The Al Franken Podcast

• David Kirkpatrick on Trump’s Immense and Shameless Profiteering

  One of Donald Trump's most successful initiatives in his second term has been making himself and his family richer than ever. We're joined by The New Yorker’s David Kirkpatrick, who earlier this year wrote a piece outlining all the ways the legendary grifters have cashed in during Trump’s presidency.  The Trump family has long been associated with shameless cash grabs, but we have reached new levels of corruption by using his office for their money-making schemes: international real estate deals, Trump-branded merchandise, and cryptocurrency. David lays out the long list of ethical implications involved and calculates the staggering amount of money Donald Trump and his family have made off of his presidency. READ David's piece “The Number” in The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/08/18/the-number Protect yourself and your family from cybercrime this holiday season with our newest sponsor, Webroot! Use code FRANKEN at checkout: https://www.webroot.com/franken Get free shipping and 365-day returns on wardrobe shopping with our sponsor, Quince! Use code FRANKEN at checkout! https://www.quince.com/franken Visit our sponsor OneSkin for all of your skincare needs! Use code FRANKEN at checkout to get 15% off of your order: https://www.oneskin.co/FRANKEN

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• Lawyer Liz Oyer on Trump’s Corrupt Pardons

  In Donald Trump's second term, we've seen a flurry of pardons and commutations. Of course, every President is granted the pardon power, but with this administration, pardons often seem to have a price tag. We're joined by Liz Oyer, former US pardon attorney (appointed by Biden and fired by Trump), to discuss some of the shadier pardons doled out during Trump's second term (so far).  Oyer lays out how several of Trump’s pardons are motivated by money, loyalty, and retribution. Of course, we discuss the blanket pardon of the January 6th rioters, but we also examine the pardon of cryptocurrency-crook Changpeng Zhao, who Oyer says "might be the most corrupt pardon in American history." We dig into Trump's current pardon attorney, Ed Martin, a political operative who believes in "No MAGA left behind." Even Republicans found him too extreme to be a US Attorney, so Trump put him in charge of pardons and commutations.  Plus, we get Oyer's unfiltered opinion of the Ghislane Maxwell/Jeffrey Epstein saga AND Hunter Biden's pardon at the end of Joe Biden's term.  READ Liz Oyer's Substack at https://www.lawyeroyer.com/ Check out our sponsor Ollie for premium dog food! Go to https://www.ollie.com/franken and use code FRANKEN to get 60% off your first box. Check out our sponsor OneSkin for all of your skincare needs! Go to https://www.oneskin.co/FRANKEN and use code FRANKEN to get 15% off of your order. 

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• Catherine Rampell on The End of The Shutdown

  After 43 days, the longest government shutdown in American history has finally ended. We're joined by Catherine Rampell from The Bulwark and MSNBC to talk about how it finally came to a close and why a lot of Democrats are mad at their party. Catherine details how the Trump administration used the shutdown as an excuse to inflict as much pain as possible on SNAP recipients. Not only did the administration go to court to stop SNAP payments, they also punished any stores that might have tried to help them with discounts. As always, the cruelty is the point. Trump’s promise to fix the economy was one of the biggest reasons he was re-elected, but prices are higher on nearly everything around the country. Trump's approach is to lie about affordability while Americans struggle with economic anxiety. All the while, he's flopping around on his tariff policies, creating more and more chaos and confusion.  Plus, the average age of first time homebuyers is now 40 years old and the Trump administration has floated the idea of a 50-year mortgage plan. Catherine explains why that could be disastrous for would-be homeowners. READ Catherine in The Bulwark: https://www.thebulwark.com/p/how-the-supreme-court-could-save-christmas-trump-tariffs WATCH Catherine on MSNBC's The Weekend Primetime: https://www.msnbc.com/weekend-primetime Get 10% off your first order from Graza Olive Oil. Use the code FRANKEN at checkout: https://partners.graza.co/FRANKEN Check out our newest sponsor Ghostbed and get 25% off of your purchase. Use the code FRANKEN at checkout: www.ghostbed.com/Franken 

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• Molly Jong-Fast on The 2025 Elections!

  The Democratic Party showed signs of life all around the country with last week's off-season elections. Helping us make sense of it all is Molly Jong-Fast, opinion writer for The New York Times and host of the Fast Politics podcast! Molly examines NYC's new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, and why his campaign was so successful. Can he actually deliver on the promises he's made in the campaign? Molly shares her thoughts on some lessons Democrats nationwide could learn from his win. All of this is going on during the longest-ever government shutdown with a President holding a "Great Gatsby”-themed party at Mar-a-Lago while the economy struggles and Trump continues his tariff wars. Plus, Molly gives her perspective on the redistricting battles around the country, the nationwide ICE raids, Trump corruption, and more! LISTEN to Molly's podcast “Fast Politics”: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fast-politics-with-molly-jong-fast/id1645614328 READ Molly’s latest piece in The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/03/opinion/trumps-great-gatsby-party-did-not-accept-snap.html 

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• Political Reporter David Weigel on The Shutdown

  We are approaching the longest government shutdown in American history with no end in sight. But it seems like this is exactly what the Trump administration wants. How much longer can this go on? We are joined by David Weigel from Semafor to discuss the damage of the shutdown and how the White House believes it's winning this fight. Weigel examines how the Trump administration seems to be disconnected from reality over the state of the economy despite concerns over tariffs, the cost of living, and, of course, the $300-million ballroom Trump is building after demolishing the East Wing of the White House.  Plus, with 70% of Americans believing that the Democrats are out of touch, how does the party fix their broken image? Could a change in leadership be the answer Americans are looking for? READ David Weigel in Semafor: https://www.semafor.com/author/david-weigel 

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