The NPR Politics Podcast - It's A Politics Podcast Trivia Game!

Episode Date: September 4, 2023

We're off for Labor Day, but we wanted to give you something a little fun to listen to. It's our Politics Podcast Trivia Game! This episode was first released as a bonus episode for NPR Politics Podcast+ listeners. We're excited to give everyone an opportunity to hear it now!If you want to a chance to be our next trivia contestant and to hear more bonus content like this (and support NPR in the process), sign up for NPR Politics Podcast+ at plus.npr.org. NPR Politics Podcast+ supporters: we'll have a fresh bonus episode for you later this week! Connect:Email the show at [e-mail] the NPR Politics Podcast Facebook Group.Subscribe to the NPR Politics Newsletter.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hey there, Tamara Keith here. We are off for Labor Day, but we wanted to give you something a little fun to listen to. It is our politics podcast trivia game. We recently released it for Politics Podcast Plus supporters, and we are excited to give everyone a chance to hear it now. It's just one example of what we do over in that bonus episode feed. So we've taken you behind the scenes of how we cover big political events. We've had history chats with Ron Elving. I called in from Iowa, where I was riding my bike. We have even given you a tour of the Capitol. And of course, trivia, where we quiz one lucky Politics Podcast Plus listener on the latest political news. These bonus episodes are just

one perk of signing up for PLUS. Another is that you get regular episodes of our show without sponsor messages. And of course, the most important perk of all is you get to support NPR and our journalism in the process. So listen, if you are already a Politics Podcast PLUS listener, thank you. And if you haven't signed up, you can. Just check out the link in our episode notes. With that, here is our politics podcast trivia game. Enjoy. Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Tamara Keith. I cover the White House. And I'm Ron Elving, editor correspondent. And for this bonus episode, we are doing another politics podcast trivia game.

We had a lot of fun last time. So today we have another plus listener joining us to play. Welcome. Hi there. This is Anne Swensky from Whitehall, Pennsylvania. Hello, Anne. Thank you so much for being here and for supporting the podcast. I am so excited to be here. When I found out you were doing trivia, I was like, that's it. I'm definitely putting and for supporting the podcast. I am so excited to be here.

When I found out you were doing trivia, I was like, that's it. I'm definitely putting my name in the hat. And your name was pulled out of said hat. So I understand that you are a triathlete. I am, yes. I have done two half Ironman triathlons with a goal in a couple of years of building myself up to a full Ironman. I'm not just crazy. I'm three times crazy.

Indeed you are. I'm trying to picture a full Ironman. I have to say I'm a little jealous, Tam, of you and your bike and pie situation there? Oh, yes. Rag Bride, the great bike ride across Iowa where in every town, the church ladies have pie for you to eat. And I'm thinking, you know, you could just put a pie in the transition area and just eat some between the swim and the bike and between the bike and the run. It would slow down your time. It would, but it might actually could improve my time. One of the things that is like the most memorable part of triathlon day is getting to the finish line and having them hand you a dry turkey wrap and crying over how delicious it is because that's

how hungry you are well not to like you know brag here but I have also done some triathlons in my life. Only Olympic distance is the furthest. Hey, that's not an only. That's a substantial race, too. And I finished dead last in one of them, which is like a real point of pride. But you still got a turkey wrap. There you go. Participation turkey wrap.

And you finished before everybody sitting at home on the couch. Truly, I'm amazed they kept the run course open for me. But I finished. Yay. I'm sure you're in the record book somewhere. Biggest loser. Okay, so let's do this trivia thing. This will definitely be much easier than an Ironman or a half Iron Man, especially if you're a listener to the pod.

So here's how it will work. I will ask you five questions. They are all pulled from the last month or so of political news and all about stories that we have discussed on the show. Ron is here for support and will offer you a hint if you need it. So thank you, Ron. Always glad to support the listener. So, Anne, are you ready to play? Let's do it.

All right, let's get started. Question one. President Biden recently hosted two world leaders at Camp David for an historic summit. They were the leaders of which two countries? That's Japan and South Korea. Okay, since you got that so easily, bonus question. What were their names? That I don't know.

