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Moyers on Democracy

Moyers on Democracywww.billmoyers.com
Bill Moyers and others from our team in conversation with writers, academics, activists and other big thinkers about the issues of vital concern to our democracy.
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Episodes

Dr. Bandy Lee Saw It Coming – The Violence Foretold in Donald Trump’s Election.

Dr. Bandy Lee saw it coming – the violence foretold in Donald Trump’s election. While millions of Americans were still trying to figure out if Trump was just a crude playboy and fast-talking con man she felt a duty to warn the country about dangerous possibilities stemming from a man who lacked the mental fitness to be president. For almost 20 years she had been trying to understand violence. It was her calling. After earning medical and divinity degrees while studying at Yale and Harvard, and a...

Aug 18, 202248 min

Bill Moyers talks with Dr. Bandy Lee About THE DANGEROUS CASE OF DONALD TRUMP

Bill Moyers talks with Dr. Bandy Lee, editor of THE DANGEROUS CASE OF DONALD TRUMP. Four years ago, Dr. Lee felt a duty to warn the country about dangerous possibilities stemming from a man who lacked the mental fitness to be president, breaking the “Goldwater Rule.” Dr. Lee had no background or interest in politics. For almost 20 years, she had been trying to understand and prevent violence. It was her calling. After earning medical and divinity degrees while studying at Yale and Harvard, and a...

Jan 14, 20211 hr 1 min

Bill Moyers and Heather Cox Richardson: The Confederate Flag on the United States Capitol

Bill Moyers and Heather Cox Richardson examine how a day meant for celebrating democracy turned into a riot that sought to overturn a free and fair election. Across the country and around the world people watched, horrified, dumbfounded and disbelieving, as insurrection incited by the President of the United States and his Republican enablers struck at the very centerpiece of American governance.

Jan 08, 202140 min

Free Speech. Really? Bill Moyers talks with Ellis Cose

Bill Moyers talks with journalist and writer Ellis Cose whose most recent book is THE SHORT LIFE & CURIOUS DEATH OF FREE SPEECH IN AMERICA. Steeped in some of the critical debates of our times, Cose has grown increasingly concerned about democracy’s fate under the combined weight of technology, political corruption, and inequality.

Dec 24, 202055 min

Heather McGhee: How American Racism has a Cost for Everyone

Heather McGhee is descended from slaves in the American South. Her great- grandparents and grandparents came north to work in the steel mills. She grew up on the south side of Chicago, taught in Spain and studied writing in Hollywood, then decided to change the world, or at least try. Her new book is THE SUM OF US.

Nov 18, 202049 min

Bill Moyers talks with David Berg and Daryl Bristow about Trump's Lawsuits

President Trump still will not admit he lost. Trump has flooded the courts with lawsuits. Here to assess what’s going on are two of the country’s most experienced lawyers in election litigation. Daryl Bristow worked for George W. Bush’s legal team on two Florida lawsuits regarding balloting for the 2000 presidential election. David Berg has recently taken Trump and others to court over their efforts to use the Postal Service to discredit and dismiss mail-in ballots.

Nov 14, 202043 min

Bill Moyers talks with John Bonifaz and Ben Clements

This week, Bill Moyers talks with John Bonifaz and Ben Clements of Free Speech for People about the voting rights cases they've filed this election season and how we can work to protect our democracy after Election Day.

Oct 28, 202045 min

Lisa Graves Gives Us an Update on the Post Office Battle

We know more now than we knew then, including how the directives of Louis DeJoy have harmed the ability of the Postal Service, including with what they call the on-time departure, meaning on-time departure without your mail. And Louis DeJoy said he didn't forbid overtime, that he just restricted it. Okay. Well, that restriction had a huge impact on the on-time delivery of the mail. And so, the court rulings certainly worked to mitigate that.

Oct 07, 202017 min

The fix is in — and it’s Amy Coney Barrett

On this week's MOYERS ON DEMOCRACY, Bill Moyers speaks to Lisa Graves about what's at stake in rushing Amy Coney Barrett's nomination through the Senate. Barrett is a young judge who has been nominated with the understanding that Republicans are looking for her to cast a vote for Trump from the bench.

