Amanda brings Battleground fans a very special series finale, featuring guest co-host Addisu Demissie and a conversation with Maggie Haberman of The New York Times. Addisu is the CEO of More Than a Vote, a voting rights organization started by LeBron James. He has spent decades in politics, most recently as a campaign manager for Senator Cory Booker’s presidential run, and California Governor Gavin Newsom’s gubernatorial campaign in 2018. Maggie is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the Was...
Nov 04, 2021•48 min•Season 1Ep. 55
“In conservative media, there’s an incentive to put out misinformation, and to essentially lie.” David Brock, founder of Media Matters — a rightwing media watchdog group — knows exactly how the conservative media ecosystem works, because that’s where he cut his teeth. For the first half of his career as a journalist, David got caught up in what he now describes as a cult, working at places like the Washington Examiner and the Heritage Foundation, until he managed to break ranks and turn against ...
Oct 28, 2021•36 min•Season 1Ep. 54
Amanda’s Twitter fav, Luppe B. Luppen — also known as @nycsouthpaw — joins "Battleground" to analyze some of the biggest stories in politics. First, Amanda and Luppe dissect the secret agreement, between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, that capped overall spending on the Democrats' reconciliation bill at $1.5 trillion. They pick apart the draft materials released by Biden’s SCOTUS Commission and discuss what legal options the January 6th committee has ...
Oct 21, 2021•39 min•Season 1Ep. 53
Julián Castro, former Mayor of San Antonio and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for the Obama administration, joins the show this week to shed light on a range of issues troubling America. The groundbreaking 2020 presidential candidate and Amanda discuss the ongoing housing affordability crisis; the transformational impact universal pre-K could have on our society; and the small group of conservative Texas politicians desperately clinging to their gerrymandered power, one regressive st...
Oct 14, 2021•39 min•Season 1Ep. 52
More than half of Americans are under the age of 40, and according to Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez, President and Executive Director of NextGen America, they are facing three crises simultaneously — a climate catastrophe, a democracy in decline, and grotesque income inequality. Cristina is a progressive labor organizer and former 2020 U.S. Senate candidate who truly understands the complexity of the youth vote, especially in her home state of Texas, and particularly within the Latino community. She...
Oct 07, 2021•37 min•Season 1Ep. 51
Judd Legum, author of the progressive newsletter, Popular Information, and former founder of ThinkProgress, can tell you with certainty that there’s too much money in politics, that legislators prioritize corporations over people, and that the media does a pretty bad job at covering all of it. He joins Amanda this week to discuss what the major news outlets are missing, getting wrong, and forgetting too quickly, and why. They get into which corporations pretend to champion gender equality and so...
Sep 30, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 50
Third parties are famous for siphoning off votes from the major parties and ruining elections. While this phenomenon, known as the spoiler effect, is real, America's two-party system makes for strange bedfellows. It's not obvious what a democratic socialist like AOC has in common with a conservative Democrat like Joe Manchin, other than a "D" after their names. So what can reform-minded progressives do? How can they advocate for systemic change without tilting the field in the Republicans’ favor...
Sep 23, 2021•35 min•Season 1Ep. 49
America’s lack of media literacy and historical affinity for conspiracy theories have allowed QAnon to move from the dark corners of the web to violence at the US Capitol. Now, much like the Tea Party efforts of last decade, the movement is attempting to take over local governments at a disconcerting pace. Journalist Mike Rothschild ( The Storm Is Upon Us ) has spent his career investigating how internet culture impacts American politics, and he is one of the go-to resources regarding all things...
Sep 16, 2021•37 min•Season 1Ep. 48
The American dream disappeared generations ago, but we still operate under the myth that ascending the socio-economic ladder is simply a matter of hard work. In reality, America has become a caste system, where those born into privilege will likely stay privileged, while those born into poverty get stuck at the bottom. What’s worse, according to political philosopher Michael Sandel, are the attitudes accompanying this system. Many of those at the top truly believe they’ve ‘earned’ their place, a...
Sep 09, 2021•42 min•Season 1Ep. 47
We're taking a break this week at Battleground, and will be back on September 9 with a new episode. Amanda's got some thoughts on how you can stay informed in the meantime. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 02, 2021•58 sec
In 2014, Republicans won around 4.3 million more votes in House contests than Democrats, which netted them 247 congressional seats. In 2020, Democrats got approximately 4.7 million more votes, but won only 222 seats. For that unfair advantage, you can thank REDMAP: a Republican project to take state legislatures and then gerrymander districts, in order to win and hold power – even when they get fewer votes. David Daley is a senior fellow at FairVote, a nonpartisan organization focused on making ...
