Professor Austin Sarat is a political scientist and attorney. He and Fred discuss the insane legal week and what we as Americans must do to fight for this democracy. Austin is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science at Amherst College. He is also a Five College Fortieth Anniversary Professor. He has written, co-written, or edited more than fifty books in the fields of law and political science. Follow him on Twitter @ljstprof.

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Kaivan Shroff joins Fred to discuss the outrageous twisting of DEI to cover for Republican racism, Taylor Swift hysteria, and much more. Kaivan is a public interest attorney who serves as press secretary for the youth mobilization nonprofit Dream For America and as senior advisor for the Institute for Education, a D.C. nonprofit. He worked on the litigation team at Everytown for Gun Safety and as a digital organizer for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. He continues to organize for a range of Democratic causes. He holds a JD from Harvard Law School, an MBA from the Yale School of Management, and an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School. Follow him on Twitter @KaivanShroff.

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Juliet Jeske is a journalist and producer of the Decoding Fox News newsletter and podcast. She graduated from the Craig J. Newmark School of Journalism at the Central University of New York and has been studying the right-wing media environment for many years. She and Fred discuss how much in the tank Fox News is for Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, their increasing extremism, open racism, and misogyny. Be sure to follow her online at @DecodingFoxNews and subscribe to her Substack at https://decodingfoxnews.substack.com.

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Trump can be beaten and has been in court before. This week's guest Tristan Snell was the New York AG prosecuting attorney on the Trump University case and he knows what it takes to beat Trump and his peers. Fred and Tristan discuss that and the legal peril Trump faces today. Snell is a lawyer and legal commentator featured on MSNBC and NPR, and in the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. He served as Assistant Attorney General for New York State, where he led the investigation and prosecution of the Trump University case. Today he’s the founder and managing partner of MainStreet.Law, and a content creator on Instagram, Threads, TikTok, and Twitter. He lives in New York City. His book Taking Down Trump publishes at the end of this month and is available for pre-order now at TakingDownTrump.com.

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If you thought Trump Admin 1.0 was bad, you can’t imagine how insane the second version will be with less guardrails and thousands of acolytes installed in the government. Fred and HuffPo senior White House correspondent S.V. Dáte discuss the crazy legal arguments he’s floating and what the next year will look like. S.V.’s book, The Useful Idiot, captures Trump's failed management of the coronavirus pandemic and his corruption of the Republican Party. Dáte is the author of five novels and previous two political biographies, including one of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. He has been a journalist for three decades, with stints at the Associated Press, the Palm Beach Post, National Journal and NPR. More info at svdate.com.

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 How do we cut through vibes and actually reach young voters before its too late? What drives Gen Z and Millenials to the ballot box and what matters to this next generation of voter? We welcome back John Della Volpe who is America’s leading polling expert on the topic as we head into one of the most important elections of the modern era. John Della Volpe is the director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, and the author of Fight: How Gen Z is Channeling Their Fear and Passion to Save America (St. Martin's Press, January 2022). John is also founder of SocialSphere, a Cambridge based public opinion and analytics company. You can find his excellent newsletter ‘JDV on Gen Z’ on Substack and on your favorite social media channels as @DellaVolpe.

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We end the year on a positive turn in the economy and justice finally moving for Donald Trump. Fred also caught a bug so while the news is good, his voice isn't. We are fortunate to have this great interview with MSNBC's Katie Phang from February that has never aired on MeidasTouch. She and Fred discussed the search for justice and American’s faith in our systems as we face an onslaught of more extreme actions from the right. Katie has been on a roll this year. She began her career as a lawyer and prosecutor before beginning her path on TV as a legal analyst locally in Miami and continuing to national success. Now she has her own show on MSNBC and Peacock, aptly called 'The Katie Phang Show,' as well as hosting her podcast ‘Class Action.’ Her talent makes her a frequent guest host across MSNBC.

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Colorado’s Supreme Court made the factual ruling that Donald Trump supported an insurrection and isn’t eligible to run for President. This week we are joined by petitioner’s attorney Mario Nicolais to chat about this stunning win. Mario is a lifelong Coloradan and attorney and a former colleague of Fred’s from the Lincoln Project. Mario has worked political campaigns at every level from municipal government to presidential races, as well as arguing and winning cases before the Colorado Supreme Court, served as General Counsel for Colorado's largest post-acute and long-term healthcare provider and written opinion columns that earned national attention and all while running his own law firm. Fred also discusses the stunning collapse of Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s outrageous hold on military promotions and the latest on his legal fight with disgraced former Army General Mike Flynn.

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This is a special episode dedicated to the situation in Ukraine and in Washington D.C. as the U.S. Congress and White House are deadlocked in pushing through more aide for the beleaguered nation. We discuss the danger on the ground in Ukraine and the danger we face in the halls of Congress too. We speak with two brilliant guests to tell the story, first a journalist that’s been on the ground since before the invasion and then the Deputy National Security Council Spokesman. Tim Mak is a journalist based in Ukraine reporting on his site ‘The Counteroffensive. Tim is a former investigative correspondent for NPR, and I am also a former U.S. Army combat medic. You can find him online as @TimKMak and at The Counteroffensive at https://www.counteroffensive.news/. Sean Savett is the Deputy National Security Council spokesperson and has served with the Biden Administration since the transition into the White House.

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Brian Stelter probably watches more Fox News than the people that work there and when the Dominion lawsuit opened up the private emails and text messages in the company he pounced. The result is his latest gripping book “Network of Lies” on how key elements of the Big Lie were fostered on Fox and the price both they and we are paying for it. Stelter is the New York Times bestselling author of three books: Top of the Morning, Hoax, and his latest, Network of Lies. Previously, Stelter was a media reporter at The New York Times, the chief media correspondent for CNN Worldwide, and the anchor of Reliable Sources. He is currently a special correspondent for Vanity Fair and a Walter Shorenstein Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and two children. Follow him on Twitter @BrianStelter.

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