Join Emmy Award-winning journalist Peter Hamby, along with the team of expert journalists at Puck, as they let you in on the real conversations insiders are having across the four corners of power in America: Wall Street, Washington, Silicon Valley and Hollywood. Puck's contributors will bring you smart conversation around the inside stories happening in these worlds. Presented in partnership with Audacy, new episodes publish daily, Monday-Friday.
Latest episodes
Showing 20 · updated from the feed
Panic! At the G.O.P. Disco
#12 trending · Business News
Leigh Ann Caldwell joins Peter for a close look at the rising Republican panic over the midterms, as a spate of polls points to a possible blue wave election with voters
Sep 25 19 min
The Trump-Xi Summit Showdown
Ian Krietzberg joins Peter to preview the high-stakes meeting between Donald Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping, breaking down the hopes, expectations, and realities
Sep 24 25 min
The G.O.P.’s Midterm NFL Blitz
John Ourand joins Peter to discuss the political ad money pouring into NFL and college football broadcasts this fall, and how it’s overwhelming local TV markets across th
Sep 23 19 min
ParaBros Settlement Fallout
Dylan Byers joins Peter to parse the WBD–Paramount settlement announced Monday by California Attorney General Rob Bonta—who’s now taking heat from Democrats for caving an
Sep 22 18 min
Media Monday: 60’s Bari Minimum & The Maine Ad Buy Bonanza
Jon Kelly and Peter reunite to debate 60 Minutes’ season premiere and whether Bari Weiss and Nick Bilton’s overhaul—or a weak NFL lead-in and shifting Nielsen math—explai
Sep 21 23 min
How to Break the Internet (and Win Campaigns), With Alex Bruesewitz
Trump social media guru Alex Bruesewitz joins Peter to discuss how Joe Rogan and TikTok memes helped Republicans win the White House, which Democrats actually understand
Sep 19 1 h 02 min
Mike Johnson’s Leap of Faith
Leigh Ann Caldwell joins Peter for a midterms vibe check, breaking down Democrats’ creeping lead and the nearly $140 million in ad spending Republican groups are rushing
Sep 18 23 min
Inside Don Jr.’s Russian Wedding
Julia Ioffe joins Peter to explain how Umar Kremlev, a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin, quietly bankrolled part of Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding weekend—and what he
Sep 17 22 min
Emmys Shocks & Ari Emanuel’s Burn Book
Matt Belloni joins Peter to dig into Ari Emanuel’s blistering new memoir—a score-settling account that revisits the chair he nearly hurled at Michael Ovitz and his decade
Sep 16 19 min
Leon Black’s Slow Burn
Bill Cohan joins Peter to discuss his new book, Money to Burn, tracing Apollo’s founding after Drexel’s 1990 collapse, its meteoric rise built on distressed debt investme
Sep 15 25 min
Media Monday: McAfee, Inc. & MS NOW’s Subscription Bet
Jon Kelly joins Peter to unpack Pat McAfee’s takeover of ESPN’s marquee sports coverage, and why the network would rather license his self-owned production for $60 millio
Sep 14 22 min
Are Democrats Out of Ideas? with Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Emanuel, the longtime Democratic power broker, former White House chief of staff, and perennial subject of campaign intrigue, joins Peter on the debut episode of The
Sep 12 51 min
NYFW Fears & GQ’s New Groove
Lauren Sherman joins Peter to report from New York Fashion Week, where insiders are fretting over a looming luxury slowdown—and the middle-class shoppers propping up the
Sep 11 17 min
Inside the G.O.P.’s Trumpapalooza
Marianna Sotomayor joins Peter from Dallas, where Republicans are gathering for a midterm convention that’s fast becoming a Trumpapalooza—even as they privately grapple w
Sep 10 18 min
Bartiromo’s Breakup & Bari’s ‘60’ Debut
Dylan Byers joins Peter to break down Maria Bartiromo’s sudden exit from Fox News after forwarding internal guidance to Peter Navarro, which triggered an angry call from
Sep 9 26 min
OpenAI’s Escape Room
Ian Krietzberg joins Peter to unpack new revelations from OpenAI’s postmortem on this summer’s Hugging Face hack, in which the company’s agents broke their sandbox to inf
Sep 8 19 min
Media Monday: Ballmer’s Billion-Dollar Beef & Wintour’s Galliano Gaffe
Jon Kelly and Peter Hamby reunite to dissect the NBA’s punishing verdict against Steve Ballmer and the Los Angeles Clippers, and why ESPN’s since-contradicted report clea
Sep 7 22 min
The Information Age
Jessica Lessin, the founder, editor in chief, and C.E.O. of The Information, joins Dylan and Julia to unpack the record growth behind her 13-year-old subscription busines
Sep 5 1 h 09 min
Ballmer’s Witch Hunt & Pablo’s Vindication
John Ourand joins Peter to unpack the Clippers scandal shaking the NBA—Steve Ballmer's furious response to penalties for skirting the salary cap with Kawhi Leonard, and t
Sep 4 20 min
The Man Who Tried to Save the Pentagon
Julia Ioffe joins Peter to illuminate the stunning resignation of Dan Driscoll, the Army’s top civilian leader: his friendship with JD Vance, media rivalry with Pete Hegs
Sep 3 19 min
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Where The Powers That Be: Daily ranks today in each Apple Podcasts chart (US, Sep 27, 2026).