Aug 26, 2021•41 min•Season 1Ep. 46
It doesn’t matter to Ai-jen Poo whether you call it ‘care infrastructure,’ or something else, as long as it gets funded properly. With Baby Boomers aging and Millennials having kids, we’re heading towards a crisis, thanks in large part to how we’ve neglected the critical role caregivers play in our economy. Ai-jen is the Co-founder and Executive Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, a labor advocacy group that works to elevate the rights of domestic workers in the US. She’s been so...
Aug 19, 2021•34 min•Season 1Ep. 45
If Americans voted the way the Founders intended, most of us wouldn’t get to vote. Amanda talks to Jessica Huseman, the editorial director of Votebeat, to learn about our country’s tortured, and unending, fight for voting rights. Jessica is a former high school history teacher who has spent the last five years reporting on voting administration – the ins and outs of what goes into putting on an election and counting the votes. Votebeat is a nonprofit newsroom that covers voting and also funds an...
Aug 12, 2021•44 min•Season 1Ep. 44
Last year, roughly 8000 election departments across the country pulled off the near-impossible task of holding safe and secure elections in the middle of a global pandemic. They did it despite gross underfunding from Congress, crumbling infrastructure, and threats of violence. In a wealthy democracy like the United States, local election administrators shouldn’t have to rely on private grant money to cover the cost of things like pens or postage for mail-in ballots, but that’s exactly what happe...
Aug 05, 2021•36 min•Season 1Ep. 43
It’s no surprise that the Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority: progressive legal elites have been telling Democrats for decades that the judicial branch must remain apolitical, while for decades, Republicans have been successfully reshaping the courts. Brian Fallon, the co-founder and executive director of Demand Justice (and a recovering establishment Democrat), explains the history behind the Republicans’ decades-long judicial strategy and how Democrats can counter it. He and Amanda ...
Jul 29, 2021•40 min•Season 1Ep. 42
ExxonMobil, and other major polluters like it, would love for you to feel like your personal choices are what will make or break this climate crisis, but the truth is, global warming can only be slowed through massive, systemic changes to the energy, transportation, and building sectors. Legislators must pass new laws curbing emissions, and the reconciliation bill winding its way through Congress is the best, and possibly last, chance to get this right. Amanda and Faiz talk to Jamal Raad, the co...
Jul 22, 2021•38 min•Season 1Ep. 41
Campaigns spent $8.5 BILLION on political advertising in the 2020 election cycle. That may seem astonishing, excessive, or even absurd, but if you want to know how campaigns win (and lose), you need to understand ad dollars. Danielle Butterfield is the executive director of Priorities USA – the largest Democratic super PAC. Before Priorities she ran digital advertising campaigns for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in 2016 and 2012. Amanda and Faiz talk with Danielle about the challenge of convi...
Jul 15, 2021•39 min•Season 1Ep. 40
Americans are being treated to a new and improved version of last decade’s infamous Tea Party movement. It’s another astroturfed moral panic, sponsored by conservative think tanks, brought to you by Fox News, and designed to win votes for Republicans: the war on “critical race theory.” Faiz and Amanda talk to Tyler Kingkade, a national reporter for NBC News who has written extensively on the subject, about how a term from the world of legal scholarship is on the tip of everyone’s tongues – and w...
Jul 08, 2021•38 min•Season 1Ep. 39
Every morning on The Recount Daily Pod, host journalist Reena Ninan will break down the most important news of the day, both domestically and abroad. In 5 minutes or less, you’ll walk away feeling smarter and more in sync with the world. Then, tune in for an interview with journalists who are on the forefront of the stories that affect us all. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jul 06, 2021•2 min
Amanda and Faiz are joined by Michelle Goldberg, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times. The three of them rate the Biden administration's performance, discuss the Democrat's branding problem, and get into a debate over how Biden should deal with Senators Manchin and Sinema's intransigence on filibuster reform. They also consider whether the Democrats should strategically pick a fight in order to motivate their base and how the party can recruit more candidates from work...
Jul 01, 2021•41 min•Season 1Ep. 38
What are the costs and benefits of living in a society where people can be cancelled for their speech? Are "cancelled" people, like Gina Carano, irredeemable? Amanda and Faiz use “cancel culture” as a jumping off point for what ends up being a wide-ranging, deeply analytical conversation with Washington Post columnist Alyssa Rosenberg. They cover the performative nature of online discourse; the primacy of persuasion; whether or not (and how) to engage with people spewing hate online; and ultimat...
