I like that in Gaelin's absence we've decided that this podcast will now be part therapy and part

English seminar. He's gonna be really excited.

Hello, welcome to the 538 Politics Podcast. I'm Chad Leach Matlin, a deputy editor at 538.

Gaelin is off this week and it's a short week so we'll have only one episode, the one you're

listening to right now and your stuff with me for it. The last few years have been rather

terrible don't you think? Two years of an undulating pandemic over a year of snarling about who

really won the presidential election that was actually straightforward and months of watching

consumer prices tick up as wages don't keep up with those ticks. Being happy in America can seem

downright radical at times and yet as many Americans today say they're satisfied with their lives

as basically any time over the last few decades. If everything is going wrong, why do some polls

find us to be so content? We will discuss. Then we'll look at another surprise states are rolling

in cash despite forecasted budget shortfalls during the pandemic. State governments have billions and

billions to spend on their politicians top priorities and they're not all spending it the same way.

We'll discuss what states decisions tell us about partisan divides and whether there are any

ideological similarities between the parties as long as there's money to help make things go.

And then finally we'll discuss the big new story of the month ahead, the conflict in Ukraine.

Has it this recording Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian forces into eastern

Ukraine essentially claiming two states as part of Russia's sphere of influence. The Biden

administration has been warning this possibility for weeks and much of what comes next will depend

on how hard Biden, the EU and Ukraine choose to push back. We'll discuss what Aberdeen citizens want

and just how much of an effect that has on what politicians actually do. And here with being

to do all that and talk about surely more than just that are a panel of my very astute colleagues.

...