If you’re like us and most of the Internet, you spent last week goggling at the very first, and absolutely stunning, images from the James Webb Space Telescope. These images lead us right into the most profound questions about the cosmos, and our own existence...and they help to put some of our fights, disagreements, and problems here on this pale blue dot (the kinds of things we normally cover on this show) into some proper perspective. To give us that perspective, our guest is Dr. John Mather,...
Jul 18, 2022•41 min
Also, have the January 6 hearings been valuable? Are in-party challengers emerging for Trump and Biden? And will the horrifying Ohio case and similar tragedies that are surely coming change the impact of the Dobbs decision for voters?
Jul 18, 2022•44 min
Mark Bergman has advised some of America's best-known political leaders on effective messaging...and he's worried. We need to do better among non-college educated voters, but he says that "the Democratic Party is not giving them an option and an economic alternative. They agree with us on all these other issues, but the Democratic party needs an economic message. Can you tell me what it is? I couldn't." Mark and Matt run through how things are shaping up not just for the midterms but beyond, and...
Jul 15, 2022•44 min
Chris Hill of Motley Fool Money explains what's going on with the Elon-Twitter deal meltdown. Also, the economy is looking up, and expectations are super low, so could we be in for a market surge on even meh earnings reports? And a huge summer movie benchmark for Hollywood.
Jul 14, 2022•25 min
A spat between the White House and progressives was followed in short order by a slew of stories about whether Biden is too old to run again. Coincidence? Also, should the nomination process become a reality show? Is there really room for a centrist party in America? And is there a Constitutional right to eat dinner?
Jul 13, 2022•45 min
Paul and Kevin Landrigan cover the front page New York Times article about awakening democracy in Croydon, New Hampshire. The town rose up, shook itself off, and organized to confront Free Staters who had taken advantage of citizen complacency. They also cover the race for NH Governor. A new poll from Democratic candidate Senator Tom Sherman gives him a shot with abortion politics as the driving issue.
Jul 12, 2022•44 min
Mark Putnam has helped to elect 11 governors, 10 senators and dozens of House members. He may be best known for the fact that when Barack Obama had enough money in 2008 to produce not a 30 second ad but a 30-minute film, he turned to Mark Putnam to direct it. According to the Washington Post, Mark has “a reputation in Beltway circles as the go-to guy for candidates running tough races in red states.” So as the Democrats face down an election cycle with nothing but tough races, Mark joins the sho...
Jul 11, 2022•41 min
Privacy experts and pro-choice advocates are trying to get a handle on a new threat in post- Dobbs America: that our online behavior in apps, searches, or even just keeping our phones in in our pocket at the wrong time could send women or doctors to jail. Its a wild west of data collection and sale out there, and the new patchwork of abortion laws across states could mean that our digital footprints create very real legal perils. What if you need an abortion and you're in a state like Texas that...
Jul 07, 2022•39 min
From time to time, Paul and Matt take a step back to look more deeply at a few topics, and in this episode, we examine the narrative about January 6 Committee star witness Cassidy Hutchinson's age, and what role young professionals really play in Washington. Are they bystanders, or the power behind the thrones? [hint: it depends]. Also, Mitt Romney's widely-discussed piece in the Atlantic claims that "America is in Denial." Is it actually Mitt who is in denial? Or does he have an important point...
Jul 05, 2022•44 min
From time to time, we all need a break from the news, current events, and politics.On this show, the way we do that is to go way, way beyond politics every few months and hear about what's going on at the frontier of human discovery in space. Today we talk about the amazing views of all the planets in our solar system available in the sky right now, the first image of the black hole at the center of our galaxy, the plan to return to the moon and send humans to Mars, and a postcard from interstel...
Jun 30, 2022•44 min
We welcome back two friends of the show, Mario Broussard and Alex Ivey who are senior vice president and vice president of research respectively at Global Strategy Group, one of the premier polling, research, and public affairs companies in America. Mario and Alex have just released the latest edition of their fascinating research project The Melting Pot: An Ongoing Look at Racial Politics in America, which is intended to take the temperature of Black America on political issues, social attitude...
Jun 27, 2022•43 min
In the wake of the Dobbs decision overturning a constitutional right to abortion, we wanted to re-release a discussion we had two months ago with Dr. Randall Balmer of Dartmouth College about the real history of the religious right's crusade against abortion. Because this moment is the direct result of a tactical decision that religious conservatives almost stumbled into 44 years ago. In fact, Dr. Balmer says that under closer examination, the real driver of the story at the time was not really ...
Jun 26, 2022•43 min
As we were recording another show, news broke about the Dobbs decision that overturns the right to abortion in America. Our panel -- featuring former Democratic Congressman Paul Hodes, conservative commentator Alicia Preston, and political analyst Matt Robison -- immediately switched in real time to discussing the decision. Alicia provides a pro-life view, but with an empathetic response from those who will be enraged by the decision. Paul weighs in to ask what rights are next? And Matt raises t...
Jun 24, 2022•31 min
Ruby Freeman is the new face of the attack on American democracy. She is one of the critical people who helps make elections work. Donald Trump falsely accused Ruby and her daughter, both former election workers in Georgia, of election fraud. This week, she testified that “There was nowhere I feel safe. Nowhere. Do you know how it feels to have the president of the United States to target you? The president of the United States is supposed to represent every American, not to target one. But he t...
Jun 23, 2022•43 min
Right before recording our show yesterday with NBC legal analyst Barbara McQuade, Matt joined legendary West Virginia radio broadcaster Howard Monroe for a quick conversation about the January 6 hearings, in which he previewed the emerging argument that January 6 was a big deal, but from a legal standpoint may now take a back seat to everything that preceded it. Because as rofessor McQuade argued, there are two ways to prosecute Donald Trump and his co-conspirators that have almost nothing to do...