Jun 24, 2021•36 min•Season 1Ep. 37
Elie Mystal, the justice correspondent for the Nation magazine and a frequent contributor on MSNBC, joins Amanda and Faiz. They discuss the quest to bring justice to Donald Trump and what Merrick Garland's Department of Justice should be – but isn't – doing in order to achieve that goal. Elie wraps up by explaining why legislation won't solve any problems until Democrats pack the court. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jun 17, 2021•39 min•Season 1Ep. 36
Political scientist David Faris joins Amanda and Faiz to discuss how Republicans are using extreme gerrymandering, combined with their structural advantages in the Senate and electoral college, to subvert democracy. In states like Wisconsin and North Carolina, they're created a circular structure of authority, where legislatures elected by a minority of voters can strip Democratic governors of any real power, and courts stacked with conservatives can override a governors' veto of newly gerrymand...
Jun 10, 2021•34 min•Season 1Ep. 35
Amanda and Faiz speak with Astead Herndon, a national politics reporter for the New York Times, political analyst for CNN, and guest host of "The Daily." The trio talk about two voting rights bills – the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act – and discuss why some members of the Congressional Black Caucus have expressed hesitation at some of the more transformational elements of the For the People Act. Then, they get into the Democrats' disastrous down-ballot performances in th...
Jun 03, 2021•35 min•Season 1Ep. 34
What is the role of political journalism? Years from now, what will people take away from this period in the Democratic party's evolution? What role did former President Obama play in the 2020 primary election? For the answers to these questions, and many more, Amanda and Faiz turn to to Edward-Isaac Dovere, lead political correspondent for "The Atlantic" and author of the new book, "Battle for the Soul: Inside the Democrats' Campaigns to Defeat Trump." The trio have a boisterous conversation th...
May 27, 2021•36 min•Season 1Ep. 33
Elise Stefanik, a moderate Republican who zealously supports former President Trump and his lies about the election, has replaced hardcore conservative Liz Cheney as the G.O.P. Conference Chair. Amanda and Faiz talk to Charlotte Alter, a senior correspondent for TIME and author of "The Ones We've Been Waiting For." Charlotte profiled Stefanik in her book, and since then she has reported on the Congresswoman's transformation from Trump-skeptic to Trump-enabler. The trio discuss Stefanik, and what...
May 20, 2021•42 min•Season 1Ep. 32
According to The Center for Responsive Politics, the 2020 elections cost a combined $14.4 billion. That money has to come from somewhere, and while the last cycle saw an unprecedented number of small donors, a lot of those dollars came from billionaires. Amanda and Faiz talk with Teddy Schleifer, a senior reporter covering money and influence (or billionaires) for Recode. They discuss how tech billionaires with relatively little political experience, like Reid Hoffman and Dustin Moskovitz, spent...
May 13, 2021•35 min•Season 1Ep. 31
Virginia is for lovers – and, for a long time, it was also for Confederate nostalgia and Republican politics. Richmond, Virginia's capital, was one of the capitals of the Confederacy. Virginia still has over 150 public locations, like streets and parks, that bear Confederate names – for example, Lee Jackson Memorial Highway, which is named after Gen. Robert E. Lee and Gen. Stonewall Jackson. So, given the state's Confederate pride, it should come as no surprise that, from 1968-2004, the state vo...
May 06, 2021•33 min•Season 1Ep. 30
Frank Luntz is one of the most famous pollsters in politics. Called "the Nostradamus of pollsters," by Sir David Frost, Luntz is perhaps best known for two things: the focus groups he conducts on TV and his work shaping political language on behalf of Republican politicians. For example, he somewhat notoriously counseled them to say "climate change" instead of "global warming" and "electronic intercepts" instead of "eavesdropping." In recent years, Luntz shifted from an avowedly partisan Republi...
Apr 29, 2021•36 min•Season 1Ep. 29
Ninety percent of the news out there tells you nothing about where the world is going — ten percent of it tells you everything. On the News Items Podcast with John Ellis, John and Rebecca Darst dissect news items that help you understand where the world is going. Tune in every Monday through Thursday afternoon to hear decades of journalistic experience packed into 20 minutes of insight, plus guest interviews on finance, U.S. politics, foreign affairs, science and technology. Learn more about you...
Apr 28, 2021•3 min
