This week on So That Happened: Zach Carter takes a break from book leave to return and host the show! He’s joined by ProPublica reporter Jesse Eisinger and Huffpost’s Alexander Kaufman to talk about why bankers never seem to go to jail. Then, Michelle Kuo stops by to talk about her book Reading With Patrick, a memoir about a teacher’s relationship with a gifted student who ends up jailed for murder. It's an exploration of race, class, justice, and coming of age in the South. Finally, Mike Koncza...
Jul 20, 2017•50 min
For months, President Trump and his supporters said it was all just a political witch hunt, that his campaign had not colluded with the Russian government's interference in last year's presidential election. This week Donald Trump, Jr. revealed that he had, in fact, sought incriminating information on Hillary Clinton from a Russian government source. On this week's "So That Happened," HuffPost money-in-politics reporter Paul Blumenthal explains the several federal laws that Junior might have bro...
Jul 13, 2017•42 min
Did CNN screw up this week by seemingly threatening to reveal the identity of a Reddit user who made a silly gif that President Trump tweeted? The Washington Examiner's Tim Carney says the episode represents the kind of media excess that gives rise to Anti-Anti-Trumpism, a sort-of movement animated by the belief that Trump's critics somehow lie more than Trump does. The Anti-Anti-Trump argument loses credibility, Carney says, the minute it serves as an excuse to avoid criticizing the president. ...
Jul 06, 2017•43 min
Republicans in the U.S. Senate completely boofed their health care bill, so this week on "So That Happened" we discuss the politics of their failure as well as how the underlying policy could change when the zombie Senate bill rises from the dead next month. President Trump continues to seem completely unaware of what's in the legislation, and even resigned to its failure. And we also take a look at the increasing concentration of corporate power and the failure of both parties in the U.S. to st...
Jun 29, 2017•51 min
Senate Republicans finally released their secret Obamacare repeal bill, so this week on "So That Happened" we explore the real possibility that this thing could actually pass and become law. We also take a look at Democrats' total fecklessness in special elections and the several high-profile acquittals of police officers who killed civilians for no good reason. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jun 22, 2017•45 min
So, that happened. This week, we discuss the assassination attempt on members of Congress, which has left House Majority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) grievously injured. Fallout from the shooting included efforts to blame political opponents, as well as a familiar debate over whether it's appropriate to question permissive gun laws for gun violence, which it always is. Still, we have two important takeaways that hold true whether or not you like your society heavily armed: 1) Don't shoot peop...
Jun 15, 2017•46 min
So, that happened. This week, the White House celebrated Infrastructure Week. Or at least, they wanted to, but couldn't because this week was James Comey-A-Go-Go in the Senate Intelligence Committee. Yes, the former FBI director debuted his testimony in front of an eager gaggle of Senators and he seemed pretty bent on making sure everyone knew that President Donald Trump was a serial liar. The White House struck back, accusing Comey of leaking privileged information and telling falsehoods of his...
Jun 08, 2017•53 min
So, that happened. This week, we're going in search of a Trump Doctrine. President Donald Trump has returned from his first lengthy trip abroad. You've heard the speeches, you saw the photos, you know about the orb. Now it's time to consider the ways Trump's dealings with our European allies and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia point to a coming shift in American foreign policy, and illustrate the way Trump wants to reshape the world and the United States role in it. Buckle up, it's gonna get bumpy. ...
Jun 01, 2017•50 min
So, that happened. This week, while President Donald Trump was away on foreign business, the wider world got a look at the latest White House budget proposals and the experience was like staring into a moral void. Broadly targeted for elimination: just about anything that offers assistance to the poor and vulnerable. Cashing in big time: rich income earners. There are education cuts that could decimate profitable research, new burdens on food stamp providers that could result in fewer in the mar...
May 25, 2017•48 min
So, that happened. This week, President Donald Trump had another one of those weeks where Donald Trump is president. By which I mean, total omnidirectional omnishambles. Building off the controversy of last week's controversial firing of James Comey, Trump revealed highly classified intelligence from a source in Syria to two high-ranking Russian officials, touching off yet another self-immolation. He's ended the week with more trouble from Comey, more indefensible deceptions, fewer allies willin...
