Why Joe Kent quit

Since retiring from the military, combat veteran Joe Kent has been a loyal foot soldierin the MAGA army. Now, the two-time Washington congressional candidate claims President Donald Trump was manipulated into going to war with Iran, a country Kent says posed no imminent threat to the U.S. Kent sa…

How weird is Washington's millionaire's tax?

We've been talking about it for what feels like forever. But it has finally happened. The Washington state legislature has passed the millionaire's tax. We're talking about the sounds, smells and substance that got this bill to the governor's desk with Sarah Mizes-Tan, KUOW's Olympia reporter. Th…

Listener mailbag: Iran redux

We’re coming to you with a bonus dose of Sound Politics because we got some feedback about our last episode that we want to talk about and chew over a bit. Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible. If you want to help out, go to https://www.kuow.org/donate/soundpolitic…

Seattle's Iranian diaspora processes war

We spoke to a major booster of President Trump and a proponent of military intervention in Iran. He doesn’t speak for the wide spectrum of Iranian-American thinking — but he does represent a mode of thought that is very visible and very loud in the Pacific Northwest. Most of the street demonstratio…

Could conservative sheriffs get removed from office?

Democrats in Olympia are considering a bill that gives a state board the power to decertify elected sheriffs. Depending on how you see it, it's either a necessary step to modernize sheriff's offices or opens the door for an unelected state board to undermine voters. KUOW's Amy Radil will explain th…

Robin Hood: Dems in Tights

Is Governor Ferguson tax-mogging? We'll let you look up what that means, but the millionaire’s tax is taking shape as it moves through Olympia. State Senate Democrats passed their version of the proposal this week. But can it pay for everything Democrats want it to fund? Also, Seattle mayor Katie …

Jayapal on what she saw in the Epstein files

We haven’t talked a lot about the Epstein files on this show but it’s a defining picture of a lot of the politics we talk about here – populist backlash against rich elites and distrust of government and the political establishment more generally. It is a story that has engulfed the other Washingto…

Taxing the jocks and the nerds

We're going deep on taxes this week, even though it's only February. State Democrats have released their so-called millionaire's tax, and we talk about why one particular Dem isn't sold yet. Related Links SB 6346 - 2025-26 WA Democrats’ ‘millionaires tax’ is here, but Ferguson doesn’t support it…

Do “general strikes” work? Seattle history has an answer

Where did the idea come from to push back against President Trump by holding a general strike? The story takes us back 100 years to shipyard workers in Seattle. We’ll hear why people think general strikes are an effective protest today and whether they work. On this week's episode, we relied on or…

How do you measure a year in Trump?

One year into President Trump's second term, we check in with Washington state’s biggest Trump supporter (or at least, the biggest one in our Congressional delegation) Rep. Michael Baumgartner of Spokane. We also talk with the biggest Trump adversary in the state, Attorney General Nick Brown, who s…