Scientists have painted a bleak picture of the future if we fail to curb greenhouse gas emissions, but we’ve already started to witness the fallout of a warming planet. Politics with Amy Walter looks at the role climate change is playing across politics and at the vulnerable communities that stand to lose the most. Our coverage this week is part of a collaboration with 250 other media organizations called “Covering Climate Now.” President Donald Trump was elected in 2016 fresh off of giving camp...
Sep 20, 2019•45 min•Ep. 57
The third Democratic primary debate is behind us now--all three hours of it. On Thursday night, the top ten polling Democratic candidates met in Houston, Texas. And for the first time, frontrunners Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders shared a single stage. So, did anything from the latest debate reshape the battle for the nomination? That’s the question at the center of today's show. We also look at how the caucus process works in Nevada and what we might expect in the first primary ...
Sep 13, 2019•45 min•Ep. 56
Amy Walter's take: There’s something of a consensus-building within the so-called mainstream political media that it’s only a matter of time before Biden’s Teflon shield is deflated. His debate performances have been shaky. He is not as quick on his feet as the other candidates. And, he’s spent most of the campaign on defense - either explaining past votes, or changing long-held positions on policy. But, it also seems to me that many in the political class may be underestimating the staying powe...
Sep 08, 2019•26 min•Ep. 55
In the episode before Labor Day, we look at the rise and fall of the labor movement, particularly unions. By collectively bargaining for better work conditions, unions elevated the middle class. Over the years, we've watched their membership numbers decline. As a result of a few Supreme Court decisions, a loss in manufacturing jobs, and a lack of increased federal protections, unions saw their influence reduced. As we edge closer to 2020, candidates hoping to win the Democratic nomination have m...
Aug 30, 2019•48 min•Ep. 54
The ongoing trade war with China, a weakened global economy, and a lack of investment by companies indicates that a recession might be looming. President Trump has spent his first term saying that the economy is in better shape than ever before, but is that really the case? Who stands to suffer most during another recession? Has the trade war with China fulfilled President Trump's objective for the economy? Also, when it comes to understanding economic opportunity in Africa, the continent is sti...
Aug 23, 2019•45 min•Ep. 53
A number of Republicans in the House have announced their retirements... and turns out many are in suburban districts, where the GOP’s support has been dwindling. In June, we saw one of the more high-profile Republican retirements when Congresswoman Susan Brooks, who represents Indiana’s 5th congressional district, announced that she would not seek reelection. In fact, 4 of the 11 retirements are Congressman in Texas. This on top of 5 Texas Republican retirements in 2018 and two districts where ...
Aug 16, 2019•46 min•Ep. 52
Last weekend, there were two mass shootings in the span of 13 hours. In El Paso, 22 were killed in what federal authorities are considering a domestic terrorist attack. And in Dayton, nine people were killed when a gunman opened fire in the city’s Oregon district. After horrific events like these, there's always questions like "Will lawmakers take action?" and "Will this time be different?" While there has been some small movement in the wake of the Parkland and Las Vegas mass shootings, the iss...
Aug 09, 2019•48 min•Ep. 51
This week, Politics with Amy Walter is coming to you from Detroit. The city has gotten a lot of attention over the course of the week as it hosted the latest round of democratic debates. But why Detroit? Because — Michigan. President Donald Trump won Michigan by just over 10,000 votes in 2016. But Democrats are hoping to put the state firmly back in their column. After a strong showing in the 2018 midterms, Democrats are feeling hopeful. Republicans say there's still a lot of support for Preside...
Aug 02, 2019•46 min•Ep. 50
Much of the coverage of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's congressional testimony this week focused on optics, with pundits on both sides framing the hearings as either beneficial or damaging to a particular political narrative. But where the hearings may have lacked in made-for-TV soundbites, Mueller's comments reiterated the fact that the United States remains under attack from a foreign adversary, one that seeks to undermine our faith in the foundational principles of democracy. We hear from c...
Jul 26, 2019•47 min•Ep. 49
After a bruising political week in which President Trump's feud with "The Squad" reached a fever pitch, Amy Walter reflects on how both Republicans and Democrats could be alienating crucial voters ahead of the 2020 elections. Plus, we look at the yawning generation gap, as voters from different eras compete for political relevance. With the U.S. electorate divided along generational lines, there are transformational demographic trends already having clear impacts on the way 2020 presidential can...