May 18, 2017•51 min
So, that happened. This week, Donald Trump fired James Comey. And that's been the implacable news event of the week, so much so that we are just going to surrender to it entirely. This single decision is the apotheosis of Trump. It has everything: a stumbled over decision that landed with a kersplat on the news-cycle, constantly shifting rationales that change by the hour, massive leaks from the White House, the usual concerns over temperament, and the unalterable impression that the White House...
May 11, 2017•48 min
So, that happened. This week, the House of Representatives voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with a bucket of garbage, placing the lives of some 24 million people at risk. Quite a spectacle really. We'll have fifteen minutes of flabbergasted gasping for you to enjoy.Meanwhile, for some reason we'll also talk about other things. For example, just how populist is the Trump White House going to get? The new head of the SEC will be Goldman Sachs' bailout lawyer, Jay Clayton, so ...
May 04, 2017•52 min
So, that happened. This week, we've reached the end of Trump's first 100 days. How will it be remembered? In many ways, it's been like watching someone's body reject an organ transplant. Somehow, Trump has managed to hit the century mark at the threshold of a government shutdown fight with his own party. Nevertheless, some things never change, and 100 days into the Trump presidency we can report with confidence that everything remains really, really great for people who are really, really rich.M...
Apr 27, 2017•50 min
So, that happened. This week, President Donald Trump issued another one of his patented executive orders, this time endeavoring to bring jobs back to America through a "Buy American, Hire American" policy. Trump immediately went back out on the campaign trail to signal that great changes were now afoot in the land, but are they really? We've dug down into the details and discovered that it's a blend of activity masquerading as achievement. And guess what: it's a trend.Meanwhile, the conservative...
Apr 20, 2017•45 min
So, THAT happened! Remember all that stuff about draining the swamp and taking down the Washington establishment? Well, President Trump talked to some guys from Goldman Sachs and has decided to be Jeb Bush instead. HuffPost reporter S.V. Date joins us to discuss the latest contours and convulsions of the Trump presidency.But some things never change, including The Democratic Party, which just blew a chance to pick up a House seat in deep-red Kansas. Party leaders -- they actually said this and a...
Apr 13, 2017•49 min
So, that happened. This week, we are joined by the host of MSNBC's "All In With Chris Hayes," who in case you haven't figured it out is named Chris Hayes. We'll be talking about his new book "A Colony In A Nation," which documents how white fear has led to America's frustratingly unjust two-tiered justice system -- where some get to live peacefully as citizens, and others get treated by the state as if they were under the bootheel of an occupying force.Meanwhile, have you been wondering how the ...
Apr 06, 2017•55 min
So, that happened. This week, Washington lawmakers began crawling out from under the wreckage of the failed American Health Care Act, better known as the bill that finally emerged from the GOP's seven-year effort to repeal and replace Obamacare. The bill largely foundered because of deep divides within the House Republican caucus, with House Speaker Paul Ryan and establishment leaders on one side, and the insurgent House Freedom Caucus on the other. But now, they have a common enemy at least, in...
Mar 30, 2017•53 min
So, that happened. This week, Neil Gorsuch made his confirmation hearing debut as Donald Trump's prospective Supreme Court nominee. And he came to DC with a long and concerning history of putting his finger on the scales of justice in favor of entrenched monopolies of money and power. What's really at stake here, is your money, and we're joined by law professor Zephyr Teachout, to explain what you stand to lose if Gorsuch is confirmed.Meanwhile, Donald Trump has promised to boost the military bu...
Mar 23, 2017•55 min
So, that happened. This week, President Donald Trump moved forward on a number of policy fronts. He also moved backward on a number of policy fronts. Very typical week, to be honest. But we now have the first Trump budget, and as you might expect, it really does a number on several high profile domestic policy projects. We'll lay out where negotiations with Congress are likely to begin. We'll also bring you up to speed with the Congressional Budget Office's evaluation of Trumpcare (it wasn't goo...
Mar 16, 2017•54 min
So, that happened. This week, House Speaker Paul Ryan finally released the Republican alternative to Obamacare plan from the sanctum sanctorum in which he'd been keeping hidden, and as soon as it was seen by the light of day it became something everybody from across the political spectrum instantly hated. Still, Ryan say it's the plan he's been dreaming about. What does this plan do, and how will he get it passed? We'll try to figure it out.Meanwhile, we are less than a week away from the implem...
