Cascade PBS Ideas Festival

Former U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake on the Past & Future of GOP Politics

In a live taping of CCN's One Thing, Flake speaks with host David Rind about a post-Trump era and his hopes for a party of governance, not grievance.

Former U.S. Senator Jeff Flake (R – Arizona) is perhaps best known for his early and vocal criticism of President Donald Trump. In 2017, Flake announced he would not run for reelection, largely because he saw no room for a moderate, anti-Trump Republican in Congress.  

As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in late May, Flake took the stage with David Rind, host of CNN’s One Thing podcast, to dig into how Flake feels about that decision today and what it all means during a second Trump administration.   

In this episode of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast, Rind and Flake discuss the anger and grievance that dominates American politics; Flake’s role as ambassador to Turkey during the Biden administration; how American diplomacy has been impacted by Trump 2.0; and what a future Republican party could look like.  

This conversation was recorded on May 31, 2025. 

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Sara Bernard

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.

Why Tech Platforms Have Gotten Worse – and What to Do About It

In a live taping of WNYC’s On the Media, author and activist Cory Doctorow argues that tech giants have chased profits at the expense of users.

There’s no question that the products that giant companies such as Amazon, Google and Meta have developed now dominate many people’s  lives. The road to that domination,  argues author and activist Cory Doctorow, is paved with profit-driven actions that ultimately invade privacy, drive up prices and worsen the user experience.  

As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in late May, Doctorow took the stage with Micah Loewinger, co-host of WNYC’s On the Media, to unpack this theory from his forthcoming book, Ensh–ttification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It. 

In this episode of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast, Loewinger and Doctorow discuss the ways that Amazon, Uber and other companies started by offering good deals to end users and business partners, but ultimately became “too big to care” as they drove out competitors and chased profits. Loewinger and Doctorow also dig into ways to combat these trends, such as the historic antitrust cases proceeding against Google and Apple in federal court, or how new tariffs could potentially promote a freer internet.  

This conversation was recorded on May 31, 2025. 

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Sara Bernard

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.

Al Franken on Trump 2.0, Comedy and What’s Next for Democrats

Author, comedian and former U.S. Senator Al Franken has a unique resume. One of the original writers on Saturday Night Live, he won five Emmys, wrote several comedic books on politics and represented Minnesota as a U.S. Senator from 2009 to 2018.  

As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in late May, Franken sat down with Jane Coaston, host of Crooked Media’s What a Day, to discuss his journey from comedy and television to the Senate and beyond. 

In this episode of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast, Franken and Coaston dig into Franken’s Minnesota roots and unusual career; his thoughts on the second Trump administration; the goals of his political action committee, Midwest Values PAC; and what he thinks Democrats should be talking about right now.  

This conversation was recorded on May 31, 2025. 

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Sara Bernard

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.

Missed the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival? Listen here

Well, that’s a wrap! The 2025 Cascade PBS Ideas Festival took place in downtown Seattle on May 31. But the event’s thoughtful conversations, lively debates and incisive commentary are all coming soon to your podcast feeds.  

To kick off this season of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast, host Paris Jackson catches up once more with events director Jake Newman to discuss what’s on tap for this year.  

We can expect a few returning media partners, including The Journal, but this time host Ryan Knutson takes the stage with travel guru Rick Steves. Plus, Criminal host Phoebe Judge and guest Amanda Knox will talk about life after acquittal; Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson will discuss their headline-grabbing book on President Biden with Mike Pesca from The Gist; and Latif Nasser, host of Radiolab, will join forces with Harvard historian Rebecca Lemov to dig into the history of brainwashing. 

All that and much more is on its way. A new episode of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast airs every Monday beginning June 9. 

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Sara Bernard

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.

“Text Me Back!” Prepares Us for the Election

Co-hosts Lindy West and Meagan Hatcher-Mays remind us to laugh in this bonus episode recorded live at the Seattle Public Library on October 15. 

Lindy West and Meagan Hatcher-Mays join us again for another lively discussion on The Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast. 

In a special bonus episode, Cascade PBS partnered with The Seattle Public Library Foundation to put on a live podcast taping of Text Me Back! featuring West and Hatcher-Mays, who were part of the Ideas Festival lineup earlier this year.  

The conversation, moderated by Cascade PBS anchor Paris Jackson, took a lighthearted approach to the upcoming election and featured special guests Mariesa Bus, Brett Hamil and Naomi Ishisaka.  

This conversation was recorded on Oct. 15, 2024.  

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Isaac Kaplan-Woolner

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org/membership. In addition to supporting our events and daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS. 

Race, Power and Palestine with Ta-Nehisi Coates

In a live taping of Slate’s A Word podcast, Jason Johnson talks with Coates about the resonance between racism in America and the crisis in Gaza.

