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The Chuck ToddCast

The Chuck ToddCast

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The Chuck ToddCast is back! If you're looking for smart, no-nonsense political conversation, you've come to the right place. The Chuck ToddCast goes beyond the headlines, featuring conversations with top reporters, insiders, and newsmakers from D.C. to the heartland. No scripts, no spin—just real discussions about what’s shaping our politics and why it matters.2026 iHeartMedia, Inc. © Any use of this intellectual property for text and data mining or computational analysis including as training material for artificial intelligence systems is strictly prohibited without express written consent from iHeartMedia Political Science Politics & Government
Episodes
  • Chuck’s Commentary - The Military Reveals Trump Has Been Lying About The Iran War + Why “Tax The Billionaires” Isn’t That Simple

    Chuck’s Commentary - The Military Reveals Trump Has Been Lying About The Iran War + Why “Tax The Billionaires” Isn’t That Simple
    Jun 29 2026
    Chuck Todd opens with the Iran ceasefire collapsing as the U.S. and Iran trade strikes again — but the real story, he argues, is that the U.S. military just inadvertently revealed Trump was lying about the war all along. The targets American forces hit in this latest round were the very targets Trump claimed weeks ago had already been destroyed; either Iran somehow reconstituted its entire military in a single week, or the president lied to the country, and CENTCOM's own report makes clear which it was. He warns that lying about war is historically not a small thing for a president to survive, no matter how badly Trump wants to memory-hole the entire episode. He then turns to the escalating Democratic fight over taxing billionaires, taking a characteristically nuanced position: billionaires are genuinely undertaxed, but "tax the rich" doesn't work as actual policy the way it works as a slogan, the loopholes built into the code exist to avoid unintended consequences, and the changes to the inheritance "death tax" are responsible for an enormous share of current inequality. He assesses Zohran Mamdani taking a victory lap as the new face of the DSA (and increasingly comfortable as a face of the Democratic Party), praising him as a genuinely compelling performer and possible heir to the Bernie movement while questioning whether his story can travel beyond New York City. He closes with one of his favorite structural arguments — that the far-left and far-right are now feeding off each other's fear, that a faction doesn't need to capture the whole country, just one congressional caucus, and that the founders' actual protection against factions was supposed to be a multitude of them — which is exactly why the House was meant to scale with the population and why Congress's choice to freeze its size needs to be reversed. He also looks ahead at fascinating Colorado primaries. Finally, he hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to explain the origin of the name of the bikini swimsuit, and why America’s relationship with nuclear technology changed over time. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Asl Chuck” segment. From the opening whistle to the final kick. Bet on a match and get bonus bets for every goal scored at Fanduel.com Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 05:15 U.S. and Iran trade strikes again, ceasefire not holding 06:15 The U.S. military basically revealed Trump was lying about the war 06:45 Historically, voters don’t accept lies from presidents about war 07:30 The targets the U.S. hit were targets Trump said were already destroyed 08:30 Three weeks ago Trump said Iran had nothing… clearly it wasn’t true 09:15 Making the case that Trump is full of shit isn’t hard* 10:30 Either Iran reconstituted its military in a week, or Trump lied. 11:15 CENTCOM’s report shows that Trump lied to the country 13:15 Trump announced on his birthday that he had ended the war 14:00 Handing Iran billions of dollars is hardly the “surrender” Trump proclaimed 15:45 Lying about war is not a small thing for a president to do 17:15 Trump thought he could memory-hole the Iran war, Iran won’t let him 17:45 There’s a right way to tax billionaires, but it’s not currently being proposed 19:00 Billionaires are undertaxed, but tax policy doesn’t work as a slogan 19:45 Loopholes are built into the tax code to avoid unintended consequences 20:30 Reforms to the inheritance tax allow the wealthy to avoid taxation 21:45 Closing other loopholes could raise hundreds of billions 23:00 Taxing billionaires is fine, but you can’t mess up tax code in the process 24:30 The Newsom vs. Khanna fight - Both are making good points 25:00 A state level wealth tax could create a shortfall in the long term 25:45 The “death tax” change is responsible for much of the current inequality 26:30 “Fair share” polls well, but requires major changes to the tax code 27:30 Tax reform isn’t simple or quick, requires real work from congress 28:15 Mamdani takes a victory lap, wants to be face of the DSA movement 29:30 Mamdani is fine with being the face of the Democratic party 31:00 Mamdani is telling a compelling story, but can it go beyond NYC? 33:00 Mamdani had a weak defense of the Dan Goldman coffee incident 34:00 Mamdani is very good as a performer, could be heir to Bernie movement 35:45 The far-left and the far-right are feeding off of each other 36:30 Trump ramps up rhetoric against DSA, calls them “godless communists” 37:30 The DSA and Trump both working off the fear of each other 38:45 A faction doesn’t need to capture the country, just one caucus...
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    1 hr and 36 mins
  • Full Episode - The Military Reveals Trump Has Been Lying About The Iran War + The Fired FTC Commissioner Sounding the Alarm on Corporate Power

    Full Episode - The Military Reveals Trump Has Been Lying About The Iran War + The Fired FTC Commissioner Sounding the Alarm on Corporate Power
    Jun 29 2026
    Chuck Todd opens with the Iran ceasefire collapsing as the U.S. and Iran trade strikes again — but the real story, he argues, is that the U.S. military just inadvertently revealed Trump was lying about the war all along. The targets American forces hit in this latest round were the very targets Trump claimed weeks ago had already been destroyed; either Iran somehow reconstituted its entire military in a single week, or the president lied to the country, and CENTCOM's own report makes clear which it was. He warns that lying about war is historically not a small thing for a president to survive, no matter how badly Trump wants to memory-hole the entire episode. He then turns to the escalating Democratic fight over taxing billionaires, taking a characteristically nuanced position: billionaires are genuinely undertaxed, but "tax the rich" doesn't work as actual policy the way it works as a slogan, the loopholes built into the code exist to avoid unintended consequences, and the changes to the inheritance "death tax" are responsible for an enormous share of current inequality. He assesses Zohran Mamdani taking a victory lap as the new face of the DSA (and increasingly comfortable as a face of the Democratic Party), praising him as a genuinely compelling performer and possible heir to the Bernie movement while questioning whether his story can travel beyond New York City. He closes with one of his favorite structural arguments — that the far-left and far-right are now feeding off each other's fear, that a faction doesn't need to capture the whole country, just one congressional caucus, and that the founders' actual protection against factions was supposed to be a multitude of them — which is exactly why the House was meant to scale with the population and why Congress's choice to freeze its size needs to be reversed. He also looks ahead at fascinating Colorado primaries. Then, Alvaro Bedoya — the former FTC Commissioner whom Trump fired in an unprecedented break with a century of agency-independence norms — joins the Chuck Toddcast to explain why his firing matters far beyond his own career, and what it reveals about the collision between corporate power and consumer protection in the Trump era. Bedoya makes the legal case plainly: removal "for cause" is clearly written into the law, Congress needs to codify FTC independence, and while he's skeptical this Supreme Court will rule in favor of agency independence, the circumstances of his dismissal are damning — he believes he was fired specifically for suing companies that happened to be Trump donors. The Amazon case is his exhibit A: the FTC was actively pursuing Amazon until Trump intervened, and after Amazon funneled millions to Trump, the investigations simply evaporated — proof, Bedoya argues, that existing laws against bribery and corruption clearly aren't working. He walks through the sprawling, well-funded lobbying effort against meaningful privacy legislation, and offers vivid examples of how unchecked data collection harms ordinary people. His prescription is structural: America needs genuine restrictions on what data can be collected and how it can be used, paired with serious antitrust enforcement — but the agencies tasked with that work have been starved of the resources they need. The conversation opens up into a fascinating, wide-ranging debate about monopoly power and consolidation across the American economy. Bedoya argues that streaming bills were already climbing even before the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger — a deal he believes there's a clear consumer case to block. He notes that Thomas Jefferson once argued for an anti-monopoly amendment in the Bill of Rights, that consolidation has hammered workers across countless industries, and that America is now suffering a genuine "drought of creativity" because of relentless media mergers — pointing out that there are only three serious buyers of documentary films left, and that half of America's TV news archive is about to be owned by a single family. Bedoya is honest about the nuances (Costco throws its weight around but has genuinely been good for consumers; vertically integrated health insurers are universally loathed), wrestles with whether unilateral Democratic executive action is even the answer, and warns that in this environment it's dangerously easy for regulators to simply get overwhelmed. Finally, he hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to explain the origin of the name of the bikini swimsuit, and why America’s relationship with nuclear technology changed over time. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Asl Chuck” segment. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. From ...
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    2 hrs and 44 mins
  • Interview Only w/ Alvaro Bedoya - The Fired FTC Commissioner Sounding the Alarm on Corporate Power

