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"Pod Save America" hosts say Democrats are "united against Trump"

Pod Save America: Dems "united against Trump"
Democrats are "united against Trump," Pod Save America hosts say 05:16

With the midterms just two weeks away, "Pod Save America" hosts Jon Favreau and Dan Pfeiffer say there's nothing not to worry about. The Obama administration alums-turned hit political podcast hosts joined "CBS This Morning" Tuesday to discuss the state of the Democratic Party, the midterms and whether their show – with its fair share of F-bombs and a decidedly liberal slant – contributes to the political divisiveness in our country.

Asked whether the Democratic Party is going through an identity crisis, the two quickly disagreed. Though Favreau admitted there's been some "soul searching" after the 2016 election, both say Democrats are, at least, bonded by one thing: Trump.  

"The party is pretty united in wanting to go vote. Have a check against Donald Trump now," Favreau said. "We got a lot of things to figure out, but we're united against Trump and that's important," added Pfeiffer.

While President Trump has focused on immigration issues to fire up his base in recent days, Democrats, Pfeiffer and Favreau contend, have turned to one of the more important issues to voters: health care.

"I think it's very simple. It is that if Republicans keep power, they will take away people's health care and cut Medicare to pay for tax cuts for billionaires. We have to say that at every single opportunity," said Pfeiffer, who served as President Obama's communications director and then senior adviser. "When you cut through the noise that's in the news and on Twitter, you look at the ads… that's what they're saying."

Though that issue has been a key part of Democrats' platform before, Favreau feels it resonates with voters differently now. This time, he says, voters know that Republicans will try to take their health insurance away.

"We remember what happened in 2017. And they're basically promising, [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell said it the other week, that if they win again they will now have the votes – because John McCain isn't there anymore – to repeal the Affordable Care Act. It's going to happen," said Favreau, who was a speechwriter for President Obama.

Since the podcast's launch in 2017 it's been downloaded more than 330 million times, generating a cult-like base of listeners and spawning other podcasts and a four-part HBO series. Given the tone of our current political climate, "CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King pressed the pair on what they're trying to do to bring Americans together, instead of pushing them apart.

"What we try to do on the pod is – we're obviously liberal. We have some fun. We say what's on our mind. But we try to be factual.  When we're not factual we try to correct it and we try to reach out to people who've never voted before or who don't usually vote," Favreau said.

Favreau also said he and the "Pod Save America" crew regularly encounter people who say the podcast got them politically active.

"We are so fortunate to have this platform on HBO and with our podcast and what we use it – even though sometimes we get over-exuberant in language – is to encourage people who are concerned about what's happening in this country to take action and to tell them how to do it and that is what we do every day. And I think encouraging people to be citizens is the opposite of contributing to polarization. It's trying to make this a better democracy," Pfeiffer said.

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