Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast

We're thrilled to share our holiday WITHpod mailbag, which was originally hosted on Instagram Live. Does Chris have a doppelganger? What did he want to be when he grew up? What's his pitch for President Biden over Trump? Join as Chris Hayes and producer Doni Holloway reflect on the WITHpod national tour, go through your questions and discuss feedback you’ve sent.

What is the nature of existence? Why is there something rather than nothing? And what are our limits of knowledge? These are questions that have captured the imaginations of pretty much every culture that has ever existed. Our guest this week, Marcelo Gleiser, co-authored a fascinating New York Times op-ed titled, “The Story of Our Universe May Be Starting to Unravel.” Gleiser is the Appleton Professor of Natural Philosophy and a professor of physics and astronomy at Dartmouth College. He’s also author of numerous books, including his most recent one, “The Dawn of a Mindful Universe: A Manifesto for Humanity's Future.” Gleiser joins WITHpod to discuss why different scientific methods of measuring the age of the universe continually yield different results, contemporary departures from longstanding theories about the origins of the universe, the importance of us cultivating time to think about life’s big questions and more. Note that this episode was recorded on September 28th, 2023 and we held it for release until today.

We just wrapped up our fall 2023 national tour. We’ve so enjoyed taking WITHpod on the road and it’s been so good to hear feedback from so many of you. We couldn’t think of a better person to have for our tour culmination than the one and only Rachel Maddow. It was a fascinating conversation all about what we can do to save American democracy, how we got to this particular political moment and her amazing New York Times bestselling book, “Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism.” We’re thrilled to share the full recording of the event with you.

We just wrapped up our fall 2023 WITHpod national tour. We couldn’t think of a better way to conclude than with the one and only Rachel Maddow. If you’re a regular listener, you know that we release full episodes every Tuesday, but we’re doing something different this week. We are excited to share a preview of the conversation today. It was a fascinating convo all about what we can do to preserve American democracy, the rise of authoritarianism and the historical events that have led to this moment, as told in her incredible New York Times bestselling book, “Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism.” You can hear the full conversation in our feed this Friday, 11/24.

It’s been over a month since Hamas' rampage in Southern Israel killed over a thousand Israeli men, women and children, and over a month of Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza that has claimed 10,000 lives, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. In this episode, we’re focusing on the precipitating factors that led to the conflict and issues that continue to impede a resolution. Sari Bashi, who lives in the West Bank and is married to a Palestinian, has a unique perspective as a Jewish woman with U.S.-Israeli citizenship, living in a household that transcends the conflict. Bashi is the program director at Human Rights Watch, an author and is the co-founder of Gisha Access, an Israeli NGO whose goal is to protect the freedom of movement of Palestinians, especially Gaza residents. She joins WITHpod to discuss what the year before the war looked like, violations of international laws, the devastating impact on civilians, calls for countries to suspend military aid and more. Note: An earlier version of this episode's audio misstated the scale of the civilian death toll in Gaza. This version has been edited to omit this.

“You basically have one vote in 2024. Do you support democracy or do you not support democracy? And no other issue in my mind matters,” says our guest this week. Adam Kinzinger, a former Republican congressman, found himself a pariah of sorts after he voted to impeach Donald Trump, following the former president’s attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Kinzinger was one of two Republicans tapped to be on the January 6th committee after the 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. He stepped away from politics this year and recently authored “Renegade: Defending Democracy and Liberty in Our Divided Country,” a memoir all about his life and political career. Kinzinger joins WITHpod to discuss the transformation of the Republican Party, crossing political lines during the House Impeachment vote, why he feels Trump avoids in-person confrontation, preserving American democracy and more.

We’re happy to share a recording of the second half of our double header WITHpod live program in Philadelphia, which was recorded on October 16th. Our own Joy Reid joined us for the most recent tour stop to discuss her fascinating trajectory, including her years in Florida, which have given her unique insight into the state’s current culture wars. She also talks about her time working on political campaigns, the anti-CRT movement, the peril of this political moment and more.

We are back from the third stop on our fall 2023 WITHpod tour and we’re thrilled to share a recording of the first half of our event in Philadelphia. Stay tuned for the second half in next week’s episode. From widespread conspiracies, to AI generated content, to mistrust of vaccines magnified by social media, it’s hard to know what’s real and what’s not in this era. Our guest this week points to a sense of “collective vertigo" that we’re experiencing as our realities warp around us in what she calls the “mirror world.” Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist and a New York Times best-selling author of numerous books including her latest one, “Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World.” She joins WITHpod to discuss the trajectory of her own doppelganger (the impetus for the book), the convergence of paranoid conspiracy culture merging with broad reactionary scary visions of the future, how we got to this moment and how we might move forward.

