Pod Save the World

Pod Save the World is the foreign policy sibling of Pod Save America, hosted by Tommy Vietor and Ben Rhodes. Vietor was Obama's National Security Council spokesperson, and Rhodes served as Deputy National Security Advisor. Between them, they spent years in the Situation Room making decisions about wars, diplomacy, and intelligence, and that experience infuses every episode. The show publishes weekly, with episodes running a hefty 75 to 105 minutes. Each one typically covers several international stories, breaking down conflicts, treaties, elections, and crises around the globe. Vietor and Rhodes have an easy rapport -- they have been friends and colleagues for years -- and their conversations feel like overhearing two former insiders trying to make sense of a chaotic world. Foreign policy podcasts are rare, and good ones are even rarer. This show fills that gap by making global politics accessible without oversimplifying it. They bring on journalists, diplomats, academics, and other experts who add ground-level perspective that the hosts' Washington experience sometimes misses. The show comes from a progressive, internationalist viewpoint, and it does not pretend otherwise. With a 4.8 rating across more than 24,000 reviews, it has built one of the largest foreign policy podcast audiences in existence. If you care about America's role in the world and want smart people explaining what is actually going on out there, this show is hard to beat.