Background Briefing: November 7, 2024

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With Republicans Needing 7 and Democrats Needing 15 Seats to Flip the House, Will Trump End Up With the Trifecta of White House, Senate and House?

We begin with two dozen House seats yet to be called with the Republicans needing 7 and the Democrats needing 15 to flip the House, preventing Trump from taking the trifecta of the White House, Senate and House of Representatives. Joining us to examine the margins in these races as the votes get counted in the Western states is James Thurber, the University Distinguished Professor of Government and Founder and Former Director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University, Washington, D.C. He is author of numerous books and more than eighty articles and chapters on Congress, interest groups and lobbying, and campaigns and elections and he is the author of Congress and Diaspora Politics: The Influence of Ethnic and Foreign Lobbying and, most recently, Campaigns and Elections American Style.

 

The Frightening and Less Frightening Contenders for Trump’s White House and Cabinet Positions

Then we assess the frightening and less frightening contenders for Trump’s White House and cabinet positions and speak with Jeff Hauser, the Executive Director of the Revolving Door Project who works to increase scrutiny on executive branch appointments and ensure that political appointees are focused on serving the public interest, rather than personal professional advancement. 

 

Democrats Have Joined the Global Trend of Center Left Parties Losing to the Far Right

Then finally we examine the global trend the Democratic Party has unfortunately joined in as Center Left parties in Europe have lost ground to far right anti-immigrant and despot-friendly parties some of whom have captured power as in Orban’s Hungary which has become a model for MAGA ambitions. Joining us is Michael Kazin, a professor of history at Georgetown University and editor emeritus of Dissent Magazine. His books include American Dreamers: How the Left Changed a Nation, The Populist Persuasion, War Against War:The American Fight for Peace 1914-1918  and A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and editor of The Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History, and his latest book is What It Took to Win: A History of the Democratic Party and he has an article at Dissent, “The Decline of Union Hall Politics.”