Oh My Pod: Pod Save America Vs. FiveThirtyEight

By Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

Because of Donald J. Trump’s completely bat shit behavior, I find myself listening to podcasts significantly more than in the past. I used to a podcast of sorts way back when, but the platform I used — Blab, does not exist anymore.

Given the opportunity, I would do a podcast again, but I am going to kind wait and see about that for the time being.

Regardless, there are a few go-to podcasts that I really enjoy. There is Pod Save America that I really enjoy, even though it fills me with liberal rage whenever I listen to it because it makes me think the end is neigh. Meanwhile, there is the FiveThirtyEight political podcast that I also like. As it is obvious to see, I am pretty much completely obsessed with Trump news.

I have noticed some interesting similarities and differences between these podcasts. Pod Save America is funnier and more loose, while the FiveThirtyEight is a bit more formal and it deals with more wonkish thing. While Pod Save America seems to be a conversations between friend who served in the White House — which is it is — the FiveThirtyEight podcast seems more focused.

In general, I really like Pod Save America more than FiveThirtyEight, but both are really strong. Both of them tend to make me really angry because Trump makes me angry, but I think the Pod Save America fits my own personal world view a little bit better.

Regardless, here is here a handy chart to give you some sense of the differences between the two podcasts.

 Pod Save America  Four Thirty Eight
 Ring Master: Jon Favreau  Ring Master: Nate Silver
Funny Guy With Unique Voice: Jon Lovett  Droll Guy With Unique Voice: Harry Enten
 Comic Bit: Trying to get through the promos with a straight face  Somewhat witty banter, more of a serious edge.
 Focus: Giving context relative to Obama  Focus: Polls, polls, polls