Peter Hamby

2 weeks ago | puck.news | Peter Hamby

On yesterday’s episode of The Powers That Be, our flagship daily podcast, my partner Dylan Byers dropped in to discuss two of the biggest hot-button political topics in Washington right now. In this lightly edited and condensed excerpt, Dylan reveals what really happened when CBS News C.E.O. Wendy McMahon “resigned” earlier this week amid all the turmoil surrounding Shari Redstone’s attempt to get the Paramount-Skydance deal across the finish line.

3 weeks ago | puck.news | Peter Hamby

After more than a decade in the wilderness—or cornfields, in this case—Iowa Democrats finally got some good news this week: Rob Sand, the youthful-looking 42-year-old state auditor from the small town of Decorah, announced that he’s running for governor. He is the Democrats’ best statewide candidate in years, and his announcement video communicated why. It wasn’t one of those overly produced hype videos that populate your social media feeds every two years during campaign season.

1 month ago | puck.news | Peter Hamby

Thanks to Donald Trump, we are confronted on a near-daily basis with vivid reminders that the Republican Party is not what it used to be. In Boston this week, Mike Pence was hanging out with the Kennedys, who bestowed upon him a Profiles in Courage Award for standing up to Trump on January 6. In Georgia on Monday, Gov.

1 month ago | puck.news | Peter Hamby

Here are some of the topics Pete Buttigieg discussed on the Flagrant podcast last week: the White Lotus incest scene, cancer research, Grindr, Fox News, Chinese currency manipulation, lesbian college radio stations in Iowa, progressive taxation, fatherhood, “chick flights into space,” tariffs, whether food in Afghanistan turned him gay, Boston crime rates, corporate offshoring, the United Nations, subways, the Cold War, cancel culture, TikTok. That’s just a start.

1 month ago | puck.news | Peter Hamby

In some ways, the current hype cycle around Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez makes a lot of sense: There’s a leadership void in the Democratic Party, the base is hungry for guidance and new ideas, and Ocasio-Cortez is young and dynamic, a desperately needed contrast to the crusty old leaders that seem to dominate the party. She excites young people who have been tuning out the establishment for years, with a message of economic fairness and thunderous attacks against the billionaire class.