If President Barack Obama gave one of President Donald Trump’s speeches, would you be able to tell the difference? As a thought experiment in bias, Johanna Maska talks with comedian Matt Friend, who has been all over social media with spot-on political impressions. Friend reads Trump speeches as though they were delivered by Obama, Obama speeches as though they were delivered by Trump and Maska tries to sift her feelings having been there when many of these speeches were delivered.

Johanna Maska checks in on the presidential campaign of the only woman seeking the GOP nomination so far: Nikki Haley. She was South Carolina’s first female Governor, a daughter of immigrants from India, and someone who has been hailed as a potential leader of the next generation of the Republican party.  She served as Donald Trump’s US Ambassador to the United Nations but is taking on her former boss in the competition. To get to know her better, Johanna talks with Mehek Cooke, a Republican lawyer who reached out to Haley when she ran for office in Ohio. Plus, we speak with Meg Kinnard, a reporter with The Associated Press in South Carolina who has covered Haley for 18 years.

Johanna Maska looks at the second South Carolinian in the GOP race and the latest entrant, Sen. Tim Scott.  He has an uphill battle on name recognition, but lots of friends — and campaign cash —  to make an impact.  To get to know him better Maska talked to some friends across the aisle who know him best.  Denise Gitsham is a Republican who worked in George W. Bush’s White House and is a personal friend of Scott. And on the policy side, we hear from Ja’Ron Smith, who served as Deputy Assistant to the President for President Trump and previously worked in Congress when Tim Scott was a member of the House. Finally, we bring back Meg Kinnard from The Associated Press for her thoughts on covering Scott.

In this episode we start with the best known GOP candidate, former President Donald Trump. Johanna Maska speaks with Morgan Ortagus, who served in the Trump administration as State Department Spokesperson, to learn more about who still surrounds the former President, and who might provide the most competition among his rivals. Plus, Julia Manchester, national political reporter for The Hill, discusses the growing field of Republicans running for President and what we should know about them and their chances of winning the nomination.

With an election cycle unlike any other, former Vice President Mike Pence is likely to enter the race against his former boss, President Donald Trump and a crowded field of contenders. The job of Vice President is often unenviable in politics because it’s generally viewed to be without power. After many criticized Pence for siding with his boss, he broke with the President January 6, 2021, and refused to overturn the 2020 election results. Johanna Maska speaks to Republican Alyssa Farah Griffin who worked for Vice President Mike Pence for two years as his spokesperson. Alyssa shares insights on who Mike Pence really is at his core, his policy positions, and reveals what he said when he came face-to-face with Vladimir Putin. Plus, those who know us best knew us before: Maska speaks with local Indiana reporter Nikki Kelly, the Editor-in-Chief for the Indiana Capital Chronicle. Kelly tells Johanna what he was like in the early days of his political career.

Johanna Maska speaks to popular two-term Republican Maryland Governor Larry Hogan who breaks down the GOP primary process, the path to victory for a candidate and what he wants to see from the eventual nominee. Gov. Hogan recently decided against making a run for President in 2024 and talks about his version of the politics of hope. Johanna continues the deep dive on electoral math - and the GOP primary process - with her friend of 20 years, GOP strategist Samantha Dravis who worked on multiple presidential campaigns and in the White House for George W. Bush and Donald Trump’s administration.

Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis emerged in the first wave of the tea party movement, and was in Congress before Donald Trump was a GOP standard bearer. But now the former President claims credit for DeSantis’ rise and has seen the governor’s emerging candidacy as perhaps his greatest threat to the nomination. Johanna Maska speaks with Kristin Davison, the COO for the pro-DeSantis super PAC “Never Back Down” about why next generation GOP strategists are backing a DeSantis 2024 presidential run. Plus, more on DeSantis’record with Alex Isenstadt, national political correspondent with Politico, who has been covering DeSantis on the campaign trail. Isenstadt shares what he’s observed and talks about the role the governor’s wife, Casey DeSantis, plays in his political career.

Ahead of the 2024 election, NewsNation contributor Johanna Maska takes a fresh look at how we make political progress. As Director of Press Advance for President Obama’s White House and one of his early campaign staffers, Maska knows what it takes to move the needle on the national stage and in the presidential primaries. She takes us past the talking points to look at what it will take to make progress in today’s polarized political environment.