What is Crooked Media?
We couldn’t find a place to talk about politics the way actual human beings talk. So we decided to create one.
In 2016, a sane conversation about politics was most needed but hardest to find. Cable news panels, you may have noticed, are not the best. Twitter is a great place to slowly lose your mind. Everywhere, the work of excellent journalists competes with clickbait, fake news, and whatever Donald Trump is tweeting about.
With the help of Bill Simmons and the excellent team at The Ringer, we started a podcast called Keepin’ It 1600 to have a conversation about politics we couldn’t find anywhere else. We brought our partisan views, but also years of experience in the White House and on winning political campaigns (except Lovett). We brought on guests who agreed with us and those who didn’t — Democrats and Republicans, journalists and columnists, authors and comedians. We tried to keep the conversation substantive, funny, honest, open, and focused on the overwhelming probability that Donald Trump would lose in November.
We were a little off on that last one. But we were wrong about more than just the outcome of the election. We were wrong to focus so much on punditry instead of advocacy. We were wrong to talk more about what would happen instead of what should happen. And most of all, Hillary Clinton was wrong to not come on our podcast.
It is why she lost.
Here’s what we’re still right about: Now, more than ever, we need a better conversation about politics in this country. Trump’s victory is a reflection of what’s decayed all around us — in our political parties, our government, our media, our democratic institutions, and our culture. But even as Trump’s win has proven many assumptions wrong, there’s one last assumption we’re not ready to jettison: that America can be decent and fair and hopeful and for everyone. And we can all play a role in making that true.
For our part, we’re launching Crooked Media — a place to talk about politics that informs, entertains, and inspires action.
Crooked Media’s first offering is our new podcast, Pod Save America, which you can sign up for right here. Pod Save America will pick up the conversation where Keepin’ It 1600 left off, hosted by Crooked Media co-founders Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor, and joined once a week by co-host Dan Pfeiffer (who is smart enough to keep his day job).
In the coming months, Crooked Media will expand beyond Pod Save America. You’ll see additional podcasts, live video, written content (gotta get those clicks) and new voices from a wide variety of backgrounds and beliefs — people who bring perspectives and life experiences from beyond Washington, where a younger generation is looking for ways to join in the fight. There will still be analysis, but with a new emphasis on activism and political participation.
We’re not journalists, we’re not unbiased, we’re not always serious and we’re certainly not always right. But we promise a no-bullshit conversation about politics where you can laugh, cry, scream, ridicule us daily, share your ideas, and hopefully decide that you want to help fix this mess too. That goes for Democrats who want to learn from our party’s mistakes (which is hard because things are so perfect), Republicans ready to hold Trump accountable (fingers crossed on that one!), and everybody, everywhere who’s been asking the same question: What do we do now?
If there’s one thing we’ve learned from 2016, it’s that there are no experts with all the answers. There is no secret plan. And there is no hero coming to save us. Anyone can help figure this out. You can do it. We can figure it out together. We can be patient and thoughtful and open to new ideas. We can challenge ourselves to be better and smarter. We can be tough on our opponents, forgiving of our allies, and we can take our country back. Or this little enterprise will fail. Either way, hope you sign up on iTunes!
Oh and please give us your email address.
Thank you,
Jon, Jon, and Tommy
