"Everyone loses. Even if the Israelis lose, the Palestinians have lost so much, maybe the seed isn't there anymore. And in Israel, the great abundance of goodwill Israel has built up around the world with the holocaust centres and so forth is being dismantled." As long threatened, Israel has invaded the last refuge of Palestinian citizens along the Gaza Strip, the city of Rafah, leading to more escalating casualties. Meanwhile, the judge in Donald Trump's hush money trial has rejected calls for ...
May 09, 2024•18 min
"Why have an election? An assassination is cheaper." Protests concerning Israel's treatment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have continued to wrack college campuses this week, with Joe Biden walking a thin line between support and rapprochement. Meanwhile, Donald Trump's court cases continue with conservative justices on the Supreme Court looking curiously willing to entertain arguments on presidential immunity. Also discussing moves to reclassify marijuana, Florida's abortion ban comes into e...
May 02, 2024•18 min
"I think we should listen to the underlying message here, let's get the hell out of being warmongers." The passing of a long-stalled funding bill for Ukraine and Israel means a fresh injection of cash for Ukrainian and Gaza war efforts but, particularly for House Speaker Mike Johnson, it could come at a cost. Meanwhile, Donald Trump's hush money trial in New York continues with Justice Juan Merchan weighing options to hold the former president to account for breaking his gag order. Also discussi...
Apr 24, 2024•16 min
"Israel created a mess rather than cleaning up a mess." Israel has successfully repelled an air attack by Iran as part of an escalation of hostilities over Gaza, and the world waits to see just what a more complete reaction will look like. Meanwhile, Trump is having his day in court over hush money charges in New York while his lawyers ready arguments to be made before the Supreme Court in favour of total presidential immunity. Also this week discussing aid for both Israel and Ukraine, Mike John...
Apr 18, 2024•22 min
"It doesn't matter what a court decides today or tomorrow, the legislation needs to be clear." Arizona has resurrected an 1864 law to ban almost all abortions in the state, once again underlining the importance of reproductive rights in the 2024 campaign and damaging Donald Trump's attempts to paint himself as an abortion moderate. Meanwhile, Joe Biden is marrying policy and campaigning with new tariffs on Chinese and Japanese imports, and further forgiveness for student loan borrowers. Also dis...
Apr 11, 2024•12 min
"This is a turning point for Biden and the election, he has to, quick-smart, hopefully, get Israel to withdraw entirely." Seven aid workers killed in Gaza by Israeli forces brings the war home for Australians and Americans, but will Biden's strong words ever be matched by strong actions? Also, Donald Trump continues to slip out of consequences when it comes to his legal cases, with a reduced bond now covered by a Californian billionaire and no apparent effects from breaking gag orders. Also disc...
Apr 04, 2024•19 min
"This degrades the court and the court system." A devastating incident has left six dead and Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge in ruin with the city and the Biden Administration now wrestling with how to steer the recovery. Meanwhile, Trump has been handed a lifeline after being unable to pay the bond in his New York case over fraudulent business practices leaving many wondering whether it will ever be possible to see him held legally to account. Also discussing the Moscow terror attack, Gaza...
Mar 28, 2024•17 min
"Joe's going to have to pull a rabbit out of a hat because the American people are just disillusioned." While still battling over border control and funding for Ukraine, Democrats and Republicans appear to have reached a deal to avoid government shutdown once again, or have they? And what happens at the next federal budget two months before the election? Meanwhile, Trump has failed to secure bond for his New York civil case and may face seizures, but not all of the judges on his cases are so pun...
Mar 21, 2024•14 min
"Trump always finds the wrong side of the tracks." Joe Biden has laid out the stakes of the 2024 election in stark terms in last week's State of the Union address, we look at battle lines on both rhetoric and policy. Plus, Donald Trump has secured his hold on the Republican party as the presumptive nominee with a purge of the Republican National Committee with the former president hitting the campaign trail and set to start receiving classified briefings again in spite of his long list of crimin...
Mar 14, 2024•14 min
"There's a clear chance that Trump might be the victor." In spite of denying Trump a clean sweep of the primaries, Nikki Haley has dropped out of the Republican race after a lacklustre Super Tuesday showing leaving Donald Trump as the presumptive nominee to go up against Joe Biden in the November election. And in spite of a Supreme Court decision in Trump's favour this week, with ongoing legal battles and Trump facing a clear mental decline (along with Biden), the road ahead looks anything but s...
