Pod Save America is a flagship podcast of Crooked Media, a company founded in 2017 by former Obama administration staffers: Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor. All three were top-level political operatives within President Obama’s communications team—Favreau as chief speechwriter, Lovett as a speechwriter, and Vietor as National Security Council spokesman. Together, they launched the podcast in the wake of Donald Trump’s election, explicitly aiming to combat what they viewed as a dangerous shift in American politics and media.
Crooked Media isn’t a traditional news outlet—it’s a partisan media and activism hybrid, offering progressive commentary with a blend of insider knowledge and performative outrage. Its programming is not merely about informing listeners but about mobilizing them, particularly toward Democratic Party goals. The company’s website openly proclaims its aim of “building a better world—one podcast at a time.” It partners with left-wing voter outreach organizations like Vote Save America and regularly coordinates campaigns promoting Democratic candidates and causes.
Funding comes largely from advertising, merchandise, and donations funneled through their associated activism. Sponsors include major consumer brands that align with progressive demographics. While Crooked Media is privately held, its political alignment is no secret: it is a Democrat-aligned operation run by former Democratic staff, supporting Democratic candidates, and broadcasting to a left-leaning audience.
Pod Save America presents itself as honest and “no-BS,” but what it offers is a highly curated, ideologically filtered interpretation of current events. The tone is often smug, humorous, and self-assured—delivered by Ivy League-educated, media-savvy hosts who mock Republicans, ridicule conservative Christians, and praise Democrats with the familiarity of insiders. Traditional notions of journalistic detachment or fair-minded analysis are wholly absent. Instead, the show wears its progressive allegiance like a badge of honor.
This isn’t journalism; it’s political entertainment and persuasion, with a heavy dose of activist orthodoxy baked in.
Pod Save America’s Stance on 20 Ideological Flashpoints
1. Election Integrity and Voter Laws
Pod Save America relentlessly frames Republican-backed election laws as racially motivated voter suppression tactics. Voter ID laws are painted as neo-Jim Crow. Mail-in voting expansion is treated as a moral imperative. Any concerns about election security are labeled as “baseless conspiracy theories” or “anti-democratic.”
2. Abortion and Reproductive Rights
The podcast is unequivocally pro-abortion, referring to it as “reproductive freedom” and equating any restrictions with attacks on women’s autonomy. They vilify pro-life advocates as zealots or puppets of the religious right and often reduce the complex moral debate to a matter of fundamental rights under siege.
3. Gender Identity and Transgender Policies
Pod Save America supports the full progressive transgender agenda—affirming preferred pronouns, advocating for youth access to hormone treatments, and opposing parental notification requirements. Critics of gender ideology are described as transphobic, often lumped together with far-right extremists.
4. Race and Systemic Racism
The hosts fully embrace concepts like white privilege, systemic racism, and equity-based social restructuring. They are vocal supporters of Black Lives Matter, portray American institutions as inherently racist, and argue that the country requires transformative racial justice reforms.
5. Climate Change and Energy Policy
Climate alarmism is central to their platform. Pod Save America pushes for Green New Deal-style policies and castigates fossil fuel industries. They speak of climate change in apocalyptic terms, implying that any opposition is either scientifically illiterate or corrupt.
6. Immigration and Border Security
They advocate for lenient immigration policies, defend sanctuary cities, and criticize border enforcement as cruel and xenophobic. The podcast frequently highlights immigrant hardships while ignoring national security or economic implications. Republican efforts to secure the border are presented as inhumane.
7. Israel and the Middle East Conflict
Though not overtly anti-Israel, Pod Save America increasingly reflects the progressive shift toward skepticism of Israeli policy. It downplays Hamas terrorism and focuses heavily on Palestinian suffering. The hosts are uncomfortable defending traditional U.S.-Israel alliances and often lean toward left-wing critiques of Israeli defense measures.
8. Second Amendment and Gun Control
The podcast is unapologetically anti-gun, promoting strict gun control legislation and portraying the NRA as a corrupt and dangerous organization. Gun ownership is discussed with disdain, and Second Amendment defenses are brushed off as outdated or irrational.
9. LGBTQ+ Rights and Religious Liberty
Pod Save America champions LGBTQ+ rights across the board, from gay marriage to gender-neutral bathrooms to corporate Pride campaigns. Religious objections to LGBTQ+ policies are dismissed as bigotry cloaked in dogma. Religious liberty is treated as a smokescreen for discrimination.
10. COVID-19 Policy and Mandates
The show supported aggressive COVID measures, including lockdowns, vaccine mandates, and school closures. Dissenting voices were labeled dangerous or unscientific. They supported censorship of COVID “misinformation,” which often meant suppressing views that later proved valid.
11. Policing and Criminal Justice
Pod Save America consistently backs police reform and soft-on-crime policies. While they avoided the “defund the police” label, their sympathies lie with activists who do. They frequently attribute crime to systemic injustice rather than failed policies or individual behavior.
