WPKN: Politics, Policy, and Planet Podcast

Interview with Greg Palast, investigative journalist for The Guardian and New York Times best-selling author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, conducted by Scott Harris.Greg Palast concludes that if all legal ballots were counted, Trump would have lost the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia. Kamala Harris would have won the Electoral College vote and the presidency. He talks about his years-long investigation into Republican voter suppression impact on the 2024 presidential election, detailed in his latest article, “Trump Lost. Vote Suppression Won. Here are the Numbers.”Greg Palast’s new film is about the latest attacks on the right to vote that bent this past election.  It’s called, Vigilantes Inc: America’s New Vote Suppression Hitmen, narrated by Rosario Dawson and produced by Martin Sheen. Leonardo DiCaprio has released the film for free streaming at GregPalast.com.

Interview with Will Rice, a consultant with Americans for Tax Fairness, conducted by Scott Harris.Will Rice discusses the Trump-GOP plan to cut more taxes for the rich and impose austerity on the rest of us, referencing a newly leaked memo from House Budget Committee Republicans that proposes slashing trillions from healthcare, nutrition, climate change prevention and more while handing $1.2 trillion in new tax breaks to millionaires, billionaires and big corporations.

Interview with Dr. Stephanie Woolhandler, distinguished professor of public health at Hunter College, conducted by Scott Harris.Dr. Stephanie Woolhandler talks about her concerns regarding Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services. She focuses on his anti-science and anti-vaccine views and what damage he could inflict on U.S. public health policies should the U.S. Senate confirm him.

Interview with Steve Phillips, columnist, host of the Democracy in Color podcast and best-selling author of "How We Win the Civil War: Securing a Multiracial Democracy and Ending White Supremacy for Good" conducted by Scott Harris.Steve Phillips discusses the Trump regime 2.0’s white supremacist ideology – blatant as ever during the campaign, and undeniable in his first week in office eliminating all DEI programs, as well as revoking LBJ’s 1965 executive order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating in employment based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Most recently Trump outrageously blamed DEI for the plane-helicopter collision at Reagan National Airport.

Interview with Stanley Heller, host of the TV newsmagazine “The Struggle," conducted by Scott Harris.Stanley Heller discusses multi-billionaire and Trump pal Elon Musk’s white supremacy and hate speech, examined in his book, “Zionist Betrayal of Jews: From Herzl to Netanyahu,” as well as Musk’s recent Nazi salute at the Trump inauguration, and the U.S. Anti-Defamation League and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s twisted defense of Musk’s “Heil Hitler” gesture.Heller is administrator of the New Haven, CT-based group Promoting Enduring Peace and a member of Jewish Voice for Peace.

Interview with Joe Lauria, editor-in-chief of Consortium News, conducted by Scott Harris.Joe Lauria talks about his recent article, “The Imperial Presidency Marches On,” about the domestic and international response to Donald Trump’s threat to annex other nation’s territories, including Greenland, the Panama Canal and Canada through economic blackmail or the use of military force.  Lauria has written for the Boston Globe, the London Daily Telegraph, the Johannesburg Star, the Montreal Gazette, and the Wall Street Journal.

Interview with Amy Gottlieb, U.S. migration director with the American Friends Service Committee, conducted by Scott Harris.Amy Gottlieb talks about the work her group is doing to challenge Donald Trump’s many executive orders setting in motion his campaign pledge to execute mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, close the southern border and suspend the entry of refugees seeking asylum in the U.S.

Interview with Lawrence Rosenthal, Ph.D., chair and lead researcher at the Berkeley Center for Right-Wing Studies, University of California at Berkeley, conducted by Scott Harris.Lawrence Rosenthal discusses Donald Trump’s pardon and commutation of some 1,500 convicted Jan. 6 insurrectionists, many of whom had engaged in violent attacks on Capitol police. He also expresses growing concerns that this blanket presidential pardon will be viewed as a green light by right-wing extremist groups to engage in future political violence targeting Trump’s perceived enemies.

Excerpts of speeches and interviews at the People's March at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C., recorded and produced by Scott Harris.Speeches and interviews were recorded Saturday, Jan. 18 at the People’s March in Washington, D.C. where tens of thousands marched and rallied to oppose Donald Trump’s radical authoritarian agenda, including his campaign pledge to deport millions of immigrants, suppress the LGBTQ community, criminalize media outlets that are critical of him, prosecute his perceived political opponents, and dismantle federal climate and pollution regulations.

Interview with Jennifer Loewenstein, former associate director of Middle Eastern Studies and senior lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, conducted by Scott Harris.Jennifer Loewenstein examines the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, the future of Gaza and the ongoing struggle a free and independent Palestine, as well as her assessment of the new and unstable Middle East landscape that many US commentators describe as a “triumph” for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.