Daily Kos' The Brief

This week Markos and Kerry discuss President Joe Biden’s first 100 days in office. While most of us would not have not predicted it, Joe Biden’s presidency so far is considerably more progressive than former President Barack Obama. Kerry and Markos talk about what Biden has been able to do so far and more importantly the options he has to enact even more progressive change in the coming weeks and months. Markos and Kerry discuss the many reasons for this and also dig into the strange incoherence of the Republican Party and what that might mean in the upcoming midterm elections.

This week on Daily Kos’ The Brief we talk with Daily Kos staff writer Lauren Floyd. Lauren covered every day and hour of the Derek Chauvin trial, and talks about that experience as well as what happens now in regards to police reform and federal legislation. Organizer Maurice Mitchell, the National Director of the Working Families Party, joins to talk about the Black Lives Matter movement, and the need for organizers to continue to build broader and broader coalitions. Mitchell also gives his thoughts on the Democratic Party and what needs to to happen in for the Biden administration to avoid the midterm losses suffered during Obama’s presidency.

Remember all those lawsuits pre-2020 election making it easier to vote, whether by vote by mail, or increased early vote, or myriad other such measures? Remember after the election, the case after case after case that Republicans lost, leading to tweets like “Republicans are now 1-50 in election challenges”? The man behind those legal efforts was this week's guest, Mark Elias.

Today, we’re talking to two great Texas organizers from the Texas Organizing Project. Not only have they done amazing work helping flip formerly red counties around Austin, Dallas, and Houston to the Democrats, but their advocacy work has ensured that those Democratic victories have led to critically important local reforms. We’ll talk about those victories, and what needs to be done to flip Texas Democratic at the statewide level.

Do you feel helpless about the politics of gun control? Not only are the politics of the issue clearly trending in Democrats’ direction, a new generation of activists are reimagining how advocates and Democrats alike should approach the issue to create change. We’ll also dig into what the heck is going on with the sudden GOP war on Corporate America, and the corporations that ever so briefly took a stand against GOP seditionists before greenlighting donations once again in support of congressional Republicans.

Joining us today is California Rep. Ted Lieu discussing the model minority myth and where the Asian community goes from here. We also discuss his work on the American Rescue Plan, as well as his efforts to reform America’s broken bail system. Also joining is Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, who will talk about a topic near and dear to us: filibuster reform. We are dead in the water without eliminating the ability of Republicans to block most pieces of legislation over the next two years. Can we fix it?

Besides the predatory nature of modern student loans and the extraordinary financial burden they have put on Americans over the past couple of decades, many economists believe that wiping away the almost $2 trillion debt would have profound benefits for the U.S. economy. On this week’s episode of The Brief, co-hosts Cara Zelaya and Kerry Eleveld talk about America’s student debt crisis with activist Melissa Byrne and Mike Pierce, the policy director and managing counsel at the Student Borrower Protection Center (SBPC).

Mississippi. Yes, Mississippi. Today, on The Brief, we talk to Mike Espy, the Democratic candidate for Senate in the Magnolia State the last two cycles, about what it will take to bring his state into the Democratic fold. We also talk to Sarah Longwell a never-Trump Republican and publisher of The Bulwark, at thebulwark.com. She discusses what the possible futures are for the Republican Party, whether or not a third party is on the horizon, and what she hears from those voters who have left Trump but not the GOP.