This message comes from Subaru. The all-new 2026 Subaru Outback features bold new styling and standard symmetrical all-wheel drive plus safety features like standard iSight driver assist technology. Discover the all-new Outback at Subaru.com slash Outback. Hey there, it's the MPR Politics Podcast. I'm Miles Parks, I cover voting, and today is a very special episode of our show. It's time for the annual Can't Let It Go extravaganza or Can't Let It Go Palooza. I don't know, we're still workshopping a title, but we are going to look back on the things from 2025 that we cannot stop thinking about politics or otherwise. And to kick us off, my friends and colleagues, Ashley Lopez and Deepa Shivram are here. Hi guys. Hey, hello. So I am going to throw it to you, Ashley. Let's start off the... I think I'm going with Can't Let It Go Palooza. I think that's the title, that's our working title. So what can't you let go of this year? All right, so what I couldn't let go of this year is a TV show I watched. I estimate about 15 times. That is like a real, like you're holding on. I watched Andor over and over again this year. Star Wars is a big thing in my family. And the thing about Star Wars as an adult is you have to put up with a lot of cringe, a lot of bad writing characters, like Jar Jar beings. It really just has to test your patience a lot. I stand Jar Jar. Yeah, not me. Not me. This is one of my all-time rants is how much I hate that character. But anyways, But Andor was a gift to people who like Star Wars and are an adult and also into politics because it was like meditation on fascism in a way that I did not expect when this first came out. The last season came out earlier this year. I've had some time with it and I've just like, I'm back and back and I just like, I cannot believe how much I hyper-fixated on the show, but it is so good. I mean, if someone still has not watched the show, I would say give it a try even if you don't like Star Wars. But yeah, I just could not stop watching it. I feel like it's a sign like your subconscious wants to do politics still, Ashley, but you need to drown it in fun. Like you're not going to go and binge, like rewatch the West Wing or something. But you're like, if it's kind of Star Wars-ish, I still exactly. Yeah, yeah. It's like a fantasy, a different like universe, but you know what, there's still fascism. So like I can somehow still get into it. So weird of me. That's such a good tip, Ashley, because despite our differences about our feelings on Jar Jar Binks, I too am a huge Star Wars fan, really big in my family. And I haven't seen Andor yet. Oh, you're in for a treat. It's written by Tony Gilroy, which is like, he's an award-winning playwright and screenwriter. It's so good. I cannot say this enough. I've heard it's great, but I will say like, I've become a little bit intimidated by like all of these franchises. Like I kind of stopped, I feel like I watched, I think I've seen most of the Star Wars movies, not maybe not all the spin-offs, but like definitely all of the main ones. But I haven't like followed all of the different franchises on Disney Plus and stuff like that. And so when I heard people like raving about Andor, I think I was a little scared that like, am I going to, it's going to be one of those situations. I feel like if you try to watch a Marvel movie now, it's just references to the last seven Marvel movies. And you actually, it's really hard to figure out what's going on if you don't remember what the like secret stone of whatever is and how Captain America got it or something. I was, I think I was scared that the Star Wars thing would be the same thing, but it sounds like. No, the stands alone. Yeah. And it's also a prequel of a prequel. Like you could watch this and nothing else in Star Wars and be fine. Yeah. Deepa, what can't you let go of this year? I really genuinely believe in my heart of hearts that like 25 years from now, if you were like, what is the thing you look back on for 2025? I will tell you about the drunk raccoon in the liquor store in Virginia. Really? In my soul, I think this is a very fundamental part of my year. I just feel like this year was very long and very hard. And I'm excited for things that bring me joy. And it is the drunk raccoon who, well, the regular raccoon who broke into a liquor store in Virginia and then subsequently became a drunk raccoon. But the best part about this is that I checked up on said raccoon and it turns out that he's now a suspect for another break in into a karate studio. He's really on a rampage and apparently has now been nicknamed the trashed panda. And I love, I love him. I think that he's the best mascot for this year for reasons I can't really state right now, but it just feels, it feels right. And he's okay, right? Like, so basically there are all these photos of him like passed out in this store after like breaking into all of this booze. But like, is, is he fine now? No, he's fine. And I cannot emphasize enough, I'm reading this article from the BBC that like has this update about the karate studio break in situation. And I'm not joking. The last line of the story is he'll be back. He's not a dummy. Can you imagine that hangover though? Like it was all bottom shelf liquor that he seemed to pilfer through. And he's a raccoon. He's so little. Like I can't imagine how he felt. It's so good. And it just is, it's my favorite thing that happened this year. Well, it's, yeah, going back to the hangover thing, actually, I was going to say like he's, it's probably his first time drinking too, which is also like a brutal experience. But