Dan Pfeiffer knows when to speak. As a former senior adviser and communications director for former President Barack Obama, Pfeiffer was once charged with shaping 44’s public voice and vision. Now, as a Pod Save America co-host and author of a new book, Yes We (Still) Can, Pfeiffer—like the rest of us—is still reckoning with how we went from the first black president to one that traffics in racism and fascism and has white supremacists on his staff. He joined the pod this week to remind us that we are not that far removed from a president who is comfortable using polysyllabic words and shares how he accidentally stumbled into a podcasting empire.

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Daniella Gibbs Legér is the senior vice president for Communications and Strategy at the Center for American Progress. Ed Chung is the vice president for Criminal Justice Reform at the Center. Rachel Rosen is the senior director of Broadcast Communications at the Center. Kyle Epstein is the media relations manager at the Center.