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Blue City Blues

Blue City Blues

David Hyde, Sandeep Kaushik 56 Episodes Aug 21, 2026

Blue City Blues is a podcast that examines the challenges and successes of America's blue cities. Hosts David Hyde and Sandeep Kaushik engage with guests to discuss urban politics, governance, and culture, offering clear-eyed analysis for those who care about these urban centers. The podcast explores the concept of blue cities as an urban archipelago shaping the nation's future.

Episodes

Chris Cillizza on the Media's - and the Democrats'? - Parasitic Relationship with Trump
Chris Cillizza on the Media's - and the Democrats'? - Parasitic Relationship with Trump Aug 21, 2026 3766 For nearly two decades, Chris Cillizza was a star political commentator for legacy media. In 2005 Chris founded The Fix, the seminal, must read Washington Post political blog, before moving on to CNN in 2017, where he was based until 2022. Then, abruptly, he was laid off, and  for a few dark months he thought his career in journalism was over. Instead, he started over in the brave new world of ind
Michael Powell Pt. 2: "The Cities That Said Yes to Drugs"
Michael Powell Pt. 2: "The Cities That Said Yes to Drugs" Aug 11, 2026 3668 Atlantic staff writer Michael Powell, our guest on the last BCB episode where we discussed NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the rise of anti-Zionism on the left, rejoins us for a second conversation about his searing new piece, "The Cities That Said Yes to Drugs," which is now available online and will be published in the September issue of The Atlantic.When David was reporting for Seattle&a
Michael Powell on Mamdani, Anti-Zionism, and the New Socialism
Michael Powell on Mamdani, Anti-Zionism, and the New Socialism Jul 31, 2026 4080 In 2020, at the height of peak woke, then-New York Times sports columnist Michael Powell decided to make a career zag, abandoning sports to begin covering what he calls the “third rail beat” of the rising tide of progressive left illiberalism: controversies around race, identity, political correctness, and the increasingly censorious, authoritarian and oppressive cultural milieu of progressive ins
Is the DSA a Threat to the Democratic Party (with Jake Altman)?
Is the DSA a Threat to the Democratic Party (with Jake Altman)? Jul 20, 2026 3483 All of a sudden, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) seem to be a potent force within American politics, winning high profile mayoral and congressional races in blue cities across the country. In so doing they have grown from a fringe but scrappy activist group into a national political movement to be reckoned with, challenging the teetering establishment consensus within the Democratic Par
Jonathan Weber on the Good, the Bad and the Ugly about How Tech Remade San Francisco
Jonathan Weber on the Good, the Bad and the Ugly about How Tech Remade San Francisco Jul 9, 2026 4155 In 1990, at the dawn of the internet age, reporter Jonathan Weber was tapped as the LA Times’ first Silicon Valley correspondent. Taking up a perch in San Francisco, where he went on to become one of the city’s leading journalists, Jonathan over the next three plus decades had a front row seat to watch how tech innovation – closely followed by growing pyramids of tech money – transformed an econom
Jamie Paul on the Memory-Holing of the Excesses of Woke
Jamie Paul on the Memory-Holing of the Excesses of Woke Jul 4, 2026 3724 Jamie Paul, a former managing editor of Queer Majority and a contributing editor at Bi.org, is the founding editor of the American Dreaming on Substack, where (among his other writings) he has set out to provide a comprehensive catalog of the authoritarian excesses of the woke era of progressive cultural ascendency. At 11 extensively researched and sharply written installments (so far), Paul’s “Me
Maia Szalavitz Makes the Case for Harm Reduction Policies in Blue Cities
Maia Szalavitz Makes the Case for Harm Reduction Policies in Blue Cities Jun 27, 2026 4071 Maia Szalavitz, a prominent neuroscience journalist and progressive drug reform champion who has written for the New York Times, Washington Post, Huffington Post, Salon and other publications, is the author, among other books, of Undoing Drugs (2021), a stirring history of the harm reduction movement. A former cocaine and heroin addict, Szalavitz is one of the country’s foremost journalistic criti
Mike Madrid on the Establishment vs. Populist Throwdown in the LA Mayor’s Race
Mike Madrid on the Establishment vs. Populist Throwdown in the LA Mayor’s Race Jun 8, 2026 3480 What just happened in the Los Angeles mayoral primary, and why didn't former reality tv star and social media darling Spencer Pratt live up to the incessant, breathless hype (so sorry for your loss, X)? Now that it’s clear that incumbent Mayor Karen Bass is going to face off in the general election with democratic socialist (and alleged political backstabber?) Nithya Raman, how much trouble i
Sherman Alexie: An Ode to the White Urban Working Class
Sherman Alexie: An Ode to the White Urban Working Class Jun 4, 2026 4815 These days we associate the white working class with rural and small town red America, whereas big blue cities are perceived largely as the playgrounds of the educated and affluent. But it wasn’t all that long ago that the socioeconomics and demographics of blue cities were very different. As early Gen Xers, we vividly remember that during our youth the culture of urban America was indelibly assoc
Nancy Rommelmann on How Portland Traumatized Itself
Nancy Rommelmann on How Portland Traumatized Itself May 25, 2026 3529 In recent decades, no major American city can match the sharp ups and downs of Portland, Oregon. From a poor but pretty backwater burg of white gearheads and provincials in the 1980s, Portland underwent an exceedingly unlikely – and quite radical – transformation to become one of the country’s most distinctive and culturally vibrant urban renaissance stories in the 2000s (the New York Times memora
The Death of the Gatekeeper: Adam Penenberg on Traditional Journalism's Identity Crisis
The Death of the Gatekeeper: Adam Penenberg on Traditional Journalism's Identity Crisis May 14, 2026 3920 For decades, a handful of legacy media outlets decided what counted as news, how to frame it, and who got to report it. Now trust has collapsed, The New York Times is selling cooking apps to stay alive, and there is no consensus regarding what's real or what the truth is anymore. So what comes next?Adam Penenberg has spent his career inside the journalism industry and inside the classroom tra
John Roderick on the Decline – and Comeback? – of Urban Cool
John Roderick on the Decline – and Comeback? – of Urban Cool May 7, 2026 3265 What's the fundamental difference between an authentically cool city and a contrived, gentrified one? What makes a great music and arts scene, and can deliberate government action actually make a city cool? That’s the topic we take up with our guest (and Gen X contemporary), the legendary indie rock frontman of The Long Winters and one time Seattle City Council candidate John Roderick, now th

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