On his podcast A Word, veteran political commentator Jason Johnson invites leaders, journalists and other change-makers to have productive and provocative conversations about race in politics and society.  

As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in early May, Johnson sat down with bestselling author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates to discuss Coates’ perspectives on everything from the art of writing to the ongoing crisis in Israel and Palestine. 

In this episode of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast, Johnson and Coates discuss the impact of AI on creators and how lived experience defines the act of writing. Coates also reflects on a life-changing visit to Israel and Palestine, connecting the experience of being Black in America and the history of Jim Crow segregation to the segregation and oppression experienced by Palestinians. The two discuss America’s role in the Israel-Hamas war as well as in World War II, and what impact current events and historical forces have on American voters and the 2024 election.  

This conversation was recorded on May 4, 2024. 

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Isaac Kaplan-Woolner

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.

How Artificial Intelligence Could Impact Elections

Atlantic journalists talk the future of election interference in an era of chilling political deepfakes — and, the one company behind much of this tech.

This year, two events will collide: AI voice replicas that can fool family and friends will be easier than ever to use, and half the world’s population will undergo an election. 

As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in early May, Hanna Rosin, the host of Radio Atlantic, and Charlie Warzel, a staff writer for The Atlantic who covers technology, explored the strange and potentially catastrophic effects of this collision.  

In this episode of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast, Rosin and Warzel examine the big trends in AI, particularly that of shockingly accurate voice clones, and discuss the one small company behind much of this software. They dig into how this technology could be deployed to interfere with elections and how likely it is to sway voters. They play clips of a variety of convincing deepfakes, including the fake President Biden robocall sent to voters in a recent New Hampshire primary, and speculate about a very uncertain future.   

This conversation was recorded on May 4, 2024. 

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Isaac Kaplan-Woolner

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.

Malcolm Gladwell Talks Gun Violence in America

The Revisionist History podcast host discusses America's firearms problem - and reasons to be optimistic about it - with a trauma surgeon and an activist.

Acclaimed author Malcolm Gladwell explores all things overlooked and misunderstood in his podcast, Revisionist History. He recently produced a six-part series about what we get wrong about gun violence in America.  

As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in early May, Gladwell revisited that conversation with Dr. Babak Sarani, a trauma surgeon from Washington, D.C., and David Hogg, co-founder of March for Our Lives. Gladwell asked them, based on their individual expertise, why so many people are dying from gunshots in the U.S. and how we might prevent it.  

In this episode of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast, the three discuss gun-violence data, from the number of suicides by firearm to the number of gunshots per victim. They explore the impact of gun-control measures such as red-flag laws, the fraught politics around guns and the role of the Supreme Court. Hogg and Sarani also share what immediate changes each believe could truly make a difference.  

This conversation was recorded on May 4, 2024. 

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Isaac Kaplan-Woolner

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.

How Identity Shapes Politics in a Fractured America

Is the personal always political? Washington Post columnists discuss how identity markers have come to define how we think and vote.

Trust in American institutions has reached record lows. Where do Americans turn to for a sense of identity, connection or belonging? Are identity markers such as race or religion a way to build community and understanding or do these affinities further divide us?  

As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in early May, Martine Powers and Elahe Izadi, co-hosts of The Washington Post podcast Post Reports, spoke with columnists Shadi Hamid and Jason Willick about how personal identity overlaps with politics in our current highly polarized moment.  

In this episode of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast, the four journalists dig into the Israel-Hamas war and its impact on political and social debates in the U.S. They also discuss aspects of their own identities and how that shapes their worldviews, and whether there is such a thing as a set of shared American values. 

This conversation was recorded on May 4, 2024. 

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Isaac Kaplan-Woolner

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.

Bridging the Partisan Divide with David Greene

In a live taping of Left, Right & Center, David Greene, Mo Elleithee and Sarah Isgur debate media bias ahead of the presidential election.

KCRW’s weekly politics show, Left, Right & Center, takes on the tough, polarizing issues that Americans struggle to have conversations about. Host David Greene invites guests with a wide range of political views to create provocative discussions that can bridge the left/right divide. 

As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in early May, Mo Elleithee and Sarah Isgur joined Greene to debate media bias, political satire and free speech in the context of current events. 

In this episode of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast, the three discuss the Israel-Hamas war, protests on U.S. college campuses and the way mainstream media covers these events. When it comes to free speech versus hate speech, who gets to decide where the line is drawn and how speech is characterized? They also examine examples of journalists skewing perspectives to favor certain candidates in elections and reflect on various forms of political satire and their cultural impact, including that of Jon Stewart, Bill Maher and Saturday Night Live. 

This conversation was recorded on May 4, 2024. 

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Isaac Kaplan-Woolner

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.