Offline with Jon Favreau

Every election cycle the question inevitably comes up - will Texas flip? But the biggest story in Texas isn't whether the state will turn blue. It's how the people who live there are redefining what Texas politics looks like. 

Jen, Mitch, and Errin travel across the state to explore immigration, education, faith, and the changing priorities of Texas voters through the voices of the people living those debates every day.

Guests: State Rep. James Talarico, State Sen. Taylor Rehmet, State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, Benny Melendez and Mario Guerrero, Tarrant County Residents

Can the internet foster productive debate in the rage-bait era? Jubilee founder and CEO Jason Y. Lee joins Offline to talk about his company’s massive YouTube channel, known for its viral political debates in series like Surrounded and Middle Ground. 

He and Jon talk about the moral quandary of platforming people like Charlie Kirk, what young people find so captivating about these conflict-ridden videos, and why Jason views his content as chocolate covered broccoli.

Hate listening to ads? Become a Friends of the Pod subscriber for ad-free episodes of Pod Save America, Pod Save the World, Lovett or Leave It, Runaway Country, Offline with Jon Favreau, and more—plus exclusive content, including bonus episodes of Pod Save America. Subscribe now at crooked.com/friends, on Apple Podcasts, or through the Pod Save America YouTube channel.

You can request a transcript by emailing transcripts@crooked.com. Include the podcast name, episode title, and air date. Please allow 48 hours for delivery.

Is economic populism the key to Democrats retaking power in 2026 and 2028? Faiz Shakir, political strategist and founder of the media organization More Perfect Union, joins Offline to make his case that progressive populists are just as—if not MORE—electable than center left candidates. 

He and Jon break down Abdul El-Sayed’s primary win in Michigan, how the progressive movement has evolved since Bernie’s 2016 presidential campaign, and the role of DSA in all of this…both positive and negative.

Hate listening to ads? Become a Friends of the Pod subscriber for ad-free episodes of Pod Save America, Pod Save the World, Lovett or Leave It, Runaway Country, Offline with Jon Favreau, and more—plus exclusive content, including bonus episodes of Pod Save America. Subscribe now at crooked.com/friends, on Apple Podcasts, or through the Pod Save America YouTube channel.

To watch this episode with subtitles, click here and turn on closed captions (CC).

You can request a transcript by emailing transcripts@crooked.com. Include the podcast name, episode title, and air date. Please allow 48 hours for delivery.

What happens when you turn your entire life over to AI for a year? Could it take over your emails or learn to mow your lawn? Would it replace your doctor or even your partner? Tech journalist Joanna Stern joins Offline to talk about her new book , I Am Not a Robot, where she embarked on that experiment, integrating AI into (almost) every aspect of her life for 365 days.

She and Jon discuss what she learned about cancer treatment when she asked it to review her mammograms, what the experiment taught her about where AI may be most likely to displace workers, and why it left her thinking that AI regulation should begin at the local level.

Hate listening to ads? Become a Friends of the Pod subscriber for ad-free episodes of Pod Save America, Pod Save the World, Lovett or Leave It, Runaway Country, Offline with Jon Favreau, and more—plus exclusive content, including bonus episodes of Pod Save America. Subscribe now at crooked.com/friends, on Apple Podcasts, or through the Pod Save America YouTube channel.

To watch this episode with subtitles, click here and turn on closed captions (CC).

You can also request a transcript by emailing transcripts@crooked.com. Include the podcast name, episode title, and air date. Please allow 48 hours for delivery.

Was Andrew Yang ahead of his time? When he ran for president in 2020 on a platform of universal basic income and the threat of AI job displacement, people didn’t take him seriously. 
Now, Andrew's got even more ideas on AI and UBI, how our political system should deal with it all, and whether it can be done with only two parties. He and Jon discuss how the Forward Party’s independent candidates could spoil elections for Republicans, his new book of essays “Hey Yang, Where’s My Thousand Buck?” and why he’s decided to join the cast of a new television game show: Nation’s Dumbest.

For a transcript of this show, email transcripts@crooked.com

What lessons have Democrats learned from the Graham Platner debacle…and what are their chances of finally unseating Senator Susan Collins with a campaign timeline that’s evaporating faster than you can say Harris-Walz 2024? Alex Seitz-Wald, deputy editor of The Midcoast Villager in Maine, joins Offline to explain how Platner’s scandal-plagued campaign was perceived online vs. on the ground, and why Mainers are done with people who are “from away.”

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast, episode title, and episode date.

What exactly is happening inside CBS News, and how much is Bari Weiss to blame? How are journalists at CNN feeling about becoming the Ellisons' next target? And what has corporate consolidation done to the media? Oliver Darcy, founder and writer of Status and former senior media reporter for CNN, joins Offline to break it all down. He and Jon also discuss Comcast's announcement that it may spin off NBC, what's going on at Jeff Bezos's Washington Post, and why Oliver has taken his reporting independent.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast, episode title, and episode date.

AI is creating a crisis of agency where people are becoming paranoid that they’re being manipulated, suckered, and ultimately replaced. Charlie Warzel joins Offline to elaborate on his Atlantic essay, “The Feeling of Control Slipping Away,” which illustrates the myriad ways AI is driving people insane. He and Jon talk about whether human creativity is endangered, if AI is anything more than a corporate black-box, and what it means to be human when a robot can do everything better than you. They also discuss Elon Musk's SpaceX IPO, what its valuation means and Musk's efforts to rewrite DOGE's devastating legacy, as well as his own.

Correction: The bot farm startup whose tagline is "never pay a human again" is misstated in this episode. The startup is Doublespeed, not Superhuman.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast, episode title, and episode date.

Progressives are highly critical of America, and for good reason. But we are losing more than problematic idols and ideals when we abandon patriotism. Jerusalem Demsas, founder and editor of “The Argument,” argues that if we’re going to save America, we’ll have to start loving it first.  She joins Offline to explain how liberals have ceded patriotism to the right, why No Kings is starting to fix this, and how to talk about our country’s issues without undermining hope that America still holds promise.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast, episode title, and episode date.

Ever heard a popular TikToker wax poetic about who they’re voting for? They might be getting paid…and not disclosing by whom. Kyle Tharp, author of the Chaotic Era newsletter, joins Offline to discuss the emergence of pay-for-play political influencers and whether Democrats have made any progress in figuring out the internet. He and Jon talk about the decline of Ben Shapiro and the Daily Wire, the new success of legacy media on TikTok, and the intense grassroots anger around data centers.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here . For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast, episode title, and episode date.