Emboldened by years of support from the president and encouraged by millions of Americans joining the disinformation whirlpool, far-right extremist groups are growing in number and in danger. So what’s next? And why are we only taking this threat seriously now? On Tuesday, host Kerri Miller talks with two experts intimately acquainted with the danger posted by far-right extremism.

While many Americans are clamoring to get a COVID-19 vaccine, others are turning down their doses despite being prioritized based on their age, occupation or risk level. On Monday’s MPR News with Kerri Miller, two doctors discuss the vaccine rollout, who is opting out and what groups are currently being missed.

Being fat is not a moral failure.

So says fat activist Aubrey Gordon in her new book, “What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat.” Part personal narrative, part historical examination, Gordon’s work explores the roots of anti-fat bias and the harm it causes.

MPR News host Kerri Miller talked with Gordon about her book and her quest for an anti-fat social justice movement.  

Guest:

To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or RSS

Just hours after he was inaugurated, President Joe Biden signaled his intent to prioritize immigration reform: He sent a comprehensive immigration reform bill to Congress that included new protections for children migrating from Central America and an expedited path to citizenship for the millions of immigrants currently in the country without legal status. 

He also signed a slew of executive orders related to immigration, including a reversal of the travel ban on predominantly Muslim countries, a stop to border wall construction and a 100-day pause on deportations.

But he’s not the first president to tackle this complicated and politically charged issue. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama both tried to overhaul immigration — and failed. How is Biden’s plan different?

Thursday, two immigration scholars looked at Biden’s proposals with MPR News host Kerri Miller.

Guests:

To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or RSS

Forgiving student loan debt has moved from fringe to mainstream. President Joe Biden supports erasing up to $10,000 in debt and some Democrats want more. On Wednesday, host Kerri Miller talks to two experts about why student debt has surged and how to help those who need it most. 

Conspiracy theories flourished in 2020. Between a pandemic, protests over the police killing of George Floyd and a fraught election that the president himself falsely claimed he won, a growing number of people believe things that simply aren’t true.

If losing a shared sense of reality is difficult for democracy, it’s even harder on personal relationships. Those who’ve lost a loved one to a conspiracy theory like QAnon say it’s almost impossible to combat.

Psychologists agree. Conspiracy theories are especially attractive during uncertain times, and multifaceted ideas like QAnon also function like an “unusually absorbing alternate-reality game,” which makes it especially hard for adherents to break free.

Tuesday, MPR News host Kerri Miller tackled the second show in a series about disinformation. Earlier this month, she talked to two experts about how disinformation is spreading so rapidly. This week, she investigated how to help a loved one who is immersed in disinformation.

Guests:

To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or RSS

Beginning Tuesday, older Minnesotans will have a 24-hour window to register for a chance to get a COVID-19 vaccine appointment. It will be random selection rather than first come, first served. The web and telephone queues opened up last week to a widening pool of candidates.

Minnesotans ages 65 and over, child care providers and teachers are now eligible to get vaccinated alongside front-line health care workers and people who live or work at long-term care facilities.

Even though eligibility is growing, the number of doses available remains limited.

The slow rollout is a source of contention among Minnesota lawmakers, but state officials point to bottlenecks within the federal government which doles out vaccines to each state. Right now, Minnesota’s share is about 60,000 doses per week.

Minnesota's top public health officials spoke with MPR News host Kerri Miller about the state’s initial vaccine rollout and when Minnesotans can expect vaccination rates to ramp up.

Guests:

Correction (Jan. 26, 2021): A previous version of this story misstated the time of day the web and telephone queues would open for vaccine appointments in Minnesota. The story has been updated.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or RSS

When Donald Trump declined to explicitly condemn white supremacy during the presidential debate last fall, it was the latest in the president’s long pattern of placating white supremacist groups. And during that same debate, Trump told the far-right Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” — which quickly became the group’s new slogan. 

White supremacists led the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol, after being incited by Trump. In 2017, when a white supremacist rally turned violent in Charlottesville, Va., Trump said there were “very fine people on both sides.” 

The Center for Strategic and International Studies found that attacks by far-right groups more than quadrupled between 2016 and 2017. But many experts say the seeds of white supremacy in the GOP were planted long before Trump — and some of it can be tied back to white Christians, a large base within the Republican Party. 

Friday, host Kerri Miller talked with two experts in white supremacy within the GOP. How did it get this bad, and is it possible to extricate the two?

Guests:

To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or RSS

The goal was simple, if unexpected: Keep Donald Trump from winning a second term. By that account, a group of prominent Republicans who worked to defeat Donald Trump in the 2020 election were successful.

But their party is gutted. The GOP lost power in Congress. Trump remains widely popular with the average Republican voter and is threatening to take his base and start a third party — even as his final job approval rating from the American public fell to 29 percent.

What happens next? The GOP appears poised to fight an internal battle between the Republicans who remain loyal to Trump and the so-called “Never Trumpers,” who would like to move on without him. MPR News host Kerri Miller spoke with two prominent voices of the movement about what they think the future holds for the GOP.

Guests:

After a tumultuous few weeks, President-elect Joe Biden will officially take the oath of office on Wednesday.

Congress confirmed his Electoral College victory just hours after pro-Trump rioters broke into the Capitol building, temporarily delaying proceedings. 

His administration’s ability to pass legislation opened up drastically, when Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff won Senate seats in Georgia’s runoff elections. 

Their victories gave the Democratic caucus 50 seats in the Senate, which splits the chamber evenly with the Republican caucus. The tie-breaker vote will go to Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, garnering Democrats slight control so long as they can keep their party united.

Democrats also held onto their majority in the House of Representatives, despite losing seats.

The lackluster results for Democrats down the ticket spurred debates over what issues the party needs to focus on and whose votes they should be courting.

Two political scientists joined MPR News host Kerri Miller for a conversation about the Democratic mandate for the Biden administration’s first 100 days.   

Guests:
Seth Masket is director of the Center on American Politics at the University of Denver. He is also the author of “Learning from Loss: The Democrats, 2016-2020.”

Andrea Benjamin is an associate professor of African and African American studies at The University of Oklahoma and author of “Racial Coalition Building in Local Elections: Elite Cues and Cross-Ethnic Voting.” 

Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or RSS