Eighteen witnesses have testified in public and in private. The story seems to expand by the day, if not by the hour. A diverse cast of characters is fighting to shape the public’s understanding of what happened.
Sinker introduced the newsletter on the last day of September, just a few days after wondering on Twitter why Democrats had not already done something similar. At the time, it still seemed like a relatively novel idea. Today, it is one in a crowded field. The New Yorker staff writer Sarah Larson, who recently reviewed the lot, argues that the best impeachment-related podcast is actually one not focused entirely on the subject: “Trump, Inc.,” an investigative project from WNYC and ProPublica that examines the businesses connected to President Donald Trump and his administration.
“It says something about the buzziness about what’s hot in media right now,” he said. “Newsletters and podcasting are the two big things. If the impeachment hearings had happened in 2017, we might be seeing more Snapchat channels or Instagram” content. “We’re still appealing to those core news junkies, those core political junkies, but also reaching a more diverse audience: people who are just interested in this moment of time and this topic,” she said.
Sinker said he was heartened by how popular his newsletter had become, as well: “Almost immediately, there were way more people subscribed than I was expecting,” he said.