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Podcast: Abortion politics take center stage

Podcast: Abortion politics take center stage

A leaked Supreme Court opinion suggests that Roe v. Wade may be overturned this summer, forthrightly moving abortion policymaking to the states. The states have played an important role in bringing about the decision, setting the stage for the fights to come. Now abortion bills are moving from symbolic politics to real consequences. On this episode of "The Science of Politics" Rebecca Kreitzer discusses her long work on abortion politics, including the role of women representatives, interest groups, and public opinion, helping us understand how we got here and prepare for what’s to come.


Abortion politics take center stage

Abortion politics take center stage

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Nicolas Maduro’s Capture: Sovereignty Only Matters When It’s Convenient

US Capitol and South America. Nicolas Maduro’s capture is not the end of an era. It marks the opening act of a turbulent transition

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Nicolas Maduro’s Capture: Sovereignty Only Matters When It’s Convenient

The U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro will be remembered as one of the most dramatic American interventions in Latin America in a generation. But the real story isn’t the raid itself. It’s what the raid reveals about the political imagination of the hemisphere—how quickly governments abandon the language of sovereignty when it becomes inconvenient, and how easily Washington slips back into the posture of regional enforcer.

The operation was months in the making, driven by a mix of narcotrafficking allegations, geopolitical anxiety, and the belief that Maduro’s security perimeter had finally cracked. The Justice Department’s $50 million bounty—an extraordinary price tag for a sitting head of state—signaled that the U.S. no longer viewed Maduro as a political problem to be negotiated with, but as a criminal target to be hunted.

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Money and the American flag
Half of Americans want participatory budgeting at the local level. What's standing in the way?
SimpleImages/Getty Images

For the People, By the People — Or By the Wealthy?

When did America replace “for the people, by the people” with “for the wealthy, by the wealthy”? Wealthy donors are increasingly shaping our policies, institutions, and even the balance of power, while the American people are left as spectators, watching democracy erode before their eyes. The question is not why billionaires need wealth — they already have it. The question is why they insist on owning and controlling government — and the people.

Back in 1968, my Government teacher never spoke of powerful think tanks like the Heritage Foundation, now funded by billionaires determined to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. Yet here in 2025, these forces openly work to control the Presidency, Congress, and the Supreme Court through Project 2025. The corruption is visible everywhere. Quid pro quo and pay for play are not abstractions — they are evident in the gifts showered on Supreme Court justices.

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Who Should Lead Venezuela? Trump Says U.S. Will “Run the Country,” but Succession Questions Intensify

U.S. President Donald Trump at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club on December 28, 2025 in Palm Beach, Florida.

AI generated image with Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Who Should Lead Venezuela? Trump Says U.S. Will “Run the Country,” but Succession Questions Intensify

CARACAS, Venezuela — Hours after U.S. forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a large‑scale military operation, President Donald Trump said the United States would “run the country” until a “safe, proper, and judicious transition” can take place. The comments immediately triggered a global debate over who should govern Venezuela during the power vacuum left by Maduro’s removal.

Trump said Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez had been sworn in as interim president.The president said that “we’ve spoken to her [Rodriguez] numerous times, and she understands, she understands.” However, Rodríguez, speaking live on television Saturday, condemned the U.S. attack and demanded "the immediate release of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. The only president of Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro."

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Donald Trump is becoming Joe Biden version 2.0

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (L) speaks during a Cabinet meeting alongside U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth in the Cabinet Room of the White House on Dec. 2, 2025 in Washington, D.C.

(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/TCA)

Donald Trump is becoming Joe Biden version 2.0

In the year since Democrats lost the 2024 election, with Donald Trump beating then President Biden in all seven swing states, they’ve struggled to admit exactly what went wrong.

It wasn’t one thing. For starters, Biden got precipitously older in the last two years of his presidency, often leading to moments that seemed to concern voters more than it did those closest to Biden and Dems in leadership, who insisted he was in perfect health.

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