Oct 02, 202051 min

Bill Moyers talks with Sarah Chayes about her book ON CORRUPTION IN AMERICA

Bill Moyers talks with Sarah Chayes about her new book ON CORRUPTION IN AMERICA: AND WHAT IS AT STAKE. "What I did was go to a variety of different countries and found that corrupt government was driving just about every world crisis you could name, including the environmental crisis, including mass migration, including a lot of civil strife. So, I felt as though focusing on anything else is almost derivative."

Sep 19, 202033 min

Bill Moyers Talks with Eric Alterman on Lying in State

Want to know why presidents lie – and which one is the worst? Bill Moyers talks with Eric Alterman about his new book LYING IN STATE. That’s L-Y-I-N-G. Alterman's deep historical research and engaging prose offer insight into our troubled present and our presidential past.

Sep 17, 202038 min

Taking Trump to Court to Protect Our Votes

One of America’s leading trial lawyers has taken Donald Trump to court, to stop what he describes as a conspiracy by the president, the postmaster general, and the Postal Service itself to rig the coming election.

Sep 12, 202036 min

Bill Moyers talks with Lisa Graves about the Ongoing Threat to the Post Office

What's behind the Trump administration's drive to kill off the post service? Expert Lisa Graves says the move began in earnest in the early 1970s. That's when billionaire Charles Koch began to turn his money and effort toward privatization of the USPS — he is using the Koch empire to push his political agenda to this day, when the postal service is ripe for taking.

Aug 19, 202037 min

Bill talks with Heather Cox Richardson about HOW THE SOUTH WON THE CIVIL WAR

Yes, the Civil War brought an end to the slave order of the South and the rule of the plantation oligarchs who embodied white supremacy. But the Northern victory was short lived -- Southern ideals spread quickly to the West. It's all about America’s ongoing battle between oligarchy and democracy.

Jul 30, 202034 min

Trump’s Grotesque Tulsa Speech and the Cult of Trump | Bill Moyers Talks with Jeff Sharlet

Bill Moyers talks with journalist Jeff Sharlet, whose reporting for Vanity Fair describes how Trump the orator has turned his reelection campaign into a militant crusade fueled by lies, conspiracy theories, and rhetoric that incites violence. Sharlet has been reporting on Trump’s rallies for years, and in his conversation with Bill he offers analysis of Trump’s grotesque Tulsa speech, that was viewed by over 7 million people on Fox News Saturday night. "He gave what I believe was the most rhetor...

Jun 25, 202035 min

Bill Moyers talks with Rev. Dr. James Forbes About Juneteenth & America After George Floyd

Join us as Bill Moyers talks with Rev. James Forbes, a passionate advocate of celebrating Friday, June 19 as Juneteenth – the day in 1865 when the last of America’s slaves learned they were free. Because many states had refused to end slavery when President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation two and a half years earlier, it took that long before Union troops landed in Texas with news that the Civil War was over and the quarter-million slaves in Texas were slaves no more. Since then, de...

Jun 18, 202025 min

Bill Moyers talks with Peter Nelson about his film The Pollinators

You only need to see this film if you eat food. The Pollinators is a cinematic journey around the United States following migratory beekeepers and their truckloads of honey bees as they pollinate the flowers that become the fruits, nuts and vegetables we all eat. The many challenges the beekeepers and their bees face en route reveal flaws to our simplified chemically dependent agriculture system. We talk to farmers, scientists, chefs and academics along the way to give a broad perspective about ...

Jun 15, 202031 min

Margaret Atwood & Bill Moyers talk about Faith & Reason

Margaret Atwood is the author of more than 50 books of fiction, poetry, critical essays and graphic novels. Her latest, THE TESTAMENTS, is the co-winner of the 2019 Booker prize and the much-anticipated sequel to THE HANDMAID’S TALE which is now a critically acclaimed television series. This was recorded in 2006 as a video and reposted here as a podcast episode.

May 31, 202031 min
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