Mar 07, 2024•19 min
"America's in a mess... neither one of these candidates offers hope, unfortunately, for a nation that's in decline." The Supreme Court will rule on Donald Trump's claims of total presidential immunity in April as the former president tries to escape consequences for his rule in the January 6th attempted coup, while Trump's litany of other legal issues continue. Meanwhile, a ruling in the Alabama Supreme Court determining that frozen embryos are legally children has had unforeseen consequences fo...
Feb 29, 2024•18 min
"This man and his voice are deeper in Russia than Russians want to admit. And maybe this cataclysmic event will get some of them, in some small number, to form a movement to overthrow this regime." The death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in an arctic prison has led to worldwide condemnation and more economic threats from the United States, but at this point is there anything left to sanction? Meanwhile, another big ruling against Trump in his New York civil fraud case could leave t...
Feb 22, 2024•19 min
"Trump was giving a little underhanded nod... hey, Russia, like you did last time, give me a hand in this campaign." The House of Reps continues to block funding for Ukraine's military defense against Russian incursion as support for Russia's actions appears to grow amid Republicans and is actively encouraged by former president Donald Trump. Meanwhile, frustrations grow as the Biden administration continues failing to make any headway on influencing Israeli policy even as they provide funding t...
Feb 15, 2024•14 min
"This is his endgame, he wins it all or he loses it all." Bad news for Donald Trump this week with an appeals court unanimously ruling he is not immune from prosecution over his actions inciting insurrection on January 6th, 2021. Will it make a difference or is the appeals process just a delaying method anyway? Meanwhile, a band of both Democratic and Republican senators have turned back a bill that links funding for Ukraine and Israel with border reform. Also discussing the rejection of a cease...
Feb 08, 2024•19 min
"This is an important issue but you notice how the Republicans are using it for themselves. They're not interested in the border." Texas Governor Greg Abbott is dating Biden to act, defying federal law and a mandate delivered by the Supreme Court with his border control crackdown. He's not alone, with Republicans seeing Biden as weak on borders and looking to leverage that as an attack even if they have to weaken the borders themselves to do it. Meanwhile, the deaths of American service personne...
Feb 01, 2024•16 min
"America is spread too thin everywhere, and of course that thinness makes America weak internally." It's a two horse race in the Republican primaries as Ron DeSantis drops out and returns to the state he's meant to be governing in defeat. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has set out his resistance to an independent Palestinian state in his clearest terms yet, so how does American stay invested? Also looking at Anthony Blinken's trip to Africa, Ohio's attack on transgender youths, clashe...
Jan 25, 2024•17 min
"If Joe Biden runs or doesn't run they're trying to make the case that democracy is at stake." The race to the polls in November has already kicked into gear as we enter the new year! Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have amassed the largest campaign war chest in US history, but are they too preoccupied with their presumptive opponent? Meanwhile, Donald Trump is more concerned with his ongoing legal cases than the campaign trail and yet is still handily leading the Republican primaries. Plus, we catc...
Jan 18, 2024•21 min
"Be strong, because it's going to take all of our fortitudes, external and internal, to make it through next year." Ed and Sean look back on the biggest stories of 2023 in their final podcast of the year, most of which continue to drag us forward in 2024. Gaza, Ukraine, Donald Trump's legal issues and escalating rhetoric on race, the Biden agenda and preparing for the 2024 campaign, the climate crisis, opioids, and a hopeful upswing for the economy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inform...
Dec 21, 2023•28 min
"Biden is DOA, he can't win the election now." Republicans have moved ahead on efforts to impeach Joe Biden in spite of a lack of evidence of any wrongdoing to provide cover for Trump whose legal issues are set to dominate the 2024 campaign, so what are the next moves for Biden and for Republicans? Meanwhile, Israel faces new accusations of war crimes carried out on a civilian population as Biden cautions it is losing the world's support. Also discussing Jack Smith calling for the Supreme Court ...
Dec 14, 2023•23 min
"There is nothing for him to lose, and that's a terrible position to be in." Bumper week for bad news as we head toward the end of the year, with fighting resuming in Gaza, trouble securing more aid for Ukraine, record-setting numbers of mass shootings, Republicans protecting January 6th rioters, and Donald Trump practically crowing over the possibility of a Trump dictatorship. But all the news can't be bad, with Trump appeals denied and signs inflation could be on the way down. See omnystudio.c...
