The Gas Prices Are Too Damn High

The Gas Prices Are Too Damn High

Author: Runaway Country with Alex Wagner April 23, 2026 Duration: 1:09:27
Instead of pumping the brakes on the Iran war, President Trump is breaking the pumps. This week Alex looks at how high gas prices are impacting Americans, and why they’ve long been considered an existential political threat. First, she speaks to an Uber driver and a gas station owner to get first hand accounts of the financial toll of the war. Then Alex is joined by Derek Thompson, writer and host of the Plain English podcast, to break down the other ways financial strain is going to spread across industries and wallets, and why it feels like one crisis after another has made it impossible to afford life in America.

In a landscape saturated with political talk, Runaway Country with Alex Wagner offers a different kind of conversation. This podcast moves beyond the day-to-day noise of headlines to explore the deeper forces shaping American life. Alex Wagner guides listeners through complex intersections of power, identity, and belief, examining how cultural shifts and government policies resonate in communities across the nation. Each episode is built on thoughtful discussion that connects the dots between news events and their human consequences, asking what current political realities reveal about our society's trajectory. The focus is on understanding the undercurrents-the cultural narratives and historical contexts-that define this moment. You'll hear analysis that prioritizes depth over instant reaction, considering how issues of governance and politics are lived and felt far from the capital's corridors. It’s a space for considering the American story from multiple angles, making sense of a rapidly changing world. For anyone seeking a more nuanced perspective on the forces driving the country, this podcast provides essential listening.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Runaway Country with Alex Wagner
Podcast Episodes
Trump's Black Box Presidency [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:18:59
Pete Hegseth wants a $1.5 trillion bump in Pentagon spending, and won’t say what it’s for. War in Iran reignites, and the Trump administration hides the number of injured American troops. Innocent people are killed by IC…
“They’re Hunting Latino Men” [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:11:15
ICE agents have killed two men in the last 10 days. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was fatally shot in Houston, Texas on July 7th, as was Joan Sebastian Guerrero on July 13th in Biddeford, Maine. On this week’s show, Alex looks…
Where Do Democrats Go After Graham Platner? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:04:10
The Maine Senate race has been thrown into complete disarray after serious allegations of sexual assault emerged against Graham Platner. This week Alex speaks to Dan Kleban, U.S. Senate candidate and co-founder of the Ma…
Trump Loses His Base [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:17:38
Take one poll with a grain of salt, but what about a TON of polls? From white middle class voters, to rural Americans, and even Evangelicals, the numbers show that Trump is losing his most ardent supporters. This week Al…
Shady JD (Vance) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:16:25
Is there anything that Vice President JD Vance hasn’t messed up? From political messaging, to lecturing the Pope about theology, Vance’s public appearances are often cringe inducing. But this week, Alex digs into the per…
Grifter in Chief [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:06:16
The levels of corruption Americans are witnessing are both historic and astounding. This week, Alex speaks to ProPublica reporter Robert Faturechi, who broke the story that the Department of Defense gave a $620,000,000 l…
What Actually Happens in ICE Detention [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:13:17
A new chapter of ICE terror has begun, but instead of taking place on the street—where agents are held accountable by protesters and their phones—mistreatment and coercion is now happening behind the closed doors of ICE…
Election Chaos: Texas Republicans vs California Dems [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:17:12
Could reality TV star Spencer Pratt become Mayor of Los Angeles? And could Trump’s endorsement of Ken Paxton cause Texas to go blue? This week, Alex dives into all things primaries to see if we can read the tea leaves fo…
The Emperor’s New Slush Fund [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:15:24
This week, Alex digs into the nearly unfathomable corruption of President Trump’s settlement with the Department of Justice, including the $1.776 billion “Anti-weaponization Fund”. She speaks to Michael Fanone, a former…