Rachel Maddow, host of the #1 hits “Bag Man” and “Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra,” is back at the mic with a new original series, “Rachel Maddow Presents: Déjà News.” In each episode, Rachel and co-host Isaac-Davy Aronson seek a deeper understanding of a story in today's headlines by asking: Has anything like this ever happened before? Would knowing that help us grapple with what’s happening now… and what might happen next?
Special Preview of “The Best People with Nicolle Wallace”
Nicolle Wallace interviews Jason Bateman in a special preview, offering listeners a glimpse into Wallace's new podcast, "The Best People."
12 Sept 2024TRANSCRIPT
Special preview: Season 2 of “Velshi Banned Book Club”
MSNBC's Ali Velshi gives a special preview of the second season of the “Velshi Banned Book Club.” Book banning is happening more and more. Removing literature from library shelves, school syllabi, and summer reading lists isn’t just blatant censorship; it is the tip of the sword that threatens American democracy itself. In this preview, Ali reflects on why this issues is so personal for him and his family. Listen to the first two episodes now and follow the series: https://link.chtbl.com/vbbcs2_fdlw. Subscribe to MSNBC Premium on Apple podcasts for access to episodes one week early, plus ad-free listening, and bonus content from this and other shows.
10 Jun 2024TRANSCRIPT
BONUS: Season 2 of “Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra”
As a bonus for listeners, we’re sharing a special preview of the second season of the award-winning original series, “Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra.” In the chart-topping second season, Rachel Maddow returns to uncover the shocking history of the ultra-right’s reach into American politics. Listen to the entire first episode now, and follow the show to get the whole series: https://link.chtbl.com/rmpust_fdlw (https://link.chtbl.com/rmpust_fdlw). You can also subscribe to MSNBC Premium on Apple Podcasts for early access to every episode the Friday before it drops, and ad-free listening to all episodes of Ultra seasons one and two.
3 Jun 2024TRANSCRIPT
Introducing: Season 2 of “Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra”
As a new authoritarian movement rises in American politics, stoked by one of the country’s most outrageous demagogues, there is an all-out international manhunt for an American traitor. The U.S. Army’s Nazi war crimes trials in Germany have been infiltrated by a spy -- a mole for the other side. A gruesome foreign influence operation unfolds in Washington. A blackmail plot turns deadly in the U.S. Senate. A Hail Mary scheme to stop the counting of the Electoral College votes rattles democracy’s cage. With the line between the violent ultra-right and mainstream American politics fraying beyond recognition, with the FBI always one step behind their quarry, Americans of all stripes step up to confront a seemingly unstoppable, ascendant, anti-democratic force. Join Rachel Maddow for Episode One, launching June 10, 2024, and follow now: https://link.chtbl.com/rmpust_fdtw (https://link.chtbl.com/rmpust_fdtw). You can also subscribe to MSNBC Premium on Apple Podcasts for early access to every episode the Friday before it drops, and ad-free listening to all episodes in Ultra seasons one and two.
24 Jul 2023
Episode 6: “Hello America, this is Addis Ababa.”
An authoritarian ruler moves to invade a smaller country and take it for himself. People around the world rally to that country’s defense. European and American leaders grapple with how to stop the invasion and prevent a wider war. But this isn’t Russia and Ukraine in 2022. It’s Italy and Ethiopia in 1935. Rachel Maddow and Isaac-Davy Aronson explore what we can learn from the very different choices made decades ago, when the world faced a similar challenge.
Featuring:
Deborah Cohen (https://www.deborahcohen.com/), the Richard W. Leopold Professor of History at Northwestern University, and author of Last Call At The Hotel Imperial: The Reporters Who Took on a World at War (https://www.amazon.com/Last-Call-Hotel-Imperial-Reporters/dp/B0997H6QHQ?pldnSite=1).
Susan Pedersen (https://history.columbia.edu/person/pedersen-susan-g/), the Gouverneur Morris Professor of History at Columbia University, and author of The Guardians: The League of Nations and the Crisis of Empire (https://academic.oup.com/book/6410?login=false).
Anne Applebaum (https://www.anneapplebaum.com/), staff writer at The Atlantic (https://www.theatlantic.com/author/anne-applebaum/), and author of Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism (https://www.anneapplebaum.com/book/twilight-of-democracy/).
17 Jul 2023
Episode 5: Taken for a Ride
As conservative governors try to score political points by depositing busloads and planeloads of migrants in liberal cities, it can seem like an unprecedented exercise in cruelty. But it’s a page ripped from an earlier playbook in U.S. politics, one that was forgotten for decades for a very good reason. Rachel Maddow and Isaac-Davy Aronson revisit the racist Reverse Freedom Rides of the 1960s.
Featuring:
Dr. Kellie Carter Jackson (http://www.kelliecarterjackson.com/), Michael and Denise ‘68 Associate Professor of Africana Studies at Wellesley College, author of Force and Freedom: Black Abolitionists and the Politics of Violence (https://a.co/d/ccyKrG5), and co-host of the podcast This Day in Esoteric Political History (https://www.radiotopia.fm/podcasts/thisday).
WBUR reporter Gabrielle Emanuel (https://www.wbur.org/inside/staff/gabrielle-emanuel), who has done groundbreaking reporting (https://www.wgbh.org/news/the-long-journey-north) on the Reverse Freedom Rides.