Dec 07, 2023•22 min
"This is going to be, in our lifetime, a forever arrangement that keeps the Palestians humble, poor, and without resources to fight." A pause in fighting continues this week as Israel and Hamas exchange hostages, how long will it continue and what will it mean for US involvement if fighting resumes? Meanwhile, Nikki Haley has been endorsed by the powerful Koch network for the Republican presidential nomination but Trump still rules the polls. Also discussing Ukraine funding, impeachment efforts ...
Nov 30, 2023•14 min
"I don't think we've found the road to peace but we've found the road to stopping a lot of the violence for now." A reprieve in Gaza as Israel offers an additional day of peace for every ten hostages released by Hamas. In such a fraught and complex situation, we ask this week how to separate criticism of Israel's actions from antisemitism. Meanwhile, Joe Biden has celebrated his 81st birthday this week and again raised the question of how old is too old to be running for president. Also discussi...
Nov 23, 2023•14 min
"There seem to be quite a few of them who don't give a stuff about running the country." Government shutdown has once again been averted as Republicans and Democrats come to an agreement to keep the government funded, the first under new House Speaker Mike Johson. For Dems, it all seems a little too easy, doesn't it? Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has unveiled a new code of conduct for Justices but the wording and lack of enforcement leaves something to be desired. Also discussing funding for Ukra...
Nov 16, 2023•17 min
"It's easier, as Lincoln said, to be critical than to be correct." One year out from the 2024 presidential election, Joe Biden is battling personal unpopularity in the polls as well as dissatisfaction with cost of living and his handling of Gaza. Meanwhile, his presumptive Republican opponent, Donald Trump, has done a disastrous job of testifying in his own defense at his New York civil fraud trial but that doesn't seem to be doing his own popularity any harm. This week also looking at some deci...
Nov 09, 2023•21 min
"No one would have anticipated this outcome from getting rid of McCarthy, we've gone from bad to worse." The hard right of the Republican party have gotten their way in electing Louisiana rep Mike Johnson to the position of Speaker after Kevin McCarthy refused to go far enough in shutting down the government simply to mess with the Biden government, so what has 'MAGA Mike' got in store? Meanwhile, there's little reputable information coming out of the Gaza region following an Israeli ground inva...
Nov 02, 2023•15 min
"The US is doing their best to restrain any more actions and incursions but this is going to be a mess for many, many years." A bloody sort of stalemate in the Israel-Gaza conflict as Israel continues to consider a ground invasion, but tensions are bubbling over in the wider region. Meanwhile, Trump allies are rapidly abandoning the sinking ship, and grabbing onto any plea deal they can, as several former lawyers plead guilty over accusations of 2020 election interference in Georgia. Also discus...
Oct 25, 2023•19 min
"The United States runs to the rescue and a whole lot of people get killed, get hurt, get maimed and the like." As fighting continues in and around Gaza, President Joe Biden has ventured to the region to discuss the path forward for Israel and to try and avoid a bloody ground invasion. Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives had been paralysed by the Republican Party's battle over the position of House Speaker following the ousting of Kevin McCarthy. Also discussing George Santos, crackdowns ...
Oct 19, 2023•18 min
"This will not end until all the blood stops." Escalation over fresh conflict around the Gaza Strip has left thousands dead and many more injured, homeless, or living in terror. Ed and Sean look over how planning for the coordinated mass attack by HAMAS was overlooked and the likelihood of further US involvement. Also discussing what this means for Ukraine, Donald Trump's latest legal issues, Biden building the wall after all, and RFK Jr.'s split from the Democratic party. See omnystudio.com/lis...
Oct 12, 2023•12 min
"This is what you call hara-kiri, the Republicans killed themselves and they killed the whole government." Government shutdown was narrowly averted last week as Republicans abandoned their negotiating positions, but not everyone is happy with the deal leading to the historical ousting of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Meanwhile, Joe Biden seems to largely keep his head down and stay out of the news cycle, but is the lack of coverage helping or hurting? Also discussing the latest on Trump, record ...
Oct 05, 2023•14 min
"It's not about governing, it's about destroying government." Another government shutdown looms as members of the Republican-controlled House refuse to come to the negotiating table despite the urgings of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, is there anything they actually want? Joe Biden has become the first US president to walk a picket line in support of United Auto Workers, regaining some of the union credentials lost during last year's rail workers' strike. Also discussing the latest on Trump, the Holly...
Sep 27, 2023•13 min