Jul 19, 2019•48 min•Ep. 48
The ongoing migrant crisis is getting worse, as the Department of Homeland Security is running out of room to house the increasing number of migrants detained at the border. And when evidence of the conditions dominated the news cycle earlier this month, the outrage prompted lawmakers to get involved. But how that involvement played out became the latest point of contention between factions within the Democratic Party. The Senate passed a spending bill aimed at alleviating what the Trump adminis...
Jul 13, 2019•48 min•Ep. 47
Amy sits down with Representative Seth Moulton who announced in April that he is running for president. He's one of the few combat veterans seeking the Democratic nomination, having served as a Marine in Iraq over the course of four deployments. Moulton has been a vocal critic of Democratic leadership, wanting to see a new generation take the helm.
Jul 12, 2019•14 min•Ep. 46
At this year's Aspen Ideas Festival, Amy hosted back-to-back post-debate discussions with a panel of influential writers. We'll hear excerpts from the conversation, in an effort to provide analysis of the first Democratic debates of the 2020 presidential campaign. We also talk with two academics to discuss how their policy work could be used in tandem with politics to bring about change in areas of technology and inequality. Finally, Amy reflects on the LGBTQ movement, on the 50th anniversary of...
Jun 28, 2019•47 min•Ep. 45
As U.S. voters increasingly spend more of their lives online, political campaigns and other outside groups are trying to figure out how best to meet them on these digital spaces. But in the rush to perfect the effectiveness of digital ads, regulators have been slow to catch up. Will the lessons of 2016, and what can happen when nefarious actors hijack those platforms to spread disinformation, prove an effective warning for 2020 and beyond? And will Democrats be able to catch up to the Trump camp...
Jun 22, 2019•47 min•Ep. 44
Colorado Senator Michael Bennet rose to national prominence in part, due to the 35-day federal government shutdown in January. On the 34th day, the normally mild-mannered Democrat gave a fiery speech that went viral, and rumors about a Bennet 2020 bid began to circulate. Bennet officially announced his candidacy on May 2. Amy Walter spoke with Senator Bennet to discuss his campaign, his 10-year Senate career, and his vision for the nation....
Jun 21, 2019•8 min•Ep. 43
Throughout most of the 20th century and beyond, the term "socialism" has carried a lot of baggage in U.S. political history. Socialism itself has deep historical roots in the U.S. But the ideology became a toxic brand thanks in part to the Cold War, as Soviet republics and their imitators around the world saw authoritarians seize power under the guise of socialism. But almost 30 years after the fall of the Soviet Union, socialism is once again having a moment in mainstream U.S. politics. As poli...
Jun 15, 2019•45 min•Ep. 42
The reason the term “socialism” has become a ubiquitous presence in our current political discourse is because of Bernie Sanders: "Democratic Socialism means to me requiring and achieving political and economic freedom in every community in this country. Let me be very clear, as well, when I state that the only way we achieve these goals is through a political revolution.” On Wednesday, at George Washington University, Senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders laid out his vision of Demo...
Jun 14, 2019•21 min•Ep. 41
When it comes to elections there’s always a key voting bloc that gets the media attention. If candidate X wins the FILL IN THE BLANK they’ll win the election. Over the past few years, we’ve heard a lot about the Latino vote. The white working class vote. The suburban women vote. But a core constituency of the Democratic electorate, since Barack Obama was elected has not gotten the same level of attention: African Americans. Will this change before 2020? According to the strategists we talked to,...
Jun 07, 2019•46 min•Ep. 40
Five times in history, the candidate elected president of the United States was not the winner of the national popular vote. With two of those five elections in recent memory, and a demographic shift that will likely continue the trend, the electoral college is facing increasing criticism and calls for abolishment. On the one-year anniversary of the launch of Politics with Amy Walter from The Takeaway , the show takes a look back at the history of the electoral college. Amy moderates a debate fo...
May 31, 2019•45 min•Ep. 39
Every president leaves their mark on the office of the presidency. The office of the presidency also leaves its mark on every person who holds it. This week, we broadcast from the Presidential Ideas Festival, hosted by the University of Virginia’s Miller Center in Charlottesville. It’s a three-day festival attended by presidential scholars, journalists, political junkies, as well as politicians and administration officials. We spent our time here talking to people who have worked closely with fo...