then now I'm thinking like, maybe it isn't like maybe it's not his first rodeo, you know? Yeah, maybe raccoons have like a really strong liver, which makes sense because they eat a lot of trash out in the world. They got like sturdy insides. So do you see yourself in the trash raccoon Deepa? Do we want to analyze this at all? I kind of think so because I'm like maybe, maybe trash panda drunk raccoon, whatever we're calling this little guy. Like maybe he also had a really long year. And I'm like, this might have just been, he was like, you know what, screw it. And like this, this was a choice and maybe not the best choice, but I see, I see a little bit of myself in him. Yeah. You know, it could be. Now I'm thinking about it. It could have been the government shutdown because there were a lot fewer people going to national parks and stuff. There was less trash, which means there was like less food for like maybe, maybe this is an actual, maybe this is a government shutdown story. Calculated decision. And also, yeah, now related to politics because we can't talk. Look who else can't let it go. Yeah. All right, Ashley and Deepa, thank you so much for sharing your can't let it goes. On to 2026 guys. Yeah, more drunk raccoons. Hopefully. Let's take a quick break when we're back. More can't let it go. Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation, working to restore a balanced relationship between people and planet. The Schmidt Family Foundation is part of the philanthropic organizations and initiatives created and funded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt to work toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all on the web at the Schmidt dot org. And we're back with two of my good friends, Domenico Montanaro and Elena Moore. Hi guys. Hi, Miles. Great to be with you. All right, Domenico, why don't you get us started? What can't you let go of this year? I think it's really serious thing, but kind of amazing what a big deal it was and how it seems to have completely dissipated. And that's Doge, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency created by Elon Musk and a cadre of young folks who are around him, where their goal was to go inside the federal government systems, find the waste, fraud and abuse, alleviate that and solve the federal debt problems. All that happened, right? No. Crickets. Right. Instead, you had really a lot of federal workers whose lives were upended and contracts that were canceled. But one estimate or analysis by Politico, for example, from August, they noted that Doge said that it saved taxpayers $52.8 billion by canceling contracts. Sounds like a lot, but Politico could only find $32.7 billion in actual claimed contract savings. And then when they went over those contracts, the savings were closer to $1.4 billion. Very big difference. But I think it goes to this whole idea of the way Trump talks, where you just say something is true and then it becomes true because at least your base will believe it. Well, what about, I mean, you are our polling guru, Domenico. How do people feel like Doge went? Or do you have, do we have any sense on whether people perceive this to have been a success? Well, no, they don't. There are a lot of things that people felt like that the government and Trump went too far on, moved too quickly on. People can accept change, but usually they're able to accept change that happens slowly, not massive change very quickly in a short period of time. It usually is very disruptive. I mean, clearly Republicans were perfectly happy with Trump and Elon Musk trying to go in and blow up the system and make big change. But that's a reason why a lot of them voted for Trump in the first place, because as we've heard from a lot of voters, he was a real thumb in the eye to the way things have been done. But it really wound up being something that I think that they've seen now, didn't exactly work because they had to wind up hiring back a lot of people who they'd fired to try and make the systems actually work. Also, I'll just step in as a self-proclaimed Domenico's polling assistant. You were the researcher like five years ago, right? I was the researcher. Thank you, Miles, for remembering my roots. But I also feel like we've literally seen some of the federal worker cuts backfire electorally. I mean, you look at the exit polls in Virginia and you can see, I mean, obviously we don't know how these folks would have voted before or after, especially if you're a federal worker who lives in Northern Virginia, which does lean more blue anyway. But the federal worker vote was handily for Democrats. But it is also crazy Domenico, when you said Doge, I was like, oh my god, right, that happened too. This is definitely a year where there's like a ton of things where you're like, oh, right. Yeah. And Elon Musk became one of the least liked people in the country when you look at polling overall. Elon Musk, an APNORC poll, for example, had him at 52% unfavorable. Only 36% had a favorable opinion of him. 29% had a favorable opinion of Doge with 39% disapproving. A lot of people not sure or not paying attention to it, but clearly very unfavorable. Well, and I think to your point, Alayna, as we think about takeaways moving forward, I think this is a great example of something that we literally will not be able to let go. Right? I mean, I just feel like in five years, 10 years, we're going to be talking about Doge as for all these different reasons. And one of the takeaways I feel like, I don't know that all Americans realize how big of an employer the federal government is. I think it was