Donald Trump’s legal fate is now in the hands of a jury in Manhattan, where the former president is facing 34 felony counts related to hush money payments made to former porn actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. Scott is joined by legal scholar and former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman to break down what he heard and saw in the courtroom these past weeks. Check out Litman's podcast Talking Feds, which analyzes cases before the federal courts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megap...
May 30, 2024•27 min
Governor Gavin Newsom calls Jason Elliott his "Swiss Army knife.” Elliott is Newsom's longest serving aide, and he's had his fingers in just about every major issue, from homelessness and housing to COVID, mental health care and regulating AI. As Elliott prepares to leave the administration, he joins Scott and Marisa to reflect on those many years of service in government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 29, 2024•32 min
Scott, Marisa and Guy get into their Friday roundup of politics stories from the week, including a hearing Thursday in the House subcommittee looking into anti-semitism on college campuses. UCLA Chancellor Gene Block skated by without any tough questions about the violence that broke out when pro-Palestinian students were attacked by counterprotesters. Plus, a Silicon Valley billionaire will host a big ticket fundraiser for Donald Trump in San Francisco next month. Learn more about your ad choic...
May 25, 2024•21 min
Assemblymember Laura Friedman is all but guaranteed a seat in Congress next year, after she beat out a very crowded field in Representative Adam Schiff’s LA district and landed a spot in the November runoff. She joins Scott and Marisa to talk about her career in politics, which she entered in her 40s after a career in film. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 24, 2024•31 min
Democratic pollster Ben Tulchin helped guide the presidential campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders in 2016 and 2020. Now he’s sounding the alarm about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent race for president and his concern that Kennedy could pull support — especially among young and Latino voters – from President Joe Biden. Scott and Marisa chat with Ben Tulchin about the Kennedy candidacy and what his own battleground polls tell him about the November election. Learn more about your ad choices. Vi...
May 23, 2024•29 min
The State Supreme Court today heard a case that could have a profound impact on app-based companies like Uber and Lyft as well as on their drivers. Proposition 22, which was passed by voters four years ago, allowed gig companies to reclassify workers as self-employed contractors, rather than employees. Now the state Supreme Court will decide whether to uphold the law, strike it down or strip out part and leave the rest intact. Scott and Marisa are joined by Brandon Stracener, an attorney in priv...
May 22, 2024•29 min
The California Republican Party wrapped up its state convention in Burlingame on Sunday. It was a low-key gathering that focused on winning congressional and state legislative seats that are in play while also trying to undo the impact of Donald Trump’s message that voting by mail can’t be trusted. State Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones spoke with Scott and Marisa on Friday about his party’s struggle for statewide relevance, the loss of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and more. Learn more about ...
May 21, 2024•31 min
The California Republican Party is holding a statewide convention this weekend in Burlingame. Scott, Marisa and Guy are at the convention talking with delegates, elected leaders and party officials about the fall election and their strategy for holding onto congressional seats in purple districts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 18, 2024•23 min
San Francisco voters will choose their next mayor this November, and we are going to bring you interviews with all of the top candidates. Today, Marisa and Scott are kicking things off with District 11 Supervisor Ahsha Safaí. Safaí, an Iranian immigrant with a master's in city planning, was elected to represent portions of the Excelsior, Outer Mission and OMI neighborhoods in 2016. We want to hear your questions! If you have a burning question that you want us to ask the mayoral candidates, you ...
May 17, 2024•31 min
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, has long been regarded as one of the most powerful advocacy groups in Washington. Their goal: support candidates who are strongly pro-Israel and oppose those they feel are are too critical. The October 7th attack by Hamas and Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza have intensified AIPAC’s political activities and its involvement in the 2024 election. Scott and Marisa discuss the role AIPAC plays in U.S. policy and politics with Joan Greve, senior pol...
May 16, 2024•28 min
It’s day two of Michael Cohen’s testimony about Donald Trump’s hush money payments to Stormy Daniels. As the prosecution begins to dig into Cohen’s story and motivations, Scott and Marisa talk with Loyola Law School professor Jessica Levinson about the trial so far, the legal strategies on both sides and how the jury might be interpreting it all. Check out Levinson's weekly podcast, Passing Judgment, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 15, 2024•29 min
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s revised state budget tackles a total deficit of $45 billion, including cuts made earlier this year. The governor is proposing to spread the pain widely, with cuts to programs ranging from healthcare and scholarships for the middle class to climate change initiatives he supports. Scott, Marisa and Guy hash out the winners and losers in the May Revise budget. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 14, 2024•28 min
Scott and Marisa remember a Republican maverick: former Bay Area Congressman Pete McCloskey. He fought for the environment, helped write the Endangered Species Act, opposed the Vietnam War and was the first House Republican to call for Nixon’s impeachment. McCloskey died this week at age 96. Then, KQED politics reporter Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez joins to talk with Scott and Marisa about the race for mayor of San Francisco. Mayor London Breed is facing several strong challengers as she struggles t...
May 11, 2024•24 min
Cathy Darling Allen was Shasta County’s elected county clerk and registrar of voters for two decades, and for the first part of that, like most registrars, she toiled in relative obscurity. Then came 2016, Donald Trump and a growing narrative on the right that the voting system couldn't be trusted. Darling Allen retired on Sunday, after announcing several months ago that she's facing some serious health problems. Marisa and Scott chat with her about her tenure and the growing pressure on electio...
May 10, 2024•32 min
Campus protests over Israel’s war in Gaza, and universities' response to them, have attracted international attention. Months after it began, the movement shows no signs of slowing down, even as the school year comes to an end. Scott is joined by two student journalists who have been on the front lines covering the protests at UC Berkeley, where the Free Speech Movement began in the 1960s, and UCLA, where the actions of police officers and counterprotesters are under scrutiny after a violent con...
