According2Sam Podcast

President Biden leaves office with the lowest approval rating of any one-term president in U.S. history, and his presidency is viewed as a failure by a majority of Americans. Over the past four years, we have seen rising crime, crippling inflation, a surge in illegal immigration, and a world more unstable than at any time since the Cold War. In contrast, President Trump enters office for a second term more popular than ever before, enjoying the highest favorability ratings of his political career. When Biden ran for president in 2020, his campaign was centered on defeating Trump and ‘restoring the soul of the nation’. Yet, the only thing Biden has managed to restore is Trump to the White House. How did Biden’s unsuccessful presidency contribute to Trump's comeback and make him more popular than ever? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #279.

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Vivek Ramaswamy faced significant criticism following a post on X, where he claimed that American culture is mediocre. This statement came amid the controversy surrounding H-1B visas and what was being described as a "MAGA civil war." Ramaswamy argued that the mediocrity of American culture was the reason top tech companies in the United States needed to bring in foreign-born and first-generation engineers, implying that the cultures of these engineers' home countries were superior. He also suggested that American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence since the 1990s, if not longer. While many people found his comments offensive, there is some truth to his point. American culture has indeed shifted away from an emphasis on excellence, and this change began well before the 1990s. What led to this cultural shift, and how can we return to a culture of excellence? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #278.

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Just hours before violent winds fueled the flames that destroyed neighborhoods and homes, including those of many Hollywood celebrities, the city hosted the 82nd Annual Golden Globe Awards, with comedian Nikki Glaser as the host. A clip from the ceremony has gone viral, in which Glaser delivers a joke midway through the event. After sharing a tally of mentions during the early acceptance speeches, she pointed out that "God, the creator of the universe" had received zero mentions, while Mario Lopez received one. The celebrity audience erupted in laughter, and Glaser followed up with, "No surprise in this godless town." Why is this clip going viral in the wake of the tragic fires? What connections are people drawing between the joke and the fire, and what does it reveal about the broader national perception of Hollywood? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #277.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.according2sam.com

When people say "Make America Great Again", it suggests that America was once greater than it is today—and in many cases, that is true. America once boasted the best cities in the world, with stunning skylines, top-tier infrastructure, and skilled leaders who knew how to manage urban environments. These leaders understood the importance of planning, ensuring cities had access to essential services like water, plumbing, electricity, and waste disposal, along with other key elements required to build thriving metropolises. But American cities are no longer the best. Our infrastructure has deteriorated and so has the leadership, as we have sought diversity over competence. After decades of focusing on foreign wars and investing in other countries, we’ve allowed our cities to decay. How have the wildfires in Los Angeles become the latest example of America’s fall from greatness? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #276.

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Everyone is talking about the civil war within the MAGA movement over H-1B work visas. It’s a battle between Old MAGA and New MAGA. Old MAGA refers to those who have supported President Trump and the America First agenda since his 2016 campaign. These are working-class Americans who helped him win the Rust Belt with promises to stop the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs and reduce immigration, both legal and illegal. They have voted for President Trump in the last three presidential elections and form the core of his base. New MAGA, on the other hand, includes people like Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who only began supporting President Trump last year. Does New MAGA truly understand the America First agenda, or are they attempting to reshape it in their own image? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #275.

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After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, a confidential CIA brief was leaked to CBS News. It was the CIA's daily brief to the President for August 6, 2001, just 36 days before the attacks. This document contained extremely sensitive, classified information, and its leak put the Bush administration on the defensive. Taking advantage of the fact that the document remained classified and could not be verified, the administration made false statements about its contents. When the brief was finally declassified two years later, during the 9/11 Commission, Americans were shocked by the extent of the lies that had been told. What did the Bush administration claim when the confidential brief was first leaked, and how did it differ from what was actually in the report? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #274.

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During the 2016 election, when Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were the two major party nominees, the Clinton campaign hired a commercial research firm to conduct opposition research on Trump. The firm, Fusion GPS, based in Washington, D.C., was responsible for creating the political opposition report known as the Steele Dossier. Nellie Ohr, a Russian-speaking analyst with degrees in history and Russian literature from Harvard, worked for Fusion GPS while the firm was under contract with the Clinton campaign. Nellie Ohr was also the wife of Bruce Ohr, the associate deputy attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice. How did information from Hillary Clinton's opposition research end up in the FBI's counterintelligence division, and how did it influence their investigation into Trump? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #273.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.according2sam.com

The public first became aware of the Steele Dossier when Donald Trump was President-Elect for the first time. Initially presented as an intelligence report, it was later revealed to be political opposition research. The dossier contained scandalous and salacious allegations about President-Elect Trump, supposedly occurring during his time in Russia. While these accusations were a shock to the public when BuzzFeed published them in early 2017, they were not unexpected to many other media outlets, which also had copies of the dossier but chose not to report on it due to an inability to corroborate the allegations. The FBI was similarly not surprised—they too had a copy of the dossier before its publication. Since these allegations first surfaced, what have we learned about the Steele Dossier? Who funded it and leaked it to the press, and were any of the allegations true? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #272.

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The power to pardon is one of the most delicate authorities granted to the President of the United States, as it lies solely within the discretion of the executive branch. There is no judicial or congressional oversight, leaving room for potential abuse of this power. Throughout history, many presidents have issued controversial pardons, but what President Joe Biden is reportedly considering as his term nears its end is unprecedented. Biden is being urged, and is considering, to issue blanket pardons for government officials involved in unspecified crimes for which they have not been charged. How might such pardons undermine the integrity of the presidential pardon power, and would they provoke public outcry, potentially leading to calls for limiting this authority for future presidents? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #271.

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Sally Yates served as Deputy Attorney General during the final term of the Obama administration. She was second-in-command at the Department of Justice (DOJ) during the 2016 election when both major party candidates were under investigation by the FBI’s counterintelligence division. Earlier this week, Yates appeared as a guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Stewart asked Yates about the incoming Trump administration's plans for reforming the DOJ and why President-Elect Trump was wrong in believing the department needed reform. Yates responded by stating that while the United States has never realized the promise of equal justice, what matters is that equal justice has always been the goal. How did the DOJ pursue equal justice for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump when they were both under investigation during their 2016 presidential campaigns? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #270.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.according2sam.com