing institution and the people who make it, or try to make it, function.
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Jason Dick and Nathan Gonzales talk about how multiple rounds of redistricting congressional boundaries and the lawsuits surrounding them are making a weird year and weird election cycle even weirder.
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Jason Dick talks with Daniela Altimari and Mary Ellen McIntire about the new Roll Call Most Vulnerable Incumbent list, Tuesday night's election results and the latest rounds of redistricting.
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Jason Dick and Sean Carswell discuss how Thomas Pynchon’s novel “Vineland” led to Paul Thomas Anderson’s movie “One Battle After Another,” the conversation those two works have about American culture and politics, as well as the 1960s left, the Nixonian right, Reaganism, the drug war, Trumpism and, for good measure, Emerson's concept of the level of divine justice.
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Jason Dick and Chris Johnson talk about how immigration and racial issues frame the action and plot in the Paul Thomas Anderson movie "One Battle After Another," the salience of those issues in American history and culture and why movies still matter.
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Jason Dick talks with filmmaker Raoul Peck about his documentary "Orwell: 2+2=5," the importance of stepping back from the news cycle to keep things in context and how degrading language leads to degrading humanity.
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Jason Dick and Mary Ellen McIntire talk about how the government shutdown hasn't created much urgency on Capitol Hill, even though the effects could be significant, why each party thinks they have the upper hand and how it might play in upcoming races like the Virginia governor's race, where a lot of furloughed federal workers have a vote.
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Jason Dick and Molly Reynolds talk about the most significant things Congress has done this year and what kind of ripple effects could follow, as well as how lawmakers disenfranchise themselves when it comes to putting in the work.
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Poetry readings, brewing beer, helping out kids: Jason Dick and Jessica Wehrman talk about Roll Call’s revived Life After Congress feature and what former members do with their time, then they round it out with a little wisdom from Henry Cabot Lodge.
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Jason Dick and Nathan Gonzales talk about the promise and perils of re-redistricting, what it's like to be in Washington right now, why people quit, and why they want to come here, and string it all together with musings about Exogol and good hard-core band names.
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Jessica Wehrman talks with David Jordan of CQ Roll Call about how energy affordability could become a sleeper issue in next year's midterm elections.
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Mary Ellen McIntire and Daniela Altimari discuss how a potential new congressional map in Texas could set off a race among other states to redraw their own maps, and how that might affect the 2026 midterm elections.
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