New York magazine Washington correspondent Olivia Nuzzi has been covering Donald Trump’s White House since 2016. In the inaugural episode of Vox Conversations, Nuzzi talks to guest host Sam Sanders, host of NPR’s It’s Been a Minute, about her experience reporting on an unprecedented administration.
Olivia Nuzzi and Sam Sanders talk about the final days of the Trump White House
Vox Conversations takes on the last week, and last four years, of Donald Trump’s America.
“The people who became rabid Trump supporters,” Nuzzi says. “It’s not as though they just acquired their capacity to believe the things he had them believe or that he encouraged them to believe or that he promoted on June 16, 2015. They had that capacity before that.
“Maybe they believed in birtherism. Maybe it predates that. Maybe it predates the Tea Party, the racist response to Obama’s election. Maybe it dates back to Newt Gingrich, maybe it dates back to Barry Goldwater. But he did not create those people who descended on the Capitol, you know, he activated them. And I don’t think — maybe they will run off and lie dormant for a while, but I doubt it. I don’t think that they go away.”
Olivia and Sam also talk about what it’s like covering an administration that made anonymous sourcing even more of the norm, the Trump administration’s unclear policy agenda, and where we go from here. Listen to the entire conversation here:
In the tradition of Ezra Klein’s conversational and intimate interviews, Vox Conversations brings you new weekly discussions between the brightest minds and the deepest thinkers; conversations that will cause listeners to question old assumptions and think about the world and our role in it in a new light. It’s also your go-to spot for five years’ worth of Ezra’s conversations with guests from Barack Obama to Isabel Wilkerson.
If you have thoughts about the show or suggestions for future guests or guest-hosts, email us at voxconversations@vox.com.
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