Keep it in Perspective

Returning Champ Brittany McCants Garcia joins Keep it in Perspective to talk about the complicated relationship between Black voters, especially Southern, older Black voters and "uncle" Joe Biden, as well as the hardships Trump's trade war has inflicted upon her beloved dog. You don't want to miss that tangent.

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

I'm joined by Christopher Ervin, criminal justice advocate and candidate for Baltimore City Council. We discuss his experience on the Mexico border, the quest for criminal justice reform, and the intersection of criminal justice and immigration reform. 

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

What does it mean to be a Democrat in 2019? What does it take to run for office these days? How can a progressive relate to their purple voting and red voting neighbors?

It's all about messaging: relating your platform and your positions on the issues to the pains and concerns of your voters. No matter your priorities, it's always about tying your solutions into the challenges your voters face.

In this episode, former progressive Democratic candidate for the Maryland House of Delegates Jason Fowler breaks it all down in this ode to our party and his beloved home district, a unique place that is closer to our nation's capitol than almost all others, but  just as outside the beltway as anywhere in America...

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

This week I'm joined by veteran Republican strategist and Washington Times columnist Matt Mackowiak to discuss the state of the Democratic field, analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the front runners, and size up just how these candidates could take on Trump as the eventual Democratic nominee. We get down in the weeds and chart the different paths Trump could still take to 270.

Before that in my monologue, I take on the controversy of the Netanyahu government denying entry to two duly elected members of the United States Congress and what our reactions to this moment say about our polarized and hyperpartisan politics, what it means for our ability to digest information and evaluate for ourselves, and what the Netanyahu government's alignment with the Trump administration and congressional Republicans before that could mean for the future of Israel-US relations.

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

This week, we discuss the horrible domestic terror attacks in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas, as well as the inhumane raids by ICE of a community of undocumented workers at a processing plant in Mississippi. There is no doubt that a culture of violence, of White Supremacy, combined with excessively easy access to guns and the availability of weapons of war, all contributed to these atrocities. GOP excuses don't measure up to the data.

I'm also joined by Lila Zucker, who worked on the Georgia Democratic Party's coordinated campaign in Georgia during Stacey Abrams' run for governor. We talk about the voter suppression tactics, the ethical challenges, and the attempts to discourage Americans from exercising their right to vote. We also address the need for people to stay vigilant and get involved and offer ways for regular people to step up and help out now.

The fact is, if we have a truly participatory democracy in which people are engaged and feel heard, there's no way a craven minority of legislators can keep hold of power and push an agenda that favors White Supremacists and puts guns above human lives. Let's Keep it in Perspective!

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

Let's break down these last two debates. CNN, Jake Tapper, Dana Bash, and Don Lemon threw journalistic integrity to the wind and went right in for reality TV show optics. Interruptions and staged fights beat our thoughtful questions and meaningful exchanges. Meanwhile, about 18 different unqualified, unknown, or unsuited candidates sucked air out of the room, harming the chances of the eventual Democratic nominee.

So is this crowded field good for Democrats and our democracy, or is it time to thin the herd? Let's dig a little deeper and keep it in perspective. 

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

Today, former Special Counsel Robert Mueller testified for his 90th time before the House of Representatives. Though his testimony was complete and truthful, there of course were some - ehem - conclusions lacking.

More striking still was that GOP Congressmembers were willing to forgo any inquiry into the facts and instead followed Sean Hannity, Alex Jones, and AM talk radio hosts down the conspiratorial rabbit hole to attack an American hero rather than to seek out the facts. The display was disgraceful.

So let's forget the political points scoring for a moment. How did we get here? What are our adversaries after? And how do we move forward? 

We cover all this and more in this week's special episode.

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

Last week's news was dominated by the two debates. While they were important to narrow down the choices for Democratic primary voters, they weren't the biggest news of the week - or even the month. 

In the same week, the Supreme Court handed down critical decisions on gerrymandering and on the Trump administration's plan to add a discriminatory citizenship question to the US Census. The big picture and the ugly truth is that all of this is part of the GOP's plan to install and insulate all-White minority rule. They already have the mechanisms in place in the allocation of Senate seats and votes in the Electoral College; now they're trying to disenfranchise people of color in the House of Representatives to gain a permanent (or at least decades-long) hold on power in all three branches of the federal government.

Despite this grim backdrop, Democrats are still somehow debating whether the Donald should be allowed his illegitimate presidency into yet another year. The radical right never misses an opportunity to seize power, yet we're willing to wait for the next election? That can't be right...

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

This week I speak with Dr. Richard Bruno. You may know him as the doctor in the long, white coat from those Bernie Sanders videos on Facebook where the US Senator from Vermont takes Americans over the border to Canada to check out the healthcare system there. To me though, Richard is a friend and a former client whose campaign for State Delegate (representative) in Maryland I managed in 2018.

Dr. Bruno and I cover a range of topics under the general umbrella of American healthcare, from costs to ethics and efficiency, What's clear from our conversation however is that while there are so many arguments in favor of a universal system of healthcare coverage, there are ever fewer that support our current system - or lack thereof. No matter how you look at the issue, healthcare works better when everyone is covered and profit is subtracted from the equation, 

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

This week I'm joined by Brittany (McCants) Garcia, a Washington, D.C. based attorney who has worked on Democratic and non-profit campaigns in the South and has spent years studying political theory, political philosophy, leadership and policy. During her studies at Howard University School of Law, she focused on civil rights, constitutional law and advocacy. We discuss the eerie parallels between early 20th century Europe and the US in the era of Trump, prospects for the Democrats in the 2020 election, and just whether or not Americans have a chance for a course correction before the parallels to an even more monstrous and inhumane time become just to close to ignore. 

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