PODCAST · news
The Cycle- On Substack
by Rachel "The Doc" Bitecofer
On The Cycle, political strategist Rachel Bitecofer speaks with today's headline makers about politics. thecycle.substack.com
Episodes
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Live with Rachel "The Doc" Bitecofer 📈🔭
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecycle.substack.com/subscribe
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What Just Happened in Wisconsin and Other Important Things!
Hi, friends. Today I made an appearance on another great Substack you should check out: Lincoln Square, where I joined Susan Dumas, one of the hosts of their morning show. I know I’ve been starving you for content that doesn’t require sitting down and reading a thousand words of political…
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This is America
This week Rachel and Aaron dive into the hurricane of Donald Trump’s chaos – from Jeffrey Epstein… to an unprecedented affordability crisis… to a new health care crisis… to an identity crisis for MAGA. Plus, a lesson for Democrats on how to message affordability. And another underwater poll for...
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This is America
This week Rachel and Aaron unpack the GOP’s framing of thousands of peaceful “No Kings” protests as “Hate America” rallies. How, exactly, did Republicans lose control of the narrative–at least for a weekend? Plus, why House Speaker Mike Johnson refuses to swear-in America’s newest member of...
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This is America
This week, why we shouldn’t be afraid of using the other F-word: fascism, especially as the Right shatters political norms, turns citizens into public enemies, and politicizes the military. Rachel and Aaron discuss a Democrat who joked about violence, a Republican who preaches it, a billionaire…
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This is America
This week Rachel and Aaron discuss the Trump Administration’s reaction to Charlie Kirk’s death, his martyrdom, and what’s next on the march into authoritarianism. Plus, a trip to the front lines of Trump’s tariffs: rural America. Why are farmers are feeling the pinch first? And Trump crosses a…
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This is America
With Labor Day behind us, Trump’s honeymoon is over and his march into fascist authoritarianism is in full force. This week Rachel and Aaron look at his latest distraction from a nosediving economy and the Epstein Files: an armed, federal invasion of America’s third-largest city. Plus, market...
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Live with Susan Wagner
Thank you Joe Jones, Maureen Drews, Dianna Richardson, Mary Detweiler, and many others for tuning into my live video with Susan Wagner! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit...
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This is America
Why are Republicans trying to give themselves an edge in Congress? In the words of one GOP lawmaker: “Because we can.” This week, Rachel and Aaron separate the facts from JD Vance’s alt reality as some Democrats prepare to fight fire with fire. Plus: Trump takes federal control over Washington…
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This is America
Facts are stubborn things, at least two of Trump’s predecessors have said. And for Trump on the economy—and Jeffrey Epstein–-there’s nothing to see here. This week Rachel and Aaron look at what the latest job numbers mean for Trump 2.0. Plus, Trump is making his own list… of political enemies.…
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This is America
This week Rachel and Aaron stick to the one scandal that’s finally sticking to Teflon Don: Jeffrey Epstein, and the Trump Administration’s spectacular inability to control the narrative. Rachel dives into the need to “politicize everything.” A look at how Trump 2.0 is using immigration to destroy...
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This is America
This week, as Trump’s FEMA struggles to answer questions about consequential budget cuts in the aftermath of Texas flooding, Rachel and Aaron look at how the Republican Party deliberately turned climate change into a conspiracy theory. It’s MAGA thought control. Plus, the FBI tries to go after...
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This is America
Live Free. Die Fast. Get Digested… slowly. Welcome to “Alligator Alcatraz,” America’s first concentration camp. Plus, Rachel and Aaron explore the future, or not, of Elon Musk’s new “America Party.” Why, exactly, is America stuck with a two-party system? Meteorologists show us how cuts to NOAA…
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This is America
What the hell is happening with Iran and Donald “No Wars” Trump? This week Rachel and Aaron break down the confusion, and the rift it’s causing in MAGA’s alt-reality. Plus, Rachel has an important lesson for the news media about the difference between rioting and protesting. How decaying…
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Living History
Folks, Today we’re living history with Joe Walsh—-Tea Party congressman to Never Trump activist, to an card carrying Democrat!! I’m excited to announce that last week Joe decided to put a ring on it and officially become a Democrat. And here is one thing that makes him a fairly unique Democrat…
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This is America
This week we bring you into the strategy driving Trump’s decision to send the National Guard and the marines into LA. Rachel compares the fiery I.C.E. protests with how the Nazis rose to power in 1930s Germany, plus how does Elon’s and Don’s Big Beautiful Breakup threaten the President’s tax cuts...