    Interview Only w/ Alvaro Bedoya - The Fired FTC Commissioner Sounding the Alarm on Corporate Power
    Jun 29 2026
    Alvaro Bedoya — the former FTC Commissioner whom Trump fired in an unprecedented break with a century of agency-independence norms — joins the Chuck Toddcast to explain why his firing matters far beyond his own career, and what it reveals about the collision between corporate power and consumer protection in the Trump era. Bedoya makes the legal case plainly: removal "for cause" is clearly written into the law, Congress needs to codify FTC independence, and while he's skeptical this Supreme Court will rule in favor of agency independence, the circumstances of his dismissal are damning — he believes he was fired specifically for suing companies that happened to be Trump donors. The Amazon case is his exhibit A: the FTC was actively pursuing Amazon until Trump intervened, and after Amazon funneled millions to Trump, the investigations simply evaporated — proof, Bedoya argues, that existing laws against bribery and corruption clearly aren't working. He walks through the sprawling, well-funded lobbying effort against meaningful privacy legislation, and offers vivid examples of how unchecked data collection harms ordinary people. His prescription is structural: America needs genuine restrictions on what data can be collected and how it can be used, paired with serious antitrust enforcement — but the agencies tasked with that work have been starved of the resources they need. The conversation opens up into a fascinating, wide-ranging debate about monopoly power and consolidation across the American economy. Bedoya argues that streaming bills were already climbing even before the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger — a deal he believes there's a clear consumer case to block. He notes that Thomas Jefferson once argued for an anti-monopoly amendment in the Bill of Rights, that consolidation has hammered workers across countless industries, and that America is now suffering a genuine "drought of creativity" because of relentless media mergers — pointing out that there are only three serious buyers of documentary films left, and that half of America's TV news archive is about to be owned by a single family. Bedoya is honest about the nuances (Costco throws its weight around but has genuinely been good for consumers; vertically integrated health insurers are universally loathed), wrestles with whether unilateral Democratic executive action is even the answer, and warns that in this environment it's dangerously easy for regulators to simply get overwhelmed. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to https://Quince.com/chuck for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Alvaro Bedoya joins the Chuck ToddCast 02:00 Trump broke a long standing norm to fire Alvaro from the FTC 02:30 Congress needs to codify FTC independence 03:30 Firing “for cause” is very clearly written into the law 05:30 This Supreme Court unlikely to rule for agency independence 06:00 Was likely fired for suing companies that were Trump donors 06:45 You want consumers to be protected from political donors 08:30 FTC was pursuing case against Amazon until Trump intervened 10:00 Amazon funneled millions to Trump, investigations went away 10:30 Laws against bribery & corruption clearly aren’t working 12:30 How should government tackle consumer privacy protections? 13:15 There is a massive lobbying effort against privacy laws 14:30 Background actors were being scanned rather than being paid 15:30 Privacy can sometimes be an abstract concept to people 16:00 Labor unions are the group actually winning in this space 18:15 Need protections around privacy, data collection and antitrust 19:00 Need restrictions on collecting certain data and how it is used 20:30 Against law to use SEC database to solicit donations, not enforced 21:00 Agencies have been starved of resources needed for enforcement 23:15 Meta has grown massive and Zuckerberg retains total control 25:30 The debate about whether to break up the biggest companies 26:15 Breaking up AT&T benefitted consumers, ended long distance rates 27:00 T-Mobile merger should not have been allowed 28:00 Streaming bills going up even before Paramount WB merger 31:30 Jefferson argued for an amendment against monopolies in Bill of Rights 34:00 Consolidation has hurt workers in a variety of industries 34:45 Has there been a consolidation that’s been good for consumers? 37:15 Costco throws its weight around, but has been good for consumers 38:15 Health insurers are vertically integrated, and consumers loathe them 39:30 Iheart’s merger was allowed as an effort to preserve a “dying industry” 41:00 Paramount/WB only shot of catching Netflix/Disney is to merge? 42:15 Loading up the company with $80B in debt won’t produce a ...
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    1 hr and 9 mins
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