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A quarter-million Americans have now died of COVID-19. The spread of the virus is as bad as it’s ever been. And it’s almost certainly going to get much worse. But with the president abdicating responsibility and refusing to begin a transition, it feels as if we’re headed into unthinkable danger without any sense of who’s in charge.Staff writer Ed Yong wrote about America’s unpreparedness for a pandemic in 2018 and his reporting has led the conversation about the coronavirus for months now. He joins the show to explain how the country got to this point, what he thinks a Biden administration could do come January, and why he’s more hopeful about a society sticking together in a disease than he was two years ago.Support this show and all of The Atlantic’s journalism by becoming a subscriber at www.theatlantic.com/supportus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Virginia Congresswoman shares her concerns over President Trump’s post-election actions and what she considers the lessons of 2020 for her fellow Democrats.Before coming to Congress as part of the Democratic wave in 2018, Spanberger spent her career as an undercover operative in the CIA. She talks about what it was like going from a false alias to a congressional seat, why she ran in the first place, and what she thinks when people compare her group of friends in Congress to the ‘Squad.’Support this show and all of The Atlantic’s journalism by becoming a subscriber at www.theatlantic.com/supportus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Between the pandemic and President Trump, election night this year will be unlike any other. As usual, television news networks are the narrators of our democracy, but what will they do if the president claims an unconfirmed victory? With the stakes so high, will they apply the lessons they learned these past four years?CNN’s Brian Stelter shares his thoughts on broadcasting the president’s words live, how important the Fox News alternate universe will be, and what television news’s future is in a Biden presidency or a Trump second term.Support this show and all of The Atlantic’s journalism by becoming a subscriber at www.theatlantic.com/supportus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The man who wrote The Art of the Deal reflects on Donald Trump, his presidency, and what the coming weeks could bring. Schwartz says Trump’s “primary motivation is dominance” and “there is nothing Trump fears more than failure.” And with the election little more than a week away, Schwartz thinks Trump believes he’s going to lose, “probably even more than he did four years ago.”Support this show and all of The Atlantic’s journalism by becoming a subscriber at www.theatlantic.com/supportus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic nominee discusses President Trump, the pandemic, and election disinformation.Support this show and all of The Atlantic’s journalism by becoming a subscriber at www.theatlantic.com/supportus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the election only weeks away, President Trump is down in the polls, sowing doubt about the integrity of the vote, and refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. When he accepted his party’s nomination at the Republican National Convention on August 24th, Trump summarized his position: “The only way they can take this election away from us is if this is a rigged election.”What happens if a president loses reelection, but won’t accept the outcome? Staff writer Barton Gellman tried to answer that question in the cover story of this month’s Atlantic. He joins Edward-Isaac Dovere to explain what he found. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2016, the Green Party won more votes in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin than Donald Trump’s margins for victory. As a result, many Democrats blamed the progressive party for Clinton’s electoral college loss and have worked this year to keep the party from competing in key states. Following Democrats’ challenges over paperwork issues, courts in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania removed Green Party names from presidential ballots this week.Howie Hawkins, the Green Party’s nominee for president and a co-founder of the party, joins Isaac Dovere to discuss his candidacy. Is the Green Party being used as a spoiler? What does he make of Kanye West’s presidential campaign? And does he fear his party may again face accusations that they put Donald Trump in the White House?Support this show and all of The Atlantic’s journalism by becoming a subscriber at: theatlantic.com/supportus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elected at 31, Wisconsin’s Lieutenant Governor is a young Black progressive and the face of a new Democratic party in the Midwest. With the nation’s attention on the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Barnes joins Isaac Dovere to discuss President Trump, the Milwaukee Bucks, and what he thinks Democrats need to do to win in November.Support this show and all of The Atlantic’s journalism by becoming a subscriber at www.theatlantic.com/supportus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Only a few years ago, Chad Mayes was the Republican leader in the California Assembly. Now, he’s out of the party. Ahead of next week’s Republican convention, he joins Isaac Dovere to discuss the state of the GOP, running an independent, and the long impact of Donald Trump.“California really was the canary in the coal mine. If you go back to the 1990s, where California was then—it's what the country is going to be 20 years from now. I've tried to tell my colleagues across the country that if you think that somehow this is a winning strategy today, the brand, the toxicity that will come of this is going to last not just for five years or ten years. It's going to last for generations to come.”Support this show and all of The Atlantic’s journalism by becoming a subscriber at www.theatlantic.com/supportus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Susan Rice, the former U.N. Ambassador and National Security Advisor for the Obama administration, is considered a leading candidate to become Joe Biden's running mate. She joins to discuss statehood for DC, racism and sexism in American politics, and the formative experiences that made her who she is today — a person who may be the first Black woman on a national ticket. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Florida congresswoman Donna Shalala was one of many first-time candidates in 2018. But unlike other freshman Democrats that flipped a district, she’d already had a decades-long career in public life. At age 77, she became the second-oldest person ever to win a seat in Congress.Besides serving as an early Peace Corps volunteer and co-founding EMILY’s List, Shalala was also the longest-serving Secretary of Health & Human Services in U.S. history. She discusses what the federal government should be doing, working in Congress with John Lewis, and naming her new rescue dog “Fauci.”Support the show by subscribing to The Atlantic: theatlantic.com/supportus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Alabama senator discusses the coronavirus outbreak in the South, new efforts to grapple with its Confederate legacy, and his hopes that this time of crisis leads to systemic change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 2016 Republican presidential candidate announces her intention to vote for Joe Biden, and the concerns about the country that led to her decision. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The second-highest elected official in New York City is a progressive activist who’s worked to change policing for years. He thinks this moment could be different, if Americans are willing to have an honest conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The mayor of Dayton, Ohio, on how badly America's cities need a bailout—and how painful the impact could be if they don't get one. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Senator (and doctor) Bill Cassidy discusses the coronavirus response, vaccines, and how states like his own Louisiana hope to reopen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The governor of one of the hardest-hit states discusses the coronavirus response, how he thinks about reopening New Jersey, and his conversations with President Trump. (In fact, the president called him during taping.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The former presidential candidate discusses universal basic income, coronavirus-linked bigotry against Asian Americans, and how the pandemic has accelerated the automation trends he's long worried about. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Georgia politician and voting rights activist Stacey Abrams discusses elections in a pandemic, vice presidential aspirations, and Star Trek. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sherrilyn Ifill of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund discusses Wisconsin’s election debacle and how the coronavirus has become a new tool of voter suppression. Ifill says Wisconsin legislators “created a perfect storm where it didn't have to exist” and that the Supreme Court’s “terrible decision” allowing the election to proceed “consigned people to have to choose between their health and their right as citizens to participate and vote.”She describes how the current partisan debate around voter suppression obscures its roots as a tool of white supremacy, and she talks about what worries her (and what makes her hopeful) as we look to the election in November. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices