Episode 56: Michael Kruse

Michael Kruse has been a senior staff writer at Politico for nearly four years. In that time, he has gone from writing deep profiles of presidential candidates to criss-crossing the country in an effort to understand the current state of politics in America.

One of Kruse’s most recent stories focused on Johnstown, Penn., a city and region that voted heavily for President Donald Trump. This story follows up on several people Kruse interviewed when he was in Johnstown just after the election.

Kruse also recently profiled Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey in a piece headlined “Cory Booker Loves Donald Trump.”

Kruse has won the Paul Hansell Award for Distinguished Achievement in Florida Journalism and the American Society of News Editors’ distinguished non-deadline writing award. This is his third time on the podcast. He was the featured guest on Episode 16, when he talked about his three-part series “The Last Voyage of the Bounty,” which in the Tampa Bay Times. He was also on Episode 45 with Ben Montgomery, Thomas Lake Wright Thompson and Tony Rehagen, as they reminisced about the late Michael Brick.