Beyond Politics

As we were recording another show, news broke about the Dobbs decision that overturns the right to abortion in America. Our panel -- featuring former Democratic Congressman Paul Hodes, conservative commentator Alicia Preston, and political analyst Matt Robison -- immediately switched in real time to discussing the decision.  Alicia provides a pro-life view, but with an empathetic response from those who will be enraged by the decision. Paul weighs in to ask what rights are next?  And Matt raises the question of just how radical the strict originalist cult on the Supreme Court is.

Ruby Freeman is the new face of the attack on American democracy. She is one of the critical people who helps make elections work.  Donald Trump falsely accused Ruby and her daughter, both former election workers in Georgia, of election fraud. This week, she testified that “There was nowhere I feel safe. Nowhere. Do you know how it feels to  have the president of the United States to target you? The president of the United States is supposed to represent every American, not to target one. But he targeted me.”

If we want to preserve our system of elections, we need to have the people in place -- unbiased, patriotic, fair-minded people -- to run them. Two months ago I wrote an article arguing that people who really cared about protecting American democracy needed to start paying a lot more attention to people like Ruby who make our elections work. I pointed out that there are not-for-profit organizations that will help you get involved, say if you are interested in being a poll worker, or helping to keep our elections working free of partisan interference. One of the organizations I spotlighted is the Fair Election Center, established 16 years ago by a prominent public interest attorney named Bob Brandon, which also helped to launch an effort called Power the Polls that helps people to volunteer to help run elections. Bob joins us to talk about what the true threats to elections are and how each of us can protect American democracy.

Right before recording our show yesterday with NBC legal analyst Barbara McQuade, Matt joined legendary West Virginia radio broadcaster Howard Monroe for a quick conversation about the January 6 hearings, in which he previewed the emerging argument that January 6 was a big deal, but from a legal standpoint may now take a back seat to everything that preceded it.  Because as rofessor McQuade argued, there are two ways to prosecute Donald Trump and his co-conspirators that have almost nothing to do with the attack on January 6, and they both have a growing stack of proof to support them.  Howard and Matt get into what that case is and why we may be entering a new phase of thinking about the investigation in this quick bonus pod.  

Last week's Congressional hearings were as riveting and disturbing as any testimony that has ever occurred in the US Congress. The picture has now become much sharper and much uglier about the true danger on January 6, the wild scheme to overturn the election that built for months, the fact that the plot was occurring at the highest levels of government, and most of all that President Donald Trump was told repeatedly, in the words of the former Attorney General of the United States William Barr, that his false election claims and the illegal scheme to keep him in power was all "bullshit." And yet, he tried to stage a coup anyway. In fact, perhaps most surprising, the January 6 attack may not even matter when comes down to the question of whether Donald Trump will be prosecuted.

We unpack all of this with Barbara McQuade, a law professor at the University of Michigan and the former U.S attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan - the first woman to serve in her position. She’s also a legal analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Lawfare, Just Security, Slate, and NPR.

Matt joins Old Dominion University sociologist and Editorial Board writer Rod Graham on his live video show to break down how Democrats could do a better job peeling off voters they may have written off too soon, why Democrats need to stop chasing shiny objects, and whether Joe Biden still deserves some strong grades for his presidency.

Every week, we convene a former Congressman from the left, a conservative political consultant and columnist from the right, and a center-left host to dive deep behind the week's headlines. The Balance of Power round table is usually broadcast on WKXL and available in the Capitol Close Up podcast. But this week, we wanted to bring the show to our Beyond Politics listeners as we talk about the framework agreement on reducing gun violence and the real implications of the new information coming out of the January 6 committee hearings. 

With this week's drop the S&P 500 is officially in bear market territory. Why? And why are major business leaders warning of an “economic hurricane”? Chris Hill of Motley Fool Money explains.

The top issue on everyone’s minds these days is the economy, and especially the fast-rising prices that we’re all feeling at the grocery store and the gas pump. Of course, the economy is almost always the top issue for Americans….in 1992 the Bill Clinton campaign boiled down their whole message to its “the economy, stupid.” So to understand what’s happening in the American economy, inflation, and most important, what’s likely to happen next, we simply couldn’t have a better guest than Dr. Mark Zandi. He’s chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, where he directs economic research, and he’s a recognized and trusted voice through his many appearances on major news media outlets like CNBC, NPR, Meet the Press, CNN, not to mention frequent testimony before Congress.

The Editorial Board, edited by longtime newspaper veteran John Stoehr (@johnastoehr), publishes articles designed to make you think. You may agree, disagree, or find yourself alternating between the two. And that's the idea. John and Matt talk about what the recall of Chesa Boudin really means, why the media narrative about it (and a lot of things) isn't quite right, whether more democracy is the cure for what ails many of our failing government systems, and our ambivalent relationship with Twitter. 

Before and after our great discussion with legal expert Kim Wehle about her new book featured in our last pod, we talked a bit about the January 6 investigation (which Kim has written extensively about) and whether the Administration can deem the Equal Rights Amendment as enacted right now (and whether they should!) which Matt is writing about in an article due out this week.