Coming Soon: Who Is? The Podcast: Season Two

"Who Is?," an original podcast from NowThis News that explores the lives of the powerful, is back. On "Who Is?," host and NowThis correspondent Sean Morrow dives deep into the stories and backstories of the politicians, donors, media moguls and movements that shape our lives, from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Mark Zuckerberg, and #BlackLivesMatter to George Soros. Featuring conversations with the reporters, biographers, colleagues, confidantes--and occasionally adversaries--who know these world molders best, "Who Is?" is back for another season of sixteen episodes. It's an election year, and we're living through a pandemic. There's a lot to talk about. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers

Who is Charles Koch?

A billionaire among billionaires, Charles Koch is one of the most powerful men in the world. By all accounts a brilliant businessman, Charles inherited his father’s company when Lyndon B. Johnson was in the White House, and, over decades, has transformed privately held Koch Industries into a massive multinational conglomerate with annual revenues of well over a hundred billion dollars. Since the 1970s, he’s not only reinvested that money in his company, but funneled it into American politics, financing ideas, organizations, and politicians, which together present a carefully engineered attempt to dismantle the regulatory state, and perhaps government itself. And he’s been very successful: Charles Koch, more than anyone else, may epitomize the pervasive influence of money on American democracy. On the final episode of the first season of Who Is, Sean Morrow explores the biography of Charles Koch, and the history of the Koch Network, for a look at how the very, very wealthy seek to...

Who is Mike Pence?

Vice President Mike Pence, who has described himself as “a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order,” for decades, was born a Catholic Democrat, but rose to prominence as an Evangelical conservative. Once elected to Congress, his friendly attitude toward big business attracted the attention of billionaire donors like Charles Koch. But as Governor of Indiana, Pence became infamous for how his faith informed his politics, from praying for an answer to an HIV outbreak in Scott County, to advocating for a religious freedom policy that enabled business owners to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people. Then came Donald Trump. On the penultimate episode of the first season of Who Is, Sean Morrow turns to Pence biographer Tom LoBianco, to try to understand the man who could be the next President of the United States. Tom LoBianco, Reporter and Author of Piety & Power: Mike Pence and the Taking of the White House Sarah Posner, a Reporting Fellow at Type Investigations, where ...

Who is Tom Cotton?

Arkansas is one of America’s poorest states. Today, it’s also one of its reddest, and the politicians it sends to Washington, like its star senator, Tom Cotton, aim to cut the government assistance programs that many Arkansans depend on. But the state was once solidly democratic, and elected charismatic democratic politicians like former President Bill Clinton, for decades. In the second of three episodes exploring the contemporary Republican Party, and the future of the party after Trump, Sean Morrow digs into the forces that brought Sen. Cotton to power, including deep pocketed donors like Charles Koch, and untangles the complexities of white identity politics and the nationalization of Southern beliefs and attitudes. Ernie Dumas, Journalist and Author of The Education of Ernie Dumas Tamika Edwards, Executive Director of the Social Justice Institute at Philander Smith College Angie Maxwell, Director of the Diane Blair Center of Southern Politics and Society and an Associate Prof...

Who is Mike Pompeo?

As Democrats nationwide consider who their party will nominate to challenge President Trump in November, Republicans look ahead -- to 2024. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, after a meteoric rise through Kansas politics to leading the CIA and the State Department, is widely believed to be preparing to run for higher office. A businessman; a veteran; and a committed Christian, Pompeo represents one possible future for the Republican Party. He’s also an object example of how conservatives, by and large, have accommodated themselves to Trump. On this episode of Who Is, Sean Morrow inspects the complex and contradictory beliefs and impulses of the man who rode the Tea Party to Congress and Benghazi to fame. Lara Jakes, a Diplomatic Correspondent based in the Washington bureau of The New York Times Dion Lefler, Government and Politics Reporter at The Wichita Eagle Tom Shine, Director of News and Public Affairs at Wichita Public Radio, KMUW Nahal Toosi, Foreign Affairs Reporter for Politic...

Who is Stephen Miller?

