Saagar Enjeti

Enjeti was born in Texas to Indian immigrant parents who teach at Texas A&M University; he spent part of his childhood in the Middle East before returning to the United States for his education.⁠[1]

Enjeti earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from The George Washington University and later a master’s degree from Georgetown University; he has studied on three continents and visited more than 40 countries.⁠[2]

As White House correspondent for The Daily Caller, he was called on at Trump’s joint press conference with the prime minister of Italy and asked about a possible government shutdown over border-wall funding. NBCNBCNBC (National Broadcasting Company) is an American national commercial broadcast television network. It was founded by RCA in 1926, began as a radio network and later developed television. With ABC and CBS it is one of the three traditional U.S. broadcast networks; it passed to General Electric with RCA in 1986, merged with Universal to form NBCUniversal in 2004, has been controlled by Comcast since 2011, and is one of the five networks that rotate in the White House television pool.Open the full entry reporter Ken Dilanian then called The Daily Caller “Trump’s pet media” on Twitter, while some journalists defended his question.⁠[3]

The same day he said on Rising that he worked at the White House every day and that press access had not been shut down, while also calling the phrase “enemy of the people” divisive.⁠[4]

He also commented on Rising about the anonymous administration official’s op-ed criticizing Trump in The New York Times, describing the author as a Republican establishment figure in the mold of Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney.⁠[5]

On January 30, 2019, he and Daily Caller colleague Coglianese interviewed Donald Trump.⁠[6]

Hudson Institute launched the weekly podcast The Realignment, hosted by media fellows Enjeti and Marshall Kosloff, to explore shifts in national security, economics, technology and the role of government, with J.D. Vance as the first guest; he was then also co-hosting Rising on Hill TV.⁠[7]

He was named a 2019–2020 Tony Blankley Fellow of the Steamboat Institute, while serving as chief White House correspondent for The Hill.⁠[8]

Rising was The Hill’s YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry show hosted by him and Krystal Ball, drawing hundreds of thousands of viewers; the two also wrote The Populist’s Guide to 2020, published by Strong Arm Press, collecting essays by each of them. Ball recalled that The Hill wanted a left/right format for the show.⁠[9]

In an interview he said, “I just cover whatever I want,” and described 25- to 35-year-olds as the show’s main audience.⁠[10]

On episode #167 he discussed topics including Hitler, Donald Trump, Teddy Roosevelt, the balance of power in the US government, bureaucracy, Jeffrey Epstein, journalism, Joe RoganJoe RoganJoe Rogan is an American podcaster, stand-up comedian and UFC commentator whose long-form interview podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, launched in 2009, is among the most listened-to podcasts in the world; he hosted the NBC reality show Fear Factor, and his show’s content and political statements have repeatedly drawn controversy.Open the full entry and Stalin; the episode described him as a DC-based political correspondent and podcaster.⁠[11]

In June 2021 he and Krystal Ball went independent and launched Breaking Points premium memberships on Supercast, with more than 10,000 members signing up in the first five days.⁠[12]

Breaking Points gained nearly half a million subscribers in one month and ranked among the top 10 news podcasts on Apple Podcasts in the United States.⁠[13]

Breaking Points produces three full episodes a week in a rented studio and releases them in audio and video almost immediately after taping; Enjeti estimated that Rising needed a full-time staff of about 30, while Breaking Points relies on eight part-time hourly contractors and already outpaces the old show’s viewership.⁠[14]

Later, Ryan Grim and Emily Jashinsky also left Rising to join Breaking Points.⁠[15]

On episode #454 he discussed why Trump won, the history of wokeism, Scots-Irish history, immigration, DOGE, MAGA ideology, Bernie Sanders, Obama versus Trump and Kamala Harris, among other topics.⁠[16]

On Substack he published a list of the books he used to prepare for and mentioned in the episode, saying listeners had asked for curated lists after his previous appearance.⁠[17]

He continues to co-host Breaking Points with Krystal Ball; the show moved its premium membership back to Supercast and added a newsletter, and he said it has always prioritized a direct relationship with its audience and independence.⁠[12]

On Tucker Carlson’s show he questioned the Justice Department’s decision to close its Epstein investigation, argued that intelligence agencies might be concealing evidence, and said he did not see Trump as the center of any protective effort.⁠[1]

He earlier also served as foreign affairs correspondent for The DC News Foundation.⁠[2]

Personal website: Public link: https://saagarenjeti.substack.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[16]

X: Public account: https://x.com/esaagar (opens in a new window)⁠[16]

Hudson Institute: Official website: https://www.hudson.org/ (opens in a new window)⁠[7]