We had a great Zoom conversation today with two of the founders of liberal Super PAC MeidasTouch -- brothers Jordy and Brett Meiselas -- about what led them to form MeidasTouch, how liberal advocacy changes now that Trump is gone (but Trumpism isn't), what they're focusing on over the coming year, and just a really fun conversation about lots of things. We laughed a lot. These guys are great fun. I think you'll enjoy this. This is the audio version of the podcast. The Zoom video version can be f...
Mar 10, 2021•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 365
The viability of human head transplantation, and its impact on the soul, is seriously the topic of today's podcast interview with Dr. Brandy Schillace, an expert on death and dying, and the author of the new book, "MR. HUMBLE & DR. BUTCHER: The mesmerizing true story of a brilliant and eccentric surgeon and his quest to transplant the human soul." We delve into the topic of head transplantation, and it takes us into politics, ethics, morality, metaphysics, religion and more. It's a really in...
Mar 05, 2021•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 364
Self-professed "liberal" energy expert Daniel Dicker -- author of the book, "Turning Oil Green: A Market-Based Path to Renewables" -- joins us to talk about how to turn American energy green, and the obstacles (from right and left) to making that happen. Among our topics: using natural gas to transition away from oil, the environmental implications of both wind and electric cars, the imminent shortage of electric vehicle (EV) batteries that run on lithium and nickel, whether nuclear should be a ...
Mar 04, 2021•30 min•Ep. 363
We are joined today by our longtime friend and colleague Joan McCarter (aka McJoan), senior political writer at Daily Kos, who will be talking to us at length about the Covid/Economic stimulus bill that just passed the House and now is heading to the US Senate. We'll also discuss the ongoing Postal Service debacle, and Senator Manchin's vendetta against Biden OMB nominee Neera Tanden. This is one of our free episodes. To hear the rest of our shows, and support our work, please head over to Patre...
Feb 27, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 362
Media critic Eric Boehlert, founder and editor of PressRun.Media, joins us to talk about: Rush Limbaugh's death, and the fact that the man was truly a blight on our body politic; how the media is no longer covering the daily White House briefings now that a Democrat is back in the White House; and the Washington Post's recent admission that they should have called Trump a liar a long time ago. This is one of our premium episodes for Patreon subscribers, but you can listen to a half-hour clip bel...
Feb 23, 2021•31 min•Ep. 361
In today's episode, we speak with Sarah Reese Jones, the editor-in-chief of PoliticusUSA, about: What does Ted Cruz’s behavior during the Texas power outage tell us about the republican party, who’s in it and what their philosophy is? What hope do we have that those who engaged in this January 6th sedition will be held accountable? What’s it like being a liberal in rural Pennsylvania? This is one of our free episodes. To hear the rest of our shows, and support our work, please consider becoming ...
Feb 19, 2021•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 360
On today's show, we discuss the Republican effort to blame Democrats, and green energy generally, for Texas' massive power outage during a quite serious winter storm. Spoiler alert: The Republicans are lying. Then we discuss last Saturday's impeachment vote, and whether there's a silver lining to it all. This is a subscriber-only episode. You can listen to a 20-minute excerpt here, and if the spirit moves you, please become a patron over at Patreon to hear the rest of the show, our past episodes...
Feb 17, 2021•21 min•Ep. 359
In today's show, we discuss how Trump's anti-mask mania has helped create and spread new variants of the Coronavirus that might be harder for vaccines to quell, an conservative actor who was fired for putting some pretty out there stuff on social media, how Trump and the Republicans have broken our country (and what we can do about it), and the latest on impeachment. This is one of our free episodes. To hear the rest of our shows, and support our important work, please consider becoming a patron...
Feb 12, 2021•59 min•Ep. 358
In today's show, we discuss: - Trump's second impeachment trial; - The news that prosecutors in Georgia are investigating Trump's phone call with the state's secretary of state, during which Trump tried to convince the secretary to "find" him 11,000 votes; and - We conclude with a chat about "unity," and how the media is unfairly trying to hang that phrase around Joe Biden's neck. This is one of our premium shows for our subscribers. You can listen to a free half hour here, and to listen to the ...
