Polilogue

President Trump headed to Asia this week to attend the G-20 Summit in Osaka, Japan. Afterward, he made a pit-stop in South Korea and convinced his pal Kim Jung Un to stop by and say hi. The two made news when President Trump crossed over the demilitarized zone and stepped foot into North Korea— becoming the first sitting US president to do so. Beyond the newsy spectacle, it is still unclear if the US and North Korea will ever reach an agreement on denuclearization. 

In today’s episode of Polilogue, we explore if and how the shows tried to explain this unique moment in diplomacy. We also reviewed the debate recaps across the shows. 

Chapters

• Introduction

• Highlight / Lowlight

• Chuck Trump Goes to Asia

• Debating the Democratic Debate

• Show Rankings

• Closing

Shows discussed 

• State of the Union on CNN

• Fox News Sunday on FOX

• This Week on ABC

• Meet the Press on NBC

New places where you can find us!

• Instagram (@polilogue)

• Spotify

• YouTube

Email us at [email protected] or you can send us your feedback @PolilogueCast. You can also follow us at @sotonaomi_ and @bsteidle.

Love our show and want to support us directly? You can support us on our Patreon.

Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

 Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

We’re back at it again with another recap of the Democratic Debate.

Night two included 10 new candidates and a much more even approach between the five moderators. Thankfully, there were no technological disasters this time around.

Like in Episode 109, we share our top highlight-lowlight moments from the debate and then categorize the candidates’ performance into three distinct buckets:

1. Those who improved their standing with their performance;

2. Those who will probably stay the same in the polls; and

3. Those who maybe hurt their case for the presidency. 

If you haven’t had a chance to watch yet, you can view the full debate here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX7hni-zGD8

Email us at [email protected] or you can send us your feedback @PolilogueCast. You can also follow us at @sotonaomi_ and @bsteidle.

Love our show and want to support us directly? You can support us on our Patreon.

Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

 Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

It’s the first Democratic Debate of the 2020 primary!  And we’re here with a full episode.  We provide our overall impressions, have a short highlight-lowlight segment, and then we dive in.  First, we divide the candidates into three categories: those who improved their standing with their performance, those who will probably stay the same in the polls, and those who maybe hurt their case for the presidency.  Finally, we examine the quality of the moderation—including the work of Chuck Todd, who dominated the hosting in the second hour of the debate.  

If you haven’t had a chance to watch yet, you can view the full debate here: https://youtu.be/vJ6MrDO0kgY  

Check out our next episode for Debate Night 2 analysis!  If you like the show, please consider sharing it with a friend!

Email us at [email protected] or you can send us your feedback @PolilogueCast. You can also follow us at @sotonaomi_ and @bsteidle.

Love our show and want to support us directly? You can support us on our Patreon.

Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

 Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

Similar to last week, President Donald Trump sat down for another broadcast interview. This time, President Trump sat down with Chuck Todd on Meet the Press. Vice-President Mike Pence also went on the shows. Pence was in studio for an interview with Jake Tapper on State of the Union. 

In both interviews, Iran and the immigrant crisis dominated the conversations.

Chapters

• Introduction

• Highlight / Lowlight

• Chuck Todd Interviews Trump

• Tapper Interviews Pence

• Other Voices Respond

• Show Rankings

• Closing

Shows discussed 

• State of the Union on CNN

• Fox News Sunday on FOX

• This Week on ABC

• Meet the Press on NBC

New places where you can find us!

• Instagram (@polilogue)

• Spotify

• YouTube

Email us at [email protected] or you can send us your feedback @PolilogueCast. You can also follow us at @sotonaomi_ and @bsteidle.

Love our show and want to support us directly? You can support us on our Patreon.

Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

 Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

President Trump does not often sit down for long television interviews. This is interesting considering Trump is a man obsessed with the news and who also has an uncanny ability to determine (or distract) the media’s attention. This week, however, George Stephanopoulos observed, interacted, and interviewed President Trump for 30 hours. 