12. Education and Parental Rights
They oppose parental interference in public education, mocking the idea of parents objecting to CRT or gender content in schools. They support DEI initiatives and defend teacher unions’ control over curriculum. Parental rights are often described as a right-wing “panic.”
13. Censorship and Big Tech
While claiming to support free speech, the podcast supports content moderation that silences “disinformation,” especially on issues like COVID, elections, and gender. They rarely challenge Big Tech censorship—unless it’s aimed at the Left—and often frame regulation as a tool for “protecting democracy.”
14. January 6 and Political Violence
They portray the January 6 Capitol riot as an attempted coup, repeatedly referring to it as a foundational threat to democracy. Prosecutions are never questioned. By contrast, left-wing riots during 2020 are ignored, excused, or reframed as “racial justice protests.”
15. Corporate Wokeness and ESG
Pod Save America celebrates woke capitalism and ESG initiatives. They cheer when companies embrace DEI and LGBTQ+ activism. Republican resistance to corporate wokeness is painted as backward and authoritarian.
16. Hunter Biden, Biden Family, and Political Corruption
The podcast largely avoids in-depth coverage of Hunter Biden’s laptop or alleged influence-peddling. When addressed, the hosts call it a distraction or “whataboutism.” They rarely entertain the possibility of impropriety and instead pivot quickly to Trump comparisons.
17. Trump and the Republican Party
Donald Trump is portrayed as an existential threat to democracy. The podcast frequently mocks his supporters, brands MAGA voters as cultists, and describes the modern GOP as a fascist-adjacent, white nationalist movement. Even conservative moderates are rarely treated fairly.
18. Affirmative Action and Racial Preferences
Pod Save America supports affirmative action, opposes “meritocracy” arguments, and condemns the Supreme Court’s recent ruling ending race-based admissions. The hosts view racial preferences as necessary for justice and equity, while dismissing opposition as thinly veiled racism.
19. International Institutions and Sovereignty
The show promotes trust in global bodies like the UN, WHO, and WEF. International agreements are favored over national sovereignty, especially on issues like climate and health policy. Nationalist movements are described as threats to global cooperation and stability.
20. Culture War Issues
From drag queen story hours to preferred pronoun enforcement, Pod Save America backs the progressive cultural agenda without hesitation. Dissenters are dismissed as bigots or fascists. The culture war is framed as a struggle between enlightenment and oppression—and they are unapologetically on the side of “progress.”
Conclusion
Evaluation: Political Theater Dressed as Journalism
Pod Save America is not a news source. It is a strategic communications tool for the progressive wing of the Democratic Party—run by former Democratic operatives, promoting Democratic causes, and targeting a Democratic audience. It may take the form of a podcast, but its purpose is persuasion, not illumination.
Its tone is marked by elitism, snark, and partisan disdain. Instead of hosting real debates, the show prefers friendly guests, pre-approved narratives, and inside jokes designed to reinforce tribal boundaries. The result is an echo chamber that encourages political cynicism, dismisses traditional institutions, and mocks those who hold convictions grounded in faith, family, or founding principles.
While marketed as witty and insightful, Pod Save America avoids nuance. It reduces complex moral and political issues to good-versus-evil cartoons, where progressives are always on the side of history and conservatives are villains from a bygone era.
Its greatest offense is not its partisanship but its utter intolerance of dissent. Biblical sexual ethics? Bigotry. Border enforcement? Racism. Gun rights? Barbarism. Parental rights? Extremism. The idea that the Constitution might limit progressive ambitions? Authoritarianism. By this standard, tens of millions of Americans are not just wrong—they’re dangerous.
Why Pod Save America Belongs in the Hall of Shame
Pod Save America earns its place in the Hall of Shame because it embodies the core vices of modern progressive media:
- Militant Ideology Disguised as Humor: Cloaking dogmatic progressivism in sarcasm and comedy makes it more palatable, but no less dangerous.
- Total Partisanship: Unlike traditional journalism, which at least gestures toward objectivity, Pod Save America makes no effort to understand or engage with conservatives in good faith.
- Moral Condescension: The podcast traffics in the assumption that opposing viewpoints are not just mistaken but immoral.
- Cultural Radicalism: From trans ideology to racial quotas to pro-abortion absolutism, the show promotes social transformation that undermines Judeo-Christian values and constitutional principles.
- Deceptive Framing: Despite being political campaigners by trade, the hosts often present themselves as mere observers of politics, not participants—obscuring their role in shaping narratives and elections.
This is not just a podcast. It is a megaphone for a movement that views tradition with contempt, religion as an obstacle, and dissent as hate. That’s why Pod Save America belongs in the Hall of Shame—not because it’s progressive, but because it’s unrepentantly hostile to truth, liberty, and the foundations of American civil society.
S.D.G.,
Robert Sparkman
MMXXV
christiannewsjunkie@gmail.com
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