The Conversation with Dasha Burns

Gates Foundation co-founder Bill Gates joined POLITICO’s Dasha Burns on this week’s episode of The Conversation to discuss his continued support for vaccine philanthropy, the impact of government aid cuts in global health, AI, vaccine skepticism and much more. The interview took place shortly after the release of The Gates Foundation’s Goalkeepers Report projects, which predicts that child deaths will rise in 2025 for the first time this century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this special edition of The Conversation, President Donald Trump sits down with POLITICO’s Dasha Burns at the White House to discuss his global influence, especially his involvement in trying to end the Ukraine-Russia war and his evolving relationship with America’s longtime allies in Europe and beyond. Plus, they discuss the situation in Venezuela, domestic issues like affordability and rising healthcare costs and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is no stranger to President Donald Trump’s tariff-forward trade agenda. Greer served as chief of staff to Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. Trade Representative in Trump’s first administration. But now, it’s Greer who’s at the helm of the president’s tariff implementation strategy — one that has drawn both criticism and praise from surprising places.  “I've also had members of Congress come to me, people who maybe weren't fans of tariffs two years ago, and they said, ‘This is actually real money that's coming in that can be used to pay down the debt or pay for other things or finance our reindustrialization,” Greer said. In this week’s episode of The Conversation, Ambassador Greer sits down with POLITICO’s Dasha Burns to explain why trade policy defies political labels, the particulars of how deals are shaping up globally and the strategy behind reconfiguring seven decades’ worth of international policy.  Plus, Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, joins Dasha to explain how the battle for school funding continues to unfold, the intrinsic relationship between education and democracy and why the well-being of students should be at the top of the president’s mind. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan Driscoll made history earlier this year when, at 38, he was sworn in as the youngest Army secretary in U.S. history. And he just made news again this week when he became the highest-level Trump administration official to visit Kyiv for the White House’s secret peace talks in effort to end Russia’s war on Ukraine. Driscoll joined high-level talks with Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as news broke about a potential peace deal on the horizon. Driscoll is a veteran of the Iraq War, and as a result, has felt the effects of Pentagon decisions firsthand. He’s set out to reshape the U.S. Army and the Pentagon into an agile institution that can make better use of existing resources and channel the best practices of the private sector. “When you are creating defensive and offensive solutions, you have to think even 10 years out when the war really gets to its most catastrophic moment, ‘What are the very basic tools of warfare that can't be impacted by the enemy,” Driscoll said. In this week’s episode of The Conversation, Driscoll sits down with POLITICO’s Dasha Burns to delve into the future of warfare, his plans for reinvigorating the Army’s technology and the innovation spurred by conflict. “I think the best guess is if the United States entered a conflict with a peer in a couple of years, it would be a hybrid war where nearly every human being on the battlefield would be empowered and enabled with a digital tool,” Driscoll said. “I think we believe every infantryman in the United States Army will carry a drone with them into battle.” CNN "NewsNight" host Abby Phillip also joined Dasha to chat about her new book, “A Dream Deferred: Jesse Jackson and the Fight for Black Political Power,” Jackson’s influence on today’s political landscape and Phillip’s approach to her own roundtable show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rep. Seth Moulton (D–Mass.) is not one to shy away from criticism of his own party. He made waves in the past when he insisted that the Democrats’ approach to dialogue on transgender issues was stifling. Moulton has also been vocal about the need for generational change in an aging Washington.  This time, the Massachusetts congressman is speaking out about the deal that ended the longest government shutdown in history. And how Senate Democrats missed an opportunity to extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies “If Republicans were somehow gaining advantage here, if the polling was shifting in their favor, if they had done well in the elections last week, then I might say,’Okay, I get it. It doesn't seem like this strategy is working, so let's give up,’” says Moulton. “But Schumer has just snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.” Moulton is a veteran who served four tours in Iraq as a Marine Corps infantry officer. He’s also challenging Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey for his seat in the 2026 midterms — a feat that former Rep. Joe Kennedy III attempted and lost in 2020. “Senator Markey is a good guy,” says Moulton. “He served the country for half a century. I mean, he's been in office longer than I've been alive. He and I agree on many of the issues. He says the right things, he has great press releases, but how much has he actually gotten done?” In this week’s episode of The Conversation, Moulton talks with POLITICO’s Dasha Burns about how Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is failing his party, why age needs to be a major consideration for lawmakers and how Senate Democrats could have done more to guarantee access to affordable healthcare. Plus, POLITICO’s Senior Congressional editor Mike DeBonis joins Dasha to discuss how the shutdown finally came to an end, which party ended up better off afterwards and how this event may shape Congress in the year to come. CORRECTION: An earlier version of this podcast misstated that former Rep. Joe Kennedy III is running against Sen. Ed Markey in  2026. Kennedy ran against Markey in 2020 but has not announced plans to run against Markey in 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices