Month: September 2022

Wall-to-Wall Media Coverage of Mourning and Ritual has Given the British PM a Break From the Crises Left to Worsen

We begin with today’s funeral of Queen Elizabeth II following 12 days of mourning and intense media coverage both in the UK and the US as dignitaries gathered from around the world amid pageantry and rituals displayed in wall-to-wall media coverage. This has given Britain’s new PM a break from dealing with many crises that have been building for months while the ruling Conservative Party has been locked in internal power struggles. Meanwhile the European energy crisis from Putin’s cut off of gas worsened with skyrocketing household energy bills that have yet to be dealt with. Joining us is Rob Ford, a Professor of Political Science at the University of Manchester whose research focuses on areas of public opinion, electoral choice and party politics. He is the author of Revolt on the Right which examined the rise of the UK Independence Party.

Trump’s Humiliating Praise of His Ohio Senate Candidate Before a QAnon Crowd

Then we examine Saturday’s Trump rally in Ohio for US Senate candidate J.D. Vance who was humiliated with faint praise from Trump who reminded the sparse QAnon-sprinkled crowd the candidate had previously said some bad things about him “but now he is kissing my ass.” Joining us is David Pepper, who served as Chairman of the Democratic Party of Ohio from 2015-2021 and is the author of a number of books including A Simple Choice, The Voter File and Laboratories of Autocracy: A Wake-Up Call from Behind the Lines. We discuss the possibility that in desperation from the legal jeopardy he is in for stealing classified documents and lying about them, Trump’s embrace of the QAnon crowd at his rally is meant as a signal to the DOJ that he could unleash a “storm” of crazed cult followers in response to an indictment.

Could Governors DeSantis and Abbott be Charged With Kidnapping or Human Trafficking?

Then finally we assess whether Governors DeSantis and Abbott could be charged with kidnapping and human trafficking as more migrants are dumped on VP Harris’s doorstep following the cynical trick DeSantis played on desperate Venezuelans who were lied to and deceived with phony Massachusetts documents into boarding a plane for Martha’s Vineyard only to be used in a political stunt which is a violation of the federal law against inveiglement. Joining us is Ryan Cooper, and Managing Editor at The American Prospect. He is the Co Host of the Left Anchor podcast as well as the author of the new book, How are You Going to Pay for That? Smart Answers to the Dumbest Question in Politics and we discuss his latest article at The American Prospect, “Republicans Use Huddled Masses Yearning to Breathe Free to Own the Libs.”