Background Briefing: June 19, 2022
The Critical Tipping Point For Democracy and the Rule of Law America and the World Faces
We begin with whether, as powerful and damning evidence piles up before our eyes, there will be a criminal referral of Donald Trump to the Department of Justice by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection. Joining us is Lincoln Mitchell, a professor of Political Science at Columbia University, where he also serves as an associate scholar in the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies. He is the author of numerous books on the former Soviet states, baseball, and democracy the latest of which is The Giants and Their City: Major League Baseball in San Francisco, 1976-1992. We examine the critical tipping point for democracy and the rule of law America and the world faces as criminals and kleptocrats like Putin, Mohammad bin Salman, Erdogan, Orban and Marcos increasingly wield power while Trump tries to regain power.
What the Democrats Can Do As a Perfect Storm of Economic Gloom Approaches
Then we assess what the Democrats can do as they face a perfect storm of economic gloom with rising interest rates, record inflation and a looming recession. Joining us is Richard Parker, who teaches economics and public policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and is a Senior Fellow at the Shorenstein Center. He is a former managing editor of Ramparts, was a cofounder of Mother Jones magazine, and serves on the editorial board of The Nation. His books include, The Myth of the Middle Class and John Kenneth Galbraith: His Life, His Politics, His Economics.
How to Fight Back Against Our Courts Stacked With Far-Right ideologues
Then finally with the Supreme Court about to take away women’s reproductive rights, strike down gun safety laws in blue states, gut environmental protection against global warming and strip voting rights, we look into an organization Take Back the Court that is mobilizing the American majority against the tyranny of this far right wing minority just starting to enact its reactionary agenda. Joining us is Sarah Lipton-Lubet, the Executive Director of the Take Back the Court Action Fund who for nearly two decades has been an advocate for reproductive freedom, gender equity and progressive change. Most recently, she served as Vice President for Reproductive Health and Rights at the National Partnership for Women & Families.