Show Notes
From the dud that was the Great American State Fair to a Supreme Court that barely upheld birthright citizenship, Karpf and Loge unpack what it really means to tell a positive story about being American in 2026. Plus: Trump’s FIFA red card mess, Platner’s failed Senate bid, and why actually winning the victory is the only way to keep a real American story alive.
Footnotes: What is the Great American State Fair like? | The Future, Now and Then Supreme Court upholds principle that almost all born on U.S. soil are American | The Washington Post How Local News Reduces Loneliness | Washington Monthly Inside the White House Campaign to Overturn a World Cup Red Card | The Wall Street Journal
More from Office Hours with Karpf and Loge
Why do elephants inspire more trust than engineers, and what do chicken carcasses have to do with safer airplanes? We discuss Dave Karpf and Nina Hall’s piece on Turning Point USA and MoveOn, make the case against the Paramount merger, and ask when Peter Loge last read a book.
On this week's episode of Office Hours, Loge is somehow still talking about bat ecologist certifications and Karpf is too busy marathon training to play D&D. They break down how Trump's $5,000 pledge to voters went viral on prediction markets and discuss the difference between moderate politics as a rhetorical style versus an actionable ideology. Also, Karpf and Loge read the pod's first AI-generated listener email!
Office Hours is back for the semester, and just in time, because Loge is getting a little too fascinated by bat ecologists. As a record high number of Americans say that government corruption is widespread, Karpf and Loge discuss why political elites get away with bad behavior, when voters will punish them and how political actors can effectively push back. Also, our hosts respond to their first listener email!
As summer ends and classes begin, Washington is offering plenty of material for a lesson in political theater: from Natalie Harp's expanding West Wing role to James Talarico turning Ken Paxton’s $1,000 pen into a campaign prop. Karpf and Loge dissect these stories, as well as why Trump's picks keep losing their primaries. They also discuss why a Peter Loge Bot is a terrible business idea, how an alien garbage can won 10,000 votes in Clacton, and their political predictions for this fall.
It's hot enough outside to make Karpf wear shorts on camera, inspiring a deluge of water metaphors. Karpf and Loge dive into the President's insistence through the Reflecting Pool debacle and the war in Iran, even as voters reward politicians focused on making government work. They also break down the latest midterm primaries, the lost DNC Autopsy chapter, and the lessons behind them: democracy is messy, local politics matter, and a good plan means nothing if you can’t execute it.