Jun 21, 2022•25 min
Last week's Congressional hearings were as riveting and disturbing as any testimony that has ever occurred in the US Congress. The picture has now become much sharper and much uglier about the true danger on January 6, the wild scheme to overturn the election that built for months, the fact that the plot was occurring at the highest levels of government, and most of all that President Donald Trump was told repeatedly, in the words of the former Attorney General of the United States William Barr,...
Jun 20, 2022•41 min
Matt joins Old Dominion University sociologist and Editorial Board writer Rod Graham on his live video show to break down how Democrats could do a better job peeling off voters they may have written off too soon, why Democrats need to stop chasing shiny objects, and whether Joe Biden still deserves some strong grades for his presidency.
Jun 17, 2022•1 hr
Every week, we convene a former Congressman from the left, a conservative political consultant and columnist from the right, and a center-left host to dive deep behind the week's headlines. The Balance of Power round table is usually broadcast on WKXL and available in the Capitol Close Up podcast. But this week, we wanted to bring the show to our Beyond Politics listeners as we talk about the framework agreement on reducing gun violence and the real implications of the new information coming out...
Jun 15, 2022•41 min
With this week's drop the S&P 500 is officially in bear market territory. Why? And why are major business leaders warning of an “economic hurricane”? Chris Hill of Motley Fool Money explains.
Jun 15, 2022•25 min
The top issue on everyone’s minds these days is the economy, and especially the fast-rising prices that we’re all feeling at the grocery store and the gas pump. Of course, the economy is almost always the top issue for Americans….in 1992 the Bill Clinton campaign boiled down their whole message to its “the economy, stupid.” So to understand what’s happening in the American economy, inflation, and most important, what’s likely to happen next, we simply couldn’t have a better guest than Dr. Mark Z...
Jun 13, 2022•43 min
The Editorial Board , edited by longtime newspaper veteran John Stoehr (@johnastoehr), publishes articles designed to make you think. You may agree, disagree, or find yourself alternating between the two. And that's the idea. John and Matt talk about what the recall of Chesa Boudin really means, why the media narrative about it (and a lot of things) isn't quite right, whether more democracy is the cure for what ails many of our failing government systems, and our ambivalent relationship with Twi...
Jun 09, 2022•44 min
Before and after our great discussion with legal expert Kim Wehle about her new book featured in our last pod, we talked a bit about the January 6 investigation (which Kim has written extensively about) and whether the Administration can deem the Equal Rights Amendment as enacted right now (and whether they should!) which Matt is writing about in an article due out this week.
Jun 08, 2022•16 min
Our guest today may be the bravest woman in America, because she has the gumption to argue that we could all learn a thing or two from lawyers, and in fact, if YOU could think more like a lawyer, you’d make better decisions and be happier. Her new book is called “How to Think Like a Lawyer – and Why.” Kim Wehle is a law professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law and a former Assistant US Attorney and you may recognize her not only from her work as a CBS News legal analyst, but also h...
Jun 08, 2022•31 min
Matt joins legendary West Virginia radio host Howard Monroe to talk about the public hearings starting this week about the insurrection. What can we expect, will evidence come out that leads to indicting Donald Trump, and if not, what will the committee actually accomplish when they take this to prime time?
Jun 07, 2022•25 min
Chris Hill, the host of Motley Fool Money, joins to explain why the market suddenly turned around for no apparent reason, what the success of Top Gun: Maverick means, and what he learned from his recent interview with famed author Michael Lewis about expertise and CEO pay.
Jun 03, 2022•25 min
Prolific and insightful writer Anne Kim is a Washington Monthly contributing editor and the author of Abandoned: America’s Lost Youth and the Crisis of Disconnection . She does in her writing what we do on this show: dive down below the surface into areas we often don't think enough about. We touch on the glib cruelty beneath Senator Rick Scott's plan for America, her in-depth report on women and minorities in STEM fields, and the lost generation of millions of young people in America neither wo...
Jun 02, 2022•43 min
Aquick podcast bonus taken from Matt's recent radio interview with John Howell on WLS 890-AM in Chicago on why the usual question about the midterms -- "will Democrats lose" -- is the wrong thing to be asking. Check out the full Newsweek article here.
Jun 01, 2022•8 min
Former USA Today Contributing Editor Jason Sattler (known to legions of fans on Twitter as @LOLGOP) has a smart new article out this week on The Editorial Board explaining why if you want to understand what's happening in American politics -- if you want to save democracy itself -- look to Michigan. Time and again, it all comes back there. Matt and Jason take a closer look at why Michigan is so pivotal and how you can use it as a lens into winning in the critical upper Midwest swing states and t...
May 31, 2022•41 min
Like many people, we are still reeling from the mass shooting in Texas that killed 19 children and two adults and injured many others. Parents like me are raw with anger, despair, and hopelessness. And what feeds our hopelessness is that at the federal level, there is no prospect of doing even the slightest thing to stop more of this from happening again. Which is why an article caught my eye this morning that is about the real, achievable, practical things that counties and cities can do to cur...
May 26, 2022•43 min
There's no shortage of virtual ink being spilled over the idea that Democrats are in Big Trouble in November. As I point out in my new Newsweek article , the President’s party has almost always bled seats in midterms, and this year, even a handful of losses will mean a Republican majority. So for Democratic members of Congress desperately trying to hold on to the slimmest of majorities, the question becomes, what should they do and what can they do in the dwindling number of months before the el...
May 23, 2022•42 min
