Can Democrats Win Back Rural America? (with Joe Kennedy III)

Stay Tuned with Preet

Vox Media Podcast Network

Society & Culture, Politics, Government, News

4.8 • 32.3K Ratings

🗓️ 7 August 2025

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Joe Kennedy III is trying to rebuild Democratic power from the ground up—in places where the party has long been written off. The former Massachusetts congressman joins Preet to talk about his work with the Groundwork Project, an organization supporting grassroots organizing in rural America. They discuss what it means to do politics outside the spotlight, his disagreements with his uncle RFK Jr., and how Kennedy is navigating legacy, loss, and the long game of building trust where Democrats have stopped showing up. Then, Preet answers questions about posthumous criminal charges, whether a pardon can be revoked, and how we decide what to cover on this show. In the bonus for Insiders, Kennedy discusses his work in Northern Ireland, and what we can learn from the country’s violent past. Join the CAFE Insider community to stay informed without hysteria, fear-mongering, or rage-baiting. Head to cafe.com/insider to sign up. Thank you for supporting our work. Show notes and a transcript of the episode are available on our website. You can now watch this episode! Head to CAFE’s Youtube channel and subscribe. Have a question for Preet? Ask @PreetBharara on BlueSky, or Twitter with the hashtag #AskPreet. Email us at [email protected], or call 833-997-7338 to leave a voicemail. Stay Tuned with Preet is brought to you by CAFE and the Vox Media Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	From Cafe and the Vox Media Podcast Network, welcome to stay tuned.
0:06.1	I'm Preet Bharara.
0:07.5	The point of democracy isn't that you all get along.
0:09.6	The point of democracy is that you have robust ideas and debate, and then if you've got an issue, you'll work it out and you move by consensus forward.
0:18.6	That's the point.
0:20.3	Consensus isn't supposed to be done by domination.
0:22.3	That's Joe Kennedy III. He's a former congressman from Massachusetts and the grandson of the late
0:27.7	former Attorney General, Bobby Kennedy. After an unsuccessful run for Senate in 2020, Joe Kennedy
0:33.4	pivoted away from Congress. He founded the Groundwork Project, a nonprofit organization which
0:38.9	supports local pro-democracy organizers in rural America. The former congressman joins me
0:44.1	this week to talk about the Democratic Party's realignment, post-Trump election, the life-or-death
0:48.3	policy decisions made by his uncle, Health Secretary RFK Jr., and how to reconcile the
0:53.3	political differences between disparate communities,
0:55.8	red and blue, rural and urban, rich and poor.
0:59.5	Then I'll answer your questions
1:00.6	about posthumous criminal charges,
1:02.9	whether a pardon can be revoked,
1:04.8	and how we decide what to cover on this show.
1:07.2	That's coming up. Stay tuned.
1:24.3	Megan Rapino here. This week on a touch more, we are joined by my longtime U.S. Women's National teammate Ali Krieger.
1:28.6	We talk about her post-retirement plans, the current generation of soccer players, and of course, her boots. Sue and I also get into big WMBA trades and share a new workout
1:36.9	of the week, one you can do from your own home. Check out the latest episode of a touch more
	...

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