The only people with worse poll numbers than President Donald Trump are the political media that cover him. We, the journalists, are in a crisis: of credibility, importance, and engulfed by an economy of attention that will replace us with Claude or influencer. Traditional reporting skills: storytelling, man-on-the-street interviews, even “investigative” language, are the template for the modern TikToker. But it is the process of journalism – checking the facts, waiting for opinions, leaning in different situations on feelings, or even leading with curiosity in general – which is becoming a lonely movement, competing for attention from an audience that is increasingly influenced by strong emotions.
I look forward to my new episode, America, Reallyit will be different. As the country heads into the 2026 midterms and the first open presidential primary in a decade, it feels like the first steps of a new story for a changing nation. Emerging societies, artificial intelligence, a rapidly changing labor economy, and the growing risk of global conflict — all things that should have been front and center in the last presidential election — can now no longer be ignored. The question of “who do we want to be?” it’s clear, and answering it will require the kind of journalism that prioritizes the messy over the clean.
In a decade in political journalism, I’ve gone to 30-plus states and covered elections big and small, hoping to do just that. As a political journalist and host of Run-Up podcast at the New York Times, I sought to expand the Times’ coverage of Black voters, Residents of the Westand evangelists – communities I felt confident in were underrepresented. I was the lead reporter for the presidential campaigns of Senator Elizabeth Warren and then Vice President Kamala Harristo investigate values and borders of representation. I found a niche that makes trending stories about Trump voters, either for attend public meetings or to go community events (like Trumpstock; “Woodstock for Trump fans,” or The Turning Point Adventures of Charlie Kirk) to hear from his constituents directly.
And what I discovered most was a country that was more politically stable than it is often given credit for. Working class people who didn’t need the latest revised figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to know that the economy was slowing down. Voters who couldn’t name abuse – but intuitively understood that Parliament was more extreme than ever. Voters who more or less agreed that the mere prospect of a Biden-Trump repeat in 2024 was a reflection of a political system that is completely unconstrained by the desires of its citizens. The whole “split” narrative came from the process of organizing those views into Red Team and Blue Team. It was not original.
By removing Donald Trump from the center of the political debate, I think it allows us to see the new story more clearly. I have always believed that this president, while an actor with unique powers and unique electoral qualities, has used a political system whose distance from the concerns of most Americans made it more vulnerable to exploitation. And it is only in shifting our focus, from the concerns of elected officials and industry elites and the media that follow them to the general electorate, that we political journalists see that distance more clearly.
America, Really will seek to see the country with such diversity of opinion. I joined Vox last year because I want to cut through the noise, promote voices that political journalism has not typically promoted, and help audiences understand the issues that matter most in American politics today. With this new show, we want to create a weekly space to think about the people and ideas that are leading the country’s future after Trump — and prepare us for the 2028 election.
Some of the questions I want to explore include: How big is the Republican wing against the Iran war? What are the effects of growing social isolation on politics, which has long been a community activity? Is this the first Democratic primary in which the Black vote will not be decisive? How will Americans’ distaste for Israel play out in the polls? What?
In our first episode, continue now YouTube and wherever you get your podcastsCommentator Nate Silver and culture anchor Hunter Harris discuss the premise of the show – Is a politics show without Trump even possible? — and the political and cultural factors that will shape our post-Trump future. Later, the show will feature interviews with experts, elected officials and local journalists, who will appear regularly on the podcast through a partnership with Report for America, a national service program that places budding journalists in local newsrooms across the country to report on issues that are not being covered.
The goal is to model something different: a new way of understanding the country that the Trump era has distorted. Not because this president does not reflect who we are, but because the political system makes it flat. And while the White House can rule without public opinion in mind, candidates don’t have that luxury. The American public is back in the middle of the conversation. The 2026 midterm elections, and the 2028 presidential election, will force a reset that has been avoided since Trump dropped the gold standard more than a decade ago.
Finally, there will be a post-Trump future. Let’s write together.