Many comments from that interview made news — like President Trump would be receptive to help from a foreign government during the 2020 election (this is illegal); he thinks he answered written questions on obstruction to Bob Mueller (he didn’t); Trump repeatedly stated the Mueller report says there were was no collusion (Mueller specifically did not say this); and Trump cannot handle people coughing around him (is Mulvaney on his way out?!).

In this episode of Polilogue, we also look at how Washington is responding to this interview and how the globe is reacting to the escalated tensions between the US and Iran.  We also discuss messaging strategies by 2020 candidates, Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders.

Chapters

• Introduction

• Highlight / Lowlight

• 30 Hours With President Trump 

• Washington Responds to Trump

• Iran Tension Escalates

• Buttigieg’s Vision for the Future 

• Sanders Socialism Talk  

• Show Rankings

• Listener Feedback

• Closing

Shows discussed 

• State of the Union on CNN

• Fox News Sunday on FOX

• This Week on ABC

• Meet the Press on NBC 

New places where you can find us! 

• Instagram (@polilogue)

• Spotify 

• YouTube

Email us at [email protected] or you can send us your feedback @PolilogueCast. You can also follow us at @sotonaomi_ and @bsteidle.

Love our show and want to support us directly? You can support us on our Patreon. 

Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

 Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

This week, we dive deep into the Joe Biden candidacy. Biden has been everywhere on the Sunday morning political shows this year—except in the guest seat! But that won’t stop us from getting to the bottom of this top-polling candidate. In the first in a series of special episodes that will be coming to your feed periodically throughout the rest of the year, we take a pause on looking at the Sunday shows to look at the 2020 Democratic candidates for president. In each episode of the series, we will do a Polilogue examination of the candidate’s stump speech—the well-worn collection of policy ideas, personal anecdotes, statistics, and autobiography that make up a candidate’s basic pitch to the American voter. Complete with audio clips and analysis, it’s everything you’ve come to expect from an episode of Polilogue!

This week, we examine Joe Biden’s stump speech. Biden has been running for just over a month (officially)—but we’ve heard more ABOUT him than FROM him. In this close look, we break down his “Campaign Kickoff” in Philadelphia on May 18. Here are the topics we discuss:

• Introduction

• Setting the Scene in Philadelphia

• General Impressions

• The Goals of Joe Biden

• The Rhetoric

• The Policies “That Matter Most”

• The Final Grade

• Closing

You can watch Biden’s kickoff at the link below—but be warned, the audio is atrocious and just gets worse and worse. We had to do some significant audio clean-up to make our clips listenable.

Biden kickoff video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-AEAq7jzcU&t=238s

Both the PBS Newshour and C-SPAN audio are a mess, so if you want to just read the speech transcript, you can find it here: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1905/18/cnr.04.html

We don’t like being out of town on Sundays, but we do enjoy the opportunity to record these special episodes that explore topics a bit more fully than we can on a typical episode. Invariably, they end up taking way more work to assemble than our regular ones. Let us know what you think! We will be back next week with our regularly-scheduled look at the Sunday morning political shows.

Email us at [email protected] or you can send us your feedback @PolilogueCast. You can also follow us at @sotonaomi_ and @bsteidle.

If you’re interested, you can check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

 Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

Asylum seekers from Central America continue to arrive on the Mexico-US border. Now, the White House is threatening Mexico with tariffs on all imported goods, if they do not play a more active role in the migrant crisis to reduce the number of migrants that reach the US. Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney was on multiple shows this week defending this tariff threat that few Republicans support.

Additionally Majority Whip Jim Clyburn was on State of the Union with a clear and foretelling impeaching strategy.

Chapters

• Introduction

• Highlight / Lowlight

• Mulvaney Grilled by Todd on Tariffs

• White House Enjoys Easy Interview on Fox

• Democratic Impeachment Strategy

• Show Rankings

• Two Special Notes

• Closing

Shows discussed 

• State of the Union on CNN

• Fox News Sunday on FOX

• This Week on ABC

• Meet the Press on NBC

New places where you can find us! 

• Instagram (@polilogue)

• Spotify

• YouTube

Email us at [email protected] or you can send us your feedback @PolilogueCast. You can also follow us at @sotonaomi_ and @bsteidle.

