Full Program

Part 1

We begin with an analysis of the daunting task ahead for the Democrats who hope to take back the House and even the Senate in 2018 and speak with George Lakoff, Professor Emeritus of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley and author of ”The All New Don’t Think of an Elephant” and “The Political Mind”. He joins us to discuss the recent Democratic defeat in the most expensive congressional race in history and offer an alternative strategy for Democrats as they try to reach out to disaffected Republican voters in potential swing districts. Facing a gerrymandered electorate with unlimited Republican money pouring in, Lakoff argues that the Democrats are doomed as long as they fail to learn from recent defeats while clinging to the vain hope Trump will self-destruct or be impeached. He urges them to stop running the same campaigns with bland candidates who continue to run on facts and figures, platforms and policies, while ignoring the political mind and the importance of values and emotions.   

Part 2

Then we examine the consequences of having a commander in chief who delegates decisions to the military as the war against ISIS in Syria and Iraq gets more complicated and potentially explosive while the security situation in Afghanistan deteriorates. Henri Barkey, the Director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars who was a member of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff on the Middle East, the Eastern Mediterranean and Intelligence, joins us to discuss that in the absence of hands-on leadership, there is a growing possibility that a clash between the U.S. and Syrian or Iranian forces could spark a wider war in Syria.

Part 3

Then finally we speak with Mel Goodman, an expert on U.S. relations with Russia who served as a senior analyst and division chief at the CIA and is the author of six books on U.S. intelligence and international security, the latest of which is “Whistleblower at the CIA: An Insider’s Account of the Politics of Intelligence”. He joins us to discuss the inner workings of the intelligence community and how corruption, intimidation and misinformation can lead to disastrous foreign interventions.

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with an analysis of the just-released draft of the Republican Senate’s repeal and replacement of Obamacare bill that Mitch McConnell is determined to get passed by the fourth of July holiday in a grotesque perversion of patriotism as Republicans are poised to celebrate millions of their fellow citizens loosing healthcare coverage in order to make a handful of their richest patrons even richer. A veteran of the health insurance industry, Wendell Potter, who was chief corporate spokesman at CIGNA and head of corporate communications at Humana, joins us to discuss what has emerged from secret behind-closed-doors negotiations and the unseemly rush to get something passed before it can be studied or scored to assess its impact, in order to fulfill a Trump campaign promise so that Republicans can move on to the important work of “reforming” taxes to further enrich the wealthiest Americans like Trump and his family.

Part 2

Then we get an assessment of the Democrat’s recent loss in the most expensive House race in history and why they ran such a bland candidate with a feckless message and whether by reaching so high they gave Trump a gift and squandered millions of dollars of small donations from concerned citizens who are alarmed by Trump’s reckless and destructive presidency. Simon Rosenberg, the President and Founder of the New Democrat Network, a leading progressive think tank and advocacy organization, joins us to discuss the kind of messages and candidates the Democrats need to take back the House and Senate in 2018.

Part 3

Then finally we speak with John Lawrence, a visiting professor at the University of California, Washington who worked for 38 years in the House of Representatives and served as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s chief of staff. He joins us to discuss unrelenting Republican attacks on Pelosi as well as some criticism of her leadership from a few Democrats and the underlying reason why she is the target of Republicans, not because they see her as a weak leader, but as a strong one.