casually mentioned like it's the nation's largest employer or something like that. But I do think as a voting block, that is a really big deal in a lot of these states. And they're not all beltway focused. I think that was the other takeaway is that there are a lot of federal workers in middle America, and a lot of them were impacted too. Totally. Totally. I mean, yeah, they're federal workers all around the country. Yeah. Alayna, what can't you let go of? Okay. So I was really kind of racking my brain of what to do because there are so many things I can't let go of that I feel like I know will make Domenico angry. And so I was thinking of them like my journey from being embarrassed about writing Lime Scooters to being proud of it, which I'm still embarrassed about. But then I was like, no, it's too easy. Or I was like, maybe I should talk about how I'm doing this really cool new thing called reading books and how that's really cool. Welcome to the club. Thank you. Would all of these things make me angry? They just feel like they're very like... Reading books and writing scooters are things that would make you angry. Generational stories. I don't understand. But I'm actually going to go a little bit somber, which I feel like is very out of character for me because I feel like I'm a goof on the pod. But I'm going to do it. I swear there's a happy reason here. But I'm going to talk about my grandma. This month, my grandmother passed away. She was 86. It's okay. I mean, she had an incredible life. She had four kids, nine grandchildren. She was one of the smartest people I've ever met, best memory until the very end. And I'm bringing it up because she was a huge fan of NPR. And over the last, honestly, most of my life, she's been losing her vision. And she was so excited when I interned here and then when I got a job here as the researcher in the 2020 campaign. And she was one of my first calls when I got my offer letter. And she was losing her vision. And she told me once she was like, NPR is my eyes. And I think about that all the time. But it's literally like, it's so cool. And I just like, I want to pay homage to her because she was a huge support for me. And yeah, just like she, we were her eyes. And that's so cool. I mean, I don't know about podcasts, but the radio for sure. And like, she would always listen. It was on all the time, big radio family. And so like, I'm going to say my can't let it go is Rosanna Manningmore. And thank you so much for supporting me. Yeah, it's so, it's so interesting. I'm like getting, so I, two years ago, I lost my grandmother as well. And I would, the last time I went to see her before she passed, I hadn't seen her in a while. She lives in Florida and a part of Florida that's not really where the rest of my family is. So I went to visit her. And when I walked in the door, and she was also like losing her vision, and she pointed to the radio and was like, she would just sit there and like wait for me to come on basically. And like, I got, I don't know, that was the last time. And she was just like talking about how proud she was. And I don't know, that is, it's extraordinary. And I'm, yeah, I'm sorry for your loss, but that's amazing. I'm sorry too. I'm so glad you had that moment too. That is amazing. I do feel like if my parents lost their vision, they would just watch TV, and just listen to the TV. Just turn it up really, really loud. They would just be like, I can't see the Mets pitch. How, how did it go? Because when I moved from TV at NBC to NPR, it was as if I'd lost all jobs. Oh, okay. I was unemployed because they were like, oh, that's too bad we won't see you anymore. That's so funny. In the time, since have they figured out podcasts yet? Or they just, no. Yeah, you're a podcast star. Absolutely not. No, no. They're aware that I work at NPR. They're convinced that it is a place and that I have a job, but uh. And sometimes you go on TV still, everyone. Yes. Yeah. So that's convinced them that I'm still employed in the journalism industry. Well, you know, you're pretty also popular online, and that's a screen. They don't have online. Okay. Well, I'm sorry, Domenico. Sorry for your loss of TV. You know, I'm okay with it. It's fine. They just, you know, it's. You're somebody to us. We're really proud of you. Aren't you proud of Domenico, Alayna? Domenico is on the radio and the pods every freaking day. Yeah. Let's gas him up. Let's glaze him. I don't like when people use that word. That's very genc. I hate that word. What was the word? Glaze. Have you not? Oh yeah, I've heard that word. Yeah, because what's his, uh, um, Curtis Sliwa of New York City. Oh yeah, I heard that in that time right here. When Zoran was like, I'm gonna rank you second, he was like, don't be glazing me, Zoran. Don't be glazing me. All right. Uh, time for another break, but happy new year, guys. I'm so glad we get to do this together. Same. Happy new year to you. Thanks for being here. Happy new year, Miles and Domenico. More after the break. And we're back. And to bring us home, we have my fellow MPR Politics podcast co-host, Sarah McCammond and Tamara Keith. Hi guys. Hello. Hey. Happy holidays, first of all. Same to you. Um, why don't I go first? Oh, okay, there you go. You first. What can't you let go of? That's what I was gonna say. I just want to get it off my chest. This is really more of a venting session for me, honestly. Um, because I was thinking about it and there's all these things I can't let go. But actually, what I can't let go of is the gift of running water. I was expecting, how's that venting? Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Does this mean that you do not currently have running water at your house? I'm heading into week four of not having a shower or a bathtub in my house right now. I don't know if you've ever done, like, I personally do not realize that, like, I had never, I think my whole life, like, I've gone camping before for a couple days in a row, for a couple weeks in a row. But this is the longest period of my entire life where I've not had a place to bathe in my house. And you guys might be thinking, wow, Miles is probably pretty stinky. I have been bathing just to be clear. We're across the table from the chink. No, exactly. We're good. We're good. There's a six foot barrier here. Have you been bathing here at NPR? I've been taking the, hitting the NPR shower every day, bringing a gym back. I feel like people are starting to give me a looks because I'm like bringing in with, like, my entire closet. And long story short, it was a leak in my house, like, in November, and turned into some broader issues. And it should be done later this week. But I, you know, I have a toddler. So we've been bathing her at the neighbor's house. Oh my God. Oh my God. And again, I'm not just, I'm not saying this for pity. I'm telling you guys, I want you to take a shower today for me and just think about, I want you to appreciate it. I want you to realize the gift that you have and not take it for granted any longer. I do in all seriousness, sometimes like turn on the hot water and think, we are so freaking lucky. That's what I'm, that's what I'm trying to get at. We really are. 300 years ago, this was just everyone's life, you know, and they didn't even have the NPR showers. I'm just, I'm just, I have so many questions about what happened and what's still happening. But the answers are probably boring and so we can move on. But you're still living in your house. I am still living in my house. I had a situation during the pandemic, by the way, where I had a major leak that rendered both of my bathrooms unusable and we had to move out into a hotel for six weeks. Oh, that's a very long time. Thank God for insurance. And I also think about all the modern luxuries we have that I take for granted also, like refrigeration and heat and cooling and all these things. And I was like, showers actually not even that high up on the list of things that like, if they went down for four weeks, like, would I just die if my heat went down for four weeks? I don't know. It's, it's, I just am appreciating all of the modern inventions more than I used to, you know? Sarah, what can't you let go of? We could stop talking about my home. So mine, mine is completely different subject. And it's, this is a story from this summer. It was on, it was on Morning Edition. It was in the New York Times. And it's one that I'm having a hard time figuring out how to feel about. Do you remember the story about this woman who spent like weeks digging for her own diamond for her engagement ring? Yes. Yes. Her name is Michelle Fox. She basically spent weeks camping out in this tent in this kind of remote part of Arkansas, digging for, for a diamond. Oh, so she didn't, it's not only a diamond she lost. She was like looking, trying to find a new diamond. Correct. Okay, got it. Correct. And like, okay, in the plus column, I like that this is, I mean, this is very feminist. This is very self-empowered, also very ethical. She said she wanted an ethically sourced diamond, which I respect. The part that I'm struggling with is I feel like a diamond engagement ring is supposed to be like, like I'm traditional enough that I'm like, I'm wearing one. And I kind of want the guy to do the magical thing for you. Shouldn't he be digging? And this is the part of the story I don't understand. Like I read a couple of different accounts of this. And this woman who is, you know, totally impressive, she's like 31 years old. She like had a tool stolen. She did all this hiking and walking to get the supply she needed. But like, she, I read the New York Times account and she like texted her boyfriend when she found it. And then she got back to their apartment and back in, this is the New York Times, back in New York at their apartment in Manhattan's West Village. Her boyfriend was waiting with her favorite French fries from Bubbies, a popular homestyle American eatery. I'm just like, the dude, all he has to do is provide French fries. I don't get it. Perhaps he was like, okay, you do you. Yeah. Like, uh, this is weird, but if you really want to try, you go right ahead and try. And she found the diamond. She found it. She was able. Are there just like diamonds laying around in the dirt that we could all be digging for? Not really. This area, it's called crater of diamond state park in Arkansas. And you can dig for gyms. There's a $15 entry fee, lots of hiking involved, camping involved, sifting through dirt involved, difficult, difficult project. But she did find a 2.3 carat diamond, which apparently is pretty unusual. Like lots of diamond hunters. Yeah, that's a big one. Yeah, she did well. Nice. Tam, what can't you let go of? So what I can't let go of is what other people can't let go of, which is, I'd like to take you back to the year 2019. President Trump was relaunching his re-election campaign. I think he relaunched it a couple of times. You know, big rally. I went down to Florida to cover it. And then the Monday night I was on the PBS news hour, as I am every Monday for the Politics Monday segment. And I was trying to explain how like all these people come from all over to be at these Trump rallies. And I said