We recently returned from Chicago, the second stop on our fall 2023 WITHpod tour, and we’re thrilled to share a recording of the event. Hip-hop, which is being celebrated for 50 years of impact this year, has grown into a global phenomenon. The music genre, born out of a very specific set of cultural and sociological conditions, continues to shape so many facets of international culture. MSNBC correspondent and host of "Into America," Trymaine Lee, New York Times best-selling author Imani Perry and hip-hop artist, actor and activist Vic Mensa joined to discuss the precipitating conditions contributing to hip-hop’s rise, its growth and success, the impact of commercialization on artists and more.

The murder rate for native women and girls living on reservations in the U.S. is ten times higher than the national average for women, according to the Urban Indian Health Institute. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice’s federal missing person database only logs a fraction of those cases. Our guest this week, who has investigated cases for indigenous girls from nine months old to women in their eighties, points out that this is part of a broader trend of data erasure. Abigail Echo-Hawk is the director of the Urban Indian Health Institute, which focuses on research and decolonizing data for urban American Indian and Alaska Native communities. She also serves as executive vice president of the Seattle Indian Health Board and is an enrolled citizen of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma. She joins WITHpod to discuss recovering the true story of her people prior to and post the Columbus encounter, the importance of rethinking misconceptions, health disparities in indigenous and Alaska native communities, and the work that lies ahead to break down feelings of “invisibility.” **WITHpod Live Tour Special Announcement** Join us on the road. Buy your tickets now at msnbc.com/withpodtour.

As a bonus for Why Is This Happening? listeners, we’re sharing a special preview of Grapevine, a new original podcast series from NBC News Studios. From the same team that brought you the #1 podcast Southlake, Grapevine tells the story of one family broken apart in the midst of a new anti-LGBTQ culture war, and the high school English teacher caught in the middle. Follow the podcast and listen to the first two episodes now: https://link.chtbl.com/grapevine_alw_

You’d probably guess that a major factor contributing to homelessness is a lack of money. Yet, very few programs provide unconditional and lump sum cash to unhoused individuals as a solution. There are a number of barriers that have impeded the broad implementation of this type of assistance, which include the lack of policymaker support and public mistrust in homeless people’s ability to manage money. Our guest this week found that direct cash transfers actually result in net societal savings over time. Jiaying Zhao is an associate professor, Canada research chair and a Sauder distinguished scholar at the University of British Columbia. She co-authored “Unconditional cash transfers reduce homelessness,” which was published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal. Zhao, who has personally experienced housing insecurity in the past, joins WITHpod to discuss the cognitive taxes of poverty, rethinking the homogenous narrative about who homeless people are, the most surprising findings from the study, intended policy changes and more. **WITHpod Live Tour Special Announcement** Join us on the road. Buy your tickets now at msnbc.com/withpodtour.

Debate guru Ron Klain joins Claire McCaskill and Jennifer Palmieri on their new podcast “How to Win 2024” to discuss the winners and losers of the 2nd GOP debate and what it could mean for President Biden’s re-election campaign. Plus, the House Republicans’ impeachment effort that voters want nothing to do with. Listen each week and click here to follow the show.

We just got back from the first stop on our fall 2023 WITHpod tour. We’re thrilled to share a recording of our live event at the Texas Tribune Festival with Andrew Weissmann and Mary McCord, co-hosts of the MSNBC podcast, “Prosecuting Donald Trump.” Weissmann and McCord, who are both former federal prosecutors, joined in Austin, TX to discuss former president and criminal defendant Trump’s continually growing legal issues as the country prepares for the presidential election in 2024. They also talk about the key point that up until recently, everything that's ever happened to Trump in the past with regards to the law has happened in the regime of civil law, which charges in their view will be the clearest, whether they think he will be convicted before Election Day in 2024 and so much more. **WITHpod Live Tour Special Announcement** Join us on the road. We still have a limited number of tickets available for you to join us in Chicago on 10/9. And join us in Philadelphia on 10/16. Buy your tickets now at msnbc.com/withpodtour.

