{"podcast":{"title":"The Smerconish Podcast","slug":"the-smerconish-podcast-4474155","podcast_index_feed_id":4474155,"rss_url":"https://feeds.simplecast.com/Dv1m2CJC","website_url":"https://www.siriusxm.com","image_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/8436e3c1-2479-4466-ac48-fa58259960bb/3307704c-973a-4ab2-a9c2-8e76f28a7ee9/3000x3000/podcast-20on-20dark-7.jpg?aid=rss_feed","author":"SiriusXM","episode_count":1991,"summary":"Spirited discussions of government, politics, and current events without predictable left/right bias. The Smerconish Podcast is for Independent Minds. The Michael Smerconish Program airs live on SiriusXM's POTUS Channel 9AM-12PM ET and replays 9PM-12AM East, Monday-Friday.","last_synced_at":"2026-08-01T06:17:03.780985+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-smerconish-podcast-4474155"},"episode":{"title":"Today's Poll Question: Is Donald Trump a consequence or the cause of our political polarization?","slug":"today-s-poll-question-is-donald-trump-a-consequence-or-the-cause-of-our-political-polarization","published_at":"2026-05-06T11:52:02+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-smerconish-podcast-4474155/today-s-poll-question-is-donald-trump-a-consequence-or-the-cause-of-our-political-polarization","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-smerconish-podcast-4474155","url":"https://www.siriusxm.com","audio_url":"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/sxm.simplecastaudio.com/d49edecb-af71-4e40-b63b-f7bdc3faae1b/episodes/97a6612b-c961-4d92-bf1f-9b9a415a1cb9/audio/128/default.mp3?aid=rss_feed&awCollectionId=d49edecb-af71-4e40-b63b-f7bdc3faae1b&awEpisodeId=97a6612b-c961-4d92-bf1f-9b9a415a1cb9&feed=Dv1m2CJC","summary":"Today's Poll Question at Smerconish.com: Is Donald Trump more a consequence or the cause of our political polarization? Michael argues that most voters will instinctively blame Donald Trump for America’s deep political divide — but says the more accurate answer is that Trump is a consequence of forces decades in the making. Drawing on conversations with Axios co-founder Jim VandeHei and Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam, author of \"Bowling Alone\", Michael explores how social isolation, declining civic engagement, and the collapse of shared community life created fertile ground for populism long before Trump arrived. The episode also previews Smerconish’s new Mingle Project interview with Putnam and examines why Americans may actually have more in common than today’s media environment suggests. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.","meta_description":"Today's Poll Question at Smerconish.com: Is Donald Trump more a consequence or the cause of our political polarization? Michael argues that most voters wi…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":888,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-smerconish-podcast-4474155/episodes/today-s-poll-question-is-donald-trump-a-consequence-or-the-cause-of-our-political-polarization/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-smerconish-podcast-4474155/today-s-poll-question-is-donald-trump-a-consequence-or-the-cause-of-our-political-polarization.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}