Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the increasing likelihood that President Trump will fire special counsel Robert Mueller, possibly as early as Friday in a desperate attempt to shut down the investigation into Trump’s ties to Russia.  AsCongressional Republicans and Fox News ramp up inflated rhetoric and invented charges to discredit Mueller, we are joined by Joe McLean, a veteran political strategist, to discuss his article at The Guardian “What is the Republican playbook for the Mueller investigation?" and whether in joining Trump’s cover-up the Republicans will succeed in the short term to avoid the damage of the public finding out their leader is a traitor, or will they be punished in the long term when the truth eventually comes out.

Part 2

Then we look into what outraged citizens can do to reverse last Thursday’s FCC vote to overturn net neutrality which effectively ended the free internet thus enabling oligopolies that provide internet access to begin discriminating based who can afford to pay for content as they lower the quality of service for those who can’t. Matt Stoller, who was recently fired from the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute for his criticism of tech monopolies, joins us. We look into how the “cableization” of the open internet will help monopolies consolidate their power, and, with 80 percent of registered voters opposing the decision, we will also discuss whether such unpopular legislation could backfire on Republicans at the polls and provide Democrats with a counter-message around anti-trust and closing the income gap to expose Trump’s corrupt and phony populism and recapture authentic economic populism.

Part 3

Then finally we speak with Anthea Butler, a Professor and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania whose latest book is “From Palin to Trump: Evangelicals, Politics and Race”. She joins us to discuss the role of African/American women in the victory against Roy Moore in Alabama and the need for a sustained movement of the religious left, women and the 65% of Americans opposed to the president to get active and relentlessly demand Trump’s removal from office.

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the extraordinarily scathing editorial from the centrist national newspaper USA Today that asks “will Trump’s lows ever hit rock bottom” then goes on to say “a president who would all but call Senator Kirsten Gillibrand a whore is not fit to clean toilets in the Barack Obama Presidential Library or shine the shoes of George W. Bush”. Jennifer Mercieca, a professor in the Department of Communications at Texas A&M University where she teaches courses on Political Communication and Presidential Rhetoric, joins us to discuss how Trump has broken the mold of traditional presidential decorum and to quote the editorial “if recent history is a guide, the unique awfulness of the Trump era in U.S. politics is only going to get worse” because of “Trump’s utter lack of morals, ethics and simple humanity”. We will assess whether, just as the people in Alabama grew tired of Roy Moore’s antics and the baggage of sexual assault accompanying him, the American people may well tire of the daily embarrassment the vulgarian in the White House brings to the office of the presidency.

Part 2

Then, following an election victory in Alabama that many see as a repudiation of Donald Trump and Steve Bannon, we will explore whether the political tide in turning in America and the bad guys are no longer winning as the good women in particular make a stand with a good guy like Doug Jones elected to the U.S. Senate instead of fire and brimstone theocrat and child molester. Ruy Teixeira, a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and author of a new book “The Optimistic Leftist: Why the 21^st Century Will Be Better Than You Think”, joins us to discuss the beginning of what he sees as a revival of the American left galvanized in opposition to Trump and mobilized to vote for change.

Part 3

Then finally we speak with Marc Sandalow, the editor-in-chief of the California News Service who spent 21 years with the San Francisco Chronicle including 11 years as the paper’s Washington Bureau Chief. We will analyze whether the punishment of California in the Republican tax bill and the double standard of relief for hurricane victims in Florida and Texas but not for fire victims in California, will backfire on California’s Republican delegation in the 2018 election since 11 of the 14 voted for the tax bill.