Popular Reviews of The Powers That Be

I love podcasts that are highly information dense or overflowing with personality, and I think that this podcast more often than not feels like listening on a casual conversation that happens to hit some of the day's news. I guess it just isn't a conversation that I particularly want to be a part of. I feel like the guests of this show are make or break for me because I don't personally find the host that engaging. Although not familiar with his work, I'm sure that he must be a great writer, but his personality as a podcast host just feels lacking to me: not particularly funny, sharp, charismatic, or much of anything really. And actually, sometimes the ways in which he phrases questions in a sarcastic way or an attempt at humor miss the mark for me, in a way where if it doesn't achieve that intended tone makes it instead feel like the opposite of smart interviewing.[Note: bumped it up a star because I will listen to any and all episodes with Julia Ioffe. I could listen to her talk about literally anything, from the weather report to transcripts from Capitol Hill.]