May 09, 2024•30 min
Tomorrow the California Supreme Court will hear oral arguments over whether to remove a controversial constitutional amendment from the November ballot. The measure – sponsored by the California Business Roundtable – has triggered a huge battle between business on the one hand and Democrats with their allies in organized labor on the other. Scott and Marisa are joined by Bloomberg News correspondent Laura Mahoney to talk about what the constitutional amendment would do and why the governor is as...
May 08, 2024•28 min
Joe Biden narrowly won both Arizona and Nevada in 2020. Now, both states have emerged as key battleground states in 2024, as abortion, border security, election conspiracy theories and the economy are all playing out there. Scott is joined by New York Times reporter Kellen Browning to discuss what impact the two states will have on who controls the White House and Senate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 07, 2024•29 min
Political Breakdown started as a way to give our listeners a peek behind the curtain of politics. Over the past six years, we’ve brought you conversations with presidential candidates, governors, mayors, political consultants, pollsters and regular people involved in politics. This work is important because the policy debates that will shape our country are happening in California first. That's why this election year, we're bringing you those insights EVERY weekday. Our journalism is totally ind...
May 04, 2024•6 min
Scott, Marisa and Guy tackle the political intrigue behind the race for Anna Eshoo’s congressional seat, where a recount knocks out one contender. Plus, they dig into the ongoing turmoil and controversy involving campus protests over Israel's war in Gaza, how campuses are responding and the political implications for November. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 04, 2024•23 min
As America’s presidential election approaches, we are facing an unprecedented rise in mis and disinformation fueled by populist political movements, foreign actors and online platforms. Marisa and Scott are joined by NPR disinformation correspondent Shannon Bond and University at Buffalo professor Yotam Ophir to talk about why this has become such a problem, the impact it's having and practical advice for spotting and combatting disinformation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.f...
May 03, 2024•32 min
When the San Francisco Chronicle recently compiled a list of the 20 most influential people working mostly behind the scenes in San Francisco, Kanishka Cheng was first on the list. She co-founded and heads the group TogetherSF Action and its sister organization TogetherSF. Like similar groups recently created in the city, TogetherSF wants to push city policy from the left toward the middle. Cheng joins Scott to talk about their priorities, tactics and potential conflicts of interest. Learn more ...
May 02, 2024•30 min
California Target Book is a goldmine of information for campaigns, journalists, and political insiders. For three decades, Target Book has provided non-partisan research on voter registration, campaign contributions, candidate profiles and more. Scott and Marisa talk with publisher Marva Diaz, the first woman and first Latino to have that position. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 01, 2024•27 min
Governor Gavin Newsom will be heading to Rome next month as one of several state and local officials invited from around the world to speak at the Pope’s Vatican Climate Summit. The governor will focus on how the changing climate is affecting California’s ability to cope with droughts, wildfires and floods. Scott is joined by Marisa and Guy to talk about the politics and policy of Newsom’s trip. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 30, 2024•26 min
A bill to ban non-disclosure agreements while outside groups negotiate legislation failed in committee, creating some interesting alliances in the process. Meanwhile, a bill to allow licensed doctors from Arizona to perform abortions in California moves forward. Scott, Marisa and Guy discuss it all in this week's roundtable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 27, 2024•25 min
As protests over the war in Gaza roil college campuses from New York to California, Marisa and Scott sit down with UC Regent John Pérez, who has served on the board overseeing the University of California system since 2014 and was recently appointed to another 12 year term. Pérez was also Speaker of the State Assembly from 2010 to 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 26, 2024•32 min
As part of KQED's Youth Takeover Week, we’ll hear from young voters and what they care about most. From the war in Gaza to climate change, student debt and how they might vote in November. In addition to hearing from young Bay Area voters, Scott talks with Erin Heys, policy director and senior researcher for the Berkeley Institute for Young Americans and Saa’un Bell with Power California, which focuses on young people of color and LGBTQ voters throughout the state. Learn more about your ad choic...
Apr 25, 2024•30 min
Writer Mark Leibovich of The Atlantic is known as a shrewd observer of presidents, Congressional leaders, insurgents and insiders, capturing it all in books like “This Town," which describes what he calls “the carnival that D.C. has become.” He just wrote a profile of Gov. Gavin Newsom, and he joins Scott to talk about this strange and unsettled moment in U.S. politics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 24, 2024•30 min
The first criminal trial against Donald Trump got underway in New York Monday– a case where prosecutors say Trump engaged in a conspiracy to cover up a sex scandal with adult film star Stormy Daniels in order to get elected president in 2016. The former president is facing dozens of felony charges and the possibility of prison time. The trial comes days before the U.S. Supreme Court considers the limits of presidential immunity as Trump also faces federal charges over his involvement in the Jan....
Apr 23, 2024•24 min
After a state audit slammed California for not carefully tracking outcomes of public money spent on homelessness programs, Gov. Gavin Newsom said this week, “I’m not interested in funding failure any longer,” and promised to hold local governments accountable. And on Monday the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a major case that could change how West Coast cities police homelessness. Political journalist Nikki Laurenzo joins Political Breakdown to discuss these and more developments in California's a...
Apr 20, 2024•26 min
State Senator Tom Umberg from Orange County is a retired Army colonel, a former federal prosecutor and he once served as a deputy drug czar under President Bill Clinton. He’s known for his pragmatism, his ability to reach across the aisle and now, in his position of senate judiciary committee chair, as a gatekeeper of artificial intelligence regulations being proposed in Sacramento. Sen. Umberg joins Marisa and Scott to talk about those regulations, the state's drug crisis and political sea chan...
Apr 19, 2024•31 min