Rev. Juan Carlos Ruiz (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/08/24/the-renegade-priest-helping-undocumented-people-survive-the-pandemic), pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church (https://www.goodshepherdbayridge.site/) in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
10 Jul 2023
Episode 4: “It’s a Very Short Path”
A new president with authoritarian tendencies packs the nation’s highest court, which then outlaws abortion – sparking not just a backlash, but a new coalition for democracy and the rule of the law. Rachel Maddow and Isaac-Davy Aronson explore how events abroad in just the last few years might help us understand what is happening now in the United States.
Featuring:
Anne Applebaum (https://www.anneapplebaum.com/), staff writer for The Atlantic and author of Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/621076/twilight-of-democracy-by-anne-applebaum/)
Marta Lempart (https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.facebook.com/ogolnopolskistrajkkobiet__;!!PIZeeW5wscynRQ!ogPVk2afgIAfB6sJ7aZlbqbezyT86ttUYsauPJinxbf3DFHnY_cz3PcCpgH8xbAT63GAe6dDyJ6PiOIEsM-_YqRLHSVzM2eMfxM$), founder of Polish Women’s Strike (Polish Women’s Strike)
Nancy Northup (https://reproductiverights.org/profile/nancy-northup/), President and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights (Center for Reproductive Rights)
3 Jul 2023
Bag Man Bonus Episode: Indictment Edition
In 1973, in the throes of the Watergate scandal, three young federal prosecutors uncovered a separate criminal scheme being run inside the White House — the sitting vice president, Spiro Agnew, was taking envelopes stuffed with cash in exchange for official acts as an elected official. If Nixon left office, Agnew would be the next President. And so, what would happen if the President was charged with a federal crime? Worse yet, what if he was convicted? Now that Donald Trump has been charged with 37 federal crimes – as he runs again for president — Rachel Maddow and Bag Man executive producer Mike Yarvitz talk with the three Spiro Agnew prosecutors who have the only experience in our nation’s history with a situation like this.
26 Jun 2023
Episode 3: "The Meanest, Dirtiest, Low-Down Stuff"
Republicans claim the election was stolen. They use those claims to justify suppressing people’s right to vote. All of it happening amid a national reckoning on race. Rachel Maddow and Isaac-Davy Aronson tell the story of a time uncannily similar to our own – in the early 1960s. And how it’s both a parallel to our present moment and the origin of conflicts playing out today.
Featuring Guests:
Rick Perlstein, historian, author of Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus (https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Rick-Perlstein/18810306)
Sherrilyn Ifill, Vernon Jordan Endowed Chair in Civil Rights at Howard University and former President and Director-Counsel of LDF (https://www.naacpldf.org/about-us/staff/sherrilyn-ifill/).
Jim Brosnahan, lawyer and author of Justice At Trial: Courtroom Battles and Groundbreaking Cases (https://www.amazon.com/Justice-Trial-Courtroom-Battles-Groundbreaking/dp/153817443X)
19 Jun 2023
Episode 2: Florida’s First War on Woke
Long before Governor Ron DeSantis declared a new war on wokeness, Florida lawmakers in the 1950s and 60s tried going after the NAACP, suspected communists and gay people in Florida schools and universities. The lawmakers upended life for countless numbers of their fellow Floridians before being upended themselves by their own zeal for the cause. Now that DeSantis is bringing this playbook to a presidential campaign, Rachel Maddow and Isaac-Davy Aronson ask what we can learn from the last time Florida went down this path.
Featuring guests:
Stacy Braukman, author of Communists and Perverts Under the Palms: The Johns Committee in Florida, 1956-1965 (https://www.amazon.com/Communists-Perverts-under-Palms-Committee/dp/0813049040/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1685480359&refinements=p_27%3AStacy+Braukman&s=books&sr=1-1)
Shevrin Jones, Florida State Senator
Robert Buccellatto, historian and co-host of the Florida History Podcast (https://thefloridasqueeze.com/the-florida-history-podcast/)
12 Jun 2023
Episode 1: Riot at the Gates (Again)
A violent right-wing mob interrupts lawmakers formalizing the transfer of power to a new leader. But this isn’t Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021, but rather Paris on February 6, 1934. Rachel Maddow and Isaac-Davy Aronson explore that earlier event, the way it reverberates to this day and how it could help us understand what January 6 will mean for the U.S.
Featuring guests:
Jonathan Katz, author of Gangsters of Capitalism (https://jonathanmkatz.com/gangsters)
Alice Kaplan, Sterling Professor of French at Yale University, author of The Collaborator: The Trial and Execution of Robert Brasillach (https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo3640234.html)
Find out more at msnbc.com/dejanews (https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-deja-news)
3 Jun 2023
Introducing Rachel Maddow Presents: Déjà News with Isaac-Davy Aronson
Rachel Maddow, host of the #1 hits “Bag Man” and “Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra,” is back at the mic with a new original series, “Rachel Maddow Presents: Déjà News.” In each episode, Rachel and co-host Isaac-Davy Aronson seek a deeper understanding of a story in today's headlines by asking: Has anything like this ever happened before? Would knowing that help us grapple with what’s happening now… and what might happen next? Follow now and listen to the first episode on June 12.
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
8,878,956,433
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
4.8 / 5
6,260 ratings
Spotify
4.8 / 5
676 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 61 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
45
Social presence
0
YouTube
93
Engagement
100
Contact Rachel Maddow Presents: Déjà News
Guest appearances
Books guests
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