Love our show and want to support us directly? You can support us on our Patreon. 

Want to stalk us some more? Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

 Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

When there is not one prevailing topic dominating the news, journalists play a very important role in shaping a show and prioritizing conversations. 

Today on Polilogue, we examine some of the choices made by hosts this Memorial Day Weekend.

Chapters

• Introduction

• Highlight / Lowlight

• Chuck Todd Fizzles

• Chris Wallace Takes a Side

• Dana Bash Zeroes In

• Martha Raddatz Brings Expertise

• Lessons From the Hosts

• Show Rankings

• Closing

Shows discussed 

• State of the Union on CNN

• Fox News Sunday on FOX

• This Week on ABC

• Meet the Press on NBC

New places where you can find us! 

• Instagram (@polilogue)

• Spotify

• YouTube

Email us at [email protected] or you can send us your feedback @PolilogueCast. You can also follow us at @sotonaomi_ and @bsteidle.

Love our show and want to support us directly? You can support us on our Patreon. 

Want to stalk us some more? Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

 Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

Abortion has always been a passionate issue for both political parties. Recently, the intensity has increased.

In the last few weeks, many states have passed bills that restrict abortion access. States like Georgia, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Mississippi ban abortion once a fetal heartbeat could be detected— approximately 6-8 weeks— before many women even know they are pregnant. Alabama passed a bill that bans abortion, including in instances of rape and incest.

With the rhetoric and passions ever growing on this topic, we examine how the media frames the abortion conversation to begin with.

Chapters

• Introduction 

• Highlight / Lowlight 

• Journalists on Abortion

• Guests and Panelists on Abortion

• Historical Context on Abortion in Politics

• Show Rankings 

• Closing 

Worthwhile reading

• These Truths: A History of the United States (Jill Lepore)

Shows discussed

• State of the Union on CNN

• Fox News Sunday on FOX

• This Week on ABC

• Meet the Press on NBC

New places where you can find us!

• Instagram (@polilogue)

• Spotify

• YouTube

Email us at [email protected] or you can send us your feedback @PolilogueCast. You can also follow us at @sotonaomi_ and @bsteidle.

Love our show and want to support us directly? You can support us on our Patreon.

Check out some of our other work:

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com

Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

Last Friday President Trump increased tariffs on certain Chinese products from 10 percent to to 25 percent.

This latest escalation in the trade war with Chinese has economists, Democrats, and Republicans alike wary of the end impact Americans may face. Despite the regression in negotiations, President Trump remains optimistic that he will be able to come to an agreement with China.

In the latest episode of Fox News Sunday,  Chris Wallace interviews Director of the National Economic Council, Larry Kudlow. Kudlow makes news by acknowledging the reality that Trump seems to ignore: that tariffs increase the prices American consumers pay and lowers the Chinese GDP at the same time. 

We also explore an extensive interview with Kamala Harris on CNN’s State of the Union. 

Chapters

• Introduction 

• Highlight / Lowlight 

• Tariffs Impact American Consumers 

• Trump’s Foreign Headaches

• Kamala Harris Builds Her Case 

• Rankings 

• Closing 

Helpful links

We leaned on the following two articles and studies to understand the Chinese trade war:

• The US-China trade war, explained in under 500 words (Vox)

• The Trump trade tweets that sent the stock market tumbling, explained (Vox)

•  Trump’s Trade War Escalation Will Exact Economic Pain, Adviser Says (NYT)

• Trump's trade agenda on the verge of imploding (Politico)

• The cost of Trump’s tariffs has fallen ‘entirely’ on US businesses and households: Goldman (CNBC)

• 'It can't get any worse': Iowa farmers suffer as U.S. trade war with China escalates (Des Moines Register)

• China-U.S. Trade Issues (Congressional Research Service)

Shows discussed

• State of the Union on CNN

• Fox News Sunday on FOX

• This Week on ABC

Love our show and want to support us directly? You can support us on our Patreon.

Email us at [email protected] or you can send us your feedback @PolilogueCast. You can also follow us at @sotonaomi_ and @bsteidle.

Want to stalk us some more? Check out some of our other work:

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com

Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org