Yep. You know what? I don't either. I think we can make that a trifecta. Okay. So, yeah. And during that summit, they announced several things, including annual multi-domain military exercises and the establishment of a new crisis hotline. The more important thing there, Ron, was simply that they met, that these sometimes rivals are getting together in sort of a united front against North Korea and arguably also China. Yes. And they issued the Camp David principles, not to be confused with the Camp David Accords. There's a lot of symbolism with Camp David. All right. Moving on to question two. Former President Trump has been indicted in four separate criminal cases in Georgia.

The district attorney there relied on what particular state law to charge Trump and his allies? That would be RICO. Yes. Although I can't remember what all those letters stand for. RICO works. Racketeer-influenced and corrupt organizations. But RICO totally works. And it allows prosecutors to pursue criminal enterprises.

Georgia's law was based on and is actually broader than, more expansive than the federal RICO law. All right. Moving on to question three. Voters of what state recently rejected a Republican led effort that would have made it harder to change its constitution? Oh, Ohio. You are on a roll. Ron, do you want to tell us a little bit more about that? Well, it was considered to be not just about making it easier or harder to change the Constitution, although that was important. And maybe some of the sponsors had that in mind. It was widely thought to be a proxy battle on abortion because the amendment that is going to be on the ballot in November would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution, a big change. So that's really what it was all about for most of the people who turned out to vote. Moving on to question four. Attorney General Merrick Garland has named a blank to investigate Biden's son, Hunter. Is it a special counsel? No. Oh, yes. Yes.

Stick to your guns, Ann. Okay. Have confidence. Thanks to the sound effects. Yes. Bonus, do you know his name? No, I don't know this guy's name. We do know his name. Yes, David Weiss was appointed special counsel. He had already been overseeing the Hunter Biden probe in his capacity as a federal prosecutor and, in fact, is a holdover from the Trump administration, though he's more of a career prosecutor. All right, question five. President Biden recently designated a new national monument. It's about a million acres of land near what natural landmark? The Grand Canyon. Yes. I was there. I got to go there with the president. And normally when reporters have to wait for the president to do something, we sit in vans.

It's not very scenic. This time I negotiated with our Secret Service agent to make sure that we could look out over the Grand Canyon. And it was amazing. Awesome. So, Anne, you got five out of five correct. Perfect score. That's really pretty good. Awesome. Our listeners are so smart, we're going to have to make this quiz harder. Clearly. Clearly. So we are going to say that

you won just by being here. And your prize will be that you get to record your very own timestamp for an episode of the show. Maybe from the Grand Canyon, who knows? Or maybe from one of your races? Actually, the last time I did a Half Ironman, I did a timestamp that you did broadcast from the starting line. Oh, well, there you go. Amazing that you could think about recording a timestamp. I would have been thinking about not throwing up. So before we wrap up, we have asked you a lot of questions, but Anne, do you have any questions for Ron or me? Since I know a little bit more about you, Tam, because we have so much in common and you've talked about your racing,

just Ron, do you have a specific memory about traveling with a president that sticks out for you? First time that I traveled with the president was with, and I'm going to date myself here, Ronald Reagan. And we were in Iowa and I was running around trying to get as much Ronald Reagan as I possibly could. And I was reporting for my newspaper, my first job. And while I was traveling with the president and hearing all his marvelous stories about Iowa, I ran into on the campaign bus a reporter for National Public Radio who was the correspondent for Congress in those days. Her name was Linda Wertheimer. And of course, she later became a host of All Things Considered, had that job for a couple of decades. And she was also known as one of NPR's initial staff, one of the founding mothers.

And some years later, that chance happenstance led to my coming on NPR as a guest, and that became kind of a regular thing. And then eventually I moved over to work full-time for NPR. Oh, that's wonderful. It's amazing those chance meetings that end up changing your life in a way. And I feel like a lot of those happen on the campaign trail. Indeed. I feel like I hear a lot of Iowa-specific stories, too. It seems like anybody who's worked in politics has got an Iowa story. Small state, well, not that small from a bike. Lots of vowels.

Huge place in the hearts of political reporters. Anne, thank you so much for playing our game and for asking great questions. Thank you so much. It was really fun. And Ron, I would thank you for the great clues, but Anne didn't need any. So thank you for hanging out.

I was clueless. Thank you, Tam. Thank you, Anne. Thank you so much. Bye-bye. I'm Tamara Keith. I cover the White House. And I'm Ron Elving, Editor-Correspondent. And thank you for listening to and supporting the NPR Politics Podcast. © transcript Emily Beynon