Who is Stephen Miller? One of three Senior Advisors to the President--along with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump--Miller is arguably the person who has had the greatest impact on the most people. Policy that Miller has devised, and, thanks to a conservative-leaning Supreme Court, by in large been able to enact, has changed how immigration works in the United States. But that's not all: as one of President Trump's favorite speechwriters, Miller has crafted much of the language that brings "Make America Great Again" to life. On this episode of Who Is, Sean Morrow explores how a Jewish kid from liberal Santa Monica became an immigration hardliner, and dives deep into the history of immigration--and immigration control--in the United States. Airs 02/04/2020. Marisa Franco, director and co-founder of Mijente, a political, digital, and grassroots hub for Latinx organizing and movement building Dr. Kelly Lytle Hernandez, Professor of History, African American Studies, and Urban Planning at ...

Who is Jared Kushner?

EJared Kushner, husband of Ivanka Trump, is probably the most powerful person in the United States who we know the least about. The grandchild of immigrants who escaped the Holocaust, Kushner is the beneficiary of his family’s meteoric rise, and the quintessential rich kid: before his donation-based admission to Harvard, Kushner hobnobbed with politicians and managed segments of his family’s vast real estate holdings. In graduate school, he bought a newspaper--and ran it into the ground--and a billion-dollar Manhattan office tower--which, until the election of President Donald Trump, nearly bankrupted the family business. But once his father-in-law is elected president, Kushner finds himself--or maneuvers his way into--the middle of everything, whether it’s building the wall, devising a solution to the Israel-Palestine imbroglio, or negotiating a trade deal with China. Featuring Andrea Bernstein, author of the newly released book American Oligarchs: The Kushners, the Trumps, and t...

Who is Mohammad bin Salman?

How did Saudi Arabia get away with the brutal murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the kidnapping and alleged torture of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, and even 9/11? How does it get away with war in Yemen and human rights violations at home? Oil, and the wealth that oil has brought about. On the first international episode of Who Is, Sean Morrow explores the 34-year-old trillionaire in charge of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad bin Salman, and the story of a monarchy that is using its wealth to secure its global legitimacy--and expand its influence--through investments in Silicon Valley notables like Twitter, Uber, and Slack. Featuring Agnès Callamard, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Executions, who investigated Khashoggi’s 2018 killing. Hala Aldosari, Robert E. Wilhelm Fellow at the MIT Center for International Studies Agnès Callamard, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Executions and Director, Global Freedom of Expression, ...

Who is Mark Esper?

In the United States, war is big business. The Department of Defense, led by Secretary Mark Esper since 2019, has a budget of $738 billion this year. And while many of those dollars pay for those who serve in the armed forces and the maintenance of a nuclear arsenal, a significant portion of that budget will go to the military-industrial complex, which President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned Americans about in his farewell address in 1961, and which, prior to his appointment, Secretary Esper represented in Washington as a lobbyist. With the question of war in the air after the United States--in a targeted drone strike on Iraqi soil approved by President Donald Trump--assassinated the second most powerful man in Iran, Qasem Soleimani, who stands to profit? On this episode of Who Is, Sean Morrow dives deep into Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and the military-industrial complex. Kate Brannen, Editorial Director of Just Security Jack Detsch, Pentagon Correspondent of Al-Monitor Aaron Meh...

Who is Nancy Pelosi?

ESpeaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is the most powerful woman in the United States. The first woman to lead the House of Representatives--and third in line to the presidency--she’s passed landmark legislation like the Affordable Care Act; has been the legislative partner, or adversary, of three presidents; and is playing a decisive role in the impeachment of President Trump. All that, and she didn’t even hold elected office until she was 47, after she had raised five children. Whatever your politics, this is Nancy Pelosi’s moment. Join Sean Morrow for this not-to-be-missed look at the woman who is, arguably, the leader of the democratic party. John Lawrence, former Pelosi Chief of Staff; Visiting Professor at the University of California's Washington Center; author of The Class of '74: Congress after Watergate and the Roots of Partisanship Paul Kane, Senior Congressional Correspondent and Columnist at the Washington Post Stephanie L. Young, former White House Senior Public Engagem...