Feb 10, 2021•36 min•Ep. 357
In today's show, we discuss yet another election defamation suit against Fox News and the Trumpers, the stimulus bill, and then devote most of our show to the aftermath of the House vote to strip Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee appointments. It's clear that the Republican party does not want to dissociate itself from far-right extremists, but the question is why? Are they still afraid of Trump, or worse, is the GOP now openly-embracing the kind of extremism that helped elect Trump in the...
Feb 05, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 356
Extremism expert Alan Silberberg joins us to talk about how extremists are using the Internet to foment trouble, and specifically how the Russians helped incite the insurrection at the US Capitol building on January 6. This is a free 30-minute excerpt of today's show. To hear the entire episode, and support our podcast, please become a patron over at Patreon, thanks! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Feb 03, 2021•32 min•Ep. 355
Today's show is about freshman Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, whose embrace of the QAnon conspiracy theory only begins to scratch the surface of her extremism. This is one of our free episodes. To hear the rest of our shows, and support our podcast, please consider becoming a patron over at Patreon, thanks. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Jan 30, 2021•58 min•Ep. 354
In today's episode, we continue the "happy" theme with a discussion about the My Pillow guy getting kicked off Twitter, a lead Trump troll getting arrested, freshman Republican congresswoman Lauren Boebert possibly breaking the law, Kellyanne Conway joining her, and Fox News getting even foxier. This is one of our subscriber-only episodes. You can listen to a 30-minute snippet here, and if you become a patron over at Patreon, you can hear the whole show and support our work, thanks. See Privacy ...
Jan 26, 2021•34 min•Ep. 352
Today's episode is all about the inauguration of President Biden. It's a happy show, by popular demand :) This is one of our free episodes. To hear all of our shows, and support our podcast, please consider becoming a patron over at Patreon, thanks. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Jan 23, 2021•1 hr•Ep. 351
Today's guest is Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an expert of fascism and authoritarian governments at New York University, and author of the book, "Strongmen: From Mussolini to the Present." Ruth joins us for a fascinating discussion on how Donald Trump came to power, and how we rid of ourselves of Trumpism once and for all. She looks at the historical parallels to Trump and Trumpism, why so many Americans are willing to believe Trump's lies, and whether it's even possible to win back the hearts and minds of p...
Jan 18, 2021•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 350
It's 2021, the coup is over (for now), Trump has been impeached, Biden will be sworn in next Wednesday, so where does the country go from here? Will the coup embolden the far-right? How much "unity" does Joe Biden really want? Today's episode is all about the aftermath of the bloody coup attempt, and where we all go from here. This is one of our premium episodes. You can listen to a 30-minute excerpt on this page, but to hear the entire 70-minute show, and support our work, please become a patro...
Jan 14, 2021•32 min•Ep. 350
In today's show, the obvious topic is the ongoing fallout, and security concerns, following Donald Trump's attempted violent coup last Wednesday. We discuss the ongoing realization of just how bad it really was, the corporate backlash against Trump and his GOP collaborators, the refusal of the Pentagon to come to the aid of the Vice President and the entire Congress under siege, the options remaining to punish Trump (impeachment, 25th amendment), and whether Trump's collaborators like Hawley and...
Jan 12, 2021•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 349
Today's show is about Donald Trump's attempted coup and his supporters' violent takeover of the US Capitol building. We also talk about the now-forgotten Democratic victory in the Georgia special election. Among the topics: Should Trump now be removed; what the act of domestic terror and the Georgia victory means for Biden and his agenda; whither the filibuster; Sen. Manchin as the most powerful man in Congress; would any Republican Senators be willing to caucus with the Democrats to expand our ...
Jan 07, 2021•30 min•Ep. 348
Today's show is about Trump's ongoing coup attempt, and in particular, the revelation about Trump this weekend illegally attempting to coerce Georgia's Republican secretary of state to illegally change the election results. We segue from that concern, as if it weren't bad enough, to growing worry about just what Trump has in store for the US military over the final few weeks of his regime. It ain't a happy episode, folks, but it's important. This is one of our free episodes. To hear all of our s...
Jan 04, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 347
Hey gang, in today's show, Cliff and I talk about Trump's latest election fraud nonsense, scheduled for January 6; Mitch McConnell's $2000 stimulus check poison pill; the pro-Trump GOP Congressman who just died from Covid; how Republican presidents always blow a hole in the deficit; and how Democrats need to better message their ideas. This is one of our premium episodes. You can listen to a half hour for free here, and then, if you'd like to hear the rest of the show, and support our work, cons...