Mar 09, 2017•45 min
So, that happened. Well, how about that pivot, folks? Tuesday night, President Donald Trump gave a speech to a joint session of Congress and somehow the media managed to extract the idea that he'd finally undergone that transformation into a real live "presidentialness." And then, hours later, the Trump White House was once again plunged into their customary chaos, as reports emerged that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had meetings with members of the Russian government, facts that ran against t...
Mar 02, 2017•50 min
So, that happened. Every week we talk about how insane it can be to simply live in America. This week, we're going to help you do something about it, by welcoming journalist and author James Poulos to the show. James' new book, THE ART OF BEING FREE, looks back at Alexis de Tocqueville's masterwork, DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA, and pulls from its pages some wisdom about how each of us can confront the challenges of love, sex, loss, and this crazy-making, frustrating, wonderful nation that is our predic...
Feb 23, 2017•1 hr 6 min
So, that happened. It's been a truly FUBAR week for the Trump administration, who this week accepted the resignation of national security adviser Michael Flynn in the wake of an unfolding investigation into Flynn's contacts with Russian officials, whether or not he told the truth about them, and the extent to which entanglements with the Russian government can be found throughout Trump's political organization. Add to that the recurring theme of a quiet war between the White House and the intell...
Feb 16, 2017•52 min
This week, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren tried to read a letter penned by Coretta Scott King and an objecting Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell decided that she should the maximum amount of attention she could possibly receive by silencing her on the floor of the Senate. Smooth move, Ex-Lax, for out of this dust-up, a new slogan of resistance was born.Meanwhile, you've probably noticed that Donald Trump's White House is the leakiest one in memory, and this week, the Huffington Post...
Feb 09, 2017•50 min
So, that happened. This week, something interesting started to occur. The Democrats...started listening to their base. After a weekend in which demonstrated erupted at major airports in protest of President Donald Trump's Muslim travel ban, Democrats in Washington have suddenly found some steel, standing with their supporters in the street and withdrawing a more readily offered rubber stamp in the Senate confirmation hearings. Can they possibly keep this up?Meanwhile, we need to talk about that ...
Feb 02, 2017•45 min
So, that happened. This week, the wider world was introduced to Donald Trump's press secretary Sean Spicer, who christened his tenure in the White House Briefing Room with several days of big league lying. Now, this may not be Spicer's choice -- White House insiders have turned out by the dozens to tell multiple newspapers about how Trump's first week has been a tumultuous mess, with Trump lashing out at numerous petty slights. Spicer has been tasked with offering up forceful responses, to nonse...
Jan 26, 2017•47 min
So, that happened. This week, the parade of cabinet appointments continued in the Senate, as Trump's nominees continued to try to strut their stuff under what was often withering questioning from Senate Democrats. There should be little doubt that all of these people are going to be confirmed but it has to be said -- in another era, some of what these folks said during these hearings would have gotten them bounced from consideration. Welcome to the new normal, which is the old abnormal.Meanwhile...
Jan 19, 2017•48 min
So, that happened. So, everything happened! This was one of those weeks where the worst thing you could say is that the news wouldn't get any crazier. By mid-day on Tuesday, we were pretty convinced the most bonkers story was going to be the anti-vaccine alliance that president-elect Donald Trump forged with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. By the end of the day, however, CNN and Buzzfeed were breaking different aspects of a troubling intelligence community report that the Kremlin had compromising material...
Jan 12, 2017•51 min
So, that happened. Happy New Year everyone. On January 18th the Huffington Post will be hosting a debate between the declared candidates for the chair of the Democratic National Committee. The way things are shaping up, it's looking like the top contenders will be Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison and Obama Labor Secretary Tom Perez. We'll continue to dig down into the distinctions between the two men and explain what's at stake.Meanwhile, incoming President Donald Trump has made a lot of prom...
Jan 05, 2017•34 min
This week, we are bidding farewell to to an old year and welcoming in a new one, because we are slaves to artificial constructs like calendars. But since this is a time for New Years' resolutions, we'll offer one up: let's try to do less moral grandstanding in 2017. And to explain why that's bad, we welcome University of Michigan post-doctoral research fellow Justin Tosi to the show.Meanwhile, with all the talk of an incoming administration, we sometimes forget that our politics are primarily sh...
Dec 29, 2016•41 min
