Why Super PACs have more power than ever in elections

Throughline

NPR

History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.6 • 16.4K Ratings

🗓️ 26 February 2026

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What’s one thing people across the U.S. can agree on? Hint – it’s about money. Voters from all political parties overwhelmingly see unlimited spending in elections as a threat to our democracy. So if most people don’t like all this money in politics, then who does? The answer, on this episode of Throughline.

This episode has been updated to eliminate an audio glitch.

Guests:

Michael Kang, Class of 1940 Professor of Law at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law.

Henrik Schatzinger, professor of political science at Ripon College and author of forthcoming book Super PACs in the City: How Outside Money is Reshaping Local Elections

To access bonus episodes and listen to Throughline sponsor-free, subscribe to Throughline+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/throughline.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This message comes from 48 hours with the 48 hours post-mortem podcast.
0:05.6	Host Anne Marie Green joins producers and correspondents to discuss key evidence, dead ends,
0:10.9	and stranger-than-fiction twists they faced in the field.
0:13.8	Listen on your favorite podcast app.
0:16.6	You already know the person who spent the most money supporting President Trump's campaign in 2024.
0:22.6	His name is Elon Musk.
0:25.6	You might remember him showing up at Trump rallies.
0:28.6	Come on up here, Elon.
0:29.6	Jumping awkwardly around on stage.
0:32.6	Take over, Elon, yes.
0:34.6	But behind the scenes, he'd spend more than $291 million to support President Trump's win.
0:43.2	And we had one president who couldn't climb a flight of stairs, and another who was fist pumping after getting shot.
0:54.5	Fight, fight, fight.
0:56.8	Blood coming down to face.
0:59.0	Shortly after the election,
1:00.6	Musk was tapped by Trump to lead Doge,
1:03.4	which would slash government spending and jobs,
1:06.8	which he represented once
1:08.5	by pretending to fire up a chainsaw
1:10.6	at the conservative CPAC convention.
1:16.9	This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy.
1:21.6	Transaw!
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.