Month: July 2019

Counting “Illegals” When the Constitution Stipulates Counting Persons

We begin with the reversal by Trump today as he dropped his effort to defy a Supreme Court ruling with an executive order to get his citizenship question back on the census after the court ruled his reasons for including the question were “contrived”. With his Attorney General at his side, now acting as his personal lawyer, Trump outlined his plan to have the Commerce Department obtain citizenship data by means other than the U.S. Census with Barr explaining further that their priority is to count the number of so-called “illegals” in this country not all the persons as the constitution stipulates. Joining us is Dowell Myers, a professor in the School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California who has been an advisor to the Bureau of the Census and authored the most widely referenced work on census analysis. We discuss the extent to which Trump has already sown fears and confusion about the census as he practices his politics of distraction with on and off stunts that dominate the news cycle and disguise his incompetence and indecision. With the Supreme Court already having given the Republicans the green light to ramp up their jerrymandering which already has for example, the Republicans only winning 46% of the vote in Wisconsin but getting 64% of the seats in the State House, we will assess how an undercount in the census of urban minority communities in Blue States could have widened the gap on the political playing field further in the Republican’s favor.

Did Boris Johnson Leak the Cables Describing Trump as Inept, Insecure and Incompetent?

Then we speak with Harold Clarke, a Professor in the School of Economic, Political and Policy Studies at the University of Texas and a visiting professor at the University of Manchester whose latest book is “Brexit: Why Britain Voted to Leave the European Union”. He joins us to discuss the possibility that Boris Johnson leaked the secret cables portraying Trump as inept, insecure and incompetent that led to the resignation of Britain’s ambassador to the U.S. But while Johnson is likely to become the next prime minister, his prospects look bleak as they do for the Labour opposition. And although Donald and Boris are bosom buddies, the expectation that Trump will rescue the Brexiteers from the economic ruin a break with the E.U. will entail, is worth as much as a degree from Trump University.

Trump’s Wingnut Social Media Summit

Then finally we examine the unintentional comedy at the White House today with Jared Holt, an investigative journalist with Right Wing Watch. He joins us to discuss Trump’s Social Media Summit convened to promote the lie that right wingers and wingnuts are being censored from social media platforms like Twitter. But those who showed up today at the White House who were not banned from Twitter, although many are anti-Semites and white nationalists, were attacked on social media by those who have actually been banned like Laura Loomer and Alex Jones who were angry that they weren’t invited.