Livingston County will once again be in the national political spotlight when three hosts of the most-popular liberal podcast in the nation join U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin and 7th Congressional District candidate Curtis Hertel on Saturday to kick off a day of canvassing with local Democrats.
The podcast, which debuted in January 2017, airs three times a week, hosted by a rotating cast of four former Barack Obama staffers: Jon Favreau, Tommy Vietor, Jon Lovett, and Dan Pfeiffer. Pod Save America is the flagship podcast of Crooked Media, the media company founded by Favreau, Vietor, and Lovett.
Three of Pod Save America’s four hosts — Favreau, Pfeiffer and Vietor — will be in Brighton for the canvass, which is sponsored by Vote Save America, Crooked Media’s voter registration/turnout effort. That evening, they will be at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor for a sold-out show on their Pod Save America Democracy or Else Tour, with special guest Slotkin.
Pod Save America, which describes itself as a “political podcast for people who aren’t ready to give up or go insane,” is one of the smartest, funniest, and most politically insightful podcasts around. Even conservative columnist Hugh Hewitt agrees.
In a Washington Post column two weeks ago, Hewitt said that his fellow “conservatives should applaud (these) lefty commentators,” and he credited Pod Save America for opening “many eyes, and ears, to podcasting’s potential.”
“They showed a path that now has been successfully traveled by many others from the right, where the content is not only conservative but also funny and persuasive.”
That, according to Hewitt, is “the key”: “The best podcasts persuade even as they entertain, presenting listeners with arguments buttressed by facts.”
Pod Save America airs three times a week and averages more than 1.5 million listeners per episode. It is available on Spotify, YouTube, Pocket Casts, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, and Apple Podcasts.
It has even spawned a spinoff across the pond: Pod Save the U.K.