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The Cycle Presents Living History
Folks! Welcome to the inaugural episode of the Living History pod. I’m excited to bring you this unique conversation with Don Lemon, former anchor at CNN but current anchor of his new independent media project The Don Lemon Show on YouTube. And Don is covering all his new media bases, offering…
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This is America
This week Rachel and Aaron follow Elon “Black Eye” Musk out the door as he whines about the American political system he destroyed. Plus: cracks in the ice when it comes to criticizing Donald Trump and the Big Ugly Bill, a weird reminder of death from a U.S. Senator (and a weirder “apology”).…
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This is America
This week Rachel and Aaron translate Trump’s Marie Antoinette “Let Them Eat Tariffs" moment. Plus, an alarming shakeup in the national intelligence community with echoes from history. In Trump’s DOJ if you can’t charge ‘em, shame ‘em. LINKS: * Trump post: Wal-Mart should ‘EAT THE TARIFFS’ *...
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He Wanted to Kill Woke, Not The Free Market
My conversation with Richard Hanania, author of The Origins of Woke and contributor on Project 2025 is one of the most important conversations I’ve had on this show. Important for you and important for his audience too. If you want to know why I say that, you’ll have to give it a listen because…
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This is America
Trump pushes socialist price controls for pharmaceuticals, refugee status for white people and free flights out for everyone else. Rachel and Aaron also dive into the effort to suspend the U.S. Constitution, and compare how Trump’s chaotic presidency parallels the rise of Vladimir Putin. Plus…Da...
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Living History with Mr. Beat
History is certainly echoing now! Folks, I’m returning to my conversational pods with interesting people talking about interesting s**t. I’m kicking things off by living by example and doing a crossover show with THE Mr. Beat, who hosts a very popular You Tube channel. There’s a whole world out...
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This is America
This week Rachel and Aaron investigate the three words that hit hardest from Donald Trump’s recent interview on Meet the Press, and the one word missing from the New York Times’s editorial criticizing his first 100 days. Plus the Lord of the Shadows, Stephen Miller, wants you to know MAGA has BIG...
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This is America
As another texting scandal jolts the Pentagon into “full-blown meltdown,” Rachel earns national attention for her internet sleuthing skills and gets vindicated in the aftermath of the Wisconsin Supreme Court race. Plus, she and Aaron take a close look at the first rule in fighting tyranny… and...
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This is America
This week Rachel and Aaron change up the format to take a deep dive into the arrest and deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, imprisoned in El Salvador without due process despite a U.S. Supreme Court order to “facilitate” his return. The case has chilling parallels to what happened in Germany...
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This is America
Trump’s planned destruction of America’s economy is a pivotal political moment. This week Rachel and Aaron offer advice for “normies” who are just now waking up to the mess. Plus, a reading of the tea leaves after the recent special elections, how to send us your best signs for this month’s next...
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This is America
It's Election Day! Will it be a difficult one for MAGA in Wisconsin and Florida? Plus, Rachel and Aaron get into the nitty gritty over Third Term Gate… and Signal Gate. The Trump Tax, er “Liberation Day,” prompts Aaron to move up his car shopping timeline. Musk gives away millions. And what's the...
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This is America
This week Rachel and Aaron chase the firetrucks to the dumpster fire of the Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress who’re trying to defend it. How do you explain an unprecedented security breach involving secret war plans accidentally shared with a news editor? Where do voters draw a…
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This is America
This week Rachel and Aaron explore the good, the bad and the ugly. Why is Schumer’s vote to keep the government open an important political move? What prompted a pissed-off federal judge to issue an order from the bench? And what do the latest poll numbers mean for Trump 2.0? Plus: adios, habeas...
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This is America
As the Trump administration tanks the stock market and sends prices soaring even higher, Rachel and Aaron examine the stupid in “it’s the economy, stupid.” Europe reconsiders a new world leader while here at home, Republican politicians become snowflakes. Plus, a chilling observation from the New...
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This is America
This week Rachel and Aaron cut through the noise as Elon's "Chainsaw for Democracy" cuts thousands of federal jobs, and as Steve "Prison Toady" Bannon massacres the Constitution--surprising even a fellow neo-Nazi. Trump's honeymoon is over though, according to public polling (surprise! Americans...
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This is America
This week Rachel and Aaron go behind the Resolute Desk with Elon, Donald and "X Æ A-XII." They untangle a "very weird 20 minutes" from failed comedian JD Vance in Munich, start the clock on Marco Rubio's tenuous tenure as Secretary of State, and shine light on the plain-sight quid-pro-quo between...
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This is America
This week, Rachel and Aaron keep up with Trump 2.0's strategy of flooding the zone, resulting in a chaotic political and media environment that can only be described as "everything, everywhere, all at once." They explore the parallels of what's happening now to the rise of Nazi Germany,...
