The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Eric Holder’s plan to save democracy


Listen Later

Eric Holder was attorney general during the first six years of Barack Obama’s presidency, and there are days when it feels like he’s the attorney general of Obama’s post-presidency, too. Holder chairs the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, a cause close enough to Obama’s heart that the ex-president recently folded his Organizing for America operation into it. Holder calls the project “a partisan effort for good government,” a line rich with both the promise and problems of Obamaism. The NDRC doesn’t want to build a redistricting operation to match the GOP’s machine, they want to take redistricting out of the hands of politicians altogether. But critics worry that their organizing will work in blue states, fail in red states, and lead to Democrats unilaterally disarming in the redistricting wars. In this conversation, Holder lays out his strategy to end redistricting and answers his critics. We discuss whether there’s still the possibility of a Supreme Court ruling on the subject, and what tools Democrats have in red states. We also revisit Holder’s famous “nation of cowards” speech on race, and discuss whether more bankers should’ve been sent to jail during the financial crisis. Enjoy! Book Recommendations: An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917 - 1963 by Robert Dallek The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes by Langston Hughes 1944: FDR and the Year That Changed History by Jay Winik 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The Gray Area with Sean IllingBy Vox

  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5

4.5

10,511 ratings


More shows like The Gray Area with Sean Illing

View all
On the Media by WNYC Studios

On the Media

9,131 Listeners

Fresh Air by NPR

Fresh Air

38,189 Listeners

The Political Scene | The New Yorker by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

3,951 Listeners

Gastropod by Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley

Gastropod

3,618 Listeners

Switched on Pop by Vulture

Switched on Pop

2,628 Listeners

Decoder with Nilay Patel by The Verge

Decoder with Nilay Patel

3,144 Listeners

Explain It to Me by Vox

Explain It to Me

7,838 Listeners

The New Yorker Radio Hour by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

The New Yorker Radio Hour

6,670 Listeners

Pivot by New York Magazine

Pivot

9,202 Listeners

Channels with Peter Kafka by Vox Media Podcast Network

Channels with Peter Kafka

552 Listeners

The Daily by The New York Times

The Daily

111,864 Listeners

Good One: A Podcast About Jokes by Vulture

Good One: A Podcast About Jokes

1,457 Listeners

Radio Atlantic by The Atlantic

Radio Atlantic

2,321 Listeners

Today, Explained by Vox

Today, Explained

10,141 Listeners

The Cut by Vox Media Podcast Network

The Cut

1,585 Listeners

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat by New York Times Opinion

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat

6,751 Listeners

Future Perfect by Vox

Future Perfect

584 Listeners

Throughline by NPR

Throughline

16,043 Listeners

Land of the Giants by Vulture

Land of the Giants

2,154 Listeners

Unlocking Us with Brené Brown by Vox Media Podcast Network

Unlocking Us with Brené Brown

23,605 Listeners

The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway by Vox Media Podcast Network

The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway

5,414 Listeners

A Touch More with Sue Bird & Megan Rapinoe by Vox Media Podcast Network

A Touch More with Sue Bird & Megan Rapinoe

661 Listeners

Hard Fork by The New York Times

Hard Fork

5,448 Listeners

Celebrity Memoir Book Club by Vox Media Podcast Network

Celebrity Memoir Book Club

6,309 Listeners

The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

The Ezra Klein Show

15,237 Listeners

Unexplainable by Vox

Unexplainable

2,212 Listeners

Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast by Vox Media Podcast Network

Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast

5,926 Listeners

The Interview by The New York Times

The Interview

1,466 Listeners

Not Just Football with Cam Heyward by Cam Heyward

Not Just Football with Cam Heyward

140 Listeners

Networth and Chill with Your Rich BFF by Vivian Tu

Networth and Chill with Your Rich BFF

1,712 Listeners

Served with Andy Roddick by Served with Andy Roddick

Served with Andy Roddick

995 Listeners

Prof G Markets by Vox Media Podcast Network

Prof G Markets

1,127 Listeners

The Opinions by The New York Times Opinion

The Opinions

455 Listeners