this, Trump rallies are in some ways like going to see the Grateful Dead. You get to hear the songs you want to hear. And he always plays the greatest hits, if you will. So he does always play the greatest hits. And there are people who follow him around the country, like those lovely ladies from North Carolina, he always references, and the brick wall guy. And there are people who follow him around the country, but they are nothing like deadheads. No, that's what I just listened to. I was like, oh no, Tam. Like within minutes of saying it, I ran into a colleague who was like, Tam, you're going to regret that. And yes, I did regret that. And it blew up. It became a thing. It was actually my can't let it go that week, because I had been so thoroughly scolded by Grateful Dead fans who say that there are no Grateful Dead hits, really. There are no greatest hits. You never know what you're going to get. That's the biggest thing is like basically, that's why people go to the concerts like a bazillion times, like 80 times, because like there's a different set list like every time you go, basically. And so you don't really. Apparently so did I. I had no idea. And now I know. Well, I was at a member station event in Utah in the year of our Lord 2025, just last month. And this lovely couple comes up to me and they have this little wrapped gift and they're like, we have something for you. Please open it. And I did. And it is a three DVD set. Here it is. A three DVD set of the Grateful Dead concert at the closing of Winterland New Year's Eve, December 31, 1978. This is apparently one of the greatest Grateful Dead shows of all time. And what I cannot let go of is that this very lovely couple has been holding this against me for six years. They're going to hate me because I had to Google like what I couldn't even think of a single Grateful Dead song truck in. But apparently there are no hits. I feel like I guess not. Counter a different way to think about it is that this is like a very generous crowd of people and they just like, this is a person who just needs to be educated. And so they've been thinking like, well, if we ever run into Tam, like we'll educate her. And now, you know, aren't you going to watch all three DVDs? You better say yes. You better say yes. Yes. I can't wait to watch all three DVDs. Yes. Are they meant to be watched fully sober? Yes. That's the problem. And I am a very extremely sober person. The only reason I even know anything about any of this is that actually like three weeks ago, my buddy invited me to a Grateful Dead cover band. And I did go to that. And I had never been exposed to like any of this subculture. But I went and it sold out like over a thousand people. For a cover band. Really? I was shocked that like this is like still a very, very active. What was the age of the crowd? It was interesting. It's a lot of like dudes in their 20s. Oh, really? Like a lot of like the consultant bros are seem to be there, but then also goes all the way up to like, you know, people like my parents age. And the level of sobriety was definitely like I was definitely the most. I had like one beer and I was like, I am, this is not for me. Yes. And when I say I'm a very, very sober person, just to fact check myself, it's just drugs. I do once a week have a beer or a glass of wine. It's all right. But no, I was referring more to, you know, but I have never experienced any sort of hallucinogenic experience. And so that might be I don't fully understand the whole thing. This is what's going to happen. So you're going to do this pod and then in five years from now, some very nice couple is going to come and bring you some mushrooms at the next member station event in like 2035. And we're like, we remember you said you have not tried hallucinogenic drugs. So here you go. We grew these in our backyard. Enjoy. Don't consume anything that somebody grew in there. We can leave it there for this podcast for 2025. And I am grateful. Just I just as we end this year, I would like to say that I am grateful. I am grateful to our audience, even if they sometimes hold a grudge. And I'm grateful to both of you for being friends on the pod and friends in real life. Same. We keep talking about this every political year, we're like, man, that was the craziest one. And that's like, so I think it's crazy to be like, hopefully 2026 is a little easier on all of us than 2025 was. But maybe we should just not even have those sort of expectations. Don't have hope. No, let's just let's just roll with it. Let's just be kind of, I don't know, zen or chill or it'll be what it'll be. Look at this stare like this grateful dead artwork and you know, just like the set list of a grateful dead show. We don't know what's high, but we'll enjoy it all the same. Right. There you go. Yeah. Thank you so much to everyone who listens. All the member station reporters who've also been on the pod this year. We want to say thank you to you and to our amazing staff. I'm waving at Casey in the control room who make this pod every day and everybody on the MPR politics team who make this pod happen. And most of all, thank you to our audience. We would not be able to do this without you listening. So with that, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Our executive producer is Bethony Meturri. Our producers are Casey Morel and Bria Suggs. Our editor is Rachel Bay, special thanks to Christian Dev Callimer. I'm Miles Parks, I cover voting. I'm Tamara Keith. I cover the White House. And I'm Sarah McCammon. I cover politics. And thank you for listening all year to the MPR politics podcast.