The United States is one of the most incarcerated nations in the world. But why does the U.S. have so many people in prison and what are the biggest drivers of mass incarceration? One way to understand the answer to this question is to look at how prosecution is done in America. Reimagining criminal justice procedures has been the focus of a growing progressive prosecutor movement. Chesa Boudin, a proponent of reforming prosecutorial procedures, is the former district attorney of San Francisco, a position that he held until his recall in 2022. His biological parents spent a combined 62 years in prison starting when he was a baby. He’s now the founding executive director of Berkeley’s Criminal Law and Justice Center. Boudin joins WITHpod to discuss his familial experience with incarceration, the backlash he received while in office, building out alternative infrastructures, rethinking decarceration and more. **WITHpod Live Tour Special Announcement** We're taking #WITHpod back on the road. We still have a limited number of tickets available for you to join us in Chicago on 10/9. And join us in Philadelphia on 10/16. Buy your tickets now at msnbc.com/withpodtour.

How do you win an unprecedented election that could see a criminally indicted ex-president take on the current Commander in Chief? How do you win crucial down-ballot races that will ultimately shape the power dynamics for whoever wins the White House? And how do you win over voters – of any party -- when mistrust in leadership is at an all-time high? Claire McCaskill and Jennifer Palmieri, are two of the most well-respected voices in American politics today and have some ideas. Listen to their new podcast “How to Win 2024” and follow the show: https://link.chtbl.com/htw_fdlw

It’s been a hot summer in more ways than one. From strikes in Hollywood to United Auto Workers voting in favor of strikes, the push for better working conditions isn’t showing signs of cooling down. It's been years since we've seen this kind of burst of workplace organizing, and it recalls some of the most famous moments of labor history. We couldn’t think of a better voice than our guest this week to help us unpack everything that’s been going on. Alex Press is a staff writer for Jacobin Magazine where she covers labor. Her work has appeared in outlets including the New York Times and the Washington Post, just to name a few. She was a union organizer before becoming a reporter. Press joins WITHpod to discuss what has contributed to this current wave, pandemic induced changes to how people think about labor, shifts in power during this moment and the outlook ahead.

Given the Labor Day holiday, we're republishing one of our favorite episodes. From the original description: Every day in the United States, 10,000 people turn 65, according to the UN Population Division. We are about to have the largest older population ever. At the same time, nearly 4 million babies are born every year, leaving many Americans juggling caring for young children and aging parents. Caregiving is often cast as nonproductive labor, despite the incredible mental, emotional and physical toll it can take. It’s increasingly clear that more resources are urgently needed to support caregivers. How can we rethink our social and economic policies to ensure that more people can age with dignity? Ai-jen Poo is president of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and executive director of Caring Across Generations. She is also author of the 2015 book “The Age of Dignity: Preparing for the Elder Boom in a Changing America.” She joins WITHpod to discuss her personal experiences that led her to be an activist, the need for more infrastructure to support caring for aging populations, the care economy and more. **WITHpod Live Tour Special Announcement** We're taking #WITHpod back on the road for a live three-city tour. Join Chris in Chicago on 10/9, Philadelphia on 10/16, and NYC on 11/12. Buy your tickets now with special code WITHPOD: msnbc.com/withpodtour.

We're thrilled to share our summer #WITHpod mailbag, which was originally hosted on Instagram Live. Join as Chris and producer Doni Holloway talk about the upcoming #WITHpod tour, go through your questions, discuss feedback you’ve sent and share pod updates. **WITHpod Live Tour Special Announcement** We're taking #WITHpod back on the road. Join us in Chicago on 10/9, Philadelphia on 10/16, and NYC on 11/12. Buy your tickets now at msnbc.com/withpodtour. Links to some episodes mentioned: Being “Irrepressible” with Little Rock Nine Member Minnijean Brown-Trickey The Dire Threat of Global Authoritarianism with Rula Jebreal AI: “An Exponential Disruption” with Kate Crawford The Care Economy with Ai-jen Poo Why Americans Are Dying So Young with Anne Case and Angus Deaton “A Moral Moment in America” with Sen. Raphael Warnock #WITHpod & Strict Scrutiny Crossover (2023)

Ali Velshi gives a special preview of his new podcast, “Velshi Banned Book Club,” an act of resistance against the epidemic of book banning. In each episode, a different author of a banned book joins Ali—including Margaret Atwood, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Laurie Halse Anderson and more—to talk about why their work is being targeted and about the literature itself. “Velshi Banned Book Club” is a series rooted in literary and cultural analysis and in the notion of reading as resistance. Listen to the first two episodes now and follow the series: https://link.chtbl.com/vbbc_fdlw