Astead Herndon: Why I’m actually launching my new podcast, America

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 trust, relevance, and overwhelmed by an attention economy that will either replace us with Claude or an influencer. The skills of traditional reporting: storytelling, man-on-the-street interviews, even the language of “investigations,” are the template for the modern TikToker. But it’s the process of journalism — fact-checking, waiting for comment, leaning into nuance over sensationalism, or even leading with general curiosity — that grows to become a solitary pursuit, competing for attention from an audience increasingly overwhelmed by hot takes.

I hope for my new show, America, actuallyit will be different. As the country marches toward the 2026 midterms and the first open presidential primary in a decade, these feel like the first steps of a new story for a changing nation. Emerging communities, artificial intelligence, a rapidly changing job economy and increasing risk of global conflict – all that should have been at the forefront of the last presidential election – can now no longer be ignored. The question of “who do we want to be?” is open, and answering it will require the type 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 reporter and host of The run-up podcast at the New York Times, I tried to expand the Times’ coverage of Black voters, Midwesternersand evangelists — communities I trusted are underrepresented. I was the chief reporter for the presidential campaigns of sen. Elizabeth Warren and then Vice President Kamala Harrisexplore the values and limits of representation. I found a niche doing trending stories about Trump voters, either by attend rallies or go community events (as Trump stock; “Woodstock for Trump fans,” or Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point Events) to hear directly from his constituents.

And what I found most was a country that was more politically minded than it is often given credit for. Working class people who didn’t need the latest revised numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to know that the economy is slowing. Voters who couldn’t name gerrymandering — but intuitively understood that Congress had become more extreme than ever. An electorate that more or less agreed that the mere prospect of a Biden-Trump rematch in 2024 was a reflection of a political system that had become completely disconnected from the desires of its citizenry. The whole story of “polarization” came from the process of sorting those views into Team Red and Team Blue. It was not inherent.

By removing Donald Trump from the center of the political discussion, I think it gives room to see that new story more clearly. I have always believed that this president, while a unique authoritarian actor with unique electoral characteristics, exploited a political system whose distance from the concerns of most Americans made it even more vulnerable to exploitation. And it is only by turning our focus from the concerns of elected officials and the industry and media elite bubble that follow them to the electorate at large that we political journalists see that distance most clearly.

America, actually will endeavor to see the country for that diversity of opinion. I joined Vox last year because I want to cut through the noise, amplify voices that political journalism has not typically amplified, and help audiences understand the issues that really matter in American politics today. With this new show, we want to create a weekly space to think about the people and ideas driving the country’s post-Trump future — and prepare for the 2028 election along the way.

Some of the questions I want to explore include: How big is the Republican wing against the Iran war? What is the impact of growing social isolation on politics, which has long been a community activity? Is this the first Democratic primary where the Black vote will not be decisive? How will Americans’ soured mood about Israel manifest itself in votes? Will it?

In our first episode, out now YouTube and wherever you get your podcastspollster Nate Silver and culture podcaster Hunter Harris discuss the premise of the show – Is a political 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, the national service program that places up-and-coming journalists in local newsrooms across the country to report on under-covered issues.

The goal is to model something else: a new way of understanding a country that the Trump era has distorted. Not because this president doesn’t reflect who we are, but because the political system inherently squashes that. And while the White House can govern 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 recovery that has been avoided since Trump came down that golden escalator more than a decade ago.

There will eventually be a post-Trump future. Let’s write it together.