Inside The 'Mad House' Of Congressional Disfunction

国会“疯狂之地”内

Fresh Air

艺术

2025-03-26

45 分钟
PDF

单集简介 ...

The MAGA-controlled 118th House passed only 27 bills that became law — the lowest number since the Great Depression. Journalists Annie Karni and Luke Broadwater examine the chaos in a new book, Mad House: How Donald Trump, MAGA Mean Girls, a Former Used Car Salesman, a Florida Nepo Baby, and a Man with Rats in His Walls Broke Congress. Sign up for our free weekly newsletter to get special behind-the-scenes content, producer recommendations, and gems from the archive. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
更多

单集文稿 ...

  • This message comes from Penguin Random House with Everything Is Tuberculosis.

  • Best selling author John Green tells the story of a young TB patient in Sierra Leone.

  • And systems of injustice fueling the world's deadliest infectious disease available where books and audiobooks are sold.

  • This is FRESH air.

  • I'm Dave Davies.

  • If you follow the news,

  • you know these are strange and turbulent times in Washington as the Trump administration seeks to shrink and recast the federal government with with blinding speed and fury.

  • Trump's opponents would no doubt like to see Congress assert its authority to stop the dismantling of agencies and programs its past members have authorized.

  • We haven't seen much of that, but we have seen bills introduced to enable a third Donald Trump term,

  • rename Dulles Airport after him, and carve his image into Mount Rushmore.

  • Whatever happens, our two guests today have the experience, insight and sources to tell the story.

  • Annie Carney and Luke Broadwater are both veteran reporters who cover Washington for the New York Times,

  • and they've written a new book about the 118th Congress, the one elected in 2022.

  • It's a look inside the corridors of power when Democrat Joe Biden was president,

  • dealing with what the authors say was the first MAGA controlled Congress,

  • one that fully adopted the extremism and stagecraft of Trumpism.

  • There are fascinating accounts of high stakes negotiations and of House members cursing,

  • insulting and threatening each other, but not a lot of serious legislating.

  • The House passed only 27 bills that became law in its two year session,

  • the lowest number since the Great Depression.