Three former Obama administration staffers and co-hosts of the "Pod Save America" podcast held a Q&A session Tuesday on Reddit during which they apologized for being "really fucking wrong" about the results of the 2016 presidential election.
Jon Favreau, former White House director of speechwriting, Jon Lovett, former speechwriter for Obama, and Tommy Vietor, former spokesman for the National Security Council, host a podcast called "Pod Save America," the successor to "Keeping it 1600," which began in March 2016.
On Tuesday at 7:00 p.m., the three co-hosts held a Q&A on Reddit. Users commented over 500 times on their thread.
"We're a couple of former Obama staffers who figured it was time to create a place to talk about politics the way actual human beings talk," the co-hosts wrote. "Our show 'Pod Save America' is a no-bullshit podcast dedicated to every American who isn't ready to give up or go insane. Ask Us Anything!"
One question came from user VStarffin, who said he was "not intending to mock or insult the hosts."
"So this might sound confrontational, but I don't mean it to be. My basic question is–how did you deal with, and how are you dealing with, being so wrong about the 2016 election?" the user asked
Vietor responded that their prediction that Hillary Clinton would win the 2016 presidential election was not just wrong, but "really, really wrong."
"I disagree. We weren't just wrong, we were really, REALLY fucking wrong. Like embarrassingly wrong," Vietor wrote. "And we are mad at ourselves for a number of reasons, namely because we focused on the bullshit and the horserace and the day-to-day outrages, and not on why this election was so important and the issues that really matter. So we're trying to fix that."
Vietor continued to apologize to the listeners of the podcast and pleaded with viewers to stick around.
"So, sorry again for being wrong. We didn't mean to let you guys down," he said. "But we hope you'll stick with us because we really care about this country and are frightened by what's going on and want to join together to fix it."
Another user and apparent longtime fan, Wackademic, asked if the podcast had done an adequate job analyzing the Republican Party.
"Every week, you talk about how Republicans are falling apart," Wackademic wrote. But "the Republicans have been hugely successful in every election since 2008!"
"Do you think that your podcast(s) do an adequate job of recognizing that the Republican Party, as a whole, is actually quite good at politics, or at least at winning elections?" the user then asked.
"I hear where you're coming from, but winning an election doesn't mean you're right," Vietor responded.
While the podcast co-hosts claimed they were trying to stay out of the prediction business, they responded to user Sirfartsalot10, who asked, "What do you think are the chances of Trump being impeached?"
The "Pod Saves America" boys responded by saying the chances are very low.
"We're trying to stay out of the prediction business! I will say that as long as we have a Republican House and Senate, the chances are very, very low (not zero, but low)."
The podcast co-hosts did not respond to a request for comment on its Reddit session and their election predictions.