May 24, 2019•47 min•Ep. 38
It feels like every day someone new announces they are running for President. But Andrew Yang , the founder of the fellowship program for recent college graduates Venture for America, was one of the first to declare. If elected, he says he would implement a universal basic income, meaning that every American citizen over 18 years of age would get $1,000 a month. Amy Walter talks to him about how that would actually work, and how he would pay for it....
May 18, 2019•19 min•Ep. 37
It feels like every day someone new announces they are running for President. But Andrew Yang, the founder of the fellowship program for recent college graduates Venture for America, was one of the first to declare. If elected, he says he would implement a universal basic income, meaning that every American citizen over 18 years of age would get $1,000 a month. We speak to him about how that would actually work, and how he would pay for it. Also, the teachers’ strikes across the country that beg...
May 17, 2019•50 min•Ep. 36
In his 1957 book, Citadel , journalist William White refers to the Senate as “the world’s most exclusive club.” But for many high-profile Democrats, it's a club that seems to have gone out of style. In April, Stacey Abrams, the Democrat who narrowly lost the race for governor of Georgia in 2018, announced that she is not running for Senate. Joaquin Castro in Texas, Ambassador Susan Rice in Maine, Congresswoman Cindy Axne and former Governor Tom Vilsack of Iowa have all made the same decision. Th...
May 11, 2019•13 min•Ep. 35
"It’s the economy, stupid." James Carville is the Democratic strategist who famously coined that, while working on Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign in 1992. He meant people vote with their pocketbooks. In other words, when the economy is strong, the incumbent wins. That should be good news for the Trump administration because by many measures the economy is doing great. It grew at an unexpectedly high pace of 3 percent in the first-quarter of this year. The stock market is surging. Wages are...
May 03, 2019•47 min•Ep. 34
Joe Biden officially announced that he is running for the nation's top job on Thursday. As candidate number 20, he is entering a historically crowded race. Does he have what it takes to stand out from the pack? We check in with two campaign reporters, Juana Summers from The Associated Press, and Annie Linskey from The Washington Post, who tell us about what voters seem to be looking for when trying to choose between the candidates. For our Biden digest, we turn to Mike Memoli , of NBC News, who ...
Apr 26, 2019•47 min•Ep. 33
It’s been a long (almost) two years but the Special Counsel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, possible coordination between the Trump Campaign and Russia, and obstruction of justice has reached its final culmination. The redacted report was released on Thursday. The end. Or is it just the beginning? Well, like a lot of things...it’s both. Katie Benner , a Justice Department reporter at The New York Times, discusses the new and revealing pieces of the redacted Muelle...
Apr 19, 2019•46 min•Ep. 32
On February 1st, the start of Black History month, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker announced he was running for president. Since then, he’s been on the campaign trail and announced that he raised $5 million. This weekend, he makes his official hometown kick off of his Justice for all Tour in Newark and then heads immediately to Iowa. Amy Walter got the chance to sit down with Senator Booker to discuss his campaign, the legislation he’s introduced in the Senate to form a commission to study the is...
Apr 12, 2019•47 min•Ep. 31
On this week's Politics with Amy Walter: The fight over redistricting and who gets to wield the pen. “ Slay the Dragon ,” chronicles the challenges to congressional maps in several states that have been accused of partisan gerrymandering including Michigan and Wisconsin. In Michigan, voters approved a ballot measure in 2018 to take map-drawing power out of the hands of the legislature and put it into the hands of an independent commission. The film also follows the legal team involved in Gill v....
Apr 05, 2019•46 min•Ep. 30
Julián Castro, the former United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and the former mayor of San Antonio, is now running for president. And even though currently he is polling at about 0 to 2 percent in most national polls, he expects that to change as soon voters get to know him. "I can’t think of a single time in my life where I haven’t been an underdog. What I am used to doing is working hard. You know, I am going to walk the walk, in the campaign, in my vision for the future, i...
Mar 29, 2019•13 min•Ep. 29
In 2016, Donald Trump cracked the so-called blue wall in the industrial Midwest winning Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. This week on Politics with Amy Walter, what will it take for Democrats to win back Wisconsin? Plus a conversation with presidential candidate Julian Castro. To begin the hour, Craig Gilbert , Washington Bureau Chief at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, explores what tipped the state to President Trump’s favor in 2016 and what it will take for Democrats to win it back in 202...
Mar 29, 2019•45 min•Ep. 28
