Beyond Politics

Recently the Center for American Progress issued a report that said “Online service companies have produced substantial wealth, but these gains have failed to reach the American workforce more broadly. Pervasive, ubiquitous digital surveillance has eroded Americans’ civil liberties. Exploitation of people’s data has created novel consumer threats around privacy, manipulation of consumer behavior, and discrimination. Americans face these and other harms from online services, including but not limited to widespread fraud, abuse of small businesses, abuse of market power, faulty algorithms, racist and sexist technological development, cybersecurity challenges, threats to workers’ rights, curtailed innovation, and challenges with online radicalization and misinformation.”  But one of the authors of that reports says that despite this massive litany of destructive problems, big tech platforms can be fixed, and the Internet can be...good!  Erin Simpson of CAP joins to explain. Photo by Rahul Chakraborty on Unsplash

The panel dives in to understand the key issues that are driving the midterm elections and where things stand on them: abortion, the economy and inflation, immigration, and Trump. Which party is driving the narrative onto their home turf, and how are voters reacting?  Also, are Dems kidding themselves with polling, again?  And did NASA just make one of Marjorie Taylor Greene's Jewish space lasers?!?

In the last few years, we’ve seen ideas that were once on the far fringes of American political thought become some of the most important and frightening factors in our politics. Overturning elections. QAnon. "Alternative Electors." Strict originalist views on abortion. And now, using an obscure section of the Constitution to create a right-wing rewrite of the Constitution itself. Former US Senator Russ Feingold served nearly two decades in the United States Senate, and is the co-author of “The Constitution in Jeopardy" with Peter Prindiville.  They both join us to explain this growing threat to the country.

Political scientist Dr. William Ewell and I just wrote an article for Newsweek breaking down the go-to Republican panic move every time they run into a rough patch politically.  Pull a stunt on immigration, no matter the human cost.  William joins me to run through the Groundhog Day history and likely future of their immigration ploy, and how it will probably be the ideal cover Republicans will look to in the unfolding Trump legal disaster.  Photo: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

Chris Hill of Motley Fool Money on why no one knows what to make of the confusing mess of economic data and business news...and that's making the market super jumpy.  Also, Amazon goes all in on the NFL. 

Just as Republican Senator Lindsay Graham scored a possible own-goal by proposing a national abortion ban, suddenly Ron DeSantis Diverted media attention onto his stunt to fly migrants from Texas to Massachusetts. Are Democrats at risk of letting the election focus change to Republicans' favorite territory.  Also, the country dodged a train last week when President Biden helped to avert a railroad strike--but it ain't over yet. 

Brookings Institution expert Jonathan Rauch breaks down his amazing viral article for The Atlantic, "Trump's Second Term Would Look Like This," detailing a nightmarish future with an unprecedented assault on the agencies, military, courts, and democracy. Rauch is the author of eight books and a contributing writer to The Atlantic.  He was the recipient of the 2005 National Magazine Award, the magazine industry’s equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize. For the video of this podcast, subscribe to The Takedown on YouTube.

Also, the tide turns in Ukraine. The big primaries today.  And should Democrats try to keep Trump off the ballot?

Several weeks ago, an NBC news poll found that the number one issue for Americans was not inflation, but the threat to democracy. Yet, despite American's clear concern, and despite Republican gaslighting about the supposed liberal bias of the media (hint, it's the opposite, as we cover in this episode), former Chicago Sun Times Editor Mark Jacob says that the stunning rise of fascist forces in America and the MAGA takeover of the Republican Party remains stunningly under-covered. "The media is scared of telling the truth when it comes to horrible things happening in politics. Nobody was set up for this rise of fascism...and it is fascism. And also the willingness of the Republican party to cheat in elections and and try to overturn legitimate elections. It's just astounding to me is how the biggest story of our lifetime is sitting right in front of us...yet they're afraid to cover it." Mark Jacob spent 41 years in daily newspapers, mostly in Chicago. He’s the former Sunday editor at the Chicago Sun-Times and former metro editor at the Chicago Tribune.

Time Magazine recently described Jesse Ferguson by saying that he "as been one of the quiet forces inside rooms where power has been negotiated, won, or ceded over the last two decades." He's one of the most sought-after messaging experts among Democrats, and he has a lot to say about the key thing that Democrats always seem to get wrong when talking to voters, and how to fix it (hint: there's an easy acronym to remember how...ABC-V). Matt and Jesse also cover how to make the Inflation Reduction Act resonate with voters, how the midterms are shaping up, and favorite stories from the campaign trail.