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This is America
Checked In for the Checked Out This week Rachel and Aaron take a tumble through the spin cycle of Donald Trump's second full week in office, which included chaos and confusion, a stock market nose-dive, another off-the-rails news conference, pissed off allies, economic uncertainty and threats of…
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This is America Episode 2
This week Rachel and Aaron dive into the deliberately exhausting 'shock and awe' strategy by Trump 2.0, drawing comparisons to the "Working Toward the Fuhrer" strategy of 1930s Germany. They also discuss a powerful warning from the New York Times, coffee, inflation, shrinkflation, what you need…
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This is America
History does not replicate like DNA, but it echoes. It's echoing now. Welcome to This is America Episode 1: Oh s**t, there goes the neighborhood This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecycle.substack.com/subscribe
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Welcome to the Crusades 2.0
If you’ve been following the transition of the Republican Party from the party of Reagan into whatever the hell it is now you’ll know that the once “useful idiots” of the Republican Party, the Christian Right, now rule the party and they have big plans for Trump 2.0. As Dr. Taylor points out in…
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The Ministry of Truth:
Today’s pod is with Rachel Maddow producer and editor of Maddow Blog Steve Benen and his important new book Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republican’’ War on the Recent Reality. Benen’s important book documents how Republicans managed how to rewrite the history of recent events...
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Shadowboxing the Apocalypse
Its Holocaust Remembrance Day. Not only did Hitler and his Nazis murder 6 million Jews in the Holocaust, its HOW they murdered them you should know more about. After first being dispossessed of their businesses and homes, then being "ghettoized," the Jews began to be "deported East." Deported…
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Republican Death Panels
https://arkansasadvocate.com/2022/10/05/study-more-republicans-than-democrats-likely-died-of-covid/ Researcher Max Taves closes his analysis in David Cay Johnston’s DC Report by asking a very important question: “Republican politicians can talk all they want about how pro-life they are, but these...
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Democracy Awakening:
As soon as Heather Cox Richardson’s new book Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America came across my algorithm I reached out and invited America’s favorite academic back onto the show. HRC’s newest book lays out how a small group of wealthy men financed and developed a right wing...
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Mr. International: How Joe Biden Saved the Entire International Order by Defeating Donald Trump
Like all good lefties, I cut my teeth in progressive politics learning all about the horrors of America’s massive military industrial complex. In one of my very first college classes ever at the local community college, a passionate instructor who spent his spare time organizing peace marches...
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BuT i ThOuGhT tHe LeFt CaN't MeMe?!
Throughout 2024 I plan on highlighting core grassroots organizations working on the frontlines of the Democratic Party’s messaging revolution. Now, maybe you think the word “revolution” is too strong, but trust me, moving a party away from approaching voters with wonky policy appeals and...
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The Tyranny of the Minority
The first time I posted about the harsh reality of America’s collapsing democracy, it seemed like many folks were genuinely surprised to see that America is not actually the Greatest Democracy on Earth. According to the democracy index compiled by the EIU and published annually by The Economist,...
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America doesn’t have a “both sides” problem, it has a Republican Party problem.
What if I was to tell you the Republican Party’s villain-in-chief, the main protagonist in the Republican Party’s “Democrats are socialists” Big Lie, Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez is an ideological moderate serving in a likewise still moderate Democratic Party? Understandably, you…
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Fear & Loathing in the 2022 Midterm Elections
I first learned about Way to Win when they published an analysis after the 2020 cycle empirically demonstrating the weakness of the Democratic Party’s messaging strategy against the GOP’s in the 2020 cycle. While Republican’s focused on branding Democrats as dangerous socialists intent on...
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It's a Cult!
If you want to get someone out of a cult, Dr. Steven Hassan is your man. Inspired to a career focused on cults by his own personal experience being tricked into joining one, Dr. Hassan has spent decades researching, writing, and talking about cults and is skilled at getting folks out of them. In...
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Shadowboxing the Apocalypse: Episode 1
Two years or so again I began an extensive research project into the totalitarian movements of the 1920s and 1930, with a heavy emphasis on Germany and Italy whose totalitarians regimes hailed from the political right. When I started this research project I knew very little about the process by...
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Girl, You ARE Politics!
Leigh McGowen, of IamPoliticsGirl and The Politics Girl pod fame, intrinsically gets the purpose, the proper forms, and the distribution realties of modern messaging. That’s why I was jazzed to bring my fellow messaging (and messy bun) aficionado onto The Cycle to talk about her rise as one of…
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WhY aRe ThE pOlLs AlwAys WrOnG!
If you find polling interesting or frustrating (or both!) this is the episode for you! U-Mass Amherst pollster and Associate Professor Alex Theodoridis is on the pod to talk about challenges facing modern polling and how to properly conduct and present survey results given the impacts on mass...
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Cycle- On Substack have?
The Cycle- On Substack currently has 88 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Cycle- On Substack about?
On The Cycle, political strategist Rachel Bitecofer speaks with today's headline makers about politics. thecycle.substack.com
How often does The Cycle- On Substack release new episodes?
The Cycle- On Substack has 88 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to The Cycle- On Substack?
You can listen to The Cycle- On Substack on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Cycle- On Substack?
The Cycle- On Substack is created and hosted by Rachel "The Doc" Bitecofer.
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