{"podcast":{"title":"Listening to America","slug":"listening-to-america-665403","podcast_index_feed_id":665403,"rss_url":"https://jeffersonhour.libsyn.com/rss","website_url":"https://ltamerica.org/","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/4/1/5/0/41508b7d84b1e15be55e3c100dce7605/LTA2024-20241112-39m0bubisu.jpg","author":"Listening to America","episode_count":550,"summary":"Listening to America aims to \"light out for the territories,\" traveling less visited byways and taking time to see this immense, extraordinary country with fresh eyes while listening to the many voices of America's past, present, and future. Led by noted historian and humanities scholar Clay Jenkinson, Listening to America travels the country's less visited byways, from national parks and forests to historic sites to countless under-recognized rural and urban places. Through this exploration, Clay and team find and tell the overlooked historical and contemporary stories that shape America's people and places. Visit our website at ltamerica.org.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-11T04:21:24.097012+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/listening-to-america-665403"},"episode":{"title":"#1697 The State of the Union as Political Theater","slug":"1697-the-state-of-the-union-as-political-theater","published_at":"2026-03-30T23:57:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/listening-to-america-665403/1697-the-state-of-the-union-as-political-theater","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/listening-to-america-665403","url":"https://jeffersonhour.libsyn.com/1697-the-state-of-the-union-as-political-theater","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/jeffersonhour/03302026_Horton_Podcastmixdown.mp3?dest-id=381384","summary":"Frequent guest host David Horton welcomes Thomas Jefferson to the podcast to discuss political theater and State of the Union addresses. Although Jefferson was a master of political theater, he chose not to take his annual State of the Union messages in person to Congress. He sent his messages by courier and assumed Congress would study them at their convenience. After Jefferson makes his views clear, Clay Jenkinson breaks character to discuss the uses and abuses of modern State of the Union addresses. It was Ronald Reagan who began the tradition of the president pointing to extraordinary Americans in the gallery to honor their service and sacrifices, or to lament their sufferings. Donald Trump's recent 2026 State of the Union Message was much more like a reality television show than anything in previous administrations, including a sustained celebration of the U.S. Olympic hockey program. This program was recorded on February 25, 2026.","meta_description":"Frequent guest host David Horton welcomes Thomas Jefferson to the podcast to discuss political theater and State of the Union addresses. Although Jefferso…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3096,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/listening-to-america-665403/episodes/1697-the-state-of-the-union-as-political-theater/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/listening-to-america-665403/1697-the-state-of-the-union-as-political-theater.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}