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How the deportation machine was built | America, Actually - April 18, 2026 - Vox
Immigration might be President Donald Trump’s signature issue, but what do Americans actually think about border security and enforcement? And how should elected officials go about reforming the system?
Host and editorial director Astead Herndon sits down with The Atlantic’s Caitlin Dickerson to discuss the ways in which 9/11 shaped immigration enforcement in the US, and why it’s so difficult to change.
Later, Report for America corps member and Arizona Luminaria reporter Yana Kunichoff joins from Tucson to explain how people’s views on immigration in the border state have shifted since the 2024 election.
00:00 Intro: Immigration beyond Trump
02:01 History of immigration policy in the US
04:46 Stephen Miller’s next steps
06:52 What sort of immigration policy do Americans want?
08:46 Can ICE be reformed?
11:46 The fallout from the Laken Riley Act
13:20 Why Democrats fail on immigration
17:34 The view from a border state: Arizona
21:22 Shifting Arizona politics
24:25 Beyond immigration, what’s driving political engagement in Arizona?
America, Actually publishes video episodes every Saturday tackling key issues in politics, culture, and the economy. Subscribe to Vox’s YouTube channel to get them. Listen to episodes of America, Actually on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app.
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American democracy is breaking in a very predictable way - April 17, 2026 - Vox
Back in 2015, before President Donald Trump, before January 6, before all the craziness of the last decade, Matt Yglesias made a blunt prediction: American democracy is doomed.
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Guest host Zack Beauchamp talks with Matt about what that argument got right, what it missed, and why the real problem might not be any one politician but the structure of the system itself. They get into presidential power, partisan loyalty, why Congress keeps folding, and how the two-party system might be quietly making everything worse. They also discuss what it would actually take to fix it — or whether things have to completely break first.
Host: Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp)
Guest: Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias)
00:00 Intro
5:32 Executive authority in the US
7:05 Systemic issues in American democracy
9:44 Opposition strategies
18:29 Coalition building when democracy is on the line
21:36 Brazil’s democratic system
29:58 January 6 and the end of the first Trump presidency
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The credit card crisis - April 15, 2026 - Vox
Americans are carrying more than $1.2 trillion in credit card debt, and for a lot of people, it’s not from splurging. It’s everyday stuff: car repairs, medical bills, groceries. And if you only make the minimum payment, that debt can grow exponentially, sticking around for years.
The average credit card interest rate today is close to 20%, nearly doubling since 2010. So what’s driving these high rates?
Part of it is the broader economy. When the Federal Reserve raises rates to fight inflation, credit card APRs usually go up too. But that’s not the whole story.
Credit cards are unsecured loans, meaning there’s no house or car to repossess if you don’t pay. And Americans have become more and more reliant on credit cards as wages stagnate and health care costs continue to rise.
Read more about how credit card interest rates are impacting everyone:
Why did my interest rate go up on my credit card? | Bankrate https://www.bankrate.com/credit-cards/news/what-to-do-after-card-apr-increase/
Why are credit card interest rates so high? | Nerd Wallet https://www.nerdwallet.com/credit-cards/learn/credit-card-interest-rates-high
Why is your credit card rate so high? | Wharton https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/why-is-your-credit-card-rate-so-high/
This video is presented by Klarna. Klarna doesn’t have a say in our editorial decisions, but they make videos like this one possible.
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The contradictions of wokeness - April 13, 2026 - Vox
What does it mean to be “woke”? It's become a catch-all term to smear or dismiss anything that has any vague association with progressive politics. So anytime you venture into an argument about “wokeness,” it becomes hopelessly entangled in a broader cultural battle.
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Today’s guest, journalist and professor Musa al-Gharbi, helps us untangle “wokeness” from its fraught political context. The author of the book, We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite, al-Gharbi discusses what effects the movement is and isn’t having on our society.
This episode originally aired in November 2024.
Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling)
Guest: Musa al-Gharbi (@Musa_alGharbi)
6:11 What is wokeness?
18:48 Why George Floyd only mattered to the public after his death
20:32 How elites navigate the tension between their status and their values
28:43 How culturally significant is “wokeness”?
32:21 Do social movements produce change?
42:22 Will our politics remain polarized?
We would love to hear from you. To tell us what you thought of this episode, email us at [email protected] or leave us a voicemail at 1-800-214-5749. Your comments and questions help us make a better show.
And you can watch new episodes of The Gray Area on YouTube. New episodes drop every Monday and Friday.
Listen to The Gray Area ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members. Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Check out http://www.vox.com.
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What comes after Donald Trump? | America, Actually - April 11, 2026 - Vox
What does US politics look like when Donald Trump is no longer at the center of it? In 2028, voters will get to decide.
For this first episode of America, Actually, host and editorial director Astead Herndon sits down with data scientist Nate Silver and culture critic Hunter Harris to explore the major policies, issues, groups, and people that will guide the United States into a post-Trump future. Is the country headed toward a return to civility or total fragmentation?
00:00 Intro
00:41 This is America, Actually
01:11 Can politics be Trump-free?
04:10 Who leads a post-Trump America?
11:47 Lessons from 2016
14:02 Affordability, foreign policy, and culture
16:21 Manosphere and loneliness
20:11 Kitchen table issues
24:41 The US and Israel
26:21 America’s global standing
27:21 What brings us hope
America, Actually publishes video episodes every Saturday tackling key issues in politics, culture, and the economy. Subscribe to Vox’s YouTube channel to get them. Listen to episodes of America, Actually on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app.
If you enjoy our reporting and want to hear more from Vox journalists, sign up for our Patreon at patreon.com/vox. Each month, our members get access to exclusive videos, livestreams, and chats with our newsroom.
Subscribe to our channel! http://goo.gl/0bsAjO
Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Check out http://www.vox.com.
Watch our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/IZONyE
Follow Vox on Facebook: http://goo.gl/U2g06o
Or Twitter: http://goo.gl/XFrZ5H