Dec 31, 2020•34 min•Ep. 346
Rising Democratic star Congressman-elect Ritchie Torres (D-NY) joins us to talk about his recent election to Congress as the first African-American and Latino member of Congress to be openly-gay, his views on Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, the transition, the stimulus bill, and his legislative goals for 2021. He's such an impressive guy. You can watch a Zoom version of this interview, here. And this is one of our free podcasts. To hear the rest of our shows, and support our work, pleas...
Dec 24, 2020•46 min•Ep. 345
On today's show, we talk to longtime friend Simon Rosenberg about the importance of Democratic messaging, and exactly how Democrats should go about improving their messaging as we enter the Biden years. Simon is the founder of New Democrat Network and the New Policy Institute, a liberal think tank and advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. He's worked for the DNC and DCCC, on the Dukakis and Clinton 92 presidential campaigns, and is a former producer for ABC News. This is one of our free episo...
Dec 17, 2020•1 hr•Ep. 344
Writer David Roberts, author of the new newsletter Volts.wtf, joins us to talk about the latest ramifications of Trump's election steal. It was a fun conversation. This is one of our premium podcast episodes. You can listen to 30 minutes here, and to hear the rest of the show, our past episodes, and more generally support our work, please consider becoming a patron over at Patreon, thanks. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#...
Dec 16, 2020•35 min•Ep. 343
The latest on Trump's effort to steal the election, and what impact its having on our democracy. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Dec 14, 2020•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 342
In today's patron-only show, we invited Politico contributor, and new podcaster, Bill Scher back to talk about Biden's first year in the presidency, what it means for Republicans (and all of us) if Trump really decides to run again in 2024 (and announces it now), and the ongoing losing effort by Trump to steal the election. This is one of our premium subscriber-only episodes -- you can hear half an hour for free, then to hear the rest of the show, please consider becoming a patron over at Patreo...
Dec 09, 2020•34 min•Ep. 341
My longtime friend and colleague, Dana Beyer, who is a trans woman, joins us to talk about all things transgender. Cliff and I approached this episode from the perspective that there are no dumb questions. Dana heartily agreed. So, hopefully, you'll learn something new about an issue that's increasingly in the news. We talk about the JK Rowling controversy, pronouns, the notion that some people are "non-binary," and the difficulty of even discussing trans issues without fearing you're using the ...
Dec 03, 2020•1 hr 58 min•Ep. 340
On today's UnPresidented Podcast, we talk with Malcolm Nance, former US intelligence officer, NYT best selling author, and MSNBC contributors. Malcolm's most recent book, "The Plot to Betray America" was just released in paperback. Malcolm talks to us about the threats facing America, at home and abroad, in 2021 and beyond. This is a 30-minute free excerpt of the podcast. To hear the entire show, and our back archives, AND support our work, please become a patron over at Patreon, thanks. See Pri...
Dec 01, 2020•34 min•Ep. 339
For the first time in four years, we don't have anything that scary to report. In today's show, we talk about the Biden transition, Trump's insane legal team (but we mock them, so that's still fun), Social Security, and the wisdom of congressional (and judicial?) term limits. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Nov 27, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 338
On today's show, Cliff and I start with an interview with Pat Kreitlow, a former Wisconsin state senator, and now managing editor of UpNorthNews, about what how Trump is trying to steal the election in Wisconsin, where Biden won a clear victory by 20,000 votes. Later in the show we also talk about Fox News doing actual journalism, a few more GOP senators standing up to Trump's bogus election fraud claims, Trump's power during the lame duck, Rudy's crazy press conference yesterday, and more. This...
Nov 20, 2020•32 min•Ep. 337
In today's show, we talk about Republicans worrying that Trump may run again in 2024, Lindsey Graham trying to steal the Senate runoff elections in Georgia, whether a Biden DOJ should prosecute Trump, and how Fox News et. al. will try to make Trump the new Reagan whose message doesn't fade for decades. And we also delve into Scott Atlas' latest inanities. (PS I was wrong about Grassley! It was Inhofe who pulled the "wanna shake hands?" prank.) This is one of our free episodes. To hear our past s...
Nov 18, 2020•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 336