A curated, balanced selection of Apple Podcasts reviews.
A bit of “gentle criticism” for Peter Hamby.
Hamby devoted plenty of airtime to wondering whether there was really “anything here” in Pablo Torre’s Clippers reporting, invoking “clouts and clicks,” a “conspiratorial tone,” and Torre’s allegedly self-congratulating style.
Then the reporting held up.
It took one podcast to concede, “Pablo Torre was right”, a second podcast to admit Torre earned “a much deserved victory lap”. Curiously, the three words “I was wrong” remain just out of reach.
His chief justification for skepticism was that other major outlets failed to independently confirm Torre’s work. An interesting defense. If an entire sports-media ecosystem failed for a year to confirm an important story, perhaps the more obvious question is what that says about their own reporting - and Puck’s own investigative resources.
Will those institutions receive the same searching critique Torre did? Should their failure not “‘make us uncomfortable”?
Hamby thought Torre was a little self-congratulatory. Hamby’s inability to apologize now reads as something slightly less charming: self-righteousness.
Perhaps there really is “something here” after all - a useful case study in how enthusiastically media people scrutinize competitors, and how gently they scrutinize themselves.
Another view - Rothko · Sep 2026
Definitely a good way to start my day with some insightful topics/conversations. One of my daily must listens.
Dbsdf1 · May 2025
Bill Ackman may be outspoken and often hyperbolic but the issues surrounding Dr. Gay are serious and matter a great deal to the university’s standing and academia reputation.
The conversation made much less of concerns over her tenure, qualifications and performance than it did criticizing Mr. Ackman’s for speaking out about it.
If the Harvard Board is continuing to support Dr. Gay, even in part, because of what a hedge fund manager says, that is clearly not acceptable. It also gives the impression he has more influence than he actually has ‘in real life’.
The Board needs to make it abundantly clear, that for better or for worse, their support is not beholding to high-profile constituents, donors, or DEI criteria. Hopefully, integrity still matters.
Time will tell if Harvard maintains its stature and prominence - a glib analysis doesn’t adequately assess the possibility of real damage.
@Deanie · Dec 2023
Really love the in-depth analysis on key topics with insider scoops. Real reporting as it should be. Thank you and keep it up.
NickKol1975 · Jul 2023
The guests that are brought on are interesting to listen to- but the stories that are covered tend to be dated by 4-5 days. It’s a podcast, keep up with current events. No one wants to hear a news podcast about stuff that happened last week. Additionally, Peter Hamby has a somewhat shallow understanding of politics on the left. He did a story on Katy Porter’s senate bid and completely neglected the mention how much outrage there has been over Dianne Feinstein’s behavior, obvious cognitive decline, possible signs of dementia, etc. A shallow reading of the story
pachreik · Jan 2023
I’ve listened to most episodes of this podcast and find the guests very informative, but the host has become increasingly smug and grating. I find myself skipping it more and more.
102ACE · May 2024
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